Due to the location where Claudio picked us up, we drove back on the scenic route like the first time I’d arrived. The edifice of the ancestral building blazed red, and I couldn’t decide if I saw it more as the home of the de Rossi family or Castle of Blood after knowing a bit more about the secrets and dark past its walls contained.
Luke gathered up a handful of the bags and headed off for my room. Claudio waited for him to leave before speaking with me.
“You must stop asking Fia for help,” he said in a hushed tone while picking up my parcels from the trunk.
“Why?” I asked, a little frustrated. I’d been trying to find her for the past day or so hoping we could talk, but had been unsuccessful.
The young man kept a watchful eye on our surroundings before speaking again. “While you were in recovery, Fia went home after work and found her house had been…upset.”
“Upset?” I didn’t understand his meaning.
Claudio slammed the trunk shut with frustration. “I don’t know how you say it…someone not invited had been in her place.”
“Oh, you mean, someone broke in and wrecked her house?” My high from spending a lovely drama-free day with Luke evaporated.
“Sì. I am worried for her safety,” he uttered in a low voice. “You must leave her be.”
Claudio left me standing by the car, gawking at him as he walked away. I caught up to him and held his arm. “Was anything missing? Did the intruder take anything?”
He frowned at me. “I am sorry, miss, but I do not want to involve you with any more details. Please, do as I ask. You cause trouble. Leave Fiametta alone.”
I followed Claudio to my room but slowed my pace to stay behind him a little. It saddened me to know I’d upset him or that Fia had suffered a crime for helping me. Every ounce of me wanted to find her and grill her about what had happened, but with the young man as her protector, I would have a hard time reaching her. And I refused to use Luke’s position in the household to gain any favors or force anyone to do anything. Perhaps that was what Claudio was counting on.
It bothered me that since the fire, Granny Jo didn’t seem as active as before. With everything else I had to worry about, I didn’t want to add the possibility that the trip and everything that had happened had taken too big of a toll on my ghostly great-grandmother. It eased my mind when the token emitted a small pulse in my hand when I held it, but I wished I could find a way to talk to her directly.
After a bit of a rest to recover from our excursion, Luke and I prepared for a casual dinner he’d arranged in the garden. I didn’t remember seeing a table out there, but when we arrived, I found out just how much pull my fiancé had with the staff.
A long carpet lay over the gravel pathway and someone had scattered white, pink, and red rose petals down its length.
“This is a teensy bit more than casual, don’t you think?” I second-guessed my choice of clothes for a fleeting moment before I remembered I’d worn my favorite sundress again because I wanted to feel more like myself rather than a version of me wearing an expensive outfit.
Luke’s hand guided me at the small of my back. “I thought I would surprise you a little since your time here has not gone as smooth as I’d hoped.”
We approached an intimate table for two in the interior of the garden surrounded by the scent of flowers and accompanied by the sound of running water from the nearby fountain. If my man was trying to woo me, he was doing a darn fine job of it tonight.
“This looks fantastic,” I exclaimed, sitting down in the chair Luke pulled out for me. “On a scale of romantic gestures, I’d say you’re on your way to a solid seven and a half.”
My fiancé chuckled. “So low?” He handed me a glass of sparkling Prosecco and raised his own in the air. “And what do I have to do to earn a higher score?”
I almost clinked my glass against his and then pulled it away at the last second, pretending to take time to think. “Hmm, I suppose you could earn some points based on how good the food is. Although technically, you won’t have cooked it.”
“But I will have given your preferences to the kitchen staff so they could prepare dishes that would please you,” he countered.
“Fair enough.” I tapped my glass with his and took a small sip. “Then maybe if the food is good, it could earn you half a point.”
Luke’s mouth gaped open in mock horror. “Only half? That gets me to a possible eight.”
I wiggled my eyebrows at him. “That’s right. The other two points depend on what comes after dinner.”
“If I find you some limoncello, will that help?” he teased, and we both laughed and reminisced about the dinner in Rome.
One of the kitchen staff brought out two small plates with various meats, cheeses, and a dish of olives. He poured us both some wine and left the bottle on the table.
“What about dinner conversation?” Luke asked. “If I stimulate you, will that be worth any points?”
I chose to ignore his poorly executed double meaning. “Depends if you can guess the topic I would most like to talk about.”
His brows furrowed. “I wish to avoid anything involving my sister. At least for tonight.”
The server returned with a plate filled with toasted bread covered in a mix of roasted peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes. Luke and I argued how to pronounce bruschetta until I
