“You have but to name the day, cara,” the earl said, his dark eyes gleaming.
Cassie opened her mouth, then closed it. She saw that the earl’s half-brother was eyeing the two of them with considerable confusion.
She turned away and sat down in a deeply stuffed leather chair. She ignored her lemonade. “The earl has told me very little of you, signore.”
Caesare spread his hands before him. “It would obviously not be to his advantage to tell you all about me, signorina. He is such an ungainly giant and even wears a sling on his arm. So graceless, it seems, that he returns from England a battered man.”
Cassie’s smile at his gay banter disappeared. “It was not he who was graceless, signore.”
The earl gave a little chuckle. “Let us just say that I was careless, Caesare.”
“It appears that I have hit upon a mystery,” Caesare said gaily, looking from Cassie’s flushed face to the earl’s grinning one. As if he sensed further inquiry would add to Cassie’s discomfiture, he adroitly changed the topic. “Genoa has been bereft without your dashing presence, Antonio, but your business concerns, as usual, continue to prosper. You’ll not believe it, but old Montalto has been in hot pursuit of the charming Giovanna.”
The earl appeared only mildly interested, but Cassie found that she was all attention awaiting his response.
“I fear Giovanna would topple poor Montalto into an early grave.” He grinned ruefully and shook his head. “For a man so astute in worldly matters, it is a surprise that he would succumb to the charms of a woman half his age.”
“Caesare, will you share a glass of wine with us? We can toast Montalto’s success with the fair Giovanna.”
Cassie experienced a twinge of disappointment when Caesare, regretfully, took his leave.
He gallantly raised her hand to his lips and lightly kissed her palm. “You must insist that Antonio invite me more often to the Villa Parese, signorina.”
“You know that you are always welcome, fop,” the earl said, and gave his brother a light buffet on his immaculate shoulder.
Caesare shot him a mischievous smile. “But Antonio, with but your company to sustain me in the past, I really had no enduring interest. All is different now.”
“I will look forward to seeing you again soon, signore,” Cassie said, and meant it.
“May we always be in such agreement, signorina.” He proffered his half-brother a mock bow and gave Cassie a droll smile when Marrina came into the library to see him out.
In the evening, as the earl and Cassie ate their dinner in a small protected veranda that overlooked the gardens, she lowered her fork to her plate and said in a silky voice, “I find myself wondering, my lord, what your very kind half-brother would do if I told him of your infamy. Surely he would not approve your ruthlessness.”
The earl cocked a sleek black brow and sipped his wine before replying, “Actually, cara, I was pleased that you held your tongue. If you had not, I fear you would have been much mortified. Although Caesare much enjoys playing the gallant to a beautiful woman, his loyalty to me cannot be questioned.”
Cassie looked away, angered by his amused drawl. “So you told him nothing.”
The earl sat back in his chair and crossed his long legs. “I told him that you were English and my honored guest.”
“Honored guest. You know very well that he now believes me your mistress.”
“Doubtless you are right, Cassandra, but let us not argue about it. If you have wish to throw yourself at my poor half-brother and beg for his protection—” He shrugged eloquently. “He will likely admire my audaciousness.”
Her shoulders slumped forward. His dark eyes softened upon her face, and he gentled his voice. “I told you, did I not, that Caesare is my only living relation? It is from our mother, and her dowry to my father, that I inherited the Villa Parese.”
Cassie looked up. “Parese—that was her family name?”
“Yes. It is a very old, revered family in Genoese history, dating back many hundreds of years to Andrea Doria, when Genoa still ruled the seas.”