LITMIR.BIZ

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She would listen to what he had to say, but it wouldn’t change her mind about leaving on Sunday.

      * * *

      Leon knew something was up the minute he saw her. “What’s happened since you went downstairs?” he asked as they headed for the dock.

      “I just got off the phone with Mom. They haven’t seen Dante all day.”

      “My father told me the same thing a few minutes ago, but it isn’t surprising. His way is to hide out.”

      “What do you mean, his way?”

      Leon sobered. “There are things you don’t know.”

      She took a shuddering breath. “Well, I know one thing. My arrival in Rimini has hurt him.”

      “It’s not personal, Belle. I’m the one who has hurt him.”

      Her brows met in a frown as she looked at him. “How can you say that?”

      “Because it’s true. You saw and heard what happened at the table when Father said I was the one who made the reunion possible. Dante couldn’t handle it and blew up at me in Italian.”

      She shook her head. “The whole thing is tragic. Mom’s going to take me for a drive tomorrow. Maybe if Dante knows she’s out of the palazzo, he and your father will be able to talk.”

      “I don’t think so.”

      “Why do you sound so sure about that?”

      “Once we’re on board, I’ll explain.” Leon couldn’t let Belle go on thinking she was the cause of everything.

      He helped her climb over the side of the cruiser. After giving her a life jacket to put on, he undid the ropes and started the engine. They moved at a wakeless speed until they were past the drop-off before he opened it up.

      She knelt on the bench across from the captain’s seat, looking out to sea. “Is it always this placid?”

      “It is this time of evening. Much later a breeze will spring up.”

      “You weren’t exaggerating about the view. With the blue changing into darkness, all the lights twinkling along the shoreline make everything magical.”

      “Your eyes are the same color right now. Twilight eyes.”

      His words seemed to disturb her, because she turned around to face him. “You said you would tell me about Dante. Let’s talk about him.” She was a businesswoman who’d been fending off men’s advances for years and knew how to probe through to the marrow.

      He shut off the engine and lowered the anchor. After turning to her, he extended his legs. “When Dante and I lost our mother to cancer, he was ten and I eleven. For several years we were pretty inconsolable. Father had always been so preoccupied with business, she was the one who played with us and made life exciting. No one could be more fun. We could go to her with any problem and she’d fix it.”

      “You were blessed to have her that long.”

      “We were, but at the time all we could realize was that her death left a great void. Sometimes Benedetta saw me walking on the grounds and she’d join me with her dog. She wouldn’t say anything, but she was a comfort, and I found myself unburdening to her the way kids do. Unfortunately, Dante didn’t have that kind of a confidante. All he had was me, and I was a poor substitute.”

      “Don’t say that, Leon. Just having a sibling, knowing you’re there, makes such a difference. There were several siblings at the orphanage. They had a special bond without even talking. If you could discuss this with Dante, I’m sure he would tell you how much it meant to have a brother who understood what he was going through.”

      Leon studied her for a moment. “You have so much insight, Belle, there are times when I’m a little in awe of you. But you haven’t heard everything yet.”

      She smiled sadly. “I was the great observer of life, don’t forget. You’ve seen people like me before. We hover at the top of the staircase, watching everyone below, never being a part of things. But I eventually grew out of my self-pity. I had to!”

      “Look at you now, a successful businesswoman.”

      Belle leaned forward. “What happened to your relationship with Dante? I want to know. Was it terrible when your father told you boys he was getting married again?” The compassion in her eyes was tangible.

      “The truth?” She nodded. “We both felt betrayed.”

      “You poor things.”

      “To be honest, I couldn’t fathom him marrying anyone else. Our mom was a motherly sort, the perfect mother, if you know what I mean. She made everything fun, always laughing and lively, always there for us.

      “Her death brought a pall over our household. Dante came to my room every night and cried his heart out. I had to hold back my tears to try and help him.”

      “That’s so sad, Leon. I believe the heartache you two endured had to be worse than anything I ever experienced at the orphanage. To be so happy with your mother, and then have her gone...”

      He sucked in his breath. “Things got worse when Papà brought Luciana to the palazzo to meet us. The diamond heiress looked young enough to be his daughter. In fact, she didn’t look old enough to be anyone’s mother. I found her cool and remote.”

      Belle’s heart twisted. “I can’t picture her that way.”

      “That’s because meeting you has changed her into a different person. At the time I hated her for being so beautiful. Anyone could see why she’d attracted our father. As you heard through the librarian, there’d been rumors that both Luciana’s mother and her widowed father might have been murdered.”

      Belle nodded.

      “Some of those rumors linked my father to the latter possible crime. I knew in my heart Papà couldn’t have done such a thing, but I was filled with anger.”

      “Why exactly?”

      “Because I was old enough to understand that love had nothing to do with his marriage to her. He’d done what all Malatestas had done before him, and reached out to bring the Donatello diamond fortune under the far-reaching umbrella of our family’s assets.

      “Gossip was rife at the time. People were waiting to see if he produced another heir. It felt like he’d betrayed our mother, and I couldn’t forgive him. Dante felt the same way and threatened to run away.”

      “How terrible,” Belle whispered sadly.

      “I told him we couldn’t do that. But when we turned eighteen, we would leave. Until then we had to go along with things and deal with the ugly rumors surrounding the Donatello family. But I let him down when I made the decision to go away to college.”

      “You had to live your own life.”

      He raked his hair back absently. “This morning’s explosion lets me know I made a big mistake in leaving.” Pain stabbed his insides, forcing him to his feet.

      “What do you mean?”

      “I left Dante on his own to deal with his pain. I should have stayed and helped him, but I didn’t. Papà’s marriage to a princess shrouded in gossip and mystery was so distasteful to me, I couldn’t get out of the palazzo fast enough. I could have gone to college in Rimini, but instead I went to Rome in order to get away.

      “During the years I was gone, Dante’s pain turned to anger. When I returned, he was involved with his own friends. I moved to the villa, one of the properties I inherited from our mother’s estate, and dug into business at the bank. Later on I began to spend more time with Benedetta. My brother and I had grown apart, but that was my fault.”

      Belle put a hand on his arm. At the first contact, tiny sensations of delight he couldn’t ward off spread through his body. “You couldn’t help what happened then,” she

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