The Billionaires' Club: Return of Her Italian Duke (The Billionaire’s Club) / Bound to Her Greek Billionaire (The Billionaire’s Club) / Whisked Away by Her Sicilian Boss (The Billionaire’s Club). Rebecca Winters
eyes widened. “If you do that, won’t the title fall on Dimi through his father?”
“Yes, but he’s taking the same steps.”
“You’d both stop the title from progressing after centuries of succession?”
Vincenzo nodded. “There are so many dreadful things my father and uncle did in the name of that title, seen not only in the scars that Dimi and I carry. You know the head gardener who was introduced at the orientation meeting?”
“Yes. I met him out in back the first day.”
“Years ago, my father got angry at him for planting some flowers Mamma wanted. He told him to get out and never come back. He didn’t give him a reference or any severance pay. While Dimi and I were looking up old employees, we found him.
“That’s just one of a hundred stories I could tell you of my father’s cruelty. If he and my uncle hadn’t been born to a duca, they wouldn’t have felt they had the right to treat people like animals. The only way to end the corruption is to rid ourselves of the title and restore the honor of those noble Gagliardis from the past by preserving the castello.”
“That’s why you turned it into a resort,” she whispered.
“What better way to make restitution than by allowing the public to enjoy its heritage, thereby giving back something good and decent to the region.”
Her features sobered. “You loved your grandfather Emanuele. He was a great duca. How would he feel about this?”
“I can’t speak for him, but if he’s looking down on us now, he couldn’t be pleased with what his sons did while he was dying. Being born with a title gives some men dangerous ideas.”
“But not you, Vincenzo. Emanuele adored you. I don’t think he’d want you to do this.”
He frowned and got to his feet. “For someone who came close to bearing the brunt of my father’s dark side, I’m surprised to hear this coming from you. I thought you of all people would be happy to see this kind of inequality come to an end.”
“But you’re a different breed of man and shouldn’t have to give up what is part of you.”
“I’m a man, pure and simple. Don’t endow me with anything else. This isn’t an idea I just came up with on a whim. When I was five, maybe six, I saw my father kick one of the young stable hands to the ground because he didn’t call him Your Highness. It sickened me. That was the day my plan was born. Now I can see it through to fruition.”
The way she shook her head filled him with consternation. What could he say to get through to her?
“Years ago I told you I’d find a way for us to be married. A few days ago I asked you to be my wife because there’d be no barrier between us. But there is one. It goes so much deeper than I realized.”
His words caused her to flinch, alarming him.
“When you said you and I weren’t the same people growing up, I didn’t understand how fully you meant it.” His chest felt tight. “It’s clear you don’t love me the same way I love you, no matter what I do. I can tell you would rather I keep the title, the very thing you think prevents us from ever getting married.”
He started pacing in frustration, then stopped. “Is this because of what my nonno said? It’s no wonder you don’t think you can marry me.”
“I didn’t mean to upset you. I thought if I told you about that experience, you would begin to see.”
“I see, all right,” he muttered. “Mirella deliberately interpreted it so you would only worship me from afar. She didn’t want you getting any ideas about a real relationship with the future duca. After all this time, it’s still working.”
“You can scoff about this all you want, Vincenzo, but it was very serious to me. He was a prayerful man. I saw him go to Mass in the private castello chapel every day before I left for school.”
“He wasn’t a priest destined to be cardinal one day, Gemma. Who do you think administered the Mass to him every morning?”
“You don’t have to be a priest to be a godly person. Everyone felt that way about the old duca. I know you loved him.”
“That’s beside the point. He knew he was dying. All he was doing that day was expressing his sentiment about me to a sweet girl who’d brought him his favorite dessert baked by the best cook around. But to see that as a sign from above...” He shook his head.
Gemma slid off the bed. “My mother was raised in a good Catholic family.”
He raked a hand through his midnight-black hair. “Heaven help me, so were you.”
“That’s why she honored the traditions here.”
“You’re right, but she went too far. Without giving me any voice at all, she made me out as the untouchable one, the future duca whose word was law. It’s that old divine right of kings business and it disgusts me.”
No one could confuse her like he could with his logic.
“It’s time to put the past in the past, where it belongs. There’s no room in the modern world for it. I’m a normal guy, Gemma. Warts and all.”
“You don’t have any.”
Vincenzo leaned against the door with his strong arms folded. “Of course I have flaws and imperfections, like every other man. Think about it—until I called my friends together about buying the castello, they didn’t know my last name or the fact that I inherited a title. Do you see them treating me any differently? Have they once shown me a special kind of deference?”
“Actually, no,” she said with her innate honesty.
“Good. Maybe that will convince you. Please hear me out. We need to be spending time together as adults, not as those teenagers from the past having to live by ridiculous rules that constantly divided us in your mind. It’s important—in fact, it’s vital—that you throw away the blinders while we explore the world we’re living in now as equals in all things and ways.”
* * *
Gemma could hear what he was saying, but it was so hard to silence her mother’s warnings after all these years. It meant throwing off old fears and conceptions that had dominated her thoughts forever.
“I’m in love with you. Isn’t it worth it to you to find out if you can see me as a typical man you’ve met and want to get to know better?”
Vincenzo was the most atypical man she’d ever known, but he couldn’t see it. He wasn’t a woman. She hugged her arms to her waist. “You already know what’s in my heart.”
“I do?” he quipped, making her smile. “Then prove it. Here’s what we’re going to do.”
She recognized that no-nonsense tone in his voice. When he went after something, he was impossible to stop. Gemma knew she had to get away from him. “There’s nothing to do, Vincenzo. I have to leave.”
With a few long strides, he stood in the front of the doorway so she couldn’t walk out. He was such a breathtaking male, her legs turned to mush.
“The second I learned you didn’t have a husband, I planned for us to take a vacation together. That’s why I left that night for New York. There were loose ends I needed to tie up first so we wouldn’t have anything standing in our way.”
“That’s a fantasy you need to let go of. For one thing, you just employed me. I can’t take a vacation.”
“There’s still enough time before the grand opening for us to be gone a couple of weeks. My partners will handle everything, and you’ve already done the most important work with Maurice. When was the last time you went off on a real trip anywhere? Be honest.”
Her eyes closed tightly. “I don’t remember.”