Was this it?
Was this the end of their ‘engagement’? Had he decided that now his project was safely reaching a satisfactory conclusion he no longer needed her?
‘Why do you want me to get dressed?’
‘I’m taking you to meet someone.’
Luca parked the car outside the house and questioned the impulse that had driven him to bring a woman to a place he’d never brought a woman to before.
As if realising something significant was happening, Taylor gave him a puzzled look. ‘Where are we?’
‘This is my grandmother’s house.’
‘You visit your grandmother?’
Luca strolled round the car and opened the door for her. ‘What’s wrong with that?’
‘Nothing but—’ she bit her lip ‘—I’m just surprised, that’s all. You don’t strike me as the sort of guy who visits his grandmother. I thought your family wasn’t close.’
‘We’re not. But my grandmother makes my life hell if I don’t drop in and see her once in a while. She’s heard news of our engagement. She wants to meet you. I’d appreciate it if you’d play the role of loving fiancée. She doesn’t need to know our relationship consists of numerous fake performances and endless nights of hot sex.’
Endless nights?
The realisation hit him in the gut and he frowned slightly but Taylor didn’t comment on that.
‘You care about her.’
Luca shrugged. ‘I don’t want to upset her. She lost my grandfather a few months ago. I try and visit whenever I’m not travelling. She’ll be on the terrace at this time, eating breakfast.’
With Taylor’s hand locked in his, he strode round the house to the vine-covered terrace and found his grandmother sipping coffee.
Every time he came here, the memories came with him but he’d already stayed away too long and he greeted her in Italian and stooped to kiss her wrinkled cheek. ‘I brought Taylor to meet you, Nonna.’
‘And about time too. Come and sit down.’ His grandmother spoke in accented English and gestured to the chair next to her. ‘I want to see the woman who finally stole the heart of my favourite grandson.’
‘We’re all her favourite grandson.’ Knowing how wary Taylor was with people she didn’t know Luca wondered if the barriers would come up, but she sank into the chair and faced the old lady with a smile.
‘My Italian is terrible. I apologise. And I know how to say that…’ She faltered slightly. ‘Mi dispiace.’
‘No doubt you and Luca are finding other ways to communicate.’ The old lady’s eyes gleamed and Taylor laughed.
‘His English is fluent.’
‘Yes. He always was the cleverest of my grandsons. He just hid it well. So his reputation with women doesn’t seem to frighten you.’
‘I have a reputation of my own.’
‘So I understand. You’re the girl who fired her own mother.’ His grandmother peered at her and Luca cursed under his breath, knowing how fiercely Taylor guarded her privacy.
‘Nonna—’
‘Yes, I did.’ Taylor’s voice was steady. ‘She used me as a way of making money. She didn’t care about what I wanted or what I needed. She wasn’t good for me.’
Braced to defend Taylor from a lecture on the importance of family, Luca watched in surprise as his grandmother took Taylor’s hands in hers. ‘Family should be about giving unselfish support and that is particularly true of the bond between a mother and child. I’m glad you had the strength to remove her from your life. You obviously showed remarkably good judgement for someone that young. So tell me what you love about my Luca.’
‘Nonna—’ Cursing under his breath, Luca tried to interrupt but Taylor answered without hesitation.
‘Lots of things. I love his sense of humour, his strength and the fact that he’s proud of who he is. I envy that. I…’ She hesitated. ‘I want to be more like that. I’m trying to be more like that. It isn’t easy.’
‘You’re an actress. Fortunately my grandson is used to drama. He was raised on it.’ His grandmother gave him a meaningful look and Luca switched to Italian.
‘I don’t want to talk about that.’
‘I know. You never do.’ Her voice soft, his grandmother reached out to him and he frowned as he stared down at her wrinkled hands locked tightly around his.
‘Nonna—’
‘You’ll be perfect together. I sense it.’ She patted his hands and then released them. ‘And now you’ll stay and eat breakfast with me.’
They stayed for an hour, an hour during which Taylor talked about growing up in America, about her mother’s ambition and her father’s reappearance once she’d started earning big money.