Stolen Bride

“You’re a dangerous woman to know, Cara Gambini.”About the AuthorTitle PageCHAPTER ONECHAPTER TWOCHAPTER THREECHAPTER FOURCHAPTER FIVECHAPTER SIXCHAPTER SEVENCHAPTER EIGHTCHAPTER NINECHAPTER TENCopyright

“You’re a dangerous woman to know, Cara Gambini.”

She stared at him, amazed. “Dangerous?” she echoed. “Me?”

Finn nodded. “Yes, you. I don’t know you, and I don’t know how serious you are about getting away....

Have you any idea of what you want to do now? A plan, maybe?“

“A plan?” she echoed blankly. She had never before in her life been asked such a question. Everybody else always made plans for her. Suddenly Cara found herself thinking of possibilities and consequences. And all of them looked black.

She eyed the stranger a little doubtfully. “What about you? Do you have a plan?”

He scratched his jaw. “Oh, plenty,” he agreed. “But, unfortunately, I made most of them before I attended your wedding. And none of them included a runaway bride with half the thugs in Naples on her tail.”

Sally Carr trained as a journalist and has worked on several national newspapers. She was brought up in the West Indies, and her travels have taken her nearly all over the world, including Tibet, Russia and North America. She lives with her husband, two dogs, three goldfish and six hens in an old hunting lodge in Northamptonshire, England, and has become an expert painter and decorator. She enjoys walking, gardening and playing the clarinet.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

CHAPTER ONE

IT WAS cold in the church, away from the pounding heat outside, but Cara felt a chill that had nothing to do with the temperature.

She took a glance once more at the man standing next to her, and then down at her dress, the heavy silk dragging away from her waist like an ice slope. In a few moments she was going to marry a man she knew she couldn’t love, and there was nothing she could do about it. She couldn’t back down now.

Behind her, she knew, the church was packed with the two families who looked upon this moment as the final seal on the relationship between them. A medieval view, maybe, but one that still held in this part of Italy. Especially when it concerned the future good fortune of the family.

Cara clasped and unclasped her fingers. What was it the priest had just said? By her side, Luca seemed to be taking everything in, listening gravely to the man’s words. His neck, reddened where he had shaved it, bulged slightly over his collar. It reminded her suddenly of a wild turkey her uncle had once shot, and she looked hurriedly away.

There were huge candles, as thick as her arm, burning everywhere in the church, their flames steady in the still air. And there was incense, too, its sharp smell pricking her nostrils. She shook her head irritably. Why did this ceremony keep reminding her of a funeral? It was supposed to be the happiest day of her life.

She shot another surreptitious glance at her bridegroom. She had always known Luca. Treated him as the big brother she had never had. And when he had suggested marriage she had been initially excited by the idea. She had never been encouraged to have a career, and being the wife of an important man like Luca seemed rather glamorous. She had been very flattered that he had chosen her.

How foolish she had been. She stared woodenly at the priest and bit her lip. It hadn’t taken her.that long to realise that Luca had chosen her because ... well, because it made good business sense. Her uncle was one of the most powerful men in this part of Italy, and whoever married her could soon follow suit.

But her dawning realisation over the past few weeks that Luca didn’t love her hadn’t actually hurt as much as she thought it would. Why was that? And then there was the discovery last night that he had a mistress, too. In fact, if she wasn’t mistaken, the woman was at the back of the church right at this minute. She quelled the urge to turn and stare at her.

Everything was going so smoothly. So fast. She shivered again and then stiffened as the priest turned to her. All she had to do was agree with him. She stared at Luca and swallowed as her eyes met his. If anything, she was slightly taller than him, and he had used that often to make her feel clumsy and awkward. The priest repeated the question, and still she could say nothing.

Behind her she could feel the congregation stirring. It was right that she should hesitate, they seemed to be saying, but not this much. Just who did she think she was?

Cara half turned to Uncle Pancrazio for support, but he merely smiled and motioned her to carry on. She jerked her head round and looked at Luca once more. His hard brown slightly bloodshot eyes stared coldly into hers, and suddenly her mind was made up. She shook her head. ‘No,’ she whispered at last.

Had anybody heard? Or had she merely thought she had spoken? She scrunched up a handful of white silk in her left hand and gripping it tightly, she repeated the word more loudly. ‘No.’

There was a stunned silence in the church, and she swallowed hard at the expression on Luca’s face. ‘I can’t marry you.’ She forced the words out. ‘Truly. I thought I could love you, but I can’t. Please don’t be upset. You ought to find—’