We met in Italy one summer dayâ¦
The menu at the bistro had overwhelmed me. Too much to choose from, and the plate of linguini covered with herb sauce wasnât what I thought Iâd asked for.
âNo, grazie, â I told the waiter, searching my little phrase book.
â Per favore, signorina, may I help?â
I looked up and there he was: tall, dark, handsome and able to speak English. âYes, please!â I replied fervently. âAll I want is a light meal, but not a salad. Just something small.â
âI understand perfectly.â He engaged the waiter in discussion, and with nothing better to do, I simply stared at my gallant rescuer. He was perhaps five feet ten or eleven, with a slim but powerful build, thick black hair that gleamed under the sun and a face that left me dry-mouthed and reaching for my glass of acqua mineraleâ¦.
âAnd the next thing, he asked if he could join you,â my granddaughter said dryly.
âActually, I asked him.â
âSo how long before you decided you were in love with him?â
âAbout five minutes.â
âOh, come on, Gran! You donât mean that.â
âI do. It really was love at first sight, for both of us. Fateâs way of letting us know we were meant to be.â
Dear Reader,
When I was expecting my second child, my three-year-old daughter wanted to know if Iâd still love her as much after the new baby was born. When I assured her I would, she asked, âBut what if you donât have enough?â
The Man from Tuscany is Anna and Marcoâs story, and is about always having enough. The human heart has an infinite capacity for love in all its guises. It is not always convenient, often not easy and sometimes demands a terrible price from those who embrace it. But it binds us as wives, mothers, daughters, friends and lovers. It makes us fallible and gives us our humanity. As Anna says, âWe donât choose who or when to love, it chooses us.â
May it choose you.
With love,
Catherine Spencer
The Man from Tuscany
Catherine Spencer
Catherine Spencer is a former high school English teacher, and a multi-published author with Harlequin, mostly under the Presents imprint. Her books have been distributed in more than thirty-five countries and translated into over twenty languages. The Man from Tuscany is her first Harlequin Superromance book. She lives on Canadaâs west coast with her husband and two adorable yellow Labrador retrievers. She has four children and eight grandchildrenâan amazing achievement for a woman whoâs still only thirty-nine! She loves to hear from her readers and may be contacted through her Web site at www.catherinespencer.com.
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
EPILOGUE
S OMETHING was definitely amiss. Anna Wexley was a creature of habit, and asking Carly to drop everything and visit her on a weekday morning was a marked departure from the usual. A critical care nurse, Carly knew how precariously balanced her grandmotherâs health was, and how little it would take to tip the scales against her. For that reason alone, she wasted no time driving out to Allendale House, the elegant old mansion that was now a retirement residence, where Anna had lived for the past several years.
At first glance, nothing appeared out of the ordinary. No ambulance waited in the paved forecourt, and the French doors to her grandmotherâs suite, directly above the buildingâs main entrance, stood ajar. A good sign, surely, on this warm June morning, because Anna loved sitting on her balcony, listening to the birds and enjoying the distant view of Block Island Sound.
Better yet, no sympathetic voices greeted Carly when she signed in at the front desk. Nor, when her grandmother answered her door, was there any overt hint of trouble. Anna had obviously visited the residence beauty salon earlier, and wore the pretty pleated skirt and white blouse Carly had given her the previous Christmas. With pearl studs in her ears and, as always, her gold filigree heart pendant, she looked remarkably well put-together for an eighty-three-year-old with a history of congestive heart failure. On closer examination, though, Carly saw that although her face lit up with pleasure at the sight of her granddaughter, Annaâs eyes glowed with a feverish agitation that was anything but normal.
Folding her in a careful hug, Carly said, âYou seemed upset on the phone, Gran. Has something happened?â
âI suppose it has,â Anna replied tremulously. âCome sit on the balcony and have a glass of lemonade, while I try to explain.â
Following her outside, Carly urged her onto the wicker love seat, sat down next to her and pressed two fingers to her grandmotherâs inner wrist. âWhatâs wrong? Are you in pain? Any difficulty breathing?â