Become a tycoon, he’d said.

By the time she reached home, Piper Duchess had made up her mind. She would throw herself into work. She would become a millionaire before she was thirty.

That would prove to Nic de Pastrana that she didn’t need him.

But that was before Nic turned up on her doorstep—needing her help….

THE HUSBAND FUND trilogy

by Rebecca Winters

Only in Harlequin Romance®!

Book 1—To Catch a Groom (#3819)

Book 2—To Win His Heart (#3827)

Book 3—To Marry for Duty (#3835)

Dear Reader,

I came from a family of five sisters and one brother. The four oldest girls were my parents’ first family. There was a space before my baby sister and baby brother came along.

My mother called the first four her little women, and gave each of us a Madame Alexander doll from the Little Women series based on the famous book by Louisa May Alcott. We may not have been quadruplets, but we were close in age and definitely felt a connection to each other that often meant we tuned into each others’ thoughts as we sang, played, studied and traveled together.

In our early twenties I recall a time when I took the train from Paris, France, where I’d been studying, to meet one of my sisters at the port in Genoa, Italy, where her ship came in from New York. She was returning to school in Perugia, Italy. Some of my choicest memories are our glorious adventures as two blond American sisters on vacation along the French and Italian rivieras, dodging Mediterranean playboys.

When I conceived The Husband Fund trilogy for Harlequin Romance®, I have no doubt the idea of triplet sisters coming to Europe on a lark to intentionally meet some gorgeous Riviera playboys sprang to life from my own family experiences at home and abroad.

Meet Greer, Olivia and Piper, three characters drawn from my imagination who probably have traits from all four of my wonderful, intelligent, talented sisters in their makeup.

Enjoy!

Rebecca Winters

www.rebeccawinters-author.com

To Marry for Duty
Rebecca Winters

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ONE

August

Kingston, New York

“THANKS for seeing me on such short notice, Dr. Arnavitz. I’ve never been to a psychiatrist before, so I’m nervous.”

He cocked his gray head. “Nervousness on the part of my patients seems to go with the territory. At least on a first visit. Why don’t you tell me what’s bothering you and we’ll start there.”

Piper Duchess sat on the edge of the chair with her hands rigidly clasped on top of her knees. “Everything’s bothering me—” she blurted before hot tears rolled down her flushed cheeks.

Without saying anything the doctor pushed a box of tissues toward her. She took one and wiped the moisture from her face. When she’d regained a little composure, she said, “For the first time in my life, I’m really alone, and I’m not handling it very well. To be honest, I’m not handling it at all—” She broke down again.

“Do you mean emotionally, physically?”

“Both.” She blotted her aqua eyes with another tissue.

“From your chart I see that you’re twenty-seven years old and single. Are you going through a breakup with a boyfriend or fiancé?”

No.

Nic didn’t qualify for either category and anyway he wasn’t interested in her. In fact Nicolas de Pastrana of the House of Parma-Bourbon in Spain had always been off limits to her though she hadn’t known that when she’d first met him and his cousins. “No,” her voice trembled, “but I would imagine this is exactly how it must feel. No wonder it’s such a traumatic experience.”

“Tell me about your family.”

“My parents have both passed away. My sisters Greer and Olivia are now married and live in Europe. Olivia just got married in Marbella. I flew home from Spain to New York three days ago.”

“You live alone?”

She nodded. “In a basement apartment here in Kingston. The three of us shared it after Daddy died in the spring.”

“You have no extended family?”

“No. Our parents were both older when they married and their families have all passed on.”

“So you’re virtually alone now.”

Her throat started to close up with pain. “Yes. I sound like a big baby, don’t I?”

“Not at all. Most people have some relatives living in the same country at least. Where do you fit in your family constellation?”

Piper thought she understood what he meant. “I’m the middle child, but that may sound misleading since my sisters and I are nonidentical triplets.”

“Ah…” That was all he said, but apparently it answered some questions for him.

“I’ve never been completely alone like this before. I’m not talking just the physical separation from my sisters. It’s a mental thing.”

“The reign of the Three Musketeers has come to an end?” he supplied.

“Yes!” she cried. “It’s exactly like that. All for one, one for all. Now they have husbands and nothing will ever be the same again.”

“Are you angry about that?”

Her head was bowed. “Yes. I know that’s an awful thing to say.”

“You’re wrong. It’s the honest thing to say. If you’d said anything else, I wouldn’t have believed you.”

“It’s my fault they’re married, so I don’t have anyone to blame but myself.”

“You mean you held a gun to their husbands’ heads when they proposed to your sisters?”

She laughed in spite of her tears. If only he knew the extent of the machinations involved. “No.”

“So how could their marriages be your fault?”

“It’s a long story.”

“We have twenty more minutes.”

Meaning she’d better get to the point fast. “Greer’s the oldest. She always told Olivia and me what to do. She was the one who talked us into starting our Internet business after college. It was her plan that we become millionaires by the time we were thirty, so she said none of us could get married or it would spoil everything.

“Olivia and I didn’t care about becoming millionaires and figured we needed to get her married off first so we could meet a man and settle down to be happy like our parents.

“Dad worried about Greer’s attitude too. Before he died, Olivia and I came up with a plan for him to leave any money to us in a special fund we called the Husband Fund.

“The one legal stipulation was that we could only use the money to find a husband, and for no other reason. Of course Daddy, who approved of the idea wholeheartedly, didn’t let on to Greer that we were behind it.

“In June we planned a trip to the Riviera, the perfect place for all of us to meet an exciting man. The whole point was for Greer to meet one who would cause her to forget about becoming a millionaire.

“Greer went along with it because she was carrying out Daddy’s last wish. But she had no intention of getting married, only of getting a playboy to propose to her while we were on vacation. Then she would turn him down flat for the sheer fun of it.

“We pretended to go along with her plan. Then to our amazement she met Maximilliano di Varano of the House of Parma-Bourbon, the man of her dreams, and she ended up proposing to him! They were married inside of six weeks, and now live in Italy.

“That was terrific. It meant Olivia and I could go back to New York and do our own thing. But then,” her voice shook, “Olivia fell in love with Max’s first cousin, Lucien de Falcon, also of the House of Parma-Bourbon. They were just married a few days ago and will be living in Monaco.”

The doctor nodded. “So now you’re free to do your own thing.”

A sob got trapped in her throat. My own thing. “I don’t know what that is anymore.”

Dr. Arnavitz sat forward. “The end of the Three Musketeers may be the end of your girlhood, but it’s the beginning of Piper Duchess’s life as a woman with new worlds to conquer. Europe is as near as the next plane ride.”

“I know,” she said in a dull voice.

But Nic was there. After the way he’d rejected her, she refused to give him the satisfaction of thinking she was aware of his existence.

“Are you still working at your Internet business?”

“Yes.”

“Tell me about it.”

“I’m an artist. I draw illustrations for wall calendars with slogans that appeal to women. You know like, ‘If you need to get it done, ask a woman.’ Greer thought up the slogans, and Olivia did the marketing.”

He smiled. “Does it provide you with a good living?”

“Yes. They’re selling well throughout the U.S. and are going to be distributed in a couple of cities in Europe.”

“Lucky you. Why don’t you turn the tables on Greer?”

“What do you mean?”

“Your sister wanted to be a millionaire by the time she was thirty. You wanted to get married. So get busy seeing how much money you can make by the time you’re thirty.

“Broaden your horizons. There’s always South America, Australia, the Far East. Set up office space. Hire staff. Become a tycoon. Make it into an empire. Who knows what the future holds in store for you?

“If you stay in that basement apartment and remain angry, no one will feel sorry for you. Not every woman has your intelligence, your talent, your health, your lovely blond looks, your ability to do whatever you want. There’s nothing to stop you except your own unhealthy self-pity.”

Ooh.

Dr. Arnavitz knew how to hit where it hurt. But that’s what she was paying him $200.00 a half hour for.

Speaking of half hour, her time was up. She thanked him for seeing her and told him she’d think hard about what he’d said.

On the drive back to the apartment in her dad’s old Pontiac, the doctor’s admonition kept swirling around in her head.

Become a tycoon, he’d said. Hire staff.

By the time she reached home, she’d made up her mind that she would become a millionaire before she was thirty. It would prove to Nic she didn’t need him.

The second she got back to her apartment, she marched into the living room which she and the girls had turned into an office, and phoned Don Jardine. He was Greer’s former boyfriend, the man who’d never stood a chance with her. It was Don who owned and ran the company that printed the calendars they sold and distributed throughout the States.

“Hi, Don!”

“Piper—I didn’t realize you were back from Europe. How did everything go?”

She noticed he didn’t ask about Greer. Smart man. Piper planned to take a leaf out of his book and never ask her sisters about Nic.

“Olivia is now married to Lucien de Falcon. That’s how things went! I’ll let you be the one to tell Fred the news.”

Fred was Olivia’s former boyfriend, and Don’s friend.

After a prolonged silence, “That’s two down. There must be something in the Varano genes that’s fatal for the Duchess triplets.”

Don must have been reading Piper’s mind. No doubt there was a scientific explanation for the fact that she and her sisters were all enamored of men who belonged to the same family.

Once she read about two male twins in England who fell in love with the same woman. She loved them both, so the three of them settled down together and lived happily ever after. At the time Piper read the story to her sisters, all three of them rolled on the floor with laughter, but Piper wasn’t rolling with laughter now.

“Not this Duchess triplet!” she declared with vehemence.

“Does that mean there’s hope for Tom after all?”

“No.”

Tom was Piper’s ex-boyfriend and another good friend of Don’s. Once upon a time all six of them had enjoyed waterskiing and going to movies in a group. As Greer had always pointed out, there was safety in numbers.

Truer words were never spoken. Once Max had gotten Greer to himself, that was the end of the girls’ lifelong triumvirate. It started the domino effect. Olivia fell under Luc’s spell. As for Piper…

Piper was a fool who would never, ever throw herself at a man again.

“I have a business proposition for you. It’s big.”

“How big?”

“Want to fly to Sydney, Tokyo and Rio with me to find out? Depending on the outcome, we’ll incorporate and offer shares on the stock market. Are you interested?”

A long silence ensued. “How soon do you want to get together to talk?”

“Tonight if you’re free. First off we need to come up with the best savvy corporate attorney we can find.”

“Agreed. But what about Europe?”

Her body stiffened. “Forget it. I’m never stepping foot on that continent again.”

“You don’t mean that, Piper. Your sisters live there.”

“Then they’ll have to come to me if they want to see me.”

“What am I missing here? I thought garnering new markets was the reason you were in Spain last week.”

“I thought so too until I found out it was a setup. I really don’t want to talk about it.”

“If you want me for a business partner, I’m afraid you’re going to have to. How were you set up, and more importantly, why?”

Still bristling with rage Piper said, “The Varano cousins used their powerful influence and money to pay Signore Tozetti to be our European distributor.

“It was a clever move on Luc’s part. He lured Olivia back to Europe through a lucrative business offer so he could win her forgiveness for his utter cruelty to her. His cunning plan worked so well, they are now on their honeymoon!

“But I don’t want any part of the money our calendars might make over there. We didn’t win that contract from Signore Tozetti on the merits of our talents alone.”

Piper would divide any profits made in Europe between her sisters. She didn’t plan on keeping a penny of the money Nic had anything to do with!

“I can’t say I blame you for that,” Don murmured.

“Thank you for understanding.”

“I understand a lot more than you think. You’re the artist after all. A brilliant one I might add.”

“Thanks, Don.”

“It’s true. One day you’re going to be famous, Piper.”

That’s what Olivia had said before they’d both found out they’d been set up.

Mother and Daddy would be so proud to know your drawings are going to be famous all over Europe, Piper.

We don’t know that yet, so let’s not count our chickens.

Signore Tozetti wouldn’t have paid us an advance to come to Spain if he didn’t believe he was going to make a bundle off you pretty soon. When he sees what you’ve done in just three days, he’ll be sending you everywhere; France— Switzerland—

Her hand tightened on the phone receiver. “You don’t become famous with a bunch of calendars.”

“Your calendars have only been a stepping stone. It’s time to branch out.”

He was starting to sound like Dr. Arnavitz. “In what way?”

“Commercial advertising over television and the Internet is hot. Think global and the sky’s the limit. Megacorporations spanning several continents pay seven and eight digit figures to the artist who can come up with the right worldwide image.”

She blinked. “How long have you been thinking this big for me?”

“Ever since I started printing the calendars for Duchesse Designs. You’ve got that touch of genius, Piper. Maybe with my help we can ignite it.”

“I like the way you think. Can you come over at seven?”

“I’ll be there with some ideas that have been percolating for a long time.”

“Did you ever tell Greer about this?”

“What do you think?”

“You’re right. That was sort of a dumb question.”

No one ever told Greer anything except Max. He’d managed to kiss her senseless on the Piccione, have her arrested and put in an Italian jail for the night, after which he’d propositioned her. It was the perfect path to her heart, and she’d ended up throwing herself at him.

Luc had operated a little differently. After breaking Olivia’s heart because of a tragic misunderstanding, he’d gotten her back to Europe on false pretenses. Then he’d locked her inside a robot-limo he’d designed and named Cog. It had so many clever inventions to break down her defenses, Olivia had practically crumbled on the spot forgiving him.

It was sickening.

Piper was happy for the four of them. She really was, but she didn’t want to think about her brothers-in-law, or she would start thinking about Nic, and that kind of thinking was disastrous.

January 26

Marbella, Spain

“Señor Pastrana?”

“Sí, Filomena?”

Nic was on the verge of leaving his office at the Banco De Iberia. Since he’d restructured its branch network, the bank had enjoyed another successful financial quarter that exceeded his expectations, but he took no joy in it.

“A gentleman is on the phone for you from Christie’s auction house in New York.” At the mere mention of New York, Nic’s pulse rate suddenly tripled. “Shall I put him through, or do you want me to take a message?”

“I’ll speak to him now.”

“Very good, Señor.”

While he waited, he closed the file on the bank’s foreign gold reserves he’d been examining and turned off the computer.

“Señor Pastrana?” an American sounding voice came over the speakerphone.

“This is he. Go ahead.”

“John Vashom here from the fine jewels department at Christie’s. Since you first alerted us, we’ve been watching for any jewelry from the Marie-Louise collection stolen from the Varano family palace in Colorno, Italy.

“This morning a jeweled comb showed up for auction by an anonymous seller. I went to our jewel loss register database and pulled out the pictures you supplied us. The piece in question appears to be a perfect match. How would you like me to proceed?”

An adrenaline rush drove Nic to his feet.

By some miracle he’d just been handed the legitimate excuse that would take him to New York, thereby getting him out of the final hellish commitment to the family of his deceased fiancée Nina Robles. The dreaded monthly duty visit wouldn’t be happening after all. Indeed, never again.

“I appreciate your quick handling of the matter, Mr. Vashom.”

“I try to do my best.”

Without conscious thought Nic pulled the black mourning band off his arm and tossed it in the wastebasket. It was a struggle for him to contain his excitement. “An agent from the CIA will be contacting you within the hour. In the meantime, hold on to the comb and say nothing to anyone.”

“You can count on me.”

Nic checked his watch. It was nine-thirty in the morning on the East Coast of the U.S. “I’m on my way to New York now. Expect me before your closing time. I’ll need your cell phone number so we can stay in touch.”

While he wrote it down, his mind made a mental list of people to call. The second they hung up, he phoned the chief investigator in Rome coordinating the efforts of the various police and undercover agents working on the case. Signore Barzini would contact the CIA in New York.

Next he called Signore Rossi, Italy’s top jewelry authenticator, and arranged for him to fly to New York from Parma in one of the Varano jets. Only he could declare if the jeweled comb was the genuine article.

The collection had belonged to the Duchess of Parma, otherwise known as Marie-Louise of Austria of the House of Bourbon, second wife of Napoleon Bonaparte. The theft of the treasure almost two years earlier had been a blow to the whole family. Since that time Nic and his cousins had been conducting an international investigation with the help of police and undercover agents.

One authenticated piece had been recovered when it turned up at a London auction last August. He’d paid a small fortune to get it back. Unfortunately there’d been no leads on the person or persons responsible for the daring jewelry heist.

Now that another part of the collection had shown up in the States, perhaps a fake, perhaps not, Nic was hopeful for a break in the case.

He rang his father but got his voice mail. After apprising him of the situation, he asked his parent to make his excuses to the Robles family for not being able to join them. Even Nic’s father would agree that the call from the auction house constituted the kind of emergency over which Nina’s parents couldn’t take exception.

The Pastrana and the Robles family shared ties through the Spanish House of Bourbon that ran deep. However if Nina’s parents believed they could foist their twenty-seven-year-old daughter Camilla on Nic as a replacement for Nina because of some ancient family custom, then they were more out of touch with reality than he’d first supposed.

After summoning his driver, Nic left the bank through his private entrance and climbed in the back of the limo. En route to the airport he phoned the pilot and told him to get the Pastrana jet ready. There was no need to stop by the villa. Nic kept a change of clothes and toiletries on board.

Euphoric to have thrown off the shackles of his bondage, he phoned Max to fill him in on everything, but he got his cousin’s voice mail as well. Frustrated not to be able to talk to him, he left a message about his plans, then called Luc who picked up on the third ring.

“Olivia and I were just about to call you. We’re sailing to Mallorca this weekend. How would you like to join us there on Sunday after you’re through with your duty visit?”

Luc sounded like a different man these days. Since his marriage to Olivia, he was beyond happy. They were expecting a baby in September. Nic had never known a more ecstatic couple except for Max and Greer who’d put in for adoption and were waiting.

“There’s nothing I’d like more, but something important has come up. I have news that can’t wait.” Within minutes he’d told him about the phone call from Christie’s.

In an instant Luc’s mood had sobered. “I’ll meet you in New York.”

“No. You and Olivia need your time alone. I’m only telling you this because I’ll be gone a while following the investigation.”

“What’s going on?”

Nic took a fortifying breath. “What if I told you the arm band is sitting in the wastebasket of my office getting ready to be tossed out with the trash in the next few minutes?”

“¡Dieu merci!” his cousin exploded. “It was an archaic custom you should never have been subjected to. I hope this means what I think it means.”

“It’s all I’ve been able to think about since Max’s wedding,” he whispered.

“You may have problems tracking Piper down. She called Olivia from Sydney last week. I’m not sure if she’s back in the States yet.”

“I’ll find her, even if I have to fly to Australia.”

“Should I hear anything different, I’ll let you know. Are you sure you don’t want me to come to New York?”

“Let’s wait and see what Signore Rossi has to say about the comb. If it’s the original, then we’ll have a confab with Max.”

“All right. Take care and good luck, mon vieux.”

Nic knew what his cousin meant. Since Luc’s wedding, Nic hadn’t laid eyes on Piper. Because of the hated black band, a grim reminder of his dark past with all its attendant pain, he hadn’t been able to do anything about her.

For the last eleven months, twenty-five days and seven hours, he’d worn the band faithfully…except for a four day period last June when he’d taken it off to go undercover as the captain of the Piccione.

Those four days had been long enough for him to have become bewitched by a pair of aquamarine eyes shot with blue while he and his cousins pursued the Duchess triplets, believing them to be the thieves responsible for the stolen jewels from the Varano family palace in Colorno, Italy.

Nothing could have been further from the truth, and in that short period of time his life had changed forever.

“I’m going to need it, Luc.”

“What’s your plan?”

“That’s a good question. Technically speaking I should have waited another week before removing the band. But since I’m leaving the country for an indeterminate period, no one’s going to know the difference except Piper. That is if she’s still speaking to me.”

“If anyone can win her around, you can. Talk to you later.”

“I’ll let you know when I’ve made contact,” he said with more confidence than he felt. Nic wasn’t certain of anything where she was concerned. All he knew was that he felt out of breath just anticipating seeing her again.

Now that he’d brought his period of mourning to a close, nothing and no one was going to stand in the way of his getting what he wanted…

January 29

Kingston, New York

“Excuse me for interrupting, Piper, but there’s a man out in front who’s asking for you.”

Jan, the former northeast distributor for Duchesse Designs was now Piper’s assistant in the company she’d formed with Don Jardine. They’d ended up calling it Cyber Network Concepts.

Piper kept sketching at her drafting table. “I’m not officially in until tomorrow.”

She’d moved into the Jardine office building where Don still ran his printing business on the side. He’d given her the suite next to him with a connecting door. So far the arrangement had been working perfectly.

“I told him that, but he insists on seeing you anyway.”

“What’s his name?”

“He said he preferred to surprise you.”

“That’s a pushy salesman tactic. He’s probably the regional manager from Mid Valley machines. They’ve been pestering us to buy their products for months. Get rid of him, Jan.”

“He warned me he wouldn’t leave until he’d spoken to you. I’m afraid he means it.”

“They all mean it. If he’s so anxious, tell him to talk to Don.”

“He doesn’t want to talk to him.”

“Then he’s wasting our time. If he were a client, he would have told you his name. Since we’ve paid all our bills, he couldn’t be a creditor. Tell him we just got back from Sydney with a ton of work to do. Tomorrow’s Tuesday. I’ll see him then.”

In the last six months she and Don had already garnered four lucrative advertising accounts with American companies doing business in Australia and South America. Piper had more work than she could handle now.

“I’m afraid he’s not going to take no for an answer.”

A certain nuance in her voice brought Piper’s head around. Bringing Jan in as office manager and head of their calendar sales in the U.S. had been a master stroke. Because Jan had great business sense, Piper was surprised to discover that her recently engaged assistant could be intimidated by anyone.

“How come you’re afraid to tell him no?”

“He has an aura about him. You know…a certain presence, probably because he’s foreign.”

The hairs prickled on the back of Piper’s neck. “How foreign?”

“If you’re talking about his English, he speaks it perfectly with a slight accent. I think he might be a Mediterranean type or something close to it.”

“So he’s dark-haired?”

“Yes. But tall and…well…you know…built like you wish all guys were built if you know what I mean. To be honest, he’s the most attractive male I’ve ever met in my life. Please don’t tell Jim what I said—”

The charcoal slipped from Piper’s fingers. Three men fit that description. They all belonged to the same family.

“Did this man’s accent sound French?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“Are his eyes a fiery black?”

“No. They’re a piercing brown.”

Help!

Piper tried to swallow. It was impossible. “Is he wearing an arm band?”

“A what?”

“A black arm band above the elbow to designate he’s in mourning?”

“No. He’s dressed in this fabulous stone gray suit. I know this might sound weird to you, but he carries himself like he’s…royalty.”

Piper jumped up from her drafting table in shock. “Jan? You’ve just met the future Duc de Pastrana of the House of Parma-Bourbon. Nic is the first cousin of Greer and Olivia’s husbands.” No wonder Jan acted as if she’d just been through a life-changing experience. In an absolute panic she continued.

“If you value your job, you’ll let me put your engagement ring on. I only need it for a few minutes. Until he leaves I’m not just Don’s business partner, I’m his fiancée! Have you got that?”

Her assistant slowly nodded before removing her modest diamond ring. Piper slipped it on. It was a little loose because Jan was larger boned, but it didn’t matter. It was an engagement ring and would do the job.

“Thank you. For this favor you’ll get a bonus in your next paycheck. Go ahead and send him back.”

Piper’s heart thundered beneath the navy pullover she’d slipped on with her jeans earlier that morning. When she wasn’t traveling to meet with clients, she hibernated in her office to do her artwork away from people.

She sat down at her desk, then stood up again, trying to decide how she would greet him. When she caught sight of his tall, striking physique in the doorway, she’d just sat down again which was a good thing. Her legs wouldn’t have supported her.

“Well, well, well,” she declared with feigned nonchalance, taking the offensive. “If it isn’t the captain of the Piccione.”

CHAPTER TWO

“BUENOS dias, Señorita Piperre.”

When Nic rolled the “r” that way, Piper felt it resonate through every particle of her body. No matter how hard she tried to harden herself against his potent male presence, she failed.

“The last time I saw you, you were hiding in the bushes on your estate, waiting to spirit me away so Luc could do his worst to Olivia.”

At the time she’d hoped Nic had forgotten about his mourning period and would do his worst to her. After all, he’d removed the mourning band for a short while on the Piccione. Piper had been dying for him to kiss her.

Instead he’d led her to the family chapel with the priest in attendance. That’s where she’d found Greer and Max, in fact the whole Parma-Bourbon family, waiting to observe the imminent nuptials of the youngest Duchess triplet and the oldest son of the Duc de Falcon.

Nic must have been remembering that night too. He flashed her what she and her sisters called his Castilian smile, a dazzling white masculine smile that was his unique signature.

But as he’d once explained, Castilian was a misnomer since the Varano part of him was Italian, and the Pastrana side of him didn’t come from Castile. The Pastrana’s royal roots lay in that southern region of Spain known as Andalusia.

Through Piper’s sisters she’d learned that the Robles family also claimed a royal connection through the Spanish House of Bourbon, but never gained the Pastrana’s prominence.

“How come you’re slumming it in American waters? Has some urgent business brought you to the other side of the Atlantic?”

He lifted his proud, aristocratic head and shot her an enigmatic glance. She thought he looked leaner, a little more drawn, yet he was more gorgeous than ever. Piper wasn’t the type to faint, but if she were, she’d be lying flat as a pancake on the floor of her office!

“I’ve been in New York for the last few days because another piece of jewelry from the stolen collection showed up at Christie’s auction house. It turned out to be authentic.”

“Don’t tell me the Duchesse pendant has been unearthed at last?”

“No. A jeweled comb.”

Piper had forgotten all about the collection. If she and her sisters hadn’t worn their own Duchesse pendants to Italy on their first trip, they would never have known about the museum theft of another pendant identical to theirs, or have become involved with the three cousins.

She would never have met Nicolas de Pastrana.

No matter that he’d crushed her heart, the thought of not knowing him was so incomprehensible, she shivered.

Furious at her involuntary reaction to him she said, “If by any chance my sisters suggested you drop by here to persuade me to fly to Europe for a visit, you’ve wasted your precious time.”

He stood with his legs slightly apart, his strong tanned hands clasped in front of him. “Your sisters have no idea I’m here.”

She flashed him her arctic smile. “Since your period of mourning isn’t up until February, I’ll wager Nina’s family doesn’t know you’re here either.”

Piper had purposely introduced his dead fiancée’s name to remind him of the way he’d rejected her advances to him that hot afternoon after Max’s wedding.

When she’d tried to help him remove his tuxedo jacket and suggested they take a little nap in the grass by the old water wheel to cool off, he’d pushed her hands away.

After mocking her because she didn’t know how to behave in polite society with a man wearing a mourning band, he’d said he would excuse it on the grounds that she was one of the notorious Duchess triplets.

The hurt he’d inflicted would never go away. She would never forgive him.

He must have been reading her mind because he removed his suit jacket with effortless male grace, drawing her attention to the breadth of his shoulders. There was no band on the outside of his dove gray shirtsleeve either.

“As you can see, I’m no longer in mourning.”

“Don’t tell me— You had other business in New York, so you removed your arm band early. It couldn’t be because you’ve decided you’re ready to lie down and take that nap with me before you fly back to Marbella, could it?” She eyed him narrowly. “In my neck of the woods, that’s called cheating. It’s something I don’t do.”

Lines darkened Nic’s rugged features. Good. She’d hit a nerve, and she would go on pressing against it until she got rid of him.

“I’ve come to ask an important favor of you,” his voice grated.

“Really.” Flame licked her cheeks. “Does Nina’s sister Camilla know about this? I understand she’s waiting in the wings until next month when she expects to become your new fiancée.”

A tiny nerve throbbed along the ridge of Nic’s taut patrician jaw. It had to frustrate him that nothing in his personal life was sacred now that his cousins were married to her sisters.

“I’m here to talk about us.”

“Us?” she exploded. “There is no us! I got engaged in Sydney and know enough about polite society to play around with my own fiancé and no one else.”

A stunning stillness pervaded the atmosphere. Nic’s eyes narrowed to slits. “I don’t believe you.”

Her heart almost palpitated out of her chest. “What don’t you believe? That I have principles? Or that I’m an engaged woman now?”

Enjoying this triumphant moment, she buzzed Don. It was a huge risk to take, but he knew all about her broken heart. She was depending on him to play along.

“Don?”

“Hi. I was just about to ask if you want to go to lunch at Alfie’s.”

Don got A-plus for that opening.

“I’d love it! First though, can you come in my office for a minute? We have a visitor from Spain, Nicolas de Pastrana, Greer’s and Olivia’s cousin. He’s here to ask me a favor. Since you and I got engaged in Sydney, I’d like the two of you to meet.”

“I’ll be right there,” Don said without missing a heartbeat. Bless the man.

The second her business partner breezed through the connecting door, Piper gravitated toward him and was given a loving hug. She looked up at him. “Honey? I was just telling Nic our news.”

As she turned to Nic, she purposely exposed her left hand for him to view the ring. A thrill of alarm passed through her body to see his fierce expression, showing a hint of the Mediterranean fire that flowed through his Andalusian veins.

“This is my fiancé, Don Jardine.”

Nic nodded to Don, not making an effort to shake his hand. “Jardine—weren’t you once involved with Greer?”

Piper reeled for a moment.

“We dated.”

At Don’s brief reply, Nic’s lips twisted in distaste before he impaled her with his dark, penetrating gaze. “All for one, and one for all. The Duchess motto,” his deep voice trailed.

Before she could credit it, he’d reached for her left hand. “A very nice ring, but it’s a little loose isn’t it?” With the agility of a magician he slipped it from her finger and lifted it to eye level for examination. “To Jan forever,” he read the inscription aloud.

Don gave Piper’s waist a “good luck, you’ll need it” squeeze before retreating to his office. Once she heard the click of the door Nic said, “He’s a pushover for the Duchesses of Kingston. I actually feel sorry for him.”

She stiffened. “That was a cruel thing for you to do in front of him.”

“No crueler than you asking your assistant to relinquish her ring because you’re the boss. I noticed it on her finger while she waited on me at the front desk.” He made a fist around it and put it in his pocket.

Piper might have known his eagle eye would catch her out in her blatant lie. Nothing got past him. “You’ve missed your calling as an undercover agent.”

“I was just going to say the same thing about you. More than ever I’m convinced you’re the only person who can help me.”

She let out an angry laugh and the movement caused the fine gold strands of her hair to settle around her jawline. “I bet Camilla doesn’t have a clue you’ve made this side trip to Kingston to dally with the last unattached, notorious Duchess triplet.”

“Camilla and her family will know soon enough,” the cryptic words dropped like icicles off a roof.

Though she was trembling with conflicting emotions, she would rather die than let him know it. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I need your assistance. It’s important.”

“You said that before.”

“I’ll make it worth your while.”

“If you’re talking money, forget it. You and your cousins may have bribed Signore Tozetti to lure Olivia back to Europe, but that kind of charade only works once. Don and I have our own business enterprise now. I prefer to earn my money the old-fashioned way.”

He moved closer, making it difficult for her to function or breathe. “I was thinking more along the lines of a baby.”

“A baby—”

“Yes. Both your sisters are expecting one in the near future. You could be too…”

Piper blinked in shock, trying desperately to connect the dots. What on earth was he getting at?

“If you’re insinuating I’ve been sleeping with Don, then you’re way off base! In the first place, neither of us has ever been interested in each other that way, and we would never do that to Greer.

“In the second place, if I were expecting Don’s baby, I certainly wouldn’t need your money. I’m doing just fine on my own.”

His sensual mouth broke into a condescending smile. “I’ve already satisfied myself about you and Jardine. I was thinking in terms of my giving you a baby.”

Piper couldn’t possibly have heard him correctly. “Why in the world would you think I want a baby, let alone yours?”

“Because I was in Luc’s office the day Olivia called you with her news. The speakerphone happened to be on.” Piper’s heartbeat picked up speed while she tried to recall her exact words. “The second your sister told you, you broke down in tears of happiness for her, then you said you thought she was the luckiest woman in the world.”

“Of course I said that!” Piper defended in the steadiest voice she could muster. “Olivia was fortunate enough to fall in love with a man who loved her and wanted to marry her. It’s the only way I would want to have a baby. By now you ought to know the Duchess sisters don’t sleep around.”

He cocked his dark head. “Once upon a time you invited me to take a nap in the grass with you.”

She gave him a fatuous smile. “That was different. I didn’t intend to sleep with you in the way you’re thinking. I was only having a little fun with you because I didn’t really believe you were in true mourning. Otherwise you would never have removed the band, not even to go undercover.”

Caught up in her emotions, she kept on talking faster and faster. “Since my purpose for being in Europe was to win a proposal from a Riviera playboy, then throw it back in his face, I decided to see if I could kiss one out of you for the sheer challenge of it.

“But it seems I underestimated your love for your deceased fiancée after all.” She shrugged her shoulders. “In any event none of it matters because it’s water in another ocean now.”

Shadows darkened his handsome face. “Not quite. Your instincts were right the first time. I never loved Nina Robles.”

Piper couldn’t be positive, but it sounded like he was telling the truth. She suspected that if he’d really been in love with Nina, he would have married her years before.

“So you wore the arm band a whole year to do penance for your sin?” she taunted.

“Yes,” came the surprisingly fierce rejoinder.

“Oh I see—” She flashed him another mocking smile. “Because you were born a royal, you were forced to enter into a loveless engagement and keep up the pretense. Poor Nicolas. In fairness to you, I don’t suppose most royal engagements are true love matches.”

“Some are,” he responded in a silky tone. “In my case the situation was complicated because my family and the Robles family are distantly related and have been very close over the years. A marriage between Nina and me was expected.

“Her untimely death has complicated things further because Señor Robles expects me to marry Camilla according to an old law.”

“Sounds Biblical to me.”

“That’s because it is,” he muttered. “My father is leaning heavily in that direction too.”

“So Camilla doesn’t appeal to you either?”

“No. I’m in love with someone else, but I can’t do anything about that because she’s not in love with me.”

Nic’s interest in another woman had to be the Parma-Bourbon’s best kept secret, otherwise her sisters would have heard about it. The devastating revelation drove Piper to her desk where she sat down before pain caused her to disintegrate right in front of him. He was so out of her reach.

In a wooden voice she said, “Why are you really here, Nic?”

“My official mourning period is over in three days. In order to foil both families’ future plans for me, I would like to arrive back in Marbella with a wife.”

“A wife, huh? Well you shouldn’t have any trouble. There must be a dozen eligible royal females who’ve had their eye on you for years.”

“None of them will do for what I have in mind. You’re the one titleless woman I could bring home that my family won’t be able to take exception to publicly, or ask me to renounce.”

“You mean I’m tolerable because my sisters are married to your cousins, therefore I win the prize by default?” she cried out, her face red hot.

“That’s part of it,” he came back quietly. “My parents have met you and find you charming. They know the history of the Duchess sisters, and are aware you and I have spent time together on two different occasions during my mourning perio—”

“Wait a minute,” she broke in. At this point she was so beside herself with anguish, she jumped to her feet again, then had to hold on to the edge of the desk for support. “That talk about a baby—you’re not suggesting we pretend we’ve been seeing each other on the sly, and now I’m pregnant with your—”

“There’d be no pretense if we got married and had a short honeymoon on our way back to Spain,” he interrupted. “By then we could tell the family it’s possible we’re expecting. That would make my marriage a fait accompli in every sense of the word.”

She shook her head. “No way— The favor you’re asking of me is impossible. Aside from the fact that I don’t like you, you’re in love with someone else!”

“Does that have to matter?”

His cold-blooded response left Piper nonplussed. “Obviously not to you, but it does to me. We’re not in love with each other, so it wouldn’t work. Furthermore I like my world just as it is. My career has taken off and I’m excited to see where it leads.

“Personally I can’t conceive of anything more absurd than the two of us parading around as man and wife in a loveless union just because you want to pull some stunt to get out of marrying Camilla, and I’m the nearest available pawn.”

After a period of uncomfortable quiet he said, “I understand how you feel.” His benign response managed to infuriate her even more. “My apologies for having asked something of you that is pure selfishness on my part and could even be dangerous. I won’t disturb you again.”

With one of those barely discernible yet imperious bows which was second nature to him, he started for the door.

That did it.

“Oh no you don’t!” She ran ahead of him and put her back to the door so he couldn’t leave. “You don’t drop a little bomb like that and then just walk out of here while I stagger around like a victim of shell-shock.”

Trying to catch her breath, she thought she detected a faint smile of satisfaction on his lips. Since he’d always found her amusing, she ought to be used to those horrible, patronizing looks he gave her. Unfortunately he’d only enflamed her.

She put her hands on her hips. “I knew there had to be some other reason you came all this way to see me. Explain dangerous. To whom?”

“To both of us. Naturally I’d provide security so no harm would ever come to you.”

Hairs prickled on the back of her neck once more. “Security?” Despite her bravado, the sudden oblique expression in his eyes gave rise to an uneasy feeling inside her.

“A necessary precaution,” he answered solemnly, trapping her eyes with his dark brown gaze. “But it’s a moot point now. Rest assured that if you had agreed to become my wife, you would have been helping the entire family. In time you would have known the full gratitude of the House of Parma-Bourbon.”

“I don’t want anyone’s gratitude!” Piper practically spit out the words. She wanted Nic’s love, but that wasn’t possible.

“Forgive me for having taken up your valuable time, Señorita Piperre.” He shrugged back into his elegant suit jacket. “I’ll let myself out.”

As he reached past her to open the door, their arms brushed, sending a current of electricity through her body. Her pain flew off the chart.

“Be sure to give Jan back her ring before you leave the building,” she cautioned in a brittle voice.

He paused in the entry, eyeing her through veiled lids. “But of course.”

But of course nothing!

Her eyes prickled behind their lids. She glared at the door he’d closed on his way out.

How dare he have the gall to invade her space like some arrogant Spanish nobleman from the past, expecting her to fall for his droit de seigneur routine with its own peculiar Pastrana twist.

Dangerous my foot!

Wild with hurt, she wheeled around and poked her head inside Don’s office. He looked up at her. “Something tells me I’m about to lose my business partner. Like I said, those Varano genes are fatal for the Duchess triplets.”

“You’re wrong, Don. He’s gone for good. I came in here to apologize for putting you in an untenable position. If you don’t mind, I’d rather work through my lunch hour.”

After closing the connecting door, she headed for her drafting table. Getting back to work was the one panacea that kept the pain at bay.

Forty-five minutes later Jan made an appearance. “I’m going to lunch with Jim now.”

Piper got up from her seat and walked over to the desk where she kept her purse. After pulling out a twenty dollar bill, she extended it to her assistant.

“Have lunch on me. It’s one of my ways of saying thank you for letting me borrow your ring.”

“You don’t have to do that.” Jan made no move to take it. “I was glad to be of help.” After a slight hesitation, “Did it help?”

“I’ll never have to worry about his bothering me again.”

“You must be the only woman in the world who wouldn’t want to be bothered by him.”

“Yes, well, you can stop salivating because beneath that gorgeous Spanish physique lurks a Machiavellian brain. He’s part Italian you know. Greer didn’t trust him the second we went on board the Piccione last June. I hate to admit it, but her instincts about that three-tongued Don Juan were right.”

“Three-tongued?”

“Yes. He can make love to a woman in French, Spanish and Italian.”

“You’re kidding!”

“Not at all. To my knowledge he speaks half a dozen romance languages fluently. Among his other, shall we say ‘nonsensual’ activities, he owns the Spanish-Portuguese Bank of Iberia, he’s a brilliant scholar of Latin and Arabic, and he has written several esoteric books on primogeniture and heraldry.”

“I didn’t think a man like him really existed.”

“Yeah, well, he’s an original all right.”

“What did he do that made you so furious?”

“He asked me to marry him.”

“You’re kidding!” Jan cried out again. “You lucky thing…”

“Before you get too excited, let me explain he’s in love with a woman who doesn’t love him. I think it’s a lie. I bet it’s a titled woman who can’t get out of her marriage.

“Anyway, he needs to find another woman quick so he won’t have to marry the sister of his dead fiancée. He just emerged from a year’s official mourning.”

“You mean people actually do things like that anymore?”

“Apparently the Pastrana family does. Now Don Juan is on the loose again. Since he had to come to New York on business, he picked on the last Duchess triplet to help him out of his latest scrape. Oh—and get this—” Piper let out an angry laugh. “He said it could be dangerous!”

“Maybe you shouldn’t laugh. What if the sister of his dead fiancée is the jealous type? Remember when Jim and I went to see Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera last month? She was a scary, fiery woman. Maybe this sister is so possessive, she’ll try to scratch your eyes out. What’s her name?”

“Camilla.”

“It doesn’t sound good.”

“Yeah, well, like I said, he won’t darken our doorstep again so none of it matters. Go enjoy your lunch!”

“Thanks. Can I bring you something to eat?”

“No, thanks. I’m not hungry.”

She expected Jan to leave, but she still hovered. “What’s the matter?” The subject of Don Juan was officially closed.

“Could I have my ring back? I’m afraid for Jim to see me without it.”

Piper felt the blood drain out of her face.

Slowly she staggered to her feet. “I—I don’t have it.” Jan looked stunned. “Nic does. What did he say to you on his way out?”

“He thanked me for my help and left.”

“Did he say where he was going?”

“No.”

Oh no. “Jan—”

Her assistant studied her for a moment. “I guess he didn’t like being turned down.”

“I’ll get your ring for you. I swear it,” Piper said through gritted teeth. She grabbed her purse. “Before you leave for lunch, will you tell Don I’ve gone home for a bite to eat? When I get back to the office I’ll have your ring with me.”

Piper stormed out into the freezing cold to start up the car.

But of course, Nic had said when she’d told him to return Jan’s ring. Machiavellian tendencies didn’t begin to cover his list of sins.

Nic parked in front of the house where Piper lived in the basement apartment. He had no idea how long his wait would be. A devilish smile broke the corner of his mouth. It all depended on when Jan asked for her ring back.

Suddenly he spotted the car Piper was driving in the rearview mirror of his rental car. Good. He’d wanted to get her away from the office before delivering the coup de grace.

She pulled directly behind him and got out. Through the side-view mirror he watched her start toward him.

Like his cousins who’d lived around dark-haired, dark-eyed Mediterranean women all their lives, he too had been captivated by the golden radiance of the Duchess triplets. He loved the way her hair swished around her flushed face like fine gold mesh. Even without the sun shining, it had a brilliance that drew his gaze.

He loved this particular triplet with her slender curves and jewel-like eyes. The first time he’d looked into them, he’d compared them to the shimmering blue-green waters of the Cinque Terre coastline where he and his cousins enjoyed sailing.

Since last June when she’d appeared on the Piccione, he’d only been able to look, not touch. It had taken every ounce of self-control to tamp down the ache that had leaped to life deep inside him.

Now that he’d flung the mourning band away, he felt reckless and so consumed with the need to hold and love her, he was trembling with that desire.

The object of his thoughts approached and knocked on the driver’s window without hesitation. He pressed the button to lower it.

A faint flowery fragrance from her skin and hair wafted past him. Much like an ember that unexpectedly bursts into flame, her scent ignited every primitive male yearning.

The voluptuous mouth he longed to devour was taut with anger, yet was no less beautiful to him.

“You had no right to drive away with Jan’s ring.”

“I agree. That’s why I gave it to your business partner to return to her. I told him to wait until you’d left the office.”

Her eyes set off a flash of incandescent color that rivaled the Northern Lights.

Ready for her next move which was to either return to her car or lock herself in her apartment, Nic levered himself out of the driver’s seat and caught up to her. Sheer need drove him to grasp her shoulders and pull her back against his chest.

The only other time he’d had this much physical contact with her was one evening last June when he and his cousins had kidnapped the girls during their attempt to escape on bikes.

Piper had been forced to sit on Nic’s lap in the back seat of a car. With the girls’ bikes on top of the car, the six of them piled inside for the half hour drive from the countryside beyond Genoa to the harbor.

Thirty minutes of ecstasy to feel her softly rounded warmth against his body. A lifetime of agony because he hadn’t been able to do anything about his needs.

Right now she was holding herself rigid, but he could feel her trembling. Because it was freezing out, he had no way of knowing if there wasn’t another reason for her condition.

“Please let go of me. People are watching us.”

“Let them. There’s a lot more I have to say to you, but we need the kind of privacy your office couldn’t afford us. You have two choices. Either we talk in your apartment, or my suite at the Kingston Hotel.”

“Not the hotel—” she fired.

“Very well. Let’s go inside your place then.” Her instinct for survival demanded she face him on her own turf. Since he’d always wanted to see where she lived, Nic couldn’t be more pleased.

After relishing the feel of her upper arms for one more moment, he removed his hands so he could follow her to the side steps leading down to her apartment.

She undid the lock. “I only have a few minutes before I have to get back for an important meeting with Don.”

“It’s been canceled. I already explained to him you wouldn’t be coming back today.”

Before she could slam the door in his face, he made a quick move inside the warm, inviting living room. Almost at once he came to a standstill in front of a large oil painting which could only be Piper’s parents in their latter years.

A long time ago he’d stashed the samples of her calendars in his library at Marbella. When he found himself wanting her too intensely, he would take them out of the drawer and examine her fabulous artwork to feel closer to her.

Yet looking at the painting on the wall, he realized she was a superb portrait painter too. It was a revelation to study the attractive faces and bodies of the two people responsible for bringing the Duchess triplets into the world.

He cleared his throat. “Odd how some couples in love grow to look like each other over the years. I can see many of their traits in you.”

She stood next to the coffee table with her arms folded like an adorable schoolteacher waiting for her kindergarten class to come to order.

“It’s déjà vu being pursued by one of the Varano cousins again. You’ve got me trapped, so let’s have it. Why have you really come, and what do you really want? Up until now it’s all been a bunch of gobbledygook.”

He couldn’t help smiling as he turned to face her. “Gobbledygook?”

“Don’t tell me one of Europe’s most renowned etymologists hasn’t heard that expression before.”

“I can’t say I have, but you’re right. I’ve been dancing around you until I could get you where I wanted you.”

Actually she wasn’t exactly where he wanted her yet, but being alone with her in this apartment constituted a major miracle and would do for starters.

“Certain information about the jewelry theft gleaned in New York has unearthed a startling new discovery.”

“And?” she prompted in a bored tone of voice. He could almost hear her tapping her foot, waiting for this to be over so she could boot him out the door. He had news for her…

“It turns out the accident that killed my fiancée in Cortina was no accident. I have every reason to believe the killer wanted both of us dead, but because of a quirk of fate that afternoon, Luc happened to be the one on that tram instead of me.”

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