Convenient Brides by Lindsay Armstrong, Catherine Spencer, Melanie Milburne Page A

acknowledged dazedly, would Vanessa expect her to do so.
    Things had changed from what they’d been eight years ago, and so had the people—no, the person, Paolo, as closely involved as she herself. He was not the same man who’d loved and left her without a second thought. Perhaps, in view of that, what she’d perceived to be her inalienable rights weren’t so inalienable, after all.
    “Caroline?” Paolo approached her with outstretched hand. “I could use a little air, and so, I think, could you.”
    “Yes,” she said, grateful for the suggestion.
    A week ago, she’d been so sure she had all the answers. To find herself suddenly rethinking the whole issue of what was best for the children left her shaken and confused.
    She needed to escape the tension in the room and clear her head. She needed to come to terms with her own abrupt change of heart and try to figure out exactly where that left her. And she could do neither pinned in Salvatore’s inimical glare.

Chapter Four
    “W HERE are we going?”
    “Away from a confrontation grown too painful for all of us.”
    Callie’s rational mind cautioned her not to trust every word that came out of Paolo’s mouth, nor blindly follow where he led, just on his say-so. He might be a much more admirable man than he’d once been, but he was still a Rainero and, not five minutes ago, had admitted his first loyalty lay with his family. But the sure clasp of his fingers around hers warmed her soul; the compassion and, yes, the tenderness in his voice, soothed her battered spirit. In a house suddenly filled with such a wealth of enmity and mistrust, he was her only friend, because even Lidia must have lost sympathy for her now.
    Taking her hand, Paolo led her out of a side entrance and along a path to a miniature two-story villa, some fifty feet removed from the main house, and hidden from it by a high hedge of flowering shrubs. Lights showed behind the draperies at the upper windows.
    “Who lives here?”
    “Jolanda and her husband.”
    “We’re visiting them?”
    “No. The night is mild. We’ll take adrive around the island.”
    “I didn’t know there were any roads here. I’ve only everseen the helicopter pad and the boat dock.” Not that Callie in fact cared, one way or the other, but it was easier to focus on the insignificant than dwell on the scene they’d left behind: Lidia weeping and distraught, and Salvatore almost foaming at the mouth with rage and hatred.
    “Hardly roads,” Paolo said, sliding back a huge metal door on the main floor of the housekeeper’s quarters, to reveal a late model Jeep parked inside a garage that also served as a handyman’s workshop. “More like dirt tracks which can be accessed only by a four-wheel-drive vehicle like this, especially during the winter rains. Rather basic transportation, I’m afraid,” he commented dryly, helping her climb into the passenger seat, “but it’s the best I have to offer.”
    “Basic” was too kind a description. Once clear of the welltended grounds of the villa, the Jeep bucked and jolted over the rocky terrain, sometimes veering frighteningly close to the edge of the cliff. Yet rather than fearing for her life, Callie felt safer and more comfortable than she had, back in the luxury of the villa. At twenty-four, Paolo had driven his low-slung luxury sports car like a maniac bent on self-destruction, but he handled the Jeep with masterful skill, and her pulse, which had raced erratically during the showdown with Salvatore, gradually settled back to normal.
    “Thanks for rescuing me from your father’s wrath,” she ventured, the knots in her neck and shoulders lessening. “For a moment there, I thought he was actually going to hit me.”
    “My father would never strike a woman, Caroline.”
    “You could have fooled me. He was out of control.”
    Paolo debated her statement for a moment, then conceded grudgingly, “Sadly, I must agree with you. He hasn’t been himself since we