“It is the hotel,” he said, then answered it. “Yes?”
His gaze shot to hers and Teresa was disappointed to see his easy expression drain away to be replaced with the cold, cautious one she’d become so accustomed to.
“What is it?” Her voice was as resigned as she felt.
“A phone call,” he said. “From your father. The hotel is forwarding it to my cell.”
“My father?” She hadn’t heard from her father since the day he left. Mainly because Rico had commandeered her cell phone—no doubt so she couldn’t make escape plans. She took the phone from him and tried not to worry at what might have happened to make her father call. “Papa?”
“Bellissima, are you all right?” Nick’s voice was hurried, anxious. “I have not heard from you and when I try to call your cell, I get only your answering machine.”
“I, um, lost my phone,” she said, with a quick look at Rico, who only seemed amused. Yes, she’d lied again. But she couldn’t very well tell her father that Rico had commandeered her phone to ensure that she didn’t call her family to plot an escape.
“Good, good. I am glad you are all right. This King person, he is treating you well?”
“I’m fine, Papa. Rico has been very…” She paused and caught his eyes. One black eyebrow lifted, as if he was waiting to see exactly what she would tell her father about their time together. “…kind.”
He snorted.
Her father only muttered something in Italian that she thought it was better Rico hadn’t heard. Then he spoke again.
“When this is all over, cara, you will tell me all about how you could marry this man without telling your papa.”
“I will,” she promised, though she knew that conversation wouldn’t be a pleasant one. No man wanted to hear that his daughter had been so swept away by passion that marrying a man she hardly knew had seemed like the rational thing to do.
“But for now,” her father continued, “there is a small problema, mi cara.”
“Problem?” she repeated for Rico’s benefit, and his scowl deepened accordingly. “What’s wrong?”
Her father huffed out a breath. “We cannot find Gianni,” he admitted finally. “He, too, is not answering his phone—why do my children plague me with machines they do not bother to use?—and he has not been in touch with us. He is not here in Italy and no one has seen him in weeks.”
Her brother could be anywhere in the world. If he didn’t want to be found, no one would be able to locate him. But why wasn’t he answering his phone? It wasn’t like him to simply disappear without telling the family when he would be back.
There were only two weeks left in Rico’s ultimatum, and if Gianni didn’t return Rico’s dagger at the end of the month…the Coretti family would end up in jail. As to what Rico would do with her, she couldn’t even guess.
“Did you try reaching him at his apartment in London?” she asked, keeping her gaze now firmly away from Rico’s.
“Si, si. Of course we tried. Paulo is traveling, trying to run Gianni to ground.” He sounded completely disgusted with the whole situation. “Paulo is in Monaco right now. If he finds Gianni there, he will call me immediately. I am going to Gstaad. He had a woman there last year and perhaps…”
That was the trouble with having a wandering family. They all had connections all over the world. Gianni could be anywhere. But the fact that he wasn’t answering his phone had Teresa more than a little worried. What if he had been arrested somewhere? What if he was right now sitting in a jail cell and couldn’t call?
She chewed at her bottom lip as she considered the possibilities. Then she realized that if one of the Coretti family had been arrested, it would have made all of the news programs. So clearly Gianni wasn’t in jail. So where, exactly, was he?
“Papa, if you can’t find him in Switzerland,” she said, “call Simone in Paris. She might know where he is.”
“Ah, of course!” Her father sounded joyful at the suggestion. “Simone and Gianni…” And off he went again in fluent, musical Italian.
Teresa stole a glance at Rico and was sorry she had. He didn’t look happy. His blue eyes were almost cobalt and a muscle in his tightly clenched jaw twitched with his effort to control his anger.
“You will be well, bellissima,” her father said when he had wound down. “All will be taken care of. But we might need a little more time…”
Oh, no. “Hold on, Papa.”
Taking a breath, she covered the phone with her hand and spoke to the man glowering beside her. “Paulo and my father are having a hard time finding Gianni,” she explained.
“He’s the one who took my dagger?”
“Yes,” she said shortly. “And it seems he’s disappeared, at least temporarily. They’re looking for him, but Papa says they might need a little more time and—”
Shaking his head, he snatched his phone from her and said tightly, “Signore Coretti. You have no more time. There are two weeks left. If my dagger is not returned, the evidence I hold goes to Interpol.”
She could hear her father’s loud blustering and his shouted demand, “And what of Teresa? What happens to my little girl?”
She held her breath, waiting for the answer to that question. Rico’s gaze met hers and she saw no softening in those cold blue depths. No warmth on his features when he said, “She will no longer be your concern. As she is my wife, I decide what will happen.”
He shut off the phone and dropped it into his shirt pocket. Looking down at her, he repeated, “Two weeks, Teresa.”
“And then?”
“We will see when the time comes.” He took her hand in his, but it wasn’t a comforting grip. More like a jailer’s hold on a flight risk. “For now, let us go to the chocolatier for Melinda’s gift.”
She followed after him because she had no choice. But the truth was, she’d have followed him anyway.
There were only two weeks left. And whatever his plan for Teresa entailed, she knew it didn’t include staying with him.
So while her family panicked and searched the globe for Gianni…Teresa was going to try to enjoy the moments she had left with the only man she’d ever love.
Ten
Two days later, Rico arrived home earlier than usual.
Ever since that phone call from Dominick, there’d been new tension between him and Teresa. It was as if they both realized that time was running out and neither of them knew quite how it would end.