Loving Venus (Sally-Ann Jones Sexy Romance) by Sally-Ann Jones Read Free Book Online

Italian adventure and the surly second cousin whose personality had changed beyond recognition. To be praying for the rains that would ensure a good wheat harvest so her parents and herself could stay on the farm for another year, at least. To stay on the farm. Was that what she really wanted, she asked herself, with brutal honesty.
         The peppery taste of a fresh Tuscan fig still lingering on her tongue, the gentle Italian sunshine warming her body, the magnificent view over rolling hills and wooded valleys thrilling her imagination, she knew that what she wanted more than anything in the world was to stay right here, where her heart and soul belonged. She adored her parents and her friends, but Casa dei Fiori had always felt more like home to her than the dry, flat paddocks of her father’s farm. And it wasn’t just because her second cousin was part of the scenery. She loved the villa and its estate because it was in her blood to do so, just as it had been in the blood of her Italian ancestors for centuries. And her great-grandfather had known that as surely as if she had had the name of his property tattooed across her forehead.
         Annabella remembered sitting under this very tree with him thirteen years before. The sun was setting over the hills and the church bells in the medieval village high up on one of the slopes were ringing out across the valleys. Alessandro had been in the nearest city, Siena, for three long days, helping his school-friend, Mario’s, family, prepare their horse for the Palio and his little second cousin was missing him.
        “We’ll see him tomorrow, cara ,” great-grandfather had assured her. “Your parents and I are going to meet him in the Campo in Siena for the big horse race. I have asked Tonia’s husband to polish the old Bentley specially for the occasion. You haven’t seen my pride and joy yet, have you?” He’d chuckled as he explained that he bought the car after the war and was never quite sure whether it would actually get them to their desired destination. “But, in this part of the world, it’s a joy to break down in the road. One merely luxuriates in the sunshine and relishes the scenery until help comes.”
         He’d smiled then and lovingly enfolded her against his big, cigar-scented chest. “I don’t need to tell you that, do I, piccola Annabella? You love Tuscany. I can see it in the way your green eyes light up and in the way you savour everything Tonia puts on your plate. You have come alive in the few days you have been here. When you first arrived from Australia, you were pale and your hair and eyes lacked sparkle. Italy has suffused you with joie de vivre . You really are a de Rocco, through and through. I cannot tell you how proud I am of you and how glad I am that I finally persuaded your mother, my grand-daughter, to bring you to me. If only my estate were a little more financial – then I would make sure I saw you every summer.”
         The old man’s eyes misted over then and Annabella protested, “But great-grandpapa, you will see me again, I promise!”
         Alas, it wasn’t to be. Neither side of the family could afford the fares for a follow-up visit and Annabella was never to see her beloved great-grandfather again after those first glorious weeks with him. How wonderful it had been to watch the thrilling Palio with Alessandro and the old man!
         The Bentley was gracious for a change, and had got them to Siena without mishap. Annabella had sat in the front, between the chauffeur, Tonia’s long-gone husband, and her great-grandfather. Her parents had stretched out in the back and they’d all enjoyed the hour-long drive into the city, past sunflower fields about to burst into yellow bloom, past green rows of vines whose grapes were becoming heavier and sweeter by the day, through avenues of cypresses and fields of silvery olive trees. Every so often the old man would point out a particularly good fattoria