Surprised by Love by Kate Hofman Read Free Book Online Page B

choose my own bride.  If my mother
persists in her idiotic interfering, I shall stop her allowance.  And I’ll
tell her I will place an ad in the legal gazette, and the main newspapers
advising that I will not be held responsible for her debts.” 
    His
uncles’ appreciative grins quickly turned to animated laughter, and Gina, who
had been watching them, wondered what her son and her brothers-in-law could
find so funny.  Agitated, she thought that it might be something to her
detriment.  She narrowed her eyes.  She would keep on trying—she
would get a million Euros from the mother of the girl she succeeded in forcing
on Alessandro.  She frowned.  She had to bring this off. 
She had overspent grossly and stupidly, and didn’t dare approach her son to pay
off her debts.  She hadn’t thought he would be so angry at her bit of
matchmaking—calling it interfering in his private life.  Now, she knew that
he would refuse to help her out financially.  
    Her
frown got deeper.  Why didn’t I ask him for the money first?  I
could’ve waited until the next dinner to force one of these girls on him. 
Now, he is totally turned off them—and me.  Calling them puttanas! 
I’ll show him…   But she realized uneasily that she had nothing to show
him, and would not succeed in forcing him to marry one of her candidates. 
She shrugged.  She’d think of something else, never fear.  She had to get her hands on some serious money.
    ****
    When
Alessandro got back to his penthouse, he found Connie reading.  She looked
up the moment she heard the door of the reception room open.  She
pretended to look him over, finally saying, “No bandages, no arm in a
sling.  Hostilities must have been kept to a minimum?”
    Alessandro
smiled and—with a brief “You permit?”—took off his jacket.  He began to
tug his tie loose, opening the top three buttons of his shirt.  “Mm, there
was quite a bit of hostility.  My mother had invited three girls of about
17, and the moment I sat down—with my Nonna , by the way—those girls were
all over me, as if they were in training for jobs in a harem.  I told my
mother these girls weren’t family, and asked her butler to bundle them into my
limo for Aldo to drive them home.”  He grinned.  “I’ve never seen my
mother so raving mad, but it got her nowhere.”
     “From
the way you mentioned your Nonna , I guess she was the family member you
really wanted to see?” 
    Alessandro
nodded.  “Will you do me a favour and remind me tomorrow to arrange for my
lawyer to advise my mother that—at the first sign of her interfering again in
my life, and that includes her asinine matchmaking—her allowance will be
stopped.”
    Connie
smiled.  “Alessandro, you are my boss—reminding you of something is what
I’m here for.  It isn’t some kind of favour!”
    Alessandro
shook his head.  “No, that is not what you’re here for.  And we’re
not working now, so I asked you for a favour.”
    Connie
nodded, surprised.  “Thank you, Alessandro.  That was a charming way
to ask.”
     “No
more than the truth,” he said airily.
    ****
     
    The
next day, Connie reminded him, and Alessandro spent some time on the phone with
his avvocato, Giulio Castellano.  In case she’d have to deal with this
at some future time, she listened, glad to be able to follow what Alessandro
was telling his lawyer.   “Fine,” said Alessandro at last. 
“Tell me when it’s all done.  I don’t want her to spring any more
unsuitable surprises on me.”
    Connie
frowned.  For all Alessandro’s cool, his mother had succeeded in upsetting
him.  Why? she wondered—realizing this was not a question she could ever
ask him.
    When
Alessandro put away his phone, he smiled at her.  “Did you catch the drift
of what I was telling Giulio?”
    Connie
nodded.  “Yes.  I suspect you spoke a little more slowly than you
usually do?  I took notes of what you were saying and will open a file