Read Online Miracle for the Girl Next Door by Rebecca Winters - Free Book Online
Authors: Rebecca Winters
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anyone?”
“Isabella and Cristiano know. Our parents told all of us before Mamma died so there’d be no secrets, but it’s not common knowledge.”
“I’ll never say anything,” she whispered.
“You think I don’t know that?”
“Tino—” She sounded distressed. “I—I’d like to stay longer and talk to you, but I have to go or I’ll be late. Forgive me.”
“Of course. I’ll be in touch.”
She nodded before hurrying away across the piazza. Once she disappeared he rushed after her, realizing she’d taken the set of stairs where she’d come down that first day.
When he reached it and mounted the narrow staircase to the next level of the town, she was nowhere in sight. There were more residences than shops in this area. He looked all around, noticing the local clinic on his left. He’d never known a dental office to be in there, but maybe things had changed.
Give her a few more minutes before you burst in looking for her, Casali.
If he did find her inside, he’d be risking her anger because it smacked of invading her privacy. She might never speak to him again.
After the conversation they’d had the other day on thesubject of maintaining one’s privacy, there was a certain irony to this kind of thinking—and danger. But that was what he thrived on. At this late date he couldn’t change his character if he tried and determined to take his chances.
He watched the locals go in and come out the doors of the clinic. He waited another minute, then walked inside. Just as he’d thought, the wall plaque didn’t indicate any dentists in the building. Beyond the foyer was a waiting room full of patients. He couldn’t see Clara among them. She might not be here at all, but he had to check.
Chagrined that he hadn’t followed her more closely, Valentino had no choice but to approach the receptionist at the desk. When she got off the phone he said, “Could you tell me if Clara Rossetti has already gone in for her appointment?”
“I’m sorry. Even if she were a patient here, I can’t give you that information unless you’re the police or her next of kin.”
For no good reason the hairs lifted on the back of his neck. The receptionist had given nothing away, yet for the first time since coming back to Monta Correnti a little frisson of alarm darted through him. It was that same feeling he got on the racetrack when he sensed something wasn’t right and braced himself for what was coming around the next curve.
“I’m her fiancé,” he lied without compunction. “I’ve been at sea for a long time, but got shore leave specifically to see her. Her sister Bianca told me I’d find her here for her ten o’clock appointment.” If lightning struck him, he didn’t care.
“In that case, go back to the foyer and down the hall to the dialysis clinic.”
Dialysis—
A shudder rocked his body. That meant kidney failure. People died from it.
No. Not Clara. He’d just come from being with her. Though she’d looked tired, she’d seemed healthy to him.
He shook his head, trying to make sense of it.
She couldn’t be dying. That was preposterous! Valentino didn’t believe it. He must have misunderstood the receptionist.
Bile rose in his throat. He couldn’t seem to swallow.
“ Signore ? Are you all right?” The woman at the desk stared up at him anxiously.
“Yes,” he whispered.
“You didn’t know?”
A groan escaped his throat. Her question made it all too real. It meant that the first day he’d seen her on the staircase between the buildings, she’d just come from the clinic.
And the other morning when she’d said she had shopping to do, she’d been on her way here…
He half staggered out to the foyer where he saw the sign for directions to the dialysis clinic.
CHAPTER FOUR
A FTER having to tear herself away from Valentino, Clara had been plunged into a new low of despair. This time it was for him.
Luca Casali wasn’t his birthfather?
Though Valentino might have been
“Isabella and Cristiano know. Our parents told all of us before Mamma died so there’d be no secrets, but it’s not common knowledge.”
“I’ll never say anything,” she whispered.
“You think I don’t know that?”
“Tino—” She sounded distressed. “I—I’d like to stay longer and talk to you, but I have to go or I’ll be late. Forgive me.”
“Of course. I’ll be in touch.”
She nodded before hurrying away across the piazza. Once she disappeared he rushed after her, realizing she’d taken the set of stairs where she’d come down that first day.
When he reached it and mounted the narrow staircase to the next level of the town, she was nowhere in sight. There were more residences than shops in this area. He looked all around, noticing the local clinic on his left. He’d never known a dental office to be in there, but maybe things had changed.
Give her a few more minutes before you burst in looking for her, Casali.
If he did find her inside, he’d be risking her anger because it smacked of invading her privacy. She might never speak to him again.
After the conversation they’d had the other day on thesubject of maintaining one’s privacy, there was a certain irony to this kind of thinking—and danger. But that was what he thrived on. At this late date he couldn’t change his character if he tried and determined to take his chances.
He watched the locals go in and come out the doors of the clinic. He waited another minute, then walked inside. Just as he’d thought, the wall plaque didn’t indicate any dentists in the building. Beyond the foyer was a waiting room full of patients. He couldn’t see Clara among them. She might not be here at all, but he had to check.
Chagrined that he hadn’t followed her more closely, Valentino had no choice but to approach the receptionist at the desk. When she got off the phone he said, “Could you tell me if Clara Rossetti has already gone in for her appointment?”
“I’m sorry. Even if she were a patient here, I can’t give you that information unless you’re the police or her next of kin.”
For no good reason the hairs lifted on the back of his neck. The receptionist had given nothing away, yet for the first time since coming back to Monta Correnti a little frisson of alarm darted through him. It was that same feeling he got on the racetrack when he sensed something wasn’t right and braced himself for what was coming around the next curve.
“I’m her fiancé,” he lied without compunction. “I’ve been at sea for a long time, but got shore leave specifically to see her. Her sister Bianca told me I’d find her here for her ten o’clock appointment.” If lightning struck him, he didn’t care.
“In that case, go back to the foyer and down the hall to the dialysis clinic.”
Dialysis—
A shudder rocked his body. That meant kidney failure. People died from it.
No. Not Clara. He’d just come from being with her. Though she’d looked tired, she’d seemed healthy to him.
He shook his head, trying to make sense of it.
She couldn’t be dying. That was preposterous! Valentino didn’t believe it. He must have misunderstood the receptionist.
Bile rose in his throat. He couldn’t seem to swallow.
“ Signore ? Are you all right?” The woman at the desk stared up at him anxiously.
“Yes,” he whispered.
“You didn’t know?”
A groan escaped his throat. Her question made it all too real. It meant that the first day he’d seen her on the staircase between the buildings, she’d just come from the clinic.
And the other morning when she’d said she had shopping to do, she’d been on her way here…
He half staggered out to the foyer where he saw the sign for directions to the dialysis clinic.
CHAPTER FOUR
A FTER having to tear herself away from Valentino, Clara had been plunged into a new low of despair. This time it was for him.
Luca Casali wasn’t his birthfather?
Though Valentino might have been
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