Love in the Vineyard (The Tavonesi Series Book 7) (24 page)

“It’s lovely, thank you.”

Natasha settled the hat on her head and wished she wore something other than her work jeans. But there hadn’t been time to change. The new lupine starts had rooted and she had to repot them; root-bound starts weren’t strong enough to thrive transplanting into the soils of the vineyard. And the pants she’d thrown into her backpack as she’d left her apartment that morning weren’t much dressier anyway.

Surrounded by long-legged socialites in short designer dresses and sparkling strappy sandals, she felt like the dark duckling of
Swan Lake
. Except she wasn’t going to be kissed by a prince and transformed into a beauty.

Anastasia gestured at the four horses and riders approaching from the barn. “No fair cheering for Adrian. We women have to stick together today.”

At the sight of Adrian mounted on a gleaming black horse, Natasha’s pulse skittered. The three men riding alongside him were handsome, but Adrian took her breath away. The white jersey stretching across his chest and the tight pants tucked into high boots couldn’t have been painted on him for a more devastatingly sexy effect. He waved over to where she sat with his sisters and then rode toward the opposite end of the field.

“Adrian’s got a good reach,” Coco said as she slipped into the chair next to Natasha. “But Zoe’s got a better seat.”

“Seat?” Horses were as foreign to Natasha as were handsome Italian wine scions.

Coco laughed. “We’d better bring this
bella donna
up to speed. The game starts in five minutes.”

Between the unfamiliar terms and Coco’s Italian accent, it was difficult to follow Coco’s quick summary of the rules. And the concept of right-of-way completely eluded Natasha. It seemed to her that any angle of approach would be dangerous for riders going as fast as Coco described.

“Let her just enjoy the game,” Anastasia broke in. “For goodness’ sake, it’s not like she’s going to mount up and ride.” She laid a hand on Natasha’s arm. “I’m the
only
one in the family that knows it’s just a game. If you listened to the rest of them, you’d think life and death hung in the balance of a match.”

“If she weren’t my identical twin, I’d think she’d been dropped out of the sky by a fairy,” Coco said with a mock scowl.

“A goose.” Anastasia laughed. “You always get your stories mixed up.”

“A stork,” Natasha said. “It’s a stork that brings babies.”

“I hope the stork takes bribes to hold off. It’ll be a long time before I’m ready for a delivery,” Coco said with a laugh. “Not that I don’t like children. It’s just—”

“Coco would be about as good with children as Adrian. They’ve both sworn off parenting,” Anastasia said with a wink to her sister. “It’s a good thing since neither of them have grown up yet themselves.”

She couldn’t know how her words skewered into Natasha’s heart. As if she needed one more reason to put another brick in the wall between her and Adrian.

A horn sounded, and Coco and Anastasia stood. Natasha unfolded from her seat and adjusted the hat to shade the glare from the bright afternoon sun. From the opposite end of the field, four more horses and riders galloped out of a tent. The women carried red and blue flags that trailed in the breeze.

“Zoe has a flair for the dramatic,” Coco said.

“Like you don’t?” Anastasia said in a teasing tone.

Sisters
.

Natasha had spent long nights as a child wishing that she had sisters.

A man in a striped shirt rode behind the group of men riding to the center of the field. He waved out at the crowd. Zoe’s team rode up to him and one by one handed him the flags.

“Federico has his hands full today,” Anastasia said, pointing at the riders. “That’s Prince William playing number three for Adrian’s team. Diplomacy might trump playing skills.”

“Never,” Coco said in a serious tone. “Not on a Tavonesi field. Federico is a polo umpire, not some bureaucrat.”

“They’re skipping the anthems.” Anastasia nodded to a tent where a man and a woman sat with microphones, stopwatches and clipboards. “We would have had to play six of them, what with Blair and Selena playing with Zoe and Vlad playing with Adrian. And William brought his number one from Bermuda. We’d be waiting all day.”

William
. She’d called the future king of England William. Perhaps they were friends. Natasha truly was out of her league.

The spectators settled back into their seats. Natasha felt slightly dizzy as she leaned back into the cushioned chair.

Maybe she’d walked through some sort of looking glass and was in an alternate world. She sure felt like she was in an altered state. She should’ve had more water. Maybe the sun had gotten to her.

The umpire signaled and then threw in the ball.

Zoe whooped and swung her mallet, and the riders thundered down the field after the ball. But Natasha’s eyes were on Blair. Her golden hair was plaited and hung down her back. In her snug riding gear, she looked like a Viking goddess. Blair reached down, swung her mallet and knocked the ball to a woman wearing an identical uniform. That woman passed it to Zoe. She intercepted it and shot for the goal, but William deflected her shot and sent it in the opposite direction.

“
Mio Dio
, he’s good,” Anastasia cried out.

“Parker’s even better.” Coco pointed to a man near the goalposts. “That’s another of our cousins. He’s got a bit of an acid tongue, but we love him. And he rides like the devil himself.”

“Parker’s been practicing. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he had a thing for the woman who runs the local polo club.”

Parker passed the ball to Adrian. He drew back to hit it, but Zoe hit it first.

The ball rocketed toward Natasha. The riders chased it, thundering straight for where she sat with Adrian’s sisters. Natasha jumped up. Adrenaline shot nauseating pins and needles into her chest. She hauled in a breath as Adrian rode full speed toward her on a horse bigger than any she’d ever seen.

Coco tugged Natasha back into her seat just as Adrian and a man Natasha didn’t recognize reined up. Without a glance at either her or his sisters, Adrian connected to the ball and shot it down the field. The riders pivoted the charging horses and galloped after it.

Natasha released the breath she’d been holding.

“
How
can you sit so calmly with only a six-inch white board separating you from ten thousand pounds of horses thundering at us?”

“Don’t worry, all these riders are seasoned.” Coco gave her sister a sly grin. “Well, except for maybe Prince William. He’s suspect in my book. If he heads this way, we should be ready to flee.” She glanced back at the tent. “But we could have our chairs moved back a bit. It’ll get us out of the heat.”

“Coco has Adrian’s impatience with the practice of coddling royalty,” Anastasia said. “Makes her less than ideal company at the Guards tournaments in England.”

Coco signaled and three servers came over. “Would you move our chairs, please? And bring some water.” She turned to Natasha. “You look like you could use some hydration.”

Coming from Coco’s lips, the word hydration sounded like a potion from the gods. Right about then, anything would help. Yet it wasn’t the heat of the sun sending Natasha’s senses spinning. She knew as she watched Adrian riding that she wasn’t going to deny herself the opportunity to feel his strong thighs wrapped around her at least one more time.

What woman in her right mind would?

Good thing she wasn’t in her right mind.

They moved farther from the field and just as they got settled once again, a horn sounded, startling Natasha.

“Two chukkers down!” Coco offered her hand to Natasha. “Time to do some work.”

“She means tamp down the divots,” Anastasia added as she stood. “Ah, here’s the champagne. It’s fuel for the tough effort ahead.” She glanced down at Natasha’s work boots. “And those are
perfect
for the job. I’ve always thought it ridiculous that women in high heels pretend to be of any use for this at all. But it does allow for a parade of dresses.”

“And other attributes,” Coco said, tilting her head toward a woman in an extremely short, tight skirt and low-cut flowing blouse. “There’s a lot of husband hunting at these events.” She put her finger to her lips. “But don’t quote me. No one would ever own up to it.”

Anastasia took a glass of champagne from the silver tray the waiter held out and handed it to Natasha.

Natasha shook her head. “I have to go back to work, so no thanks.”

“
Not
going to happen, my dear. Adrian said to make sure that you attend the trophy ceremony.” Coco sipped her champagne and looked at Natasha over the rim of the crystal glass with a twinkle in her eye. “Rumor has it, he has a surprise for you.”

Anastasia eyed Natasha. “Does he? Well
you
have just earned a thousand million points in my book. Anything that takes Adrian’s mind off work is a good thing. How
did
you accomplish such a feat?” She clinked her glass against Natasha’s. “We’ve been trying to get him and our brother Rafe to lighten up ever since Mama died. They’re an impossible pair.”

Natasha had no idea how to respond to such a remark. Or how to respond to the longing building in her, the yearning to be part of a caring family. To have a family at all. For Tyler to have the love of a family. Meeting Adrian had pried the lid off emotions she’d shoved down for a very long time. Had stirred feelings she hadn’t even known were possible. Someone to trust, a partner for life, love, sex. He’d even unearthed her wish for siblings.

“You know, that waiter is
delicious
looking,” Anastasia said as she watched the young man walk away. “He’d make a great Mr. April.”

“I need men with reputations,” Coco said, grumbling.

“There’s always William,” Anastasia said, tilting her head toward the field.

Coco wrinkled her nose. “He has no local connection. Besides, William unwrapped? Not
quite
the level of hot that I’m looking for.”

“But you can’t argue with his marketing appeal,” Natasha said.

Surreal was the only word for the feeling creeping into Natasha. She was sitting with Italian heiresses—sisters to the man she’d slept with—and watching the future king of England play polo.

Anastasia clinked her glass against Natasha’s. “My point exactly.”

Coco took Natasha’s hand and tugged her onto the green field. A young woman wearing exactly the kind of useless high heels that Anastasia had described and the uniform of a husband hunter that Coco had outlined glided over to them.

“Adrian’s playing well today.” The woman’s silky blond highlights captured the rays of the afternoon sun and outlined her tanned face like a gilded frame. “And so is Parker,” she added.

“Rory, this is Natasha.”

Natasha heard the sharp edge in Coco’s voice.

Rory gave Natasha’s jeans and work boots a once-over and a smile. “Do you work with the horses?” she asked as she held out three fingers for Natasha to shake.

“I work in the kitchen garden.”

Rory’s limp handshake was as dismissive as her tone.
Mermaid
, whispered the voice in Natasha’s head.
You don’t belong here
, it taunted.

“How
lovely
to get to be outdoors,” Rory said in a lilting tone that made Natasha want to strangle her. “I’ve always thought people who had to work indoors all day are so
unfortunate
.” She looked to Anastasia. “Adrian invited me to have a look at the new thoroughbred he bought last week. Won’t you come with me?” She gave Natasha another dismissive smile before walking off with Anastasia. “Nice to meet you,” she said over her shoulder, her voice carrying on the afternoon breeze.

“Let’s get to work,” Coco said with a huff of breath.

Natasha wielded her glass of champagne like a torch to guide her as she walked onto the field beside Coco.

“If Stazi hadn’t carted that woman away, I might have buried her in a large divot,” Coco said through gritted teeth. She showed Natasha how to tamp down a divot with her foot. “Don’t get me wrong—I like most people. But Rory’s golden sheen covers a
very
black heart. What men see in her, I don’t know. Maybe the fact that she’s an heiress blinds them.”

“She’s very beautiful,” Natasha said, glancing back to see Anastasia and Rory approaching the group of male players. Rory was perfect beautiful-wife material. She’d have perfect, beautiful children. And a perfect future that didn’t include homeless shelters, welfare and remedial reading lessons.

“If she gets near
any
of my brothers or my cousins, she’ll get a taste of Tavonesi ire,” Coco said.

Perhaps if Coco knew that under all her misgivings Natasha wished that she might be free to love Adrian, she might get a taste of Coco’s ire as well. But Natasha wouldn’t be in Adrian’s future, at least not in any way that would impact the family. His future would include a well-turned-out woman from his own tight-knit world, a woman who came from and knew how to navigate waters Natasha didn’t swim in, couldn’t fathom and never would. The reminder made her heart tumble to the toes of her boots. She stomped particularly hard on the next divot.

“You don’t have to use quite that much force,” Coco said. “You’ll exhaust yourself before we’ve covered half the field.”

Exhaustion would be a welcome alternative to the sadness sinking in her heart.