The Billionaire's Troublesome Triplets - Holly Rayner Page 0,1

gone. He had pulled it right off her arm as she’d stood there.

She shoved her phone into her pocket and ran after him. “Hey!” she yelled. “Stop that man! Thief! Help!”

The people around her stopped and stared. She had no idea whether they could understand what she was saying. Maybe they just thought she was a crazy American.

She ran faster, but the boy had too much of a head start, and he was faster than she was. She wouldn’t be able to catch him.

He rounded a corner.

He was gone.

Elise stopped and doubled over, clutching a stitch in her side. She rested her hand on the phone in her pocket.

At least I still have this, she thought. At least he didn’t get everything.

But that was small comfort. Elise had had about four hundred euros in her purse, not to mention her passport and credit card. To be without it now was no small dilemma.

This wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t been traveling alone.

She didn’t know if it was true, but she couldn’t stand the thought of her father saying that to her when she told him what had happened. And she knew that he would. Instead of this trip being about all the wonderful adventures she had had, her family would make it about her poor judgment in coming to Rome by herself.

She felt like crying.

“Excuse me,” a voice interrupted her thoughts.

She looked up. A man stood in front of her. He was tall, with light brown hair and bright green eyes, and there was something about him that stood out from all the other people she had interacted with over the past few weeks.

Elise tried to keep her face neutral as she took in just how gorgeous he was. She didn’t want to be caught staring.

“You’re an American,” she said.

“I think this is yours,” he said, holding out her purse.

She gasped and grabbed it. “You stopped the thief!” she cried.

“Too late, I’m afraid,” he said ruefully. “He had already gotten away with most of the cash. When he saw me coming, he dropped your bag on the sidewalk and ran off. He dropped a few bills, but most of it is gone.”

“That’s fine,” Elise said fervently. She pawed through her bag quickly and saw that her passport and the wallet containing her driver’s license and credit card were still there. “If all he got is cash, I consider myself lucky.”

She looked up at the man. “Thank you for stopping him,” she said. “I don’t know what I would have done if he had gotten away with my passport.”

“That could have been a disaster,” the man agreed. “You’re an American, too, aren’t you?”

She nodded. “I’m Elise.”

“Lucas,” he said, holding out his hand.

She returned the handshake. His grip was firm, but not unpleasant.

“What brings you to Rome, Elise? Business or pleasure?”

“I’m here on vacation.” She noticed how his green eyes sparkled in the sunlight.

“Traveling with anyone?”

“No.” She couldn’t keep the defensiveness out of her voice. “I’m here on my own.”

He nodded. “Good for you. Everyone should see Europe on their own, in my opinion. I’ve been over here with friends a couple of times, and it’s much less enjoyable. Too much arguing over where to go and what to do.”

“On the other hand, if I’d had someone with me, I might not have gotten my purse stolen,” Elise said, her eyes downcast.

“I don’t think that’s true,” Lucas said. “Thieves are going to steal. That kid wouldn’t have been discouraged from swiping your bag if you’d had someone standing beside you. You just had a bit of bad luck.”

“I had a bit of good luck, too,” Elise said. “I really can’t thank you enough for stopping him. I would have had no idea what to do if I’d lost my passport.”

“Well, for the record, the thing you’d want to do would be to go to the embassy,” Lucas said. “Just in case that ever does happen.”

Elise nodded. “You sound like you travel a lot.”

“More than I’d like, to tell you the truth,” Lucas said. “I’m in Rome on business, actually.”

“Oh,” she said. “Am I keeping you from something? I’m sorry.”

“Not at all,” he said. “I’m here to attend a conference, but it doesn’t begin until the day after tomorrow. I don’t have anything I need to be doing right now.”

“Lucky you,” Elise said. “When my company sent me to a conference in San Diego, I had to fly out at six in the morning the day the conference started. They wouldn’t pay for