An Invitation to Sin - By Sarah Morgan Page 0,63

Taylor from a lecture on the importance of family, Luca watched in surprise as his grandmother took Taylor’s hands in hers. ‘Family should be about giving unselfish support and that is particularly true of the bond between a mother and child. I’m glad you had the strength to remove her from your life. You obviously showed remarkably good judgement for someone that young. So tell me what you love about my Luca.’

‘Nonna—’ Cursing under his breath, Luca tried to interrupt but Taylor answered without hesitation.

‘Lots of things. I love his sense of humour, his strength and the fact that he’s proud of who he is. I envy that. I…’ She hesitated. ‘I want to be more like that. I’m trying to be more like that. It isn’t easy.’

‘You’re an actress. Fortunately my grandson is used to drama. He was raised on it.’ His grandmother gave him a meaningful look and Luca switched to Italian.

‘I don’t want to talk about that.’

‘I know. You never do.’ Her voice soft, his grandmother reached out to him and he frowned as he stared down at her wrinkled hands locked tightly around his.

‘Nonna—’

‘You’ll be perfect together. I sense it.’ She patted his hands and then released them. ‘And now you’ll stay and eat breakfast with me.’

They stayed for an hour, an hour during which Taylor talked about growing up in America, about her mother’s ambition and her father’s reappearance once she’d started earning big money.

‘I want you to come and see me often.’ The old lady patted Taylor’s hand. ‘Luca calls me Nonna, but if you prefer you can call me Teresa.’

‘Teresa?’ Startled, Taylor glanced up at him and Luca gave a dismissive shrug.

‘It’s a good name.’

She didn’t speak until they were safely inside the car. ‘I thought Teresa was some random name you picked and it turns out it’s your grandmother’s name and she’s this wonderful, amazing person.’ The choke in her voice surprised him. He was so used to her hiding her real feelings that this new Taylor unsettled him.

‘She liked you a lot.’

‘She’ll hate me when she finds out this is fake.’

‘It’s me she’ll be angry with.’

‘I wouldn’t be so sure about that. She adores you. I didn’t even know you had a grandmother. What did she mean that you were raised on drama?’

‘We’re Sicilian. Drama is in the genes. Why be calm when you can explode?’ But he could see his smooth response hadn’t fooled her and the tension of the morning reappeared.

‘You never talk about your childhood. You’ve never told me anything.’

‘I’ve never been one to coo over old baby photographs.’ Luca felt sweat prickle at the back of his neck and started the engine. ‘Let’s go.’

‘What was your mother like?’

He kept his eyes on the road. ‘She was very beautiful. Still is.’

‘I wasn’t asking you what she looks like—I know she’s beautiful, I’ve seen pictures. I was asking what she was like as a mother.’ There was a wistfulness to her voice. ‘What is she like as a person?’

Desperately insecure, volatile, a danger to herself. ‘Why do you want to know?’

‘I’m just interested. I guess I’m wondering why you’re so freaked out about relationships. Is she the reason?’

He doesn’t love me, Luca. What do I have to do to make him love me?

The sweat turned to a chill. ‘Does there have to be a reason? Maybe I was just born with good instincts for staying out of trouble.’

‘You’ve spent your whole life in trouble.’

‘I would argue I’ve spent my life having fun and pleasing myself.’

There was a tense silence and when she turned to him the warmth was gone from her eyes. ‘You never let your guard down, do you? You insist that I don’t hide anything from you but when it comes to your own secrets you’re as impenetrable as Fort Knox. I thought what we had here was more than just superficial, but clearly that was my mistake.’ Her voice was tart. ‘No worries. Forget I ever asked. I’m not used to trusting people anyway so I have no idea why I’d start with someone like you.’

‘Taylor—’

‘No, really, you’ve made it clear you don’t want to talk and that’s fine with me.’ It was obvious from her tone that it wasn’t fine. She was all business. ‘I gather Santo and Ella have agreed to let you use the set for the photo shoot this morning. I’m not a model but if you tell me what you want I’ll do it.’ No self-doubt. No insecurity. She didn’t hunt