Property of a Noblewoman: A Novel by Danielle Steel

Author:Danielle Steel [Steel, Danielle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Published: 2016-02-24T16:00:00+00:00

The flight landed at Naples International Airport in Capodichino and Phillip took a cab to the hotel and checked in. His room had a balcony and a spectacular view of the Bay of Naples. It was a city he felt less comfortable walking around in, and it had a dicey reputation for street crimes, mostly by pickpockets, so he had dinner at the excellent Caruso Restaurant on the ninth floor. And he arranged to rent a car for the next day, which was delivered to the hotel. It was a serviceable no-frills Fiat sedan, and he had gotten careful directions from the concierge about how to reach Marguerite’s address, which he assumed was the château. The concierge had told him it was at the very edge of the city in a beautiful location, although a bit out of the way. And as he drove there, Phillip could see Mount Vesuvius in the distance, and he thought about Pompeii. He had gone there with his parents as a boy and had been fascinated by it, not only the relics and artifacts, but the people who had been covered with lava and killed instantly, and mummified just as they had been that day, engaged in their ordinary activities. He remembered it vividly still, and it had made a deep impression on him as a child. He had wanted to know if there were volcanoes in New York, and was relieved to hear there weren’t. The memory made him smile.

It took him a good half hour to reach the edge of the city in Neapolitan traffic, where people drove even more erratically than they did in Rome. And he was glancing at the directions, when he turned a corner and suddenly saw it, a beautiful small château. It was an elegant structure with a tall wall around it, and enormous old trees inside the walls. There was a large double gate, and he could see a cobbled courtyard inside. He checked the address he had written down, and saw that he’d arrived. He parked the car and got out to look around. He hesitated at the open gate, and saw two gardeners and a man in casual clothes directing them, and pointing at the gardens as they nodded. He was a tall man who looked to be in his sixties with a thick head of white hair, and he turned to glance at Phillip with a quizzical expression and then walked toward him when he finished with the gardeners. Phillip didn’t know what to say, and his Italian wasn’t adequate to explain why he was there.

“Posso aiutarla?” the man asked clearly in a deep sonorous voice. His face was lined, but his eyes were lively, and he looked nothing like the count in the photographs, who had long, lean aristocratic features, and was very thin and tall. This man appeared as though he enjoyed a good meal and a good laugh. His eyes were friendly but questioning as he gazed at Phillip, having asked what he could do to help him.

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