Free The Vendetta by Kecia Adams Page A

story.
    Decision made, he put his arm along the back of the seat, turning toward Lisa as he spoke. “About three months ago, an Old Master painting, a self-portrait by Rembrandt, sold at auction for $25 million. Are you familiar with it?”
    “Yes, I read about that one,” she said, her expression considering. “An earlier work, considered a rare find. Was that the one an unnamed collector bought through an intermediary?”
    “ Esatto ,” he said. “The very one. The unnamed collector was your grandmother.”
    Lisa’s mouth dropped open, but she quickly recovered herself. “That’s surprising, although not really out of the ballpark. Gran has many priceless pieces in her collection. I’m sure she can well afford a Rembrandt.”
    “True.” Nick captured Lisa’s hand and measured her long, tapered fingers against his wider, larger ones. “But the question is, can she afford for that Rembrandt to be a forgery?”
    Lisa’s eyes locked onto his face. “The auction house sold my grandmother a forged Rembrandt?”
    He shrugged. “Maybe yes, maybe no.” He lifted her hand to his mouth, kissed the tip of Lisa’s index finger, and then sucked it lightly onto his tongue. She gasped, and her eyelids flickered and fell before she pulled her hand away.
    “Nick,” she said, her tone a warning.
    He smiled, immensely satisfied with her response.
    Her brows snapped together in a frown. “How do you know all this?” she asked.
    He brushed at an invisible speck of dust on his sleeve. “Because,” he said, “a fake Rembrandt exactly meeting the description of the painting your grandmother bought was stolen from my family twenty years ago. I have been seeking the original for many years.”
    After a moment she asked, “But who has the original, then? And how do you know which one my grandmother bought?”
    Surprised approval flooded him. She was quick and, as always, courageous.
    “I don’t know,carissima , that’s the problem.” He took her hand and looked into those clear green eyes. “I had hoped that together we could discover the truth.”
     

Chapter Six
     
     
    Nick’s sedan pulled up to the principessa’s mansion in the Farnese district of Rome. The granite facade of Palazzo Severino—a strictly neo-classical arrangement of pediments, brickwork, and white marble—imposed its dignity on the street below. After the hustle of the trip from the airport, the street seemed unnaturally quiet. Lisa tried to shake off a feeling of déjà vu as she stepped out of the car and waited for the driver to unload her luggage.
    She would save for later contemplation the information Nick had revealed in the car. Right now, her reunion with Gran occupied every spare bit of emotion.
    “Now are you nervous?” asked Nick.
    “No. Why do you keep asking me that?” Lisa responded.
    Nick’s hand came up to cover her fists. She hadn’t realized she’d been holding them tightly clenched at her waist. His fingers were warm and gentle, in contrast to his intense expression. Heat and attraction curled in her belly.
    The gate to the palazzo opened with a metallic buzz. Lisa pulled herself away from Nick and stepped into the small courtyard. The massive, carved wood doors swung open, and Gran’s housekeeper stood at the top of a short flight of marble steps.
    “Miss Lisa. So good to see you.” Katya’s soft, Romanian-accented voice and warm expression welcomed Lisa.
    “Katya.” Lisa hurried up for a hug. “It’s good to see you too. I missed you.”
    Katya hugged her back, but Lisa felt tension in the older woman. She seemed on the verge of relaying something important. But the little housekeeper turned away, her greeting to Nick stiff and formal. She took their coats and turned to the grand staircase leading to the main part of the house.
    “The principessa is in her study. Come.”
    The announcement squeezed Lisa’s heart. Her vow never to return to Palazzo Severino played over and over in her head, seeming to echo