On Her Terms (Premiere Companions Book 2) by Doris O'Connor Page A

“She’s too much like Anna.”
    Jamie followed the Don’s gaze. Nicoletta was the younger version of the woman smiling down on him, and not for the first time he wished he’d met her mother, while she was still alive. Had met Nicoletta in different circumstances for that matter. He’d been a fool to let the Don engineer all that.
    “You say that as though it’s a fault.” Jamie smiled at the exasperated older man.
    “Isn’t it? You know what her mother did, and Nicoletta, she—”
    “Had plenty of occasions to run to the police. She hasn’t, and I don’t believe for one second that she will. Besides, you’re mostly legit now, anyway.”
    The Don raised his glass in a silent salute, before staring into it as though it held the answers. This wasn’t getting them anywhere, so Jamie changed the subject. “Where is she? Let me talk to her.”
    “You can’t be serious. You heard what I said, right? She’s not intact, dammit. My only daughter and she’s thrown herself on some young fool, like a harlot.”
    The offhand way the man talked her down didn’t sit well with Jamie, and the Don’s eyes widened when he took a step toward the desk.
    “Careful there. I won’t let you talk about her like that. Besides, this is the twenty-first century, and a bride’s virginal status is hardly required.”
    Jamie took some grim satisfaction from the way Nicoletta’s father spluttered and reddened.
    “But I thought—”
    “Then you thought wrong. Now, excuse me, while I go and fix this mess you’ve created. I’m assuming she’s in her room, or has she managed to escape those apes you think so much of again?”
    Don Cabrizi shot to his feet and glared at him.
    “I trust Luigi and Stefano with my life. They’ve never let me down yet.”
    Jamie didn’t bother to reply. He simply crossed his arms, and stared him down. Some of her father’s certainty deflated the longer this went on, until he sat back down with a sigh.
    “How do you know all this?” Cabrizi asked.
    Jamie shrugged.
    “I may have been out of the country, but do you honestly think I wouldn’t keep an eye on her and you, for that matter? I wouldn’t be very good at my job if I didn’t.”
    The man in front of him sighed.
    “No, of course not, but if you knew, why in God’s name didn’t you intervene, son?”
    “I had my reasons,” Jamie said.
    ****
    Nicole sat on the window seat and watched the guests arrive with a frown. Surely, Papa had told people the wedding was off. The helicopter circling overhead gave her renewed palpitations. While the press hadn’t been invited, you could bet your bottom dollar that they would have a field day with this. After all, there was no hiding from the long lens shots of the paparazzi, and Papa’s influence only extended so far.
    A gilded cage, that’s what she was in, and as Papa hadn’t thrown her out on her ear, one she had no chance of escaping anytime soon. Besides, she didn’t want to imagine what would happen to her out there.
    Even Mama had not found true freedom, had she? She’d betrayed the man she’d loved in exchange for her freedom, only she hadn’t been free. A life spent in hiding wasn’t really a life. There was so much Mama hadn’t told her. Nicole should be cross at the deception, but she couldn’t find the anger she needed. Not today. Not when her heart was breaking into a thousand little pieces, and she hadn’t really achieved anything at all.
    She touched the mark on her neck and smiled through her tears. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. She might only have her memories of one perfect night, but what a night it had been.
    Nicole had been so absorbed in her thoughts, that the sound of the door to her bedroom being opened startled her.
    “Now, what makes you smile like that, bellissima , I wonder?”
    Jamie’s deep voice held a hint of amusement, and her heart leapt in joy, only for that to turn into sheer terror, when she saw the man himself step into her room and shut the