The Orsini Bride

Chapter 4: The Lunch

When your friends begin to flatter you on how young you look, it's a sure sign you're getting old.

-Mark Twain

Francesca Marcolini's POV

I don't know if I should feel happy or not. The fact that Marco Orsini, indeed, donated half a million euros to the charity should make me feel ecstatic about such a generous contribution but there's a catch. In exchange for that charitable donation, I got myself tangled with the likes of him. In short, I now officially work for him—temporarily, thank God.

I sighed deeply. That's right, in bartered for that money, I am now forced to work for him—that is, to find him a suitable bride that the formidable Alfonso Orsini might approve of. So far, I have now a few lists of candidates that might fit to be the Orsini bride.

The contract I asked him for yesterday finally arrived at my office a while ago. I need that contract so he can't harass me whenever he wants. I will use it against him if necessary...

"...Francesca? Are you listening, Francesca?"

I was reluctantly dragged away from my reverie. I smiled at the pair of uncanny violet eyes that were busy studying me with concern in their depth. "Of course. I'm listening, dear."

"No. You're not." Tatiana Cavelli contradicted with a twitch of a smile on her lips. "You seemed miles away from me, Francesca. You haven't even touched your food yet."

Now, I felt guilty. She invited me for lunch at a trendy restaurant here in Rome. Really, I should be focusing on my good friend, not entertaining wayward thoughts about my new association with the arrogant Marco Orsini.

"What's wrong?" She asked. Concern marked on her eyebrows. "Are you okay, Francesca?"

I laughed off her anxiety. "I'm fine, silly. It's just a new project that's all."

"Oh, really?" Sparks of delight flashed on her violet eyes. "Now, I understand why you're not listening to me as I babble here."

I smiled sheepishly in her direction. "What were you saying, Tatiana?"

"I said you need to clear your schedule on the 28th." She repeated as she sampled the food she ordered. "Lucca and I will be mad at you if you don't show up at our church wedding."

"28th?" I frowned and thought if I had a plan for that day. "Isn't that two weeks from now?"

"Yes!"

"Why's the rush?" I asked and started sampling my food.

Tatiana gave me a rueful smile as she pointed her slightly rounded belly. "For one thing, I don't want to walk down the aisle with my belly as big as a huge watermelon, and secondly, as days pass by, the more the wedding preparation goes out of hands."

I frowned at her. "What do you mean, Tatiana?"

The duchess sighed. "Lucca and I originally thought of inviting only at least two hundred guests for our church wedding but..."

"But?"

She flashed me a slightly forced smile on her face. "Apparently, when the cream of Italian society learned that the duke will have his renewal of vows to his bride in a church wedding, the people we didn't invite started sending emails in Palazzo di Cavalli asking for wedding invitations."

I couldn't help but laugh. I know I shouldn't have but the society was quite funny really. "They don't want to miss the wedding of the decade, I guess."