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would invite a stranger into your home for a meal.” He stood now and bowed to both of Lucianna’s parents in a show of respect.
    “Oh,” Orianna trilled girlishly, “it is really our honor, my lord.”
    “We shall not argue about it, my dear
signora
,” the earl said with a smile.
    Lucianna stood up. “Then come, and let us all add to the gossip by walking together to the palazzo,” she said, trying not to show her irritation. What on earth did her mother expect to accomplish with this invitation? Now that Lucianna had fulfilled her obligation to her late husband, she wanted a private life, and that did not include having dinner with her parents and the earl. Well, perhaps with the earl.

Chapter 3

    R obert Minton enjoyed his time with the Pietro d’Angelos. Once inside their beautiful palazzo gardens drinking wine, he found himself quite relaxed. He could not say the same for Lucianna, who, he realized, was waiting for her mother to begin some sort of interrogation, but oddly, Orianna asked little. He found Lucianna’s younger sister, Serena, amusing and filled with gossip that she obviously quite relished. His host invited him to view a painting of his entire family.
    “It was painted many years ago before they were all scattered,” he said, almost wistfully. Then he lowered his voice. “Orianna will not have it displayed in a prominent place any longer because of Bianca’s behavior. So I keep it in my library, where she seldom comes,” Giovanni explained as he opened the door to the room, ushering the earl inside. “I enjoy gazing upon my seven children in happier times.” Then he pointed to a paneled wall.
    The earl walked closer to view the painting. It was a charming family portrait, and it was obvious they were all very happy. “Bianca is the dark-haired girl?”
    “Yes. She was fourteen. Marco, fifteen. It was just before I was forced to give her in marriage to an unsuitable man. I will not say he was a gentleman, for he was not. Lucianna will tell you the story. The boy with the sweet smile is our Giorgio; he was eleven. Francesca, the one with the proud look, was nine; Lucianna and her twin brother, six; and our youngest, Serena, four.” He chuckled. “The boys didn’t care, of course, but the girls, even the smallest, were so proud of having their portrait painted.”
    “It is a fine family,
Signore
Pietro d’Angelo,” the earl said, complimenting his host. “I am particularly charmed to see
Signora
Lucianna at such a young and vulnerable age.”
    “Giovanni,” the silk merchant said. “I think perhaps we shall be more than just friends one day, Roberto. Besides, you are now considered a valued client of my establishment.” The older man smiled. “No explanations are required at this time, Roberto. We shall let life lead us where it will.”
    “I would, nonetheless, like your permission to court Lucianna, Giovanni. You should know my attentions to your daughter are honorable.”
    “Lucianna is a widow, and she will make her own decisions, Roberto. I can no longer claim any influence over her, although Orianna would argue with me in that respect.” He chuckled. “I am grateful for your confidence. It would be my suggestion, however, that nothing be said at this time to my wife. She will begin having a trousseau sewn for Lucianna before the fact. And if you take Lucianna to wife, my lord, I question if she would want to live in England. Of my four daughters, she is the one who loves the city best.”
    “Then I must see that she learn to love England as well,” the earl said. “Your guild does not have a representative in London, do they? The Milanese are planning to send one in order to spare their cloth merchants having to wait for English custom, and to make it more convenient for our merchants. If you do not send a representative to London too, the Milanese will take all your trade, thus ruining the Florentine silk merchants.”
    “I was not yet aware of this,” Giovanni