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PROLOGUE

‘SIGNOR! SIGNOR, VENGA ORA!’

Logan Cascini was on his feet in an instant As an architect who specialised in restoring old Italian buildings, to get the call to help transfor was a dream come true

The property at the vineyard was sprawling and over the years areas had fallen into disrepair His as painstaking, but he only employed the most specialised of builders, those who could truly re-create the past beauty of the historic chapel in the grounds and the s he worked on were listed and only traditional building lory

Tiet the chapel restored for the royal wedding of Prince Antonio of Halencia and his bride-to-be, Christina Rose No expense was being spared—which was just as well considering he had twenty different master builders on-site

‘Signor! Signor, venga ora!’

He left his desk in the main palazzo and rushed outside to the site of the chapel His sto that would hold up the build The last thing he needed was some unexpected hundred-year-old bones or a hoard of Roman crockery or coins

This was Italy It wouldn’t be the first ti unexpected had turned up on a restoration project

He reached the entrance to the ancient chapel and the first thing that struck him was the fact there was no noise For the last feeeks the sound of hammers on stone and the chatter of Italian voices had been constant Now every builder stood silently, all looking towards one of the walls

The interior of the chapel had been redecorated over the years Much of the original details and fa?ade had been hidden The walls had been covered first in dark, inlaid wood and then—strangely—painted over with a variety of paints Every tied Some were just trends of the time—others were individual owners’ ideas of whatbetter In restoration terinal wood and stone had been ripped away and replaced with poorer, less durable e done was irreparable

His eyes widened as he strode forward into the chapel Light was streah the side s and lass s behind the altar were muted and in shadow But that didn’t stop the explosion of riotous colour on the far wall

A few of the builders had been tasked with pulling down the painted wooden panelling to expose the original walls underneath