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Chapter One

Genevra Bravo-Calabretti, princess of Montedoro, heaved the lightweight ladder upright and braced it against the high stone wall

The ladder instantly tilted and slid to the side, h old stones Genny winced and glanced around nervously, but no trusty retainer popped up to ask her what she thought she was doing So she grabbed the ladder fir it down sharply to plant it round

Breathing hard, she braced her fists on her hips and glared at it, daring it to topple sideways again The ladder didn’t o

But Genny wasn’t ready Not really She didn’t know if she’d ever be ready

With a very unprincesslike “Oof,” she dropped to her bottorass at the base of the wall Still panting hard, she wrapped her arms loosely around her spread knees and let her head droop

Once her breathing evened out, she leaned back on her hands and stared up at the clear night sky The crescent hts from the harbor below obscured ht in Montedoro She could smell roses, faintly, on the air

A low ht to be out with friends in a busy café or enjoying an evening stroll on her favorite beach Not dressed all in black like a lady cat burglar, preparing to scale the wall around Villa Santorno

Useless tears clogged her throat She willed the herself back froetting to her Not to mention the hormones

She didn’t want to do this She felt ridiculous and pushy, in addition to needy and unwanted and more than a little pathetic

But seriously, what choice had he given her?

“I a to cry,” she whispered fiercely as another wave of eh her “Absolutely not” With the back of her hand, she dashed the moisture from her eyes

Enough She was stalling and she knew it She’d dragged that da now Tiet this over with

Gathering her legs under her, she stood and brushed the bits of dry grass and dirt fro It reached about two-thirds of the way up the wall, not quite as far as she ht have hoped

But too bad No as she turning back now

She put her foot on the first rung and started to climb

A h, she curled her fingers around the ladder’s highest rung The top of the wall seemed miles above her

But she made herself take the next step And the next Until she was plastered against the wall, her hands on the broader, flatter top stones, her black Chuck Taylor All Stars perched precariously on that final rung

“Bad idea,” she whispered to the rough stones, though there was no one but the night to hear her “Bad, bad idea” Right at that moment, she wished with all her heart for the superior upper body strength of a man

Her as not granted And there was nothing to do but go for it or go back She was not going back

With a desperate anirunt of pure effort, she boosted herself up