28
" When she was settled in the car beside Tyler, Maddy folded her hands on her lap. "I've got two
things I want to ask you."
"Sure. Shoot."
"If I were, like, ten years older and had actual breasts, would you go for me?"
"Jesus, Maddy."
"I don't have a crush on you or anything. I sort of did when we first moved here, but I got over it.
You're too old for me, and I'm not ready for a serious relationship, or sex."
"Damn right you're not."
"But when I am ready, I want to know if a guy would go for me. Theoretically. "
― Nora Roberts , The Villa
29
" Venice was a woman, la bella donna, elegant in her age, sensual in her watery curves, mysterious in her shadows. The first sight of her, rising over the Grand Canal with her colors tattered and faded like old ballgowns, called to the blood. The light, a white, washing sun, would sweep over her and lose itself like a wanderer in her sinuous veins, her secret turns. Here "
― Nora Roberts , The Villa
31
" Okay." She gave a quick snort when Margaret went out. "You're such a dork."
"Excuse me?"
"She was hitting on you and you're, like, oblivious."
"She wasn't hitting on me and you're not supposed to talk that way."
"Was too." Maddy slid onto a stool at the bar. "Women know these things."
"Maybe, but you don't qualify as a woman."
"I've had my period."
He'd started to drink, had to set the glass back down as he winced. "Please."
"It's a biological function. And when a female is physically able to conceive, she is, physically, a
woman."
"Fine. Great." It wasn't a debate he wanted to enter into. "Shut up." He let the wine, such as it
was, lie on his tongue. It was unsophisticated to say the least, highly acidic and oversweet thanks to
the sugar she must have adde "
― Nora Roberts , The Villa
33
" We dragged Linc along. His current honey is working tonight."
"Still the intern?"
"Yeah." Helen sat on the curvy velvet chaise, made herself at home. "I'm starting to think he's
getting serious about her."
"And?"
"I don't know. She's a nice girl, raised well. Focused, which he could use, and independent,
which I appreciate."
"But he's your baby."
"But he's my baby," Helen agreed. "I miss the little boy sometimes, with the scabbed knees and
loose shoelaces. Still see him in that tall, gorgeous lawyer in the three-piece suit that strolls in and
out of my life now. And Jesus, "
― Nora Roberts , The Villa
40
" Pilar approached the guest house by the back door. It was a friendly habit. She felt she had
become friends with Theo. He was an interesting, and interested, young man once you chipped
through the surface. A boy, she thought, who needed the softening influence of a mother.
She was touched that he seemed to enjoy rather than resent her company when he came by the
villa to use the pool. She'd managed to lure him up to the music room and have him play—or at least
play around with—the piano. It had been an easy step from there to open up a dialogue, and a debate,
over music.
She hoped he was as entertained by them as she was.
Maddy was a different matter. The girl was polite but consistently cool. And watched, Pilar
thought, everything and everyone. It wasn't resentment so much as a measuring. A measuring, Pilar
knew, that was directly connected to her relationship with Maddy's father.
That aspect appeared to have gone straight over Theo's head. But Pilar recognized the female-tofemale
judgment in Maddy's eyes. So far, she hadn't come up to snuff. "
― Nora Roberts , The Villa