The Venetian's Proposal. Lee Wilkinson

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      LEE WILKINSON lives with her husband in a three-hundred-year-old stone cottage in an English village, which most winters gets cut off by snow. They both enjoy traveling and recently, joining forces with their daughter and son-in-law, spend a year going around the world “on a shoestring” while their son looked after Kelly, their much-loved German shepherd dog. Lee’s hobbies are reading and gardening and holding impromptu barbeques for her long-suffering family and friends.

      The Venetian’s Proposal

      Lee Wilkinson

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      MILLS & BOON

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      CONTENTS

      CHAPTER ONE

      CHAPTER TWO

      CHAPTER THREE

      CHAPTER FOUR

      CHAPTER FIVE

      CHAPTER SIX

      CHAPTER SEVEN

      CHAPTER EIGHT

      CHAPTER NINE

      CHAPTER TEN

      CHAPTER ONE

      ‘PLEASE come in and take a seat, Mrs Whitney.’

      Tall and slender in a navy suit, her corn-coloured hair taken up in a smooth knot, Nicola found herself ushered into a room that was solidly old-fashioned. Plum-coloured carpets, heavy velvet curtains, and above an empty fireplace a wooden mantel that held a ticking clock.

      After coffee and condolences, Mr Harthill got down to business. ‘The last time my client was in London he asked me to draw up a new will. In my capacity as executor, I can now tell you that you are the sole beneficiary of that will.’

      Staring across a polished mahogany desk at the saggy-jowled solicitor sitting impassively in his brown leather chair, Nicola could only manage to stutter, ‘I—I beg your pardon?’

      ‘You are the sole beneficiary,’ Mr Harthill Senior repeated patiently. ‘When all the formalities have been observed, you will be a wealthy woman.’

      A polite letter summoning Nicola to the West End offices of Harthill, Harthill and Berry had merely stated that Mr John Turner had passed away some three weeks earlier, and that if she would call she would learn ‘something to her advantage’.

      Shocked and saddened by the death of a man she had known for such a short time but liked immensely, she had kept the appointment.

      The news that John Turner had made her the sole beneficiary to a fortune she hadn’t been aware existed had come as a bombshell.

      ‘But why me?’ She spoke the thought aloud.

      ‘I gather that Mr Turner didn’t have any children of his own…’

      No, John had never mentioned having a family.

      ‘As well as his business interests,’ Mr Harthill continued staidly, ‘my client’s estate includes the proceeds from the sale of his London home, and a small palazzo in Venice, known as Ca’ Malvasia. He and his wife were very happy there, I understand.’

      The London house Nicola had known about. John had mentioned his intention of putting it on the market, saying it was too big and too empty and he was hardly ever there. But his ‘small palazzo’ in Venice she hadn’t. Though she was aware that John’s deceased wife, Sophia, had been Italian.

      ‘Is that where he died?’ was all she could think of to ask.

      Mr Harthill, used to euphemisms and looking a little distressed by her plain speaking, answered, ‘No. Ca’ Malvasia has been shut up since his wife passed away some four years ago. My client was in Rome on business when he suffered a fatal heart attack…’

      She hoped someone had been with him. That he hadn’t died alone.

      ‘It wasn’t totally unexpected,’ the solicitor went on, ‘and he had made provision. In the event of his death I was to give you this package, which I believe holds a set of keys to the palazzo.’

      He handed her a small, thick envelope sealed with tape which bore her name and the address of the Bayswater flat she shared with her friend Sandy.

      ‘If you wish to view the property I can put you in touch with my Venetian counterpart, Signor Mancini, who has been the family’s solicitor for a number of years. He will be only too happy to help with your travel arrangements and show you the palazzo. Should you decide to sell, he can take the appropriate measures to have it put on the market.’

      Sounding as dazed as she felt, Nicola said, ‘I’ll need to make some plans…take time off work.’

      ‘Of course.’ Mr Harthill rose to his feet to show her out. ‘If I can be of any further service in the meantime, please let me know.’

      ‘Thank you. You’ve been very kind.’ She smiled at him. A smile that brought warmth to her heart-shaped face and lit up her green eyes.

      A beautiful woman, he thought as they shook hands, and tragically young СКАЧАТЬ