“Don’t worry about Eloisa,” he assured. “First of all, she isn’t anyone’s friend outside the family. She’s close to her sisters and brothers, but no one else. She doesn’t let anyone in. She might know Barry’s mother, but she doesn’t like her. Margaret Anthon is a society queen. Eloisa, for all her faults, can’t take that kind of snobbery. Margaret doesn’t touch a single charity unless there’s something big in it for her.”

“That’s a little sad. About your mother, I mean,” Francesca pointed out. “That she doesn’t have friends. What about Emmanuelle? Surely she’s friends with her daughter?”

He shook his head. The car waited at the entrance to the park, Enzo in the driver’s seat. Stefano opened the back passenger door for her. Francesca slid onto the cool leather seat, scooting over to make room for her fiancé. Emilio slipped into the front seat.

Stefano shook his head. “Not Emmanuelle. If anything she was nearly as bad with Emme as she was with Ettore. She was incredibly hard on both of them. We all tried to shield them, but during training, we had no real say at all. Emme doesn’t ever talk about it, but she keeps her distance from Eloisa and Phillip the way we all do.”

There was pain in his voice, and Francesca immediately threaded her fingers through his and brought his hand to her mouth, kissing his knuckles. “Honey, you did your best. Emmanuelle’s happy. She loves you and her brothers and cousins. I think she’s amazing. You did a good job with her.”

“She is pretty amazing,” Stefano agreed, pulling her hand to his thigh and holding it there over his solid muscle. “I’m very proud of her. She doesn’t have a mean bone in her body, but she can be steel when she needs to be.”

“She can fight, too,” Francesca said. “You’ll have to teach me. She wiped up the floor with the three bimbos.”

He raised his eyebrow.

She scowled at him. “Don’t pretend you don’t remember your three exes. Janice. Doreen. Stella. The horrible threesome with a penchant for doing coke in a bathroom.”

“Ah. Them.”

“They pled guilty to possession with intent to sell. They have access to high-priced lawyers and yet they took a plea deal. That didn’t make sense. They have a good career going . . .”

He shook his head. “They’d been doing more partying than recording, and their last tour was a disaster. Stella was so drunk she fell off the stage, and Janice OD’d right after. The PR people had a nightmare trying to cover that up. Their excesses made them a terrible liability for their label. This last stunt put them over the edge and the label dropped them. Their career is gone.”

“Did you have something to do with them losing their label?”

He shrugged. “No one fucks with my woman.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “They were arrested and received a hefty sentence.”

He shrugged again and she sighed. She couldn’t actually feel sorry for the three women, especially since they’d tried to shove cocaine in her face.

“Emmanuelle beat the crap out of them and didn’t even break a fingernail, and she did it when she was in high heels.”

He burst out laughing. “You sound admiring. I’ll teach you a few moves, bambina, but you’ll have bodyguards from now on, even when you go to a restroom. I have a female cousin or two trained in security.”

“Of course you do.” She rolled her eyes. “Emilio and Enzo have a sister, do they?”

He nodded. “Enrica. I’ve already asked her to come on board.”

“Did you think you might want to consult with me first?”

“I told you, I don’t argue. You like that shit and I’m just not going there with you when something needs to be done, like hiring a female bodyguard to watch you everywhere.”

“So Emilio and Enzo can go back to looking out for you?” Her tone was just a little shy of challenging him, but she had faith in Emilio and Enzo and wanted them looking out for Stefano, not her.

Stefano laughed again, the notes warm and alluring. The sound washed over her like the sun, bright and warm. She didn’t hear him laugh nearly enough and it was disarming. At the hotel, Emilio opened the door for them and Stefano slid out, retaining possession of her hand so that she followed him out of the vehicle and was drawn close. She realized Stefano always did that. He liked her close. She found herself smiling in spite of the fact that he hadn’t answered.

In the privacy of the elevator, she leaned into him. “Will your mother call Barry Anthon and tell him where I am? Or ask him questions about me?”