“I was very fortunate.” His arm rested across the back of the seat, as if he needed more room to breathe and relax. His fingers grazed her shoulder. The slightest touch from him whether deliberate or not filled her with yearnings she couldn’t tamp down.
“Tell me something—how is it you became so interested in wine, you turned it into a career?”
She stirred in her seat. “Unlike you I floundered over what I wanted to do with my life. I ended up with a college degree in communications, but I was no better off than before. For a graduation present Grandfather took me to Italy with him on a wine-buying trip.
“We met a blind vintner confined to a wheelchair from birth. He’d never been outside of Umbria, yet he knew about wines from all over the world.
“When I asked him how he’d learned so much, he said it wasn’t necessary to travel to know about a place. All he had to do was drink the wine to know where it came from, and he was instantly transported there.”
“That’s true enough,” said the striking man seated next to her.
“It comforted me to know that he didn’t allow his disabilities to prevent him from living a full life. The more I thought about what he’d told me, the more I was challenged to try my hand at it, too. He never knew it, but he, along with Grandfather, were the two people responsible for my developing an uncommon interest in wines.
“Grandfather was a brilliant restaurateur. Between him and my grandmother, I was encouraged to learn all I could about the wines they liked the most.”
“You’ve inherited his genes. I sensed that unique quality about you right away. You’re a natural at this business.”
“Coming from you that really means something. Thank you.”
She closed her eyes tightly for a moment because this man was getting to her until she didn’t know herself any more.
“It’s only the truth.”
She turned her head and stared out the passenger window so he couldn’t see how emotional she’d become.
“While I was driving along these mountains yesterday, I could have wept for that vintner because he couldn’t see the vineyards below the towering peaks I was seeing.
“He’s no longer alive, but if he were I’d describe this place to him. I had no idea such beauty existed.”
A palpable silence followed her remark as they climbed higher into the foothills above the town. Little by little civilization was left behind. From the window she could look down on an isolated castle, or a cluster of houses built around a quaint church.
Everywhere else the landscape was polka-dotted with terroirs forming their own unique mosaics.
At the top of the next crest she saw a small Black-Forest-type house sitting on the edge of its own little vineyard probably no bigger than three acres.
Though it blended with the other half-timbered houses she’d seen on the lower hillsides, she glimpsed remnants of building materials, indicating it was still under construction.
To her surprise he slowed down and pulled up in front of a detached two-car garage.
Rachel got out, moving slowly because she was so overcome by the fantastic view. It was hard to find words.
“I feel like I’m in a dream and nothing’s real. This kind of beauty hurts.”
She felt his presence behind her. “I knew you’d say that,” he murmured in a thick-toned voice.
“Anyone would!” she exclaimed.
“No. Only someone with a sensitive nature like yours.”
Rachel could scarcely credit he was talking to her this way.
Struggling to remember why she was here, she turned to him. “Does that mean you don’t bring all your potential buyers to this spot?”
His eyes played over her upturned face for a breathtaking moment.
“No,” came the one-syllable response, filling her with a kind of euphoria that seemed to be part of the day.
“It’s been a long time since I met someone who relates to her surroundings on the emotional level you do. Being with you causes me to appreciate my world all over again. Does that make any sense to you?”