The Cypress Garden

It was through young Michele that Alix first met the wealthy Parigi family -- but it was with his dominating older brother Leone that she was to have the stormiest relationship!

Perhaps if Alix Rhode hadn't been at a loose end, wondering whether or not to stay on in Italy after her father's death, she would not have got involved in the first place with young Michele Parigi; would not have played up to his suggestion that she pretend to be his girl-friend in order to placate his family. Still less would she have agreed to pay a visit to his family home on the shores of a beautiful Italian lake. It was a lot to do for a man who didn't even interest her - especially when the result was a stormy and unsettling relationship with Michele's dominating brother Leone, who had quite the wrong ideas about Alix!