by T A Williams
‘Well, shall I open the champagne?’ Unaware of the primal feelings aroused and currently rushing through Annie’s body, he set about opening the bottle, while Annie did her best not to fall over as the emotion coursed through her. As she tottered over to the kitchen cabinet to get the glasses, she ran a hand through her hair and took a few deep breaths. She was lucid enough to see this for what it was – massive sexual attraction. She wanted him and she felt quite sure he wanted her. Everything else was unimportant. She picked up two glasses and returned to the table.
They drank champagne by the French windows, staring down at the flickering lights of Santorso. He told her all about his two weeks in the Caribbean, while she told him about her family holiday in Devon. She made no mention of the scene she had witnessed at Turin airport and the way she had misconstrued what she had seen. She told him how pleased she was to have a good number of enrolments and how optimistic she was for the school’s success. He shared her excitement.
‘I’ve no doubt you’ll make a great success of the school. Here.’ He raised his glass towards her. ‘A toast; Santorso English Academy. Good luck to all those who sail in her.’
Annie clinked her glass against his. ‘And the Hotel Montalto; may you never have empty beds.’ As she spoke, her eyes strayed once more towards the bedroom door.
As the level in the bottle dropped below halfway, Annie decided she had better make dinner before she was incapable of rational thought. Apart from the wine, his presence beside her, occasionally touching her with his long, elegant fingers, was having an intoxicating effect upon her. She went through to the kitchen and brought the water in the pan to the boil. She turned on the grill and laid the rashers of pancetta on the tray. She was just checking that the pasta didn’t boil over when she heard steps behind her and felt his arms curl round her waist. She did her best to concentrate on the cooking as she felt his hands slip under her jumper and onto her naked skin. In spite of the pasta, her eyes closed and she leant back against him, feeling weak at the knees. He dropped his head so that his lips were resting gently against her ear.
‘Can I smell burning bacon?’
‘Oh, shit.’ Her eyes were wide open now as she pulled away from him and rescued the pancetta in extremis. She glanced back at him. He was resting back against the fridge, watching her, a gentle smile on his lips. As he caught her eye, he asked, ‘Anything I can do?’
‘Um, grate some Parmesan and open the red, if you like.’ She grinned. ‘I’m normally much more organised than this. Somebody must have distracted me.’
She tipped the contents of the pan into the two warm plates and carried them through to the table. Alex took a mouthful and declared it excellent. Annie wasn’t so sure, but from the speed with which he emptied his plate, it couldn’t have been too bad. For her part, she wasn’t terribly hungry. Her mind was already on other things, things that would take place on the other side of her bedroom door. All her fears and doubts had evaporated the moment she had felt his hands on her.
She did her best to eat most of her pasta, but it was a struggle. He poured two glasses of Grignolino, Annie’s favourite red from Piedmont. It was light, it was slightly fizzy, and it went admirably with the linguine, although her appetite was seriously flagging by the end.
She hadn’t prepared a dessert, apart from buying a tub of homemade meringue ice cream from the amazing ice cream shop in the main square of Santorso. While they ate it, she put the coffee on. For once, the idea of being prevented from sleeping had distinct appeal. Finally, the meal was over and she was sipping her coffee, trying to look cool and relaxed, while inside she was on the point of exploding. She glanced across the table at him and noticed a few beads of perspiration high on his forehead, just below the hairline. She took comfort from the fact that he was probably equally excited at the prospect of what was to come.
Just then, annoyingly, his phone rang. She snorted silently. He took it out of his pocket and checked the caller ID. ‘It’s Massimo. He can wait.’ Alex swiped the red button and the phone fell silent. Alex swilled the last of his coffee around the bottom of his cup and swallowed it. He watched as she did the same and then he reached his hand across the table and took hers in his.
‘You’re looking absolutely gorgeous tonight, Annie.’ He stood up, still holding her hand, and pulled her up and into his arms. He leant down and kissed her with passion. She responded, feeling another wave of lust rush over her as his hands once more touched her naked body under her jumper. Then, just as she was melting under the effect of his touch, her phone started ringing.
‘I’m sorry, I’ll turn it off.’ She extricated herself from his arms and crossed the room to where she had left her phone, cursing under her breath. As she picked it up to turn it off, she saw the caller ID. It was Massimo. Regretfully, she looked back at Alex. ‘It’s Massimo. It must be urgent if he’s trying both of us. Is it all right if I take it?’ Alex shrugged and nodded.
‘Hello.’
‘Annie, it’s me, Massimo. Is Alessandro there?’
‘Hi, Massimo. Yes, he’s here with me now. We’ve just finished eating…’
‘Please can I speak to him? It’s very urgent. There’s been an accident.’ Annie ran back across the room and handed the phone to Alex. She stood and looked on as Massimo passed on the message. The conversation lasted barely a minute and ended with Alex saying, ‘I’ll be right there.’
As the call ended, he put the phone down on the table and caught Annie’s eye. ‘It’s my dad. He’s had an accident. He’s fallen over and they think he’s broken his leg or maybe his hip. The helicopter’s coming now to pick him up. I have to go with him to hospital.’
‘Oh, Alex, how awful. Do you want me to come along?’
He shook his head. ‘No, there’s no point lots of us going. I’ll send you a text once I know more.’ He took two steps across to the sofa and picked up his jacket. As he pulled it on, he gave her an apologetic look. ‘This is what’s known as really bad timing.’
She opened the door and caught hold of his shoulders. She kissed him hard and looked up into his eyes. ‘There’ll be a next time, and I’ll be looking forward to it.’
‘Me, too. A lot.’ He hurried out along the path and climbed into the car. Seconds later the powerful engine sprang into life and he was off.
Chapter 20
Annie was woken at two o’clock in the morning by the arrival of a text message from Alex. It was brief.
Dad broken hip. Otherwise okay. XXX Alex.
It took her a while to get back off to sleep again, her thoughts full of the old man and, of course, his son. She hoped that old Signor Lago would make a good recovery, but she knew that broken hips in old age could often take a long while to heal. As for Alex, she had fallen asleep thinking of him and her subsequent dream had been… well, not the sort of dream she would want to recount to her mother. She took a mouthful of cold water from the bottle on the night stand and lay back down again, her head still full of thoughts of him.
The ease with which all her hesitation and apprehension had been swept away by the touch of his fingers on her skin still amazed her. There was no longer any room for doubt in her mind. She was ready to move on. Her years with Steve had been a wonderful period in her life, but now that was over. She knew this with utter certainty. Somehow, deep down inside her, the final page of the book of Steve had closed. She could now move on to another.
Next morning dawned clear and bright, but bitterly cold. It took her half a can of spray de-icer and some energetic scraping to clear enough of the windows to be able to see into the car. Her next problem was to get into it. She had to resort to holding the key in the flame of the gas cooker for some seconds to warm it sufficiently to melt the ice that had formed in the lock. When she finally got in, there was ice on the inside of the windscreen. Even so, her faithful little car started, albeit with a certain amount of hesitation, and she let the engine run with the heating full on until the windows cleared. When she sat down in the
driving seat, even through her thick jacket it was still absolutely freezing and she was very pleased she had put on thick tights under her jeans. She drove out onto the main road and was relieved to find she was able to drive down to the school without difficulty.
Paolina was already there, wearing a fur-trimmed woollen dress that looked like something out of Doctor Zhivago. In fact, as it was absolutely freezing outside, it was, for once, a very sensible choice of clothing. Annie gave her a smile and headed for her office, not yet ready to be cross-examined on the previous night’s events. She picked up the phone and called Alex. He answered almost immediately.
‘Hi, Alex, I hope you weren’t sleeping after your broken night.’
‘Hello, Annie. No such luck. I’ve been up for a couple of hours trying to talk to some important agents in Korea.’
‘What’s the news of your dad?’
‘It was his hip. They’re going to give him a hip replacement, but the surgeon can’t get here until Monday. In the meantime, he’s having to stay in the hospital and, by the sound of it, he’ll be in for a week or two afterwards. I’m afraid he’s not very happy about the delay, but he insists on having this one particular specialist and the man’s down in Sicily doing something.’
‘Oh, the poor thing. Do you think I could go in and see him?’
‘I’m sure he’d love that, Annie. Anything to cheer him up.’
‘I’ll pop down this afternoon.’
‘You do that.’ There was a pause. ‘Last night was wonderful. We must do it again.’
‘Preferably without a trip to the hospital.’
‘Damn right. The problem’s going to be when. I’ve just heard that I’ve got to go down to Rome tomorrow and I won’t be back until Monday morning.’ Annie felt an acute sense of disappointment. ‘I’m really, really sorry. And next week’s going to be crazy, getting everything ready for the big event. Now, I have to get back to work.’ There was another pause. ‘I just can’t wait to get you alone. Ciao.’
Annie put the phone down. Just for a moment she found herself wondering what it was that was drawing him to Rome for a weekend. Surely there would be very few people working on a Saturday or a Sunday. Of course, she thought to herself, the hotel trade was a 24/7 operation so presumably one day was the same as another to them. Even so, she felt a little peeved that he was dashing off yet again.
Signor Lago was lying almost flat in the bed, his face grey and weary, showing all of his years. Nevertheless, no sooner did he see Annie than his face brightened into a smile. He raised his arms towards her. ‘My dear, how lovely to see you. Thank you so very much for coming.’
Annie leant down and kissed him warmly on the cheeks and he patted the back of her neck with his hand. She pulled up a chair and sat down beside the bed. ‘How’re you feeling?’ It wasn’t the most inspired of openings, but he didn’t seem to mind.
‘Sore. And bored. They tell me I’ve got to stay here like this for another four days until the operation. I can’t do anything for myself and I feel really fed up.’ He smiled at her. ‘At least I did, until I saw you walk in the door. So, what’s your news? How’s everything going with you? When does your school open?’
Annie sat and chatted to him for half an hour, telling him everything that they were doing at the school, and she saw his face regain some colour and animation as she did so. She resolved to call in and see him again before his operation, although she had no doubt that the next two days would be crazy for her. Finally, at half past three, she left him and walked back down the stairs and out into the cold. She returned to the school and found Paolina smiling at her from behind her computer.
‘Ciao, Paolina. What’s new?’
‘Another three enrolments yesterday evening and Paul says he’s bringing two friends in tonight who’re interested. If it goes on like this, we’ll be full before long.’
Annie grinned at her. ‘Wishful thinking. I reckon we can cope with two hundred before we have to kick Matt out on the street.’
‘Matt’s gone to Turin.’
‘Business or pleasure?’
‘Business, I think. He said something about a film studio.’
Annie remembered that his blonde friend from the TV was married to somebody in the film industry. Maybe the trip to Turin wasn’t business after all. No sooner had she thought it than she dismissed it. What Matt did was his own business. She looked across at Paolina. ‘So, how are you getting on with Matt? Is he giving you much work to do?’
Paolina shook her head. ‘Hardly any, and I’m getting on really well with him. I thought you said he was after anything in a skirt, but he’s been as good as gold with me and Rita.’ She lowered her voice, although they were the only ones there. ‘Much to Rita’s disappointment, I would add.’
‘And yours, maybe?’
Paolina shook her head. ‘Not now, Annie. I’ve got Paul, and things are going really well with him.’
Annie was delighted to hear it. ‘I’m just going across the street for a coffee. Can I bring you something?’ Just then the phone rang. It was Massimo from the Hotel Montalto.
‘Hello, Annie?’ He sounded flustered. Annie wondered if something had happened. It had. ‘We have a grave and terrible problem. No, not just Signor Lago’s fall. It’s happened again. This morning Daniela – you know, my personal assistant – was skiing when she had an accident; a serious accident. She was airlifted to hospital and I’ve just heard that she has a bad break to both the tibia and the fibula of her right leg. That’s both the main bones in her lower leg. She’ll have to be kept in hospital in traction for up to three weeks and then she’ll be bolted into some sort of metal cage contraption for God knows how long. She may even end up lame and she’ll be off work for months.’
‘Oh, Massimo, that’s awful.’ Annie was appalled. All right, Daniela had been pretty hostile to her the other day, but this was simply terrible. But, the bad news didn’t stop there. Massimo went on, his voice positively sepulchral.
‘In ten days’ time we’ve got the big promotional weekend coming up and Daniela was going to be in charge of the whole thing, checking to see that it all goes smoothly. Now that she’s out of the equation we’re…’ He searched for a more polite word, but nothing could do justice to their predicament. ‘We’re screwed, Annie. Sorry for my language, but we’re totally screwed.’
‘But what about Alex… Alessandro? Surely he could run things.’
‘He’s already fully committed. He’s responsible for all the public relations stuff as well as the outdoor activity programme. No, it can’t be done.’
‘And there’s nobody else?’ Annie was thinking hard.
‘Nobody… well, almost nobody.’ There was a pause during which Annie began to guess where he might be going with this conversation. ‘Erm, there’s you, Annie.’
‘Me? But I don’t know anything about the hotel.’
‘That’s unimportant. We can make sure you know all you need to know in a matter of days. What we need is somebody personable, friendly, very organised, who’s fluent in Italian and English and, if possible, French as well. Do you speak French?’
‘Yes, I did French at university, but how on earth can you expect me to step into her shoes at the last minute like this?’
Massimo snorted dismissively. ‘You’ll be just fine. Don’t worry. You and I can go through everything well in advance so you know exactly what needs to happen when. But, can you spare the time? Your school opens next week, doesn’t it?’
‘On Monday, yes. When would you want me?’
‘For as many hours as you can give us starting next Tuesday until the following Sunday. The important days are Friday and Saturday. If you could arrange to be here most of the time on those two days that would be great.’
Annie mentally ticked off the things that needed to be done. She knew she would have to be at the school every day for an hour or two, to keep an eye on things. And then she was supposed to be teaching up at Montalto on Tuesday and Friday aftern
oons and doing the conversation classes some mornings. However, with a bit of juggling, she should be able to manage to give him what he wanted. Apart from the fact that she liked Massimo and wanted to help him, and apart from wanting very much to help Alex, she owed Massimo a debt for having given her the big teaching contract. There was no other way. She said yes.
‘Of course I’ll do it, Massimo, and I promise I’ll do my very best to be with you most afternoons, maybe an occasional morning. I can still teach the class on Tuesday afternoon, but we’d better reschedule the Friday one.’
She heard an audible sigh of relief from the other end of the phone. ‘Annie, that’s magnificent. As for the classes up here, we’ll just cancel them for next week. That way you can come up here to help out, starting on Tuesday afternoon. All right?’
‘Perfect. I’ve got a class here until noon on Tuesday and then I’ll come straight up to Montalto.’
‘Thank you so very much, Annie. You can’t imagine what a relief that is for me. But we haven’t even talked about money yet. I spoke to Alex and he said to pay you whatever you wanted.’
‘I don’t want money. I’m just happy to help out. That’s what friends are for.’
‘We rather thought you might say that, so I have a counter proposal for you. Instead of money, how about a car?’
‘A car?’
‘Hang on; I’m not talking about Alex’s Ferrari. You drive an old Panda, don’t you?’
‘Yes… I love my old Panda.’
‘Well, how about a newer Panda?’ Before she could answer, Massimo explained. ‘When all the construction work was going on, we needed a runabout for the site manager and for running any odd errands. We bought a Fiat Panda at Easter. It’s only done a couple of thousand kilometres and it’s like new. Or at least it will be once I’ve had it professionally valeted. How about a nice little white Panda to replace your rusty old one?’
