by Lucy Gordon
Emboldened by her matter-of-fact attitude Gino grinned and said, ‘Actually I didn’t.’
‘What?’
‘Rinaldo won, but he didn’t take it seriously. He claimed he thought I’d been using my two-headed coin or he wouldn’t have played. Anyway, he said he wasn’t interested and I could have you.’
‘Oh, really!’ she asked in a dangerously quiet voice.
‘But aren’t you glad you got me instead? Come on, admit it. You like me better than Rinaldo.’
‘I like anybody better than Rinaldo.’
‘I behaved badly, leaving you with him last night, didn’t I? I’m sorry if he offended you.’
‘I may have offended him,’ she said vaguely.
‘I wonder if that’s why he’s gone.’
‘What?’
‘Yes, he left early this morning. Something about checking out some second-hand farm machinery, but I didn’t know we needed any. He just upped and went.’
She should have been glad of the breathing space. Instead she felt as though she’d been dealt a blow.
They had unfinished business. Rinaldo knew that as well as she did. And he’d simply gone off and left her stranded in limbo. For a moment she looked around for something else to throw.
Then she forced herself to calm down and conceal the storm inside. That must remain her secret until she understood herself better.
She took a horse and rode for miles, noticing how the corn had grown since she first saw it, how the olives and grapes were flourishing in the sun.
How she loved the sun! It was as though she had only discovered it in Italy. There was sun in London, but it beat down in fierce strips of ugly road, baking pavements, suffocating. Here sunshine was fresh air and freedom, and a new awakening.
Her options were simple. She could return to England and fight, or she could stay here and fight. It was fighting either way, no question.
The prizes were uneven. A cold, soulless place in the firm, or another firm. There were plenty who would be glad to have her.
Or she could abandon London and everything she had worked for. All those years of striving for the best, the best clients, the best apartment, the best clothes, the best invitations-all gone to nothing.
In exchange she would have a life here, in a country that had seized her heart, in daily contact with a man who was rude, hostile, unrelenting, a man who’d rejected her out of hand without even seeing her, but who also troubled her heart and her restless body.
‘Nonsense!’ she said aloud. ‘I’m damned if I’m going to fall in love with him! Who the hell does he think he is?’
After a while she made up her mind. It felt less like taking a decision than facing the inevitable. Mounting her horse she galloped back to the farm and began to pack. The following morning, in the teeth of Gino’s protests, she drove herself to the airport.
There she handed the car in at the local branch of the rental company. An hour later she was in the air, on her way to England.
Rinaldo was away for a week. Twice he called and left messages on the answerphone. Eventually the phone was answered by Teresa, who brought him up to date with events, including the fact that Alex had left and would not be returning.
The following evening Rinaldo arrived home.
He found Gino sitting at the desk in his office, frowning as he poured over account books.
‘You’ll never manage it,’ he said, grinning. ‘Give up.’
‘Rinaldo!’ Gino leapt to his feet and hugged his brother eagerly.
Rinaldo hugged him back, and for a moment the two brothers thumped each other on the back.
‘What’s been happening?’ Rinaldo asked.
‘Alex has gone,’ Gino said gloomily.
‘So I gather from Teresa.’
‘Is that all you’ve got to say?’ Gino demanded, outraged.
‘What do you want me to say? She was always bound to go back where she belongs.’
‘I felt she belonged here,’ Gino sighed.
‘That’s what she wanted you to think, to keep you off guard. Circe played her games, and we were nearly fooled. Forget her.’
‘You as good as told me to make love to her.’
‘Yes, and I should have known better. You’re no match for her. It’s lucky you didn’t fall for her seriously.’
‘Who says I didn’t?’
‘You forget how well I know you. Your most death-defying passion lasted a whole two days, I seem to recall.’
Gino shrugged despondently. ‘Yeah-well, she’s gone now.’
‘So forget her.’
‘Do you think she really loves him?’
‘I said forget her.’
‘Hey!’ Gino said, staring into Rinaldo’s tense face. ‘No need to get mad at me.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Rinaldo growled, rubbing his eyes. ‘I’ve had a long drive, and I’m not in the best of moods.’
‘You do look pretty done in,’ Gino said with his quick sympathy.
In fact, he thought, his brother looked as though he hadn’t slept for a week. Or if he had slept, he’d had nightmares.
Poor old fellow, Gino thought. The threat to the farm must be troubling him more than he let on.
‘Come and have something to eat,’ he said kindly. ‘And you can tell me about the machinery.’
‘Machinery?’
‘The stuff you went to buy.’
‘Oh, that. No, I didn’t find anything. Something to eat sounds a good idea.’
The maids had already gone to bed. Teresa served them in the kitchen, then retired.
Gino noticed that Rinaldo ate as though he barely knew what the food was.
‘So what have you been doing these last few days?’ he asked.
‘Oh-driving around.’
‘For a week?’
‘Am I accountable to you?’
‘If I vanished for a week I’d have some explaining to do.’
‘So you would. Now drop it and tell me the news. When did Alex leave?’
‘The day after you did. I keep waiting to hear from the lawyers, but nothing’s happened.’
‘We’ll hear when it suits her,’ Rinaldo observed. ‘She’s playing games.’
That was the mantra he’d repeated obsessively during the last few days. She was playing games, which meant he’d done the right thing to get the hell out.
From that first startling moment at his father’s funeral he’d known that he couldn’t afford to weaken where this woman was concerned. Hard on the heels of that thought had come fierce regret that he’d ‘given’ her to Gino. He’d said it casually, arrogantly, thinking life was that simple. In truth he’d expected a female dragon who would scare his volatile brother off.
Then he’d met her and known that this was a job for a man, not a boy.
Their antagonism was a relief, giving him a breathing space. But she’d been clever, offering sympathy like water in a desert to a man who’d spent too long being strong for others. The feeling was so good that he’d almost weakened, but he’d escaped in time.
So he’d won, as he made sure he always did. But now he found himself in a wilderness, his victory nothing but ashes.
‘I don’t think she was just playing games,’ Gino said quietly.
‘Then why is she back in England now, planning her wedding?’
Gino had no answer. Looking at the weariness in Rinaldo’s face made him realise how depressed were his own spirits. The house had been quiet since Alex left, life had lost its savour.
After that there seemed nothing to say. Rinaldo fetched a bottle of old malt whisky, and they sat in companionable silence, sipping slowly, until Gino roused himself to say in a diffident voice.
‘There’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you for a while now.’
‘Go on.’
‘The day Poppa died-you were at the hospital first. By the time I arrived, it was too late. And I always wondered-what happened?’
‘Nothing, he was unconscious.’
‘
I know but-he didn’t come round?-even for a moment?’
‘If he had I’d have told you.’
‘It’s just so hard to think of him just lying there, still alive but not talking.’ Gino sighed ruefully. ‘You know what a talker he was.’
Rinaldo closed his eyes, and through his memory there passed the picture of his father, terribly still, swathed in bandages.
Like Gino he had felt it impossible that a man so full of life could lie still and silent. At any moment he would open his eyes, recognise his son and speak. There would be-there must be, some exchange between them before the end.
The picture swirled, blurred. He struggled to see clearly again but it was gone. As often before, he was tortured by the feeling of something there, just beyond the edge of memory.
Several times in the past he had come to the edge of this moment, but whatever it was always eluded him, driven away by the jangle in his head.
It had happened that day in the barn with Alex. Their brief moment of sympathy had caused a door of memory to start opening. But not far enough. And it would never happen again now. She had gone, and that was all for the best.
He would try to believe it.
‘I wish I had something to tell you,’ he said heavily. ‘I, too, find it hard that he just left us without a word of goodbye or explanation. But there’s nothing we can do but accept it. Now let’s get some sleep.’
They went upstairs to bed, and the house lay in silence for an hour. Then Gino awoke, uncertain why, but with a feeling that something was up.
Pulling on a robe he slipped into the corridor, where he found Rinaldo, dressed in shorts.
‘We have a burglar downstairs,’ Rinaldo said softly.
On bare feet they moved noiselessly along the corridor and down the stairs. Through the door they could make out part of the room illuminated by a bar of moonlight. The rest was in darkness, but they could hear the intruder moving about, then a crash, like a chair overturning.
‘Right,’ Rinaldo muttered.
He moved fast, not switching on the light but judging the position by sound alone, then launching himself forward, colliding with a body that reeled back, landing on the floor beneath him.
For a moment they fought in silence, gasping with effort and writhing madly together. Gino, coming into the room, heard a yell from Rinaldo as something caught him on the side of the head. Hurriedly Gino put the light on.
Then he froze at the sight that met his eyes.
Rinaldo drew in a sharp breath. ‘You!’ he said explosively.
From her position on the floor Alex glared up at him.
‘Get-off-me!’ she said emphatically.
Breathing hard, Rinaldo pulled back from her, and stood up. Alex rose stiffly, supporting herself on Gino’s outstretched hand.
‘What the devil are you doing here?’ Rinaldo demanded.
‘I live here. I went away, now I’ve come back.’
‘I knew you wouldn’t just leave us and forget,’ Gino breathed joyfully.
‘When I left I didn’t know what was going to happen,’ Alex said. ‘I had to see how the land lay. Now I know, and I’m here to stay.’
‘What does the English fiancé have to say about that?’ Rinaldo demanded, rubbing his face self-consciously. ‘Can we look forward to his descent on us? Shall I tell Teresa to prepare a room for him? Perhaps you mean to be married from this house?’
‘Oh, put a sock in it,’ Alex said firmly.
‘Excuse me? Sock?’
‘It’s an English expression,’ she explained. ‘It means don’t say any more. David’s out of the picture.’
‘You dumped him?’ Gino cried joyfully.
‘No, he dumped me. I found out on the night of the festival that he’d vetoed my partnership and got engaged to his mousy secretary. I went back to England to have the satisfaction of telling him a few home truths, face to face.’
‘I’ll wager you did it in great style,’ Rinaldo observed.
‘Oh, I did. In front of everyone. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed that. My lawyer will go after the firm for a settlement. I’ve put my apartment on the market, and after that there was nothing left to do but come back here.’
‘You couldn’t have notified us that you were arriving, in a sensible, civilised manner?’ Rinaldo observed.
‘Where’s the fun in that? Actually, I didn’t mean to be so late, but I had to pick up the car I’ve bought on the way and that delayed me.
‘I didn’t mean to awaken you, so I arrived as quietly as I could. I didn’t slam the door when I got out, and I climbed in by that window over there, the one that doesn’t close properly.
‘So here I am. This is my home too now. Get used to me, gentlemen, because I’ve come to stay.’
CHAPTER NINE
S OME women would have splashed out on a new wardrobe. Alex had splashed out on a car that reduced both brothers to awed silence. It managed to be stylish, glossily expensive and ‘heavy-duty’ at the same time.
‘How much?’ Rinaldo murmured.
‘More than I could afford,’ Alex said happily.
‘I take my hat off to you.’
The car declared that she had come to stay, big time. She’d already said so in words, but this affirmed it.
‘I’m going to drive a lot over the next week or so,’ she said. ‘I want to see every single part of Belluna. You don’t mind, do you?’
‘I have no right to mind.’
His tone was impeccably polite, but she would have preferred the knockabout that she had become used to. Since her return both men seemed to be treating her with kid gloves. Gino’s manner was gentle, Rinaldo’s was wary.
She began to study Belluna at close quarters. The year was moving on and it would soon be time for harvest. Wherever she went she found people who knew about her through the grapevine, and who treated her with cautious respect until they discovered that she knew a little Tuscan. Then there were smiles, laughter at her mistakes, eagerness to teach her.
One of her most enjoyable moments came when she returned from a trip to find Rinaldo standing by the side of the road next to his broken-down car.
It was rare for him to dress ‘for best’. Old shirt and shabby jeans were his normal attire around the farm. But now he wore a charcoal suit that was both elegant and fashionable, plus a tie.
His hair was brushed and tidy, and he looked almost like a different man. A handsome man, with and ‘air’, an extra something that most men did not have. Combined with the authority that was natural to him, it made him startlingly attractive. Alex felt a soft thud in the pit of her stomach.
She drew up and sat waiting at the wheel as he approached.
‘If you dare laugh-’ he growled.
‘Nothing was further from my thoughts,’ she said un-truthfully. ‘Is the break-down truck on its way?’
‘No, because I came out without my phone today. I’m warning you-’ Her lips had twitched.
‘Don’t get stroppy with me,’ she advised him, ‘or I’ll drive off and leave you here.’
‘No, you won’t,’ he said unexpectedly. ‘You’d never sink that low.’
‘I could try and force myself,’ she said, getting out of the car and heading for the boot. ‘But I have towing gear, and it seems a shame to waste it.’
They recovered the equipment from the boot of her car.
‘You’d better keep back and let me do the work,’ she told him. ‘Or you might spoil your suit.’
His answer was to strip off his jacket and shirt.
He shouldn’t have done that, she thought, not when she was trying to concentrate on what she was doing. How was she supposed to keep her mind on work when he was standing there, the sun burnishing his torso?
She guessed he must work like this a good deal, for the tan was even all over his broad back, shoulders and chest. With his tall figure and powerful neck, he looked exactly what he was, a forceful, virile male. And she was supposed to think about towing gear. T
here was no justice in the world.
She forced her attention back to the work, managing to do her full share, moving deftly and skilfully.
‘I see you know what you’re doing,’ he said.
‘If you’d experienced as much prejudice about women drivers as I have, you’d make sure you could do things for yourself, as well,’ she informed him. ‘The garages are the worst. They assume you’re an idiot. One manager told me to bring my husband in and he’d explain it. In this day and age! Oh, heck!’
The exclamation was drawn from her by her hair flopping over her forehead. It was years since she’d needed to brush back her hair, but these days it seemed to happen all the time.
How long had it been since she’d visited a hair salon? Instead of being immaculately styled and coiffed, her hair had grown, becoming almost shaggy. When she finished work and stood up, the slight breeze made it blow about her face.
He replaced his clothes and got into the passenger seat.
‘Where shall I take you?’ she asked when they were on the road.
‘There’s a garage halfway to Florence that will repair the car. When we’ve dropped it there I need to go into the city to keep an appointment. I’ll get a taxi home.’
‘I don’t mind waiting for you. I can do some shopping.’
‘There’s no need,’ he said briefly.
‘Oh, I see. Like that.’
‘What do you mean, like that?’
‘You know what I mean. You don’t want me to know where you’re going. I expect it’s a secret assignation with a mystery woman-’
‘Why would it have to be a secret? I’m a free agent. I do as I please.’
‘Well, perhaps she isn’t the only one,’ she said, wishing he would deny it.
‘You could have a whole harem dotted around Florence,’ she persisted when he stayed silent. ‘Or maybe-’
‘I’m visiting the accountant.’
It took a moment to subdue the flicker of pleasure that he wasn’t visiting a woman. When she was sure she could speak steadily she said,
‘Ah! Yes, I understand. You’re afraid I’ll want to come too.’
‘And I’m sure you will,’ he said with a sigh of resignation.
‘Well, I might drop in, just to do you a favour.’
