by Lucy Gordon
‘No, I had a staff of three gardeners, but they’ve gone except for that one. The other two left when the place was sold.’
‘How interesting! They both made the same sudden decision, did they?’
‘They did.’
‘And both left on the same day?’
‘In the same hour.’
‘What a remarkable coincidence! I wonder exactly how it came about.’
Her ironic tone left no doubt of her meaning, and Vittorio’s eyes darkened.
‘You mean, I take it, that I encouraged them, in order to harm you?’
‘It seems pretty clear.’
He moved towards her so suddenly that she couldn’t stop herself from taking a step back, although it maddened her to yield so much as an inch. She found her back against the wall.
‘Listen to me,’ he said, in a soft, deliberate voice, full of menace. ‘You are very confused about what is clear and what is not clear, so I am going to make several things clear to you.’
‘This conversation is over,’ she said, trying to move sideways and away from him.
But he stopped her by placing both hands on the wall, on either side of her.
‘No, this conversation is not over until I say so, and I have decided that there are things you must hear first.’
‘And I say I don’t want to, so you will move away and let me go right now.’
‘Will I, indeed? And who is going to make me? You? Try it.’
She would have been mad to try. Even though he wasn’t actually touching her she had a fierce sense of the wiry strength in his body, and knew that she was no match for him. To fight would merely be undignified.
His eyes were fixed on her face, following her thoughts exactly. He grinned, and it was an alarming sight.
‘Nor will any of the others help you against me. Do you think they will?’
Dismayed, she knew the answer. In the eyes of the household, he was still the master.
‘So you will stay here and listen to me, and when I am quite sure that you have understood I will let you go.’
‘Then get it over with,’ she said through gritted teeth.
‘The first thing is this. You have accused me of being prepared to damage this place because of my contempt for you. I told you before, I put my life’s blood into the estate and hell will freeze over before I do anything to harm it. What you suggested would be an act of petty spite, and it’s an insult that I won’t tolerate.’
‘Then perhaps you should have heard yourself say it,’ she flung at him. ‘You were delighted to have caught me out. Admit it.’
‘Of course I admit it. But I didn’t catch you out. You caught yourself out, thinking you could come out here and take over when you know nothing. Your arrogance is unbelievable. That’s why they left, because they are knowledgeable men and they don’t sell their services to ignorance. Expecting them to do so was your insult to them. They wouldn’t tolerate it, and why should they? You think I drove them away? On the contrary, I begged them to stay. Not for you, but for the estate, for the earth and the things that grow here, that need tending and loving, and which are more important than their pride, or yours.’ He took a shuddering breath. ‘Or mine.’
The last words sounded as though they were wrenched out of him. For a moment his attention seemed to wander, as though he’d side-slipped into another world. Then he forced himself back with an effort.
‘Just so that you understand, I do not descend to acts of spite, and I won’t tolerate the way you just spoke to me. Don’t ever do it again or you’ll be sorry.’
‘And that’s supposed to make me hire you, is it? Threatening me?’
‘You need me, damn you.’
‘I don’t think so. You’ve got the thing you came to find, so now get out of here. Do you hear me? Get off my property.’
Angel spoke bravely but her heart was hammering at what she could see in his face. For a moment she thought Vittorio would lose control, but at the very last second he mastered himself. A shudder went through him. His hands fell from the wall and he moved away from her. She had a strange feeling that his strength had suddenly drained away.
‘Your property,’ he said bitterly. ‘Yes, it’s your property now. I wish you joy of it.’
‘Liar!’ she flung at him in a shaking voice. ‘You wish me nothing but misfortune and misery.’
‘How astute of you!’
‘Get out of here now, and don’t come back.’
He gave her one final look of hatred. Then he was gone.
Angel had expected a disturbed night but, to her surprise, she slept like a log. The apparently hard mattress was the most comfortable she’d ever known.
Awaking early, she found the room still in darkness, but with slivers of light creeping between the cracks in the shutters. Pushing one of them open, she saw the softly growing light of early dawn. Entranced, she watched the sea, so still that it had an unearthly quality.
It was perfect, she thought, smiling.
Almost perfect.
The fly in the ointment was Vittorio Tazzini, a dangerous man who had taken against her in a way she didn’t understand. True, she owned the home that had once been his, but she hadn’t stolen it. Perhaps he hadn’t wanted to sell, but had been forced to by debts. Even so, he must have money left over, enough not to have to dress in such a down-at-heel manner.
He was a mystery, but one she didn’t intend to let worry her. She’d thrown him out. Now she must put him out of her mind. It should be simple enough.
But it wasn’t; she knew that already. He had the kind of presence that wouldn’t be easily dismissed. He wasn’t handsome-well, not in the ordinary way, she corrected herself. His nose was too prominent, his mouth too grim, his cheeks too lean for conventional good looks. What he had was all his own, a kind of dark inner force, unforgiving, implacable. He would be a bad enemy.
Yet she wasn’t afraid of him. Far from it. For years the men she’d met had been too much alike-smooth, full of glib talk and meaningless compliments, all seeming to come from the same insipid mould: photographers, television producers, minor actors, models, young men with little personality but the kind of regular features that passed for good looks, flashing cheesy smiles, always performing with one eye on her, the other on the camera, and their inner eye on the impression they were making.
She’d almost forgotten what the genuine article was like until she’d been forcibly reminded by a man who smelled of the earth after rain, and had no pretty speeches, only a blunt ferocity that, however disagreeable, was, at least, honest. Their encounter had left her strangely exhilarated.
By closing her eyes she could conjure him up again, leaning close, his hands pressed against the wall on either side of her. She knew he hadn’t touched her, not by so much as a fingertip. How, then, could she explain the sensation of his hands roving all over her? She could almost feel them now, yet it had all been in her mind.
I’ve got to pull myself together, she thought, almost amused. If my life had been half as colourful as the press thought, I’d be handling this better.
It was too soon to get up for the day. She went back to bed and fell asleep again, but this time she had strange dreams. Footsteps walked through her head, although she could see nobody. She heard the steps going away and knew that she must stop them or something terrible would happen. But, before she could do anything, she awoke.
Breakfast was on a balcony overlooking the sea, a magic place where small birds came daringly close and even landed on her table, demanding crumbs. She became so entranced with them, and the sight of the impossibly tiny boats below, that she almost forgot to eat.
Berta served her delicious coffee and rolls. At first she was reserved, as if her loyalty was still to Vittorio. But gradually she thawed under Angel’s determined friendliness.
They spent the rest of the day exploring the house and Angel’s delight grew. She loved this place. She even loved its slight shabbiness, its lack of pretension.
‘It was built four hundred years ago, for…’ Berta named a once notorious ducal family. ‘Their main residence was a palace, but this was created for a younger son, who brought his bride to live here. After that, it passed to a daughter, then to her daughter. It’s been several generations since anyone with a title lived here, but it’s been a happy family house.’
It was on the tip of Angel’s tongue to ask why Vittorio had had to sell, but she stayed silent, feeling sure Berta would pass the question on to him. Hell would freeze over before she let him guess she was curious about him.
Not every picture was gone. Some of the walls bore murals, and she spent some happy hours studying them, recalling everything she had ever learned about art history.
Angel found a suite of rooms that would be ideal for Sam and his carers. It was downstairs, as climbing was becoming too much for him, and would give him a large, pleasant room looking out onto the garden on the landward side of the house, with his nurses nearby.
She made a mental note of the furniture she would have to buy, and how much redecorating would be needed. For the moment, she told Berta only that the rooms should be spring-cleaned. More detailed explanations could wait until she felt more able to take Berta into her confidence.
She also began to walk her estate, which was more extensive than she had realised. In addition to the lemon orchards, there was a huge garden, stretching away landward, built on several levels, connected by short flights of stone steps. Flowers of every kind grew in profusion-roses, geraniums, magnolias. There were fountains with water plants, and greenhouses with tropical plants. Rico, the only gardener left, came with her, explaining that it was arranged that something different would flower every month.
Angel had begun to understand why Rico, alone among the gardeners, had chosen to stay. He was sweet-natured and always willing to please, but his mind worked at a snail’s pace. He had been born on the estate, lived there his entire twenty-three years, and plainly knew that he wasn’t fit to venture out into the big, bad world.
Vittorio was his god. Angel began to feel that if he said, ‘Il padrone always used to…’ just one more time, she would do something desperate.
Once she caught Rico off-guard, looking about him and clearly wondering how he was going to manage all this alone. Angel felt exactly the same. There was a horrible feeling growing inside her that Vittorio Tazzini was laughing at her. With good reason.
Another day, Angel went walking alone along the cliff top, where an iron rail guarded her from the drop. After a couple of hours she stopped and lingered, enjoying the sun that bathed her and glittered on the sea below. Cautiously, she peered over the rail at the long drop. Far below she could see the beach, with sun umbrellas and boats drawn up at the water’s edge. At this distance the bathers looked no bigger than ants. Fascinated, Angel rested her hands on the rail and leaned forward.
There was no warning of what happened next. She felt the movement of earth beneath her feet and the next moment she was sliding away under the railing, going down, lashing out frantically for something to grab.
For one terrifying moment, she thought there was nothing. Then her fingers touched metal and she tightened, and held on. She managed to reach up her other hand and clench that too on the railing, but her relief lasted only a split second. She’d checked her descent, but she was hanging over a sheer drop.
‘Help!’ she screamed. ‘Help!’
But she might as well have been in the middle of a wilderness. Nobody on the estate knew that she was here, and it was unlikely that anyone could see her from so far below. Even if they could, it would take time for help to arrive, and she wasn’t sure how long she could cling on.
‘Help!’ she screamed again. It might be useless, but she couldn’t stop.
Still, there was nobody to help her.
She fought to get a foothold, but her legs scrambled uselessly in space. She was already running out of energy because, with her arms stretched above her head, it was hard to breathe. Now sheer terror attacked her, making breathing even harder.
She cried out again, but the wind whipped her words away and brought no answer. She would simply hang here for hours, unnoticed by anyone, until exhaustion overtook her and she fell.
CHAPTER THREE
A NGEL CRIED OUT AGAIN , and this time it wasn’t a word but a long scream of agony.
‘All right, I’m coming.’
At first she wasn’t sure she’d heard the words. The wind snatched them away, then returned them in an echo.
‘Help!’ she screamed again, frantic with hope and fear.
But she could hear no reply. She’d imagined it. Nobody was coming to help her, and very soon she would be dead.
‘I’m here.’
The next moment a head appeared above her. She thought she was hallucinating as she saw it was Vittorio, but he dropped to his knees, then lay flat on the ground.
‘All right,’ he called. ‘Don’t panic. Here-’
He was reaching out his hand, wrapping his fingers around her wrist where she was still gripping the iron rail. Then the other hand, so that he held both wrists.
‘You’re going to have to let go of the rail,’ he said.
‘I can’t-’
‘You must,’ he said patiently. ‘I can’t pull you up while you’re holding it. Trust me.’
But her fingers seemed frozen, defying her will to move them. While she fought to make herself do what she must, there was an ominous crumbling sound, and a little more of the cliff slipped away beneath her. Looking up, she saw that most of it had come from the ground where he was lying, leaving a big hole beneath his upper body.
‘Don’t think about that,’ he said, his face just above her.
‘How can I? You’re lying on nothing.’
‘The hole gives me more room to pull you up. Be positive and trust me. Let go of that rail.’
Gasping, she did so, and immediately felt his hands tighten on her wrists, drawing her up, into the gap that crumbled further as she went through. He was inching back slowly-slowly-until he reached a place where he could draw himself up to his knees. As he did so his forearms were forced to take more of her weight, causing his fingers to tighten on her wrists. She gasped at the sheer power of that grip, and, with her eyes fixed on his face, she could see the terrible strain it cost him.
‘One more heave,’ he gasped.
On the words he yanked back sharply, so that Angel slid swiftly through the gap beneath the rail and landed on the ground, feeling it blessedly firm beneath her body.
She was safe, but that was only a word, and it had no power against the gasping and shuddering that seized her.
‘Oh, God,’ she whispered. ‘Oh, God!’
He put his arms right round her, pulling her hard against the length of his body and holding her there without moving or speaking. She clung to him in return, knowing that if he let her go she would start screaming. She tried to stop herself shaking but it was useless. The safety of the ground beneath her was an illusion, and only he could keep her safe.
‘Are you all right?’ he asked after a while.
‘No,’ she said abruptly. ‘I think-I’m going to have hysterics. Sorry about that.’
‘Don’t be sorry,’ he said, almost impatiently. ‘Nothing wrong with hysterics. Have them if you like.’
After that nothing could have stopped her. Her gasps turned into whooping, her shaking became violent tremors, and tears poured helplessly down her face. It didn’t seem to faze Vittorio. He just tightened his arms, so that an already firm grip became one of steel.
There was nothing gentle or tender about this. It was less an embrace than an imprisonment, but that was what she needed to guard herself from the worst, until the world became steady again,
the storm passed and she managed to say, ‘Damn, damn, damn! I thought I had more guts than that.’
He loosened his grip just enough to look at her face. His own was close enough for her to feel his breath fanning her lips.
‘Why?’ he asked mildly. ‘You were a hair’s breadth away from falling to your death. Has that ever happened before?’
‘No.’
‘Then why should you think you should cope?’
‘Well, we both know now that I can’t,’ she snapped, furious with herself and, obscurely, with him.
‘So what? Did someone pass a law saying that you had to be a superwoman? Or is that just what the rest of us are supposed to think?’
‘Will you shut up?’ she snapped.
He grinned. ‘That’s better. Come on. You’re ready to stand.’
She didn’t feel ready, but he seemed to know her better than she did herself, so she allowed him to help her to her feet.
‘Where’s your car?’ he asked.
‘I walked.’
‘Then it’ll have to be my car. It’s just over there.’
His car was small and shabby. Angel eased herself thankfully into the front passenger seat, closed her eyes, and didn’t open them again until they pulled up outside the villa.
‘The padrona needs a good, stiff drink,’ Vittorio told Berta, who bustled out.
‘We both do,’ Angel said, leading the way into the large room that opened onto the garden through tall windows.
Berta produced whisky and two glasses, and Vittorio poured for them both. Angel drank hers in one gulp.
‘Do you need another?’ he asked, holding out the bottle.
‘No, thanks. I don’t normally drink spirits at all, but this was different. Thank goodness you were there. How did that happen?’
‘You mean how dare I still be on your property after you ordered me off?’
‘Not exactly. After all, you saved my life. I owe you for that.’
‘You don’t owe me any favours. It wouldn’t have suited me at all for you to die. Everyone would have thought I’d murdered you.’
His brisk, common-sense manner was a relief. There would be no need for melodramatics along the lines of, My hero!
