Her Italian Boss’s Agenda

by Lucy Gordon

  ‘You say this?’

  ‘That surprises you?’

  ‘A little, because although it was you who found Justin, I don’t think you feel like a brother to him.’

  ‘That doesn’t matter. I know now that to find the ideal person and then lose them because-’

  Olympia heard him take a sharp breath and then go on with difficulty.

  ‘Because of what?’ Hope asked curiously.

  ‘Because of their own foolishness, and because there was nobody to help them find the way that they had lost-it can happen too easily, and then the worst thing is to know that it was your own fault. I wouldn’t wish it on any man. Not Justin. Not Luke.’

  ‘Not yourself?’ Hope asked gently.

  Primo gave a curt laugh. ‘I can take care of myself.’

  ‘Can you, my son? I thought so once. Now I’ve begun to wonder. Once you seemed so strong-’

  ‘I’m much stronger now, Mamma. A man is always better for making discoveries-especially about himself. From what you say, Justin has discovered many things, but they have left him confused. Olympia has spoken the truth. You must help him through that confusion.’

  ‘And you? Are you confused?’

  Primo spoke quietly. ‘No, Mamma. My confusion is over. Now, come inside. It’s getting chilly.’

  Olympia didn’t move but sat there silently until she knew that they had gone. She discovered that her face was wet, but she couldn’t remember when she had started to weep.

  As part of the Maggio dei Monumenti celebrations Enrico was laying on a ball for all the ‘notables’ as he called them. His guests included most of the Council of Naples, who organised the festival, the older Neapolitan families and many of his employees. This year the number of employees was greater and included many from England, to mark the successful merger.

  He had persuaded Angela and Harold to extend their visit for a few days and join him. On the night they set off, with Luke and Olympia, for one of the local palazzos, now owned by the city, where he had hired the ballroom.

  It was a grand occasion. The Rinuccis were there in force-Francesco with the girlfriend on whom Hope was pinning expectations, Primo escorting Galina, who looked like a model in a white satin dress that plunged down at the front, down at the back and up at the side. She had exactly the perfect figure to get away with it and Olympia reckoned that if Primo was making a point then he was doing it in style.

  She herself was elegant in deep blue silk, but she was glad she hadn’t worn white. She could never have competed with the luscious Galina.

  Enrico was ebullient. The occasion had gone to his head and he was set on marking it symbolically. He gathered Primo and Olympia to him to receive directions.

  ‘It will be a wonderful evening,’ he enthused, ‘and the culmination will be the moment when the two of you take the floor together for the waltz.’

  ‘Surely that’s not really necessary,’ Olympia said.

  ‘Of course it’s necessary. We are celebrating the merger of our two firms, ushering in a time of peaceful co-existence, of happy union-’

  ‘It’s two firms not two kingdoms,’ Olympia pointed out. ‘Can we keep a sense of proportion?’

  ‘I agree,’ Primo said through gritted teeth. ‘I think you should forget this idea.’

  ‘I will not forget it,’ Enrico spluttered, enraged. ‘It is essential to tell the world of our blissful-’

  ‘Well, I don’t feel blissful,’ Olympia said firmly. ‘Why can’t you dance with someone?’

  ‘If I do, my wife kill me,’ he said mournfully. ‘No, it must be you.’

  ‘No,’ they both said together.

  ‘What nonsense is this? I demand that you dance together.’

  They yielded to placate him, and took the floor for the first dance.

  ‘I’m sorry about this,’ Primo growled.

  ‘Don’t worry. I’m getting to know Enrico’s little ways by now. He’s harmless. We only have to smile and be polite, then go our separate ways.’

  ‘Our separate ways. Do you know how melancholy that sounds?’

  ‘New roads always lead to something,’ she reminded him.

  ‘But suppose it isn’t the place we want to go?’

  ‘You have Galina waiting on your road. She’ll probably take you somewhere interesting.’

  ‘Shut up,’ he said softly. ‘Don’t talk like that, do you hear me?’

  ‘Why not? What difference can it make now?’

  ‘You speak as if I’d betrayed you. But if you can say Galina, I can say Luke. Tell me that you’re not in love with him. Let me hear you say it.’

  ‘Didn’t I once tell you that I never fall in love with unsuitable men?’

  ‘Yes, and I asked what kind of man did you fall in love with. You said you couldn’t remember. But that was then. This is now.’

  ‘And life grows more complicated as time passes.’

  ‘Witch,’ he said bitterly. ‘Strega.’

  ‘Yes, you should beware of me.’

  His mouth was so close to hers that she could feel the whisper of his breath across her lips. The sense of sweet pleasure was so intense that she felt faint. She longed for him to kiss her, longed for it so intensely that nothing else mattered. She was swept by a desire to forget all her careful, self-protective plans and kiss him first.

  At any moment she would do so and the world could think what it pleased-any moment-

  The music slowed. It was over. People were applauding the dance that symbolised the creation of the new firm. In the midst of the applause Primo led her to Luke, inclined his head in a little bow and walked away, back to Galina.

  The next morning they went their separate ways.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  O LYMPIA saw her parents off at the airport.

  ‘We’ve had such a lovely time, darling,’ Angela said, ‘and it’ll be so lovely coming out for your wedding. Luke’s a delightful young man, but don’t you let the other one put a stop to it.’

  ‘The other one-put a stop to it-?’

  ‘Primo, the one who stands about scowling at you and Luke. Watch out for him, because he’ll block it if he can.’

  ‘I’ll be careful,’ Olympia promised. ‘But don’t count on my marrying Luke. Things aren’t always what they seem.’

  ‘Don’t be silly, dear. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. Goodbye, now.’

  Three days later there was news from England.

  ‘Mamma’s done it!’ Luke announced triumphantly as he came off the phone. ‘Don’t ask me how, but she’s made Justin and Evie see sense and the wedding’s going to take place here, next month.’

  Olympia spent an evening with Hope, who was happily deep in wedding plans. She had a natural gift for organising that was almost as great as Olympia’s own, and soon the entire family had been turned into lieutenants, scurrying hither and thither at her command.

  Justin, Evie and Justin’s son, Mark, were to stay at the villa and arrived two days early.

  ‘I know it’s not usual for the bride and groom to start from the same house,’ Hope said to Olympia, ‘but neither of them has a home here, and this way I can keep an eye on them.’

  ‘You’re afraid they’re going to escape you again,’ Olympia teased. Hope laughed and didn’t deny it.

  Toni and Primo, newly returned from England, went with her to the airport to greet them, and that evening everyone congregated at the villa. Olympia was immediately taken by Evie’s wit and her ready laugh, which obviously covered a sharp intelligence. Justin was an interesting man, apparently harsh, yet seeming to cling to Evie. If she left his side his eyes followed her around the room.

  Mark was already a favourite with the family and now he won Olympia’s heart with his cheeky antics and his happiness at being there. After Hope, he was the person most anxious for the marriage to take place without delay.

  ‘He’s a bit like Primo, when I married his father, Jack Cayman,’ Hope confided. ‘He wanted a mother so badly. I�
�ll never forget the way he smiled when he finally felt certain of me.’

  But that certainty had proved an illusion, Olympia thought. His ‘mother’ had been taken from him and, although she had been restored later, he’d never felt completely safe again.

  Hope’s use of the name Jack Cayman brought a host of other memories back. Now she saw how Primo’s early experiences had shaped him. Beneath the apparently solid self-confidence was something rootless, constantly mobile, as though he were seeking something that could never be found.

  It didn’t take much insight to deduce that much the same was true of Justin, whose life had been built on even greater confusion. Snatched from his mother at birth, he had later been rejected by his adoptive parents and abandoned in an institution. He’d reached manhood angry and bitter, caring for nobody, ready to do anything.

  Against all the odds he’d made something of his life and was now a wealthy man and the head of a huge firm. But the scars remained and they had made him reject Evie, who loved him, for her sake. Now, thanks to Hope’s intervention, things had come right for them, and the whole family had joined to wish them well.

  Since Primo had been the one to find him first, Justin had asked him to be his best man. Toni was to give the bride away as Evie had no family. And the day before the wedding Olympia’s parents arrived, at Hope’s invitation, the clearest signal that she was still plotting.

  On the morning of the wedding the entire Rinucci family gathered at the villa, which made an impressive sight. Some were staying there, some had travelled up early in the morning, until at last everyone was there.

  Galina, as always, was a knockout in a light blue chiffon dress that contrived to be fairly restrained, for church, while leaving no doubt about her glorious figure. Olympia’s honey-coloured linen, which had seemed so elegant in the mirror, now looked dull. In fact, she told herself that she looked almost middle-aged beside Galina’s vibrant youth.

  Primo noticed her and drew Galina across for a greeting. The morning sun flashed off something around the girl’s neck, which closer inspection proved to be a gold chain with heavy, elaborate links.

  ‘Isn’t it beautiful?’ Galina squealed when Olympia admired it.

  ‘Did Primo give you that?’ Luke asked.

  Galina just giggled. Olympia stared out of blank eyes. A gift so valuable was a declaration of intent.

  ‘It’s time the groom was leaving for the church,’ Hope said, bustling over. ‘And those of you who are going with him, the car’s ready outside.’

  Justin appeared, dreadfully pale, and was taken in charge by Primo. A few minutes later the two of them departed together, with Galina.

  More cars were lined up before the house; people started checking themselves in the mirror, taking care of last minute details.

  Then everyone was silenced by the arrival of the bride. Evie had chosen a simple ivory-coloured dress with a short veil held in place by flowers. She looked beautiful, but she also looked honest, calm and strong. In fact she was exactly what the man she loved most needed.

  And Hope knew it, because she gave her new daughter a special mother’s embrace before taking her hand and putting it in Toni’s.

  ‘You will give her away,’ she said, smiling, ‘and then she will be ours.’

  No bride could have asked for a better welcome, Olympia thought as she and Luke headed out to the cars. But she knew now that it could never be hers. There could be no marriage between herself and Luke, whatever other people thought, and it was time for her to leave.

  His brotherly kindness had lulled her into a sense of security and she had lingered too long. But now it was time to depart and set a distance between herself and the Rinucci family. That way she need no longer see Primo with Galina.

  But then she thought of working with him, seeing him day after day, and knew that moving home wasn’t enough. She must go away entirely, back to England, to another job. It would mean starting again.

  But I can do that, she thought. I’ve done it before.

  The wedding ceremony was an impressive ritual, but the most impressive part was when two people claimed each other with quiet fervour. Then the organ pealed out and they started back down the aisle into the sunlight, where the photographer was waiting.

  So many photographs to be taken, so many family combinations. Nobody must be left out, and Olympia found herself kindly dragooned into many pictures where she felt she had no right to be. But Hope was determined and nobody could stand up to her.

  ‘Not if they want to live,’ Luke commented wryly.

  Then the formal reception, the speeches, Justin almost inarticulate, having to be rescued by his son, saying cheekily, ‘Dad hasn’t got much Italian yet, so I’ll do it.’

  At last the tables were cleared for dancing. Olympia watched the bride and groom, standing well back against the wall, a glass of champagne in her hand.

  ‘Making plans?’ Primo’s voice asked ironically.

  ‘Oh, shut up,’ she said, abandoning tact.

  ‘But how much longer can you keep us all on tenterhooks while you delay the announcement? Soon you will be my sister-in-law-or you would be, if I acknowledge that Inglese as a brother.’

  ‘Primo, will you please stop talking nonsense? Of course I’m not going to marry Luke.’ She faced him, suddenly angry and too full of regret to care much what she said. ‘How could you ever have believed it for one minute?’

  ‘Because you went to live with him.’

  ‘Only because I was angry with you. You should have known that. You did know it. Where have your wits been all this time?’

  He stared at her. ‘This is my fault?’

  She thought of Galina and sadness overcame her.

  ‘No, mine too, I suppose. I wasn’t very clever from the start, or I’d have seen through you.’ She gave a wry smile. ‘Let’s face it, you didn’t really do it very well. You didn’t fool me. I fooled myself. I wanted to believe in my own cleverness. I’ve nobody to blame but me, so I think we should part friends and forget it ever happened.’

  ‘Friends?’ he murmured, and then, ‘Part?’

  ‘Yes, I’m leaving. It’s time this was over. I’m going back to England.’

  He stared at her, seemingly unable to think of a reply. When it came it wasn’t the one he would have chosen.

  ‘You can’t. You’ve got a contract.’

  ‘Sue me.’

  She turned and began to walk away, moving out on to the terrace. But he came after her and pulled her round to face him.

  ‘People will see,’ she said frantically.

  ‘Let them. It’s time we had this out. You’ve been playing me for a sucker for far too long.’

  ‘I’ve been-?’

  ‘Everything you’ve done recently has been done to punish me. Living with that Inglese, making my whole family see you as a couple. You were teaching me a lesson, weren’t you? I thought better of you.’

  ‘Oh, don’t give me that,’ she said angrily. ‘We both behaved badly. We both thought better of the other, and we were both disappointed.’

  ‘Which seems to leave us about even,’ he said, giving her a curious look.

  ‘Yes.’ She sighed. ‘And that’s a good place to finish.’

  ‘Are you sure about that?’ he asked, looking at her strangely. ‘Some people might say it was a good place to start.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Don’t you realise that what you’ve been saying for the past few minutes gives us the best chance we’ve ever had? Olympia, for the first time we can be honest with each other. That’s a great start.’

  There was a gleam far back in his eyes that obscurely disturbed her, but she refused to take any notice. She had made her decision and this time she would stick to it.

  ‘I can’t believe you’re saying this. After what we did to each other-’

  ‘That was bad, and we needed some time apart to get over it, but we’ve had that and now we’re ready-’

  ‘Will you stop t
elling me what to do?’

  ‘Somebody needs to, because you’re lost and confused. Almost as lost and confused as I am, but this is where it stops. Tell me that you love me.’

  She gasped in outrage. ‘Is that an order?’

  ‘Yes, it is! And look sharp about it, I’m tired of waiting.’

  ‘The devil I will!’ she said, trying to turn away again.

  ‘The devil you won’t,’ he said, pulling her back. ‘Now listen to me. I stood there in that church, watching Justin and Evie and wondering how I’d ever let things go this wrong.’

  ‘But so did I-’

  ‘Then tell me that you love me.’

  ‘Now, look here-’

  ‘Say it-’

  Before she knew it his lips were against hers and his arms about her.

  ‘Say it,’ he muttered.

  ‘I’m blowed if I-’

  ‘Say it!’

  But in the same instant he made it impossible for her to say anything, kissing her until she was breathless and incapable of thought. She had deadened herself to emotions, not once but twice-first for David and then, recently, trying to kill her love for Primo. But now the sweet, uncontrollable feelings rose up and refused to die down.

  She loved him. She might deny it from now until kingdom come, but it would still be true.

  ‘Say it,’ he murmured again. ‘Or I’ll kiss you forever until you do.’

  ‘In that case, my lips are sealed.’

  He was laughing, his body shaking, sending tremors through her too.

  ‘I love you, I love you,’ she said. ‘But don’t stop.’

  All tension and sadness seemed to melt away in kiss after kiss. She was only distantly aware of a door opening and closing behind her, but then she felt Primo draw back a little in dismay.

  ‘Well, well,’ said Luke’s voice.

  Shocked, she whirled and saw him standing there, leaning against the wall, regarding them both with apparent amusement.

  ‘So you reached the finishing line at last,’ he said. ‘I thought you would if I was patient.’

  ‘You-?’ she said uncertainly. ‘You mean you-all this time-?’