‘Rosa nearly gave the game away by first making it clear that you’d been expected at the Palazzo, and then by starting to mention your father.
‘But it was Gina’s opposition which proved to be the most serious. Until that intruder frightened you so badly, I’d failed to realize to what lengths she would go.’
‘You mean the Marquise was behind that?’
He nodded sagely. ‘Yes. I guessed when I realized that whoever it was must have had keys to the Palazzo. Gina still had her own set from when she had lived here, and she was the likeliest person to have given them to him…’
‘But what was he doing in the Palazzo?’
‘Looking for the pearls. He was told to search your belongings in case you had brought them with you, or managed to find them, but he hadn’t completed his task when you went back to your suite.
‘That was confirmed last night when Rosa came to tell me that Roberto needed to speak to me urgently.
‘I found that a couple of the servants had cornered a man who was lurking in the garden, presumably waiting until it was dark before he let himself in.
‘Unfortunately, by the time I got there he had managed to give them the slip and escape, but Roberto was able to identify him as one of the servants who work at Ca’ d’Orsini.
‘When I came back and couldn’t find you, I was worried. But my anxiety was increased tenfold when one of the staff mentioned that he’d seen you slip out of the south entrance, and then Rosa told me about the threats she’d overheard Gina making.
‘I couldn’t believe she meant to do you any real harm, but I was scared stiff all the same…’ He raked a hand through his hair.
‘You hadn’t taken your bag, so I knew you had no phone with you and no money to get a taxi to wherever you were intending to go. Which meant you were walking alone and at night with this man on the loose and probably still close by…
‘I straight away organized a search party and set off myself to look for you.
‘In the meantime my worst fears had been realized when our would-be intruder, who’d been spying on you and knew what you looked like, happened to see you leave the Palazzo.
‘He reported as much to his mistress—they were keeping in touch by mobile phone. Seeing the perfect opportunity to scare you into leaving Venice, she gave him his instructions.’
Stephen’s handsome face hardened. ‘She didn’t know anyone would be at hand to help, she didn’t even know if you could swim, so telling him to push you into the canal was unforgivable.’
A kind of shudder shook him, before he said, ‘I can only thank God that I was returning across the campo when I heard you scream. If I hadn’t been there at that minute you could have drowned.
‘First thing this morning I went to see Gina and told her—’ He stopped speaking as Rosa approached with a tray of cool drinks.
Having put it on the table, she collected the coffee cups, then hesitated.
Glancing at her, Stephen asked, ‘Something wrong?’
‘Nothing’s wrong, Signor Stefano, but when Roberto and I were talking just now, he happened to mention that when he was given the package to take to London there was a letter with it. I just thought you ought to know.’
‘Thank you, Rosa.’
What she saw as her duty done, the housekeeper gave a little sigh of relief and departed.
‘Of course,’ Stephen said, ‘I should have realized. Roberto only speaks a few words of English, so if Fran hadn’t already phoned Peter and explained what her intentions were, there would have needed to be a letter…’
Accepting a tall frosted glass of fruit juice, Sophia took a sip and, anxious to know what he had said to the Marquise, prompted, ‘You were saying you went to the Ca’ d’Orsini…’
‘Yes, I went to have it out with Gina. At first she denied all knowledge of the attack. Then, when I threatened to go to the police and tell them everything, she admitted that the man had been acting on her instructions. But she swore she’d never meant to harm you, only frighten you into leaving.
‘At that point, perhaps in the hope of making me jealous, she told me that Giovanni Longheni, the old flame she met in London, had asked her to marry him and go back to California with him.
‘He had given her a few days to think it over, and said if the answer was yes he would come and fetch her.
‘Giovanni has loved her for years. I think I told you that when he was a young man he wanted to marry her. But his parents didn’t like her and, though I believe she loved him as much as it’s possible for her to love any man, she refused. She was afraid they would cut him off without a penny, and she couldn’t stand the thought of being poor.
‘However, it seems that after leaving college, Giovanni went into electronics and made a sizable fortune of his own, so money is no longer a problem.
‘Even so, having set her sights on me and still cherishing hopes, she was reluctant to give him an answer, until I finally dashed those hopes by strongly advising her to accept his proposal.’
Her voice far from steady, Sophia began, ‘You mean you’re not…?’
‘I mean I’ve never had the slightest intention of marrying Gina. Though, until now, I’ve always been fond of her, she’s the last woman in the world that I’d want to spend my life with. She only told you all those lies to get rid of you.’
He took the glass from Sophia’s nerveless fingers and, having deposited it on the table, raised her hand to his lips. ‘I can understand why you felt used if you thought I was taking you to bed while all the time I was planning to marry her…’
‘But you said you were hoping to be married.’
‘I am, if you’ll have me.’
‘Me?’ Sophia whispered.
‘You’re the woman I want to be my wife, my friend and my lover, my lifelong companion and the mother of my children. From the moment I saw you I was lost, head over heels in love. I couldn’t imagine the rest of my life without you by my side…
‘I’d started to hope and believe that you felt the same, but when you told me you’d decided to leave, I thought I’d been mistaken…’
She looked up and met his piercing gaze. ‘Is that why you were angry?’
He nodded. ‘I thought you didn’t care.’
‘I was leaving because I cared too much.’
‘My precious darling…’ Pulling her on to his lap, he began to kiss her. He kissed her until the whole world was spinning and nothing existed in the universe but him.
After a while he lifted his head to ask, ‘How soon will you marry me?’
Her heart overflowing with joy and gladness, she told him, ‘As soon as you like.’
That earned her another long kiss.
When at length he freed her lips, a quiver in her voice, she remarked, ‘I wish Dad could have known how things have turned out. I’m sure he would have been happy for us.’
Stephen nodded. ‘I believe Fran would have been too…I only wish we could find her pearls so you could wear them on your wedding day…’
Almost to himself he added, ‘It’s a great pity we don’t know what was in Fran’s letter; there might have been some clue…’
‘Knowing Dad, he wouldn’t have destroyed it,’ Sophia said with certainty. ‘It’s probably still in his bureau. Apart from one or two documents I needed to find, I haven’t gone through his papers…’
Then, her excitement rising, ‘Old Mrs Caldwell has a key to the flat; what if I phone her and ask her to go across and look for it?’
‘Yes, why not?’ Stephen rose to his feet, taking Sophia with him. ‘You’ve everything to gain and nothing to lose.’
On hearing Sophia’s voice, Mrs Caldwell exclaimed, ‘How lovely to hear from you, dearie!’
After asking the old lady how she was, and answering her first eager rush of questions, Sophia voiced her request, adding, ‘Presumably, as it was hand delivered, it won’t have a stamp, so if it is still there it should be fairly easy to pick out.’
‘If you
want to hang on, dearie, I’ll go straight across and see if I can find it.’
The old lady was back quite quickly. Sounding a little breathless, she announced, ‘I’ve found a letter that might be the one. The envelope just has your father’s name on it. Would you like me to post it on to you, or shall I open it and read it out?’
After glancing at Stephen and getting his nod of approval, Sophia said, ‘Will you read it out?’
‘Certainly, dearie, if that’s what you want.’
There was a rustle of paper; then, as both Sophia and Stephen listened, the old lady announced, ‘It’s quite short. It simply says:
‘To my dearest. After all these years apart there’s so much to say, yet nothing. You have my blessing to tell my darling Sophia the truth on her twenty-fifth birthday, and I’d like you to give her, on my behalf, the Padova Pearls and my jewellery box.
‘For a long time now the box has kept my secret well. There’s a little trick—move the tails of the seahorses in opposite directions.
‘I love you and I always will. I feel I haven’t got long on this earth, but love never dies and, God willing, we will meet again in some other place.
Francesca.’
Trying to bite back tears, Sophia thanked the old lady and, after promising to explain the whole thing before too long, rang off.
Quivering with excitement she went through to the bedroom and returned with the jewellery box. Standing it on the coffee table, she bent and, with her thumbs, pressed the tails of the tiny seahorses in opposite directions.
There was a faint click and the curved top of what she had supposed to be a solid lid sprang open.
Tucked into the space was a bag made of fine chamois leather. With unsteady hands, she opened the drawstring and drew out a double rope of lustrous pearls. ‘They’re beautiful,’ she whispered in awe.
‘Nowhere near as beautiful as you.’
As she half shook her head, Stephen took the pearls from her nerveless fingers and fastened them around her slender throat.
Then, drawing her into his bedroom, he locked the door behind them and closed the curtains.
‘What are you doing?’ she breathed.
Starting to strip off her clothes, he said, ‘I have a fancy to make love to you while you’re wearing nothing but the pearls…’
When she was completely naked, he took the pins from her hair and kissed her.
‘But first I want you to see yourself as I see you…’ He turned her to face the cheval-glass. ‘There…How do you think you look?’
She saw a tall, slender-limbed woman with dark hair tumbling round her smooth golden shoulders and pearls glowing softly at her throat. On her face was a look of love that made her beautiful. ‘I think—’
‘And don’t say half baked.’
‘I wasn’t going to.’
‘What were you going to say?’
Thickly, she said, ‘I think it’s about time we were on an equal footing.’
Grinning, he invited, ‘If you mean what I think you mean, go ahead.’
Turning, she unfastened the buttons of his shirt and pulled it free from his waistband. Then, fumbling a little, she undid the clasp of his trousers and slid down the zip.
Truth to tell, she had expected him to take over, but he stood with a slight smile on his chiselled lips, making no attempt to help.
Blushing furiously now, but determined not to be beaten, she slid first his trousers and then his silk boxer shorts down over his lean hips.
Having removed his own footwear, he straightened and said in her ear, ‘If you’re going to blush like this every time you try something new, married life is going to be a whole lot of fun.’
Then, drawing her back against his naked body, he turned them to face the mirror once more and, his hands cupping her breasts, his thumbs brushing lightly over the firming nipples, he watched her mouth soften and her eyes grow slumbrous as her body responded to his touch.
But this time, as she watched him, she saw that, rather than simply looking like a triumphant male, his handsome face reflected all the love in hers.
She smiled at him and he smiled back, before lifting her into the big four-poster and sliding in beside her.
The Padova Perals Page 17
