‘Don’t you see, it’s because we
‘You mean you’re running,’ he said scornfully. ‘Running like a coward who’s afraid of life.’
The words were bitter, brutal, but he couldn’t help it. The pain of her rejection was intense.
‘Maybe I am,’ she said. ‘But I don’t want to feel all that again, Jack, and you frighten me. You could take me to a place where I don’t want to be-’
‘If we were there together, like tonight-’
‘It will never happen again.
He drew apart from her, gasping.
‘Wait here,’ he said through gritted teeth, and walked out of the room without a backward glance.
He went all the way downstairs before he called Italy on his cellphone, taking no chance of being overheard. First he called Cedric Tandy.
‘Cedric, I know it’s late but I need a favour from you-’
It was a short call, very satisfactory, and ended with him saying, ‘Cedric, you’re a lifesaver. Go back to bed now.’
Next he spoke to Enrico, who wasn’t best pleased at being hauled out of bed, but who also agreed to what Primo wanted, because people always did. After nearly half an hour he returned to Olympia. Secretly he was glad she’d forced the issue, driving him to a decision.
‘It’s settled,’ he said when he rejoined her. ‘I’ve been telling them about you and Leonate wants me to take you out there so that he can get to know you.’
‘And what then?’
‘You’ll work in Naples for a while, then in a few months you’ll know what you want to do. You may decide you want to return here and run Curtis. If so, you’ll make a better job of it for having worked at the centre of things. Or you may decide that you like Naples and want to keep your job there.’
‘What about you?’
‘I’m flying out with you and staying for a while, to see you settled in, but I won’t be living at the hotel. I have an apartment.’
‘Wait, I can’t get my head round this. Who’ll run Curtis while you’re away?’
‘Cedric. His retirement package contains an option for another six months.’
‘Does it? I saw it and I didn’t see anything about another six months.’
‘It’s a recent development,’ he said hurriedly, not choosing to tell her how recent. ‘It gives me a breather while I make decisions about his replacement. He won’t mind if I invoke that option. It keeps your options open too.
‘And now that we’ve settled everything, I’ll leave.’ His voice became brisk. ‘I want you in the office first thing tomorrow. There are arrangements to be made. Is your passport in order?’
‘Of course.’
‘Have you got the number that man in the disgusting jacket gave you to ring when you’d settled the date?’
‘Of course.’
‘Fine. Tell them we’ll travel in two days. We’ll sort out the final details tomorrow. Goodnight.’
He left without another word.
Olympia stood watching the closed door, feeling more confused than she’d been in her life. He threatened her peace, and she’d told herself that the time had come to escape him. But somehow he’d wrested control from her. The trip to Naples would be on his terms.
She’d outwitted him-and then she hadn’t.
Suddenly the future was more exciting than it had ever been.
As he’d said it was all systems go in the office next morning.
‘How can you leave so soon, when you’ve barely got here?’ Olympia protested.
‘But I’m only obeying orders,’ he said innocently. ‘Just a humble cog in the Leonate wheel, doing as I’m told, that’s me.’
‘Why don’t I find that convincing?’
‘Maybe you’re just not a very good judge of character,’ he said simply.
From then on packing and making arrangements about her apartment occupied all her time, and when she finally closed the door to start the journey to the airport she hadn’t seen him for two days. She had to take a taxi. He didn’t even bother to collect her.
She was glad of the time apart. It gave her a breathing space to get her ideas together and remind herself what really mattered. He was attractive, no doubt about it, but so what? She could enjoy a flirtation without compromising her mission, couldn’t she?
But then these cool thoughts would be invaded by memories that were anything but cool: the way he’d held her in his arms, the fierce crushing kiss with a hint of some suppressed feeling that might have been desperation, the skilled movements of his lips, knowing so well how to incite her to respond.
He knew her too well. He could speak to her in a silent language they both understood. He was dangerous. She must escape him.
But she was glad with all her heart that he was coming with her.
He was waiting at the airport, greeting her with an air of tension that puzzled her.
‘Are you all right?’ she asked.
‘Fine, fine. Just not too keen on flying.’
In fact he was an excellent traveller, but he’d just completed what he promised himself would be the last, the very last piece of trickery.
Realising that his ticket would be provided in the name of Cayman, he’d intercepted it when it had been delivered to the office the previous day, then booked himself another ticket in his true name and got to the airport early to collect it.
Now he was vowing that it would all soon be over. Safe in Naples, he would confess everything to Olympia over a glass of wine. They would share a laugh, and she would forgive him.
Eventually.
And he would never tell another lie as long as he lived. His nerves couldn’t stand it.
CHAPTER SEVEN
‘THERE it is,’ he said as the volcano came into view in the distance. ‘That’s what you’ve been watching for, isn’t it?’
‘Vesuvius,’ she said ecstatically. ‘How fierce and magnificent it looks.’
The plane turned and now the lights of Naples were below them, like arms curving around the bay. Another few minutes and they were down.
Then they were in the taxi, climbing the hill to the Vallini, the grandest hotel that Naples had to offer. As soon as she stepped through the door she was enveloped in luxury. Uniformed staff murmured, ‘
There she found a double bed of antique design but modern comfort, a marble bathroom and a sitting room with a balcony that looked out over the bay.
‘I’ll leave you for a while,’ he said, ‘while I check my apartment. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.’
When he’d gone she had a long soak in scented water while the hotel laundry service pressed the creases from the black dress she’d worn to the nightclub. A hairdresser arrived and dressed her long black hair in elegant sweeps, some wound about her head, some falling.
It was a magical evening. He led her downstairs to his low slung sports car.
‘Let me show you a little of my town,’ he said.
They drove for an hour through narrow cobbled streets. Once she caught him stealing a smiling glance at her and knew it was a reminder of how he’d once teased her about ‘urchins and cobbled streets’.
‘But where are the urchins?’ she asked at last and they both laughed.
They dined at a tiny
