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
‘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. ‘
‘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
OLYMPIA 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.
