comic.
‘What is it?’ he asked, watching her.
‘David isn’t like that. Yearning isn’t his way.’
‘What is his way?’
‘Well-I don’t know-’
‘But you’re in love with him?’
‘Yes-no-it’s none of your business.’
‘As long as I’m in your power, everything about you is my business.’
‘I see no need to discuss David.’
‘Is he a painful subject?’
‘No, he isn’t. It’s just that our relationship is-difficult to describe-’
‘You mean it isn’t passionate,’ he said calmly.
‘I mean nothing of the kind.’
‘Then it is passionate? His kisses inflame you, your body aches for him when you are apart?’
Alex’s lips twitched. Her sense of humour was coming to her rescue.
‘You forget,’ she said, ‘that I’m a cold-blooded northerner. We don’t “do” passion. It gets in the way of business.’
His eyes gleamed. ‘A remark like that is pure provocation.’
‘You can take it any way you like. David is the man I’m going to marry, and I refuse to discuss our relationship any further.’
He was silent for a long moment after that. Alex knew that the announcement of her impending marriage was like a glove thrown down in defiance, warning him that she had her own agenda. But his face was slightly averted, and she couldn’t discern what effect it had had on him.
At last he raised his head and spoke.
‘Teresa is ready to serve the next course. I hope you’re hungry.’
CHAPTER FIVE
TERESA served game bird cooked with Marsala wine and juniper berries. It was delicious and Alex soon persuaded herself that arguments could wait.
Sitting on the veranda they could see the light fade from the land and the sun turn deep red before sliding down the sky. Here and there a cloud seemed lit by crimson from behind.
Brutus moved between them, begging. To Alex’s surprise Rinaldo showed no impatience, but fed the old dog patiently, although he advised her, ‘Don’t let him pester you.’
‘I don’t mind being pestered,’ Alex said with perfect truth. ‘He’s beautiful.’
‘He’s a dog,’ Rinaldo said with a touch of curtness. ‘Come on, boy.’
He pushed his chair back abruptly and went into the house, calling Brutus, who followed docilely. Alex wondered about his sudden change of mood, as though she had offended him by petting his dog.
But when he returned a few moments later he seemed to have forgotten the matter.
‘It’s good that we have a chance to talk,’ he said. ‘I understand your situation better now. So, you plan to marry this David, and that’s why you need money.’
‘No, I need it to buy my partnership in the firm,’ she said. ‘David’s an accountant too. It’s one of the top firms in London, so a partnership comes expensive.’
She waited for him to make some sharp remark, but he only nodded, as if considering.
‘How well did you know Enrico?’ he asked.
‘Not well at all, although he was very fond of my mother, and she talked about him a lot. In fact she talked about Italy a lot. She told me so much about Tuscany that when I got here it was like coming to a place I’d always known. She even raised me to speak Italian as well as English.’
Rinaldo frowned as though trying to remember something.
‘What was your mother’s name?’
‘Berta.’
‘Was she short and dainty with reddish hair?’
‘That’s right. You knew her?’
‘I met her once, years ago. Enrico brought her to a party here. I was about seven and she was grown up, but she was great fun. I had this dice game that I insisted on playing with everyone until they were ready to scream.
‘She sat down with me and we played and played and played. She was a mean dice player, and she had a wonderful giggle. She beat me hollow. She went to England a couple of months later and I never saw her again. So you’re Berta’s daughter.’
‘But you must always have known this?’ Alex pointed it out.
‘I suppose I did know it at the back of my mind, but it’s only just come to the forefront. I must have been too angry to think straight.’
‘Does that make me less of an enemy?’
He considered.
‘Can you play dice?’
They both laughed.
‘Tell me some more about her,’ he said.
‘Mamma was very hot-tempered and dramatic. We didn’t understand each other but we loved each other. I think I’m beginning to understand her better now.’
‘Already? You’ve only been here a few days.’
‘I know. But it’s not a matter of working it out in my head. It’s something I’m breathing in with the air. How could anyone be cool, calm and collected in this place?’
Rinaldo nodded. ‘You can’t. And we’re not.’
‘Surely there must be some Italians who are moderate and reasonable?’ Alex said in a teasing voice.
He smiled. ‘There may be one or two, hiding in corners.’
‘Probably ashamed to show their faces.’
‘Undoubtedly. Italy was built on passion, not reason. Moderation didn’t create those great buildings and great paintings that you’ve seen in Florence. Passion created them, and everything else worth having, food, wine, beauty-you will find none of these sitting behind a desk.’
‘Meaning me. But isn’t there also a kind of beauty in good order?’
She had expected him to brush this aside, but to her surprise he nodded.
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘But not if it’s the only thing in your life.’
She would have defended herself against this slur, but somehow the words wouldn’t come. What came into her mind instead was the picture of herself at her desk, at her computer, hurrying from one meeting to another in a grey, air-conditioned building from which fresh air, and anything else that was natural, had been shut out.
And the carefully scheduled time with David. All part of her life’s plan. Good order. But beauty?
The sun was throwing out its last fires of gold and crimson, drifting slowly down the sky. Its glow fell on her, and on Rinaldo. She felt not only its warmth but a feeling of contentment.
It might be wiser to resist that feeling, she thought drowsily. But for the moment she had no will to resist.
Far off in the distance she could see something moving. After a moment she made out Gino’s car, heading towards them, growing larger every moment.
When he was close to the house he waved before sweeping around to the side and vanishing.
She liked Gino, but at this moment she found herself wishing he had stayed away a little longer. He could only be an intrusion in the magical atmosphere that was pervading her.
How strange, she thought, that it should be Rinaldo who was here with her, part of the magic. The man who had shown her only his harsh, formidable side was now relaxed and pleasant.
To her relief, Gino didn’t join them at once. Teresa served fruits in syrup followed by black, sweet coffee.
