or suspicion.
‘How do you mean-all right?’
‘You’ve lost the man you loved. You don’t let anyone see that you mind. You smile at Gino and me, you make jokes, and anyone who didn’t know you would think everything was fine in your world.’
‘Do you think you know me?’
‘As much as you’ll let me. And I know that you can’t really be as bright and cheerful as you seem. You’ve given me a shoulder to cry on in the past.’
Looking into his eyes she saw kindness, something she had never found there before. The sight was almost her undoing.
‘I’m not crying,’ she said huskily.
‘Most women would be after their fiance dumped them for another woman.’
‘There’s no need to make me sound like a weeping wallflower,’ she protested with a shaky laugh.
‘No, you’re no weeping wallflower. In fact, I can’t imagine you ever weeping. You’re too strong.’
‘Strong? Are you sure you don’t mean hard?’
‘I might have thought so once. But not now. You have a deep-feeling heart, but you guard it carefully.’
‘As you do yourself.’
‘Yes,’ he said after a moment. ‘As I do myself. I think we’ve both learned to be cautious. But feelings have to be expressed one way, if not another. I still remember that dent in the wall.’
‘Dent-? Oh, you mean when I threw the ornament?’
‘That was why you did it, wasn’t it?’
‘Yes,’ she said ruefully.
‘So you are an Italian deep inside, after all? The woman who arrived here wouldn’t have chucked things, merely uttered a few well-chosen words.’
‘I wasn’t quite as cool and collected as I seemed in those days,’ she admitted, ‘but I did feel that things could usually be sorted out with reason.’
She gave a brief inner smile, aimed at herself and the person she had been. How little reason seemed to matter, sitting here with the man who brought her to life as she had never thought to be.
‘And now?’ he asked.
‘Let’s just say that I’m having a re-think. There are times when a rush of blood to the head can be very satisfying.’
He grinned. ‘Your mother would be proud of you.’
‘Yes, she would,’ Alex said, realising that it was true. She gave a crack of laughter. ‘She’d have done exactly what I did. Oh, Mamma, I wish you could see me now.’
‘What did she think of your fiance?’
‘She didn’t like him. She said he was too organised.’
‘A virtue, surely, in his profession? And yours.’
‘Yes, but it’s not just in his profession,’ Alex mused. ‘Everything in his life was organised, I see that now.’
She wasn’t looking at Rinaldo, but at the tablecloth as she moved spoons back and forth into patterns.
‘We had it all planned,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘Our home, our marriage, the way our professional lives would entwine. Married to each other, we’d have dominated the firm. Of course, that was what he didn’t want. He wants to dominate it alone. I thought we loved each other, but all that time he was secretly planning to ease me out in any way he could. I guess he couldn’t believe his luck when I came out here.’
She shook her head over her own naivety. ‘Lord, but I made it easy for him!’
‘Because you trusted him,’ Rinaldo suggested.
‘Oh, yes. Conspicuous trustworthiness is David’s big asset. It’s worth at least thirty per cent on the bill.’
She knew she sounded bitter, but she couldn’t help it. Fool! she thought. Fool to have been so deluded for so long!
‘How long did you know him?’ Rinaldo asked.
‘Years. He was there the day I joined the firm, when I was little more than a kid. I supposed I hero-worshipped him, chiefly because he was so good-looking. It took a long time for us to come together.’
‘You’re very focused.’
‘Decide what you want and go for it. That’s me.’
‘And what do you want now?’ he asked, watching her.
‘I don’t know. For the first time in my life I don’t know what I want. I feel cast adrift.’
‘Yet you seem as sure of yourself as ever, Circe.’
‘That’s really unfair,’ she said, smiling wistfully. ‘Did it ever occur to you that Circe was a very confused person?’
‘She wasn’t a person, she was a goddess, an enchantress.’
‘A witch,’ she reminded him.
‘A witch,’ he agreed. ‘But a witch who sows confusion all around her.’
‘I never meant to. But you and I had such preconceived ideas about each other. There was bound to be confusion.’
He nodded. ‘No more preconceived ideas, I swear. I’ll never again see you as an automaton who thinks only cold reason matters.’
‘Can I have that in writing?’ she asked sceptically.
‘No, I’ll just have to prove it to you.’
‘For that, I’ll let you drive the car home,’ she said, handing him the keys.
He pocketed them. ‘Is this you being sweetly feminine?’
‘Nope. I’m just tired. You can do the work.’
Laughing they made their way through the streets in the direction of the car.
‘I haven’t abandoned reason altogether,’ she hastened to say. ‘But I’ve come to see that it can sometimes be overrated.’
‘Only sometimes?’
‘It has its place, even for you. You were very reasonable in Varsi’s office.’
A noisy vehicle rumbled by as he answered, and Alex couldn’t make out his reply distinctly. She gave herself a little shake, trying to believe that he had really said,
‘What did you say?’ she asked, dazed.
‘I said we turn here,’ he said quickly.
Strangely his denial convinced her. He might pretend what he liked. He’d said it. Suddenly she wanted this afternoon to last for ever.
He was silent on the journey home, and Alex was also content to say nothing. Something was happening that words would only spoil.
Later that evening, in the quiet of her room, Alex called Jenny, her one-time secretary.
‘I’m afraid I’m useless as a source of info,’ Jenny told her. ‘I’ve walked out of the firm. If I’d had to look at David’s smug face any longer I’d have done something to it. But I’ll always be glad I was there when you told him “what for” in front of everyone.’
‘Yes, I enjoyed it too,’ Alex mused. ‘But I’m sorry you’re out of a job.’
‘I’m not. I’ve gone to-’ she named another firm, equally prestigious, just across the street. ‘I think they’d quite like to have you as well.’
‘I’m glad you’re suited, but I have a job to do here. Jenny, does the name Andansio mean anything to you?’
‘I remember it from about five years ago, before I became your secretary. My then boss had some dealings with them.’
‘What can you tell me about them?’
‘A lot. Some of it’s quite sensational.’
Alex listened for half an hour, making notes. When she hung up she was thoughtful.
A few days later, Varsi’s secretary called to say that the books were ready to be returned, and should they be mailed? It was Alex who took the call, and volunteered to collect them. On her way out she met Rinaldo and told
