meeting with Dulcie, in Venice, when she’d thought he was a gondolier, and he hadn’t known that she was hiding a secret of her own. They were all laughing when Harriet looked up and saw a tall, massively built young man standing in the doorway. With his shaggy hair and rough-hewn appearance he was immediately identifiable as the ‘country bumpkin’.
There was a general cry of
She instinctively liked Leo, who shook her hand and kissed her cheek with the simplicity of a man who found actions easier than thought. Keeping her hand between his, he then looked her up and down with an appreciative grin that went on getting broader. Playing up to him, she gazed back, until Marco coughed significantly.
‘Who are you?’ she asked, giving him a dazed stare.
Everyone roared with laughter, including, she was glad to notice, Marco. He wasn’t a man who would normally accept such teasing, but the family’s appreciation of her quick wit had delighted him.
‘Go away, Leo, while I remind my fiancee who I am,’ Marco said with a grin. ‘And leave her alone in future.’
Leo winked at her and hissed, ‘The terrace at midnight,’ in a stage whisper, but Harriet was prevented from answering by Marco’s arm, firmly about her waist, drawing her away.
‘We were just fooling,’ she protested, still chuckling.
‘I know, but you want to watch Leo. He “fools” with a lot of girls. He’s a “love ’em and leave ’em” man.’
‘Strange, I heard the same about you.’
His brows contracted. ‘I wonder where you heard that.’
‘Everywhere.’ Her eyes challenged him and he backed down first.
‘Let’s finish supper,’ he said.
Since the meal was half over Leo had a lot of catching up to do, and tucked in with gusto while the talk swirled around him. When he spoke it was usually to ask Harriet about herself, not pretending to be amorous now, but with every appearance of cousinly interest. It might have been simply good manners, but it warmed her heart. She began to feel as though a dream had come true against all the odds. This was the culmination of something that had been happening ever since Lucia had welcomed her at the station. She was accepted. The whole dashing, colourful Calvani family had opened its collective arms to her. To someone who’d felt rejected most of her life it was overwhelming.
It was hard to believe that the Calvani men came from the same family, their looks were so different, although they were all, as Lucia had observed to Harriet, ‘handsome as devils’.
At seventy-two the count bore the marks of a lifetime’s self-indulgence, but not enough to obliterate the remains of brilliant good looks. Leo and Guido were half-brothers, Leo radiating the vigour and energy of a man of the earth: lusty, uncomplicated, great-hearted. Guido’s build was slighter than his brother’s, his boyish looks balanced by a shrewd intelligence, and he had a nervous energy that kept him restless, except when Dulcie was nearby.
To Harriet’s eyes Marco was by far the most impressive, elegant, controlled, unrevealing, his own man in everything. In the heart of his family he was a changed man, relaxed, readier to laugh. But it was still hard to imagine him behaving with Leo’s cheerful indifference, or regarding a woman with the blatant adoration that shone from Guido’s eyes.
She wondered about the woman he’d nearly married, and whose name was never mentioned in this house. Had he truly loved her, or had she fled him in despair at being unable to penetrate his protective shell? That was more likely, she thought.
And yet he had a surprise for her as the party broke up to go to bed, taking her hand and leading her out onto the terrace.
‘You have a midnight appointment out here,’ he reminded her.
‘But not with you,’ she said provocatively.
‘It had better be with me,’ he said with a smile that provoked her even more.
And she wanted nothing better, she thought as his lips touched hers. There was a sweetness in this kiss that melted her and made her lean in to him, wanting more. But he drew back a little, and she saw him regarding her with an odd little half-smile. She raised her eyebrows in a query, but he only shook his head, and she felt the brief interlude had posed more questions than it answered.
On the night of the party Harriet was just finishing dressing when Dulcie, a dream in dark blue silk and diamonds, swept into her room.
‘Wow!’ she exclaimed. ‘You look fantastic. No wonder you melted the Iceman’s heart.’
‘The Iceman?’
‘I shouldn’t have said that,’ Dulcie was conscience stricken. ‘But Guido says it’s what the family have always called him. Not to his face, naturally. You know how grim he can be. But of course you see a side of him that nobody else does.’ She gave a delighted chuckle. ‘Now I’ve made you blush.’
‘I’m not,’ Harriet said, although conscious that she was going pink. There was something in the implication that she and Marco were lovers that discomposed her. To hide her face she turned away and patted down her dress.
The beautician had come out from the salon to take charge of her appearance, and Harriet’s face was made-up with subtle flattery, so that her expressive green eyes dominated her face. Her hair was swept up on top of her head, with just a few curving wisps gently drifting down about her cheeks and neck.
She wore a clinging dress of golden brown crushed velvet. She knew she looked good and the knowledge gave her confidence.
There was a knock at the door and Dulcie opened it to reveal Guido and Marco, both in bow-ties and dinner jackets, both incredibly handsome.
Marco surveyed Harriet with satisfaction. ‘
He opened a black box, revealing a heavy gold chain. Dulcie stared at it, wide-eyed, before seizing Guido’s hand and whisking him away.
‘Spoilsport,’ her beloved chided her when they were out in the corridor. ‘It would have been fun to see the Iceman playing the lover.’
‘You wouldn’t have seen it,’ Dulcie told him. ‘Marco wouldn’t open up with us there. But now that we’re gone I’ll bet they’re locked in a passionate embrace.’
Guido inched hopefully back towards the door. ‘Can’t we just-?’
‘Behave yourself! Besides, I have other plans for you.’
His eyes gleamed. ‘Ah, that’s different.’ He allowed himself to be led away in the opposite direction.
They would both have been disappointed had they seen Marco’s calm demeanour as he raised the elaborate chain and draped it around Harriet’s neck.
‘I’ve always known that gold would suit you,’ he said, fastening the clasp at the back. ‘I was right.’
Awed, Harriet gazed at the woman in the mirror and didn’t know her. This wasn’t herself, but a magnificent creature, with a timeless splendour. She might have been Cleopatra, or some ancient pagan goddess. Marco had judged perfectly.
‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘I never dreamed I could look like that.’
‘I know. You have discerning eyes for everyone but yourself. I have known this about you from the first moment.’
A special note in his voice made her conscious that his fingers were still resting against her neck. Glancing in the mirror she met his eyes and saw in them a glow that he’d never shown her face to face. Then he seemed to become self-conscious, and the shutters came down again.
‘Are you ready?’ Lucia asked from the door. ‘People are beginning to arrive.’
The other five were waiting in the corridor. Even Leo had managed to shrug himself into a dinner jacket. Lucia, splendid in rubies, surveyed them all with satisfaction.
‘The Calvanis are a handsome family,’ she said. ‘And they attract handsome women. Now let’s all go down and
