‘We will not talk later,’ she said in a low voice. ‘I shall be leaving early.’
He gave her an unexpected grin.
‘No, you won’t,’ he said.
‘Are you trying to give me orders?’
‘No, just saying that you don’t really mean it.’
‘You’re damned sure of yourself,’ she said.
‘Am I?’ He seemed surprised. ‘I couldn’t go away without talking to you. Not after all this time. I just thought maybe you couldn’t, either. Am I wrong?’
‘No,’ she said, annoyed with herself because it was true.
Luca addressed the rest of the table with an expansive smile.
‘I can’t fault this lady. Her Tuscan is perfect.’
Everyone applauded. Rebecca saw Danvers and Philip exchange triumphant glances.
She got through the rest of the meal somehow. When it came to the coffee everyone left the table and went into the huge conservatory. The double doors were wide open and many people drifted into the beautiful grounds, where the trees were hung with coloured lights.
‘Come outside and show me the grounds,’ Luca said.
Wanting to get this meeting over with, she followed him out and along the path that the lights dimly outlined. As they went she talked of trees and shrubs, pointing out the features of the landscaped garden in a voice that gave nothing away.
But at last he paused under the trees and said in Tuscan, ‘We can drop the polite nothings now.’
‘I really should be going back-’
‘Not yet.’ He put out a hand to restrain her, but she withdrew before he could make contact, and he let his hand drop.
‘Did you think we would ever meet again?’ he asked.
‘No,’ she said softly. ‘Never.’
‘Of course. How could we ever meet again in the world? Everything was against it.’
‘Everything was always against us,’ she said. ‘We never really stood a chance.’
He took a step closer and looked at her face in the light from the moon and a pink lamp hanging above them.
‘You’ve changed,’ he said. ‘And yet you haven’t. Not really.’
‘You’ve changed in every way,’ she said.
He rubbed the scar awkwardly. ‘You mean this?’
‘No, I mean everything about you.’
‘I’m fifteen years older. A good deal has happened to me. And to you.’
‘Yes.’ She was being deliberately monosyllabic, refusing to give anything away. In some mysterious way he alarmed her now, as he had never done before.
‘Your name has changed,’ he said, ‘so you’ve been married. But the man with you isn’t called Hanley.’
‘Yes, I’m divorced from Saul Hanley.’
‘Were you married long?’
‘Six years.’
‘Did your father approve of him?’
‘He was dead by the time I married. I didn’t see him much in the last years of his life. We had nothing to say. He couldn’t look me in the eye.’
‘No wonder.’
The words brought them to the edge of dangerous ground, and she shied away.
‘And you?’ she asked lightly. ‘I’m sure you have a wife at home.’
‘Why should you be sure?’
‘Because every successful man needs a wife to host his dinner parties.’
‘I don’t give dinner parties. Drusilla used to enjoy them, so we had a few, but we’re divorced now.’
‘Because she wanted dinner parties?’ she asked, trying to make a joke of it.
‘No,’ he said abruptly. ‘Other reasons.’
‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.’
‘No problem. Tell me what else you’ve been doing.’
The words sounded abrupt, ungracious, but she doubted if he had meant them that way. She guessed that Luca Montese’s social skills were only skin deep.
‘I sold the estate and went travelling. When I came home I did some book translating, using my Italian. That was how I met Saul. He was a publisher.’
‘Why did you divorce him?’
‘It was a mutual decision,’ she said after a moment. ‘We weren’t suited.’
They had been strolling around the paths, and now the house was in view again.
‘Perhaps we should go inside,’ she said.
‘I have something to say first.’
‘Yes?’
He seemed to be having difficulty, then he blurted out, ‘I want to see you again. Alone.’
‘No, Luca,’ she said quickly. ‘There’s no point.’
‘That doesn’t make any sense. Of course there’s a point. I want to talk to you. It all happened too abruptly. We never even had the chance to say goodbye. We’ve each spent years not knowing what happened to the other, and there’s a lot I want to explain. I’m entitled to the chance.’
‘Don’t talk to me like that,’ she said, offended.
‘Like what?’ He was genuinely puzzled.
‘Making demands, talking about what you’re entitled to. You’re not addressing a board meeting.’
‘I just want you to understand.’
Did he think any explanation would make things better? she wondered.
‘Luca, if it’s about the money, you don’t have to say anything. I’m sure it was all for the best in the long run. I should congratulate you. You must have used it very shrewdly.’
A strange look came over his face. ‘Ah, your father told you about the money? I wondered.’
‘Of course he did,’ she said, feeling a pang of pain that he could speak about it so casually. ‘So we can draw a line under it.’
‘And that’s all you have to say? Good God, Becky, have you no questions to ask me after all this time?’
‘The girl I was then had questions, and the boy you were might have answered them.’
‘He’d have tried. He always tried to do what you wanted, because he had no pleasure but your happiness. Have you forgotten that?’
She hadn’t forgotten it but she had put it away in darkness, hoping never to think of it again.
‘No,’ she said at last. ‘I hadn’t forgotten. But it’s too late now. We’re not those people any more. We last saw each other fifteen years ago, the day before our wedding, when my father burst in. And I’m really glad you’ve made a success of your life-’
He stared at her. ‘What was that you said?’
‘I’m glad you’ve been successful-’
‘No, before that, about our last meeting.’
‘It was on the day before our wedding-or what should have been our wedding.’
‘Then you don’t remember…?’ He checked himself. ‘Well, perhaps it’s not surprising. But it’s even more important to see each other again. We have unfinished business, and it’s time to take care of it.’
She gave a little shudder. She wanted nothing to do with this man who had Luca’s name and a face that resembled his but had nothing else of him. Luca had been tender and gentle. This stranger barked his orders even when he was trying to make human contact. If this was what Luca had turned into, she wished she had never known.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, trying to speak calmly. ‘But I can see no point in a further meeting.’
‘But I can,’ he said bluntly.
She took a deep breath, trying to keep her temper.
