I’ve got something in stock that I think you’ll like.’
Then there was bread, cheese, milk and oil to be bought. Again the counter assistants greeted him as an old friend and produced his favourite items at once.
‘Don’t worry, I’m a good cook,’ he told Alysa.
‘Yes, I was really worried about that,’ she said dryly.
He gave her a look of appreciation for this sally, and handed her a couple of bags to carry. Since he was weighed down by even more bags himself, she couldn’t even protest.
She told herself that she’d been kidnapped, and it was an outrage, but it felt more like going on a picnic. There was only one thing to do, and that was to stop fighting it and go with the flow.
‘What’s the matter?’ Drago asked her.
‘Matter?’
‘You were staring into the distance.’
‘Nothing’s the matter,’ she said robustly. ‘Come on. Let’s get going.’
Then they were on the road again, climbing among the trees, until he turned suddenly, and in a few moments they were drawing up before a small villa. There were no lights on and the place looked glum and chilly. She shivered as he unlocked the door.
‘It’ll be better when I’ve lit the range,’ he said. ‘It starts the central heating.’
‘You have to do that by hand?’
‘This is the mountains,’ he said by way of explanation. ‘It’s different up here. Why don’t you unpack the food in the kitchen-but don’t touch anything apart from that.’
‘I should be used to you ordering me about by now,’ she observed.
‘Yes, you should.’
He got to work on the range in the kitchen, piling logs in until the flames flickered up between them, then tossing charcoal on top. When two dials on the pipes showed the same high temperature, he switched on the central heating, and the place began to warm up quickly.
She began to wander around, somewhat surprised by the cosy informality of the place, which had none of the studied luxury to be found in the Florence villa. Here there were wooden floors with rugs tossed about, apparently casually. The furniture was old, even slightly shabby, and the place had a friendly atmosphere that appealed to her.
The villa was built on a steep slope, with the garage at the bottom. Next to it was a woodshed, and the rest of the place was built on top, so that, looking out of the window, she found she was on a level with the branches of the trees. The light was beginning to fade, so that she could see only shadows below, and the effect was like floating away from the earth.
‘This is yours,’ Drago said, opening a door and showing her into a room dominated by a large bed.
‘How long are you planning for me to stay?’ she asked.
‘I think we’ll be here tomorrow, and perhaps leave the day after. It depends on a lot of things.’
‘Why don’t you tell me why I’m here?’
‘Let’s eat first. Your bags should arrive soon.’
When he’d gone she took out her mobile phone and called her office. She’d booked herself a week off, but had hinted that she would return earlier-which had won the approval of her boss, Brian Hawk, who had always helped and encouraged her. Now she told him that she would take the full week.
‘I wish you’d given me a bit more warning,’ he grumbled. ‘There’s a lot happening at the moment.’
‘I’ve been detained by something unexpected,’ she said truthfully.
‘Well, I hope you sort it out soon. Your prospects are bright, Alysa. Don’t spoil them by being unreliable.’
When she’d hung up she sat considering these last words, wondering why she wasn’t filled with alarm. Her dream was to be offered a partnership, and for this she’d worked hard and sometimes brilliantly, earning Brian’s praise. In the last year she’d redoubled her efforts, staying in the office late to avoid returning to her empty apartment, and then taking work home with her.
Once Brian’s warning would have alerted her to danger, but now the words seemed to come from a distance. It was true, of course. She would have to be careful. But she could think about it later.
Looking at the double bed, she wondered if this was the room where Drago and Carlotta had slept together. A glance into the wardrobe confirmed it. Some of Carlotta’s clothes were still here, suggesting that she’d abandoned them when she’d begun her new life, and Drago couldn’t bring himself to dispose of them.
When she emerged a few minutes later he was already at work in the kitchen, doing something mysterious with oil and vegetables.
‘The one thing I never thought of you doing was cooking,’ she mused, studying him.
‘We’re not like the English, who think cooking’s sissy unless you’re a celebrity chef earning a fortune. My mother thought a man wasn’t a real man unless he could cook.’
‘What are you making?’
‘I’m impressed. And afterwards?’
‘Just be patient.’
He was immersed in what he was doing, and seemed to have forgotten the reason he’d brought her here, although he’d claimed it was important. With another man she might have suspected a trick to lure her into a seduction, but not with Drago. He was in the grip of a purpose so inflexible that he could afford to set it aside until the right moment.
‘Can I do anything to help?’ she asked.
‘Yes, you could watch this saucepan while I light the fire in the other room.’
‘A fire as well as central heating?’
‘Wait till you see it.’
A few minutes later she understood. The fire, nestled in a neat grate, was small but delightful, throwing darting lights over the room. While it offered little heat, it created an atmosphere of warmth and comfort that no central heating could match.
‘My mother always lit a fire in the evenings,’ Drago said. ‘When I looked this place over the agent said it could all be renovated and the fireplace taken out. I told him to forget it. I wanted everything left just as it was.’
‘Is this the place you told me about, where you and Carlotta came when you married?’
‘Yes, it is. After she died I wanted to sell it, but Tina loves it, so I couldn’t. Perhaps I shouldn’t have brought you up here, but I couldn’t think of anywhere else where we’d have some privacy.’
‘It’s all right. Is there anything more I can do?’
‘You could lay the table. You’ll find everything over there, including wine glasses.’
He indicated an old-fashioned dresser and she got to work, finding a table cloth and cutlery. In a few minutes Drago emerged from the kitchen to serve the first course and open a bottle of white wine.
She suddenly realised that she was ravenous. She’d left the hotel too quickly to eat very much, and had managed only a sandwich at the airport. The
‘I needed this,’ she said with a sigh.
‘After the day I’ve given you, you mean?’
‘Well, I admit you’re making up for it.’
‘One thing I’ve been wanting to ask you-when you agreed to come with me, you said, “the new tactic worked”. What did you mean by that?’
‘You know very well what I meant by that,’ she said indignantly. ‘When giving me orders didn’t work, you backed off and played the reasonable card.’
‘Is that what I did?’
‘Didn’t you?’
He hesitated. ‘It wasn’t all calculated. I could see I was doing everything wrong, driving you away. I tend to approach things with hobnailed boots, I know that. And when it doesn’t work…’He made a helpless gesture. ‘I sometimes don’t know what to do next. And just then-I felt like such a loser. I didn’t have the heart to fight any
