The Italian's Passionate Revenge

discovered otherwise.

For a few minutes they paid the food the tribute of silence, but she smiled and nodded in recognition of his choice. She was beginning to relax. Somehow it no longer seemed bizarre to be here on such a day, as though these hours existed in a cocoon, away from real life. Tomorrow the problems would be there, but tonight she could float free of them.

‘Why did you tell that woman I had a heart of stone?’ she asked. ‘You know nothing about me.’

‘We needed to convince her that you were formidable.’ After a moment he added, ‘And every woman can turn her heart to stone when she needs to. I think you’ve sometimes needed to.’

‘True. She wasn’t the only one.’

‘Was he ever faithful to you?’

‘I doubt it. He must have taken up with her pretty soon after our marriage.’

‘Does that surprise you?’

‘Nothing I discover about Ben surprises me any more.’ She shrugged. ‘Even the way he died.’

‘I heard some strange rumours about that.’

‘You mean the woman he was with when he had the heart attack? She vanished so nobody knows who she was.’

‘A ship that passed in the night.’

She gave a wry smile. ‘There was a whole flotilla of those.’

‘That must have been very hard for you.’

‘I feel sorry for him more than anything, being left alone like that. I may not have been a very good wife, but I’d have stayed with him when he was ill.’

‘Weren’t you a good wife?’

‘No,’ she said shortly. ‘I wasn’t.’

‘Surely you must have loved him at some point?’

‘I never loved him,’ she said simply, wondering why she was telling so much to this man.

‘That’s very interesting.’

‘I see. You’re another who thinks I married Ben for what I took to be his vast wealth. Give me patience!’

‘I don’t-’

‘Listen, you said yourself, I don’t care what people say about me. You’re right, and “people” includes you. Think what you like.’

Silence.

‘I apologise,’ he said quietly.

‘No, I suppose I should apologise,’ she said wryly.

‘Don’t spoil it. I’m impressed-almost as impressed as I was when you dealt with Mary. I made a note then not to get on your wrong side. Can’t you tell that I’m shaking in my shoes?’

‘Oh, stop it,’ she said, laughing unwillingly.

‘It’s natural that your nerves should be on edge after what you’ve been through.’

‘And stop being sympathetic and understanding. It doesn’t suit you.’

‘How shrewd of you to have spotted that!’

Another silence, until Vincente said in a voice full of relief, ‘Ah, here’s our main course.’

It was roast tenderloin of beef with sauce Bearnaise, served with red wine, which he poured for her.

Suddenly he spoke in Italian. ‘Ben told me you’d be valuable to him in Rome. He said you’d been there and spoke Italian pretty well.’

She replied in the same language. ‘I studied fashion in Rome before I married him. My Italian really isn’t that good. I haven’t spoken it for a while.’

‘It’s not bad,’ he said, reverting to English. ‘You’d soon become fluent again. How long were you there?’

‘Three months.’

‘And in that time you must have had many admirers.’

He spoke in a mischievous voice and she laughed in return.

‘I had flirtations. After all, you know-Italian men…’ She shrugged, keeping it light.

‘I know that no true Italian man could look at you without wanting to become your lover,’ he said in the same tone.

‘Maybe it wasn’t just what they wanted. Perhaps my own wishes came into it as well,’ she said with a touch of irony.

‘And you’re telling me that not one young man managed to make himself agreeable to you? Ai-ai- ai! The men of my race are losing their touch. Not a single one?’

‘I forget,’ she riposted. ‘There was such a crowd.’

He laughed aloud, his eyes gleaming with appreciation, and raised his wineglass in salute.

‘Truly you are a cold-hearted goddess. All that youthful ardour at your feet and not one young man stands out in your mind?’

‘Not one,’ she lied.

‘How long after returning from Rome did you marry Ben?’

‘Almost at once.’

‘Then the mystery is solved. You were in love with him all the time and abandoned your design course to marry him.’

‘I’ve already told you I didn’t love him.’

‘Just why did you marry him?’ Vincente demanded abruptly. The humour had gone from his voice.

‘Why, for his money, of course,’ Elise said with a shrug. ‘I thought we settled that earlier.’

‘Somehow that doesn’t convince me. There must have been another reason.’

Suddenly the air seemed to shiver.

‘Signor Farnese,’ Elise said coolly, ‘please stop interrogating me. None of this is your business, and I will not discuss my private affairs with you.’

‘I’m sorry,’ he said quickly. ‘I was only making small talk.’

‘Really? It was almost like being interviewed for a job.’

‘Then I blame myself. I assess many people for jobs and I’m afraid it creeps into my manner in the rest of life. Forgive me.’

It was said charmingly and she let it go at that. She still sensed that there was something else going on, but it wasn’t worth pursuing. After tonight she would never meet him again.

‘What do you plan to do now?’ he asked.

‘I’m not really sure. Ben’s death was so sudden, and there’s been so much to do that I haven’t had time to think.’

‘Come back to Rome with me.’

‘What for? Ben won’t be working for you now.’

‘But you own an apartment there.’

‘An agent can sell it for me. I don’t need to be there.’

‘Can’t you simply treat yourself to a holiday?’ When she hesitated he said urgently, ‘When you were there as a young girl, did you ever visit the Trevi Fountain?’

‘Of course,’ she murmured.

Elise had been to the great fountain in the company of a young man with a bright face and a merry laugh.

‘You must toss a coin in and make a wish,’ he told her.

She’d taken out a coin, musing, ‘What shall I wish for?’

‘There’s only one wish-that you will return to Rome.’

‘All right.’ She tossed her coin into the water and cried aloud to the sky, ‘Bring me back.’

‘Come back for ever,’ he urged.

‘For ever and ever!’ she cried ecstatically.

‘Never leave me, carissima.’

‘Never in life,’ she vowed.

‘Love me always.’

‘Until my last moment.’