‘You’re a celebrity. I warn you Maria collects celebrities and she’ll give me no peace until I take you.’
‘I’ll need some new clothes. I take it this will be formal.’
‘Extremely. White tie and tails.’
Her eyes twinkled. ‘I don’t look good in white tie and tails.’
He had to think for a moment. ‘Oh, yes, I see.’
‘It was a joke,’ she told him sadly.
‘Of course. I’m sorry. I guess Crystal was right.’
‘About what?’
‘She always said I was too stuffy for any woman to put up with.’
‘She didn’t know what she was talking about,’ Joanna said angrily.
‘Maybe. I’m afraid my capacity for jokes has rather left me these days.’
‘Don’t take any notice of Crystal. Much she knows! Now let’s forget her. I want to dress up and have fun.’
It felt good to be going to a glamorous party again, to have an excuse to buy a couture dress that made the best of her height, tiny waist and long legs.
Poor Aunt Lilian, she thought. You said most girls would give their eye-teeth to be my size, and I was so ungrateful. I’m not ungrateful any more.
The dress was black silk, narrow in the waist and low in the front, revealing a bosom that was more generous since Billy’s birth. The side was slashed to just above the knee.
There was just time to have her hair cut and styled the way she wanted it. With dainty silver sandals on her feet and diamonds in her ears her appearance was complete. She returned to the estate with a pile of boxes, feeling like a pirate who’d just come back from a raid, and hid her booty in her room.
True to his word, Gustavo appeared in white tie and tails and she was taken aback by how well they suited him. With his height and breadth of shoulder, he might have been born for formal clothes.
He waited for her in the study and she entered casually, refusing to let him see she was eager for his reaction.
When it came it lived up to all her hopes. He said nothing, simply looking at her in silence for a long time. Then smiling.
‘Will I do?’ she asked lightly.
He nodded, and she sensed him struggling for words.
‘You’ll do.’
Detecting a shadow in his manner, she asked, ‘Is anything wrong?’
‘No,’ he said a little too quickly. ‘Let’s go.’
She didn’t press the point, but she noticed that he hastily locked a paper away in his desk drawer before turning back to her with a smile.
The chauffeured limousine was waiting outside. Gustavo offered her his arm and they went out together. Throughout the journey he sat turned towards her, his eyes resting on her. He didn’t speak, but he didn’t need to.
The Falonis lived in a palatial apartment on the Via Veneto. When the limousine had dropped them they went up three floors in the elevator to be received eagerly by Pietro and Maria.
Maria clasped Joanna in her arms then stepped back to take in her whole appearance, and give a little nod of satisfaction.
‘I wouldn’t have known you,’ she said.
‘Thank you,’ Joanna said.
They understood each other.
‘I am so excited,’ Maria confided as she ushered Joanna inside. ‘Everyone’s been dying to entertain you, but I swore I’d get you first.’
‘Really? Why?’
‘Don’t be modest, my dear. You’re
Joanna enjoyed Maria’s company more now than before. She was so blatant in her snobbery that it became amusing, and she showed off her guest of honour with a pride that gave a fillip to Joanna’s ego, resist it how she might.
The Falonis lived at the top of Roman society, and the people Maria could gather was staggering. There were two government ministers and a film star, causing Joanna to doubt that she could really be the guest of honour. But this was Italy, a country with a vibrant interest in its own past. Everyone had met the other celebrities before.
There was even a well-connected journalist who wrote a waspish gossip column for the society pages. When he simpered and asked Joanna if the Montegiano site was really the find of the century, everyone held their breath.
But Joanna was equal to the challenge.
‘Considering that this century is only a few years old, I think I can say definitely yes. If you’d asked me about the last century I’d have to be more cautious.’
Everybody laughed and there was a smattering of applause for the adroit way she’d avoided the trap. Even the man who’d tried to bait her raised his glass in salute, and a few minutes later he engaged her in a serious discussion that was at variance with his former manner.
The others began to crowd around, and soon she realised that she was practically giving a lecture.
Gustavo tried to stay in the background. He had a strange feeling of watching Joanna at a distance. The perspective seemed to change every moment, both confusing and delighting him.
He’d seen her in shabby old clothes, bustling around the dig, giving orders to her team, laughing with them but always very much the boss.
In England she’d been the comforting friend, offering her arms to hold him and her gentle wisdom to help him. Then he’d seen her as a bride again, and moved closer to an unknown land that he now realised had been haunting him for years. It was still there, tantalisingly just out of reach.
But watching her now, at ease in these surroundings, dominating the crowd with her beauty, wit and expertise, he saw a new Joanna. Marrying her would be like marrying at least four women.
He tried to shut his thoughts off there, but they persisted in straying into forbidden territory.
With sudden decisiveness he rose from his chair and went over to her. The ‘lecture’ was over and she was flirting with three men at once.
‘If you’re tired we could go home,’ he suggested.
There was a roar of disapproval and cries of ‘Spoil-sport’. Joanna looked at him, her eyes glinting with fun.
‘Am I tired?’ she teased.
He laid his hand persuasively on her arm.
‘I think you might be,’ he said softly.
‘In that case-’
She stopped because a man behind her had given a sharp intake of breath. Gustavo too had seen something that filled him with dismay. Turning her head, Joanna saw Crystal standing in the doorway, as beautiful as the fairy on the tree.
In that frozen moment only one thought pervaded Joanna’s mind.
Dammit! She
It was ludicrous, but for a moment it would serve as a shield between herself and the full wretchedness of the situation.
Like Joanna, Crystal had gained from the years. She was as dainty as ever, her hair as perfectly blonde, but experience had added a knowingness to her face.
It was true that, like Joanna, she wore black, but there the similarity stopped. Her dress was very tight and very short, revealing a pair of stunning legs.
For a long moment she stood still in the doorway, allowing her effect to sink in. Then she smiled and came forward to Maria, arms outstretched.
‘Dear Maria, I’m positively in sackcloth and ashes. It’s dreadful of me to gatecrash your party, isn’t it?’
Since the only possible response to this was a denial, Maria obliged, embracing Crystal with apparent warmth,
