She’d half expected to discover that he’d been drowning his sorrows, but his voice was sober and his movements steady.
The apartment was an odd mixture of faded grandeur and modernity, with old-fashioned comfortable furniture and a gleaming kitchen. She managed to look around cautiously while he made some English tea, which was unexpectedly good.
Now that she could observe him better, her first favourable impression was changing. If he hadn’t been drinking, neither had he been eating or shaving. His dark hair meant that several days’ stubble stood out starkly, making his lean face almost cadaverous. Nor had he slept much, if his eyes told a true story.
He looked as if he’d dressed in the first thing he’d been able to find to throw on-old jeans, old shirt, mostly unbuttoned so that she could see the rough, curly hair beneath.
‘You knew I was coming?’ she said.
‘I’d have bet money on it.’
‘Well, you’re still my patient. I needn’t ask how you’ve managed. I can see that you’ve been taking proper care of yourself, eating well, getting enough rest, behaving sensibly. I can’t think why I bothered.’
That made him laugh, and he winced, holding his side.
‘It hurts more than it did,’ he admitted.
‘And it’ll go on hurting for a while. I’ve brought you some more pills. These won’t send you to sleep like the last ones.’
‘Thanks. I’ve been trying some that I bought in a shop, but-’ He shrugged, then stopped quickly and rubbed his shoulder.
‘Here,’ she said, producing the pills. ‘Take a couple now, and we’ll think about something to eat.’
‘I don’t have much in the place.’
‘Then we’ll have to go out. My treat.’
‘No, I can’t let-’
‘I didn’t ask you to let me. I just said that’s what I’m going to do.’
‘Yes, ma’am.’ He gave a brief snort of laughter. ‘You don’t know how good it feels to have you bullying me again.’ He added abstractedly, ‘Maybe my father was right.’
‘About what?’
He’d recalled Toni’s words about how Hope anticipated his needs and fulfilled them before he was even aware. The outside world might dismiss it as domination, but Toni had spoken like a man with a happy secret. Ruggiero was about to tell Polly, but backed off, realising that this would lead him into unknown paths where perhaps he couldn’t rely on her hand to steady him.
What he did know, beyond doubt, was that if she hadn’t arrived when she did he would have sought her out.
‘Never mind,’ he said hastily. ‘Poppa says a lot of strange things.’
‘Then you’re not his son for nothing,’ she mused.
She spoke lightly, but the sight of him worried her. How long was it since he’d last eaten? She decided to get some food into him fast.
The light was fading as they left the building. Lamps were coming on in the little restaurants along the seafront, and on the boats that came and went in the harbour.
‘They’re mostly ferries,’ he explained, ‘linking us with Capri, Ischia and several other islands.’
‘That place looks nice,’ she said, pointing at a tiny cafe near the water. A board over the door announced Pesci Di Napoli.
‘Fish from Naples,’ she announced triumphantly. ‘You see, I’ve actually learned some Italian words. Let’s go.’
‘Not there,’ he said quickly.
‘Why? Is there something wrong with it? Is the fish rancid?’
‘Of course not. But there are better places-’
‘Ruggiero, mi amico!’
The bawling, friendly voice stopped them as he was about to hurry her away, and made him turn reluctantly.
‘Leo,’ he said.
The man standing in the doorway of Pesci Di Napoli beamed and shook his hand so vigorously that Ruggiero winced.
‘Leo, this is Signorina Hanson, and she only speaks English.’
‘Welcome, signorina. Ruggiero, it’s too long since we saw you. Come in and have something to eat. We’ve got fresh clams today, and I know how much you like them.’
There was no escape. Ruggiero smiled and ushered Polly in.
‘You know this place well?’ she asked, looking at him curiously.
‘He owns part of it,’ Leo said. ‘The profits he makes here he throws away on motorbikes, so that he can have the fun of half killing himself. One day he’ll complete the job and we’ll all have a good laugh.’
Ruggiero grinned at his friend’s jeering irony. The atmosphere was warm and jovial.
And yet he’d tried to steer her away.
Leo led them to a table by the window.
‘Spaghetti with clams to start with,’ Ruggiero said, ‘since that’s what Leo’s decided. And afterwards-’
He explained the menu to her and they decided on lasagna napolitana and coffee. Leo tried to interest them in wine, but she shook her head.
‘No alcohol,’ she said. ‘Not with those pills.’
‘I know. You told me days ago.’
When Leo had departed Ruggiero asked, ‘Did you rush down here to see if I was drinking myself to death? You needn’t have. I’ve stuck to tea, believe it or not.’
‘I do believe it,’ she said lightly. ‘I know that among your many virtues the greatest is self-control.’
‘Are you making fun of me?’ he demanded suspiciously.
‘Why should you think so?’
‘My “many virtues”! You wouldn’t say that except ironically.’
She was silent, wondering how far it was wise to push him.
‘Don’t you have many virtues?’ she ventured at last.
‘Probably not many that you’d call virtues.’
‘Perhaps they cease to be virtues when you carry them to extremes?’
‘Such as?’
‘Self-control is fine, except when you turn it into an iron cage,’ she ventured.
‘And you think that’s what I do?’
‘Yes, because you told me yourself. When we first talked about Sapphire you said that what was in here-’ she laid a hand over her heart ‘-was just for you, because it was safer for a man to keep himself to himself.’
He nodded. ‘And she lured me out,’ he said in a wondering voice. ‘That was one reason that I loved her.’ He gave a half smile and tried the word again. ‘Love. I wouldn’t say it because it made losing her so much worse, but with her I talked about things I’d never spoken of before.’
‘He never shut up,’ said Sapphire grumpily in her head, ‘just because I once said, Tell me all about yourself. I mean, it’s only a come-on. I always said it to flatter men. But he took it literally.’
‘Then that was something she gave you,’ Polly said gently. ‘You’re better for knowing her. And you’ll always have it-unless you slip back to being grim and taciturn.’
‘Which I was doing,’ he mused. ‘Until you took me by the scruff of the neck and yanked me back.’
Averting her head slightly, she made a face. Sapphire enticed. Polly yanked by the scruff of the neck. There it was-the truth about them. But at least it would stop her getting sentimental and foolish.
‘Why are you laughing?’ he asked.
‘Never mind. You wouldn’t see the joke. Besides, it’s not really funny. Ah, here’s Leo with our food.’
She changed the subject, chatting about his parents, and how Matti was ruling the roost, but speaking in a casual way that put no pressure on him.
‘He’s made himself at home, then?’ Ruggiero asked. ‘Put his feet up, so to speak, and now he’s monarch of all
