The Millionaire Tycoon's English Rose

He thought, but didn’t say, Let’s hope you’re still alive to be there.

But she could read his thoughts. ‘And I’m going to be there, too. I’ve promised Hope that when this jump is over I’ll concentrate on the party. You know, it’s lovely the way she’s welcomed me into the family. In fact, they all have.’

‘Maybe they’re trying to tell you something.’

‘Maybe. I know they’ve turned this jump into a family occasion. Hope and Toni are going to be there, also Carlo and Della, and maybe some of the others.’

When they reached the airfield Francesco dropped Celia by the steps into the main building and gave her into the hands of a young woman who would help her change. When she had gone inside he turned to find Carlo and Della approaching him. With his new sharp eyes Francesco saw how Carlo had his arm protectively around Della’s shoulders, but so lightly that she wouldn’t feel it as a constraint.

‘Are you all right?’ Carlo asked, giving him a meaningful glance.

Francesco grimaced. ‘Surviving.’

‘She’ll be fine,’ Della told him. ‘Women are a lot tougher than men allow for. In fact, the truth is that we’re a lot tougher than men, full-stop. Isn’t that so, caro?’

‘Yes, dear,’ Carlo said in a comically robotic voice. ‘No, dear. Anything you say, dear.’

‘You two are turning into Mamma and Poppa,’ Francesco observed.

Carlo grinned, not in the least offended by the comparison. He drew his wife closer and dropped a swift kiss on the top of her head.

‘I’ve got him well trained.’ Della chuckled. ‘You’d better watch out. Celia will have you in line in no time.’

‘She already has, or we wouldn’t be here,’ Carlo said. ‘Francesco, we’ll see you later.’

They wandered off, arms entwined.

Francesco watched them, wondering if he and Celia would ever reach such a pitch of perfect understanding. Or would today be the end of everything, one way or another?

Then he saw the door open and Sandro come out, led by his dog, with Celia’s hand tucked in his arm. He brought her over, followed by a man dressed in the same kind of gear Celia was wearing. Relieved, Francesco recognised Sandro’s skydiving partner from the previous occasion.

‘Just dropped by to tell you not to worry,’ he told Francesco. ‘Celia and I will jump out together, and I won’t let her go until I know she’s safe.’

‘Who’s worried?’ Francesco said cheerfully. ‘But, thanks.’

‘We’ll be back for you in a few minutes,’ Sandro told Celia, and the two men departed discreetly.

‘Everything all right?’ Francesco asked. He did his best to sound cheerful, but he could hear the strain in his own voice and doubted he was enough of an actor to hide it.

‘Everything’s fine,’ she said, sounding too polite, too cautious. She was making allowances in case he backed off.

He grew frantic. He must convince her that he was really behind her in this. It had never been as important as now.

‘That huge thing on your back is your parachute?’ he said, putting as much interest in his voice as possible. ‘How do you open it?’

‘This ring, here-in the front. I just pull it and the parachute opens.’

Suppose it didn’t open? It might not and then she’d crash to earth and die. He must stop this madness, for her sake.

But the desperate thoughts that screamed through his head stayed silent on the outside. Instead, he asked brightly, ‘What about the other bits and pieces? There are too many to count.’

‘This is my two-way radio, so that someone on the ground can warn me if I look like I’m coming down in the wrong place. I can guide the parachute in different directions using these rings. And don’t worry-I know exactly where they are and can find them easily.’

‘I’m sure of it,’ he managed to say.

She laughed then in delight, putting her hand up against his face.

‘I love you,’ she said.

He took her hand and kissed the palm. ‘Come back to me, Celia.’

‘But I did,’ she said.

‘No, I mean-’

‘Oh, you can be so stupid sometimes,’ she breathed. ‘I did come back to you. Didn’t you notice?’

‘You mean-when you came to Naples-it was really-All that stuff you said-You returned to me? ’

‘At last the truth gets through,’ she said fondly. ‘It took long enough.’

‘I’ve always wondered, but you never exactly-’

‘I have to be going now,’ she said. ‘I love you.’

He kissed her palm again, horribly conscious of Sandro, who had reappeared nearby.

‘I love you,’ he said quietly. ‘Now you must come back to me again-or what shall I do?’

‘Time to be going,’ Sandro called.

She drew back from Francesco, letting Sandro take her away in the direction of the light plane.

‘Come back to me,’ Francesco called. ‘Come back to me.’

He waited for her to respond to the sound by turning her head, but she didn’t. It was as though everything in her was focused on what would happen next. The last few moments might never have been. He wondered now if she even remembered that he existed.

In fact, he did her an injustice. In her usual methodical way Celia was trying to order him out of her mind, so that she could concentrate on what was about to happen. But his ghost, so tractable before, had become rebellious. It insisted on staying with her every step across the tarmac, reminding her that he existed, and that if she died he still had to find a way to go on existing, however empty it might be.

Now she was at the helicopter, and a hand was reaching out to pull her aboard.

‘Good luck!’ Sandro said from the ground.

‘Thanks,’ she replied mechanically.

She heard the door slam, cutting off all sound from outside. Now the only sound was the crackling of the radio and a disembodied voice that came from some mysterious other place.

Come back to me.

Her diving partner touched her shoulder to check all was OK.

She’d met him before, a strong hearty type called Silvio, whose geniality made him pleasant company. She nodded, strapping herself in.

He did a quick check to make sure she’d done it right, and pronounced himself satisfied.

‘Check your radio,’ he said.

She exchanged a few words with her guide on the ground, and found that everything was working perfectly.

Silvio clapped the pilot on the shoulder to indicate that they were ready.

The whine of the engine that had been in the background now grew higher. Above them the blades whirred, and suddenly they were whisked up into the air, going higher and higher at an incredible speed.

At first her stomach seemed to be falling away from her, but then it steadied itself and she was calm again.

Now Silvio’s voice reached her on the radio.

‘It’ll take us a few minutes to reach our height, then we’ll circle a couple of times and return in this direction, so that we can make the jump and land on the airfield, where all your friends can see you.’

‘See me make a fool of myself, you mean,’ she said lightly. ‘With my luck I’ll land on the control tower.’

‘Nah, that hasn’t happened for ages-at least six weeks,’ he clowned.

She chuckled. This was how she liked her adventures to be-light-hearted and relaxed.

But the silent companion in her head was reproachful, reminding her that it was his life she was dicing with, as well as her own.

‘Getting near,’ Silvio said. ‘I’m about to touch the button that will slide the door back, then I’ll jump, taking you