The Venetian Playboy’s Bride

to do what he says. It’s just that I wanted to avoid a split with him. You see, he’s terribly stubborn. Once he’s “cast me off” he’ll feel he has to stick to it forever. And I’m all he’s got. If we have a break he’ll never see his grandchildren and he’ll have a miserable, grumpy old age.’

‘He’s very set on having his own way about this,’ Dulcie said.

‘So am I.’ For a moment Jenny’s face looked astonishingly like Roscoe’s. ‘So we just have to think of something.’ She yawned. ‘But let’s do it in the morning.’

‘It is the morning,’ Dulcie said. ‘It’s five o’clock.’

‘There’s plenty of night left,’ Jenny said firmly. ‘Goodnight, Dulcie. You should go and get some rest.’

Dulcie could only go to her own room and strip off, trying to come to terms with her turbulent thoughts. Part of her was furious with Guido. This was all his fault for pretending to be Fede when he must have known he wasn’t, she thought illogically.

But part of her was gloriously happy because he wasn’t a heartless schemer after all. All the best of him was true, the gentle consideration he’d shown her in his apartment, the chivalrous way he’d kept his distance while delicately hinting that he wanted something very different. It wasn’t the calculation of a man pursuing a woman’s fortune. It was the honest behaviour of a man who didn’t need her fortune.

Her heart sank a little when she considered her own actions. But they had fooled each other, and surely they could put that behind them?

She’d been holding back her feelings, but now there was nothing to stop her admitting her love, and the world was bright again. At last she fell into a deep sleep which lasted until nine the next morning. She rubbed her eyes, wondering what the day would bring.

She showered and dressed hurriedly. As she left the bedroom she saw that breakfast had been served on the terrace. Jenny and Fede were sitting there drinking coffee, and they hailed her with smiles.

‘Isn’t it a wonderful morning?’ Jenny said blissfully. ‘I’m so happy I could die.’

‘Then I will die with you,’ Fede said gallantly.

‘We’ll all die if Roscoe gets wind of this,’ Dulcie said, but she too was happy. Guido was a free man. The delicate emotion that had built up between them over the last few days was love after all, and she was free to give her feelings full rein. If only she could see him soon.

There was a knock on the door.

‘I ordered more coffee for you,’ Jenny said.

‘Thanks, I’ll answer it,’ Dulcie said, rising and making her way to the outer door, where someone outside was knocking again, impatiently.

She pulled it open and saw Guido.

Mingled with her first leap of joy was amusement at his expression. He looked definitely sheepish, and entered cautiously, as though expecting boiling oil to fall on him. Remembering their last meeting Dulcie wondered if she herself should be looking for boiling oil.

‘You’re not still mad at me?’ he asked, studying her smiling face.

‘Should I be?’ she fenced.

‘Well, you were pretty mad last night. I should remember because you threw me into the water.’

‘I didn’t throw you, you tripped.’

‘You didn’t help me out.’

‘You can swim.’

‘And I had to. In the end I got picked up by a barge carrying garbage and I got home smelling so bad even the alley cats fled from me. It’s not funny,’ he added as her lips twitched.

‘Yes, it is.’

‘Yes, I guess it is,’ he conceded wryly. ‘When I awoke today I knew I had to see you and explain, try to make you understand how it happened-but now-all that really matters is-’ he became absorbed in watching her face ‘-all that matters-kiss me, my darling, kiss me!’

He pulled her against him in the same moment that she opened her arms to him. She knew now how badly she’d longed for the feel of his lips on hers. She’d pretended it wasn’t true, but secretly she’d ached for him to kiss her.

‘I’ve wanted to do this so often,’ he murmured between kisses. ‘I knew from the first moment that it was you, and you knew it too, didn’t you, cara?’

‘I don’t know what I knew,’ she whispered, dazed.

‘You did, you must have done.’ He kissed her again and again. ‘So many kisses to make up,’ he said against her mouth. ‘And all our lives for more kisses.’

‘All our-?’ She could hardly believe what she was hearing. Everything was going too fast.

‘Of course. Years and years to spend kissing you and loving you in every possible way. Years to have beautiful children with you.’ He pulled back, taking her head gently between his hands, and she never afterwards forgot the sight of his face, gloriously happy, blazing with triumphant love. It lived in her mind as a terrible contrast to what followed.

‘Tell me, darling,’ he said crazily, ‘do you believe in Fate?’

‘Well, I-’

‘Because it was Fate, wasn’t it, that brought us together, Fate that made your sandal fall off straight into my boat?’

‘Not exactly,’ she said, beginning to see danger.

‘It wasn’t an accident?’ he asked, eyes wide. Suddenly he burst into joyful laughter. ‘You saw me from the bridge, and you said to yourself, “I must have this handsome fellow”, so you tossed your shoe to get my attention. Oh, cara, say that it’s true. Think what it will do for my ego.’

‘Your ego is quite big enough without help,’ she countered, playing for time. “‘This handsome fellow” indeed!’

‘Last night when you were angry I thought my life was over.’ Abruptly his tone changed and he spoke in a moved voice that startled her. ‘Because that’s what you are to me. My life.’

‘But you don’t know me-’

‘I knew you from the first moment. I know you have a kind heart and will forgive my innocent deception, because you know it didn’t spring from malice. But tell me, how did you find out? I was going to ask you last night, but you were too busy throwing me into the canal.’ With his mercurial nature he’d gone from serious to clowning in a split second. Dulcie could barely keep up with him.

‘I don’t blame you for ducking me,’ he hastened to add. ‘When you found out I wasn’t whom you thought-how did you find out by the way?’

‘I didn’t, not until later.’

‘But-then why were you mad at me? I’m not an unreasonable man, cara, but when someone throws me into the canal I like to know why.’

‘Does it matter?’ she asked, finding his fun irresistible, even at this fraught moment. ‘I should think Venice is full of people who’d like to throw you into canals.’

‘Sure to be. But they usually control it.’

What a life it would be with this enchanting madman, she thought. If only she could navigate the shoals ahead first.

‘Listen,’ she said urgently, ‘I’ve got something to tell you-’

‘Tell me that you love me,’ he broke in. ‘Tell me that first and last and what do I care for anything else? You do love me, don’t you?’

‘Yes, yes, I do. But listen to me, it’s important-’

‘Nothing is important except that we’ve found each other. Kiss me, now and always-’

She was in his arms again, her troubled words silenced by his lips, and this time it was different, as though her confession of love had invigorated him. Before, his embrace had been troubled, cautious, asking her response. Now he was a man who knew himself loved and it was there in the possessiveness of his mouth and his arms. She would tell him everything in a moment, she promised herself, but just a moment-and another moment-

‘Is that the coffee?’ came a call from the next room.

‘A curse on anyone who interrupts us,’ Guido sighed. ‘We shall have to go and be polite carissima, but soon we must be alone together, and then-’