The Venetian Playboy’s Bride

There was another shout from inside and Guido reluctantly let her go.

‘Later,’ he whispered, then raised his voice to call, ‘Fede,’ and went in search of the voice. ‘What the devil are you doing here? And Jenny! How wonderful to see you again!’

Dulcie followed him into the main room to find him laughingly embracing Jenny.

‘You two know each other?’ he said, looking from Jenny to Dulcie.

‘Only slightly,’ Dulcie said quickly.

‘Guido my friend, I was going to call you and beg your help,’ Fede said quickly.

‘You two don’t look as if you need my help. I never saw two lovers so happy.’

‘But Jenny’s Poppa still wants to break us up. He even put a private detective on our trail to discredit me.’

Guido made a sound of disgust. ‘A private detective? What kind of miserable apology for a human being deliberately chooses such a sneaky, underhand job? Still, what harm can he do you?’

There was an awkward silence. Dulcie took a deep breath.

‘It’s not a he,’ she said. ‘It’s me.’

Slowly Guido turned to look at her.

CHAPTER NINE

‘WHAT did you say?’ Guido asked quietly.

It took all her courage to say, ‘I’m the private detective.’

‘You?’ he sounded as though he didn’t know what the words meant.

‘But Dulcie is on our side now,’ Fede said eagerly, ‘so it’s all right. She’s going to help us.’

‘I don’t know if Roscoe will listen to me,’ Dulcie said, ‘but I’ll do everything I can.’

Guido was gazing at her curiously, but his manner was still calm. He hadn’t quite understood yet. Or maybe he didn’t want to.

‘You’re-a private detective?’ he repeated slowly, still in that strange way, as though he was trying to decipher meaningless sounds.

‘Yes.’

‘And you came here to-?’

‘Roscoe’s worried about Jenny. He got the wrong end of the stick. He thought Fede was claiming to be you.’

‘Can you imagine that?’ Fede chuckled. ‘Me, related to a count! So he sent Dulcie to find me and tempt me away from my Jenny. As though anyone could do that. Only-here’s the joke-she thought you were me!’

‘And so she targeted me instead,’ Guido said lightly. ‘Yes, it’s an excellent joke.’ A light had gone out of him, not just from his eyes but from his whole being. ‘So that’s what it was all about.’

Jenny made a slight restless movement at an intonation she heard in Guido’s voice. Fede, an innocent, was merely trying to put Guido in the picture without realising the implications. Jenny tried to attract his attention but he was in full flight.

‘There aren’t many who fool you, Guido,’ he observed cheekily.

‘Until today I’d have said none at all,’ Guido responded at once. He raised Dulcie’s hand to his lips. ‘My congratulations, signorina. A wonderful masquerade, played out to the finish with utter conviction.’

‘You got the better of him, Dulcie,’ Fede said. ‘Someone should give you a medal.’

‘That will be my privilege,’ Guido said quietly.

There was no anger or condemnation in his eyes. Just a puzzled look, as though he were wondering how the world could have changed in a moment. Dulcie ground her nails into her palm. If only she could have told him in her own words. Now he’d heard in the worst possible way.

‘Perhaps,’ she said carefully, ‘you should wait until you know the whole story. There’s so much you don’t know- that I must explain-’

‘A man never knows the whole of it,’ he agreed. ‘But enough to matter. Enough to cast a strange light over what he thought was true, and show it in very ugly colours.’

It was hard for her to answer, but before she could even try he’d given Jenny a friendly, reassuring smile, saying, ‘So we have a problem. We have to solve it. That’s all. At least you can tell your Poppa that Fede has made no false claims. That should please him.’

‘You don’t know my father,’ Jenny said. ‘When he takes “agin” someone, that’s it.’

‘And it’s my poverty that really offends him,’ Fede said gloomily. ‘When he knows the truth he’ll want Jenny to marry you, and be a countess.’

‘Don’t worry,’ Guido said lightly. ‘I shall tell him I’m going to become a monk. Love is too complicated for me.’ He turned to Dulcie. ‘So you were sent here to delude us. Are you going to tell us your real name?’

‘I’ve been using my real name,’ she said, adding softly, ‘unlike some people.’

He had the grace to redden, but recovered himself. ‘But what’s in a name?’ he asked her. ‘That isn’t always where the truth lies.’

‘Yes, there’s also the work people do, and pretending to live one kind of life while actually living another.’

His eyebrows rose. ‘You talk to me about a “pretend” life?’

That silenced her.

‘Have you thought of anything yet?’ Fede asked anxiously.

‘Patience,’ Guido adjured him. ‘I’ve only just discovered how things really stand.’ A tremor went through him, although his face still smiled. ‘Even a genius like me can only think so fast.’

‘It’s hopeless,’ Fede said, immediately plunged into gloom. ‘Nothing can be done.’

‘Why don’t we ask Dulcie?’ Guido suggested. ‘After all, intrigue is her profession, and she does it surpassingly well.’

‘No,’ she said hastily. ‘This is a Venetian intrigue, and my talents don’t stretch to it.’

‘You do yourself an injustice, signorina,’ Guido assured her quietly. ‘You have the Venetian gift for dodging around corners, looking at one fact, seeing another, and believing a third. It’s a great skill and most outsiders never acquire it. You, I believe were born with it.’

‘On the contrary, signore,’ she said, meeting his eyes defiantly. She’d found her second wind now, and if this was the game he wanted to play, then he would find she could give as good as she got. ‘You forget that I’ve recently been taking lessons from a master.’

‘And I,’ he murmured so softly that only she could hear, ‘I, who thought I had nothing left to learn, have found differently.’

‘Life is full of unexpected lessons,’ she murmured back. ‘People may be more innocent than they seem.’

‘People may certainly be very different to how they seem,’ he said, subtly twisting her words.

She nodded. ‘For instance, you shouldn’t trust someone who plays games.’

He shrugged. ‘You could say that about everyone.’

‘No, some of us have a living to earn.’

‘Ah, yes,’ he seemed much struck. ‘When it’s done for money it’s so much more virtuous, is it not?’

Her eyes met his and found in them something unexpected. He was angry but he was also hurt and confused. This situation had caught him off balance, and he wasn’t coping as smoothly as he tried to make out.

A moment later he rose, kissed Jenny’s cheek, shook Fede’s hand and said with a flourish, ‘Bless you. I’m happy for you. And don’t worry, I’ll think of something. And you, signorina-’ he turned to Dulcie ‘-it was a pleasure talking to you but now I must be going. I’ve been unaccountably neglecting my work recently and now there’s a mountain of it awaiting me, that will occupy me for some time.’

He was gone without waiting for a reply, but she had none to make. What could she say to a man who so clearly wanted to get away from her?

At Guido’s souvenir factory on the island of Murano his employees were becoming concerned. For several days their employer had been absent without warning. Once a day he’d called them, but then switched his phone off and was impossible to contact.

His return caused general relief, which soon turned to surprise. Guido had always run an efficient business, but