‘And of course you’ve enjoyed setting me up.’
She tilted her head. ‘That’s Columbine’s nature, I’m afraid. Harlequin will just have to learn to cope with her.’
‘Will she always be with him?’
‘Always in his hair,’ she assured him.
‘Always in his life, in his heart?’
‘Wherever he wants me.’
He kissed her again. When she opened her eyes they were dancing past Roscoe, whose eyes were popping at the sight of her. It would soon be time for explanations, but just now she wanted to talk to nobody but Guido.
‘When did you know?’ she asked.
‘It was your green eyes. Jenny’s are blue. And then Marco and Leo told me Jenny had left, so I couldn’t have been dancing with her.’
‘Did the plan work?’
‘Like a dream apparently. They took her to a little church where a priest was waiting. By the time Roscoe sees them again they’ll be married. And talking of marriage, I have a confession. I can’t make you a countess. Uncle Francesco is going to get married and have a son, to cut me out. He’s promised.’
‘Don’t be silly! As though I cared about being a countess.’
‘Then there’s nothing standing in the way of our marriage.’
‘I didn’t say-’
‘You have to marry me, after all those things you said to Marco.’
‘I haven’t spoken to Marco since the ball started.’
‘You started this dance with him.’
‘Yes, but that was you.’ She eyed him with suspicion. ‘And what am I supposed to have said?’
‘You said you couldn’t live without me, and you’d die if I didn’t propose.’
‘In your dreams!’ she said wrathfully.
‘But you already fill my dreams,
She couldn’t help laughing at his serpentine way with the facts. She was dealing with a master of deception. But not all deceptions were bad.
‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘I’m quite prepared to marry you to save you from going into a decline.
‘That’ll teach you to get funny with me,’ she murmured into his ear, so that the soft whisper of her breath sent him into a whirl.
‘Darling,’ he said ecstatically, ‘am I going to be a hen-pecked husband?’
‘Definitely.’
‘You’ll teach me how to say, “Yes, dear”, “No, dear”?’
‘Can’t start too soon. And if you’re out late I’ll be waiting for you with a rolling pin.’
‘I
‘I hate to break up the happy dream,’ Marco said, appearing beside them, ‘but Signor Harrison is getting agitated.’
He and Leo stationed themselves protectively as Roscoe approached. Dulcie removed the diamond necklace and handed it to him.
‘I promised Jenny I’d see this safely returned,’ she said. ‘She didn’t feel she could accept it since she was doing something that you wouldn’t like.’
‘And just what does that mean? Where the devil is she?’
‘Signora Lucci is just leaving for her honeymoon with Fede,’ Guido announced. ‘The bride and groom are very happy.’
Roscoe’s eyes narrowed. ‘What are you talking about? Where’s my Jenny? If she thinks she can defy me-’
‘She’s already done it,’ Dulcie said. ‘She’s married the man she loves. Please Roscoe, try to be happy for her.’
‘Happy? You did this. I trusted you, and I ran up bills to keep you here. Well, you can pay for all those posh clothes
Guido stepped forward. ‘As Dulcie’s future husband let me say that I’ll be glad to refund you every penny you spent on her clothes-and then dump the lot in the lagoon. And if you dare speak to her like that again, you’ll follow them. Do I make myself plain?’
Roscoe squared up to him, but there was something about Guido at the moment that made his courage fail. He took a step back, covering his retreat with sharp fire.
‘I’m done with the lot of you. And you can tell that precious pair that they’ll never get a penny of my money. Not a penny.’
‘Good,’ Guido said. ‘Stick to that. They’ll be a lot happier.’
Roscoe gaped. He just didn’t understand.
‘He won’t stick to it,’ Dulcie said when Roscoe had stormed off. ‘Like she said, he doesn’t have anyone else.’
‘
Francesco bore down on them in grandeur. He kissed Dulcie, wrung Guido’s hand and flung his arms out as if to say that he’d brought the whole thing about.
After that there were toasts and then more toasts, and the ball went on into the early hours. A light was already appearing on the water as the gondola procession wended its way back, and the family was left alone. Francesco embraced Dulcie again.
‘I knew as soon as I met you that you were the only woman who could keep him in order,’ he declared.
‘And what about you, Uncle?’ Leo demanded with a grin. ‘Guido says you’re making plans too. One wedding begets another.’
The count raised his hand for silence.
‘This is true. I have finally managed to persuade the only woman I have ever truly loved to become my wife.’
While his nephews looked at each other in bafflement he went to the door, opened it, and reached out to somebody outside. In a gentler voice than they had ever heard him use, he said, ‘Come, my darling.’
There was a tension-filled pause, then Count Calvani’s future bride appeared, and everybody stared with astonishment.
‘
‘I have loved her for years,’ Francesco said simply. ‘Many times I’ve begged her to marry me, but she always refused. She said I would be marrying beneath me, which is nonsense, for she is the greatest lady in the world.’
Liza smiled at him, and for a moment they could all see her as Francesco did, as the sweet-faced girl who’d come to work there nearly fifty years ago, and won the young count’s heart on the first day. She was arthritic, elderly, and she was the greatest lady in the world. For a moment Dulcie’s eyes misted over.
Guido was the first to embrace Liza and call her ‘Aunt’. Marco and Leo followed.
‘There’s no escape for you after all,’ Marco told Guido with a touch of malicious relish. ‘You’ll have to put up with being the count.’
‘Get lost,’ Guido growled.
‘Do you mind very much?’ Dulcie asked gently.
‘Are you still going to marry me?’
‘Of course I am.’
‘Then I don’t mind anything else.’ He took her hand possessively, drawing her away from the others and leading her out to the peace of the garden.
There they faced each other with truth between them at last.
‘No masks now,’ she whispered.
‘No, masks,
He took her face between his hands, searching it, as if for the first time; seeing there everything he wanted in
