Duty done, she phoned her mother, and by the time she put the phone down after relating the events of yesterday, her mum had been so excited to hear that her firstborn had been on TV, she had done no further probing about Corrado. This suited Jo just fine. She wouldn’t have known what to tell her anyway.
The afternoon passed quickly and she managed to get away from the conference at half past four, looking forward to her evening on horseback. As she was walking into the hotel lobby out of the warm Roman sunshine, her phone buzzed twice. Once back in her room, she sat on her bed and saw that she had received two messages, but neither of them was particularly welcome. The first was from Christian and her heart fell.
Hi Jo. It’s me. I’m in Rome. I saw you on TV. Can we meet up? Love, Christian.
She snorted as she read it and almost exploded when she got to the penultimate word. ‘Love’? How dare he, after what he had done to her?
She checked the other message and her spirits fell even lower.
Hello Jo. I see you are in Rome for the Save the Planet conference. By chance, I, too, am here in Rome. Can we meet up? I think I maybe owe you an apology. Dinner one evening? Markus.
Jo’s blood pressure was by now approaching boiling point. ‘I think I maybe owe you an apology?’ She repeated the words out loud and was now snorting so loudly she didn’t hear the door open until Victoria walked in.
‘Hi, Jo? Trouble at ’t mill? You look like you’re going to have a stroke.’
Jo passed her phone across without a word. Victoria took it from her and read the message from Markus that was still on the screen. Shaking her head in disbelief, she looked back at Jo.
‘I knew I should have gone out and bought that baseball bat. Where is the bastard? “Might owe you an apology” for God’s sake!’
‘There’s a second message from, guess who?’ Jo could hear the anger in her own voice. The baseball bat idea definitely had distinct attraction. She watched her friend’s expression darken as she read Christian’s message. Finally, Victoria dropped the phone on her bed and sat down heavily alongside it, kicking off her shoes and snorting in her turn.
‘Listen, Jo, we’re in Italy, the land of the Mafia and the contract killer. Why don’t you get some nice friendly mobster to rub the two of them out? I’ve got a few extra Euros; I’ll even contribute to the cost.’
Jo couldn’t restrain a little smile at the image. ‘Don’t think I’m not tempted.’ She slumped down on the bed opposite Victoria who was looking pensive.
‘So, if you don’t get a hitman, Jo, what are you going to do?’
‘For now, nothing. One thing’s for sure, I don’t want to see Markus again. He really frightened me, whether he meant to or not.’
‘And Christian?’
‘I can’t see any point in meeting up with him either, although at least he doesn’t scare me.’
‘Well, you know you can count on me. I may not be a mobster, but I reckon I could give Christian a run for his money in a punch-up. He may be tall, but he’s skinny.’
Jo grinned in spite of herself and reached across to squeeze Victoria’s hand.
‘Thanks, Vic, but it won’t come to fisticuffs, or baseball bats, with either of them.’ She glanced at her watch. ‘I won’t answer the texts now. I’ll talk to Angie when I see her and then I’ll sleep on it before doing anything.’
Victoria nodded. ‘Sounds sensible. Now listen, there’s something else we need to talk about.’ Jo glanced up at the unusual note in her friend’s voice and saw a distinct twinkle in her eye. ‘You see, Jo, I didn’t do a lot of sightseeing this afternoon.’
‘You didn’t?’
Victoria grinned. ‘Unless you count the ceiling of George’s bedroom.’
‘So, things are moving on?’ Jo grinned back. ‘And, talking of moving, did the earth move for you?’
Victoria nodded vigorously. ‘Oh, yes.’
‘Well, good for you two. I was just thinking how happy you looked together.’
‘The thing is, Jo, would you mind awfully if I didn’t stay here tonight?’
‘Of course not. Viva l’amore and all that.’
Victoria looked relieved. ‘It was so nice of you to invite me along, I wouldn’t want you to think I’m just dumping you.’
‘Of course not. You young people go and have fun.’ She was a full month older than Victoria. ‘I’ll be just fine on my own.’
‘Well, at least this frees you up to invite the gorgeous Corrado back here and have your evil way with him, doesn’t it?’ Jo could see she was joking, but she protested all the same.
‘We’ve been through this before, Vic. It isn’t going to happen. Now, I’d better get changed into my jeans if I’m going for a ride.’ She jumped to her feet and grinned at Victoria again. ‘And I daresay you could do with a shower yourself.’
Jo went downstairs at six o’clock precisely, so as not to keep Corrado waiting and saw that he was already there. This time, to her surprise, he had come by car right to the hotel and had brought the big flashy 4x4. He was leaning against the bonnet, chatting to a very pretty girl while Daisy looked on from the boot. As the dog spotted Jo walking towards the car, she sprang to her feet, gave a welcoming bark, and pawed at the window. As she did so, Corrado looked round and from the expression on his face he was equally pleased to see her, although he didn’t bark. He said something to the pretty girl and came over to meet Jo. The girl gave him a little wave and walked off without protest. Jo found herself once more gritting her teeth at his knack for attracting women to his side like bees to a honey pot.
‘Good evening, Jo.’ As he approached, he held out his arms towards her while looking round in mock apprehension. ‘No TV cameras trained on us? Now that you’re a famous star of the silver screen.’
Jo gave him a big smile and kissed him on the cheeks. The touch of his skin against her lips felt good, too good, and she was quick to release him and go across to say hello to the dog. The tailgate opened automatically and Daisy launched herself bodily into Jo’s arms. Both of them ended up on the cobbles where the dog straddled her and did her best to lick Jo’s face until Corrado waded in to the rescue and returned the dog to the car. He stood over Jo and smiled down as she rested on her elbows and collected herself. He was wearing adherent grey riding breeches and polished leather ankle boots, and he looked even more appealing than usual.
‘Sorry about that, Jo. Are you all right? No damage done? Nothing in your bag to break, I hope? Your phone?’
Jo had brought her new bikini and a towel in case there was the opportunity for another swim, as well as a skirt to change into after the ride. These had proved to be very effective padding and no harm had been done as she fell over. She accepted Corrado’s proffered hand and let him haul her to her feet, but she was quick to relinquish it again.
‘No, everything’s fine, thanks.’
‘I’ve never seen Daisy take to someone so quickly.’ He caught her eye and winked. ‘I think it must be love.’
‘Yeah, right…’
Jo climbed into the wonderful luxury car. Inside it was very cool, in both senses of the word. She buckled up her seat belt and cast an admiring eye around. She knew next to nothing about cars and had little interest in them, but you couldn’t fail to be impressed by the symphony of cream leather, rich polished walnut and deep pile carpet of the interior. She turned towards him and caught his eye.
‘So how come you managed to drive right to the hotel this time? I thought it was prohibited.’
‘Only up to six o’clock. After six, it’s allowed.’
She nodded. ‘I see. And you brought the big car. This one’s a bit different from the Fiat, is it?’
He grinned. ‘It’s ridiculously big for driving round these crowded roads, but you shamed me into bringing it tonight. Why buy it if I don’t use it? Besides, nothing but the best for a TV star.’
‘Don’t get too used to the experience. If I never have to appear on TV again, it’ll be too soon. I was ter
rified.’
‘It didn’t show. And I was very impressed by your Italian.’
‘Really? Did you think it was all right? I know I’m nowhere near your league when it comes to languages, but I hope I didn’t let myself down.’
‘Very much the opposite. Complimenti. And my friend, Annarosa, agrees. She saw the interview on the news and we were just talking about it as you came out of your hotel.’
‘Annarosa?’ Jo did her best to sound nonchalant.
‘She works in our Research and Development section. She’s a chemist like me. I gave her a lift into town to meet her boyfriend.’
Jo made no reply, although she couldn’t help feeling pleased this hadn’t been yet another of his girlfriends. Unhelpfully, her subconscious pointed out that she only had his word for this and, as she knew to her cost, not all men told the truth. She did her best to shrug this ignoble thought away – at least for now.
He started the engine and the car purred off down the road back into the thick of the traffic. At this time of day, it took a long time to creep out through the near-gridlocked chaos until they were finally beyond the ring roads and onto quieter roads in the country. They hardly spoke, Jo not wishing to disturb his concentration.
When they got to the Country Club, he turned right immediately after the entrance and they crunched down a wide gravel track to the stables. This was the first time Jo had been down here and she was impressed by the scale and style of the lovely old stone building, surrounded by more modern units. They drove into the yard and found Mario and Angie already there, saddling up four fine-looking horses.
Corrado parked in the shade and they climbed out. Jo was impressed to see that Daisy was very well-behaved around the horses. In fact, she seemed far more interested in her buddy, Jo, than in the horses. Jo scratched the dog’s ears as she stood talking to the others.
‘So, which one’s mine?’
Angie pointed to a fine chestnut mare. ‘This is Cleopatra. She answers to Cleo when she feels like it. I thought you’d like her, seeing as she’s about the same size as your old favourite, Polly, back at home. And, like Polly, she’s a fairly lazy character.’
‘And this big black beast?’ The next horse along was very handsome and considerably larger, several hands taller than Cleopatra.
Corrado answered. ‘This is Bogart. He’s my next best friend after Daisy.’ He went over to the horse, stroked its head and addressed it in Italian. ‘Amico mio, it’s good to see you. Feel like stretching your legs?’
The big animal rubbed his head against Corrado’s hand and Jo’s experienced eye could tell there was a close rapport between horse and man. Presumably it wasn’t just women who found him irresistible.
They mounted up and Mario led them out and along the track until they reached open fields. The horses trotted comfortably and Daisy ran alongside with a happy smile on her face. It was only when they broke into a canter that the Labrador decided enough was enough and took up station in the shade of a tree and watched while the riders circled the field. Over to one side was a line of jumps and Jo followed the others over them, first from one direction, and then back over them again from the other. They were out for almost an hour and Jo enjoyed herself hugely.
By the time they had unsaddled the horses and settled them back in the stables, the sun was setting and they all piled into the Range Rover to drive back to Mario’s house for a swim. Jo went upstairs with Angie and changed into her new bikini. When she came back downstairs, she found the two men already in the water and the disgruntled Labrador tethered to a tree. Jo went over to make a fuss of her before joining Mario and Corrado in the pool. It felt wonderful. After swimming up and down a few times, she drifted to her familiar spot on the steps and rested back, letting the water gently rock her from side to side.
Shortly afterwards, Angie joined her and Jo told her about the two text messages she had received. Angie listened in silence before coming up with the same question Victoria had asked.
‘So, what’re you going to do?’
‘I’ve been thinking about that. As far as creepy Markus is concerned, I’m just not going to answer, and I’ll hope he gets the message that I’m not interested. As for Christian, there’s a little part of me that’s curious to see how he’s getting on.’ She looked across at her sister. ‘After all, we were together for the best part of four years. I’ve watched his career take off in that time and I’d quite like to know how he’s doing.’
‘But that isn’t the real reason, is it?’ Angie really did know her so very well, so Jo grinned and ended up confessing.
‘No, I suppose you’re right. To be honest, Angie, another other part of me would like him to see me with a smile on my face and a spring in my step. I’d like him to realise that my life’s good even without him. I’m over him now and I’m doing just fine.’
‘And are you really?’
Jo nodded. ‘Yup. If you’d asked me that only a week or two ago I would have probably still said yes, but I’d have been lying. It’s only in these last few days that I’ve finally achieved some sort of closure.’
‘And what might be the cause of this change?’ Angie caught her eye. ‘Somebody new?’
Jo felt her face flush, but hoped the red glow of the setting sun would provide sufficient camouflage. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Really? Nobody come to mind? Nobody at all?’ Angie was playing with her and Jo knew she couldn’t stonewall forever.
‘Well, I suppose it might be Corrado.’ As she uttered his name, she looked round apprehensively, but both men were still heads down, ploughing methodically up and down the pool. She glanced back at her sister. ‘Now don’t worry, nothing’s going to happen, but since getting to know him I’ve realised just what I’ve been missing all these years. Christian’s a very good-looking man – and, boy, does he know it! – but he’s nothing like as kind and generous or as knowledgeable and cultured as Corrado. If it wasn’t for his attitude to women, Corrado would be the complete package.’
‘It’s a terrible shame. The two of you look good together.’ But then Angie’s tone hardened. ‘Mind you, if he broke your heart I’d strangle him.’
Jo gave her sister a smile. ‘He told me you’d get the Mafia to feed him to the pigs. I think he’s a bit frightened of you. You can be quite scary sometimes. But what he’s done is he’s given me a target to aim for. I now know that the complete package does exist. I’ll just have to keep on looking until I find it.’
Angie nodded understandingly and pushed herself back out into the deeper water for a swim. Jo relaxed in the shallows, her eyes half-closed until she felt ripples against her skin and saw that she had been joined by Corrado. In spite of what she had told her sister, she felt a frisson of excitement as his bare shoulder brushed momentarily against hers. The sun had disappeared below the horizon by now and all she could see of him was the outline of his face.
‘Jo, do you like classical music by any chance?’
‘I like all kinds of music, although I’m no expert on the classics.’
‘Nor am I, but I was wondering; you said you’d got a thing on Thursday night, didn’t you?’
‘Yes, the conference finishes on Friday lunchtime so there’s a drinks thing on Thursday night. As one of the speakers, I’m afraid I really need to be there.’
‘Fine, but what about tomorrow night, Wednesday? I’ve got tickets to a charity concert in the grounds of a villa not far from your hotel and I was wondering if you might be interested. It’s within easy walking distance and the star of the show’s a famous Spanish classical guitar player who’s so famous I’ve forgotten his name.’ Jo giggled. ‘There’s no point asking Mario or Angie. We’ve tried in the past and it’s not their thing. Last year I took them to an opera and they both fell asleep.’
Jo giggled again. ‘Yes, Angie’s always been more of a pop music girl. But, yes, I’d love to.’ Her subconscious had by now pointed out to her that this would in effect be a date of sorts, just the two of t
hem alone, but Jo stubbornly ignored any negative thoughts. ‘Do I have to dress up?’
‘No, not at all. It’s in the open air. Just come as you are.’
‘In my bikini?’
‘Now, that would be interesting.’
They went over to the restaurant for dinner. This was the first time Jo had been inside the hotel and restaurant complex and she was very impressed. The restaurant itself was spotless and stylish, and the serving staff immaculately turned out in crisp white shirts or blouses. The manager herself led them across the large dining room and out onto the terrace shaded by a vine-covered trellis. This was dotted with lemon trees and gnarled olive trees all in wonderful old terracotta pots. Most of the tables were occupied, even though it was a Tuesday, but places had been reserved for them in the far corner, overlooking the flawless elegant garden with its illuminated fountain. It was quite dark now and Jo was fascinated to see a number of moths attracted by the lights. She kept a weather eye open in case something rare should come by, and checked that her bag – this time without underwear in it – was close to hand.
They sat down and a waiter brought wine and water without being asked, while Daisy trotted over to a water trough to one side and drank deeply. Clearly, she knew her way around this place. When she returned to the table, Jo saw her settle down between her and Corrado and a few seconds later, she felt a heavy hairy head land on her feet as the dog stretched out for a rest.
The meal was excellent. Lunch at the conference centre had been a buffet affair and Jo hadn’t taken much. As a result, after a ride and a swim, she was quite hungry and she chose a salad with soft goats’ cheese and honey as a starter, followed by a pizza topped with fresh rocket and slices of bresaola. She had always liked the salted, air-dried beef from the north of Italy. The pizza was excellent but she had to admit, but only to herself, that it wasn’t quite as good as the one in George’s best pizzeria in Rome. Thought of George made her wonder how he and Victoria were getting on. Once again, a little twinge of envy ran through her, but she brushed it away.
Dreaming of Rome Page 12