Secrets on the Italian Island

by T A Williams

  As he had asked for a light meal, she had limited it to a cold spread with smoked salmon and a mixed salad. She had managed to find some dill and Dijon mustard on the supermarket shelves and made a creamy sauce to go with the fish, which appeared to meet with Jack’s approval. She also bought a bag of dog biscuits so her four-legged guest was also catered for.

  After Jack had left to go back home, she took George for a walk in the gathering dusk, delighted to see the sky now virtually cloud-free and the horizon a fine deep vermillion colour which augured very well for the next day. As they were walking along the top of the promontory, her phone bleeped and she saw she had two messages. The first was from Charlie.

  Hi Anna. Violet Jane born at five pm. Mum and daughter doing well. Now my part starts. Good luck with Ruby.

  Anna sent him back a message full of congratulations and as many celebratory emojis as she could find. She wasn’t sure how long it would now be before he was back in harness and she wondered if she would remain partnered with Ruby until then. Hopefully they would only have to work together until the Elba operation finished and then they could go their separate ways. It wasn’t that Ruby had sounded unpleasant – quite the opposite, really – but she clearly came with baggage, and the most sinister one of these as far as Anna was concerned was the fact that Sir Graham was her father.

  Anna was increasingly coming to the conclusion that she might well have things wrapped up here by the end of this coming week and, although she would dearly have liked to stay longer to see more of Jack and the Labrador, no doubt she would also be equally keen to get away from the responsibility of keeping an eye on her new partner by then.

  The other message was from Marco.

  Waiting for the ferry. All well. I’ll see you at ten tomorrow morning if that suits.

  Anna texted him back, saying she was looking forward to seeing him.

  And she was – Bad Boy or not.

  Chapter 13

  Anna slept like a log that night and awoke feeling refreshed and happy, not least as she knew she would be going sailing with Marco in a few hours. Through her open window the gentle lapping of the waves down below had lulled her to sleep and she found it hard to understand why his wife had objected so strongly to being here. Of course, from what Jack had revealed the other night, there had obviously been more to their break-up than just a dislike of the location. As she made herself a mug of tea in the kitchen, she heard a scratching sound from outside and when she opened the door she found a cheerful dog waiting to greet her. She bent down and made a fuss of him before returning to her tea – with a biscuit for him as a treat.

  After a pleasant walk with George, she checked her emails and found one from Douglas in London, underlining what she had already thought. If this week failed to bring any significant discoveries, she was to drive the car back to the UK as there was an urgent job waiting for her. There was no mention of whether this might also involve Ruby and she decided not to ask. He didn’t go into any detail about what or where this might turn out to be but it looked as though the writing was on the wall as far as her stay on Elba was concerned.

  As a result she was in a reflective mood when she walked to Marco’s house. The gates were open and she followed the gravel drive through the trees up to the villa. The sky was a wonderful clear blue after all the rain and the air itself smelt fresher. Although there was still the occasional drip falling from the branches above her, the ground had already substantially dried up. She found Marco outside, loading bags into his car, and her face lit up as she saw him. As he heard her footsteps he looked up and gave her an appraising look that brought a flash of colour to her cheeks.

  ‘Ciao, bella. You’re looking good this morning.’

  He was looking pretty damn good himself in his shorts and a faded T-shirt, this time from Mistral sailboards.

  ‘Hi, Marco. I’ve missed you these past few days.’ She went up to him and – ignoring the protests of Sensible Anna – kissed him softly on the cheeks, feeling that familiar surge of attraction as she did so. His smile broadened.

  ‘And I’ve missed you too. So, what’s your news? All I can tell you is that I’ve fulfilled my family obligations up in the north and that means I should be in the clear for a good long while. I’m glad I’m back here, especially on a brilliant sunny day like today.’

  Anna told him about the bonding she had been doing with Jack and his dog and repeated how happy she was to have been offered accommodation in the Canadian’s lovely barn. Needless to say, she made no mention of her visit to the rock shop, her tour of the northern coastline in a boat, or her afternoon prospecting in the slag heaps on the slopes of Monte Calamita. She also didn’t mention the impending arrival of Ruby or of Toby in his yacht. When Marco asked how she had been filling her time, she was once again forced to improvise.

  ‘I’ve been driving around, checking out the island. It hasn’t really been sunbathing weather so I’ve been concentrating on the scenery. I was up on the north coast near Marciana Marina yesterday and I’m toying with the idea of climbing Monte Capanne one of these days.’

  ‘If you decide to do it let me know and I’ll try and come with you. It’ll take a full day, though. That’s why they built the cable car.’

  Nice as it would be to go hiking with him in the hills, it would mean she wouldn’t be able to do any prospecting and that was her job after all, so she hastily backtracked – not least as Ruby would be there by then and would have to come along too. ‘It all depends on how much time I have left. I got an email this morning from my boss in London saying he wants me back a week today. Charlie flew home to be with his wife a few days ago – she’s had a little baby girl by the way – so that means I’ll have to drive the car back to the UK. I suppose that’s going to take me two days from here.’

  ‘Afraid so. It can be done in one extremely long day but you’d be worn out by the end of it. You’ll do better to leave first thing on Saturday morning.’

  She nodded in agreement. ‘At the latest.’

  ‘Pity.’ He sounded disappointed, but hardly devastated. Sensible Anna took heart from this lack of emotion but Naughty Anna was far more interested in what he said next. ‘Still, we’ll just have to make the most of the time we’ve got together, won’t we?’ This was accompanied by a wink which brought colour to her cheeks.

  They drove to Marina di Campo, parked near the harbour and walked along the waterfront. The beach was still busy despite it being September and there were lots of people strolling around and in the water. Marco’s boat turned out to be an old wooden sailing boat which had clearly been the subject of considerable tender loving care recently and looked immaculate. As he set about starting the little outboard motor to get them out of the harbour, she quizzed him about his penchant for old things.

  ‘Old house, old car, old boat? Why not go for something a bit more modern? Don’t get me wrong, she’s a lovely-looking boat, but I was just wondering.’

  ‘I’ve always had a thing for old stuff. To be honest, that was something else my wife didn’t like. Left to herself she would have filled the villa with modern furniture, and we were always arguing about what to buy. But apart from my preference for antiques, the other terribly important thing is that recycling old stuff is much better for the planet. Take cars, for example. Driving a modern energy-saving electric car is all well and good, but few people know that the production process creates far more pollution than my old car has done in its whole life. Cars need metal and metal needs to be mined, and don’t get me started on the thousands of tons of copper that’ll be needed for all the new charging points.’ He looked up from the outboard motor. ‘And mining is raping the planet. Next thing I’m going to look into is getting an electric engine to replace this. Burning fossil fuels is poisoning the air for all of us and nobody’s prepared to do anything about it.’

  Anna felt another stab of regret. The expression ‘Mining is raping the planet’ was unequivocal. She and he were irrevocably on different s
ides and she knew the gulf between them was unbridgeable. He looked and sounded dead serious and she was reminded, yet again, just how much conservation and saving the planet must mean to him. ‘A man on a mission’ was the way Jack had described him and, much as she might sympathise with Marco’s ideals in many ways, she couldn’t help wondering whether all his relationships were destined to finish up the same way as his marriage; destroyed by his one-track mindedness. Of course, from what everybody had been telling her, it was every bit as likely that the collapse of his marriage had been due to his repeated dalliances with different women even more than to his love of the planet.

  They chugged slowly out of the harbour and as soon as they had passed the breakwater he handed her the tiller and set about hoisting the mainsail and the jib. There was a gentle breeze blowing and the sails soon filled. As they did so he was able to turn off the outboard motor and pull it up out of the water. Blessed silence descended on the boat, only interrupted by the raucous cries of seagulls following a fishing boat that came in past them, on its way to unload its catch. Marco made no move to take back control of his boat and took a seat on the windward side and relaxed.

  ‘What’s our heading, captain?’ Anna gave him a salute and a smile. She was enjoying the feel of steering the heavier craft compared to the smaller, lighter dinghies she had been used to sailing.

  ‘Wherever you like. I’ve brought a picnic and I thought we could maybe head for a beach that looks inviting and have our lunch there. I’m afraid there aren’t many soft sandy beaches around here, but I know a couple that aren’t too bad – and are very private.’ That same little surge of desire reared its head yet again as Naughty Anna imagined being all alone with him on a secluded beach and Sensible Anna groaned. ‘We can go west or east. You decide.’

  ‘Aye, aye, captain.’ She saluted again. She really didn’t mind where they went. It was just nice being out on the water and with him. As the wind was blowing from the south-west, she pushed the tiller over and headed east, back towards their homes. ‘If the wind stays in this direction we should be able to get where we’re going and back again on this tack without too much trouble.’

  He nodded approvingly and they chatted about sailing for a while. She told him about the local club in the Severn estuary where she had learned to sail as a girl and he revealed that his interest in sailing had only developed after arriving here on the island. Before that his overriding passion – at least as far as water sports were concerned – had been windsurfing. It was a delightful morning and the views across the beach of Marina di Campo to the green hills beyond were stunning. Around them there were a few other small craft, and a big cruise ship was making a tour of the island a good bit further out, but it was all very tranquil.

  As they neared the opposite side of the bay, he indicated a headland some way in front of them. ‘That’s Punta Bianca. Beyond that is Cala Nera, our valley, and beyond that’s the Hotel Panorama. Just this side of Punta Bianca there’s a little hidden cove. I sometimes walk round to it from home, but the only access is along a narrow, overgrown footpath so the spot’s still very unspoilt. I thought we could go there for lunch if you like.’

  A few hours in a hidden cove on a sunny day with this handsome Italian sounded pretty idyllic – at least to Naughty Anna – and she found herself ignoring the objections of Sensible Anna as gave him a smile and another salute. ‘Aye, aye, captain.’

  They had a lovely sail and she stayed at the helm the whole time, thoroughly enjoying herself. It was already hot and getting hotter, and the crystal-clear water below them looked very inviting, but Naughty Anna had other things on her mind than swimming. Those mesmerising eyes had done their work and she was back under his thrall. By the time they rounded a low tree-covered headland, sailed into a little bay and dropped the mainsail, she was feeling almost breathless with anticipation. They came into the shore on the jib alone and she was rather pleased at managing it without having to start the outboard and without mishap. He stationed himself at the bow and checked that there were no underwater obstacles until there was a gentle grating sound. They had landed.

  ‘Beautifully navigated, Anna. You’re a better sailor than me.’

  She beamed back at him. He slipped over the side into thigh-deep water and waded to the shore with the mooring rope while, on his instructions, she dropped the little anchor over the stern so as to keep the boat from being washed side-on against the stony beach. The sand here was coarse and grey but without too many pebbles and, importantly, the shallows looked sandy rather than rocky, which would make wading in and out of the water easier. Behind the little beach were sheer cliffs – not very high, but steep enough to make it almost nearly impossible for anybody to reach it on foot. Yes, it certainly looked secluded and she felt her throat dry. She joined him on the beach and set down her bag. Then, not without a little frisson of excitement, she stripped to her bikini and turned towards him. By now he was only wearing his swimming shorts and he looked as desirable as she remembered.

  ‘Looking good, Marco.’

  ‘Not as good as you.’

  He held out his arms to her and they embraced. Whatever her doubts about his morals, it was incredibly exciting to be here, half-naked, on a deserted beach, with him. It was a very new experience to her to find herself attracted to a Bad Boy – assuming that was what he was – and she wasn’t quite sure how it was happening. In spite of Sensible Anna’s protests, she was unable and unwilling to resist and she gave a deep sigh of satisfaction at the thought of what might come next.

  ‘That was a big sigh. There’s nothing wrong, is there?’

  ‘Absolutely nothing at all.’ She paused for a second or two, controlling her breathing. ‘Well, apart from the fact that I’m probably only here until the end of the week. I’ll be really sorry to leave.’

  ‘And I’ll be really sorry to see you go.’ He leant down and kissed her tenderly on the lips, and Sensible Anna could do nothing to prevent her from melting against him. His body felt good against hers and it came as a real disappointment when he stepped away and pointed towards the water. ‘Now, what about a swim?’

  Appealing as the thought of a swim might be, she knew it wasn’t currently at the top of her list of priorities. Still, she followed him down the beach.

  They were in the water for almost twenty minutes and she had fun diving down and picking up shells from the seabed while her rapidly beating heart gradually slowed, and Sensible Anna began to regain control of her wayward body. At one point she identified an underwater outcrop of what to her was obviously granite among all the less interesting rock formations. There was no question that Elba to a geologist was a fascinating place and she could understand why Jack had decided to settle here. She did her best to concentrate on geology rather than the man in the water near her but it wasn’t easy.

  Back on the beach she dabbed herself dry and stretched out on her towel, a rising sense of anticipation building inside her as he lay down next to her, but this time Naughty Anna wasn’t getting it all her own way. Twenty minutes in cold water had managed to bring her back to her senses – at least for now. As she felt his fingers run through her damp hair and gently pull her face towards him, she knew he had her on the end of his line and was reeling her in and she tried to resist. She kissed him softly, doing her best to hold back, but slowly felt her resolve beginning to wane.

  However, barely a few minutes later, a noise interrupted them and she stirred guiltily. Propping herself up on her elbows she looked around for its source while her head gradually cleared and the wave of raw lust that had been coursing through her started to subside. The noise turned out to be a pair of very tanned senior citizens in a two-seater canoe, paddling towards them. As the canoe grounded, Anna saw Swiss flags on both sides of the bow. Its occupants looked cheerful and sociable, and the man was quick to greet them.

  ‘Buongiorno.’ There was a distinct German accent discernible in his voice. He waved affably and she waved back, suddenly feeling an
overwhelming sense of relief. Beside her she heard Marco’s voice sounding anything but affable.

  ‘Buongiorno.’

  The lack of welcome in his voice must have registered and the man got the message that Marco didn’t feel like socialising but, to Sensible Anna’s further relief, they didn’t take the hint and leave. All he and his companion did was to pull their canoe up out of the water and settle down a bit further along the beach, but not far enough. Marco caught Anna’s eye and shrugged in resignation.

  ‘Seems like this might be a good time to have lunch.’

  Anna gave a surreptitious sigh. The arrival of the Swiss had probably saved her from making a big mistake. The trouble was that whatever reservations her mind might have about Marco, her body had definitely had other ideas and she had little doubt what would have happened if the two Swiss hadn’t appeared. Things would inevitably have become very complicated as a result.

  As they ate the sandwiches he had prepared and sipped white wine from a bottle he produced from the cool box, she decided to do a bit of digging – but not in a mining sense – as much to take her mind off what might have happened as anything else.

  ‘You said your wife left the island three years ago and you’ve been divorced for two?’ She saw him nod. ‘So are you telling me you’ve been living all alone like a monk since then? I find it hard to believe that a good-looking guy like you wouldn’t have found himself some lucky woman by now.’ Felice and Jack had pretty well already supplied the answer, but she asked him anyway.

  He grinned at her and turned the question back on her. ‘You said your job means you get sent all over the world and so you’ve had no chance of forming relationships. Does this mean you’ve been living like a nun? I find it hard to believe that a beautiful woman like you wouldn’t have found herself some lucky man by now.’