Unable to fathom Orazia out, Kate was silent for a moment as she digested what she knew about her policeman instead. So he was single too? It was probably highly immoral or against his professional code or something to date victims of crime, though, even if he did flirt with them. ‘Are you going home now?’ she asked.
‘When I have done this.’
‘It’s very kind of you. If I’d known you’d been up all night and that you were supposed to be finished, I wouldn’t have bothered you.’
‘You didn’t bother me. I wanted to help. It makes me sad when visitors are treated badly in my city.’
‘It’s the only thing that’s happened so far,’ she said. ‘Everything else has been lovely. . . although I have only been here one day.’
‘I hope you have no other misfortune.’
He pressed return, and the sound of a printer hummed and whirred from somewhere close by. He reached beneath the desk and produced a sheet of paper. ‘Please read this; it is a statement of all you have told me. If you think it is correct please sign it.’
Kate read it quickly, though if anyone had asked her afterwards what it said she wouldn’t have been able to tell them. She was far too busy being beguiled by the scent of his glorious aftershave as he stood across the counter from her waiting. ‘It looks alright,’ she said, scribbling her signature and pushing it back across the counter to him.
He picked it up, cast a glance over it, seemed satisfied and closed the window on the computer before going over to Orazia’s desk.
‘Would you file this?’ he asked.
She looked up at him, took the paper, and slung it into a basket before turning her attention back to her work.
‘Grazie, Orazia,’ he said with a grin.
‘Prego, Alessandro,’ she replied in a tone dripping with sarcasm, before slamming her file shut and storming off into a back room.
Alessandro. So now Kate had a name. It suited him.
He made a few more notes and then looked up at Kate with a smile. ‘Are you going to your hotel now?’
‘I. . . I hadn’t really thought that far ahead. I haven’t had lunch yet so I might head back there to get some money for food. And I have to call my sister too, and the bank to cancel my card. It’s a mess, isn’t it?’
He shrugged. ‘It is life.’
‘I suppose it is. And I suppose you wouldn’t have a job if things didn’t get stolen.’
He nodded shortly, while Kate felt the need to punch herself in the face for such a stupid comment. But if he thought it stupid he didn’t say. He simply opened the door and reappeared at her side of the counter, clicking it locked again as he did.
‘I could take you,’ he said.
‘To the hotel? I couldn’t. . .’ Kate glanced across to see that Orazia was back, shaking her head, clearly listening and not approving of what she heard. Suddenly Kate felt quite belligerent about the whole thing. What had it got to do with her whether Alessandro took her back to her hotel or not? If he was off duty then it was his choice what he did and who he offered lifts to. ‘That would be brilliant.’
‘Follow me,’ he said with a little nod, and he led her out into the sunshine.
Kate had often considered an Italian riding a moped like a nutter to be a stereotype, but as they zipped through the traffic of a busy Rome, her arms wrapped around Alessandro’s torso and her hands clasped together so tight she thought she might never prise them apart again, she realised to her dismay that it was an actual thing. Not only that but her dress was in serious danger of whipping up and exposing her underwear to the world with every gust of wind, and as she couldn’t get a hand free to secure things, it wasn’t exactly helping her to relax. She’d wanted an adventure, but she would rather return this one to the shop and get a less scary one.
‘OK?’ he called behind him.
She would have answered in the affirmative, despite not being OK at all, if only she could get some words out. Instead, she nodded weakly and squeezed her eyes shut as he slalomed past a truck laden with fruit.
‘Kate!’ he called. ‘OK?’
‘Yes,’ she managed to reply, if only to make certain his attention returned to the roads and not to what she was doing.
‘You like?’
‘No.’
She could feel the vibration of his laughter through his chest. ‘It is much faster than a car.’
I’ll bet it is, she thought. Faster to the hospital too when we come off.
If Anna could see her now, she’d be having a heart attack, and as for what her mum might do. . . Death-defying moped rides were one aspect of her holiday the folks back home were not going to hear about. The list of anecdotes that would have to be filed away in the never talk about this box was getting longer and longer. And it was only day two.
After what seemed like a lifetime and yet was no time at all, Alessandro skidded around a corner and Kate’s hotel came into view. But as he pulled up outside and killed the engine, she suddenly didn’t want to get off. Although, she did think that her reluctance to get off the moped might have had more to do with her legs and arms shaking than leaving the man whose delicious scent had been infusing her senses for the last twenty minutes. How could he have just finished an all-night shift and yet smell so good? No, there was definitely a tinge of regret. The likelihood of seeing him so randomly again was microscopic. And maybe this was the time for carpe diem, to grab her chance to make sure she did. At least Jamie wasn’t here this time, because it was quite possible that his version of seizing the day would involve throwing a condom at her and telling them to get on with it.
‘OK now?’ he asked with a mischievous grin as she wobbled off the seat.
Kate gave a mute nod, and the words she wanted to say swam around her head, but they wouldn’t go in the right order. When she did open her mouth, she sounded like someone who’d just won Thickville’s thickest resident award.
‘Will you be working again?’
He cocked an eyebrow at her. ‘I hope so. I hope I won’t be. . . How do you say it. . .? Fired?’
‘I mean will you be working tonight?’
‘Why do you ask? Are you going to get drunk again?’
‘No. . .’ Kate blushed. She never blushed – what was it about this man that was making her blush almost constantly? And why did she care so much about what he was up to? A week was all she had in Rome – hardly enough time to build a relationship with anyone and certainly a scenario in which getting attached to a man was very unwise. Not that her wildly beating heart was listening to her head right now.
‘I am not on duty for three days now,’ he said with a smile. ‘I have all my time to do anything I please.’
He was playing with her – he had to be – and she was sure she could see it in his eyes. How did he have this strange but sexy way of appearing to be mocking her without making her feel as if the joke was at her expense? Instead, it made her see the joke and want to laugh at it herself. It also made her want to push him against a wall and get her hands underneath that fitted shirt he was wearing very handsomely indeed, but that was a thought she was trying hard not to have.
She shrugged, uncertain where to look for fear that if she looked in those eyes she might just do something she’d regret.
‘Today I will sleep,’ he added. ‘Tonight I have promised my sister I will take her to the wedding-dress shop. Tomorrow, I will be doing nothing. Have you seen the Vatican yet?’
Kate looked up at him now, and he regarded her steadily with that smouldering certainty of a man who knows who he is and what he wants. Her stomach flipped and dropped, as if she’d just barrelled down the track of a rollercoaster when she’d least expected the turn. ‘No, I haven’t.’
‘It is very beautiful. I will take you tomorrow at nine o’clock.’
In any other circumstances and with any other man, Kate might have been irked that he had assumed her answer to a request to take her out would be yes. Though this was less of a request and more of an order, s
he couldn’t bring herself to be annoyed about it. His directness made a change, and there was none of the awkwardness she had imagined would come with her first potential date since Matt.
‘I’d love that,’ she said.
‘Good.’ He kicked the engine into life. ‘Tomorrow at nine,’ he repeated. ‘And you must cover your arms.’
Kate nodded. ‘See you tomorrow then.’
‘Ciao,’ he called, and an instant later he was gone from view, swallowed up by the traffic.
Despite simply wanting to get a shower and fall onto the bed for a snooze before dinner, Kate spent the following hour making various frustrating calls to her bank, credit-card company and travel insurers. It was hassle she could have done without and not exactly the sort of activity she had hoped to be indulging in during her stay in Rome, but it needed to be done and leaving it would only make things worse. Thank God she had left some money in the hotel safe, so that although she’d been forced to tell Anna about what had happened and ask her to transfer a little money across just in case she ran out, all in all the theft wasn’t half as disastrous as it could have been. It was made more palatable too by the prospect of spending the following day with Alessandro. But then, when all the phone calls had been made, and she’d showered, she stood towelling her hair in front of the mirror and a sense of misgiving began to creep over her. She didn’t even know Alessandro. . . She didn’t even know his second name! What were his intentions? Was this a date? A quick tourist shag? A friendly offer of company? A professional sense of duty to protect someone who was clearly going to get herself into trouble if he wasn’t there? He’d told her he’d pick her up and she’d said yes – no hesitation, no questions, no consideration for motives, armed with nothing but his first name and the memory of a sexy smile that could melt the polar ice caps.
Grabbing for her hairbrush and dragging it through the tangles, she tried to shake the doubts away. This was her new life, wasn’t it? This was what she’d promised herself – to step out into the world and take chances. That was why she’d come to Rome, after all. And he was a police officer – what was the worst that could happen?
He could break your heart.
But hadn’t Matt already done that? There was almost no heart left to be broken, and perhaps a holiday fling was just the thing to start hers beating again, to open her up to the possibility of real love with someone new back home, something she’d refused to contemplate since Matt had left.
Her internal struggle was interrupted by her mobile ringing. She swiped to answer.
‘Hey,’ Jamie greeted. He sounded a lot brighter than he had done when she’d left him the previous evening, more like the man she’d met at the airport. ‘Are we still on for dinner?’
Kate was pretty sure she hadn’t actually agreed to dinner, but Jamie was hard to say no to, and she did feel as if she might implode if she spent the evening alone dwelling on what might happen when Alessandro picked her up tomorrow. She would feel safer with company tonight too, and nice as her hotel restaurant was, she wanted to get out and try all that Rome had to offer. Jamie’s knowledge would be good for that. ‘That sounds nice. Where were you thinking?’
‘We can do decent tourist food with fantastic views, or not-so-good views with fantastic food most tourists don’t get to know about. Your choice.’
‘What a choice!’ Kate laughed. ‘For one reason or another, I feel a bit cheated out of the tourist thing today, so maybe we should go for the tourist option if it’s OK with you.’
‘How so? Didn’t you have a good day?’
‘It’s complicated, and I should probably save the story for when I see you.’
‘OK, now I’m intrigued. So how about eating somewhere in the Piazza della Rotonda? We could gaze on the Pantheon while we eat our not-so-good food and you can tell me all about your complicated day.’
‘That sounds amazing.’
‘I’ll wait outside your hotel for you. Seven-thirty sound OK?’
‘Brilliant. See you then.’
‘No problem.’
Kate ended the call and tossed the phone onto her bed as she wandered over to the wardrobe. Deciding what to wear tonight was easy, but more pressing on her thoughts was what she was going to wear tomorrow. If she had known what sort of occasion it was meant to be, that might help. Should she go for sexy or demure or the quirkier style she usually gravitated towards? The one indulgence she had allowed herself on the plane ticket was a good luggage allowance so she could bring a decent selection of dresses, and right now she was glad she had. She’d made most them too, and so each one fitted her perfectly in a way that off-the-peg shop-bought dresses just couldn’t do, no matter how she altered them. It was one of the things she loved about making her own clothes, and the reason why her sisters never stopped asking her for little tailoring favours for themselves too. It was something she was proud of and knew she was good at. But Italy was the home of high fashion, and she was in a completely different league here. Maybe her homespun frocks just wouldn’t cut it? But then Jamie had been impressed enough to suggest she did it for a living so they couldn’t be that bad. She just needed to find the right dress to wow Alessandro tomorrow.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud growl from her stomach. She glanced at the time on her phone. Just gone six, and Jamie wasn’t meeting her until seven thirty. She’d almost forgotten she hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and that she’d actually been hungry at the police station hours before. Seven thirty seemed like a long time away, especially when they probably wouldn’t eat until nearer eight. Perhaps room service would bring her a sandwich to be going on with?
But as she was dialling the number on the hotel phone, her own mobile started to ring, a number she didn’t recognise displayed on the screen. She reached for it.
‘Hello?’
‘Is this Kate Merry?’ The accent was Italian, and the somewhat sultry female voice familiar, though Kate took a moment to place it.
‘Yes. . . Who is this?’
‘I must tell you that polizia are not allowed to be in love with the tourists. . .’
Kate paused, frowned. ‘What the hell. . . I have no idea what you’re talking about.’
‘Alessandro Conti. He is taking you out? It is not permitted. This is in the rules.’
And then it clicked. ‘Orazia?’
The phone went dead. Kate stared at it as the screen went black. Her heart was beating in her ears. She was certain of the voice now, and the filthy looks earlier at the station suddenly all made sense. Orazia had some connection to Alessandro, either current or previous, but phone calls containing cryptic warnings (which could be seen by some as actual threats) seemed like a hell of a risky thing to do in the circumstances. Not to mention unprofessional. On the other hand, Alessandro himself didn’t seem to have anything to hide – after all, he hadn’t been skulking around at the station or hiding his obvious interest in Kate from anyone, and surely he would have if he’d been up to something he shouldn’t. So Orazia was the one with the problem, and perhaps whatever was going on was one-sided? Kate didn’t believe for a minute that any rule existed that forbade members of the public to date police officers – if it did, who the hell were they supposed to marry? So why would Orazia make a phone call to spout some nonsense about a non-existent law? Why did she care so much about any arrangements Alessandro might have made to see her?
As Kate perched on the edge of her bed and stared at her phone, all thoughts of sandwiches firmly out of her mind, she had to wonder if agreeing to this day out had been such a good idea after all. But as she didn’t have a contact phone number for Alessandro, and as the prospect of calling the police station and possibly running into Orazia again was not an appealing one, there wasn’t a lot she could do to change it. For better or worse, she was off to the Vatican tomorrow with a man who already seemed rather more dangerous than he had an hour before.
Chapter Seven
It was amazing how relaxed Kate felt in Jamie’s company,
even though she’d been annoyed with him the night before for leaving her in the trattoria, and despite only knowing him for a little over a day. It was hard to stay mad with someone who was so funny and clever, and within ten minutes of meeting him for dinner again Kate was giggling uncontrollably. He was easy on the eye too, and she could see why he might find it difficult to stay faithful to his boyfriend back home, because he probably never went short of offers from others who might quite like to steal that title.
They found a welcoming restaurant with a fantastic vantage point for the Pantheon, and while they got comfortable at an outside table, a string quartet playing gently in the background and the babble of tourists providing the accompanying soundtrack, Kate filled Jamie in on her eventful day.
‘Oh my God!’ Jamie’s hand flew to his mouth as Kate told him about the robbery. ‘Are you OK? You seem so calm for someone who’s had all their money stolen! I’ll tell you what, as I do owe you – even if you say I don’t – let me pay for dinner tonight—’
‘At this place? You’d never be able to afford two of us!’ she laughed. ‘I told you not to worry about last night’s misunderstanding. As for the robbery, I’m fine. Luckily I was already paranoid about being alone in a big city – probably thanks to Matt and his village-peasant mentality rubbing off on me – so I didn’t take everything out with me. That means I still have a card and a little cash. It’s been an absolute pain trying to sort everything out though. I ended up at the police station for ages.’
‘You’re sure you’re OK? You don’t need any help with anything?’
‘The police at the station were great; helped me loads. One in particular . . .’ she said, her mind wandering back to Alessandro and trying to wander very definitely away from Orazia. She shook herself. ‘I don’t know what I would have done without him.’
‘You should have called me.’
‘You were in meetings and I didn’t want to disturb you. Besides, you’ve only just met me. It’s not much of a new friend who phones you every five minutes when they need the tiniest thing.’
Rome is Where the Heart is: An uplifting romantic read, perfect to escape with (From Italy with Love Book 1) Page 7