by Liz Harris
He started the car up again and drove along the uneven track until they reached two large wrought-iron gates flanked by stone gateposts. The gates were wide open.
‘Oh, he’s already here.’ There was disappointment in his voice. ‘Shame. I’d have rather enjoyed wandering around by ourselves for a bit.’
As he drove through the open gates into the parking area, Evie caught sight of a tall, slim man wearing tailored black trousers and a black open-necked shirt. He was leaning casually against a sleek black convertible parked under a pergola on the right of the drive. Tom drove past the man and pulled up opposite the convertible. He switched the engine off and opened the car door. The man in black immediately straightened up and came towards them, arms outstretched in welcome, the heavy silver buckle on his leather belt glinting in the sunlight.
‘Il mio amico, Tom. Benvenuto in Italia.’
A row of perfect white teeth rivalled the sheen on the silver buckle.
Evie stared at the crown of gleaming black hair, at the perfectly sculptured face, at the thin Roman nose, the sensual red lips.
‘Mamma mia,’ she breathed, and she took a step forward. ‘That’s not oily, that’s divine.’
‘Stop drooling, Evie,’ Tom murmured. He brushed past her as he went to greet the man. ‘It’s not a pretty sight.’
‘Maybe not,’ she said, and her lips curved into a broad smile as a thought burst into her head like a ray of shining light. ‘But that is.’
Chapter Five
Thank you, Guardian Angel!
Eduardo di Montefiori leaned over in a low, graceful bow and brushed the back of Evie’s hand with his lips, his eyes never leaving her face.
‘Bellissima,’ he murmured. Straightening up, he gave her a look of undisguised admiration. ‘Assolutamente bellissima.’
OK, maybe a little oily. Definitely not her cup of tea, but a situation offering
possibilities. If she could play it right.
‘That means—’ she began brightly, turning to Tom.
‘I think I can just about manage that,’ he cut in cheerfully, and she saw that he was trying not to laugh. Her lips began to twitch, too. She quickly turned away and graced Eduardo with a radiant smile, then reined it in a little – she shouldn’t be too obvious.
‘Venite,’ Eduardo said with an elegant flick of his right hand. Embracing Evie with his inviting gaze, he moved to Tom’s side, took him lightly by the elbow and started to lead him past a row of slender cypress trees towards a path flanked by white rose bushes that led to the house.
Evie followed hot on their heels, her mind racing. Could she work on two fronts at the same time?
If she played up to Eduardo, she might learn something from him about Tom’s affair with Zizi. He obviously wouldn’t know the full details – he and Tom couldn’t talk to each other and there was a limit to what sign language could say – but it was quite possible that Tom had phoned Zizi on one of his visits to Italy, or that she had called him while he was with Eduardo. If that had happened, Tom would have said her name and Eduardo might have heard him.
Or Eduardo might have seen a photo of them together. Tom could have pulled it out of his pocket to look at it, assuming that men did things like that – she wasn’t sure if they did. She didn’t expect a photo of him and Zizi in the act – that would be too much to hope for – but something that helped to date their affair would be brilliant.
She felt a stab of guilt at the thought of using Eduardo like that, but she’d been stuck on how to move her relationship with Tom to the next base – an emotional base, not a physical one; there was a limit to what she’d do – and the moment she’d seen the gleam in Eduardo’s eyes as he’d looked at her, she’d known that her guardian angel had sent her a backup plan. If she was reporter enough to go along with it.
And she was.
Successfully squashing the niggly feeling of guilt, she felt her spirits start to rise. Thank you, thank you, guardian angel, she bubbled inwardly, and she beamed at Eduardo’s back, which was swaying from one side of the path to the other, every time that he threw his hands in the air to point out the newly planted trees and shrubs.
She’d flirt with him for a bit, which would be easy enough – last night had shown her that she could do anything she put her mind to – and then she’d encourage him to talk about Tom. OK, it was a tall order to work on two men at the same time in the hopes that at least one of them would open up to her – a dauntingly tall order – but she could do it. She had to. Her only chance of breaking into the world of magazine journalism was at stake.
They started to go down the terracotta-tiled steps to the front door when Eduardo suddenly stopped to draw their attention to the roses and purple clematis growing around the stone pillars on the corners of the porch. She slipped into the gap between the men; she was there to translate for them, after all. So far, it had been pretty obvious what Eduardo was saying, what with his facial expressions and gestures, but Tom just might need her help at any minute.
Eduardo finished with the subject of the flowers and produced a large iron key with a flourish. They went down the last couple of steps to the porch and he put the key into the lock of the heavy wooden door. After turning it several times, he pushed the door open, stepped back and slipped a hand under Evie’s elbow. At exactly the same moment, Tom slipped his hand under her other elbow.
‘Perdono!’ Eduardo said hastily, seeing Tom’s action. He dropped his hand, gave a small bow and stood back.
No one said it was going to be easy, she thought, and she stepped into the small entrance hall at Tom’s side.
From that moment on, Tom needed her to translate for him.
As she followed the two men through the ground floor rooms it was all she could do to keep up with Eduardo’s rapid delivery as he explained the things that had been done since Tom’s last visit. Tom was clearly delighted with what he saw, and when they went through the arched doorway leading from the sitting room into the kitchen, and saw the pale peach-coloured units above and below a granite worktop that spanned the back wall of the kitchen, he stopped abruptly.
‘It’s stunning. Absolutely stunning. Eduardo was right about the colour bringing out the tones in the stone walls. Will you tell him that I thought the kitchen looked good in the shop, but this is way beyond anything I ever imagined?’
She translated Tom’s words, and Eduardo inclined his head in acknowledgement. Smiling with pleasure, he led them back through the sitting room into the hall and up the wide stairs to the upper floors.
‘Questa è la camera principale,’ he announced as they entered a large room leading off the first landing. ‘C’è posto per un molto grande letto.’
‘This is the master bedroom,’ she translated, turning to Tom. ‘He says that there’s room for a very large bed.’
Their eyes met.
Her thoughts flew back to the night before. His look of sudden amusement told her that his had, too.
She felt herself starting to go red. Hell’s bells and curses galore on her auburn hair – any minute from now she was going to look like an overboiled beetroot. She blamed her mother. Behind them, she heard Eduardo walk across the room, open a door and call for them to join him in the en suite bathroom, and she all but ran to him.
When they’d finished looking at the bathroom and the two small rooms in the tower, they went back down to the sitting room and Eduardo began to tell Tom how to work the lights for outside the house and the pool, showing him which switch was responsible for which area.
She shifted from one foot to the other. Hopefully, they’d soon move on to something else and she’d have the chance to make a subtle move on Eduardo, the emphasis being on subtle – Italian men liked to feel that they were the ones who were calling the shots. That had been one of the first things she’d learnt in Lake Garda.
She sneaked a glance at Eduardo and wondered if she could ever fancy him.
A lock of jet black hair had fallen over his forehead and
his dark eyes were blazing with enthusiasm. He had amazingly long lashes for a man. They were so long that they were actually casting shadows on his high cheekbones. Without doubt he was gorgeous, the sort of gorgeous that Rachel and Jess went for in a big way.
And as for his body … Her eyes ran down the length of his frame. Although slighter in build than Tom and more graceful, he looked quite strong.
Her gaze returned to his face. Yes, he was definitely a dish – a sleek, beautiful dish – but he wasn’t the dish of her choice. He might be charming, but he just wasn’t her type.
She knew she was going to like him, though, and it was going to be fun flirting with him, provided that she could stop herself from laughing every time he went into his Latin lover routine. What’s more, he was bound to have got kissing down to a fine art – a bonus if she ever had to go that far to be convincing. As for bed, well, she was sure he’d be brilliant at that – there’d be no rolling on, and rolling off three snorting minutes later – but she wasn’t going to be checking that out.
‘Evie!’ Tom called.
She jumped, and turned towards him. He was standing next to Eduardo, who had his finger on one of the wall switches, waiting for their full attention. When he was sure that he had it, he flicked the switch and looked up. They followed his gaze. Through the clear glass that formed half of the high ceiling, they saw the illuminated tower rising up at the back of the roof, seeming to look down at them.
Tom gave a sigh of deep satisfaction. ‘This is something we’ve got to see at night at least once before we go back to England, Evie. That’s for sure.’
The two of them alone in the house at the dead of night, a time when souls were bared and secrets tumbled out.
‘It certainly is,’ she said fervently.
The demonstration over, Eduardo switched off the light and led them out through the arched glass doors on to a vine-covered loggia that ran along two sides of the house.
An expanse of grass stretched from the loggia to a green slope covered with lavender bushes and rosemary, whose musky aroma filled the air. On either side of the slope, paved stone steps led down to a large infinity pool. Beyond the pool, sloping groves of olive trees were set against a backdrop of shadowy distant hills. On one of the dark green hills far away to the right, the town of Todi glistened in the late morning sunlight.
‘Bloody hell, what a view!’ she exclaimed.
‘It is, isn’t it? Will you tell Eduardo that I’m very pleased with everything he’s done?’
She did, and Eduardo bowed low in Tom’s direction.
‘Aha,’ Tom said, moving closer to Evie as Eduardo bent to examine the white roses growing around one of the stone pillars. ‘You’re not the only one to get the continental treatment. It’s funny, though – I don’t remember Eduardo being quite so Italian before, but then I guess my translator wasn’t as eye-catching before.’
Eye-catching!
Eye-catching was good, very good. He must be feeling even more relaxed with her than he’d been at breakfast to make a personal comment like that. Tongues loosened when people relaxed. Thank God she’d had the nerve to take that gamble the night before. Who dares wins, and all that.
She watched Tom as he reached up and pushed a vine tendril away from one of the bunches of tiny green grapes hanging from the top of the loggia. The sun shone brightly through the gaps between the leaves, bathing his face in dappled light. He really is a knockout, she thought, and her heart gave a sudden lurch.
His hand still on the tendril, he turned slightly and grinned down at her.
‘You could make wine,’ she said quickly. ‘Château Hadleigh has a good ring to it.’
The corners of his eyes crinkled when he smiled, she noticed.
She beamed back up at him. Yes, she’d get her story – she had to – but she’d find a way of doing it that didn’t hurt him.
‘Time’s moving on, Evie,’ he said, abandoning his attempt at redirecting the vine. ‘We’ll have to get going or the shops will have closed for lunch. Can you ask Eduardo what we’re doing about the furniture?’
After a short discussion with Eduardo, she turned back to Tom. ‘He’s got to get back to Todi now, so he suggests that we – you and me, that is – go and order the beds and bedside tables from a place just outside Massa Piccola this afternoon, and then come back here, decide what other furniture we need and measure up. He’ll collect us from Il Poggio tomorrow morning and take us to one of the furniture co-operatives in Città di Castello. He said you’ll get just about everything you want there.’
‘Does he have to come with us tomorrow?’
‘Oh, yes, definitely,’ she said. Spending time with Eduardo was an absolute must if she was going to make any headway with him. ‘They know him there and he’ll make sure that you get a good price for what you want. And you said yourself he’s artistic, so it’s worth having his advice. He’s sorry about having to go now, but he’s leaving us the keys. Is that OK?’
‘That sounds fine to me.’
She turned to Eduardo. ‘Tutto va bene, Eduardo. Allora, ciao.’
Eduardo inclined his head towards Tom, then turned back to Evie and took her hand in his.
God, not more fucking gallantry, she thought. She was about to snatch her hand away when she suddenly stopped herself. What on earth was she thinking of? Here was A Golden Opportunity to send a come-hither signal to Eduardo ahead of a day that they were going to be spending with him, and she’d been about to blow it. Memo to self – keep your focus on the all important task at hand.
She forced herself to stand very still as he lightly ran the palm of his hand along the length of her fingers, then bent low over her hand and pressed his lips against her skin for the second time that morning. Straightening up, he gazed intensely into her face, his dark eyes smouldering into hers.
‘A domani, Eduardo,’ she said. Not seductive enough for someone trying to show they were gagging for their meeting the following day, she decided. She lowered her voice until it seemed to come out of her sandals. ‘A domani.’ He bowed again at her.
She absolutely must not start laughing.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Tom was leaning against one of the pillars, staring at them, his expression thoughtful. She wondered what he was thinking about. No, she wasn’t – she was focusing on Eduardo. She smiled fixedly at the top of Eduardo’s glossy head, which was still bent low in a deep bow.
Eduardo rose to his full height and caught the tail end of her smile. His eyes shone. ‘Ciao per il momento, Evie. Si, a domani.’
Turning away from her with an expression of deep reluctance on his face, he gave a slight wave in Tom’s direction and made his way back to his convertible. She gazed fixedly at him until he’d got into his car, driven through the iron gates and turned left down the mountain road. When he was completely out of sight, she wandered over to the top of the grassy slope and stared ahead of her, her eyes on the view, but her mind elsewhere.
She hoped she hadn’t made a mistake in pressing for Eduardo to come to Città with them. By doing that, she’d missed out on the chance to be alone with Tom all day. Having Eduardo when they went to the furniture co-operative was clearly the right thing to do, whatever her motives, but it wasn’t going to make for an easy day. If she was going to keep both men happy, she would need all of her wits about her.
But that was tomorrow. They still had the rest of today ahead of them, and it would be just her and Tom. Just the two of them alone. She turned round and went over to him.
‘What’s next?’ she asked brightly.
Chapter Six
Getting warmer …
Evie and Eduardo. Tom lounged against one of the pillars and watched them together, Eduardo’s dark head bent over Evie’s hand as he took his never-ending leave of her, and Evie clearly loving every nauseous, sick-making minute of it.
He shouldn’t really be surprised that Eduardo was bowing and scraping in that ludicrous manner – she had a quirky sor
t of appeal: she wasn’t beautiful, but she had a lively face and her hair was a wonderful colour, even if it never stayed exactly where she put it – but personally, she wasn’t his type. She didn’t have the sleek, sophisticated look that he went for, but he could see that a lot of other men might find her attractive, and Eduardo was obviously one of them – he was acting like a rampant dog on heat.
No, as far as he was concerned, he went out of the way to avoid women like Evie; he only dated women who were emotionally uninvolving. He had absolutely no intention of losing his senses over anyone, not now, and not for many years to come, if at all.
Instinct developed over years of studying the people who’d come to court for one reason or another told him that girls like Evie could be a threat to his emotional stability. Girls like that, with an indefinable spark about them, could get under your skin before you knew it, and the way to guard against that was to give them wide berth. He had to do so for his own protection.
Time and time again, his barrister friends who specialised in divorce law would tell him about their clients, many of whom were women out to get what they could from husbands who were seen by their wives as the male equivalent of a milk cow. He’d listened hard and learnt his lesson well. It was all too easy for a naïve, gullible man to succumb in all innocence to the wily charms of a manipulative woman, marry her, and then, in the blink of an eye, find himself forced to accept a divorce settlement that screwed every last penny out of him.
Well, he wasn’t naïve – far from it, thanks to his friends – and he wasn’t gullible. He had no intention of being cheated out of the fruits of years of hard work by a woman’s all-consuming greed, and the best way to protect himself from such a fate – in fact, the only way – was to avoid dating any woman who had the potential to draw him in emotionally. Maybe one day he would see things differently, but if so, that day was still a long way off, and until that day came, if ever it came, the Evies of this world were strictly a no-go area.