(2012) Evie Undercover

by Liz Harris

  ‘My poor Evie, you look so sad. I know that this is because you and Tom are going home, but I’m sure you’ll be back in Italy before too long. And we will be meeting many times before that. Indeed, sooner than you think. You and Tom are not the only ones who are flying to London very soon – I shall be going on Tuesday.’ Scarlet lips beamed at Evie.

  Ohhhh, shit!

  She’d have enough to do in London in the following couple of weeks, what with Tom and Pure Dirt to deal with, without having to think about Gabriela, too. Gabriela was OK, but she was quite intense. She’d have to find a way of politely keeping her at a distance if she and Tom were going to have a chance to see how they got on in London.

  ‘How come you’re going so soon? I thought you weren’t going for at least another week.’

  ‘I start my work in a week’s time. By flying out on Tuesday, I will have some days to settle in before that time. I’m hoping that we will meet next week in London.’

  ‘Who’s going to be meeting who next week in London?’ Tom asked, coming up to them. ‘Sorry to keep you waiting, Evie. I had a call from Chambers and I couldn’t not take it.’

  ‘I’m hoping that I will be meeting Evie.’ Gabriela’s smile all but reached from ear to ear. ‘I am flying to London on Tuesday, and I have just a few days before I must start work. I’m hoping that Evie will come with me in those days to help me to get some things I need.’

  ‘I really wish I could, Gabriela, but I’m working for Tom for the next two weeks so I’m afraid it won’t be possible.’ Evie’s smile was almost as wide as Gabriela’s.

  ‘Oh, that is such a shame. I think you have taste and could help me. She does have such good taste, does she not, Tom?’

  Tom’s gaze ran down Evie’s purple and lime green striped sundress, then back up to the dark blue barrette on top of her head. ‘Pass,’ he said with a wry smile.

  ‘Perhaps, if you are not too tired, we could meet at the end of one of the days to shop a little, Evie.’

  Which bit of ‘no’ didn’t Gabriela get? Although come to think of it, she hadn’t actually said the word ‘no’. She opened her mouth.

  ‘Oh, I think we can do better than that, Gabriela. You can work at the house on Monday and Tuesday, Evie, but for the rest of the week, your job will be to help Gabriela to find what she needs and to settle in. Perhaps you’d come back to the house on Friday afternoon, though, in case there are any loose ends that need tying up before the weekend, but Wednesday and Thursday are yours to spend with Gabriela. There now, you’ve got your helper, Gabriela.’

  ‘That is very kind of you, Tom.’ Gabriela was positively purring. Evie struggled to hide her annoyance.

  ‘Not at all, Gabriela,’ Tom said cheerfully. ‘It’s the least I can do after everything Eduardo has done to help me. He’s gone way beyond the requirements of the job, and the result is one stunning home. No, you and Evie go off and have some fun – perhaps take in some places of interest between the shopping, maybe even see a show.’ He glanced across the terrace towards the car park. ‘Speaking of Eduardo …’

  Evie and Gabriela turned at the same moment and saw Eduardo hurrying towards them from the parking area on the far side of the terrace.

  ‘Buon giorno!’ he cried as he reached them, his hands outstretched, his face wreathed in smiles.

  ‘I must settle the bill,’ Tom said quickly, turning to leave. ‘Then we’ll go. I’m off to Reception. I won’t be long.’

  There was a rustle of silk as Gabriela moved swiftly to Tom’s side and started walking alongside him towards the hotel entrance. ‘I’ll come with you, Tom,’ Evie heard her say. ‘I have written down my London address for you, but I’d like to give you my mobile number.’

  ‘I bet you would,’ Evie thought, as she turned back to Eduardo. He put his hands on her shoulders, looked into her face for a long moment, then leaned forward and lightly kissed her on both cheeks. The musky scent of his cologne embraced her. She stepped back and smiled brightly. It was very kind of him and Gabriela to come and see them off, she told him, especially as it was still very early in the day.

  Oh, no, he exclaimed. After such a wonderful week, he couldn’t let them go without saying goodbye in person, and Gabriela felt the same. She was happy to know that she already had friends in London, and he was happy to feel that Tom had become a good friend. He looked forward to seeing him frequently in Italy. And, he added happily, Tom would need an interpreter until he was able to speak Italian or until he, Eduardo, was able to speak English.

  Tom would probably use his regular interpreter in the future, Evie cut in, but Eduardo waved aside her comment with a flourish of his hand. Evie was so much better in the role and so much more beautiful to look at. Tom would never go back to using that other man. His grimace of distaste was accompanied by a gesture of dismissal.

  She glanced across to the reception area, but Tom and Gabriela were hidden behind the other people there, so she turned back to Eduardo and began to thank him for everything he’d done for them during the week. In a graceful gesture, he raised his hand to interrupt her. Profusely apologising for doing so, he said that time was short and there was something he wanted to ask her; he would rather ask her it while she was by herself.

  God, he wasn’t going to propose, was he? She stared at him in horror. That would be so, so embarrassing.

  He gave a little cough. He’d sensed that she and Tom were close, he began hesitantly, but if this closeness did not last – he knew that he was being bold to suggest such a thing, but he was sure that she would understand why he’d said it when he finished what he had to say, and that she would forgive him for speaking in such a way – but if she and Tom drew apart when they were back in England, he would like her to consider returning to Umbria to work for him.

  Her mouth fell open in amazement.

  With his business expanding, he quickly explained, and with many people coming from England and America to buy properties in Italy, he needed to take on someone who was fluent in both English and Italian, who got on well with people, who had an eye for design – he paused for a moment and she thought she saw him wince as he glanced at the purple and lime green stripes in front of him – and who knew something about the property world.

  He would like Evie to be that person.

  He realised that she didn’t know much about the property business, but he could teach her what she needed to know, and he was confident that if they put their talents together, they would be able to make his enterprise one of the most dynamic in the region.

  She stared at him, momentarily stunned by what he was saying. It was a proposal all right – but very different from the one she’d feared.

  ‘Grazie mille,’ she began. She was very flattered by what he was offering, but although she’d loved her year in Lake Garda and her stay in Umbria, and hoped to come back again as often as she could, she couldn’t possibly imagine permanently leaving England and her friends.

  He shrugged his shoulders – England and Italy were not so far away that she couldn’t often visit her friends in England. What was it – just over two hours in the air? That was nothing. He asked of her only to think about it, and to know that even if she turned his proposal down, the offer would always be there in case one day she might want to take it up.

  It was very kind of him, she repeated, but she couldn’t imagine anything happening that could ever make her want to leave London. However, she assured him, she would think about it.

  ‘Prometti,’ he insisted with a smile.

  ‘Prometto,’ she laughed.

  And she need not worry, he added with a sad smile, whatever he felt deep in his heart, he would ask no more of her than that they be friends; very good friends, but no more.

  Then he glanced at the watch on his slender wrist and threw up his hands in horror. He had a property to look at in Deruta and he had to be off. Regretfully, he would have to leave without saying a proper goodbye to Tom. Asking her to give him his best wishes, he too
k his business card from his pocket and gave it to her. Then he gave her a little bow, turned and went back to his car.

  Life’s a bitch, she thought as she watched his convertible glide out of the parking area and turn down the steep hill. If only she could have fallen in love with Eduardo, everything would have been so much easier.

  She turned to look back at the hotel. The crowd of people had moved away and she caught a glimpse of Tom and Gabriela standing in front of the reception desk, talking and laughing together. They were getting on like a fucking house on fire, she thought irritably. Fair enough, Gabriela had turned out to be OK, but she would be even more OK if she stayed put in Italy.

  Tom looked up and caught her eye across the terrace. He nodded to her, said something to Gabriela and they made their way out of the hotel and across to her.

  ‘Where’s Eduardo?’ Tom asked, looking around.

  ‘He couldn’t wait any longer. Something about a property in Deruta that he had to visit.’

  ‘I must have been longer than I realised. I’m sorry about that. We’ll be able to get off in a moment. I see that your bags are already here. They’ll be bringing mine out any minute now.’

  ‘That’s them, isn’t it?’ She pointed to a couple of black leather bags being carried on to the terrace.

  ‘You’re right. You wait here and I’ll go and get the car.’ He turned to Gabriela. ‘There’s not much point in saying goodbye now, Gabriela. I’m sure we’ll meet up in the next couple of weeks. And if we don’t, which I regret is possible – I’ve got a mass of work to do for the case that’s starting shortly – if we don’t, I’ll make sure that we get together as soon as the case is finished. You can count on that. So arrividerci for now!’ He kissed her on both cheeks and started to go across to the parking area.

  ‘My car is in the parcheggio, too. I’ll walk with you,’ Gabriela said quickly. ‘I have your telephone number, Evie, and I shall ring you when I am in London. Ciao per il momento!’ With a little wave at the air beside Evie, she joined Tom.

  A few minutes later, Evie saw Gabriela’s car drive out of the car park, and soon after that, Tom appeared in the four-by-four. He pulled up on the terrace in front of her, jumped out and loaded their bags into the car. Then he went round to the passenger side and opened the door for her. Bowing low, he indicated with a sweeping gesture that she should get in. She giggled.

  ‘You see, I’m catching on to the Italian way of doing things.’ Grinning, he swung the door shut behind her, walked round the back of the car, climbed into the driver’s seat and switched on the engine. Then he threw the car into gear and began to drive slowly out of the hotel precinct.

  ‘It’s a pity that Eduardo had to dash off. I wanted to thank him again for his help this week,’ he remarked as they reached the foot of the slope and turned in the direction of Todi. ‘It’s been a superb week.’ He glanced at Evie. ‘And its success has been down to you, Evie. You’ve been great fun and a bloody good translator.’

  She laughed. ‘OK. What’s the punch line?’

  He sent her a quick smile. ‘For once, there’s no punch line.’

  ‘Well, then, I’ll say that I, too, think it’s been a brilliant week. And, what’s more, I’m returning to England with the offer of a job.’

  ‘A job? What job?’

  ‘Eduardo’s asked me to work for him.’

  ‘The hell he has!’ He looked quickly at her, then his eyes returned to the road and he headed the car for the Rome motorway. ‘Doing what exactly?’

  ‘Doing a bit of this and that, I think. Although he said he’d teach me what I needed to know about the property business, I think the main thing would be to translate for prospective American and English buyers, and he’s just tarted it up a bit.’

  ‘He’s got a nerve, trying to poach someone who’s working for me, don’t you think?’

  ‘But I’m not exactly working for you, am I? I work for the agency. I’ve only got two more weeks with you – Eduardo knows I’m a temp.’

  There was a short pause. ‘Well, what answer did you give him?’

  ‘That I wanted to stay in England, of course. Why would I want to leave my mates?’

  ‘Good answer, Evie.’ He smiled broadly at the road ahead. ‘Very good answer indeed.’

  Chapter Fifteen

  Yes, it’s only just begun …

  Reaching Fiumicino Airport in excellent time, they checked in their luggage and found a sofa in the executive lounge. Tom ordered them each a cappuccino.

  ‘Right,’ he said when their coffees had arrived, ‘tell me about these mates of yours that you don’t want to leave. You share a place with them, I think you said earlier in the week.’

  ‘That’s right. Rachel, Jess and I go back a long way – we were at school together. I certainly wouldn’t want to live in a different country from them. No way.’

  ‘Where did you say you lived?’

  ‘In Camden Town. Not that far from you, in fact – we’re at the bottom of the hill and you’re at the top. It’s a fun place to live. It’s got a great mixture of people and a real buzz to it. And you can’t beat the Camden Lock market, which is very near us. Most weekends we have a trawl around it. You can get some fab things there, like amazing vintage clothes.’

  ‘And are Rachel and Jess also temps?’

  ‘Temps?’

  ‘Yes, temps like you. Do they work for an agency like you do?’

  ‘No. Rachel is a PA for a production designer. Come to think of it, she and Eduardo might get on well together. Perhaps not – she doesn’t know a word of Italian and I can’t see her lasting long in a silent relationship.’

  ‘Most men would describe that as the dream relationship. I can see that it might be viewed differently by a woman, though.’

  She smiled at him across the low coffee table. ‘I’m not going to rise to that. As for Jess, she’s an events’ planner.’

  ‘The three of you sound quite a mix, with Rachel sort of in the world of production design, Jess planning extravaganzas and you the sharpest agency temp that I’ve ever met.’

  ‘Don’t say that word! I inwardly groan every time you say agency. I think we should ban the use of that word for the whole of the next two weeks. More and more I’m hoping that Zizi Westenhall can come up with something.’

  ‘I’ll have a word with her as soon as I’m able. I promise. In the meantime, are you going to let me see you next week?’

  ‘That’s a strange question, unless of course you’re planning to walk in, out and around your house with your eyes shut. If you’re not, you can count on seeing me next week, and hopefully the week after.’

  ‘Not so strange, literal Evie. Much as my eyes might wish to, my work schedule is unlikely to allow me to see you by day, so we must focus on the night, and in fact, only on Saturday night as I’ll be working the other nights.’

  Thank you, thank you, God! He did still want to date her when they were back in London. Bloody fucking brilliant! And since in her head she’d already quit Pure Dirt – as they’d soon find out – she could let rip and have an amazing, guilt-free time with Tom. It didn’t get much better than that. She felt the tension that she hadn’t known she’d felt drain away from her. It was all coming together.

  The sound of Tom’s mobile phone cut into her thoughts.

  He pulled his grey jacket towards him, took his phone from his pocket and flicked it open. ‘Why, Gabriela, this is a surprise. We only spoke a couple of hours ago.’ He leaned back against the sofa, stretched his legs out in front of him and pushed his jacket away from him.

  In the sweeping movement of his arm, she glimpsed his lightly tanned chest through his open-necked shirt. God, he was gorgeous, and he was hers – well, for the time being anyway. Her gaze travelled from button to button, moving slowly down his crisp white shirt to the belt of his charcoal grey trousers, skimming his hips and settling on his thighs, and on the hint of hard muscle beneath the light material. Absolutely gorgeous.

&nbs
p; ‘Fine, Gabriela. Thanks for passing that on. Tell Eduardo to do what he thinks is best. I trust him.’ He was silent for a moment as he listened to the voice at the other end of the line, then he laughed, said goodbye and flicked shut the phone.

  ‘Some problem with the poplar we wanted for the chests of drawers. The co-operative phoned Eduardo about it, and Gabriela was anxious to catch me before we left. You heard me say that Eduardo can sort it out. I suspect she’s a bit of a worrier, Gabriela. I suppose it’ll be quite pleasant to see her in London, though. In a way it’ll be like having a part of Umbria with us in England, don’t you think?’

  No, she didn’t think. And even if it was, she’d much rather that the whole of Umbria stayed in Umbria.

  Before she could come up with a tactful yet honest reply – she was done being a fake – Tom suddenly sat up and stared intently at the information board above her head.

  ‘What’s up?’

  ‘We’ve been asked to go to the boarding gate, that’s what’s up. What perfect timing. They’ve waited for us to finish our coffee and now they’re asking us to board the plane. So, Evie, let’s go home.’

  Slipping on his jacket as he stood up, he held out his hand to her. She took it, and they joined the stream of travellers who were making their way towards the airport train that would take them to the area of their boarding gate. After a short wait to board the plane, they found their seats and settled down. He clicked his seat belt shut, leaned back against the headrest and turned to look at Evie.

  ‘You know that song “We’ve only just begun”? Well, that’s exactly how I feel – we’ve only just begun, you and I. It’s been a marvellous week, and I know we’re going to have a lot more weeks just like it in the future.’ He paused. ‘Well, haven’t you anything to add, then?’

  She laughed. ‘Are you fishing for an ego-massage?’