One Summer in Italy…

CHAPTER SIX

‘I HEARD enough,’ said Matteo, coming out of the shadows.

‘I was afraid you’d appear too soon, and spoil it.’

‘I wouldn’t have spoilt it for the world. How long did you know I was there?’

‘Only near the end, but it would have been the same whether you were there or not.’

‘I thought it was for my benefit.’

‘Some of it.’ She added with relish, ‘But most of it was for mine.’

In the darkness she couldn’t see the curious look he gave her, but she didn’t need to. She sensed it with every inch of her body and it filled her with satisfaction.

‘What are you going to do now?’ she asked, apparently casually.

‘I ought to alert the household to pick him up at the gate-or perhaps even the police-’

‘No,’ she said quickly. ‘Let him go.’

‘Mio dio!’ he said angrily. ‘Do you still have a soft heart for him, after the way he betrayed you? Are you mad?’

‘A soft heart?’ she demanded, outraged. ‘You saw what I did.’

‘Yes, I’ve never seen a woman strike a man so hard, with such passion-’

‘With such anger.’

‘Are they very different? Or are they two sides of the same coin? He had only to hint that you might look at another man, and you were ready to kill him.’

But the ‘other man’ was Matteo himself. Now she remembered more details of that conversation and she felt herself growing warm all over, as though her whole body was blushing. If he should think she was exerting herself to attract him she would die of shame.

To cool down she went to the monument and plunged her hands into the water, laving it over her face, discovering that once more her heart was pounding with a mysterious excitement that had nothing to do with Bruno.

‘I was ready to kill Bruno anyway,’ she said, forcing herself to speak sharply. ‘I’m not pining for him.’

‘I think you are, or you’d see yourself as you might have been, locked up, behind bars. And then you’d want to see him in the same place. Don’t yearn for an illusion, Holly. It’s a weakness you can’t afford. Get free of him now.’

‘And you think I’ll do it like that? I mean to get free, but it’s vital that you let me do it my own way.’

‘By letting him escape?’

‘The way I see it, he’ll never escape. You said he didn’t know the miniature had been found.’

‘Yes, I heard you tell him where it was…’ he said slowly as understanding dawned. ‘He’ll go there…be caught red-handed in the church, seeking something that he’ll never find because the police already have it.’

‘If you think you should alert the police, you’ll do so,’ she observed. ‘Personally I should prefer to think of him just searching-searching-’

‘Fruitlessly,’ he murmured. ‘He could be there forever.’

‘That’s what I thought.’

He stood before her and regarded her in the silver light. She met his gaze defiantly.

‘Maria vergine!’ he said with whispered admiration, ‘but you’re a cool one. So you too carry a stiletto.’

‘Not a bludgeon?’

His mouth twisted in irony. ‘I expect it’ll feel like one to him, but you wielded your knife with alarming skill. I’m sure you’re familiar with the term vendetta.’

Holly nodded. ‘Vengeance. Yes, I know what vendetta is. At least, I thought I knew until tonight.’

‘But now you’ve discovered it for yourself,’ he agreed. ‘And the reality is sweet, isn’t it?’

‘Oh, yes,’ she murmured, nodding. ‘It’s very sweet.’

‘Not just trading blow for blow,’ Matteo said, ‘but bringing down disaster on your enemy’s head, so that he knows he has more to fear from you than you from him. That is true vendetta, and I never saw a more cruelly effective example of it than tonight. My congratulations, Holly. I think you must have some Italian blood in you.’

‘Or maybe you’ve just misjudged the English,’ she mused.

‘That too is possible. Tell me, did you have no compunction about the fate you were preparing for him?’

‘None,’ she said harshly. ‘None at all. True, there was one moment when I wavered slightly-’

‘When he kissed you?’

She shook her head. ‘You over-estimate the power of a man’s embrace, signore.’

He gave a sudden grin. In that strange, cold light it had a wolfish look.

‘As do all men, so I’ve been told. We all believe that we have only to smile, to utter words of love, and the woman falls under our spell. The truth, of course, is that she despises us.’

‘It was his kiss that showed me the truth,’ she explained. ‘The magic was gone, and I could see the real man quite clearly.’

‘And then-?’

‘And then-’ she said slowly, ‘ven-de-tta.’

‘I will hope and pray never to incur your wrath,’ he said with grim satisfaction.

‘No need to hope. I’m in your debt.’

Together they walked back to the house, moving at a leisurely pace, like conspirators who’d brought off a successful coup and knew they could be at ease together.

In his study he poured her a glass of wine, and held it up in salute.

‘Magnifico,’ he said.

Holly laughed and clinked glasses with him, shaking her head as if in disbelief.

‘What is it?’ he asked, and she had the satisfaction of knowing that she’d baffled him, and it made him uneasy. ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’

‘I’m trying to understand what I’ve just learned about you.’

That bothered him, she was glad to see.

‘What-have you learned about me?’

‘I’ve just done something callous, unfeeling; something that nobody with a woman’s heart could do. Only a short time ago I loved that man, but tonight I revenged myself and tossed him into outer darkness. And I enjoyed every moment of it.’

‘I’m beginning to realise that.’

‘And you think better of me. Don’t try to deny it.’

‘I don’t want to deny it. Tonight you did several years’ growing up in one hour. I congratulate you. And you weren’t heartless. You defended yourself with sharp weapons, and he deserved his punishment.

‘Not that it’s a very terrible punishment. After a while he’ll give up searching and go away. He won’t have gained but he won’t have lost much either, and he’ll get off lightly. Your idea of outer darkness is really quite tame. But you’re a beginner. In time you’ll learn how to do it properly. But don’t ruin it now by blaming yourself. Would it be better to shrink into a corner and wail, “Poor little me!”’

‘No way,’ she said with a shudder. ‘It’s just that I’m not used to this “eye for an eye” business.’

‘Don’t worry. You’ve made an impressive start.’

‘How did you come to be there at that moment?’

As soon as the words were out she recalled, too late, that he visited his wife’s tomb every night.

‘It was pure chance,’ he said briefly. ‘I was taking the air. I’m glad it happened. Your conversation with your enemy was most illuminating. Don’t waste any tears on him, or anyone. It’s best if you get used to it. You’ll be safer that way.’

‘Don’t you ever forgive your enemies?’

‘Never,’ he said simply. ‘My enemy is my enemy for life. Basta! Once I know that, I would have no compunction about what I did.’

‘But that’s dangerous. What about the innocent who get caught in the crossfire?’

It was a remark at random, but it produced an astonishing effect on him. He backed off as though she’d struck him and his face grew visibly paler.

‘Mio dio,’ he whispered softly. ‘You know where to aim your stiletto. Do your eyes see every secret I have?’

‘No,’ she said, puzzled. ‘I can’t see your secrets. I’m not trying to pry. I only meant that you can’t simply give vengeance a free rein. It would be too cruel.’

‘This from a woman who’s just sent her lover out in the wilderness on a fruitless search.’

‘He deserved it. But I’d back off before hurting someone else.’

‘Then you’re different from most women who don’t care who they hurt.’

He saw her regarding him with a frown, and said quickly,

‘Perhaps it’s time to go to bed. I think we’ve both had enough for one evening.’

‘Yes. Goodnight.’

It was a relief to be alone. As she climbed the stairs, hearing her own footsteps echoing on the marble floor, she knew that something had happened tonight, something she needed time to think about.

Matteo’s voice was echoing in her head.

‘We all believe that we have only to smile, to utter words of love, and the woman falls under our spell. The truth, of course, is that she despises us.’

In a blaze of illumination, she realised whom he had been speaking of.

It was his dead wife.

Holly had soon discovered that Liza was good at drawing, and the two of them spent happy times together with pencils and sketchbook. It was a pleasure to teach a child who learned so quickly, but sometimes she stepped back and gave Liza her own space, interested to see what she would produce. The results were revealing.

Liza had a gift for figures, and after a while Holly realised that Liza was producing the same picture over and over. It showed a happy family consisting of a mother, a father and a little girl. Sometimes the mother and child were shown together, sometimes the father and child. But she never drew the parents alone together.

Of course, she wouldn’t know how they looked when she wasn’t there, Holly reasoned. But still, this reticence struck her as strange. When she ventured to mention it Liza didn’t reply but her face held a withdrawn look, such as Holly sometimes saw on her father’s.

There were other things to puzzle her. Although sometimes Matteo almost seemed to avoid his daughter, she was often aware of him walking in the garden, not approaching them, but watching them from a distance. Once she tried to beckon him forward, hurrying through the trees to where she thought he was standing, but she was only in time to see him disappearing in the distance.

The hardest thing of all was that, on her return, Liza asked eagerly, ‘Was that Poppa?’

‘No, there was nobody there,’ she said quickly, unable to tell Liza that he had avoided them.

One morning a parcel arrived for her. Puzzled and intrigued, she pulled it open, and stared.

It was the black cocktail dress that had tempted her before she forced herself to be sensible. And beneath it was the dark crimson dress-‘the second part of your order’ as a paper proclaimed.

She hadn’t asked for them, she thought wildly. Then how…?

Then she remembered Matteo walking behind her at the crucial moment. He had seen everything and added them to the order later.

Just then he came in and glanced at what she was doing.

‘I’m glad they’ve arrived,’ he said.

‘You shouldn’t have ordered these without telling me,’ she reproved him, but not very seriously.

‘You’re free to send them back.’

‘Well-I may do that,’ she said, knowing that she didn’t sound very convinced.

‘I’m giving a dinner party tomorrow evening. My friends are fond of Liza, so I’d like you to bring her down. I’ll send a message when I’m ready.’

At that moment Liza put her head around the door.

‘There you are,’ she said. ‘I’ve got the book. You promised to read it to me.’ To her father she explained, ‘It’s in English. Holly reads it to me in English, but she stops when it gets exciting, so I have to read some myself to find out what happens next.’

To Holly’s surprise a wintry look suddenly crossed his face.

‘Yes, that’s an excellent way to learn a language,’ he murmured. ‘I must be going. Don’t forget what I said about tomorrow.’

‘We’re going downstairs to meet your Poppa’s guests,’ Holly explained in response to Liza’s curious look.

Liza made a sound of delight and tried to seize her father’s arm, but he removed himself at once.

‘I must get to work,’ he said at once.

‘Oh, please, Poppa, just a few minutes.’

‘I’m busy, piccina,’ he said gruffly. ‘No, let me go.’

Holly moved the child gently away, smiling to distract her from her father’s evident eagerness to escape. He took endless trouble for her, yet again and again Holly sensed him seeking to put a distance between them.

‘Is it the procession today, Poppa?’ Liza asked.

‘No, tomorrow. That’s why some of them will be joining me for dinner, as they do every year. And you will meet them, piccina, so you must be on your best behaviour.’

‘Yes, Poppa.’

Liza spoke docilely, but it was as though a cloud had fallen over her. Holly was angry with him. All his child wanted was a little of his attention, and the best he could manage was a command to be on her best behaviour.

At that moment she could gladly have throttled him.

What hurt even more was that when she looked at Liza the child had assumed a bright smile, heartbreaking in its refusal to admit defeat.

‘What’s this procession?’ Holly asked.

Liza’s brow furrowed as she tried to explain.

‘It’s all about lawyers-and courts-and-and the judges walk in a procession from the town hall to-well, anyway, they have a procession. We can watch it on television.’

That was all she knew, and Holly had to curb her impatience until next morning. It was her first sight of Matteo in his official black robes, with the long gold tassels on the shoulder.

‘It’s only judges who have gold tassels,’ Liza said. ‘Ordinary lawyers have silver.’

The way she said ‘ordinary lawyers’ told volumes about her feelings for her father. She might only be a child, but her eyes shone with pride and admiration as she watched him walk with the other judges, putting them all to shame with his height and good looks.

‘That’s Judge Lionello,’ Liza said, pointing to the plump, smiling man beside her father. He looked about sixty, with sharp eyes and gleaming silver hair.

‘He’s ever so nice,’ she continued. ‘Poppa calls him his mentor, but I don’t know what that is.’

‘A mentor is someone who tells you how to do things.’

‘Nobody tells Poppa how to do things,’ Liza said wisely. ‘He won’t allow it.’

‘I can imagine.’

The procession came to a brief halt, and the camera lingered on Matteo. Holly realised that he was younger than the other judges, and somehow more sharply defined, as though nature had designed him to stand out from any crowd. In the set of his head there was a pride that would always have given him authority, no matter where or when.

His only flaw, she decided, was his looks. He was far too handsome to be a judge. It was a positive incitement to disrespect the law.

As she watched, he turned to Judge Lionello at his side, and gave him a smile that made Holly catch her breath. It was a smile such as she had never seen from him before-warm, affectionate, generous. For a moment all the barriers he normally kept tightly in place were abandoned, revealing the attractive man underneath.

That’s what he’s really like, she thought. But he keeps it a secret because he doesn’t trust anyone, except another judge.

However, along with her reluctant admiration came a sense of antagonism that she couldn’t understand. She owed him everything, starting with her safety and reaching as far as the soft garments that touched her body intimately. And yet-and yet the hostility was there, puzzling, confusing, but undeniable.

Matteo’s smile faded as the procession moved off again. But she had seen something that she would not forget.

That evening she and Liza watched together from an upper window as the long black limousines arrived for the dinner. There was a small sprinkling of women but this was a largely male gathering.

Tonight Liza was allowed out of the wheelchair, and was full of excitement, dressed in a pretty blue dress that came down to her feet to hide her damaged leg.

For her own garments Holly had resisted the cocktail dresses and chosen a pair of smart dark blue trousers and a white silk top. Her hair had been washed and brushed until it shone, and when Matteo sent for them to join the party she hoped she looked a suitable combination of elegance and restraint.

He introduced her as a family connection of his wife, which produced a stream of cordial acknowledgements. Everyone greeted Liza with delight, and it was clear that she was a general favourite, at home in this company. After the first few minutes of keeping a wary eye on her Holly was able to relax.

‘Please, allow me to get you a glass of wine,’ said one very good-looking young man. ‘And then we will talk in English, because I am most anxious to improve my foreign languages, as a good lawyer must.’

Since his English was already perfect this was obviously the advance of a practised flirt. But as he was genuinely charming she laughed and accepted a glass of wine.

‘My name is Tomaso Bandini,’ he said with a little bow. ‘And I think we are going to be great friends.’

‘Not if you get me into trouble with my employer,’ she pointed out. ‘I’m here to look after Liza.’

‘But Liza is enjoying having a fuss made of her by Signor and Signora Lionello. So you are free to enjoy me making a fuss of you.’

He didn’t get the chance. Several of the other men were regarding Holly with admiration. It took all her tact to escape politely, and she might not have managed it if Matteo had not come to her rescue, easing her away from the crowd.

‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘I don’t quite know what happened there-’

‘I think I can make a moderately successful guess at what happened,’ he said drily. ‘I think Liza should go to bed now.’

The goodnights took some time, since everyone wanted another word with Liza, and several of the men insisted on a final goodbye with Holly.

‘Behave yourself, Tomaso,’ Matteo ordered with grim good humour.

‘I was only-’

‘I know what you were only. Now, let go of Holly’s hand. She may have some other use for it.’

‘She has indeed,’ Judge Lionello announced, seizing her hand in his turn and kissing it with such respect that she could not object.

‘You should be ashamed at your age,’ Matteo told him.

‘I am. Deeply ashamed. Signorina Holly, you must visit the court and let me show you around. Shall we say-?’

‘Shall we say that it’s time for my daughter to go to bed?’ Matteo asked.

Judge Lionello sighed and relinquished his prize. But he winked at her first. She backed off quickly, conscious of his wife’s eyes on her, and feeling sorry for the older woman.

Upstairs Berta had just arrived back after a day spent choosing her trousseau, and helped Holly undress the child. As she snuggled down, Liza was trying to stay awake, but her eyes were closing despite herself.

‘It was a lovely party,’ she whispered.

‘Yes, wasn’t it?’

‘Did you have a good time, Holly?’

‘I had a wonderful time. Go to sleep now.’

She dropped a kiss on Liza’s forehead, then watched with pleasure as the child snuggled down, asleep. Then she went to the window and looked down, smiling as she remembered Tomaso and his silly jokes. She was in no danger of falling for him, but he was diverting company.

‘Bella Holly.’

The voice floated up to her from below. Looking down she saw Tomaso standing there, raising his glass to her.

‘La mia piu bella Holly,’ he sighed.

‘I am not your Holly,’ she told him, smiling.

‘No, you are no man’s. You stay up there, remote, out of reach like the sun and the moon, while below your slave yearns for you.’

‘Behave yourself,’ she chuckled.

‘Ah, you cut me to the heart. My passion is rejected.’

‘Your passion comes out of that wine glass.’

His response to this was to smite his forehead and wail in abandon. The sound brought other guests out to discover what was going on. When they saw Holly the men also saluted her with their glasses.

‘You abandoned us,’ one of them called out.

‘We are desolate,’ cried another.

Matteo appeared from the house, glancing up, eye-brows raised.

‘Has Berta returned yet?’ he called.

‘Yes, she’s here with Holly.’

‘Then come down and join us.’ When she hesitated he added, ‘A good host always fulfils his guests’ wishes. Please come down now.’

‘Go on,’ Berta urged. ‘I’ll stay here with Liza.’

Laughing, she went downstairs. Matteo met her at the door to the garden and she said reassuringly, ‘I’ll only stay for a moment.’

‘You’ll stay as long as we all want you,’ he said, grinning.

‘But aren’t you going to discuss serious legal business?’

‘Not after the second bottle, I promise you. I will only say, beware of Tomaso, who is young and enthusiastic about too many things at once.’

‘That’s rather what I thought.’

‘And beware my old friend Andrea Lionello, who ought to have learned better long ago. But most of all, beware Signora Lionello, who has murder in her heart.’

‘Well, she has all my sympathy, being married to that old rip.’

‘Don’t let her suspect your pity, whatever you do. That really would make her take out her stiletto.’

‘Thank you for the warning.’

Holly was the hit of the party. By accepting only one glass of wine, and sticking to that, she managed to stay clear-headed enough to see the curious glances at Matteo from people who wondered what he was really up to. But after a while she forgot him in the heady pleasure of being a social success for the first time in her life.

There was no more to it than that, since she didn’t take any of this seriously. It was merely an extension of the new woman she was becoming. The provocative underwear, her decisive encounter with Bruno, the heady discovery that she was strong enough to dismiss him…all these were steps along the path that led to this moment. For the first time men sighed over her and kissed her hands while their eyes swore eternal, if untruthful, vows. It had never happened before and she was going to enjoy making up for lost time.

She gracefully declined to flirt with Lionello. He was charming but she didn’t rate charm as highly as she once had, and she suspected that his wife had much to put up with. Signora Lionello ostentatiously ignored her.

‘No, I won’t drink any more,’ she said at last, laughing but firm. ‘I don’t trust a word from any of you.’

This produced cheers. Behind her somebody asked, ‘I wonder who you distrust the most.’

With no idea who had spoken, she flirtatiously retorted, ‘Why, you, of course,’ turning with a teasing smile, which faded when she saw who it was.

‘I’ve always known that you didn’t trust me,’ Matteo observed, amused.

‘Well, as long as it’s mutual,’ she said lightly, recovering herself.

‘I promise you it is,’ he returned in the same tone. ‘Although I recall that we did once form a brief alliance-’

‘Of course.’ She laughed into his face. ‘My enemy’s enemy is my friend. But when my enemy is off the scene-’

‘Then all things must be reconsidered,’ he agreed. ‘I would only warn you against being too sure that your enemy really is off the scene. Some of them have an infernal habit of reappearing.’

‘You think-?’

‘I think only that a little caution is called for. And if the moment should come,’ he shrugged, ‘I shall still be here for you to make use of me.’

He inclined his head in a brief bow and moved away, leaving her to reflect on his strange choice of words.

Holly lingered a while longer, but was clever enough to leave soon, to a chorus of disappointment.

‘There is no need for you to go,’ Matteo said quietly. ‘You are welcome to remain if you wish.’

‘Thank you, but I choose to leave. I really don’t belong here.’

‘Surely that is for me to say?’

‘You don’t need to say it. We both know it’s true. Goodnight, signore.’