The Italian Matchmaker(86)

‘Sure.’

‘It’s about the Sunday Times piece. Rosa suggested to Fiyona that two men killed the Marchese. As far as anyone knows, it was just Valentina’s brother, Falco. Wouldn’t it be fun to discover that he had an accomplice? That would really give the article some spice!’

‘Rosa will say anything! She’s so melodramatic.’

‘Cosima will know. Now you’re intimate with her, you can find out. And darling, hurry up and catch the intruder. You’re as frustrating as the police! I’m getting sick with impatience and worry. It’s my folly. My pride and joy, and I don’t dare go near it!’

Luca didn’t say anything. He had no intention of doing either.

As Luca picked up his telephone, it rang. ‘Cosima, I was just about to call you!’ he said. ‘How are you this morning?’

‘Rosa knows. She knows about you and she knows about the diamonds.’

‘Slow down, Cosi. There’s nothing to worry about. You sound like she’s caught you robbing a bank!’

‘I though she was going to explode!’

‘Look, my love, she’s married, you’re not. We’re two single people who have found each other. There’s nothing wrong with that. If Rosa’s a little jealous, it’s her problem.’

‘I think she was up at the folly last night.’

‘You do?’

‘She said she already knew we were together because she saw us.’

‘So, now we’ve found the intruder,’ he said cheerfully.

‘Intruder?’

‘Long story. I’ll tell you over dinner.’

‘I can’t imagine what she does up there in the middle of the night.’

‘She’s obsessed with Valentina. She thinks she is Valentina,’ Luca replied. ‘Maybe she lies there and dreams of the adventures she’ll never live.’

‘She’s jealous because she sees the parallels between me and Valentina. Falling in love with an Englishman, being given beautiful diamonds.’

‘Let’s hope we enjoy a happier ending,’ said Luca wryly. ‘By the way, my father found your earring on the carpet.’

‘Ah, I wondered where it went.’

‘Well, don’t wear the other one or my mother will notice and string you up. I’ll come to the trattoria for lunch. Now our relationship is in the open I can shout about it. I want to show you off, Cosi!’ She made to interrupt him with protests. ‘I’m coming whether you like it or not. I’m glad we’re no longer a secret. We’re both too old to play these childish games.’

‘Perhaps,’ Cosima interrupted. ‘But Rosa is not.’

Nanni and Fiyona came back from their walk looking flushed. Romina took one look at her brother and saw that his inertia had been whipped away to reveal a more confident man. She dropped her gaze to Fiyona. There was nothing new about the slouchy way she held herself or about her general grubbiness, but she seemed quite pleased with herself.

‘Madonna!’ Romina muttered under her breath. ‘The girl’s a tart!’

‘That was lovely,’ said Fiyona, flopping into a chair. ‘Nothing beats the sea.’

‘How was it for you?’ Romina asked her brother.

He glanced at her guiltily. ‘Good. I’m going to change for lunch. It is too hot for a man of my size.’

‘Didn’t the sea cool you down?’ she enquired sarcastically.

‘One would have thought so. But no, the climb up has made me hot again.’

He disappeared before she could interrogate him further. Once in his bedroom he permitted himself a broad, uninhibited smile. The last time he had had sex, over twenty years ago, had been a humiliating disaster. He still cringed. He wished the girl concerned dead so that the knowledge of his embarrassment had died with her. Since then he had avoided sex at all costs. But Fiyona had stirred something buried, and Lazarus had risen. He couldn’t put his finger on what it was about her that attracted him. Her casual regard for sex, perhaps, and her no-fuss approach. She had wanted him and taken him without asking; and he had satisfied her. He barely recognised the man staring back at him from the mirror. As he undressed, he dared to wonder whether she’d be willing to do it again.

Luca drove into town and parked the car in the square. As he got out he spotted Francesco playing around a group of old widows sitting on a bench beneath a palm tree. He was blowing in their faces and laughing when they looked around in confusion. Luca shook his head at the boy’s mischievous antics. His mother’s happiness had clearly made him happy too, for his smile was broad and carefree. The boy sensed his presence and stopped blowing to look at him, then pointed to the church.