‘I did not wish to shame you.’
Bella knew Maria meant embarrassed. But Bella felt shamed as well. Because she should have remembered his birthday was due around now. They’d always celebrated it during their summer holiday here. Around three weeks after hers. Sergio was five years older. Which made him thirty-five today.
Bella groaned. ‘Now I feel terrible. I should have remembered.’
‘It is no big deal. Men, they do not care about birthdays once they are all grown up. But perhaps you could go buy him something today and I will make him a cake.’
‘Oh, would you? That would be lovely. And maybe you could cook him his favourite meal.’
‘Can no do. His favourite meal is Roberto’s pizzas.’
‘Then we will order him a couple of Roberto’s pizzas. They deliver, don’t they?’ She recalled Sergio ordering pizzas the first night she was here.
‘Sì.’
‘Wonderful. And whilst I’m in the village buying him a present, I’ll also get some of those decadent pastries he likes. What do you think, Maria?’
‘I think you love Sergio very much.’
Bella sighed heavily. ‘I do, Maria. I really do. But I’m not sure he loves me back.’
‘Oh, pah. Of course he loves you back. Sergio, he has always loved you. Ever since you were children.’
‘What?’ Bella just stared at Maria. ‘What do you mean?’
‘What you mean what I mean? It is clear, is it not?’
‘Not to me.’
Maria shrugged. ‘You are blind, like Sergio. He loves you, and soon he will see that. Then he will ask you to marry him.’
Bella could not have been more astonished. ‘You honestly think so?’
Maria looked offended. ‘I do not tell lies. Only the truth.’
‘Oh, Maria, I do so hope you’re right. I think I will die if he doesn’t love me back.’
Maria rolled her eyes. ‘And they say Italians women are drama queens.’
Bella laughed. ‘Oh, you are funny. Now I guess I’d better go get myself showered and dressed. I have work to do.’
By lunchtime a very happy Bella was back from the village with a lovely gift for Sergio, a not-too-mushy birthday card and far too many pastries. But they’d all looked so delicious she simply hadn’t been able to choose. She found Maria happily humming in the kitchen, the sponge layered cake already cooked but not yet filled and iced.
‘So what present did you buy?’ Maria asked her straight away.
‘A very expensive cologne.’ It was from Paris, of course. And was aptly named Seduction.
‘He will like that. Sergio is very fashionable these days.’
‘He certainly is.’
‘I am about to make some lunch. Would you like some?’
‘Yes, please.’
They ate their ham and tomato rolls out by the pool, washed down with freshly squeezed orange juice. The day was dry and hot, growing hotter by the second. Bella was contemplating spending the afternoon in the pool when her attention was grabbed by a water taxi pulling in at the small pier that jutted out next to their boatshed. A man alighted. A tall, elegantly built man wearing fawn cargo shorts, a bright purple polo and wraparound sunglasses. He had collar-length wavy brown hair, which glinted in the sunshine as he walked with long, confident strides towards them, an overnight bag swinging by his right side.
Bella did not recognise him in the slightest.
‘Maria, do you know who that man is?’
‘Sì. It is the English friend of Sergio. He stay here sometimes. His name is Jeremy. His last name is too long for me to remember.’
‘Good Lord. Jeremy!’ Bella exclaimed just as the man himself was close enough to hear her.
Once he reached the shade of the terrace he swept off his sunglasses and grinned rakishly at her. ‘Good Lord,’ he said, a speculative glint in his sparkling blue eyes. ‘Bella!’
Bella was not surprised that he recognised her. Her face was well known. She also presumed he knew she and Sergio had once been stepbrother and sister. According to Sergio they’d been close friends since their early Oxford days.
‘And what are you doing here, might I ask?’ Jeremy went on in a voice that made a mockery of his pretty-boy image. It was deep and rich and very masculine. ‘Or is that a rude question? Have you and Sergio been conducting a secret affair that he never told me about?’
Bella tried not to blush, but failed.
‘Well, well, well,’ was all he said before pulling out a chair and turning a warm smile towards Maria. ‘Hello, Maria, darling. You’re looking well. How’s that big Italian brute treating you? I mean Carlo, not the birthday boy. Who is where, might I ask? Don’t tell me I’ve come all this way to surprise him and he’s not even home!’
Maria stood up, slightly a-fluster also. Bella could see why Jeremy was such a hit with the ladies. He was a charmer all right. And sinfully good-looking. But not her type at all.
‘Sergio, he has gone to work,’ Maria said coquettishly as she cleared the table. ‘In Milan. But he will be home this evening.’
‘Well, thank God for that.’
‘Would you like something to eat or drink, Mr Jeremy?’ Maria offered. ‘I am brewing some real coffee. We also have lots of pastries.’
‘Sounds good. I’ll eat and drink whatever you put in front of me, Maria. Your food is second to none. And your coffee...’ He kissed the tips of his fingers before flourishing them wide in a very flamboyant gesture. ‘I would come all this way just for some of your coffee.’
Maria gave Bella a droll look that said, See? Some people like real coffee.
Bella sighed, and Maria hurried off, Bella wondering exactly how she was going to explain her presence here at Sergio’s villa. In the end, she decided the truth was a good start, telling him about her attending his father’s funeral last year where Sergio had given her his phone number and said if she ever needed his help, to ring him.
‘I never saw you at his father’s funeral,’ Jeremy said, sounding perplexed.
‘I was in disguise. Wore a dark wig and glasses.’
‘I see,’ he said, nodding. ‘I gather, then, since you’re here, that you ran into some kind of trouble.’
‘Yes. A couple of weeks ago. I was suffering from a case of severe burnout at the time and desperately needed to get away. I remembered Sergio’s offer as well as the wonderful holidays I spent here when our parents were married. So I rang and asked to rent his villa for a holiday.’
‘And this was a couple of weeks ago?’ Jeremy queried, a frown forming on his high forehead.
‘Yes, why?’
‘No particular reason. Just wondering why Sergio didn’t tell me about it. He’s usually not so secretive. But surely he’s not making you pay rent to stay here.’
‘No, no. Of course not. He said that he couldn’t rent the villa to me as he would be here some of the time himself. Instead, he suggested I stay as his guest. I was more than grateful, believe me. Admittedly, he did make me promise not to tell anyone where I was going. He was worried the media might get a hold of where I was and the paparazzi would be hovering over the villa in helicopters to take photos of us together. You know what they’re like.’
‘Not personally. I don’t have your kind of public profile. But Sergio still could have told me. I wouldn’t have told anyone.’ He gave her a long considering look. ‘So how’s the holiday going so far?’
‘Oh...er...it’s been very nice. Very...relaxing.’ What else could she say? If Sergio had wanted Jeremy to know about her staying here he would have told him.
‘You certainly look relaxed,’ Jeremy said, his tone a little dry. ‘Sergio’s obviously been looking after you very well.’
Bella knew exactly what he was implying. But no way was she about to admit to anything with Sergio at this stage other than friendship. It would be up to Sergio to tell him, if he wanted to. Though if he was serious about her, if he loved her the way Maria thought he did, then why wouldn’t he want to tell his friend?
Jeremy wasn’t the only one who was beginning to feel perplexed.
Maria appeared at that moment with a ham and tomato roll for Jeremy and a cup of very strong-looking coffee.
‘Thanks heaps, Maria,’ he said.
‘My pleasure,’ Maria cooed.
Bella was watching Jeremy tuck into the food when she decided that she couldn’t just sit there, wondering. So she came to a decision and stood up. ‘If you’ll excuse me, Jeremy, I’m going to go up to my room and give Sergio a call. Let him know that you’re here.’
‘Good idea. And whilst you’re talking to him, tell him to get himself home, pronto, so that we can have a proper birthday party.’
‘He might not want to do that, Jeremy. He told me last night that he had some very important meetings organised for today.’
Jeremy rolled his eyes. ‘Typical. That man is a workaholic.’
‘Yes,’ Bella said. ‘He is. A bit.’ But she liked that about him. Liked his perfectionism. Liked his intelligence and capacity for hard work. Of course, she would have preferred that he stay home with her all day instead of driving to Milan; that he would devote every hour of the evening to making love instead of chatting with her about the various changes he’d put in place during that particular day.