His smile evaporated. ‘Ah, so you still think you made the right decision in leaving me? Then you haven’t seen everything my hard work has brought me. Come on—I’ll show you now.’ Dragging out his phone again, he called up his pilot and arranged to be picked up. ‘He’ll be docking my launch in ten minutes,’ he informed Beth. ‘If you want to grab that bottle and the pizza, we can eat later.’

Beth had to hurry to keep up with Luca as they left her apartment. His long strides led her beneath festoons of washing threaded over the back lanes. It had all been abandoned to the rain. That had stopped, but the laundry still dripped reminders of the deluge onto their heads. These alleys were hidden away, where the tourists did not visit. It was the dim, claustrophobic Venice only local people saw. Beth was glad when they reached the canal. She was even happier to recognise the smart new craft Luca had been driving earlier that day. He helped her in, his grasp firm and warm as his hand closed over hers. Beth tensed at his touch, but he let her go the moment she was safely on board. As their pilot steered them away from the mooring an argument broke out between a tenant of one of the waterside apartments and a boatman below. It resulted in a bucket of water being thrown out of an upstairs window, complete with vegetable peelings.

Beth was not impressed, and wrinkled her nose. ‘I thought Venice was supposed to be more sophisticated than this.’

‘Winter is coming. Tempers get shorter as the nights get longer. But it is not always like this. You will soon grow to love the place, all year round.’

‘My contract with Francesco Fine Arts comes up for renewal in six months’ time.’

He made no further comment and, hurt, Beth stayed silent until their launch swung around a gentle bend. Then she gasped, and Luca’s smile showed his satisfaction.

‘So you like my new house?’

‘That’s yours?’ Beth could hardly speak. Ahead of them, a beautiful creamy-pink palace rose out of the water. Despite the cloudy sky, its four storeys were still a shimmering reflection of grace and ageless beauty.

‘Oh, Luca…it’s wonderful…’ she breathed.

His smile had an ironic twist. ‘She’s falling to bits. And sinking. It would be cheaper to have the whole place transported over to the mainland, stone by stone. There, we could at least use modern luxuries like solid foundations.’ He clicked his tongue. ‘I don’t know. This place eats money. I have to spend my working days stuck inside an office—the things I do to keep my family name alive.’

Beth thought back to the one and only time Luca had taken her backpacking. He was born to be wild. It took imagination to see him enjoying life in a perfectly proportioned, stone and shuttered place like this, lovely though it was.

‘You kept very quiet about this grand family of yours when I knew you first, Luca.’

‘My background wasn’t important to me then. At that point there was no more than this old wreck to inherit. Besides, you were quite happy playing the part of a grand lady consorting with her “bit of rough”, back then.’

The pilot tied up their launch. As Luca stepped off the boat he extended his hand to help Beth ashore. She hesitated, nervous of the effect of his touch, but she had no choice. As she suspected, when her fingers met his her body betrayed her and wanted more of what she couldn’t have.

When they were both safely on the broad paved way in front of the palazzo, Luca dismissed his pilot with a smile. Now they were alone together. Beth could not stand the silence.

‘I really am sorry for what happened between us in Balacha, Luca,’ she said quietly.

‘I don’t doubt it.’

He was studying the façade of his house in minute detail.

‘Can’t you look at me, Luca?’

Dropping his gaze to her face, he looked at her with all the emotion of a professional poker player. ‘How’s that?’

‘I did a stupid thing back then. It was in the heat of the moment, because I was angry. Tristram was always there. You weren’t. Then one day it all got too much for me.’

Eyes burning, she looked to him for sympathy, or at least understanding. She saw neither. Luca was listening to her, but his expression showed he simply no longer cared. My God, she thought, his hidden, gentle heart has turned to stone. I might as well be explaining the running order at an English gymkhana.

‘So…the way I treated you hasn’t affected you at all, Luca?’

‘It was a long time ago, Beth. I am over it now.’

‘Is that all you can say?’

He heaved an exasperated sigh. ‘Opposites attract, Beth. You moved on when you discovered we did not differ quite as much as you thought. We both like to get our own way. It’s called inflexibility, and that is not a good ingredient in relationships. Or so I am told.’

‘And you honestly believe that?’

‘Yes,’ he said slowly, ‘I believe that.’

She stared at him, staggered by his uncaring attitude. She did what she always did, and fell back on good manners.

‘I think—I think that as you have been kind enough to bring me here, Luca, I would like to see inside your home.’

CHAPTER THREE

LUCA led her towards his house without a word. This was another change in him. In the past, he used to laugh at her interest in bricks and mortar. Beth expected him to make some remark about her obsession with places and things, but he said nothing. As he wasn’t in the army any more, she supposed he could not argue about settling in one place. But this giant step into prestige property ownership must have stretched even Luca’s powers. Beth marvelled to see the great doors of the palazzo sweep apart before them, as though he had said ‘open sesame’. Efficient staff met them on the threshold. Two of them took charge of the pizza and wine Beth and Luca had brought back, while another whisked Beth’s jacket away. The palazzo was far too grand to have anything as simple as a coat-stand. Instead, her jacket was slipped onto a padded hanger and placed carefully inside an enormous mahogany closet.

Whatever Beth felt about Luca’s silence faded the moment she stepped inside his house. Her first sight of his home knocked all the breath from her body. It really was a palace. Large winged lions topped each lintel, looking down on everyone with aristocratic scorn. Any surface that was not polished to a glass-like finish glittered with gold leaf. The entrance hall was high and wide, but Beth could hardly take it all in. She was too busy admiring the floor. It was a cold sea of marble, which gave the whole space an echoing, church-like feel. The grey-veined ground was inlaid with coloured geometric shapes of sienna and cypress, all worked into a beautiful repeating design.

‘The stone was brought here from many different quarries,’ Luca said, noticing her interest as he guided her past statues of his ancestors. ‘When I was at school in England, the boys would bring back souvenirs from their exotic foreign vacations. I was not lucky enough to have that sort of family. My guardians arranged for me to stay in the boarding house, even during holidays. To go anywhere more romantic than Windsor was unthinkable for me then. But now…’

Hesitation was not usually part of his nature. Beth glanced at him. She had never seen wonder in his face before, but his expression came close to it now as he looked around his great vaulted hall, lavish with the art of Renaissance masters. Then he realised she was looking at him. In a flash he was back to his normal, decisive self.

‘This must be the ancient version of holiday keepsakes. A reminder of all the trading missions my ancestors made to far-flung places like Asia, Egypt and Greece. I am lucky to have the job of protecting it all for future generations.’

‘It sounds as though you really love this palazzo.’ Beth smiled at the pride in his voice. Luca shrugged his shoulders, but the action seemed more like someone who was adjusting to a heavy burden.