She was an only child, as both her parents had been. So she had no experience of a large family, and was curious about Carlo’s. He’d previously told her about them, making them sound like a big, booming clan who were fun to be with. Now he observed that they would have dominated every part of his life if he’d allowed it.

‘That’s why I have my own apartment,’ he said. ‘So has Ruggiero, and so did Primo and Luke before they married. I adore the lot of them, but I need a place where I can behave as badly as I like.’

He spoke of the whole family, but one look at Carlo’s mother told Della whose scrutiny he was really avoiding.

As they turned into the courtyard people streamed out of the villa to stand on the terrace, watching the car. Studying them quickly, Della saw a man and woman in their sixties, five younger men and two young women. They were all smiling broadly, and the smiles changed to roars of approval as Carlo waved at them.

‘So you came back,’ yelled one of the men. ‘We thought you’d vanished for ever.’

‘You mean we hoped he’d vanished for ever.’

More laughter, back-slapping. The man who’d said this bore a definite resemblance to Carlo, and Della guessed that this was his twin, Ruggiero.

Hope and Toni Rinucci came forward, and Della knew that she was under scrutiny. Hope saw everything. Although she did nothing so rude as to stare. Her welcome to Della was courtesy itself, her smile perfect, exactly judged.

And yet there was something missing, some final touch of warmth. Della returned her greeting, said what was proper, but her heart was not engaged any more than Hope’s.

She wasn’t sure if Carlo had noticed this, for everyone’s attention was distracted by the arrival of Sol and Myra, who’d been travelling just behind them.

Della introduced her son, and caught Hope’s startled expression at the sight of this grown up young man. After one quick glance at Della her smile became determinedly empty, as though she would die before letting the world know her real feelings.

Myra caused a sensation, being eye-catchingly attired in a dress that was low at the front, lower at the back, and high in the hem. It practically wasn’t there at all, Della thought, amused, and what little there was shrieked ‘good-time girl’.

More relatives appeared-Toni’s brothers and sisters, aunts, cousins-until the whole world seemed to be filled with Rinuccis. Carlo gave her a glance in which helplessness and amusement were mixed, before seizing her hand and plunging in.

Della knew she was under inspection. Everyone behaved perfectly, but there was always that little flicker of interest at the moment of introduction. She became adept at following the unspoken thoughts.

So this is the woman Carlo’s making a big deal about.

Not bad looking in that dress-but surely too old for him?

Once she found Hope’s eyes on her, full of anxiety. The older woman lowered her eyelids at once, but the truth could not be concealed.

A few minutes later she sought Della out, placed a glass of champagne in her hand, and said, laughing, ‘I’ve wanted to meet you ever since I learned all about you on the Internet. When Carlo told me he knew a celebrity I was so excited.’

So Hope had been checking up on her, Della thought wryly.

‘I must congratulate you on your extraordinary career,’ Hope continued. ‘It must be so hard to succeed in what is still, after all, a man’s world.’

‘It is sometimes a struggle, but there are plenty of enjoyable moments,’ Della said in an even voice.

‘I’m sure it must be very nice to be the one giving orders and having them obeyed,’ Hope said. ‘It’s a pleasure that women seldom experience.’

I’ll bet it’s a pleasure you’ve often experienced, Della thought. She was beginning to get Hope’s measure. It took one bossy woman to know another.

Dancing had started. Myra twirled by with Ruggiero, which seemed not to trouble Sol at all. He was smooching with another female.

‘They all act like that at twenty-one,’ Della said defensively.

‘Twenty-one? I’d have thought him older.’

‘Everyone would,’ Carlo said, just behind them. ‘It’s because he’s built like a tank. I was exactly the same, Mamma, and you used to say I’d come to a bad end.’

As he spoke his eyes rested on Della, as if proclaiming to the world that this was the ‘end’ to which he had come, and he had no complaints.

‘Come and dance with me,’ he said, drawing her to her feet.

‘It will soon be the moment,’ Hope said, patting his arm. ‘Don’t forget.’

‘The moment for what?’ Della asked, as they danced slowly away.

‘The exact moment we were born. Of course she doesn’t know the exact moment for Luke and Primo, plus Ruggiero and I have an hour between us, so she goes for the midway point. In ten minutes’ time she’ll announce that it’s exactly thirty-one years since we arrived in the world.’

He gave a sheepish grin.

‘It embarrasses the hell out of us, but it makes her happy.’

Sure enough, ten minutes later Hope called for silence, and, standing before a huge birthday cake, made her speech. The twins exchanged glances, each ready to sink, but they said and did everything she wanted, and the rest of the crowd cheered.

‘Now I’m thirty-one, and you’re only six years older than me,’ Carlo told Della when they were together again.

Smiling, she shook her head.

‘But I have a birthday next month, and then it’ll be seven again. Thirty-eight is only two years from forty, and-’

He silenced her with a finger over her lips. This time his eyes were dark, and he wasn’t joking.

‘I’m serious about this,’ he said. ‘You know we have to be together. Nothing else is possible for us.’

‘When you talk like that you almost convince me.’ She sighed longingly.

‘Good, then let’s tell everyone now.’

‘No!’ She clung to him firmly. ‘I said almost. It’s not as easy as you think.’

‘It is,’ he insisted. ‘It’s as easy as you want it to be.’

He was holding her close in a waltz. Now he drew her closer still, and laid his mouth over hers. It was the gentlest possible kiss and it surprised her so that she instinctively leaned into it while her body moved to the music.

‘I love you,’ he whispered.

‘I love you,’ she murmured back.

‘Let me tell them now.’

Before she could answer they were engulfed by a wave of applause. As the music stopped, and he half released her, Della looked around and saw that the guests had made a circle all around them, smiling and clapping heartily.

‘I think you’ve already told them,’ she said reproachfully.

‘Not in words. It’s what they see that matters. Don’t be angry with me.’

‘I’m not, but-stop smiling at me like that. It isn’t fair. You’re not to say anything to anyone, you hear?’

‘Is that an order?’

‘Yes, it is. You said you were going to be my hen-pecked mouse, remember? So be one.’

‘Ah, but that’s only after the wedding,’ he parried quickly. ‘Until then I’m allowed an opinion of my own.’

‘No, you are not,’ she said firmly. ‘The Boss Lady says so.’

His lips twitched, and his eyes were full of fun, looking deep into hers in the way he knew melted her.

How unscrupulous could a man be?

‘So you be good,’ she said, in a voice that was shaking with laughter and passion. ‘Or I’ll get my rolling pin out.’

For answer, he seized her hands in his, raising them to his lips, kissing the backs, the palms, the fingers.

And everyone saw him do it.

CHAPTER SEVEN

SOL appeared in Della’s room the next morning, looking much the worse for wear.

‘Your mother’s in the shower,’ Carlo said, letting him in. ‘How did the rest of your evening go?’

‘Nuts to it. Myra just vanished. I didn’t even see her to say goodbye.’

Carlo kept a straight face. It was clear now that Myra had gone to the party hoping to snare a Rinucci, and had presumably struck gold. He made a mental note to call his brothers and ask a few carefully worded questions.

‘But the car brought you back here safely?’ he said, apparently sympathetic.

‘When I realised that you two had already left without me-’

‘We were being tactful,’ Carlo assured him. ‘After all, things might have worked out with Myra-or someone else-and then you wouldn’t have wanted us around. Coffee?’

Sol slid thankfully into a chair while Carlo filled a cup, then called Room Service and ordered another breakfast.

‘So, what’s the programme for today?’ Sol said, yawning. ‘I seem to be at a loose end now.’

‘My programme is to spend the day with your mother,’ Carlo said, speaking in an easy manner that didn’t quite hide his determination. ‘Just the two of us.’

Sol seemed to consider for a moment.

‘That was quite a show you and Mum put up last night,’ he mused.

‘Be very careful what you say,’ Carlo told him quietly.

‘Yes, but look-just how seriously can you-? Aw, c’mon, people think we’re almost the same age. How am I going to tell the world, “This is my dad”?’

‘You leave me to worry about that. If you give your mother any trouble, you’ll have me to deal with.’

‘What do you mean, trouble? I have a terrific relationship with her.’

‘Yes, you take, and she gives-and gives, and gives. I don’t entirely blame you for that. I was the same at your age, selfish and greedy, but I was luckier than you. I had a twin who was as jealous of me as I was of him, plus several older brothers ready to thump the nonsense out of both of us. There was also my father, to look out for my mother. Della’s had nobody-until now.’

But Sol was holding an ace, and he played it.

‘If you give me any trouble, you’ll have Mum to deal with,’ he said.

He spoke with a touch of defiance, but it was only a small touch because he’d seen something in Carlo’s eyes that most people never saw, and it made him careful.

‘You could be right,’ Carlo said thoughtfully.

‘So we understand each other?’

Carlo gave him a brilliant grin that would have chilled the blood of anyone more perceptive than Sol.

‘I understand you perfectly,’ he said. ‘And in time you’ll understand me.’

A knock at the door announced the arrival of the extra breakfast, and by the time Della emerged from the shower Sol was concentrating on food.

‘Don’t question him,’ Carlo said genially. ‘He had a bad night.’

Della hugged her son. ‘Poor darling. What are you going to do now?’

‘We’re going to spend the day together,’ Carlo said. ‘You and I need to go back to Pompeii, to start making a plan of action, and Sol’s dying to come with us and hear all about it.’

The beaming smile Della turned on him effectively shut off Sol’s protests.

‘Sol, that’s wonderful. You’re really interested?’

‘Of course,’ he said bravely. ‘I can’t wait to see-everything.’

‘I’ll meet you both downstairs in an hour,’ Carlo said, departing.

He used the hour hiring a car large enough to take the three of them. When they emerged from the elevator he hurried forward.

‘I’ve had a call from someone who wants to discuss progress on the dig,’ he told Della. ‘He’s waiting for me at Pompeii now, but he can’t stay long so we have to get moving.’

‘Oh, but-Sol wanted to do a little shopping first-’

‘No time. Sorry. Let’s go.’

Before anyone could argue they were in the car and on their way. Della was a little surprised, but she supposed he needed to see how the work had progressed in his absence. And she appreciated the way he made Sol sit beside himself, and talked to him throughout the journey about the fascinating tasks that awaited them.

Not that Sol seemed to appreciate this as he should. She couldn’t see his face, but she could read his back view without trouble, and her lips twitched.

‘You’re wicked,’ she murmured to Carlo, when they had parked the car and were walking to the site.

‘Just wait,’ he said, grinning. ‘The best is yet to come.’

His team greeted him with riotous cheer, then welcomed Sol warmly. He brightened up when Lea, a young woman in brief shorts and top, smiled at him and said, ‘Have you come to help us? There’s so much digging to be done. Just look at me.’

He did so. Perspiration had caused Lea’s long, elegant legs to shine and her top to cling to her.

‘I guess I wouldn’t mind helping out,’ he said, and found a trowel in his hand before the words were finished.

Carlo put his arm around Della’s shoulder.

‘You and I should go and consider the rest. We need to have serious business discussions.’

As he drew her away Della couldn’t resist one glance over her shoulder.

‘No,’ Carlo said firmly, tightening his arm. ‘He’s all right.’