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PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE ‘MY DEAR boy, have you really thought this through?’ Signora Lucia Calvani’s face was full of concern as she watched her son lock the suitcase. He gave her a brief smile, warmer for her than for anyone else, but he didn’t pause. ‘What is there to think through, Mamma? In any case, I’m doing what you required of me.’ ‘Nonsense! You never do anything except to suit yourself,’ she retorted with motherly scepticism. ‘True, but it suits me to please you,’ Marco replied smoothly. ‘You wanted a union between myself and the granddaughter of your old friend, and I consider it suitable.’ ‘If you mean that you like the idea, kindly say so, and don’t address your mother like a board meeting,’ Lucia said severely. ‘I’m sorry.’ He kissed her cheek with a touch of genuine contrition. ‘But since I’m doing as you wished I don’t understand your concern.’ ‘When I said I’d like to see you marry Etta’s granddaughter I was thinking of Olympia, as you well know. She’s elegant, sophisticated, know
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO SEVEN o’clock found Harriet peering out of her shop window into a storm. She’d been home, dressed for an evening out and returned in a hurry, not wishing to keep him waiting. But it seemed he had no such qualms about her. Five past seven came and went, then ten, and there was no sign of him. At seven-fifteen she muttered something unladylike and prepared to leave in a huff. She’d just locked the door and was staring crossly at the downpour when a cab came to a sharp halt at the kerb, a door opened and a hand reached out from the gloom within. She took it, and was seized in a powerful grip, then drawn swiftly inside. ‘My apologies for being late,’ Marco said. ‘I took a cab because of the rain and found myself trapped. Luckily the show doesn’t start until eight, so even at this crawl we should make it in time.’ ‘You don’t mean to say that you managed it?’ Harriet asked incredulously. ‘Certainly I managed it. Why should you doubt me?’ ‘Who did you blackmail?’ Marco grinned. ‘I
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE DURING the next couple of days the whirl of arrangements was so intense that she had no time to think. Marco inspected the shop’s books, groaned at her business practices—‘pure Alice in Wonderland’—but advanced a money order that cleared her debts. It also left her something over to pay extra to Mrs Gilchrist, her excellent manager, who was to take sole charge. There was one tense moment when Harriet brought a customer to the verge of buying a very expensive piece, only to start talking it down until he lost interest and left the shop empty handed. ‘There was nothing the matter with it,’ declared Marco, who had watched, aghast. ‘I didn’t like him.’ ‘What?’ ‘He wouldn’t have given it a good home,’ she tried to explain. ‘You don’t understand do you?’ ‘Not a word!’ he said grimly. ‘These aren’t just things I buy and sell. I love them. Would you sell a puppy to a man you thought wouldn’t be kind to it?’ ‘Harriet, puppies are alive. These things are not.’ ‘Yes they are, in the
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR BELLA FIGURA was a nightclub on the Via Veneto, a few yards along from Marco’s apartment. It was hidden away in the depths of the building, and as soon as they arrived Harriet could sense the atmosphere; sophisticated, knowing, and above all discreet. She wondered how many women Marco had brought here, and how many notes had changed hands with close-mouthed doormen. He led her to a table near the stage, yet sufficiently to one side to afford some privacy. The floorshow had not started waiters hurried to and fro, taking orders. Marco summoned one of them with a look, which annoyed several customers who’d been waiting longer. He seemed not to notice. As before he was an excellent host and she relaxed, even beginning to feel easier about the revealing dress. ‘I’m sorry to have been so remiss,’ he said. ‘My mother is very annoyed with me. Are you?’ ‘No,’ she said, not entirely truthfully. ‘You must have been deluged with work after being away, although I daresay you travel wit
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE THE following day a delicate bouquet was delivered to the villa, with a beautifully worded note from Marco, regretting that their delightful evening had been ‘so unfortunately cut short’. Harriet passed it to Lucia, who expressed her own opinion with a sound of disgust, but mercifully didn’t ask Harriet any questions. Her manner was that of a woman biding her time. After two days Marco telephoned, inviting them both to lunch at the bank. The Orese Nationale had a private restaurant where the top levels of the hierarchy dined in exclusive grandeur, and where they entertained their most important guests. The two women were treated like queens, by Marco and some of his colleagues. Lucia had been here three times before, but she was the only woman Marco had ever invited, until now. Harriet understood the implication, that none of his passing relationships had been so honoured. She’d meant to protest about his unchivalrous behaviour after the nightclub, but it was impossible in
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX STANDING in the receiving line Harriet thought the guests would go on forever. There were a number of banking ‘big names’ and some of Marco’s most important clients, but there were also a lot of titles, Countess this, Princess that, Duke, Baron. This was society with a capital S. Where it wasn’t titled, it was wealthy. Harriet guessed that half the bank vaults in Rome must have disgorged their contents of family jewels. Tiaras, rivières, bracelets, earrings, diamonds, rubies, emeralds and pearls, each one signifying that its wearer would compete in riches with any other woman there. As she could herself, she realised. The glowing gold that Marco had fastened around her neck was, in itself, a declaration. And so was the ring. She shuddered at the thought of wearing a ring worth a ‘mere’ ten thousand in this company. The one now weighing down her hand informed the world that Marco Calvani’s chosen bride was a woman who commanded his respect, and therefore must command theirs.
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN IN THE early morning light Harriet awoke suddenly and sat up, listening to the silence. Slipping out of bed she went to the tall window and pushed it open, looking out onto the quiet countryside, dotted with pine trees. The memory of last night still seemed to live in every part of her, mind, heart and body. She’d seen a side of Marco she’d never dreamed of. She’d known that he was full of contradictory qualities, that he could be charming, seductive, calculating and ruthlessly determined. But she hadn’t known that he could be dangerous. She knew now. For the few moments that he’d held her in his arms, forcing bruising, desperate kisses onto her, the air had crackled with danger, and she had felt alive as never before. It was shocking, but it was true. She tried to call common sense to her aid. Whatever tumult of feeling she’d thought she detected, the truth was that Marco had been trying to prove a point. She’d made a fool of him and he wouldn’t stand for it. He’d reclai
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT MARCO had said Harriet had an international reputation and she was discovering how true it was. The news that she had broken ‘the Manelli barrier’ was soon all over Rome, and her services began to be much in demand. ‘I’m here as an emissary,’ Marco said to her one evening. ‘Two of my colleagues at work want to consult you and they say you’re putting them off. I’ve promised to use my influence. They seem to think I have some,’ he added drily. ‘I was being tactful,’ Harriet said. ‘Precisely because they’re your colleagues it seemed better for me to stay clear. Suppose I give them wrong advice?’ ‘Is that possible?’ he murmured slyly. ‘Tell them about the necklace,’ she challenged him. ‘The less said about that necklace the better,’ he said, almost teasing. ‘May I inform my associates that my influence has been successful?’ ‘I’ll bet you’ve already done so.’ He grinned and didn’t deny it. On this level they were easy with each other, but Harriet had learned that any attempt t
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE IT WAS a relief to spend a few days in the Vatican museum. Absorbed in the world that had always sustained her, Harriet thought she would soon be able to forget Corzena. But the talisman failed this time. Halfway through a fourteenth-century parchment she would find herself thinking of the door that had so nearly opened, and then closed. Closed against her. That was the thing that hurt. Marco had tested the door just far enough to discover that she’d left it open for him. Then he had rejected her. What message could be clearer? From their manner to each other on the drive home nobody could have discerned anything in the air. For him, there probably hadn’t been, she thought bitterly. She returned home on the third evening to find Lucia eagerly looking for her. ‘Your father called,’ she said. ‘They’re back, and so anxious to see you. We’re all three invited to dine tomorrow night. I tried to call you and Marco but you both had your phones switched off. So I said yes for us a
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN THREE days later they all flew to Venice, Harriet and Lucia departing from the villa, and Marco going from his apartment and meeting them at Rome airport. ‘Are you sure you’re not sickening for something?’ Lucia asked Harriet anxiously as they drove to the airport. ‘You’re very pale, and you’ve been quiet the last couple of days.’ ‘I just don’t enjoy flying,’ Harriet put her off. It was true that she’d been quiet ever since the moment she’d seen her lover leave in the dawn, and lain there, aching with desolation. She acquitted him of deliberate unkindness. She would never forget that he’d returned to the house to comfort her, how gently he’d spoken, and how much understanding he’d shown. He’d felt with her, as only a truly sensitive man could have done, and she would always love him for it. In the moments of passion, too, he’d treated her with great tenderness. But then he’d left her alone in a way that felt nothing less than brutal. The next day Lucia had told her excitedl
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN MARCO’S secretary looked in alarm at the determined young woman who stood before her. ‘Does Signor Calvani have anyone with him just now?’ ‘I don’t see what—?’ ‘Does he?’ Harriet repeated. ‘No, but he has a board meeting in five—’ ‘Don’t worry, I won’t be that long,’ she tossed over her shoulder as she opened the door to Marco’s office. He was engrossed in a computer screen and looked up in alarm. ‘What’s wrong? Has something happened to my mother?’ ‘No, I came to see you because this is the one place you can’t run from me. You’ve been avoiding me since we returned from Venice.’ ‘Two days. You know I have work to do—’ ‘And you know what I want to say. I’ll say it quickly so that you’re not late for your meeting.’ His lips tightened. ‘This isn’t the time—’ ‘How much time does it take to say goodbye?’ ‘Can we talk about this later?’ ‘No, I fell for that one before. Not again. Besides, there’s nothing to talk about. Goodbye! Finito. Basta! End of story. I can’t marry you. T
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE ‘I DON’T believe this,’ Harriet said, setting down her things to confront him. ‘What are you doing here?’ ‘Haven’t you worked it out yet?’ ‘Allum & Jonsey—?’ ‘A tiny firm who were glad to let me take them over.’ ‘And if they hadn’t been glad, you’d have taken over anyway.’ ‘No, I’d have found another firm. I needed a front. You wouldn’t have sold if you’d known it was me.’ ‘In other words, this is another of your exercises in control. Sorry Marco, it’s not going to work. I’m through.’ He held up the contract she’d signed only the previous day, committing her to run the shop for six months. ‘What about this?’ ‘Sue me!’ ‘I will if you make me, but you won’t. You’re a woman of your word. This place needs you. Nobody else can run it. Between us we’ll make it as profitable as it ought to be.’ Harriet gave an incredulous laugh. ‘You want me? A woman who can’t tell a fake from an original? Surely not.’ She had the satisfaction of seeing him redden. ‘What do you want me to say?
CHAPTER TWELVE
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