Reunited with Her Italian Ex. Lucy Gordon

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      ‘She doesn’t say “where”,’ Natasha objected. ‘She says “Wherefore”. It means “Why?” She’s saying “Why did you have to be Romeo, a Montague, and my enemy?” In Shakespeare’s time, if you wanted to know why someone had behaved in a certain way, you’d say—’ she assumed a dramatic attitude ‘“—Wherefore did thou do this, varlet?”’

      ‘Varlet?’ Giorgio queried.

      ‘It means rascal. You’d say it to someone who’d behaved disgustingly.’

      Giorgio gave a crack of laughter. ‘I must remember that. Rascal—briccone.’

      ‘Or traditore,’ Natasha observed lightly.

      ‘Aha! So you know some Italian words?’ Giorgio said eagerly.

      ‘One or two,’ she said with a fair assumption of indifference.

      ‘I’d give a lot to know how you learned that particular one,’ he said cheekily.

      ‘You’ll just have to wonder,’ she chuckled.

      Mario wasn’t looking at her. He seemed completely occupied with his wine.

      A man appeared in the doorway, signalling to Giorgio.

      ‘I’ve got to leave you for a moment,’ he said. ‘But I’ll be back.’ He laid a hand on Natasha’s shoulder. ‘Don’t go away. I have a very good feeling about this.’

      ‘So have I,’ she said. ‘I’ll be right here.’

      When Giorgio had gone, Mario refilled her wine glass.

      ‘Be cautious about Giorgio,’ he said. ‘He turns on the charm as part of his trade.’

      ‘But of course,’ she said cheerfully. ‘It’s a form of show business. No harm in that.’

      ‘As long as you’re not taken in.’

      ‘I’m not. These days, nothing and nobody manages to deceive me.’

      He raised his glass to her in an ironic salute.

      ‘This is quite a coincidence,’ he said. ‘I wonder which of us is more shocked.’

      ‘We’ll never know.’

      ‘Just now you were very determined to say we didn’t know each other.’

      ‘Would you have said differently?’ she asked, watching him.

      ‘No, but I doubt I’d have said it so fast or emphatically. You denied knowing me as though your life depended on it.’

      ‘But we didn’t know each other. Once we believed we did but we were both wrong. You thought I was easy to fool or you wouldn’t have wasted your time on me. You never reckoned on Tania turning up and showing me what you were really like.’

      ‘I admit I once had a relationship with Tania, but it was over.’

      ‘Was it? I don’t think she believed that. She still felt you were hers. That’s why she felt so betrayed when she saw us. No, it was me you were planning to leave. That’s why you kept hinting about something you wanted to tell me. You said it wasn’t easy, but then it’s never easy to dump someone, is it?’

      He turned very pale. ‘Isn’t it? You dumped me without any trouble.’

      ‘Dumping you was the easiest thing I’d ever done, but that’s because you gave me cause.’

      ‘But the way you did it—vanishing so that I could never find you. Can you imagine what I went through? It was like searching for a ghost. I nearly went mad because you denied me any chance to explain—’

      ‘Explain what? That you were fooling around with both of us? If you’d been the man I thought you— Well, let’s leave it there. You weren’t that man and you never could be. It’s best if we remain strangers now.’

      ‘Remain?’ he echoed sharply. But then his voice changed to wry, slightly bitter acceptance. ‘Yes, we always were strangers, weren’t we?’

      ‘Always were, always will be. That’s a very good business arrangement.’

      ‘And you’re a businesswoman?’

      ‘Exactly. It’s what I choose to be. Capisci?’

      He nodded. ‘Capisco. I understand.’

      ‘From now on, it’s all business. The past didn’t happen. It was an illusion.’

      ‘An illusion—yes. I guessed that when you vanished into thin air. And now you’ve reappeared just as suddenly.’

      ‘Another illusion. I’m not really here.’

      ‘So if I look away you’ll vanish again?’

      ‘Perhaps that’s what I ought to do.’

      ‘No,’ he said with a hint of suppressed violence. ‘No! Not again. You could never understand how I— Don’t even think of it. Capisci?’

      ‘Capisco. I understand very well.’

      ‘Promise me that you won’t leave.’

      ‘All right.’

      ‘On your word of honour.’

      ‘Look—’

      ‘Say it. Let me know that I can trust you this time at least.’

      ‘Trust me this time? As though I was the one who deceived— You’ve got a nerve.’

      ‘He’s coming back,’ Mario said hurriedly, glancing to where Giorgio had appeared. ‘Smile.’

      She tried to look at ease but it was hard, and as soon as Giorgio reached the table she rose.

      ‘I’m going to bed,’ she said. ‘It’s been a long day for me, with the flight.’

      ‘You’re right; get some rest,’ Mario said. ‘We’ll all meet here tomorrow morning at nine.’

      They shook hands and she departed at once.

      Giorgio watched her go, then eyed Mario wryly.

      ‘What’s going on with you two?’ he queried. ‘You’re on edge with each other. For a moment I really thought there’d been something between you.’

      ‘Not a thing,’ Mario assured him. ‘And there never could be.’

      ‘Pity. Romeo and Juliet were “star-crossed lovers”. It could have been interesting to have them promoted by another pair of star-crossed lovers. After all, if a couple is meant for each other but just can’t get it together—well, it’s not in their hands, is it? They СКАЧАТЬ