(2012) Evie Undercover (17 page)

He stood still and stared
down the slope
at them.
Eduardo
had stopped and
was bending over
,
pointing to the short grass a
t
the base of
an olive tree
. He heard Evie give a little squeal and saw her jump back. He smiled. Eduardo must have been telling her that they had to keep the grass
cut
short at the foot of the olive trees so as to avoid snakes. It was a habitat
they
liked.

So Evie didn’t like snakes any more than she liked scorpions. Well, that was predictable. And
the issue of beetles was yet to be resolved,
he thought in amusement, remembering what she’d said to him on their first morning in Italy.

She turned suddenly and waved up at him. Taken by surprise, he took a step back. Then she said something to Eduardo, who also looked up and waved.

Raising a hand to acknowledge them, he rea
l
ise
d that
they’d
have seen
him
smiling
for no reason
, and he quickly turned away, hoping that they’d been too far away to see him standing there, grinning at nothing. What must he have looked like!

Mildly irritated at being
caught out
like that, he went over to the towels and straightened them up. Then he sat down on one of the
m
, linked his fingers in front of his knees and stared
at
the pool.

The shining water lay smooth and still in the late afternoon sun. Beyond the
water
, the grey-green tips of the olive trees stood stark against the
purple contours
of the distant heat-hazed hills. As he watched, the dark shape of a solitary bird swooped low over the surface, feathering the tips of the water before it rose sharply to the sky, an insect
trapped
in its beak. In its wake, glittering ripples widened
slowly
across the pool
and
reach
ed
out to the far corners where shadows gather
ed
.

Every so often he heard Eduardo and Evie laugh, but they were beyond the pool and among the trees, far out of his sight. He couldn’t decide if it was more relaxing not being able to see them and having to imagine what they were doing, or being able to see them and finding himself trying to decipher their body language. Perhaps relaxing was the wrong word. Neither situation had the remotest element of relaxation about it.

He glanced at his watch. Yes,
time was getting on
.

Admittedly h
is
meeting with Luigi had swallowed up most of the afternoon
, but it had
had
to be done – the man
was going to
look after
his
house, garden and pool
, after all
.

On the one hand,
they’d
been lucky that Eduardo had been able to collect Luigi immediately after Evie’s phone call and bring
him up to the house as it
meant that they’d be able to take their time over breakfast the following morning
, and
then
go
straight from the hotel
to Perugia
, where they were going to
meet Eduardo and Gabriela. A much better arrangement all round.

Luigi had seemed pleasant enough and the meeting had gone well. He was
going to
start looking after the house and garden immediately, and he eve
n had a sister who w
ould clean the house. Yes, Eduardo had done well there
–
Luigi was obviously a real find, and it was a great relief
that they’d been able to final
ise
everything that afternoon.

On the other hand, however, he’d lost a large chunk of time that
he
could have
spent alone with Evie.

He’d assumed that Eduardo would leave as soon as Luigi left, but not so. Apparently, Luigi had refused Eduardo’s offer of a lift
down to
the town, saying that he wanted to look at some fields on his way
back
down the mountain, and he’d gone off on foot.
But then, instead of getting
into
his noisy
convertible and
driving off
, Eduardo had gone over to Evie and
sat down next to
her
.

For a moment he’d thought he’d seen a look of annoyance sweep across
Evie’s face when she real
ise
d that Eduardo was intent on staying with the
m, and his spirits had soared. B
ut the moment had swiftly passed and he wasn’t entirely sure that he hadn’t been mistaken.

‘We’re back.’ Evie’s words cut into his thoughts. He looked up and saw her standing next to him, a slender silhouette outlined against the sun. Eduardo was at her side.

‘Good walk?’

‘It was brill, thanks,’ she replied. She hesitated a
moment. ‘About dinner tonight
. I know you wanted to go to Montefalco
,
but
Eduardo
has
suggested that the three of us go to a little place not far from Todi. He said they do wonderful local food there. He could book a table for eight thirty, if we wanted.
Gabriela’s off visiting someone she knew at school, so if he doesn’t come with us he’s going to be on his own tonight. What do you think? Is that OK?’

No, it bloody well wasn’t OK!

He’d spent the whole of the previous day in Città di Castello with Eduardo, not to mention the whole
evening, too. He’d had him up to
the house that afternoon, and he was going to be spending the whole of the following day with him.
Enough was bloody well enough
.
And now t
he
idea
of having to be Eduardo’s companion for the evening, rather than him
having to
spend the
evening alone
–
well,
he wasn’t Eduardo’s keeper
and it
absolutely was not OK!

‘I suppose we’ll have to agree,’ he said irritably, getting to his feet. ‘I’m amazed that Eduardo doesn’t mind spendi
ng so much of his time with us. S
urely he’s got plenty of other things he’d rather be doing.
We
’d
certainly
understand if he wanted to do them.’

He glanced at Evie’s face and saw the disappointment he felt mirrored in her eyes.

A sudden
rush of
heat r
an
through him.

So she’d really meant it when she’d said that she didn’t want Eduardo at the house that afternoon, and she
had
looked annoyed that he’d stayed on after Luigi had
gone. A
nd she didn’t want a dinner f
or three any more than he did
. S
he’d rather it was just the two of them alone. Oh, Evie! It was worth enduring another evening with Eduardo to have found that out.

He turned away, excitement m
ounting within him. A
nd then he stopped, struck hard by a sudden thought.

It might quite simply be that she wanted a break from translating, which she’d have if there was no Eduardo around. Maybe it was that and not the thought of the two of the
m being
unable to be alone that made her
regret
he’d be there
.
He looked back at her. She was staring at the grass and biting her lip as she listened to Eduardo telling her something. It must be a strain for her always being the one at the chalk face with Eduardo. Maybe it was that and nothing more.

He mentally shook himself. What was the matter with him, wasting his time in speculating about
her
reasons for not wanting Eduardo with them? There could be any number of reasons
,
and
whatever it was, it was none of his business.

He bent down and picked up the empty bottle of wine.

Chapter Twelve

The power of a peach!

‘My feet are killing me,’ Evie sighed. ‘I can’t wait to sit down – it was loopy of me to wear these heels, but I
didn’t
figure on
walking
quite
so
far
.
And
Gabriela
and Eduardo walk so fast – they must be miles ahead of us.
It’s been a fantastic morning
,
much better than I thought it was going to be
,
but I think I’ve had enough now.

‘We do seem to have covered a lot of ground
in a short amount of time
, b
ut
I wouldn’t have wanted to miss any of it.
The huge frescoes in the palazzo opposite the cathedral
are
really
astounding.’

‘
And
I loved the fountain. I thought it
was really beautiful.
Gabriela certainly knows Perugia well
. I
t’s just that she’
s so intense that i
t’s wearying. I suppose I shouldn’t comp
l
ain, though
–
her being able to say everything
in English
i
s a
real
break for me. There was nothing for me to do
all morning
but listen, which makes a change.’

‘It would for most women,’
he said dry
ly.

‘Sexist pig.’ She laughed, sp
un
round towards him and ma
de
a move to dig him in the ribs. He caught her hand mid-air. A bolt of electricity shot through her. ‘Well, perhaps not a pig.’ Her voice c
ame from a trillion miles away.

She coughed quickly
,
hop
ing
to
scale her voice back down
to somewhere near normal. F
at chance of that
, though
–
h
e was still holding her hand.

‘Pig
is probably not a recommended way of addressing your boss,’ she squeaked.

‘I’m sure I’ve been called worse things,’ he remarked cheerfully
. H
e turned
them
into
a
narrow medieval street that led to the entrance
of
a
high-tech escalator
running
in sections from
the old town on
top of the hill
down
to the bottom
. His h
and tightened around hers. H
er spine tingled. ‘At least pigs are clean,
’ he added, ‘
which is more than you can say for some of the names I’ve been
called
.’

Sod the effing pigs!
He was still holding her hand. W
hat was going on inside his head?

‘Aha, here’s th
e entrance we’re looking for. This
is
the escalator we came up on
.
I wouldn’t want to end up
near
the wrong car park. Go carefully, Evie.’

Side by side they stepped on to the metal stair. She glanced down at the hand holding hers, then quickly looked away and stared down the moving steps. Where on earth were they going now
–
and she didn’t mean on the escalator.

‘
The others
must have virtually run all the way down, if you can imagine Gabriela running
anywhere
– I’m not sure that I can.
I can’t see them anywhere
.’ She hoped that her voice was loud enough to cover the thud of her heart. ‘Come to think of it, we’ve not seen t
hem for ages.’

As if she cared.

If just the touch of his hand could do what it was doing to her … Her heart thudded even more loudly.

‘I’m sure we’ll catch up with them eventually
,’ he said airily
.
‘
They’re probably in a hurry to get lunch over with
.
I’m sure they’ll want some time to themselves between lunch and the end of the afternoon. I can identify with that.
As you so rightly said, i
t’s a stunner of a city, but
like you
,
I feel that
I’ve had enough sightseeing for one day.’