The Antique Love (20 page)

For days, she had steeled herself for the final meeting with Kurt, and she had been preparing to say goodbye and walk away. All her trusty barriers had been in place, and as far as possible, she had been mentally resolved. But then he had kissed her, and everything changed. She had felt what it was to be in his arms, and she had kissed him back with all the passion of her being.

She sat up on the bed with a start. His bedroom! By now, he would have seen the paintings. She gave a groan and threw herself back down on the bed, burying her face in the pillow. If the way she’d kissed him last night hadn’t already told him, the paintings in his bedroom definitely would. He would know for certain how passionately, deeply in love she was with him.

She screwed the pillow around her face. She was in love with him—and he had told her he
enjoyed her company
. She wouldn’t accept him on those terms. Never! She dropped her pillow, dried her eyes, and swung her legs off the bed.

She had always known deep down that those dreams of happiness weren’t for her. She wasn’t the woman her mother had been, and she never would be. Her romantic dreams were never going to come true, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t take control of her life. She would just have to turn her life in another direction, that’s all.

She stood up and lifted the evening dress from its hook. She would have it cleaned and returned to its place in the trunk. Cinderella’s ball was over, and in real life, there was never going to be a handsome prince to come looking for her. And there were never going to be any stupid happy ever afters, either, she thought. It was all just getting on with your life day after day.

In total thrall to her unhappiness, she threw herself back on the bed and wept anew.

“…and so the figures are confirmed in this final graph here.” Alex flicked onto the next slide of his presentation. “Thought you might like a hard copy for the next board report?”

Kurt gazed abstractedly at the laptop in front of them, only half listening.

“I said I thought you might like a hard copy if those figures are useful?” Alex repeated, looking straight at him. Still no response. “I said, Kurt, you’re the biggest idiot this side of the Atlantic.”

“What?” Kurt turned with blank eyes and then nodded his head. “Yeah, that sounds great. Thanks.”

Alex leaned across to grip Kurt’s shoulder, applying a gentle pressure. “Hey,” he said. “Are you doing okay? You look like crap. Have you seen yourself lately?”

Kurt didn’t need Alex to point out anything about his appearance. He’d seen the black shadows under his eyes every day in the mirror for the past six weeks. He shrugged off his friend’s hand.

“Yeah, guess I haven’t been sleeping so good lately. Maybe the city doesn’t agree with me.” He lifted his head to the view of gleaming tower blocks outside his office window. “I’ve been thinking of heading back to Wyoming.”

Alex stared at him for a few minutes without speaking. Then he dropped his hand from Kurt’s shoulder. “What would you do a damn fool thing like that for?” he asked quietly. “Seems to me you’d be running away.”

Kurt lifted his head.

“Seems to me that would be a coward’s way out,” Alex continued. “You might be an idiot, but I never had you pegged as a coward.”

A spark finally lit in Kurt’s deadened heart. “I’m no coward,” he said fiercely. “But I’d sooner face a raging bull alone in a pen than…than end up half-crazed again like this.”

Alex shook his head and sank back in his chair. “Kurt, you’re already half-crazed,” he said eventually. He gave a short laugh. “God knows, I’m not the person to give advice. But I tell you something—I’ve never in my life seen anyone as miserable as you these past few weeks. Go and get the girl.” He stood and picked up his laptop, then leaned over the table and said quietly, “Take a risk on her before someone else does. Because I’m telling you, you’re a fool if you lose her.”

* * * *

The bell over the shop door jangled its familiar chime as Kurt pushed it open. The very first time he’d stepped into Penny’s shop, a cold drizzle had been trickling down from a grey sky. Today the sun was out in force, and the streets were dry and dusty. The weather wasn’t the only change. Kurt scanned his eyes around the shop to find Tehmeena sitting behind Penny’s desk. A young man in short sleeves stood behind the counter. There was no sign of Penny.

Tehmeena jumped up at the sight of him and stepped forward in surprise. “Hello.” She stretched on her toes and greeted him with a polite kiss on the cheek, her brown eyes full of a rather frosty enquiry. “What brings you here? Do you need something for your house?”

Kurt cleared his throat. “No, actually I’d just come to see Penny. Is she here?”

He felt rather uncomfortable under Tehmeena’s cool scrutiny. Her usual banter appeared to have vanished, and she was looking at him in an appraising way that made him feel even more ill at ease than ever, if that were possible.

“Actually, Penny isn’t here,” she said eventually. Her eyebrows lifted. “Didn’t you know?”

“No.” His heart plummeted sickeningly. “No, she didn’t say. Where did she go?”

Tehmeena continued to search his face for a minute or two. Then the shop door jangled again, letting in another customer. She swivelled her head before turning back to look at him.

“You really didn’t know?”

Kurt shook his head, a cold fear rising from the pit of his stomach. Tehmeena regarded him thoughtfully whilst he stood there waiting, taut with anxiety. “Fine,” she said eventually. “I’ll meet you in the pub over the road at twelve. Okay?”

Twelve? That was hours away. It was all Kurt could do not to grip Tehmeena’s arms and beg her to tell him where Penny had gone. Something in his expression must have shown, because she began to usher him to the door.

“Twelve o’clock,” she said firmly. “High Noon, cowboy. Wait ‘til then.”

Kurt resisted the temptation to plant himself outside the door, waiting with his face pressed agonisingly to the glass. For a couple of hours, he wandered the streets aimlessly, the sick feeling growing with every second. Finally, he came upon the banks of the Thames and sat down on a stone bench to rest his head on his fists.

What an idiot he was. He’d been terrified of trusting Penny, of revealing the depths of his love for her, because he was frightened of losing his mind to passion. And now this. The worst of it was remembering the hurt in her eyes when she’d left his house. Time and time again her expression and the exact way her head bent, replayed in his mind, like a video-tape stuck on loop. And now she was gone, and it was all too late. Maybe Alex was right. Maybe she’d already found someone else. And it would serve him right if she had, because quite honestly, he didn’t deserve her.

The brown sluggish waters inched by interminably until it was time to stand up and retrace his steps. When he finally pushed open the heavy swing doors of the Edwardian pub, he couldn’t help but remember the last time he’d been there, waiting for Penny at a table by the window, and how his heart lifted at the sight of her, even then, when he hardly knew her. How long ago it all seemed now.

He ordered himself a bourbon and sat down at that same table in the window. When Tehmeena finally pushed open the door of the pub, the anxiety coursing through him surged and peaked. He stood hastily and pulled out a chair for her, watching her sink into it. Then she raised her frank brown gaze to his.

“I’ve only got a few minutes,” she said. “I’ve had to leave our new guy in charge, and he’s only been with us a few weeks.”

“Thanks for coming. I can’t tell you how much it means. She never told me… I mean, can you tell me where she’s gone?” He tried to keep the desperation from his voice, but he could tell from the sympathetic way Tehmeena was beginning to look at him that he was probably failing.

“She’s gone to Italy.”

“What?” Kurt pulled back, astounded. “Why Italy? I mean—” A sudden terrible thought occurred to him. “Has she gone alone?”

“Yes, yes,” Tehmeena said, waving an impatient hand. “Of course she’s alone. She hasn’t met anyone else, if that’s what you mean. She’s been mooning over you for long enough. She’s taken six months off work to go travelling. Said it’s something she always wanted to do, so she’s combining her trip with searching for new sources of antiques for the shop. We’ve taken on a new guy, and I’ve taken David’s place as joint partner.”

“Yeah?” Kurt looked up abstractedly. “Congratulations on that.”

“Thanks,” Tehmeena said drily. There was a couple of minutes silence whilst Kurt stared fixedly at his empty bourbon glass. “Well,” she continued, starting to get up, “I’m running short of time…”

“No, don’t go.” He reached a hand out, and Tehmeena dropped back into her seat, a patient and interested expression on her face.

“Where’s she gone?” he said hurriedly. “I mean, where exactly in Italy? And for how long?”

“She’s in Florence at the moment. She’s there for another week, and then she’s moving on to Rome.”

“Okay, I need your help,” he said. “And I need to go back into the shop—there’s something I need to buy.”

He bent his head over the table, and Tehmeena bent forward to listen, agog.

* * * *

A small bead of perspiration trickled down Penny’s back. The stone stairs that led up to the
Piazzale Michelangelo
were never-ending, and the early evening air was hot and dusty.

Why on earth am I doing this?
she asked herself, allowing a giggling group of teenagers to overtake her. She’d had an odd call from Tehmeena that morning, asking her to take a photo of the sunset over Florence. And it had to be taken from the top of the longest climb in probably all of Italy. It would be romantic, Tehmeena had promised her, and wasn’t she looking for romance? Penny just snorted.

She’d just spent a week in Venice—the most romantic city in Europe—photographing everything she saw, only to realise that for her, romance must be dead. She’d stood in St Mark’s Square and felt nothing. She doubted Michelangelo’s square was going to make her feel any better.

There was a small crowd milling in the enormous, dusty Piazza when she finally reached the top. She pulled out her camera and made her way to the stone balustrade on the western side to where the sun was making its descent.

“Actually, this was worth the climb,” she admitted grudgingly. To the west flowed the River Arno, with its three ancient stone bridges arching gracefully across, and a little beyond was the magnificent red dome of the Duomo Cathedral. A row of tall ochre and red stone buildings lined the river. Penny put her elbows on the wall and leaned out. A faint breeze stirred the warm air. The sun was sinking lower over the horizon, the gathering dusk creeping in softly behind it. The reflections of the city lights were beginning to ripple in the waters of the river.

A footstep behind her caused her to stiffen. She hoped she wouldn’t have to fend off any male attention. Since she’d arrived in Italy, she’d noted with irony that just when she’d decided to devote her life to being a spinster and a mad cat lady, men seemed to pop up from all over the place intent on getting to know her. She was forever fending off advances.

She turned a cold shoulder and leaned further over the wall.

The steps came nearer, and she caught a familiar scent. Like the skin on fresh apples. Her breath caught in her throat.

“Penny.”

She whirled round at the sound of his voice, dropping her camera to the ground. The leather case hit the stones with an expensive thud. It was no dream. He was standing there in front of her, a little leaner, the shadows a little deeper under his eyes. She stared, not speaking.

He took another step forward. “Tehmeena told me where you were. I had to see you before it was too late. I wanted to tell you…” He took a breath.

In the mad whirl of her thoughts, Penny noted he had a slim, rectangular box in one hand, and that the fingers holding it were clenched tight. His eyes were steady on hers.

“I wanted to tell you before it was too late that I love you. And when I saw the room you made for me, I thought…that gave me hope that I might not have ruined everything. I love you beyond distraction. I love you, Penny Rosas, and the thought I may have lost you has me half-crazed.” His words came in a trembling rush, so unlike his usual measured tones. His eyes stayed fixed on hers. She didn’t speak. He took another step forward.

“I brought you this,” he said, holding the box out slowly. “But if you tell me you don’t want it…”

He was near enough now for Penny to make out the pulse beating quickly under the warm skin of his throat. He extended his hand, and she reached out her own to take the box from him wordlessly.

“If you tell me you don’t want it, I’ll leave. But after that, I don’t know what the hell I’ll do.”

There was a whiteness to his lips and in the faint lines around his nostrils.

Penny lifted the lid of the box. Some crumpled tissue paper and then the dying rays of the sun caught a cluster of tiny rose diamonds. She lifted the jewels in a hand that was suddenly shaking. Two shimmering pearls caught in a silver heart.
The love token
.

She raised her eyes to Kurt’s, brimming with tears of wonder. “How…?” she asked. The words caught in her throat. She held the box away from her as though it were unreal.

“I wanted you to have your dream.” He turned his head to take in the sunset and the lights of the city below them. “I begged Tehmeena to get you to come here. I wanted to ask you to marry me, and I wanted it to be perfect.” His gaze roved her face and fastened on her wide eyes. “I wanted it to be romantic for you. I was scared I’d left it too late.”

Her eyes dropped to the love token in her hands. The silver chain played out through her fingers.

“I want you to know how much I love you,” he said again, taking a step forward.

Her head lifted quickly, her eyes brimming with unimaginable joy, and she almost leapt forward into his arms. His hands fastened around her, and his mouth was on hers, gently at first. Then his arms tightened, his hungry mouth devoured her, and she gasped with the most delicious burst of golden euphoria lifting and swirling her body.