The Italian’s Rightful Bride (12 page)

‘Fed up,' Joanna echoed. Crystal's petulant self-centredness was so overwhelming that it was almost impressive.

‘Of course the estate people were interested,' she pointed out. ‘If the prince doesn't have an heir it affects them all.'

‘Yes, well, it was no fun being a princess,' Crystal said sulkily. ‘I thought it would be, but it wasn't.'

‘Is that why you married him? For the title? You didn't love him at all?'

‘I don't really know,' Crystal said, considering this. ‘Yes, I suppose I was in love with him, in a sort of way.
He seemed glamorous and exciting then. I thought that was how we'd live, going to all the thrilling places in the world, meeting everyone who mattered. But all Gustavo wanted was to bury himself in this place and spend every penny on it.

‘Oh, we went travelling sometimes. He took me to New York every year. But even then he spent half his time on the phone to Renata's nurse, wanting to know if everything was all right. And he couldn't wait to get home. Lord, but he's dull to live with!'

‘Dull? Gustavo?'

‘He doesn't know how to have fun.'

‘I suppose he has his own idea of fun.'

‘Yes, old bones and bricks. History. Estate accounts. No, thank you!'

Suddenly she burst out, ‘I can't help the way I'm made. It's not my fault. I can't make myself feel what I don't feel.'

‘No, I suppose not,' Joanna sighed.

‘I tried for years, but I couldn't manage it. I should never have married him. He should have married you. You're as dull as him.'

‘Yes, I suppose I am,' Joanna said, without resentment.

You couldn't be angry with Crystal, she reflected. Part of her was still a child, and knew no better.

‘I expect supper will be ready,' she said. ‘Shall we go in?'

‘Just give me a moment. I haven't called Elena yet.'

Crystal called Toni's nanny several times a day to ask about him. In a moment she was on the phone to her, and Joanna could see at once that something was wrong.

‘I can hear him screaming,' she said into the phone. ‘What's wrong with him? Is he ill? What do you mean, hungry? He's ill. I know he's ill.'

Gustavo came into the room, with Renata. ‘What's the matter?'

‘Toni's ill,' Crystal wailed. ‘I must go to him at once. He might be dying.'

Gustavo took the phone from her. ‘Elena? What's happened? I see. Just his feed being a few minutes late?'

‘I've got to go to him,' Crystal wept.

Out of the corner of her eye Joanna saw Renata leave the room. Quietly she followed her out into the hall, up the stairs and as far as her room.

‘What are you doing?' she asked as Renata began taking clothes out of drawers, hampered by only having one good arm.

‘I'm going with Mamma. She wants me.'

‘But—'

‘She wants me,' Renata said, too decidedly to be convincing. ‘If Toni's ill she won't come back, so I have to go with her.'

Gustavo appeared in the doorway and she could see from his face that he had heard. He looked quickly at Joanna, and she saw a plea for help in his eyes.

‘Carissima,'
he said.

The child turned on him. ‘You can't stop me.'

‘Gustavo!' That was Crystal's voice calling from the corridor. ‘I'm ready to go. I have to get to Toni quickly.'

‘I'm coming, Mamma,' Renata called.

‘What?' Crystal came into the room, frowning. ‘What did you say?'

‘I'm ready to go.'

‘But, darling, what are you talking about? I can't take you with me.'

‘But you said—'

‘I said one day—maybe—but now Toni's ill—'

‘But that means you'll need me.' Renata's voice had risen to a wail.

‘But—but—I'm sorry, but you've got to understand—I simply can't—'

‘Renata—' Gustavo began.

‘No,' Joanna said swiftly, putting her hand on his arm. ‘Don't say it. This isn't a time for authority. It's a time for pleading.'

‘What do you mean?'

‘Don't order her,' she said softly. ‘But tell her how much you need her. Plead, beg if you have to.'

‘But you can see how she is—'

‘Don't give Crystal the chance to reject her again. She couldn't bear it. It's your best chance.
Do it!
'

Renata was regarding her mother with eyes that held a terrible look. Gustavo got between them, dropping down to one knee and putting his hands on her shoulders.

‘Carissima,'
he said, ‘if you want to go, I won't stop you, but please don't. Think of me if you went away. What would I do without you?'

She stood silent, uncertainty written all over her face.

‘I know you'd rather go with Mamma,' Gustavo said, ‘but I love you too, more than you know. Won't you stay with me? Please.'

Renata took a long breath and suddenly it was as though a great burden had fallen from her. She straightened herself, looking suddenly taller.

‘I can't go with you after all, Mamma,' she said with childish dignity. ‘Papa needs me to stay and look after him.'

‘Thank you, my darling,' he said.

Crystal's gift for playing a part came to her rescue.

‘I'm sure you're right,' she said. ‘You should stay and be kind to Papa. Yes, that's what you should do.'

She repeated this, evidently feeling that it was a mantra that she should cling to.

‘Now I need someone to drive me into Rome,' she said.

‘The chauffeur will take you,' Gustavo said. ‘I prefer to stay with my daughter.'

‘If you think a chauffeur's good enough for me when I'm in such a state about my baby,' Crystal sniffed.

‘Of course a chauffeur isn't good enough,' said Freddy from behind her. He'd slid into the room, unnoticed. ‘I'd be glad to drive you.'

‘Oh, Freddy, you're so kind and understanding,' Crystal said.

‘It's my pleasure,' he said, meaning it.

Joanna followed them out and downstairs to where the car had been brought around to the front. Before getting in Freddy gave her a wink. She shook her head in disapproval, which just made him wink again.

Before returning upstairs Joanna called Crystal's Rome apartment. She knew the number after seeing Crystal dial it so often.

‘Elena? She's on her way.'

The nanny gave an exasperated sigh. ‘There's no need. I've fed him and he's fast asleep. There's nothing wrong with him.'

‘Well, she's still on her way,' Joanna said wryly.

She joined the others for supper and didn't see Gustavo again until the end of the evening. Then he came seeking her, seizing her hands in his and holding them tight.

‘Thank you with all my heart,' he said. ‘I would never have thought of that. However did I manage before you came along? You've transformed everything. If only I…'

For some reason he seemed unable to go on.

‘If only what?'

‘If only I'd listened to your advice before,' he said, in an awkward way that told her it wasn't what he'd been going to say.

‘It saved Renata's face, poor little soul,' she said sympathetically. ‘This way, she's the one who made the decision.'

‘And that matters?'

‘Oh, yes,' she said, her mind going back twelve years. ‘You've no idea how much it matters.'

He released her hands. ‘I'll be grateful to you all my life,' he said. ‘I only wish I knew the way to tell you what you've done for me—how much it means.'

She waited, hoping for something more, but it didn't come. He'd retreated into himself again, and whatever he might have said would remain unspoken.

F
OR
those working on the dig, only one thing now mattered. How soon could they work their way through the bricks concealing the secret chamber? Brick after brick was eased out, dusted off carefully, and handed up to Lily, who inspected it minutely before passing it on to Danny, who X-rayed it. Sonya then put it through a battery of other tests, including scan and radar.

Joanna's conviction grew. This was the earlier part of the old lost
palazzo
, which meant it was at least fifth century, and perhaps earlier. When the brick that should have been in the last layer was removed, revealing just one more ‘last layer', Joanna led the cries of agonised exasperation.

‘I can't bear any more,' Hal moaned.

‘Oh, shut up, you cry-baby!' she told him, calming down and managing to laugh. ‘Let's get on with it.'

It took another half-day to work through the last brick into the gap.

‘We're through,' she said. ‘Let's have the flashlight.'

In another moment she was shining the light through into the darkness. What she saw made her sit down suddenly, breathing hard.

‘What is it?' Lily and Danny demanded in one voice.

‘Take this,' she said, holding out the flashlight, ‘and tell me what you see in there.'

One by one they looked, but nobody spoke a word. They were all too dumbfounded.

‘I think,' Joanna said slowly, ‘that I should fetch Gustavo.'

The light was fading as she reached the house and went straight to the library, where she found Gustavo at his desk with Renata, poring over an atlas, heads together.

‘There's something I think you should come and see,' she said as calmly as she could manage.

She was pleased to see that he instinctively glanced at his daughter, including her in the expedition.

‘I thought you'd all be coming in to supper about now,' he said.

‘This is much better than supper,' she said.

A mysterious, suppressed glee in her manner made him look at her, puzzled.

‘What is it?' he asked.

‘Come and see,' she told him.

Renata took her father's hand. ‘Let's go, Papa.'

‘Yes,' he said. ‘You lead the way.'

They went back in Joanna's car and found the excavation full of brilliant lights that had been hauled out from the trucks.

‘We've got out another brick,' Hal confided in a tone of excitement.

‘What have you discovered?' Gustavo wanted to know.

‘Take this,' she said, giving him the flashlight, ‘and look through there.'

He crouched down to follow the beam and she heard him draw in his breath.

‘Is that—what I think it is?' he asked.

‘It's gold,' Joanna said. ‘I'm almost sure of it.'

‘The lost treasure of Montegiano,' he murmured.

‘It'll take us some days to get right in there and remove
what we find,' Joanna said cautiously. ‘But it's looking good.'

‘Thank you for bringing me to see it,' he said. ‘If only—'

‘Yes,' Joanna said, nodding in understanding. ‘If only—'

‘We'll have to be patient, Papa,' Renata said, speaking like a nanny. Protecting her father was something she now took very seriously.

 

Joanna awoke suddenly, instantly alert. It was still dark but instinct told her that there was somebody in her room.

‘Who's there?' she demanded.

‘It's only me,' came Gustavo's voice. ‘Forgive me for coming in like this but I couldn't knock in case anyone heard. No, don't put the light on.'

She pulled herself up in bed. He was sitting on the bed and in the near-darkness she could just make out the glint in his eyes and the excitement that radiated from him.

Her pulses were racing, making it hard for her to speak. Why had he come to her room like this in the darkness?

‘Gustavo, why have you come here?' she managed to whisper at last.

‘I couldn't sleep. I've been lying awake thinking about everything—we're on the brink of so many things; don't you feel that?'

‘Yes,' she said.

If only he would kiss her. Since their night together a shadow had seemed to fall between them, but now he was here, seeking her out as though that shadow had never been. But why didn't he touch her?

‘I can't stand the waiting any longer,' he said. ‘Let's do it now.'

‘Let's—?'

‘Go out to the dig and find out what's there.'

‘Go to the dig?' she echoed in a daze.

‘I know it's still dark but the dawn will break soon. There'll be enough light to find something, surely?'

She stared at his face that had grown a little clearer as the light increased.

‘Is this why you came creeping into my room?' she asked, incensed.

‘I know I shouldn't have done it like this, but you understand, don't you?'

‘I'm beginning to.'

He didn't seem to notice a slightly grim edge to her voice. He was possessed by his own excitement over whatever might be found. Clearly this was the only thing he could focus on.

‘I'll join you downstairs in a minute,' she said.

He had the car's engine already running when she got in, and in ten minutes they were there. She got out some lighting and they descended into the foundations.

‘We managed to get another couple of bricks out,' she said. ‘You can see better now.'

She flooded the chamber with light, while he gazed through, drawing in a slow breath.

‘It's almost close enough to touch,' he said, trying to reach in. ‘No, I can't get through that hole.'

‘Here, take the light. I'm thinner.'

She reached forward, easing herself through the hole until she could just touch something. It came off in her hand and she had to grab it.

‘Pull me back,' she said quickly.

He hauled her towards him so fast that she had to hook her arm about his neck to steady herself. He held on, not letting her go, but breathing fast.

‘I'm not sure that I dare to look at it,' he said. ‘It matters too much.'

‘Does it?' she said, and she couldn't keep a certain sadness out of her voice. This wasn't what she had hoped mattered to him.

‘More than anything you could know,' he said fervently.

‘In that case,' she said calmly, ‘let's look at it.'

He lowered her to the ground and they sat down on a low wall while she held up the object she had found.

It was a large brooch, made of some yellowish metal, with stones embedded in it that looked like bits of cheap old coloured glass.

‘Oh,' he said in a deflated voice.

‘What do you mean, “oh”?' she asked through her rising excitement.

‘Cheap and nasty,' he said heavily. ‘Why did they bother to preserve it?'

‘Cheap and nasty?' she asked indignantly. ‘Do you think jewels looked the same fifteen hundred years ago as they do now? They didn't shine and glitter like modern stones.'

‘Yes, but these…' He stopped as her excitement began to get through to him. ‘Do you mean that those bits of glass are—?'

‘The last time I found something with “bits of glass” it sold for five million dollars,' she said. ‘I'm sticking my neck out, but I think it's real—real gold, real rubies, real emeralds—'

She got no further. His arms were about her, hugging her so tightly that she was breathless. The brooch fell, unnoticed, to the ground as he kissed her again and again.

‘Gustavo,' she said, laughing and kissing him back.

‘We won,' he cried exultantly. ‘We won. It's all right; everything's wonderful.'

‘Is it?' she asked, her head reeling. ‘Well, I know you're going to be very rich—'

‘But that's what's wonderful, don't you see? I can ask you to marry me now.'

She placed her hands on his shoulders, frowning a little.

‘Now? You can only ask now?'

‘Of course. I'm independent now. I won't look like a fortune-hunter to you
now
.'

Her frown deepened. ‘You never did look like a fortune-hunter to me. Put me down.'

He did so, while still keeping hold of her.

‘If you only knew how hopeless it looked to me—how could I approach you when I needed your money so badly?'

‘Why shouldn't you? You did it once before. I didn't blame you then. Why should you think I'd blame you now?'

‘But can't you see that this is different? When we met the first time—it was a bargain on both sides. We knew the terms before we even met. In its way it was an honest transaction. But now—'

‘But now we've made love,' she said slowly. ‘And that makes a difference. You'll be saying next that I compromised your honour.' She gave a mirthless laugh.

‘If anyone compromised it, I did. I tried to tell you that there were things I should have said first—'

‘But I already knew you were short of money. You needed to raise cash to repay Crystal. I think you told me that the first day. What were you doing? Warning me off?'

‘Of course not. You were just an old friend I felt I
could trust. It was only later that it mattered so much—after London…
Hell!
'

He ran his hands through his hair. He wasn't good at this. He preferred things to be straightforward.

‘After London—' he tried again ‘—I thought we were closer—'

‘So did I—'

‘If Freddy hadn't appeared—well, he did, and I had to be patient. I knew our time would come—it had to.'

‘The night of the party, the night Crystal appeared.'

‘Yes, she put all sorts of ugly ideas into my head.'

‘Trust her to do that! You shouldn't have listened.'

‘She wants the rest of her money at once. Try not listening to that.'

‘I know. Freddy told me. The two of them are rapidly becoming as thick as thieves, but so what? How can they affect us?'

‘She suggested that I marry you to repay her. Did Freddy tell you that?'

‘No, but he thought of it for himself.'

‘I'll bet he did. I'll bet he's slavering at the prospect.'

‘What does he matter?' she cried. ‘Why must you tie yourself in knots about this?'

‘Because that night I made love to you,' he said frantically, ‘I did it because I wanted to. I wanted you more than I've ever wanted anything or anyone, but how can you ever believe that?'

‘Because you've just told me.'

‘Well, I would, wouldn't I? If I'm after your money that's just what I'd do. Perhaps you should think before believing a word I say.'

‘Why are you so determined to put the case for the prosecution?' she cried.

‘Because nobody else is going to put it.'

‘Gustavo, I heard the case for the prosecution years ago. I've lived with it. Now I want to hear the other one.'

‘You should be cautious—I had a motive for behaving badly.'

‘Some people thought you were behaving badly when you married Crystal,' she flung at him. ‘But you didn't care. You outfaced them because that was how much you loved her. So why can't you outface people for me?'

‘Darling—'

‘Don't call me darling, you hypocrite.'

‘I love you, and I'll damned well call you what I like. Or doesn't it mean anything that I love you?'

There! He'd said it!

After all these years he'd said that he loved her, and instead of being the sweet, glorious moment she'd dreamed of, it had come as part of a stupid quarrel.

But it wasn't stupid. It struck at the heart of her love and what that love meant to her.

‘It would have meant something if you did love me,' she said slowly. ‘But actually I come some way down your list of priorities.'

‘I don't know what you're talking about,' he said distractedly. ‘I know this isn't the way it's supposed to happen—'

‘To hell with what's supposed to happen!' she cried. ‘You've spent so much of your life doing what you were
supposed
to do that you've forgotten how to do anything else. Why can't you just follow your heart, like you did with her?'

‘I wish you'd leave her out of it.'

‘How can I? You loved her so much that you didn't care what anyone thought, or even what you thought of yourself. Now it's different. Your priorities are first, your pride; second, your reputation; third, me.'

‘That's unfair.'

‘The truth is often unfair, and it is the truth. Well, it's not good enough. I don't want a half-love. I want one that matters so much that you'll trample everything else down for me, like you did before. And I can't have it, not from you, anyway. I even got better from Freddy.'

‘Freddy was a fortune-hunter.'

She sighed. ‘Gustavo, if I started worrying about the motives of men who had less than me I'd die an old maid. It includes most of them. I have my own standards, and that doesn't include a man's bank balance, or lack of it. I don't care! I only care how much he loves me.'

‘And I've told you that I do.'

‘No, you don't. What you love is your own opinion of yourself as a decent man.'

‘And you? You don't love me at all, do you?'

‘How the hell do you know?'

‘Because you're finding excuses to back off, just like last time. Isn't that true?'

She was about to tell him everything, but her temper had risen and hell would freeze over before she made a declaration of love here and now. Her heart was bitter with disappointment that it had come to this.

‘I think we should go home now,' she said. ‘This isn't the time or place.'

‘I think it is.'

‘Don't try to talk to me, Gustavo. I'm so angry I may never want to talk to you again.'

‘I don't understand you.'