Gill Paul - The Affair - An enthralling story of love and passion and Hollywood glamour

‘What age were you when you met Trevor?’

‘Nineteen. He was one of my college tutors when my dad died. He was really supportive, then gradually we fell in love.’

‘He is older than you?’

‘Yes, eighteen years …’ She could see how it must look to him: as if Trevor had become a father substitute. She’d wondered about that herself sometimes. Certainly, she’d felt very scared and isolated when she was orphaned, and Trevor made her feel safe and connected to the world again. That might have been part of the attraction but it wasn’t by any means the whole story. They’d become good friends as well as lovers. They discussed everything. That’s why the current lack of communication felt so horrible, as though a part of her had been amputated.

Ernesto put a comforting hand on her knee. ‘I’m sorry you’re lonely,’ he said, his eyes full of kindness.

She moved her knee so he had to shift his hand. ‘What about you? You haven’t mentioned your family. I presume you are married?’

‘No,’ he shook his head sadly. ‘But I have a huge family, with so many cousins that I can never remember all their names.’

‘I’m surprised!’ she said. ‘Surely most Italian men are married by your age? I don’t mean …’ In her wine-befuddled head, she realised that sounded rude.

‘I’m not yet thirty,’ he told her. ‘But I am very cautious with women. There was a girl I was in love with for many years. We were at school together, we became girlfriend and boyfriend in our twenties and I always thought we would be married, until I found she had been betraying me.’

‘Oh no! How did you find out?’

‘One day she told me she was marrying someone else, a man who is much wealthier than me. They even invited me to the wedding but I didn’t go. My heart was broken in pieces.’ He held his hands over the spot.

‘Was that recently?’

‘Four years ago, but since then … I don’t know. I am a cynic. I think I need to work hard and make lots of money and then I can choose the woman I want and she will say yes.’

‘We’re not all motivated by money,’ Diana protested. ‘You’ve just had bad luck.’

‘I think I am too soft when I give my heart. I should have realised what was going on with my girlfriend but every time she cancelled a date I forgave her. I never suspected a thing. I don’t think I will ever fall in love like that again.’

‘I’m sure you will,’ Diana smiled. ‘We humans always heal eventually.’ But then she thought of Cleopatra, the queen who gambled everything she possessed, and Mark Antony, the man who lost the sea battle of Actium and eventually his life because of his liaison with her. There had been no healing there.

They talked of affairs on the set and Diana asked, ‘Did you hear some of the extras have complained to Hilary about men groping them?’

Ernesto twinkled. ‘What do they expect when they are wearing next to nothing? We Italian men are very red-blooded.’

‘I’m insulted!’ Diana exclaimed in mock protest. ‘I’ve been in Rome for two months and I haven’t so much as had my bottom pinched. Maybe I am too old for those lotharios. They prefer the lithe young actresses.’ She meant it as a joke, but it reflected her feeling that she was less attractive, less hip than the other girls on the film.

Later that evening, as they walked up to their rooms, Ernesto grabbed her bottom in both hands and squeezed hard. She jumped in surprise and turned to rebuke him, but he gave her a broad wink. ‘Does that make you feel better?’ he asked.

Over the next few days the colour flooded her cheeks every time she thought of it.

When Diana arrived at the production office on her first day back from Ischia, she could hear an altercation inside. She opened the door to see the actor Richard Burton shouting at Candy. She recognised him straight away as she and Trevor had seen him in the film Look Back in Anger but he was much shorter than she’d imagined and his skin was as cratered as a piece of pumice stone. The eyes were piercing and the voice was magnificent but on the whole she didn’t think him very attractive.

‘Can I help?’ she asked Candy, wondering if she needed moral support.

‘No, it’s OK. Hilary’s on her way.’ She looked like a cornered animal.

Richard Burton glanced at Diana briefly then returned to the attack. ‘If it were the first time or even the second, I’d think it was just one of those bouts of inefficiency that every film set is prone to, but a fourth cock-up is rather too much, don’t you think? Was your silly blonde head too preoccupied with the Italian lads in carpentry?’

‘I was just doing what I was told, Mr Burton.’

Diana decided she didn’t like him. No matter what Candy had done, it was arrogant of him to speak to her in that way.

Hilary burst in, bringing an instant air of calm, and Diana stepped outside the office to let them resolve the dispute in peace. A woman with a pretty, young-looking face and backcombed silver-grey hair was standing smoking by the window.

‘I don’t suppose there’s anywhere to get a cup of tea round here, is there?’ she asked in a strong Welsh accent. ‘I’m fed up with this Italian coffee. It’s like swallowing bloody tar. I’m not sure how long I’ll be stuck here while my other half does his nut in there.’

Diana realised this must be Sybil Burton. ‘We keep a stock of tea in the office,’ she said. ‘Typhoo suit you?’

‘Bless you, love. Milk and two, please.’

As Diana made the tea she wondered at the physical differences between the Burtons. Sybil’s prematurely greyed hair made her look older than him, although her skin was smooth and wrinkle-free while his face looked decidedly lived-in. What must it be like to live with a man who had a temper like that? Diana also knew that he was notorious for having affairs. Was Sybil a doormat?

‘You’ve saved my life,’ she said gratefully when Diana took the tea out. ‘It’s so early we didn’t have time for any breakfast. Rich was told he had to be in makeup at nine but when we turned up there wasn’t a soul here. I think we even wakened the guard at the gate.’

‘I wonder how that happened?’ Diana was puzzled.

‘Seems they don’t need him today after all. No harm done, though. We might go and look around the Colosseum and the Forum. Have you been yet?’

‘I haven’t had time,’ Diana admitted. ‘I’m looking forward to it.’

‘Course I’ve seen the one they’ve got here. It’s more than twice the size of the real thing, I heard. That’s bloody Hollywood for you.’ Frowning slightly, she glanced through the window of the production office. ‘They like everything larger than life.’ She dropped her cigarette and ground it under a stiletto heel. ‘So what’s your role on the film?’

Diana explained and Sybil’s eyes widened. ‘You must meet Rich. He’s been doing a lot of background reading and I’m sure he’d love to have a chat with you. Maybe not today, though.’ She glanced inside again. ‘What’s your name, love?’ Diana told her. ‘I’ll mention you. Don’t worry. He’s not as fierce as he looks!’ She grinned in a way that seemed genuinely friendly and Diana warmed to her.

After they left, Diana entered the office to find Candy dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief while Hilary comforted her. ‘It was a simple misunderstanding. He’s got no right to be so rude to you.’ She raised her eyebrows at Diana. ‘Don’t upset yourself now.’

Half an hour later as they walked to the script meeting together, Hilary confided in Diana that the mistaken call had been entirely Candy’s fault and that she really wasn’t on top of the job. This was just one in a string of mishaps. Diana remembered that it was Candy who’d been supposed to arrange the car to pick her up from the airport – the car that never materialised.