CATHERINE GEORGE - A Rumoured Engagement

Luke laughed. ‘I’d take that as more of a compliment if you didn’t look so astonished about it.’

Saskia smiled suddenly, and he nodded in approval.

‘That’s better. The first real smile since I arrived.’

‘Since I arrived, too,’ she said lightly. ‘Let me clear this away, then we’ll have coffee on the terrace.’

‘Right.’ Luke got up and went over to one of the floorto-ceiling cupboards. ‘There should be some Vin Santo in here to drink with it.’

‘Don’t you ever think of anything but wine?’ she said, laughing.

He turned mocking eyes on her. ‘Indeed I do. But I won’t shock you by giving details of my private life! Besides, Vin Santo is regarded here as the wine of friendship. It might help to stop us fighting.’ He sobered, looking at her searchingly, then turned back to the cupboard. ‘Is Marina perfectly happy about your solitary holiday?’

‘Not perfectly, no. What are you looking for?’

‘Eureka,’ he said in triumph, and returned to the table with a bottle of Vin Santo and a packet of santucci hard little almond biscuits-to eat with it. He filled two small glasses, and dipped one of the biscuits into his own. ‘Go on. When in Rome, and all that.’

Saskia dipped a biscuit, and nibbled. ‘I hope I can sleep after all this.’

‘Has sleep been difficult lately?’

‘Yes.’

There was silence for a moment. Then Luke stretched out a hand and touched hers very fleetingly. ‘Problems, Sassy?’

She removed her hand, and turned away to the coffee pot on the stove. ‘Nothing I won’t solve. In time.’

‘In other words, Mind your own business, Armytage.’

Saskia shook her head. ‘I didn’t mean that at all. It’s just hard to admit that I’ve been a fool.’

‘Over Lawford?’

‘Yes.’

Luke contemplated her thoughtfully. ‘Is there anything I can do? In my capacity as brother I could go and have a word with him for you, if you like.’

‘In which case you might lose his order. I gather it’s pretty substantial. And in any case you’re not my brother.’

‘I’m your stepbrother.’

‘Just because my mother married your father it doesn’t mean we’re related, Lucius Armytage,’ she retorted.

Luke’s eyes frosted over. ‘No. You’ve always made that very plain.’ He drained his glass and stood up. ‘The wine didn’t work after all. Don’t bother about coffee, I’m for bed-’

‘Please don’t go yet,’ said Saskia urgently. ‘I’m sorry, Luke. I didn’t mean to snap.’ She managed a smile. ‘I’m actually rather tired of my own company. We could play some music, or just count the stars. We don’t have to talk.’

He looked at her in silence for a moment, then shrugged. ‘We can talk for a while, if that’s what you want’

Outside, under the pergola, they sat in silence in the starlit darkness at first, then began talking about their respective parents, and the twins, and Saskia’s job as PA to the head of capital markets in one of the City’s merchant banks.

‘I’m thinking of making a move,’ she said, with a sigh. ‘Orchestrating the constant changes in my boss’s schedule is quite a challenge. Of course I like the client contact and the project work. And the bank is a prestigious one-looks good on my CV. But the past few days on my own here have given me time to think, take stock. Here in Tuscany the City seems like something on another planet.’ She smiled. ‘Of course, when I get back home I’ll probably be glad of the hustle and bustle. But at the moment I hate the thought of it.’

Luke’s wicker chair creaked as he stretched out his long legs. ‘I’m fortunate, I suppose. My way of earning my daily bread is unfailingly interesting-to me, anyway-not least because I travel regularly in pleasant places.’

‘But everything always has gone smoothly for you, Luke.’

‘Not entirely.’ He paused. ‘I wasn’t very happy when my parents divorced, believe me.’

Saskia bit her lip. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t think. How old were you when they parted? Thirteen, fourteen?’

‘Fifteen. Not quite grown up. In fact still young enough to bawl like a baby the night my mother told me she was going to live in America with Joe Harley. I could spend my holidays in California with them, she assured me, and we could talk on the phone all the time, and write to each other regularly. None of which was much comfort to me at the time.’

Saskia sat very still, listening intently. Luke had never said a word on this particular subject before.

‘In the end,’ Luke went on, ‘I even gained in some ways. I owe my interest in wine to Joe. He was always very good to me. I spent a lot of holidays helping out in his vineyards in Napa Valley, learning about New World viticulture almost by osmosis.’

‘But you lived with your father.’

‘Until I could afford a place of my own, yes. Dad had some idea about selling the house in Oxford at first, but I think he kept it on so I wouldn’t have too many changes to cope with at once. And now he’s glad he did, of course.’ He chuckled. ‘Funny, really. My mother couldn’t cope with the academic life. Marriage to an Oxford don wasn’t her scene at all. Yet Marina seems to thrive on it. But I’ve often wondered if she minded moving into what was virtually another woman’s home.’

‘Mother and I lived in a cramped little flat over her dress shop, Luke, so she adored the house from the first. Besides, she made some changes once we moved in. Even more when the boys were born.’ She paused. ‘How did you feel when the twins arrived?’

Luke laughed. ‘Astonished, at first. But who could resist that pair of charmers? My father was as pleased as Punch. I was happy for him. He spent ten lonely years on his own before he met your mother, remember. She gave him a new lease of life.’ He turned to look at her. ‘Your father died before you were born, I know. While we’re on the subject, how did you shape up to the thought of a stepfather?’

Saskia was quiet for a moment. ‘At first,’ she said slowly, ‘I was afraid and miserable, sure Sam would come between Mother and me. But I soon got over that once I knew him better. He’s always been kindness itself to me.’

‘The only fly in the ointment, then, was me.’

Saskia had been fifteen, and Luke ten years older when Samuel Armytage had married Marina Ford. Saskia had been prickly and full of illogical resentment for the good-looking, energetic young man, who had already opened the first of his shops and owned a smart car and a flat in Parsons Green.

‘You were so perfect, Lucius Armytage, and so superior and horribly pleased with yourself. You always had some gorgeous, slender sexpot in tow, while I was a seething mass of teenage angst with puppy fat, spots on my face and braces on my teeth. How I loathed you!’

‘Don’t I know it?’ he said with feeling. ‘I used to time my visits home for when you weren’t around.’

‘Don’t think I didn’t notice!’

He laughed. ‘I hope I’ve changed a bit since then. You certainly have. Our paths haven’t crossed for a while lately, but I hear the news from Dad and Marina. They seemed rather relieved that you’d stopped changing the boyfriend every five minutes and settled on one, at last’

‘Wrong one, as it happens,’ she said lightly.

‘Want to talk about it?’

‘No, thanks. You don’t want a tearful woman on your hands at this time of night.’

‘Hurt badly, Sassy?’

His tone was so unexpectedly tender her throat thickened.

‘Hopping mad, rather than hurt,’ she said gruffly. ‘With myself, for being such a fool. Mortifying. I honestly thought I had better judgement.’

‘I meant what I said about having a word with Lawford,’ he said casually, getting to his feet. ‘Or whatever you prefer in the way of chastisement. I object to my relatives getting hurt.’