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‘No. I do not want you to put them on for me,’ Lisa said under her breath, ‘whatever they might be.’
‘You mean you haven’t looked?’ His voice rose. ‘You mean you haven’t even opened my gift.’
Everyone was staring at them.
‘Forgive me, Stella Panayotakis, Arianna, Giorgio,’ he said smoothly. ‘I did not mean to interrupt your conversation.’
‘Is that a gift for Lisa?’ Stella said happily. ‘You should give it to her yourself, Tino.’
‘No, no, I—’ Lisa started to protest as she pushed her chair back from the table. But then she felt Tino’s hand on her arm and froze. She couldn’t do this. Of course she couldn’t do this. She couldn’t ruin Arianna’s evening. ‘Forgive me, everyone.’ She found a laugh. ‘I’ve never been very good at receiving gifts.’
‘Perhaps that’s because you haven’t received enough gifts,’ Stella remarked, busying her
self with some olive-oil dip for her bread.
‘What have you bought for Lisa, Tino?’ Arianna cut in, dispelling the tension with her excitement. ‘I love presents. And, Giorgio—I’m very good at receiving them.’
Everyone laughed, and then Arianna said, ‘Well, aren’t you going to show us what you have bought for Lisa, Tino?’
He shrugged, and flipped the catch on the jewel case.
There was a stunned silence. The perfectly matched emerald earrings were surrounded by brilliant cut diamonds.
Giorgio was the first to recover. ‘Why, they’re magnificent,’ he said bluntly. ‘I’ve never seen such splendid stones.’
They were everything she had been expecting, and dreading too, Lisa realised as she watched Tino pluck the earrings from their velvet nest.
‘I remembered how much you loved the amethysts,’ he murmured, brushing back her hair to fix one earring in place. ‘And I thought these would be even better, because they will bring out the colour of your eyes.’ Cupping her chin in one hand, he brought her round to face him so that Lisa had nowhere to look but straight into his.
‘There…I was right,’ he murmured, adjusting the second one. ‘They’re perfect.’
There was a spontaneous round of applause.
She knew he could see the tears building up in her eyes, and she hated herself for the weakness. It took every ounce of will-power and years of practice to hold them back. ‘Thank you.’ Her voice sounded so wooden. ‘The earrings are lovely.’
‘And now we go dancing in the village to celebrate,’ Stella declared energetically.
‘Will you excuse me?’ Lisa pushed up from the table. ‘I seem to have developed a slight headache… The flickering candles, perhaps.’
‘Lisa—’ Tino started to get up from the table too, and then Arianna did too.
Stella held her daughter back. ‘You must be exhausted, Lisa. I know what these meetings have meant to you. Business has taken everything out of you. You need rest now…rest, and quiet.. and, goodness knows, you won’t get that in the village. Tino,’ Stella said, turning to him, ‘see that you take care of Lisa. She must go to bed with a cup of warm milk.’
‘Of course, Stella,’ he murmured politely, giving her a small bow.
Was this payback time for the priceless emeralds? Lisa wondered, because, however much she wanted Tino, she could never be bought.
They both stood as still as statues until Stella, Arianna and Giorgio had gone, and then Tino turned to her. ‘I’m not sure about the cup of warm milk.’
‘Tino, don’t.’
‘What do you mean, don’t?’ he said, lifting his warm hands away from her shoulders.
Taking off the earrings, Lisa held them out to him. ‘I don’t need these.’
‘No one needs beautiful things, but they are an expression of…’
‘Of what, Tino?’ Lisa said tensely. ‘Possession?’
