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‘When that time comes, I’m hoping that he won’t need telling. I know in some ways he’s pretty immature for his age but in others... He’ll pick up on the clues. I’m not saying he knows much about people in love but I think he’ll soon cotton on that we aren’t.
‘And do you know a lot about people in love, Tilda?’
‘More than Sam,’ she countered carefully.
‘From experience?’
She felt the anger move like a rash of prickly heat across her skin. ‘I’d say that’s none of your business. What are you smiling about?’ she tacked on crankily.
‘I was wondering how many times in the office you wanted to say that to me.’
‘Itwasyour business then, that is the difference—though if you’d have asked me that back then I’d have still said it was none of your business and punched you regardless.’
Ezio threw back his head and laughed.
‘One of Tilda’s jokes?’ Sam said, climbing back in and waggling his eyebrows at Tilda as he teased her. ‘He’s only being polite because you’re on your honeymoon.’
Honeymoon?‘We’re not—’
‘We’re not going away at the moment. We’re waiting until I can take a decent stretch of time off, though we might island-hop for the odd weekend. I have a boat.’
‘Big super-yacht?’
‘No, a sailing boat—a thirty-footer, cross-over cruiser-racer, comfortable but built for speed. She’s a beauty.’
If this was an invention it was a good one. His enthusiasm sounded genuine but Tilda didn’t actually remember any photos of his model-clone girlfriends lounging half-naked on a sailing boat of any size. For that matter, she had never seen any of them at Villa Amphitrite.
Her eyes flicked to the villa. It looked almost unreal from here.
‘You ready?’
She had felt his stare but she hadn’t turned her head and she still didn’t. The answer to his question was a loud no, onsomany levels.
‘Yes. It looks original from here.’
‘From this angle at this distance, yes; you’ll see what I mean when we’re down there. It is definitely not a legitimate restoration, but a lot of the original features have been incorporated into the fabric of the new building. According to family legend, Amphitrite is named for the temple to her that the white marble for the original building was stolen from.’
‘This spot, it’s just so perfect.’
‘And safe.’
The soft addition drew her eyes to his face. ‘I know I sound a bit over-protective at times but I promised Mum and Dad at the funeral that...’ She felt her eyes fill and closed them, before pushing out a fierce, ‘Sam is my responsibility and if I put him in harm’s way I would never forgive myself.’
The image in his head of her, a younger, lonely figure by a graveside making a vow, had a heart-piercing poignancy. ‘Such slender shoulders,’ he said in a shiver-inducing undertone. ‘To carry so much... You’re both under my protection—you are safe. I’ll keep the nightmares away.’
Tilda looked from his dark relentless eyes to the floating castle and didn’t feel safe, but she did feel excited.
By the time she reached the villa she had run out of superlatives to describe it, though no doubt, had she asked, Sam could have helped out. When the infinity pool came into view, and the beach, being Sam he made time to assure his sister that swimming on a full stomach was not dangerous; it was an old wives’ tale.
They pulled up on the forecourt where not only the pool was visible but the towering glass-paned extension that faced the sea.
‘Wow, I take it that isn’t part of the original building?’ she said, unfastening her seat belt and sliding out, immediately hit by the pungent scent of lemon thyme that grew in the cracks between the terracotta paving.
Sam had run ahead and vanished round a corner.
‘He’ll be fine,’ Ezio said, anticipating her anxiety.
‘That is beautiful.’ She stared at the glass extension, marvelling how it seemed to blend organically with the original stone. The arched roof and striking cupola were even more stunning close up than at a distance.
