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‘Let’s get ourselves taken over, shall we? I’m sure we can find a pilot. That way we can make a day of it.’
‘Sounds good,’ Connie said. ‘So, tell me about Elba? I know Napoleon was first exiled there, and then managed to escape and get back to France in time for Waterloo, but that’s about all...’
Dante had sounded forth with what he himself knew, but it was all amplified hugely by their visit.
‘It’s really too much to absorb in only one day’s visit,’ Connie said sadly. ‘I hadn’t realised Boney hadtworesidences here—and we haven’t time to see both.’
‘Well, we’ll just have to come back another time—have a holiday here, on Elba, and do it at our leisure,’ Dante said easily, and the notion sounded attractive.
‘That would be lovely,’ Connie said.
But there was a quality to her voice that Dante could not interpret. He wondered at it for a moment, then dismissed it.
‘Let’s get a coffee,’ he said. ‘History always makes me thirsty.’
She laughed. ‘Considering that Italy is absolutelyfullof history—from the Etruscans onwards—you must be perpetually thirsty!’
He gave an answering laugh, putting his arm around her waist as they strolled towards a likely-looking café not far from Napoleon’s town villa—now a museum, which they’d just visited.
It was good to put his arm around Connie, to have her close to him, to stroll along with her, amiably and leisurely, in an easy-going way. It was very relaxing to be with her, he mused. Probably because she lived life at a slower pace than he customarily did in his work-focused existence.
She gives me more time to appreciate things.
And he appreciated the present—this relaxing, getting-away-from-it-all holiday, this time with Connie, who had become what he had never before envisaged having at his side or in his life. Yes, it was good—definitely, unquestionably good.
They settled themselves down at a pavement table, under the café’s striped awning, and ordered coffee. Dante, feeling peckish as well as in need of a caffeine shot after so much Napoleonic history, ordered a pastry as well.
Connie looked at it enviously.
Dante lazily pushed the plate towards her. ‘Indulge,’ he said genially.
She shook her head, reluctantly. ‘Tempting—but not as tempting as you, Dante,’ she said. ‘I don’t want to put all that weight I shifted straight back on and find you don’t fancy me any longer!’
She spoke lightly—humorously, even—but Dante didn’t want her thinking such thoughts even for a moment. They were totally unnecessary.
He retrieved the pastry, deliberately cut off the end and, forking it up, presented it to Connie.
‘Let’s test that theory out, shall we? You eat this, and I’ll tell you if I still want to take you to bed. Then I’ll eat the rest, and you can tell me ifyoustill want to takemeto bed. Fair enough?’
She gave a laugh. ‘OK, you win,’ she said, and helped herself to the cream-filled sliver of flaky pastry. ‘Mmm... Oh, yes, that is good.’ She sighed happily.
Dante’s eyes rested on her. ‘I can confirm,’ he said with mock solemnity, ‘that, yes, I definitely, definitely still want to take you to bed. In fact...’ a husky note entered his voice ‘...if you like, we could spend the night here on Elba. Book into a hotel right away...’
She threw him a wicked glance. ‘But my toothbrush is at the beach villa,’ she teased.
‘Another can be purchased in this very town, I believe,’ he riposted dryly. ‘Together with toothpaste, so I am told.’
In the end they didn’t spend the night on Elba, but took the motorboat back to their own island, piloted by an individual as ancient as the driver of the pony and trap, who knew the currents and the sea lanes expertly.
The sun was setting, bathing the sea with gold and fiery red, as Dante relaxed back with Connie, his arm around her shoulder, her head resting on his, the breeze tossing their hair and cooling their faces as they cruised over the darkening waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea.
‘Can anything be more perfect than this?’ Connie murmured.
Dante could hear the happiness in her voice. Feel it echoing inside him.
His arm around her shoulder tightened, holding her even closer to him.
It felt amazing...
