Upstairs, she packed quickly, then let him carry her bags down to the car. A few minutes and they had reached his home. As they approached the front door, a window opened high above them and a young woman looked out, smiling and waving down to them. Leonizio waved back.
The front door was already open as they approached. The young woman stood there, smiling.
‘Mamma indisposta,’ she said. ‘Non puo venire oggi.’
Ellie just managed to understand this as, ‘Mamma is unwell. She can’t come today.’
‘Better speak English,’ Leonizio said. ‘Ellie, this is Corina. Her mother is my housekeeper.’
‘But today she has a bad headache,’ Corina said. ‘So I came instead. I must go now, or my husband will be cross.’ She smiled at Ellie. ‘But first I show you your room.’
The room was large and luxurious, dominated by a double bed.
‘The signore left before I arrived,’ Corina said, ‘but he left a note saying everything in this room was to be perfect for you.’
‘How kind of him,’ Ellie said politely.
So he’d left those instructions before she had agreed to come here, she thought. Just as he’d checked her out of the hotel without asking her. Those were his methods, and she would have to be always on her guard.
Corina helped her unpack, then went out to Leonizio, who paid her and showed her out.
‘Let’s have some coffee,’ he said to Ellie.
He made good coffee, and they sat together in the kitchen.
‘We can make our arrangements,’ he said. ‘You can tell me how you want things to be.’
‘Is that meant to be a joke? How I want things? After the way you’ve controlled me today. You ordered the room to be fixed before I’d even agreed to come.’ She gave a brief laugh. ‘Suppose you hadn’t been able to get me here? You’d have looked foolish in front of Corina.’
‘It wouldn’t have done my dignity any good,’ he agreed. ‘And you’d have enjoyed that. I’m going to have to beware of you.’
‘As long as you realise that.’
Before he could reply the telephone rang. He answered it, spoke tersely in rapid-fire Italian and hung up.
‘I’ve got to go to my office for a couple of hours. Why not come with me and let me show you around?’
‘Thank you but there’s no need. I won’t escape. I promise.’
He made a wry face. ‘I wasn’t exactly thinking that—oh, hell, yes, I was.’
‘I wonder what your employees would think if they saw how easily you get into a panic.’
‘Only with you. You’re the scariest person I know.’
‘Then I’ll just have to stick around for the pleasure of scaring you.’
He smiled suddenly, but his smile was quickly replaced by a frown. ‘I have to be going. I’ll be back as soon as I can.’
He departed quickly, leaving her to lean from the window, watching him until he vanished. She had a good view of the neighbourhood, with its expensive shops and elegant roads.
So many roads, she thought. And no way of seeing where they all led.
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