She did her fervent best to let him know how she felt, but this wasn’t the time or the place. The best could come later.

She sighed as he released her, caring for nothing except for the moment.

‘I suppose that gave them something to talk about,’ she said hazily.

‘They’re gone,’ said the gondolier behind them.

It was true. The motor boat had turned away down another canal, leaving their gondola the only boat in sight. The singer was strumming away and beginning another song.

‘He’s singing Venetian, isn’t he?’ she asked. ‘What do the words mean?’

Pietro began to translate,

‘“We have all the beauty in the world. Secrets that no one else knows, Will be ours for ever. But do I mean Venice, Or our love?”’

‘What a lovely song,’ she murmured, her head leaning against him.

‘Have you ever heard it before?’

‘No,’ she said, understanding his true meaning. ‘Not from Gino or anyone.’

‘I don’t care about anyone else-just Gino.’

Ruth waited for him to kiss her again, but now he was looking at the water ahead, and she realised that he was suddenly uneasy. It was the men standing behind them, she realised. It would be different when they were really alone. For the moment it was enough to nestle against him in perfect contentment, and let things happen as they would.

Time no longer existed, if it had ever existed. Little canals came into view, leading away into darkness, then passing into other canals. From the distance came music and laughter, yet here they were almost alone.

‘When did you last eat?’ Pietro asked suddenly.

‘I can’t remember. I skipped breakfast and today was so busy, and then I went to the station and I forgot everything else.’

‘Me too, and I’m hungry.’

‘I’m ravenous.’

At his signal the gondolier rowed over to the bank and let them land on a small piazza, where lights dazzled from a few modest buildings. As he drifted off Pietro put his arm around her shoulders and led her to a tiny place, ‘run by a friend of mine’.

As she’d expected and hoped the restaurant was neither expensive nor fashionable, being little more than a pizza parlour, with many dishes being cooked in plain sight. One chef was doing a stunt, tossing a ‘pancake’ higher and higher, to loud applause. When he’d finished he hailed the newcomers with a roar.

‘Pietro-’ The rest of his words were indistinguishable.

‘Ciao, Sandro.’

Pietro turned out his pockets, indicating that he had no money, and the man made a gesture that clearly meant, ‘So what?’ The next moment they were being led to a table in the tiny garden at the back. Luckily the weather was warm for January, and they sat there in comfort while Sandro bustled out with a menu that contained fifty different pizzas.

‘You pick what you want and Sandro makes each one up individually,’ Pietro explained. ‘He’s a genius and these are his masterpieces.’

He was right. When the food arrived it was so delicious that neither spoke for several minutes. Then Pietro groaned.

‘What’s the matter? It’s lovely,’ Ruth protested.

‘The food’s fine. I was thinking of the day I’ve had.’

‘Has the Baronessa been giving you a hard time?’

He gave her a speaking look.

‘She spent most of the day lecturing me about the meaning of Carnival.’

‘But doesn’t she know you’ve lived here all your life?’

‘If she does, she gives it less significance than her “feelings”. She’s aiming to take part in the opening procession, although the arrangements were settled ages ago. She’s relying on me to speak to the organisers. She says she’s sure that I can do anything I set my mind to.’

‘Compete with sighs and fluttering eyelashes?’

‘Complete with everything. She keeps trying to get me alone so that she can exercise her “charms”.’ He closed his eyes.

‘But surely a man of the world like you can cope with her easily?’ she teased.

Pietro gave her a baleful look. ‘It isn’t funny.’

‘It is,’ she choked. ‘It’s terribly funny.’

He gave a reluctant grin. ‘All right, it’s funny. But being rude to women is an art I never quite mastered, and it’s too late to start now. Besides, Franco is my friend.’

‘I suppose you could just give her that deadly stare you once gave him.’

‘It would just ricochet off her, and she’d give me one back. I’d back her against myself anyday.’

He began to laugh, the kind of full-hearted sound she’d never expected to hear from him. It was good to watch him covering his eyes with one hand and shaking with mirth.

‘Anyway, it’s your fault,’ he said at last. ‘You should have stayed there to protect me.’

The thought of this strong, attractive man needing her protection made her chuckle again. She felt light-headed, finding amusement in everything, flying up to the stars.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said meekly. ‘I didn’t mean to desert you in the face of the enemy, but I never thought of it.’

‘I’m surprised, given your low opinion of men.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘I remember hearing you talk about Salvatore Ramirez after that evening you spent with him and his wife. You said he was mostly window dressing-like most men.’

‘Did I really say that?’

‘You know you did. Your voice had a scathing note that made me curious.’

‘I wasn’t scathing,’ she protested.

‘You certainly didn’t sound as though the male sex had greatly impressed you.’

‘I can’t think why.’

‘Is that a real lapse of memory or a diplomatic one?’

‘I think I must have been going more by my instincts than my experience,’ she said, recalling his words of another time.

‘So it’s your instincts that tell you not to bother with men because we’re all hopeless?’

‘Mmm!’ She considered. ‘The idea occasionally strolls through my mind.’

‘Shall I tell you what strolls through my mind?’ he asked satirically. ‘That when I found you in the rain that night I should have left you out there.’

‘You wouldn’t have done that. If I’d knocked on your door full of self-confidence and dressed in expensive clothes, you’d have sent me away with a flea in my ear, rain or no rain.’

He glared. ‘I hope you’re not suggesting that I’m a soft-hearted do-gooder who actually prefers creatures who need protecting.’

‘Of course not,’ she said, sounding shocked. ‘I wouldn’t dream of insulting you like that.’

‘Because, to my mind, that’s just another sort of arrogance.’

‘Perhaps you are arrogant, in your own way,’ she mused. ‘Maybe I will insult you, just a little. Admit it. You took me in for the same reason you took Toni in.’

‘Sure, you’re just another lost dog. I look at you and Toni and I can hardly tell the difference.’

‘That’s easy. I’m hairier,’ she said at once.

‘Don’t make me laugh while I’m eating,’ he begged.

Not for the first time with Pietro, she discovered that the roads to a serious truth could lead through laughter. It was in his big, generous nature to reach out to the weak and vulnerable, and then be grumpy about it afterwards.

It was only recently that she had fully understood that she was made the same way. Where others saw his money and status, she saw his need, and longed to care for him as he cared for her. But this too had to be half concealed behind amusement. He was touchy.

‘I love this,’ she said suddenly. ‘When the evening began, I had no idea it would end this way. That’s the best kind of evening. Life should be unexpected.’

Right on cue the waiter appeared with the menu so that she could look through a series of dishes that she’d never seen before.

‘They all look very unexpected,’ she mused.

‘The plain and simple ice cream is the best. My friends here make it themselves.’

‘You choose for me.’

He selected a chocolate ice cream straight out of heaven, topped off with nuts, and ordered a bottle of champagne.

‘Are we celebrating something?’ she asked.

‘I feel as if we ought to be,’ he said enigmatically.

‘You’re right. We’ll think of something later.’

They clinked glasses with an air of triumph.

‘I feel as though Carnival has started already.’ Ruth sighed happily. ‘The time when people forget common sense and go wild. Ah, well!’ She raised her champagne glass and intoned, ‘There’s always Lent to repent.’

‘I can’t imagine you ever repenting,’ he mused. ‘I think if you decided on something you’d go for it and accept the consequences.’

An echo skittered through her brain. Somewhere, quite recently, she’d heard that before. But then it was gone and she had no time to brood.

‘I think I would,’ she agreed. ‘Whatever they were. If you don’t reach out and seize life-you’d never know, would you? And that could be the most painful thing in the world, not knowing. That could be the worst thing that might ever happen to you, to go through life, wondering-’

So preoccupied was she with the thought that she was barely aware of him watching her from dark eyes, until he said, ‘That won’t happen, Ruth, I promise you. I’ll get him back here, and make him help you.’

‘Oh, yes, Gino!’ For a moment she’d completely forgotten about him.

‘Weren’t you talking about him?’

‘He’s not the only thing in life,’ she prevaricated. ‘There are other things to wonder about, things it would be sad never to know.’

‘Were you thinking of anything in particular?’ he asked, watching her closely.

She thought for a moment. ‘I’m not sure.’ Then a brilliant smile illuminated her eyes. ‘Is there any more champagne?’

CHAPTER TEN

AS THEY left the restaurant Pietro asked, ‘Do you know where you are?’

‘No,’ Ruth said softly. ‘I have no idea where I am. I’m completely lost.’