One Hot Summer (7 page)

‘
Go and change.’ It was an order.

‘
But the Signora is waiting.’

‘
We shall wait. Mamma, Signorina Jan is not quite ready for lunch. We must wait for her.’

The Signora smiled and bent her head graciously in agreement. Fuming with rage, Jan left the table, went to her room feeling like a child in disgrace, and pulled off her dress. Her hands shook as she snatched down one of Bianca’s.

At lunch she was too angry to speak. The fresh-caught fish, the strawberries soaked in wine, tasted like nothing. When his mother had withdrawn for her siesta, Marco said:

‘
I’m sorry, I forgot. I brought our letters from the mainland. It saves time, to collect them. There is one
for you.’ He laid an envelope on the table and she saw with a leap of her heart that it was in Michael’s writing, readdressed from the Rome hotel.

‘
Thank you,
signore
.’

‘
We agreed you should call me Marco when we are alone. Please do so.’

‘
Marco.’

‘That’s better. You are not sulking because I scolded you?’

‘No. I deserved scolding, for running away with your car. It was a stupid thing to do and I have already apologised. But I am very angry indeed at being ordered away from the table like a child, to change my dress. I tried my best not to keep your mother waiting, yet you forced me to do so.’

‘
That need not happen again, if you will keep your promises.’

She was longing to be alone and open Michael’s letter, but Marco had given her an opening she could not miss.
‘
Marco, what is the purpose of this—this masquerade? Why do you insist I dress up as your sister?
You
want people to think she is at home, don’t you? I’m not prying in matters which don’t concern me, but if I’m to play a part in this deception, at least I should be told something about it.’

His mouth whitened. His eyes, looking at her, were hard as pebbles.

‘
I am a rich man, Jan. My sister has expensive clothes from good dress houses. You are a working girl, you tell me, and I thought you would enjoy the chance to wear such clothes.’

‘
You—damned little snob! How dare you! Yes, I earn every penny to pay for my clothes. And yes, some of them are bought at a chain store. But I’m not ashamed of them. If you’re ashamed of me, you shouldn’t have asked me here as a guest. I’d have come as an employee, for the remainder of my holiday,
if you
’
d offered me a job looking after your mother straight out, instead of disguising it as an invitation.’

The tightness went out of his face. He almost smiled.
‘
Dear me, what fireworks! I’d no idea you could be so temperamental. Almost Italian, if you’ll allow me to say so. I assure you, my only crime was to give you some pleasure.’

‘
Do you think it gives me pleasure to be
ordered
to wear certain clothes? To be driven around the whole island by a servant who knows perfectly well what I really want? You told him to do that, didn’t you? Don’t let her get too close to other people, or they’ll notice she isn’t Bianca. Isn’t that what you told Dino?’

‘Why should I?’

‘
That’s what I’m asking you. Why? There’s a gate leading to a path down to what looks like a private beach. It was open yesterday. Today I found it padlocked. Was that because I tried it yesterday and someone thought I might go down there and be seen?’

‘
I didn
’
t know about that. Did you actually
g
o through the gate?’

‘
A few yards only.’

‘
The path is dangerous. Probably Dino locked it because he feared you might slip and fall. Our guests are our responsibility. The path leads only to our private beach. If you want to go, I will take you.’

‘
Thank you. I had a longing to swim in the sea, that’s all
.
We have a pool at the hospital. Not as beautiful as yours, and there are no lilies overhanging the water. But the sea—that’s quite something.’

‘Very well. We’ll swim this evening. I shall be ready at five.’

She swallowed. What could one do, with a man like Marco! He made one feel so deflated. She felt like saying
I
don’t want to go now
!
but he would merely point out how childish that was; besides, it was untrue. She did want to go.

‘
At five. That is kind of you, Marco. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll read my letter now.’

He called her back.
‘
Also I should tell you, your passport is ready, and new travel documents. I telephoned the Consul’s office. I also enquired at the bank. Your money should be there tomorrow. If I do not need the boat, Dino can take you all the way to Naples. Otherwise, I will take you as far as Ischia and you can catch the ferry from there. If you will not consider me too much of a little snob, I will lend you the money to finance your trip, and you can pay me back when you return in the evening.’

‘
You took all that trouble for my affairs, when you had business of your own? Marco, I shouldn’t have called you a snob, but you just made me so angry I couldn’t help myself. You’re lucky it wasn’t something worse.’

‘Don’t apologise, my dear Jan. You look lovelier than ever when you are angry, and we Italians enjoy watching a woman in a passion. A touch of hot ginger in a dish lends added pleasure.’

Francesca arrived to clear the luncheon table and seemed confused to find them still there. She made to go away, but Marco called her back, saying he and the Signorina were going.

‘
You to your siesta, Jan. And I to my work. We shall meet again at five.’

Michael wanted her. The letter was a despairing cry from the heart, but it left Jan cold.

So the other girl had let him down. Just as he had let Jan down. She hadn’t wailed for sympathy, and all the tears she had shed had been in private. But this—
!
She shrugged helplessly. It was just a load of self-pity, which even a month ago would have fooled her, sent her running to poor Michael with little cries of sympathy. Not now.

Sorry, Michael, she said as she tore the letter into narrow strips and dropped them in the wastepaper basket. Seems like you’re going to have to do some growing up, boy. But not at my expense, thank you.

The louvred shutters were closed against the afternoon sun; the room was cool and dark, smelling of flowers. As Jan drifted into a light sleep, the thought came to her that she had grown out of Michael because she’d met a real man now. The thought must have amused her, for she slept with a little smile on her lips.

She woke with a feeling that something pleasant was about to happen, and lay idly watching the narrow slits of sunlight on the closed shutters. She felt relaxed and rested, the sharp skirmish with Marco half forgotten. In this lotus-land, nothing was important enough to quarrel about. Especially with Marco, who could be so kind when he chose, and even at his worst, never failed in his princely good manners.

Remembering Marco, she remembered they had a date at five o’clock to go swimming. And before that, there would be the Signora Cellini’s tea, served on the terrace overlooking the Bay, as delicate and formal as a ballet, with Francesca in a clean white cotton apron and wearing white silk gloves. To-day Marco would be there. Punctilious in his attendance on his mamma, he would never miss her tea-time when on the island.

Jan got up, showered, and pinned her hair into a neat bun on top of her head. It was cooler that way, and would be easier to handle after the sea-water swim. Then she pulled out all Bianca’s swim suits and made a careful choice. Italian fashion house or British chain store made little difference when one got down to basic girl-in-a-bikini, and Jan had confidence in her long shapely legs and slim bare midriff. It was the teatime cover-up that was important. She chose a strawberry-
red and white polka-dot halter-neck playsuit, with matching choker necklace and lime-green leather sandals. Marco was so right, for the wrong reasons. Good clothes did a lot for a girl’s morale.

Marco Cellini had, it seemed, completely forgotten the brush they’d had at lunch, and forgiven her for her theft of the morning. He rose when Jan appeared, kissed her hand and adjusted the big rose-pink fringed umbrella which shaded the white wrought-iron table.

‘
About Capri,’ he began as if they were in the middle of a conversation.
‘
You cannot leave the Bay of Naples without going there. In spite of the tourism boom, it is still a heavenly spot and I promised to take you. If I am free, we shall go there the day after tomorrow. Tomorrow, you are to collect your valuables in Rome. I have business in Rome, so you must be ready to leave at eight in the morning. We shall travel together, in my car. It will be pleasanter for you than the train.’

‘
You change your mind quickly, Signor Marco. At lunch you
promised to lend me the fare. I can manage alone, truly I can. You’re a busy man and I do not wish to be a nuisance.’

‘
I have changed my mind,’ he replied in a tone which forbade argument.

He had changed for the bathe. He wore a white shortie bathrobe, with short sleeves, and was more powerfully built than appeared when formally dressed. Muscular forearms, and legs, were brown as mahogany. His feet, thrust into well-used leather sandals, were shapely and strong. As he conversed with his mother, Jan studied him with professional interest; the muscles beneath the satin smooth skin, the bone beneath the muscles. Almost one could take him for the original model of some of those old Roman gods, br
o
nze or marble, in the museums and gardens she had seen.

‘
Well,’ he said at last, with a smile in her direction
which would have set any woman’s pulse stirring,
‘
shall we go? You need reliable sandals on your feet, not those nonsensical ankle-twisters you’re wearing. Put on the pair you were wearing this morning. We have a lot of clambering to do, and I promise you I’m not prepared to carry you up the cliff if you damage yourself.’

She said demurely,
‘
The ankle-twisters belong to your sister. The reliable ones are my own.’
He
acknowledged the shaft with a rueful grin.

‘
T
ouch
é
!
You have a quick tongue. I wouldn’t care to trust you with a rapier.’

Without a word, Jan unrolled her scarlet towel. The approved sandals were rolled in it. Did he think her such a fool as to attempt the cliff steps in fashion sandals?

His eyebrows rose in surprise, mock or genuine.
‘
Mamma, this is the first young woman who ever got the better of me, and made me laugh at myself
!
’

‘
Your father said the same thing about me. It is good for a man to have to laugh at himself sometimes. Otherwise he becomes pompous. Your father was never pompous.’

Marco glanced quickly at Jan, meeting her eyes in a question. The Signora had spoken of her husband in the past tense. Jan
’
s Italian grammar being shaky, she had not been quite sure until she saw Marco’s reaction.

‘
You are doing my mother good,’ he said as they started the climb down to the beach.

‘
I
wish you would stay with her as a companion. I will double whatever they pay you at your hospital.’

‘
I need notice of that question. How can I decide such an important step while hanging on to a
cliff
by my eyebrows?’

‘
You’ll think about it?’

‘
Who wouldn’t? A fat salary, an easy patient, the Bay of Naples. I’ll think about, it, Marco. But don’t be too hopeful. I’m too young to get myself trapped in a cul-de-sac and say goodbye to all ambition.’

The path led down between banks of flowers whose warm scent filled the air. Broom there was, in golden cascades, and herb-scented shrubby plants, and great clumps of moon-daisies. Though the going was steep, the steps were well kept and there were good hand-holds. When Marco called a halt for a rest, it was possible to see a thumbnail-shaped bay between two headlands, which could only be reached by water.

‘
Can’t one walk round at low tide?’ Jan wondered.

‘There is no tide in the Tyrrhenian sea, you ignorant girl!
’

‘
Sorry, I forgot. Could one swim round?’

‘
Only if one were an exceptionally good swimmer. The cliffs go sheer into the sea on either side, and there would be no place to moor a boat.’

Jan pointed below them.
‘
How do we manage the last bit? From here, it looks as if the cliff ends in mid-air over a sheer drop.’

He chuckled.
‘
It does. The last part of the descent is by ladder.’

‘Help!’

‘
An-iron one, cemented into the rock. We keep it in repair, though no one uses the beach nowadays. I used to, as a boy, but Bianca complains the climb up again spoils the cooling effect of the swim.’

‘
Why isn’t it overgrown, if no one uses it?’

‘
W
h
at an inquisitive girl you are! I’ve no idea. Probably Dino or one of the men about the place clears it from time to time. They may use it for swimming, for all I know.’

‘
I see. You did give Dino orders to lock it, didn’t you?’

‘No. He misunderstood me. I told him not to allow
you to get yourself lost, and to keep an eye on you. He exceeded his orders, that’s all.’

‘
Then it was for his own reasons he didn’t want me down here.’

Marco gave her a sharp glance.
‘
What makes you say that?’

‘I wonder about things, that’s all. The hinge on the gate was oiled.’

‘
I have an efficient staff. Shall we move on, or do you want to rest a few moments longer?’

‘
On. I can’t wait to get into the sea. Blue, emerald, turquoise, green, azure. It fascinates me. Is it warm?’ The ladder was vertical, the descent longer than Jan had imagined. Looking down, she felt slightly sick. It would be awful to fail now, but she wished heartily she had not been so insistent upon coming down to the sea.

‘
There’s always a first time,’ Marco smiled.
‘
Once you’ve done it, you won’t think a thing about it. Wait, now.’ He went down several rungs, then leaned outward, his arms outstretched as he gripped the sides of the ladder firmly.
‘
Come down to me. Don’t look down, I’ll tell you when to stop. Put your feet into the rungs, please, not on my face.’ She felt his hand take a grip of her heel and guide her foot.
‘
That’s right. Now I am holding you, you cannot fall. Move when I move. Left foot down now.’

She was all but clasped in hi
s
arms as they moved down step by step. All she could see were the iron steps, the riven and striated rock, the outcrop of tiny flowering plants. She could feel the warmth of his body close to hers, hear his breathing.

‘
Are you all right, Jan?’

‘
Yes, thank you. I feel perfectly safe.’

‘
In my arms?’ She heard him chuckle quietly. The wretch, he was mocking her very natural fears.

Would she ever understand this man, with his lightning changes of mood?

Feet on the hot sand at last, Jan craned her neck to see the route they had travelled.
‘
I’ll do it alone next time. I don’t intend to let a silly old ladder get the better of me.’ Eager for the pleasure of the salt water, she stepped out of the playsuit, revealing a hot red silk jersey bikini with shoestring straps which she had chosen to set off her creamy skin.

Marco tilted back his head and looked at her through half-closed eyes.
‘
Clever girl
!
On Bianca it is a failure. Why?’

‘
Possibly because she swims in the Mediterranean sun more often than I can. Is she tanned?’

He snapped his fingers.
‘
That’s it. We almost never see a true milk-white skin. Jan, you are really beautiful.’

She laughed happily.
‘
You’ve made my day! With a newly mended heart to my credit, a smashing compliment was just what I needed, like cream on strawberries.’

‘
Tell me about this heart of yours? Was it broken?’

‘
In a thousand pieces. I almost died. Then one day I looked and it wasn’t even cracked.’

‘
You hadn’t loved him after all.’

She thought a minute, shifting the sand with her toe.
‘
Oh yes, Marco—I loved him.’

‘
But you found someone you loved more, perhaps?’

‘
Now who’s inquisitive? No, funnily enough, it wasn’t that. I just realised one day that he wasn't grown up and probably never would be. Or not till he stopped loving himself more than anybody else.’

‘
Was he handsome?’

She narrowed her eyes, trying to recall all the details of Michael’s face she knew so well, with her eyes, her hands, her mouth.

‘
I don’t think so. His face just added up to—Michael. Looks don’t matter, except at the very beginning. Once you’re in love you only see the one person shining through.’

‘
You think you may love again?’

‘
Goodness, I hope so. I’m twenty-one. I’d hate to think my love life was ended.’

‘
It won’t be. I see strings of beautiful young men in your future.’

‘
One will be enough, if he’s the right one.’

He reached out both hands, cupped her smooth shoulders and pulled her towards him. His mouth came down hard on hers. This was a man’s kiss, insistent, demanding, confident.