‘She doesn’t really call you uncle?’

‘I swear she does. She kept coming out with it all that evening, and I had to keep frantically reminding her not to. Let’s find her so that I can tell her that she’s off duty from now on.’

They found Galina a few moments later, dancing smoochily with Ruggiero, so absorbed in him that it was with great difficulty that Primo attracted her attention. Then he pointed to Olympia, giving a thumbs up sign. Galina smiled, waved and touched the heavy gold chain about her neck. Then she hooked an arm around Ruggiero’s neck and forgot all about Uncle Primo.

As they walked away, Primo said, ‘What did you think of the chain-my thank you gift?’

‘Very pretty.’

‘Wait until you see the one I will buy you.’

In another room Luke found solitude and a bottle of good whisky.

There Hope discovered him a few minutes later.

‘I saw what happened,’ she said fondly. ‘It’s what you were planning all the time, isn’t it? You always knew it would be Olympia and Primo in the end.’

‘I guess I did. But Mamma, sometimes you have to ask yourself, if a man acts like such a clown when he’s wooing his woman, isn’t another man entitled to step in and-?’ He finished with a shrug.

‘So why didn’t you?’ she asked, holding out a glass for Luke to pour her a whisky.

‘I nearly did. There were nights when I stood outside her bedroom door while my worse and better selves fought it out. My worse self put up a brave fight-’

‘But your better self always won?’

‘Unfortunately, yes,’ he said savagely, and she laughed.

Then he sighed. ‘It wouldn’t have been any use. Primo’s the one for her, I could see that.’

‘So you played Cupid. I always knew that you were really a good brother.’

‘Don’t say that,’ he said hurriedly. ‘Think of my reputation.’

Hope laughed. ‘All right, I’ll keep quiet about it. But we both know the truth, which is that you have a kind heart, a brother’s heart.’

He grimaced. ‘Yes, it’s just a shame that it asserted itself now, and about her.’

‘Somewhere there is a woman for you. You’ll get over Olympia.’

‘Sure I will-say, in about a hundred years. In the meantime, perhaps I’d better go away for a while.’

‘Far?’ Hope asked in alarm.

‘No, only as far as Rome. A man there owed me quite a lot of money. He couldn’t pay so he signed over some property he owned. It’s likely to prove more of a curse than a blessing, as I gather it’s in a bad way. There have been no improvements to speak of for a long time, and there’s a lawyer giving him grief. He describes her as the devil incarnate, which means she’ll give me grief as well.’

‘She?’

‘Signora Minerva Pepino. I’ve already had a letter from her that practically took the skin off my back.’

‘Good. She’ll keep your mind occupied.’ She kissed him. ‘Go to Rome, my son, and come back for Primo’s wedding. Perhaps you will bring a bride home of your own.’

‘I doubt it. Be content with two daughters-in-law, Mamma.’

‘Nonsense. I want six. Now, come back and join the party.’

She departed, humming. After a moment Luke followed her and stood, unnoticed, watching the revelry. Justin was dancing with his bride, his harsh face softened by happiness. Primo circled the floor with Olympia, both enclosed in their own cocoon of joy.

Luke watched her and knew that she had forgotten him.

‘I had to go and be a “good brother”, didn’t I?’ he groaned. ‘It was bound to happen one day, but in heaven’s name, why now?’

He stood for a moment watching Primo and Olympia-soon to be his sister-held close in each other’s arms, absorbed and happy.

‘Why now?’ he murmured.

The wedding was over. The house was sleeping, except for the two in the gardens. It was dark out there, except for the moon, and the only sound was of two lovers whispering.

‘I never meant to lie to you,’ he vowed, ‘but the moment we met I knew you had to be mine. I’d lived such a safe, sensible life, but none of that meant anything after I saw you. I wanted to be wild and even stupid.’

‘Well, you were certainly that,’ she told him fondly.

‘Are you going to be a nagging wife?’

‘One of me is. The others haven’t decided.’

‘Ah yes,’ he said, understanding her at once. ‘We’ll always have that now. An infinite variety-very handy for playing away-’

‘Planning to be unfaithful, huh?’

‘Only with you, amor mio. Only with you.’

Her deep, delighted chuckle brought the world to life. In the moonlight he saw her pulling at her hair, becoming a witch before his eyes.

‘You know this one, don’t you?’ she teased. ‘It’s the corny film where the heroine lets her hair fall loose and the hero goes weak at the knees, and swears to love her for ever.’

‘Yes,’ he said, taking her joyfully into his arms. ‘That’s exactly what happens…’

Lucy Gordon

Lucy Gordon cut her writing teeth on magazine journalism, interviewing many of the world’s most interesting men, including Warren Beatty, Richard Chamberlain, Sir Roger Moore, Sir Alec Guinness, and Sir John Gielgud. She also camped out with lions in Africa and had many other unusual experiences which have often provided the background for her books. She is married to a Venetian, whom she met while on holiday in Venice. They got engaged within two days.