heart ached for him.
That night he was missing from the evening meal, but as Joanna was about to go upstairs he opened his study door and beckoned her in.
‘Do you remember Pietro and Maria Faloni?’
‘Yes, they came to dinner when I was here before. They were—very elegant.’
She couldn’t have spoken of them more warmly than that. They had been a newly married couple, pleasant company, but rather too socially conscious to appeal to Joanna. She was sure Maria thought her dowdy.
‘They want to give a party in your honour,’ Gustavo said.
‘Really? My stock must have risen in the world.’
‘You’re a celebrity. I warn you Maria collects celebrities and she’ll give me no peace until I take you.’
‘I’ll need some new clothes. I take it this will be formal.’
‘Extremely. White tie and tails.’
Her eyes twinkled. ‘I don’t look good in white tie and tails.’
He had to think for a moment. ‘Oh, yes, I see.’
‘It was a joke,’ she told him sadly.
‘Of course. I’m sorry. I guess Crystal was right.’
‘About what?’
‘She always said I was too stuffy for any woman to put up with.’
‘She didn’t know what she was talking about,’ Joanna said angrily.
‘Maybe. I’m afraid my capacity for jokes has rather left me these days.’
‘Don’t take any notice of Crystal. Much she knows! Now let’s forget her. I want to dress up and have fun.’
It felt good to be going to a glamorous party again, to have an excuse to buy a couture dress that made the best of her height, tiny waist and long legs.
Poor Aunt Lilian, she thought. You said most girls would give their eye-teeth to be my size, and I was so ungrateful. I’m not ungrateful any more.
The dress was black silk, narrow in the waist and low in the front, revealing a bosom that was more generous since Billy’s birth. The side was slashed to just above the knee.
There was just time to have her hair cut and styled the way she wanted it. With dainty silver sandals on her feet and diamonds in her ears her appearance was complete. She returned to the estate with a pile of boxes, feeling like a pirate who’d just come back from a raid, and hid her booty in her room.
True to his word, Gustavo appeared in white tie and tails and she was taken aback by how well they suited him. With his height and breadth of shoulder, he might have been born for formal clothes.
He waited for her in the study and she entered casually, refusing to let him see she was eager for his reaction.
When it came it lived up to all her hopes. He said nothing, simply looking at her in silence for a long time. Then smiling.
‘Will I do?’ she asked lightly.
He nodded, and she sensed him struggling for words.
‘You’ll do.’
Detecting a shadow in his manner, she asked, ‘Is anything wrong?’
‘No,’ he said a little too quickly. ‘Let’s go.’
She didn’t press the point, but she noticed that he hastily locked a paper away in his desk drawer before turning back to her with a smile.
The chauffeured limousine was waiting outside. Gustavo offered her his arm and they went out together. Throughout the journey he sat turned towards her, his eyes resting on her. He didn’t speak, but he didn’t need to.
The Falonis lived in a palatial apartment on the Via Veneto. When the limousine had dropped them they went up three floors in the elevator to be received eagerly by Pietro and Maria.
Maria clasped Joanna in her arms then stepped back to take in her whole appearance, and give a little nod of satisfaction.
‘I wouldn’t have known you,’ she said.
‘Thank you,’ Joanna said.
They understood each other.
‘I am so excited,’ Maria confided as she ushered Joanna inside. ‘Everyone’s been dying to entertain you, but I swore I’d get you first.’
‘Really? Why?’
‘Don’t be modest, my dear. You’re the catch of the season. Everyone’s talking about you and that discovery, but you hide yourself away like a mystery woman. My friends are going to be so annoyed that I got you first.’
Joanna enjoyed Maria’s company more now than before. She was so blatant in her snobbery that it became amusing, and she showed off her guest of honour with a pride that gave a fillip to Joanna’s ego, resist it how she might.
The Falonis lived at the top of Roman society, and the people Maria could gather was staggering. There were two government ministers and a film star, causing Joanna to doubt that she could really be