later she cursed her impetuosity. A guard approached from an artfully hidden small Portakabin she hadn’t noticed before.
‘Can I help you?’
She took a deep breath. ‘I’d like to see Signor Corretti, please.’
‘Is he expecting you?’
Valentina stuttered, her bravado failing her, ‘N-no, but if you tell him it’s Valentina Ferranti …’ Then he’ll tell them that he absolutely doesn’t want to see you, a voice mocked in her head.
Valentina shivered when the security guard disappeared again. She now had an inkling of what it would be like to be on the other side of Gio’s afffections, and just how much she’d taken his attention for granted.
A long minute later the guard returned and opened the gate saying, ‘He’s at the stables.’
‘Thank you.’ Valentina shifted her gears awkwardly as nerves suddenly gripped her. What was she doing here with some misguided notion that she could somehow comfort Gio when he might need it? You didn’t worry about his well-being seven years ago, her inner conscience mocked her.
Valentina pushed down all the nerves and voices. She owed Gio at least the courtesy of seeing how Misfit was doing. She knew how much the horse meant to him. She pulled up behind some other cars parked near the stable courtyard and got out.
Dusk was falling but she could see light spilling from the main stables and went towards it. When she entered it took a minute for her to see that Gio had his back to her. He was on his haunches at the entrance to one of the stalls. His back looked impossibly broad as it tapered down to those narrow hips. Hesitantly she went forward and wasn’t prepared for when Gio’s voice, sounding harsh and husky, said, ‘What are you doing here, Valentina?’
CHAPTER TEN
‘I …’ THE WORDS FROZE in Valentina’s throat as Gio stood up and turned around. He looked wild. Unshaven, bleary eyed. His hair was mussed up. He looked as if he hadn’t been to bed since she’d last seen him.
She swallowed. ‘I was concerned. I wanted to know how Misfit was doing.’
Gio wiped his hands with a towel and threw it down on the ground, then he stepped back and gestured with a hand. ‘See for yourself, he’s dying. The vet is coming back in an hour to administer the final shot to put him out of his misery.’
Valentina could feel the blood draining from her face. She moved closer to see the huge majestic horse lying on his side with his eyes closed. His whole body was sheened with sweat and his breaths were impossibly shallow.
Eyes huge, she looked at Gio and whispered, ‘What happened?’
Gio’s voice was sterile, clipped. ‘A virus, a very rare virus. It gets into a horse’s brain and induces paralysis among other things. The horse sinks into a coma and dies within a couple of days. There’s no cure.’
‘Gio … I’m so sorry.’
‘Why? It’s not your fault.’
Valentina winced when she was hurtled back in time to the graveyard when she’d told Gio it was his fault that Mario had died. Never more than at this moment did she have a full understanding of the pain she’d caused with her grief and anger. Guilt, bitter and acrid, rose upwards.
‘Gio …’ Her throat ached. ‘I’m so sorry … about everything.’
Gio looked at her, his eyes burning in his face. With that uncanny prescience that he seemed to have around her, he knew exactly what she meant. His grim smile did little to raise Valentina’s spirits.
‘Once … I wanted nothing more than to hear you say that. To know that you possibly didn’t despise the very air I breathed.’
The ache in her throat got worse. Valentina shook her head. ‘I don’t despise … you, the air you breathe.’
‘It’s too late, Valentina.’ He gestured towards his horse. ‘Don’t you see? It’s all too late. Everything turns to dust in the end—it’s all completely futile.’
Tears pricked Valentina’s eyes now to see the bleak despair on Gio’s face. ‘No, Gio, it’s not all futile, it’s not. It’s terrible that Misfit is dying and I wish he wasn’t but he’s had a wonderful life with you.’
Gio laughed curtly. ‘Just like Mario had a wonderful life until it was snatched out of his hands.’
Valentina reached out a hand but Gio backed away, rigid with tension. He put his hands up as if to ward her off.
Slowly he lowered his hands back down. ‘Do you know that I’ve slowly begun to believe that what happened that night wasn’t all my fault? That it