Under a Siena Sun (Escape to Tuscany #1) - T.A. Williams Page 0,62
in the headscarf, you mean. I’m not sure how alluring I look.’
‘Trust me, you look alluring.’ This sounded like flirting to her, and it worried her. She would never in her life have wanted to be thought of as just a blonde accessory to a rich man and she felt almost sullied. Still, she told herself firmly, she had agreed to accompany him and she was stuck with it now. Whatever it might look like to other people, this was a day out with a friend, learning a bit of history. Nothing more.
The drive to Florence turned out to be really rather nice. He avoided the main road for the first part and took her along winding country lanes through the hills, passing through charming rural Tuscan scenery. Trees, fields, olive groves and vines surrounded them and they met very few other vehicles and saw very few other people. As a result, her sense of embarrassment gradually began to subside. David drove remarkably slowly and she relished the feel of the relatively cool morning air. When the stunning medieval walled town of Monteriggioni hove into view he suggested stopping for a coffee, but instead they decided to press on to Florence on the superstrada. To her surprise, even at speed on the highway, she barely felt the wind, and she was able to take off her headscarf after a while, letting her hair blow about gently in the breeze, confident she wouldn’t end up looking like Worzel Gummidge.
The traffic as they drove into Florence was heavy but passable and it was here that she started to feel very uncomfortable once again. As she had predicted, the open-topped Ferrari attracted a lot of attention and she felt sure she caught recognition of David on a number of faces in cars alongside them as they crept in towards the city centre. The driver of one car in particular made a point of hooting his horn and pointing and waving enthusiastically in their direction and she cringed. There was no doubt that the combination of the flashy red car and his famous face made anonymity a forlorn hope – for him and for her.
Over the years, Lucy had been to Florence many times, but she was still looking forward to seeing the historic centre again. As the massive Fortezza da Basso appeared and David turned in alongside the railway line towards the main station, her anticipation grew, not least as she knew she would soon be out of this shameless status symbol.
He edged the very low-slung car gingerly down a steep ramp into an underground parking garage right at the edge of the pedestrian area and they emerged into the daylight at just before ten. He was wearing dark glasses and a baseball cap, but she felt pretty sure he would soon be recognised. However, they were able to walk past the front of the station and across the broad Piazza Santa Maria Novella without hindrance, passing the imposing church that gave its name to the square. They stopped to read the sign alongside the beautiful marble-clad façade and saw that, interestingly, it had been built around the same time as John Hawkwood had been active here. Lucy rather liked the idea that their man had maybe ridden past this very spot on his horse and had actually watched the workmen labouring to build this beautiful structure.
As they reached a newsstand on the corner of the already crowded main street leading up towards the cathedral, Lucy stopped to buy a copy of the local paper and opened it with trepidation.
Sure enough, there was a banner headline across the front page reading, TENNIS STAR DISCOVERED IN TUSCANY. Page three was filled with Tommy’s scoop, along with a potted history of David’s career, his injury and his unhappy marriage, as well as numerous photos of him on the tennis court and off it. The article even included no fewer than six photos of possible women who might have been responsible for his marital break-up, although the article grudgingly conceded that no proof existed to link him to any of them. Lucy found herself wondering whether her own face might soon be adorning the tabloids if they were photographed together and she started to screw up the newspaper angrily, ready to drop it into a nearby bin. As she did so, she muttered a few more choice expletives aimed at Tommy. David had been reading over her shoulder and he gently took it from her hands,