‘Will Luke be here tonight?’ Carlo asked.

‘Of course he will,’ Hope declared, a little too firmly. ‘I know he and Primo have the occasional argument-’

‘Occasional!’ the twins groaned in unison.

‘All right, most of the time. But they are still brothers.’

‘Not really,’ Ruggiero said. ‘They’re not related at all.’

‘Primo is my stepson and Luke is my adopted son, and that makes them brothers,’ Hope said firmly. ‘Is that clear?’

‘Yes, Mamma,’ they both said in meek voices.

Inside the house there was warmth and the comfortable bustle of a family. But Hope looked around, dissatisfied.

‘There are too many men here,’ she declared.

Her husband and sons looked alarmed, as though wondering by what drastic means she intended to reduce the number.

‘There should be more women,’ she explained. ‘Where are my daughters-in-law? I should have six by now, and I have none. I was so looking forward to seeing Justin marry Evie, but-’ She gave an eloquent shrug and a sigh.

Justin was her eldest son, parted from her since his birth, but reunited the previous year. He’d come to Naples once with Evie, the woman he clearly loved. But then Evie had mysteriously vanished from his life, and when he’d returned at Christmas she hadn’t been with him. Nor would he speak of her.

Gradually the big dining room filled up and, despite her disapproving words, she looked around her with satisfaction. Her sons had their own apartments in Naples, and it was a great day when she could gather them together in this house.

Her eyes lit up at the sight of Primo, her stepson by her first husband, an Englishman, although he now bore the Rinucci family name in honour of his Italian mother.

‘It’s been too long since I’ve seen you,’ she said, hugging him. ‘And tomorrow you’re going away again.’

‘Not for long, Mamma. I’ll soon get this English firm into shape.’