‘Why did you have to buy it at all? You were doing good business with it.’

‘Curtis Electronics wasn’t being run properly, so I decided to take it over. Enrico wasn’t keen at first, but he finally saw it my way.’

‘I’m sure he did,’ Hope observed wryly.

Enrico Leonate had once been the sole owner of Leonate Europa, a firm for which Primo had gone to work fifteen years ago. He had learned quickly, made a great deal of money for his boss and for himself, and eventually had become a partner. Enrico was elderly and tired. Primo was young, thrusting and full of ideas. Enrico was glad enough to let him take the reins but, as he’d once ruefully remarked, it would have been all the same if he hadn’t been. Sooner or later people tended to see things Primo’s way.

Now he was telling Hope, ‘I’ll promote a few people, and tell them what I want.’

‘That’s if you can find anyone there who satisfies you. Since when did anyone live up to your expectations?’

‘True,’ he agreed. ‘But Cedric Tandy, the present manager, recommends his deputy, Olympia Lincoln. I’ll watch her closely.’

‘And promote a woman?’ Hope asked satirically. ‘You-an equal opportunity employer?’

He looked surprised. ‘I’ll promote anyone who’ll do as I say.’

‘Ah! That kind of equal opportunity.’ Hope laughed. ‘My son, you make it sound so simple.’

‘Most of life is simple if you know what you want and are determined to get it.’

She frowned, then forgot everything in the pleasure of seeing him here. As always, he had arrived at the perfect moment, not late but not too early, and elegantly dressed.

His appearance betrayed his dual heritage. From his long-dead Italian mother he had inherited dark eyes with a wealth of varied expressions, changing from one moment to the next. His English father had bequeathed him a stubborn chin and firm mouth, lacking the Italian mobility that characterised the other men.

‘Luke isn’t here yet,’ she said in a low voice.