‘Let me see-monte means a mountain, and “oro” is gold. Is that right?’

‘You know Italian?’

‘My mother’s sister married an Italian. When I was a child we visited them every summer.’

‘And you are right. It is “mountain of gold”.’

‘Because of the golden eagles?’

‘Partly. But also because it’s the first place the sun touches at dawn, and the last place it leaves at sunset. It’s the most beautiful place on earth.’

‘It sounds like it,’ Angie said wistfully.

He gave her a curious look. ‘Would you-?’ He broke off with a grunt of embarrassed laughter. ‘That is, I wonder if-?’

‘Yes?’ she encouraged him.

Bernardo drew a deep breath while Angie waited eagerly for what she was sure he was going to say.

‘Hey-Bernardo.’

He came back to himself with a start. Angie had the strangest feeling of waking from a dream. And there was Lorenzo, coming along the path, hailing them. ‘Time to get ready for dinner,’ he called.

As Angie returned to the house with the two of them she was disappointed but not discouraged. Bernardo wanted to show her his home, she was certain of it, and she was every moment growing more eager to learn all about him. The evening lay ahead, and if she couldn’t tempt that invitation out of him, she was losing her touch.

She joined Heather in their room and threw herself onto her bed, putting her hands behind her head, with a sigh of pleasure.

‘C.H. or S.A?’

‘S.A.,’ Angie said happily. ‘Definitely S.A.’

Heather looked alarmed. ‘You be careful!’

‘I don’t know what you mean,’ Angie said innocently.

‘Oh, yes, you do. I’ve seen you when you’ve set your heart on twisting a man around your little finger. You’ve got all the tried and tested tricks and a few you invented. But Bernardo doesn’t strike me as a man to be fooled with.’

‘He isn’t,’ Angie confirmed. ‘He’s terribly serious and thoughtful.’ She chuckled. ‘That’s why he’s going to be such a challenge.’