‘Think a sock on the jaw! Mio dio, where do you get these ideas from? If I labelled you cold and prissy because you’re English, you’d be annoyed.’

‘Not if it were true,’ she said. ‘Then I’d be flattered that you’d recognised my innate virtue.’

His alarmed expression was so comical that she burst out laughing.

‘I’d take a bet,’ Mandy said, ‘that every night at bedtime you say a prayer to be saved from women of virtue.’

Renzo gave her a considering look. ‘Well-maybe not all of them. How sad that the music is ending. We must continue this so interesting conversation another time.’

He gave her a little bow as they parted.

‘Thank you, kind lady,’ he said formally.

‘And you, sir. With your duty done, you can start enjoying yourself.’

His eyes flashed her a message, but so swiftly that she wasn’t sure she’d read it right. Perhaps it was safer that way.

Needing some fresh air, she fetched her jacket and slipped out into the snow. There was a full moon, bathing the mountains in dazzling silver light, and she walked down to the low wall that marked the boundary, where she could sit and ponder.

‘Ah, there you are,’ came a voice behind her.

She gave a silent groan. ‘Hello, Henry.’

‘I was watching you in there. You were fantastic.’

‘Thank you.’

Inwardly she was praying that he wouldn’t come and sit beside her. He did.

‘You’re such a super mover,’ he enthused, ‘slinky and sexy. It made me think all sorts of things about you and me. How about it, eh?’

‘No,’ she said firmly.

He made the mistake of lunging for her, which gave Mandy the chance to seize his hand in an iron grip.

‘Ow!’ he muttered.

‘Listen carefully, Henry,’ she said with a deadly smile. ‘If you don’t back off, I shall boil you in oil and decapitate you, not necessarily in that order. Now push off before I’m tempted.’

Even he got that message. He sloped off in the direction of the door, muttering just loud enough for her to pick up the word frigid. Furiously she picked up a handful of snow and hurled it after him.