‘I’ll go home and rest,’ Ruggiero conceded. ‘And I’ll be all right for the party tonight.’

‘Or you may have passed out completely by then,’ Polly said, with the faintest touch of acid in her voice.

Evie hastened to explain Polly’s professional qualifications, and what she had done for Ruggiero.

Hope’s response was to embrace Polly fervently and declare, ‘We are friends for ever. So now I ask you to do one more thing for me. You must come to our party tonight.’

Beside her, Polly sensed rather than felt Ruggiero make a gesture of protest, and she knew that he didn’t want her in his home. He wanted to get rid of her as soon as he could. And she could guess why.

But Hope seemed oblivious. ‘Tonight I can thank you properly, and perhaps you’ll also be kind enough to-’ She gave her son a baleful look.

‘Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on him,’ Polly said.

‘You will not,’ Ruggiero snapped.

‘Indeed I will,’ she riposted at once.

‘I won’t have it.’

‘Try to stop me.’

‘That’s the spirit,’ Hope said, pleased. ‘And, Signor Fantone, I commend you for your good sense in having a nurse at the track. I wouldn’t have expected it of you.’

Having praised and insulted him in one breath, she turned her attention back to Ruggiero. With relief, Polly realised that for the moment she could avoid explanations. Sooner or later everyone would have to know why she was really here. But not yet.

Hope took charge, arranging for Ruggiero to be helped to her waiting car, and leaving Evie to give Polly a lift to her hotel.

‘It’s a big family get-together,’ Evie explained as they drove. ‘The Rinuccis tend to be scattered, but we all returned for Carlo’s wedding yesterday. And, since Hope loves giving parties, she’s going to have another one tonight, before we all disperse again.’

‘Was it really chance that his mother was shopping nearby?’

‘Of course not.’ Evie chuckled. ‘She does it whenever he’s testing, and she always makes sure she has her cellphone, so that she can be fetched quickly if something like this happens. Of course he guesses, although he won’t admit it, and it makes him grumpy. I’m sorry he was so rude to you. He isn’t normally like that.’