‘He had enough cocky arrogance to take on the world,’ her cousin had said. ‘It made me think, That’s for me.’

‘But not for long,’ Polly had reminded her quietly. ‘Two weeks, and then you dumped him.’

Freda had given an expressive shrug. ‘Well, he’d have dumped me pretty soon, I dare say. I knew straight off that he was the love-’em-and-leave-’em kind. That was useful, because it meant he wouldn’t give me any trouble afterwards.’

‘Plus the fact that you hadn’t given him your real name.’

‘Sure. I thought Sapphire was rather good-don’t you?’

What Polly had thought of her cousin’s actions was something she’d kept to herself-especially then, when Freda had been so frail, her once luxurious hair had fallen out and the future had been so cruelly plain.

That conversation came back to her now, reminding her of Ruggiero as she’d seen him first, and then later. Cocky arrogance, she thought. But not always.

He’d said Sapphire’s name and reached blindly out to her before he’d controlled himself and pulled back. For him, Sapphire still lived-and that was the one thing Polly had not expected.

A chauffeur-driven car arrived exactly at seven o’clock and swept her out of the city and up the winding road to where the Villa Rinucci sat atop the hill. From a distance she could see the lights blazing, and hear the sounds of a party floating down in the clear air.

Hope came out to greet her eagerly.

‘I feel better now you’re here,’ she said. ‘Our family doctor is also a guest, but he’ll have to leave soon.’

‘I’d better talk to him first,’ Polly suggested, and was rewarded with Hope’s brilliant smile.

Dr Rossetti was an elderly man who’d been a friend of the family for a long time. He greeted Polly warmly, questioned her about her impressions that afternoon, and nodded.

‘He’s always been an awkward so-and-so. Now, Carlo-his twin-if he didn’t want to do what he was told, he’d get out of it with charm, and it would be ages before you saw how he’d outwitted you. But Ruggiero would just look you in the eye and say, “Shan’t!”’