‘You mean she can’t stand up to you any more than the rest of us,’ he said with a laugh.

‘I don’t know what you mean,’ Hope said, affronted. And she really didn’t.

‘I look forward to it. I won’t miss the chance to gloat over brother Primo’s downfall.’

‘You’ll meet the right one for you,’ Hope said, like all mothers.

‘Maybe not. I might just settle for being a curmudgeonly old bachelor.’

Hope crowed with laughter. ‘A handsome boy like you?’

‘Boy? I’m thirty-eight.’

‘You’ll always be a boy to me. Your wife is next on my list, and don’t you forget it. Now, go and have a good time.’

‘Mamma, it’s eleven o’clock.’

‘So? The perfect time for-anything you want.’

Luke grinned. His mother had never been a prude-one reason why her sons adored her. Toni, her husband, was far more strait-laced.

‘I need to be clear-headed to deal with Signora Pepino.’

‘Nonsense! Just turn your charm on her, and that’ll do the trick.’

Hope Rinucci was convinced that all her sons had the charm of the devil and no woman could resist them. With the younger ones it was possibly true, but Luke knew that charm wasn’t his strong suit. He was a tall, muscular, well-made man with features that were regular enough to pass for good looks. But his face fell naturally into stern lines and he smiled little.

It had been different with Olympia. In the few weeks he’d shared his apartment with her he’d forced himself to behave like a gentleman, knowing that her heart was already given to his brother, Primo. It hadn’t been easy keeping his infatuation under control, and the strain had almost propelled it into outright love.

He knew that under Olympia’s influence his nature had thawed, almost to the point of charm. But he was on his guard against it happening for a second time. Authority, no-nonsense, stubbornness: these he did well. Not charm.

But since there was no arguing with a mother’s partiality he didn’t try. They finished the conversation affectionately and he hung up, feeling strangely uneasy again. Something was wrong. He didn’t know what, but he had an uncomfortable sense that the trouble lay with himself.