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... we bought Mireze for Piero!'
Amanda was stunned. 'You ... did what?'
`It was going to belong to a Druetso, anyway,' Mag-
dalen explained. Dad was going to give it to Piero and
me after we were married. He would have lived in
Florence most of the time. It would have been Piero and
me at Mireze.'
`Oh!' Amanda breathed, understanding.
`It was all meant to be a wonderful surprise,' Mag-
dalen went on. 'We never dreamt Cesare would be so
mad, or that Piero would behave like a craven idiot, and
break off with me like that ... Everything went wrong.
It was made pretty clear to us that only a Druetso could
own a place like Mireze. We were aliens, interlopers. We
weren't welcome around here any more.'
`Good heavens,' Amanda said, in sympathy. 'It must
have been a shock to you!'
`It was hell,' Magdalen admitted huskily.
`You love Piero?'
HAWK IN A BLUE SKY
137
Magdalen shrugged. 'I did love him, yes.'
`Did?' Amanda stared at her shrewdly. Now you have
doubts about it?'
`Is that surprising after the way he's behaved? Letting
his brother order him around like that, breaking off with
me, going off to England, and then to crown it all,
coming back with a fiancee!'
`I don't blame you for having doubts,' Amanda agreed.
`And it will do Piero good to have to work to win you
back. He's far too self-indulgent.'
Magdalen gazed at her thoughtfully. 'You don't love
him, do you?'
`No,' Amanda agreed.
`It's Cesare for you?'
Amanda turned away. 'There's no one for me,' she
said abruptly, biting her lip.
The city began to fill up with tourists as the day of the
Beatrice pageant approached. The few hotels were al-
ready fully booked. The city council were constantly on
the alert for signs of anyone attempting to camp out in
the streets numbers of hippies had to be turfed out of
the city each evening when they tried to bed down in a
dark corner in scruffy sleeping bags.
The weather remained warm and fine, fortunately. A
threatened storm moved away in another direction when
the wind changed, and the day of the pageant dawned
bright and clear.
Amanda lifted her head, yawning, as her alarm clock
went off with a shrill clatter. She did not feel much like
138 HAWK IN A BLUE SKY
getting up. They had gone to bed late last night there
were so many last-minute arrangements to make. The
whole business had proved unbelievably complicated.
She never wished to help to organise such a thing again;
so many small details could go wrong.
She was standing in the middle of her room, stretch-
ing, when the door opened and Cesare stood there.
She straightened up hastily, blushing. 'Really, Cesare !
Why the hell don't you knock? It's embarrassing to have
a man walking in and out of one's room without knock-
ing ... I might have been getting dressed!'
He mockingly flicked a glance over her. 'You look
very neat, but I'm afraid you won't be needing your
jodhpurs. There will not be a ride this morning. I forgot
to mention it last night. There will be too many coaches
down on the roads ... too much traffic everywhere ...
The horses will have to skip their exercise for today.'
`They won't like that,' she smiled.
`No.' He shrugged. 'It can't be helped.'
They had hardly been alone since Magdalen arrived.
She had joined them on their morning rides each day.
Amanda had been grateful for her company it had
avoided the opportunity of any intimate talk with Cesare.
Fortunately he had been so busy with the pageant org-
anisation that he had had little time to spare for anything
else.
She stood now, waiting for him to leave, her head
nervously lowered. The fine golden curls clung to her
neck. One had fallen down into the V of her white shirt.
HAWK IN A BLUE SKY 1
39
Cesare leant forward and gently lifted it out, and she
started back, alarmed.
`No need to scream,' he said sarcastically. 'I'm not
intending rape. I'm too busy this morning.'
`Well, thank goodness for that,' she said crossly.
He laughed. Tut one of these days, Amanda ... one of
these days ...'
He was gone on the words, the door closing quietly
behind him. Amanda pressed her hands to her hot cheeks
and wished her pulses would not race so fast at the sight
of him.
The procession was to gather in the great hall before
the moment for the doors to be flung open and their long
winding line to pass out into the streets. This was due to
take place precisely at eleven o'clock.
At ten, therefore, Amanda was in her bedroom again,
after a light breakfast she had not wanted at all but
which the Contessa had insisted on forcing her to eat. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]