‘Amy took a knock from a mountain biker,’ Tad said.
Hugh re-engaged his languid limbs and sat straight as he looked Amy up and down. ‘Are you all right?’
‘Completely fine. It’s nothing.’
She felt at her ribs as she spoke, her smile marred by the cloudy lines of a frown.
‘Bastards came out of nowhere. Thank goodness she wasn’t any closer to the edge,’ Tad said, anger barely masked in his tone.
Nowthiswas promising, Hugh thought. Whatever had occurred had brought out Tad’s protective side. Perhaps the trip up Monte Baldo hadn’t been completely futile after all.
‘Luckily Tad was there to catch me.’ Amy sounded jokey, but she glanced at Tad as she spoke, watching him for his reaction.
This reallywaspromising, Hugh thought. There was no mistaking Amy’s expression as she looked at Tad. It was the expression Hugh had never felt comfortable receiving from a woman. It was unapologetic, and full of meaning, and it was being totally ignored by Tad. What was it with heterosexual men that they seemed so inept at reading signals?
‘So, what’s the plan now?’ Hugh said. ‘Lunch up here? Or would you rather go back to Riva?’
‘I don’t mind. Although I could do with finding some anti-inflammatories soon, I think,’ Amy said.
‘Let’s go back to base, then. I’ve got some at Casa del Cibo,’ Tad said, his focus back in the right place, on Amy.
‘Fine by me,’ Hugh said, gathering his belongings and standing.
* * *
As Amy watched the view slide past from the descending cable car, she wondered what might have happened if she hadn’t been hit by the cyclist. If she and Tad had stayed at the summit of Monte Baldo a while longer.
Getting close to him had felt good, and she supposed she should thank the mountain biker for providing the catalyst for that hug, however brief it was. Would there have been something else to push them together without that incident, or would they simply have completed their walk and returned to Hugh a bit later?
As the three of them – her, Tad and Hugh – chatted amiably on the way down the mountain, Amy felt increasingly drawn to Tad. Watching him smile and laugh at what Hugh was saying, his expression open and genuine and full of life, was doing nothing to lessen the swirling sensation that had set up camp inside her.
And when Luca drew up in the glistening black sedan, pulling close to the kerb and leaping out to open the door for Hugh, the rise in Tad’s eyebrows as he caught Amy’s eye, the expression of surprise mixed with the acknowledgement of it being something they’d already discussed, something they both already knew about – there was nothing intimate about anything Tad had done, but it had the same effect on her as if it had been. Heat flooded through her as strongly as if he’d grabbed her wrist and given her a passionate kiss.
‘Travelling in style,’ Tad said, as the car slid silently from the cable car station and began to edge its way through the Malcesine traffic.
‘Luca is a good boy,’ Hugh said. ‘All I have to do is message him, and he appears – as if by magic. Isn’t that right, Luca?’
‘There’s nothing magical about it,’ Luca said, his dark eyes scrunched with humour as he caught Amy’s gaze, then glanced across at Hugh. ‘I stay in Malcesine, wait for you to call me, Signore Bradbury – or you would have had to wait much longer. The traffic…’ He gave up on words, using an expressive shrug instead.
Tad glanced at Amy, and she returned his gaze. Had Luca been parked up somewhere in Malcesine all morning, on retainer for Hugh? How much would that cost?See what I mean?She did her best to radiate the thought to Tad and she reckoned he’d picked up on it, because as his eyebrows arched, he nodded.
‘I should probably explain,’ Hugh said. Perhaps he’d seen their expressions, too. ‘Luca’s parents were some of the people I met when Brian and I made our first visit to Lake Garda a million years ago. Luca was a baby at the time. Did a lot of screaming, if I remember correctly. Infant colic, I expect. But look at him now. Fully grown and never too busy for one of his oldest friends. On the brink of taking over his father’s luxury car firm too, isn’t that right, Luca?’
‘Papa has a few years left in him yet.’
‘It’s all any of us can hope for,’ Hugh said, turning his attentions to the unbroken view of the lake as the car picked up speed and they headed home.
By the time they reached cobbled streets Amy felt were familiar, Tad was checking his watch. Luca drew the car alongside the familiar frontage of Casa del Cibo, its green shutters against the vibrant yellow of its walls bright enough for a painter’s palette, the welcome shade of its recessed entrance with its luscious potted palms drawing Amy in.
Once they were out of the car and heading inside, Tad held Casa’s door wide for Hugh.
‘Thank you for the ride home, Hugh. Much appreciated,’ he said.
‘You are more than welcome,’ Hugh said. ‘I think I might see who’s about. Maybe Kathleen would accompany me out somewhere for a late lunch.’
Tad hesitated. ‘Would you like me to make you something?’
‘Absolutely not. This is your day off – although it strikes me it’s been a bit of a busman’s holiday for you.’
