Page 17 of In Italy for Love

He mustn’t have quite achieved the disbelieving inflection he’d been aiming for, because Maddalena sighed with relief. ‘Oh, grazie al cielo, I felt so bad for her and I didn’t know how I would manage?—’

Berengario stopped her with an affectionate whack with the backs of his fingers. ‘I told you everything would be all right. I suppose these things might be complicated if you haven’t been together long,’ he said, peering between Alex and Julia with the warm smile of a priest at a wedding. Switching to English, he said, ‘Alex is as good as they come, Giulietta,’ with a glint in his eye that swung Alex’s thoughts back to the other confusing part of the chaotic conversation.

‘But she’s not?—’

Berengario leaned close and said, ‘Yourfantateis tired and hungry, young man,’ in a low voice, using that suggestive ‘your’ in front of the even more suggestive ‘young woman’ in Furlan. ‘If it weren’t for her today, Maddalena would never have managed, so take her inside and deal with yourself later.’

Alex was even more confused now, but Berengario was right about one thing: he had to speak to Julia without an audienceif he was going to get an answer that actually made sense. He unlocked the door and allowed Berengario to usher him inside. After pressing a quick kiss to Aunt Maddalena’s cheek in hello and goodbye, he then found the door closed firmly in his face, Berengario’s worryingly mischievous grin the last thing he saw. He wouldn’t have been surprised to hear the bolt slipping into place to lock them in together – except that would be pointless, since he had a key to his own house.

After taking a moment to breathe out heavily, his hand resting on the door, he glanced up at Julia. Still wearing her tatty backpack, a bag falling down her arm, she looked as bewildered as he felt. And pretty, with her lips pressed into half a smile and her hair mussed. He found memories of last night on every inch of her face – memories that made him a little light-headed.

But it also made him woozy to think that Berengario knew he’d slept with someone, although how the old man had met Julia was still a mystery.

‘I’ll leave as soon as they’ve gone.’

He snapped back to the present with a frown. ‘What do you mean? I thought you needed to stay here tonight.’

‘I can go back to Maria Grazia’s place. Maddalena just felt bad because she couldn’t offer me any accommodation.’

His brow drew even tighter. ‘Wait,you’rethe temporary worker at the farm? You said you were leaving.’

‘Take it easy. I didn’t mean to come back! And I didn’t know that out of the hundreds of farms in the area, I happened to end up with people you know. It was all an accident, okay? I know we weren’t supposed to see each other again after last night and now we’llreallynever see each other again. I promise.’

He panicked when she headed for the door, rushing to stop her with his hand splayed on the cracked blue paint. ‘Look, you can stay for a night. Berengario said you worked hard at the farm today and it’s the least I can do… for Maddalena. You’resupposed to be paid in accommodation and food, right? You’re a volunteer on that programme?’

She nodded, her eyes flitting around the hallway as though deciding whether to run.

‘If you stay, I don’t mean in my bed— There’s no expectation of a repeat—’ He gulped.

‘What?’

‘There’s a separate part of the house you can stay in,’ he managed more comprehensibly. ‘I’m not suggesting we…’

Her shoulders dropped a fraction, making him wonder what had brought her to this far corner of Italy. She wasn’t the backpacker he’d taken her for. Perhaps she’d left as much out of their conversation last night as he had. ‘At least you aren’t making assumptions,’ she mumbled.

‘Was there some kind of misunderstanding? About us?’

‘Oh boy, was there ever!’ she said emphatically. ‘I tried to clear it up, but they wouldn’t listen! I wanted to knock their stubborn heads together!’

He smiled faintly. ‘You sound like you’ve got to know them well already. But I don’t understand why they think you’re my… you know.’

Her brows rose. ‘You can’t even say the word “girlfriend”?’

‘Apparently not,’ he said flatly.

‘It was not my fault,’ she insisted. ‘We were both clear what last night was about and it wasn’t a grand romance. But I assume you were right to be wary of your nosy neighbours? Berengario said he saw you… in the doorway as I was leaving. Does he live here or something?’

Mortification shivered down his spine. ‘No, buthisgirlfriend does.Damn it!’ He should never have brought Julia back here, even though the alternative would have been the walk of shame past Maria Grazia.

‘I told them it was just casual – I even said “just sex” at one point because they didn’t seem to be listening.’

Alex choked, imagining how that one had gone down with Berengario – and Maddalena! Puh, it was a mess! He’d been trying for years to get them to stop worrying about him and now this!

‘Perhaps it would have been best if we hadn’t—’ He cut himself off when he caught the flinch she tried to hide. ‘I didn’t mean it like that,’ he tried – but how had he meant it? ‘I am… happy to see you again,’ he added, rather annoyed to have to admit that to himself when he’d been stuffing those feelings away in favour of something more constructive.

She chuckled as though she didn’t believe him and patted his arm. ‘Yeah, sure. It’s okay. If you have a spare room, then I’ll stay tonight, but I’ll get out of your hair tomorrow.’

‘Get out of my?—?’

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