Page 75 of In Italy for Love

‘Alex!’ she called, more loudly. Arco continued to bark from where she’d tied him up to the bike stand a few metres away.

‘Jules?’ Luca repeated, coming nearer. He peered through the branches to where she was perched at the top of the ladder.

He was well dressed: a casual jacket over dark wash jeans and loafers. He was good-looking and smooth and so totallywrongfor Jules that rebellion rose in Alex’s chest. Then Luca’s gaze fixed on Alex’s hand, clenched in her waistband with casual intimacy. The cloud that passed over the man’s expression was ugly.

‘I did not expect to find you up a tree with a stranger’s hand on your arse. And what on earth are you wearing? Did someone drop the sheep into a vat of dye?’

‘Alex, let me down.’

This time he responded to her dark tone, extricating his hand and steadying her around the waist as she descended. He wanted to keep a hand on her, remind her that he was there and he wouldn’t leave her alone, but her rigid body language made him keep his distance – for now. It was probably for the best, given the churn of outrage swimming inside him.

Berengario stepped up to them before Jules could say anything. ‘Do you know this person, Jules?’

‘Of course she?—’

‘Not really,’ she interrupted Luca weakly, walking away to place a quelling hand on Arco’s back, shushing him gently. Unhitching his lead from the stand, she allowed the dog to drag her back to Luca. Arco leaped and turned in wild circles and Alex was reminded that Luca was the one who’d once been in the dog’s pack. Alex had never wanted to be – except that was plainly untrue as he watched Arco greet his former master with joy.

Alex was jealous – because of a dog’s affections and loyalty.

His stomach sank as he admitted to himself that he was jealous for a few more reasons. His hand closed into a fist as he remembered Jules talking in a defeated tone about feeling useless – the way this man had made her feel. He would never hit Luca, but he had a few choice words brewing, if he could get them out around the lump in his throat.

But did he have any right to say them?

Luca fended off Arco with a huff. ‘Still no manners,’ he mumbled. ‘Jules, what is going on? Who are all these people and what were you doing up a tree?’

‘I was picking persimmons – exactly what it looked like,’ she snapped. ‘How did you know where to find me?’

‘Picking…’ He glanced at the tree as though the bright orange fruit confused him. ‘Can we talk somewhere?’

Berengario approached, his expression hard. ‘Yes, why don’t we go inside?’ By the time Alex could see through the haze of feelings he didn’t want, Berengario had invited Jules’s ex into Alex’s kitchen and the rest of the neighbours had piled in after them, all narrow looks and threatening demeanour – especially threatening since everyone was holding harvesting shears.

Luca paused at the door to Alex’s flat, inspecting the fresh label by the doorbell that read ‘Volpe’, just above his own faded ‘Mattelig’. Julia’s ex studying the simple evidence of their cohabitation made Alex squirm.

The man looked nervously from face to face, but took a seat when Berengario gestured for him to do so, sitting down opposite.

‘Caffè?’

‘Ehm, sì grazie.’

Berengario looked up at Alex as though the kitchen were a bar, but if Luca was on the back foot, then he’d play along.As Alex set to work making coffee, Elena and Siore Cudrig and Stefano the tattoo artist took the other seats around the table.

Jules came alongside him and took the moka pot. ‘You don’t have to make him coffee,’ she mumbled.

‘Youdon’t have to talk to him.’

‘Unfortunately, I do.’ She pressed the button on the coffee grinder with a little too much force and the loud buzz filled the kitchen.

‘Aren’t I supposed to punch him for you?’

‘I know you wouldn’t.’

‘No,’ he agreed with a shrug. ‘But Berengario is prepared to get rid of him for you.’

She glanced at the tense little gathering, full of too many menacing looks and not enough small talk. Leaning close to speak into his ear, she said, ‘Would he bury Luca in the kitchen garden? I’m not sure the tomatoes would benefit.’

The joke pricked him again with affection, but her eyes were grave. Grasping her forearm, he turned her to him. ‘Are you all right with this?’

‘No,’ she answered faintly, sending spikes of that impotent fury through him again. He wanted to protect her, but it was more than that. He wanted to erase Luca from her past – a realisation that made him panic. If he felt this way about Luca, how did Jules feel about Laura?

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