Page 51 of A Very Italian Wedding
His friend shrugged. ‘Cesare is searching around the main garden now. We haven’t checked all of the olive groves. Luna checked around the cars. The rest of us have scaled every inch of the rest of the garden. But the dog’s small and could be hiding. I wouldn’t put it past her.’ His mouth pinched.
‘Aldo says she’s somewhere near liquid, remember!’ Aurora reminded them from wherever she was searching in the garden. ‘Aren’t there red and white flowers near the swimming pool? I’m searching there next.’
‘What about the inside of the house?’ Ben pointed to the back of the villa where a set of patio doors hung open. Coco could easily have sneaked in while they were searching for her.
Marco pulled a face. ‘We’ve been in and out of the house. If Coco was in there, we’d surely know. Someone would have seen her.’
Rose glanced between them. ‘We’ll check again just to make sure.’ She began to make her way towards the house as Marco stared after her.
‘Is this a trick?’ he asked suspiciously.
‘No. She wants to find Coco. We all do.’ His voice came out sharper than he’d intended.
A furrow appeared in Marco’s forehead as he stared at Ben. ‘You like her,’ he murmured. ‘It’s been a long time…’
Ben’s stomach clenched. ‘She’s a good person. There’s nothing more to it than that.’ He was lying. The kiss in the car and its lingering effects had proved that. Then again, did he really want to put himself out there again? He was perfectly happy with his life as it was. But as Ben followed Rose towards the villa, he had a bad feeling he was just kidding himself.
‘Coco!’ Rose shouted as she made her way through the front door. Ben heard Luna yelling for the dog outside, could hear echoes from the rest of the Marino family as they continued to search. ‘She’s got to be somewhere,’ Rose muttered as sheopened a door underneath the staircase before dodging a broom handle as it fell out.
Ben picked it up and placed it back inside, shutting the door. ‘I know the dog is precocious, but I don’t think even she can open closed doors by herself.’
Rose jerked her chin before spinning around to stare at him, her blueberry eyes flashing. ‘But Coco can. The demon got into my larder last week. I was working with a client, and she’d eaten through half a packet of ginger biscuits before I realised.’
Her mouth pinched, creating the perfect bow and something inside Ben’s chest fluttered. He swallowed the feeling, suppressing a potent need to reach for her, to kiss her again.
He cleared his throat. ‘Then we need to check all the rooms in the villa.’ He marched down the corridor, opened the door and peered into the kitchen. ‘She’s not here…’
Rose nodded, then turned and walked hurriedly away. ‘Where does this lead?’ She opened the next door. ‘Coco?’ She sighed at the answering silence. ‘An office.’ She shut it again. ‘What now?’
‘The next door along leads to a wine cellar. It’s usually locked, though.’
Rose strode to it, heels tapping on the tiles. ‘It’s unlocked. What if someone left it open accidentally? If I was a terrified demon, I might decide to hide in here.’ She walked inside without waiting and Ben glanced around before following.
‘Coco!’ Rose shouted in the distance and Ben heard a tentative bark. ‘She’s here!’
He let the door close behind him and ran down the steps to join her. There was an internal door between the stairs and main cellar, and it swung shut as he joined Rose.
He’d been in the cellar before, choosing bottles of red and white wine when he’d been staying with Marco. The rustic chandelier hanging overhead gave out a little light which meanthe could see Rose kneeling at the end of the room rubbing Coco’s head while the dog made happy chirping sounds.
‘She must have been terrified because she’s not biting me. It’s okay,’ Rose cooed. ‘It seems even demons are afraid of the dark. See, she’s being nice.’ She looked around at the rows and rows of wine bottles laying in wooden racks covering most of the four walls.
There was a circular wooden table and four heavy wooden chairs in the centre of the room. Ben had been down here many times choosing wine or testing bottles with his friend, so he wasn’t surprised to see someone had left out clean wine glasses and a corkscrew. ‘Liquid that’s red and white,’ Rose said. ‘Aurora was right.’
‘Let’s go and tell Marco and Luna that we’ve found Coco,’ Ben suggested, pointing to the door and encouraging Rose to go first. Now they were alone in this small space he was beginning to notice her again, and the chemistry he’d been attempting to ignore was making itself known. He smelled strawberries and waved a hand hoping she’d lead. He watched Rose stroke Coco one last time before rising and heading to the door. The dog followed and Ben brought up the rear.
Rose grasped the handle making the door rattle. ‘It’s stuck,’ she said, jerking it up and down. ‘Is something wrong with it?’
‘Let me check.’ Ben moved closer, trying not to step on Coco who’d begun to scratch the wooden panelling. ‘I can’t hear a click.’ He tried again. ‘I’ve got an awful feeling Marco told me the lock has been sticking.’ He got his mobile out and dialled Marco, but it went to voicemail.
‘When you get this, please can you come and let us out of the wine cellar? The lock’s jammed, but the good news is we’ve found Coco.’ Ben hung up. ‘Do you want to try Luna?’
The dog whined. ‘I can try.’ Rose called and left a message too before trying the handle again. The door rattled but didn’t budge.
‘What do we do, sit and wait?’ Rose glanced at the table. ‘They could be ages.’
‘Even if no one picks up the messages, they’re bound to want more wine at some point,’ Ben said.
‘You’re right.’ Rose nodded, looking calmer. ‘Or Aldo will tell Aurora where we are,’ she joked. ‘Besides, everyone’s still looking for Coco.’ The dog barked. ‘It’s only a matter of time before someone else decides to search the house.’
