Free Dying For Siena by Elizabeth Jennings

afraid this will mean some reorganization of the conference as well. I was wondering whether I could have a word or two with you in private.” Professor Gori smiled gently at her. “If you have the time, of course.”
    “Of course,” Faith murmured. Not have time for Leonardo Gori? Unless, of course, he was going to tell her she wasn’t welcome anymore, now she wasn’t riding on Roland Kane’s coattails.
    He led them into a large room directly opposite the entrance. It was elaborately frescoed and was furnished with museum-quality antiques. Two very attractive secretaries were doing what looked like nothing at all. But they were doing it very elegantly.
    Faith followed Professor Gori into an inner study, as heartbreakingly beautiful as the outer study, only less elaborate. A long antique refectory table, a throne-like straight-backed chair with iron studs bracketing the leather padding, another chair and a sideboard made up the decor.
    “Please sit down,” Professor Gori said, and Faith realized it was the second time he’d said it while she’d gone into a fugue over his furniture.
    “Sorry,” she murmured, sitting down gingerly on an antique chair that probably cost more than she would ever earn in her lifetime. It was sturdier than it looked, though, and she relaxed slightly.
    He sat down behind another one of those amazing antique desks, where generations of monks had prayed or eaten or done whatever it was monks did.
    “Well,” he said, and stopped.
    Faith tried to look serious and smart and relaxed, while bracing herself. Professor Gori was probably going to give her one of Roland Kane’s patented stay-out-of-trouble-don’t-bother-your-betters-stay-quiet-and-pretend-you’re-not-there lectures.
    “I’m delighted at this opportunity to talk to you, Doctor Murphy.” He put his clasped hands on the table and smiled.
    Faith started. Her doctorate was brand-new and she still wasn’t used to the title. Not that anyone at Deerfield would call her doctor anyway. She just didn’t look the part.
    “Just Faith, please, professor,” she said. Professor Gori was a big name internationally. The idea of him calling her doctor was ludicrous.
    “Then you must call me Leonardo, Faith,” he replied and smiled.
    Faith blinked, completely floored. Calling Professor Gori “Leonardo” was like…was like calling the Pope “Johnnie”. Not in this lifetime. “Oh, I couldn’t—”
    “Of course you must.” He smiled again and Faith started paying attention.
    He’d just been Professor Gori before. An important man in his field and head of one of the most prestigious university departments on earth. She had hardly considered him a human being—he was just another one of those remote and faceless male authority figures her life seemed to be so full of.
    But now she looked more closely. Like everything else in this country, seemingly, he was good-looking. Not lavishly good-looking like the Rossis, true, but handsome in a rather austere manner.
    Though the day was already heating up, he was in a tan polished cotton suit with a cream cotton shirt, and blue and yellow silk tie. He looked as if his sweat glands had been surgically removed.
    But aside from his looks, there was a gentleness to his face, a kindness in his eyes, and she felt herself relaxing. Instinctively, she knew she didn’t have to weigh every word and brace herself against nasty comments. He was as far from Roland Kane as was possible and still be of the same gender and species.
    “I’m delighted you’ve finally decided to accept our invitation, Faith. We were very disappointed you couldn’t come last year. I was very much looking forward to discussing the ideas on hysteresis you published in Mathematica . Your report on system dynamics is just fascinating. And I found your thesis on tipping behavior thoroughly compelling.
    “As a matter of fact, that’s what I wanted to discuss with you. Would you be willing to moderate our panel on tipping