Free One Hot Summer by Norrey Ford Page B

for granted that she would be at his heels when he stopped. Twice her heart was in her mouth as he swung confidently of f to cross a road, marching straight into the traffic with arm upraised like an ancient Roman senator. She recalled with rueful amusement her own efforts to cross ,the controlled pedestrian walks, her fury when drivers did not slow down but merely twisted round her as if she had no right to be on the crossing at all.
    ‘ The important thing,’ Marco said when at last he stopped and waited for her to catch up, ‘ is never to lose your nerve. Hold up your arm and march. Never dither. What are you going to do with yourself for the rest of the day? I shall be free at four-thirty.’
    ‘ One last day in Rome? Of course, it must be the Vatican. I want to go up on the roof of St Peter’s to see the view, and I believe it’s possible to walk inside the dome and look down into the basilica.’
    It is. See the treasury too. Tourists often miss that, as it opens only at special hours. There’s a board giving the times, in the church. There you’ll see the finest work of gold and silver craftsmen for centuries past; all the greatest artists in the world have worked for the Holy City. There are gifts from countries, cities, kings and princes, popes and cardinals; the best their countries could produce, from the earliest centuries to—to, let me see—Winston Churchill and President Kennedy. ’
    ‘ That I must see. Then I want to walk along the Via Veneto, and I thought I could lunch there, out of doors, if it wouldn’t be too expensive.’
    He smiled. ‘ Said to be the most elegant and beautiful street in the world. Or, shall we say, one of them? You’d be happier with a male escort, I think. I shall take you there, at one o’clock.’
    ‘ Oh, but I didn’t mean—I wasn’t hinting, Marco.’
    ‘ I know. After yesterday, you are just a little afraid of me, aren’t you? You need not be. I am not a seducer of innocent maidens, in spite of your thinking me a bear, a lion, and a tiger. Let me see—we must be quite sure of our meeting place. Be waiting by the obelisk in the centre of the colonnade in St Peter’s Square at twelve-forty-five precisely. I will pick you up there.’
    Demurely, she said, ‘ Yes, signore .’ He caught the twinkle in her eyes as she spoke.
    ‘ You think I am a dictator, yes? But I merely wish to make sure there is no mistake as to the place and time. I never keep a lady waiting, and in a big and busy city like Rome, it is not a good thing for a driver to be kept waiting. Your training as a nurse should make you appreciate the virtues of precision.’
    ‘ It does. I shall be there.’ The hours she’d wasted waiting for Michael, the reproaches she had swallowed. His righteous, innocent indignation when she had not been able to keep back a grumble. He never understood that time could matter.
    The formalities did not take long.
    ‘ How good it feels to have possessions again ! This is Bianca’s handbag, so the first thing I’m going to do is to buy one for myself. And some of my own makeup, and a decent comb. If I won a jackpot I couldn’t be more delighted.’
    Marco reached over and took the little wad of travellers’ cheques out of her hand. ‘ You can have that one. I’ll keep the rest. And give me your passport and tickets, please.’
    Suspicions she had succeeded in burying leapt to the forefront of her mind. What was he up to? Without money, tickets, passport, she was at his mercy. Part of the relief she felt at having them back was the knowledge that she was independent again; could move about, when and where she liked. She would be foolish indeed to surrender everything but pocket money for the day, into this man’s hands. He was, after all, a stranger. One girl he said was his sister had disappeared from his house.
    She drew back sharply. ‘ No, thank you. I’d like to keep everything. It’s so wonderful to have it all back again. Like a miracle. I hardly