A Rumoured Engagement

‘Or at any other time,’ he said dryly, and began peeling a peach with precision, his eyes fixed on the task. ‘Am I allowed to ask why you rushed?’

Saskia shrugged. ‘I suppose so. Though it’s not very interesting. I was going to spend my holiday in a very different way. But fate had a trick up her sleeve.’

Luke leaned forward and laid the peach on her plate. ‘I assume this is something to do with Francis Lawford?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then if he’s hurt you in some way I imagine you hold me responsible.’

Saskia stared at him. ‘Why on earth should I do that?’

‘I introduced him to you.’ Luke’s long, flexible mouth went down at the corners. ‘He was damned persistent about it. You remember the occasion?’

Saskia nodded. Her mother and stepfather had persuaded her to go with them to a wine tasting at one of Luke’s shops. And Francis Lawford, development director of a successful restaurant group, had been among the other guests. He fancied himself as something of a connoisseur, and was a regular customer at Armytage Wines, both for himself and for the restaurant chain. The rest, she thought morosely, was history. Past history now.

‘Until recently I was very grateful for the introduction,’ she assured Luke. ‘But I don’t want to talk about that right now. The dinner wasn’t bad, and the wine was wonderful. I don’t want to ruin a pleasant evening.’ Which was true, she realised, with faint surprise. The evening so far had been far more pleasant than expected.

Luke laughed. ‘I’d take that as more of a compliment if you didn’t look so astonished about it.’

Saskia smiled suddenly, and he nodded in approval.

‘That’s better. The first real smile since I arrived.’

‘Since I arrived, too,’ she said lightly. ‘Let me clear this away, then we’ll have coffee on the terrace.’

‘Right.’ Luke got up and went over to one of the floorto-ceiling cupboards. ‘There should be some Vin Santo in here to drink with it.’

‘Don’t you ever think of anything but wine?’ she said, laughing.

He turned mocking eyes on her. ‘Indeed I do. But I won’t shock you by giving details of my private life! Besides, Vin Santo is regarded here as the wine of friendship. It might help to stop us fighting.’ He sobered, looking at her searchingly, then turned back to the cupboard. ‘Is Marina perfectly happy about your solitary holiday?’

‘Not perfectly, no. What are you looking for?’

‘Eureka,’ he said in triumph, and returned to the table with a bottle of Vin Santo and a packet of santuccihard little almond biscuits-to eat with it. He filled two small glasses, and dipped one of the biscuits into his own. ‘Go on. When in Rome, and all that.’

Saskia dipped a biscuit, and nibbled. ‘I hope I can sleep after all this.’

‘Has sleep been difficult lately?’

‘Yes.’

There was silence for a moment. Then Luke stretched out a hand and touched hers very fleetingly. ‘Problems, Sassy?’

She removed her hand, and turned away to the coffee pot on the stove. ‘Nothing I won’t solve. In time.’

‘In other words, Mind your own business, Armytage.’

Saskia shook her head. ‘I didn’t mean that at all. It’s just hard to admit that I’ve been a fool.’

‘Over Lawford?’

‘Yes.’

Luke contemplated her thoughtfully. ‘Is there anything I can do? In my capacity as brother I could go and have a word with him for you, if you like.’

‘In which case you might lose his order. I gather it’s pretty substantial. And in any case you’re not my brother.’

‘I’m your stepbrother.’

‘Just because my mother married your father it doesn’t mean we’re related, Lucius Armytage,’ she retorted.

Luke’s eyes frosted over. ‘No. You’ve always made that very plain.’ He drained his glass and stood up. ‘The wine didn’t work after all. Don’t bother about coffee, I’m for bed-’

‘Please don’t go yet,’ said Saskia urgently. ‘I’m sorry, Luke. I didn’t mean to snap.’ She managed a smile. ‘I’m actually rather tired of my own company. We could play some music, or just count the stars. We don’t have to talk.’

He looked at her in silence for a moment, then shrugged. ‘We can talk for a while, if that’s what you want’

Outside, under the pergola, they sat in silence in the starlit darkness at first, then began talking about their respective parents, and the twins, and Saskia’s job as PA to the head of capital markets in one of the City’s merchant banks.

‘I’m thinking of making a move,’ she said, with a sigh. ‘Orchestrating the constant changes in my boss’s schedule is quite a challenge. Of course I like the client contact and the project work. And the bank is a prestigious one-looks good on my CV. But the past few days on my own here have given me time to think, take stock. Here in Tuscany the City seems like something on another planet.’ She smiled. ‘Of course, when I get back home I’ll probably be glad of the hustle and bustle. But at the moment I hate the thought of it.’

Luke’s wicker chair creaked as he stretched out his long legs. ‘I’m fortunate, I suppose. My way of earning my daily bread is unfailingly interesting-to me, anyway-not least because I travel regularly in pleasant places.’

‘But everything always has gone smoothly for you, Luke.’

‘Not entirely.’ He paused. ‘I wasn’t very happy when my parents divorced, believe me.’

Saskia bit her lip. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t think. How old were you when they parted? Thirteen, fourteen?’

‘Fifteen. Not quite grown up. In fact still young enough to bawl like a baby the night my mother told me she was going to live in America with Joe Harley. I could spend my holidays in California with them, she assured me, and we could talk on the phone all the time, and write to each other regularly. None of which was much comfort to me at the time.’

Saskia sat very still, listening intently. Luke had never said a word on this particular subject before.

‘In the end,’ Luke went on, ‘I even gained in some ways. I owe my interest in wine to Joe. He was always very good to me. I spent a lot of holidays helping out in his vineyards in Napa Valley, learning about New World viticulture almost by osmosis.’

‘But you lived with your father.’

‘Until I could afford a place of my own, yes. Dad had some idea about selling the house in Oxford at first, but I think he kept it on so I wouldn’t have too many changes to cope with at once. And now he’s glad he did, of course.’ He chuckled. ‘Funny, really. My mother couldn’t cope with the academic life. Marriage to an Oxford don wasn’t her scene at all. Yet Marina seems to thrive on it. But I’ve often wondered if she minded moving into what was virtually another woman’s home.’

‘Mother and I lived in a cramped little flat over her dress shop, Luke, so she adored the house from the first. Besides, she made some changes once we moved in. Even more when the boys were born.’ She paused. ‘How did you feel when the twins arrived?’

Luke laughed. ‘Astonished, at first. But who could resist that pair of charmers? My father was as pleased as Punch. I was happy for him. He spent ten lonely years on his own before he met your mother, remember. She gave him a new lease of life.’ He turned to look at her. ‘Your father died before you were born, I know. While we’re on the subject, how did you shape up to the thought of a stepfather?’

Saskia was quiet for a moment. ‘At first,’ she said slowly, ‘I was afraid and miserable, sure Sam would come between Mother and me. But I soon got over that once I knew him better. He’s always been kindness itself to me.’

‘The only fly in the ointment, then, was me.’

Saskia had been fifteen, and Luke ten years older when Samuel Armytage had married Marina Ford. Saskia had been prickly and full of illogical resentment for the good-looking, energetic young man, who had already opened the first of his shops and owned a smart car and a flat in Parsons Green.