* * *
She was still none the wiser when she got to her sister’s house.
‘I want to know everything,’ Sophie warned her with a smile.
Mariana filled her in on the situation while she helped Olly build a train track.
‘It all sounds right up your street—and how exciting, solving a mystery about your favourite painter,’ Sophie said. ‘Though there’s something you’re not telling me.’
Mariana sighed. ‘Angelo.’
‘Problem?’
Mariana wrinkled her nose. ‘He’s nice. It’s not a problem about work.’
Sophie looked at her. ‘Do you like him?’
Mariana nodded.
‘That’s good. And you need a nice guy, after what Eric put you through.’
‘It’s complicated,’ Mariana said.
‘He doesn’t feel the same?’
‘We haven’t discussed it—but I think he does.’
‘What’s the problem, then?’ Sophie frowned. ‘Please tell me you’re not going to let Eric get in the way.’
‘No. Angelo knows what happened.’
‘Then what?’
‘He’s divorced.’ She paused. ‘His ex wanted children.’
‘And he doesn’t?’ Sophie winced. ‘So he doesn’t want the same things that you do from life. And having children is one of the really big ones—there isn’t a halfway house.’
‘Plus he’s my client. I need to be professional.’
‘Maybe,’ Sophie said, ‘you just need to get it out of your system.’
‘I don’t think either of us is the mad fling type.’
‘Maybe you should be,’ Sophie said. ‘Think about it. And you’re going to Florence with him again this weekend.’
‘And we’re staying in his grandfather’s house,’ Mariana pointed out. ‘So, no. A fling is out of the question.’
‘You should talk about it, though.’
Mariana shook her head. ‘Better to leave things as they are. No awkwardness.’
‘Just silent smoulders between you? That,’ Sophie said, ‘is asking for trouble.’
‘Less trouble than getting everything wrong.’
Sophie hugged her. ‘Mariana, you’re gorgeous and you’re lovely and you’re bright. You just need to trust yourself.’
‘I got it wrong last time.’
‘Which doesn’t mean you make the same mistakes again.’ Sophie paused. ‘I know how to fix this. Invite him for dinner. Mum and I will vet him.’
Mariana looked at her sister in horror. ‘Absolutely not!’
‘The offer is there,’ Sophie said, completely unrepentant. ‘Trust yourself, or let us vet him.’
‘It’s fine,’ Mariana said. ‘We’re working together.’
‘Then get to know him. Really know him. And when the project is over, if you still like him, then proposition him. You have nothing to lose,’ Sophie advised.
‘Maybe,’ Mariana said, and changed the subject to the new book she’d bought at lunchtime for Olly. Her sister’s smile said she knew what Mariana was doing and would let her off—for now.
* * *
The next morning, Angelo picked Mariana up in the taxi on the way to the airport; he liked the fact that she was already waiting outside for him, ready to go.
Professional.
Just as he needed her to be. Because it really wasn’t fair to dump his past on her. He knew she wanted something from life that he couldn’t give her. So this whole thing about his heart skipping a beat every time she smiled at him had to stop.
To hammer the point home, he asked, ‘How was your nephew?’
She smiled. ‘We had a good time playing trains—and he loved the new story. Sophie is going to read a chapter a night, and I promised him we’ll finish the book next week.’
He could see the delight she took in her nephew; and it underlined for him what a fabulous mother she would make. How could he deny her that opportunity? It wouldn’t be fair.
Once he’d got his head back in control of his heart, he changed the subject to Carulli and enjoyed her passion for the painter all the way to Florence.
At the train station, they took a taxi straight to the archives. As promised, Carulli’s letters were ready for them, and Mariana had produced a working file for them to scribble on with a timeline of what she knew from his biography, notes of Leo’s memories, the translation from the journals and prints of the painting and sketches.