Just then Elena’s cell phone rang.With a sigh, she apologized to Carter for the interruption, and fished it out of her purse. Frowning when she looked at the number of the caller, she opened it, listened for a moment, and with a terse “no!” snapped the phone shut again.

“Qualcosa da bere per il giovane signore?” said Agnella coldly to Elena.

“Carter, she wants to know if you want something to drink,” said Elena, regaining her smile.

“No, sto bene, Signora Agnella,” Carter said with a slight bow of his head, respectfully declining. “Niente per me.”

Elena gaped at him.

“Carter, you speak Italian!” she cried in amazement.

“A little,” Carter admitted with a shrug.

“But why did you not tell me this when we met in Newport?”

“Because back then I didn’t speak any at all,” he told her.

“But how do you speak so well now?”

“I don’t,” he said, shaking his head in modesty. “Not really. I just studied a little over the summer after I decided to come to Italy, that’s all.”

“Bravo,” said Elena, patting his hand, her touch like electricity.

Agnella left them for a minute and, despite Carter having not accepted her offer of something to drink, soon returned with a tray holding a bottle of mineral water and two glasses. She set it on the coffee table by the couch, and retreated once more to another room. Elena poured Carter a glass of water and handed it to him just as her cell phone rang again.

“Go ahead, drink,” she whispered to him, reaching for the phone. “If not, she feel insulted.”

Carter could refuse Elena nothing, and so he gladly took a sip of the water. He watched her answer the phone with the same frown, and wondered who it was that was darkening her brow. Once again, in an irritated voice, she gave a short “no!” and snapped the phone shut. She had not even put the phone back in her purse when it rang again.This time she simply turned it off and smiled apologetically.

Elena gave a toss of her hair, twisted her body sideways so that she was facing him, and settled back on the couch. She was so close to Carter now, and he wanted so much to reach out and touch her, to feel the gentle curve of her hip.

“So tell me, Carter,” she said excitedly. “This is big surprise. What is it are you doing here in Roccasale?”

It was then that Carter realized how fortunate he was that Giancarlo had entrusted to him the pocket watch. Having it had given him a plausible reason for being there, and a graceful excuse for leaving if his reunion with Elena had not gone as well as he had hoped. He explained to her that he was simply passing through Roccasale on his way to a place called Castelalto to deliver something for a friend.