‘Not today,’ she said. She had absorbed much of the art and culture on previous trips, but in her current mood she craved indulgence, nothing she had to concentrate on too hard. Maybe she would drink a dramatically expensive hot chocolate on the piazza to the music of the small café orchestra, then wander the shady, picturesque streets, stroke some of the soft leather handbags she couldn’t afford. ‘Don’t drown them,’ she said.

Gianni batted his eyelids in mock seduction. ‘For you, signora, I do anything you ask.’

She waited till the crocodile had disappeared down one of the narrow alleyways to the south of the piazza, then went and found a table in the sunshine and ordered her hot chocolate. It came with about three inches of whipped cream sprinkled with chocolate flakes in a glass with a metal handle and she just stared at it, appreciating its beauty, before plunging in her teaspoon and dragging up some hot, creamy deliciousness, shutting her eyes to savour the sweetness rolling over her tongue.

As she sat there, she found herself thinking disloyally of Jared – Italy evoked him. And without the constraint of being with Devan, she made no attempt to quell her musings. She wondered if he’d ever thought of her since that night on Lake Como. She laughed to herself. A fleeting kiss, yet it sets my ageing heart aflutter, she thought wryly.

‘Connie?’

She jumped as a hand dropped lightly onto her shoulder. She spun around, expecting to see one of her group, left behind already by Gianni’s imperious march through the crowded back streets.

‘Jared …’ Her breath caught in her throat. It shocked her to see him there – almost as if she’d magicked him up with her thoughts. For a moment she thought she must be mistaken – the morning sun was so bright behind his head that it left his face in shadow.

He was entirely composed, however, as he smiled and pulled out a chair. ‘May I?’

She managed a nod, her heart flapping uncomfortably beneath her ribs. ‘What on earth are you doing here?’

‘Just staying with friends for a few days. They own one of those damp, crumbling palazzos on the canal. Just can’t resist Venice in the spring.’ He nodded towards her drink. ‘I see you’re getting stuck into the local delights.’

‘What an incredible coincidence, bumping into each other,’ Connie said, still stunned that Jared was actually there, sitting calmly at her table.

He gave her a knowing smile and tapped the side of his nose. ‘Ah, well, not entirely coincidence. I overheard a woman in the queue for the Doge’s Palace chatting to her friend. “We have to be back to meet Connie by twelve,” she said. And I just knew it must be you … so I’ve been wandering around looking for you ever since.’