“Are you nervous, being here with me?” Ross asked.

“A little.” She pushed her hair back from her face. “It will be okay for a while.” She reached over and took his hand again, looked at it, ran her finger down his palm. “You have beautiful hands.”

“You think so?”

“I’ve thought so since I first met you. They’re artist’s hands.”

Ross still looked critically at his own hands.

“That was a compliment. Say ‘thank you.’ ”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

The wind danced across the valley, stripped of her fruit and ready to wither and be reborn. It was quiet. Ross broke the silence. “So what did you want to show me?”

“That.” She pointed toward the distant valley. The sun was falling and the day’s last light spread out over the land, turning everything before them to gold.

Ross said softly, “Che meraviglia.”

“Sì,” she replied in a voice just stronger than a whisper. “I think this is where the first settlers must have been when they named this valley Rendola. It looks like where heaven might meet the earth. I come here alone sometimes. Whenever I need peace. I sit here and watch the sun set. Sometimes I pray.” Her words trailed off in silence.

Ross closed his eyes. The air was crisp, and there was no sound but the scattered evening song of birds.

“I’ve always wanted to share this with someone. Some things are too lovely not to be shared.”

Ross sat quietly thinking about her words; then he turned to her. “Like you.”

She turned and looked into his eyes. Then, as if filling a vacuum between them, they came together and kissed, deeply and without restraint. When they finally parted, she was breathless, her lips slightly open, her eyes unable to leave him.

Ross looked into her eyes with deep intensity. “I love you, Eliana. With all my heart, I love you.”

She closed her eyes as if to feel his words, like a warm breeze brushing over her. Then she leaned forward again and they kissed, softly at first, then with growing passion. They wrapped their arms around each other, grasping, clenching, entangling themselves. It was as if she was drinking from his mouth, from his soft lips, quenching a thirst that had built up for years. He slid from the wall, still in her embrace, but now standing in front of her and kissing her face. She tipped her head back so that he could kiss her neck, and her arms went around his head, pulling him into herself. Then suddenly she stiffened.

Ross looked up, breathing heavily. She looked troubled. “What?”

“Did you hear something?”

“No.”

“Wait.” She untangled herself from him and they were still. The valley was quiet except for the wind and their breathing. Ross leaned back from her. He saw her eyes light with comprehension.

“It’s Manuela. Wait here.”

Eliana slid from the wall. She took off her shoes; then carrying them in one hand and lifting her dress with the other, she ran back toward the winery. A minute later he heard Manuela’s voice echoing in the valley.