Zia felt as if the world gave an extra spin and she had to inhale hard, getting a hint of the scent of fresh wood on his skin. ‘Poor, poor Lucia. That sounds horrific.’ She gulped and added in a small voice, ‘Poor Durante, too, of course. I’m being selfish, but I’ve only just found her and now … well, sometimes you don’t realise how much you care about someone until you’re scared they might slip away.’

‘I know.’ He sat back, drawing her against him, and kissed her hair. ‘It’s not the same thing … but when you were in the UK,’ he made a gesture with his free hand, ‘you felt a long, long way away.’

His admission tingled through her. ‘It was about eleven hundred miles.’

‘Not geographically. Emotionally. You were back in your old life.’ He brought his other arm around her, his voice low and husky against the sound of birds singing in a nearby shrub. ‘When you were in England I moped like a teenager. My stomach hurt. It’s not a situation I’m used to.’

Zia’s heart fluttered. ‘That’s quite an admission.’

His smile twisted wryly. ‘And you have nothing similar to admit?’

She tried to be scrupulously honest. ‘A lot was happening to me. I discovered the gaps in my own backstory. I had a row with my ex. I went for a job interview.’ She smiled at the apprehension in his eyes. ‘But I kept thinking of here as “home”. I wanted to be here. And I thought about you a lot.’ She smiled. ‘I’m not sure how connected those last two statements are.’

He gave her plait a tiny tug. ‘But maybe connected?’ His eyes were teasing now.

‘Maybe,’ she conceded. His dark hair blew in the hot breeze and she brushed it back from his eyes, recognising as she did so that it was a proprietorial, girlfriendy gesture.

He didn’t seem to mind but just kissed the end of her nose. ‘How about dinner this evening? I’ll take you to one of my favourite places in Montelibertà and you can tell me about the row with your ex.’

‘It’s not a restaurant where Nicoletta’s likely to spring up and scream at me, is it?’ She waggled her eyebrows.

He laughed. ‘In the unlikely event that our paths cross, I think she understands the situation now.’

‘Then I’d love to. Though there’s not much to tell about Brendon. I just had to explain again – and at high volume this time – exactly how over we are.’

‘I hadn’t realised you would be seeing him.’ Piero lowered his mouth towards hers.