When Lucia returned, she brought with her a prettily wrapped birthday gift for Piero, an olive wood sommelier set, which made Zia feel better about the pewter drip collar for a wine bottle that she and Ursula had bought him in Orvieto. Not knowing him for long, they’d gravitated towards something to do with wine and, though it was engraved with an attractively bold, masculine design, they had then wondered if they’d been unimaginative. It was comforting to know Lucia’s mind had run along the same lines. Ursula had been shocked when they didn’t buy Piero a birthday card but Zia knew cards weren’t so commonly given in Italy. He thanked everyone and kissed their cheeks but Zia noticed his eyes gleamed most over Sister Paola and Sister Priscilla’s gift of pinoccate, diamond-shaped sweets made of sugar, pine nuts and dark chocolate, which looked delicious.

Soon, the table was cleared and the party broke up so Lucia, Ursula, Sister Paola and Sister Priscilla could leave for the monastery. Durante headed indoors for a nap and Piero and Zia left the terrace. On the steps they paused to wave as the Dutch guests from Villino Il Tasso and Villino La Quercia drove up the drive. They’d gone out so much that Zia had barely been aware of them. Now she was to remain at Bella Vista she’d see lots of guests come and go. She turned to Piero to tell him the news but he was already speaking.

‘You know, of course, that’s it’s an Italian tradition that when it’s a man’s birthday he can ask a beautiful woman out to dinner and she has to say “yes”?’ His expression was solemn except for his eyes, which danced with laughter.

‘You just made that up,’ she retorted, but her pulse gave an extra throb.

He assumed an injured air. ‘Italian men never lie. Will you have dinner with me this evening?’ He smiled a slow, wide, sultry smile that crinkled his eyes. Something odd happened to Zia’s legs. Wow, was it genuinely a thing that a handsome man could make a woman weak at the knees?

‘You’re not spending time with your family?’ she asked, to give herself time to get used to the knee situation.

He turned his palms up. ‘How could the beautiful-woman tradition be observed if I did?’

A spurt of laughter escaped her. She knew Ursula wouldn’t mind being left to her own devices so she said, ‘Dinner would be lovely.’