From Italy With Love Read online

  ‘Well …’ she turned helplessly to Cam, who was no help at all.

  ‘I think that sounds like a great idea,’ interjected Cam with a sly grin and wink at Laurie, ‘give you a chance to catch up a bit. I’ll be fine; I want to check my emails. You go ahead, Laurie.’

  ‘Ooh, it’ll be such fun,’ squealed Siena, grabbing Laurie’s hand, her earlier shyness suddenly vanishing. ‘Come on, come with me.’

  ‘But … I …’

  ‘I can lend you everything. Come on we need to get started, we’ve only got three hours.’ She lunged for Laurie’s hand and dragged her out of the room, giving Cam a perky little wave.

  ‘I’ll bring Cinders back to you at seven. You won’t believe your eyes.’

  Three hours! Laurie’s heart sank. God, what was she planning to do? Visions of the film Grease and the song Beauty School Drop Out filled her head, followed by the overwhelming image of a guinea pig in pink curlers.

  Cam heaved a sigh as the door closed on the young whirlwind. He dreaded to think what that forceful young lady had in store for Laurie. Taking his wash bag through to the en-suite, he unloaded his shaving gear. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too OTT but he had a horrible feeling that it would. Siena looked like she was of the more is more school. Although from the look of guilt on Laurie’s face, he guessed she’d do anything to please her younger sister. He couldn’t imagine him and Nick being separated like that. Wouldn’t he have attempted to stay in touch? Who knew what went on in families?

  He had to remember, he wasn’t Laurie’s keeper. He placed his toothbrush in the glass tumbler by the sink. He wasn’t her anything. Although if it were down to him, he’d snatch her up, bundle her into the car and head far, far away from this place. Loathsome woman. Laurie probably wouldn’t believe him but the woman had probably done her a favour leaving when she did, although separating the sisters had been unbelievably cruel for both the girls and their father. Tonight he’d stick close to her, protect her from the vultures and make sure her mother kept her claws to herself. He caught sight of his fierce expression in the mirror. Oh God, he was doing it again. Laurie didn’t need rescuing. Don’t get involved, he told his reflection. He should have learned by now. Look what a disaster things had turned out with Sylvie. He’d tried to rescue her. Look after her. But he couldn’t stay the course. He wasn’t cut out for it.

  He had to stick to the plan. Get Laurie to Maranello. Buy the car and drive off into the sunset and never see her again. So why couldn’t he shake this horrible vision of her in too much eye make-up, scarlet lipstick and big hair in a dress the wrong colour. And since when had he considered what the right colour was for her?

  See, he was already turning into her big brother. Worrying about her. He shook his head. Been down the road before. He was not going to feel responsible for Laurie. She didn’t need it and wouldn’t thank him for it. Women didn’t come more independent than her, steady job, own home and boyfriend waiting by the hearth. In a few days’ time she’d go home, they’d get married, have kids, with a very nice nest egg courtesy of his bank manager, and this trip wouldn’t even feature as any more than a blip in her memories.

  In the meantime he would go down and check on the car, and a place like this was bound to have a billiard room or a library he could hole out in until it was time to collect Cinders. Give him chance to get the lie of the land, although the landscape was pretty familiar. The jet set didn’t vary that much from country to country. They all fell into the usual stereotypes.

  Coming out of the bedroom he headed down the stairs and went out to the garage block at the back of the house to find the Ferrari gleaming in the late afternoon sunlight. Soon it would be his. What a beauty. Driving her this far had been heaven sent, although now Laurie was getting more confident, he was getting less and less driving hours in. Good job she drove well as well as she did or it would have been pure torture.

  ‘Nice car,’ a languid voice purred through a steam of cigarette smoke.

  Cam looked up, taking in the scent and realising it had been years since he’d had or wanted a cigarette. The smoker pushed himself up from the nearby wall and came to stand beside Cam. ‘Yours?’

  ‘Sadly, no.’

  Laurie had been very circumspect with her mother, so he was wary of giving anything away. Once again he got the horrible feeling that she was like a lamb among vultures.

  ‘Worth a bit?’

  Cam’s eyes narrowed. The guy was like so many other spoilt trust-fund brats. You could tell just from the cut of their floppy hair and the casual grace that illustrated itself in the way they lounged everywhere. The car was worth a fortune but only an idiot would think about money when they looked at this masterpiece of engineering. The guy was a dickhead.

  ‘Is that a question or an observation?’

  ‘Both?’

  Cam couldn’t resist showing off even though he knew he shouldn’t. Guys like this always irritated the hell out of him. ‘It’s probably worth more than double your trust fund.’

  The boy man raised his eyebrows and sneered. ‘I wouldn’t be so sure of that if I were you.’

  Chapter 18

  Siena’s room had more homely touches than the hotel-like bedroom and salon that Laurie had seen so far but it was still a far cry from her own teenage bedroom. There certainly wasn’t a poster in sight and all the furniture matched. It would have been lovely except the floor was covered in clothes and the dressing table strewn with make-up. Wardrobes lined one wall from which spilled a rainbow of colours.

  Siena clearly didn’t understand the concept of tidiness.

  With quick rapid movements, she cleared a high backed velvet seat by transferring the mountain of clothes onto the bed.

  ‘Here, sit down,’ she said to Laurie, her eyes alight with eagerness.

  She promptly sat down on the bed uncaring of the clothes beneath her crossed legs, looking like a genie who’d just popped out of a lamp.

  ‘So, is he your boyfriend then?’ Siena leaned forward with avid interest as if she planned to learn everything she could about having a sister in the next three hours.

  Laurie laughed at her earnest tone. ‘Sorry, no we’re just … friends.’ She guessed that’s what they were now.

  Siena’s face fell. ‘He’s delish. Don’t you fancy him at all? ’

  Laurie laughed again, refusing to even consider the question properly. She’d seen Cam half-naked, been up close and personal to those gorgeous green eyes; he was completely delicious and also completely out of her league, but she had no intention of admitting that to her little sister who seemed to have a bit of a case of sister-worship going on.

  ‘Go on, you must. He’s like a film-star.’

  ‘We’re friends. I’ve got a boyfriend back home.’

  ‘What’s he like? Better looking than Cameron?’

  Laurie pressed her lips together to stop the gurgle of amusement escaping. No one was better looking than Cameron. Having her sister think she was cool appealed. Rather than lie, she shrugged.

  ‘How old is he? What’s he called?’

  ‘He’s called Robert. He’s thirty, and he works in computer sales.’

  Siena’s eyes widened. ‘Wow. No trust fund then.’ The grown up words were at odds with her youthful bounce.

  ‘’Fraid not. How about you? Do you have a boyfriend?’

  ‘No, although Edouard’s quite keen, but he’s,’ Siena gave an insouciant lift of her shoulders, ‘a bit dull and can’t ski to save his life.’

  Laurie nodded gravely as if agreeing that that was a terribly important consideration in life.

  ‘Maman would like me and Yves, his family own the estate that borders ours, to get together. I guess I probably will one day.’

  That sounded sad but Siena seemed unperturbed by the thought.

  ‘So are you at college? University?’

  Siena’s face clouded briefly. ‘I thought I might like go to fashion college but St Martins in London were a bit fussy. They wanted p
ortfolios of work and baccalaureates or GCSE’s and things. And they wanted you to be there all the time, which I thought was a bit strange. I mean you need a few weeks for Milan, Paris and London and then there’s New York. How can you study fashion, if you don’t go to all the shows?’

  Laurie nodded, charmed by her sister’s naivety. It seemed a fair point.

  ‘And Maman said I would have missed the skiing season. There didn’t seem much point. Where do you ski?’

  ‘I don’t.’ Laurie tempered her answer with a smile, not wanting to embarrass her sister. ‘I work and they’re a bit sniffy about taking the whole skiing season off.’

  ‘What a bore.’ Siena bounced on the bed. ‘Maman says you work in a library. That’s very brave.’

  Laurie frowned, trying to work out how on earth working in a library could possibly be seen as brave. What happened in libraries in France?

  She had a sudden vision of herself guarding the front door of the library in Leighton Buzzard clad in armour with a sword drawn, carrying a large round shield.

  ‘It must be very germy.’

  ‘Germy?’ Was that a French word?

  ‘You know, all those people touching books and then you having to touch them.’ Siena gave a gentle shudder.

  ‘Right.’ Laurie nodded, trying hard not to smile. Such a thing had never even occurred to her.

  Suddenly Siena jumped up with a squeal. ‘Look at the time.’ She began rifling through the pile of clothes on the bed, before triumphantly pulling out a black bra. ‘I knew it was here somewhere.’ She pulled it over her chest, patting herself and looking at herself in the mirror. ‘Yep that’s the right one.’

  ‘Right, now tonight’s quite formal. A few crown princes and minor royalty, possibly Mick, you know Jagger, Rolling Stones, and a captain of industry or two, they’re always the dullest though. So I think we could emphasise your classic English rose beauty. Very Kate Winslet I think.’

  The words were very grown up as if they were being repeated from a play or a film.

  While saying this, Siena circled her. Then she leant forward scooped Laurie’s hair up to reveal her neckline. ‘Nice cut, where did you have this done? I’m getting a bit fed up with my hairdresser.’

  Unable to resist it, Laurie casually answered as if she often flew to Paris just for a haircut, ‘Marc at Galeries—

  ‘Marc! My God, you’re kidding. He’s like, well it’s impossible to get an appointment with him.’ She pouted. ‘Wait ’til I tell Maman.’

  She sounded so put out, Laurie almost felt like apologising. Then like a butterfly flitting to the next plant, she was off again.

  ‘My, you have lovely bone structure and you don’t have my stupid nose.’

  Laurie raised an eyebrow; the doll-like nose looked perfectly fine to her.

  ‘It’s too small. I look like an elf or something’ She wrinkled the offending nose in disgust. ‘No one takes you seriously if you look little and elfy.’

  ‘Oh,’ Laurie tried to digest all this information, but her head was starting to spin. Siena’s mind did tend leap about quite a lot.

  ‘Nice place you’ve got,’ said Laurie inanely, suddenly aware that she needed to make some conversation with her sister. ‘So you live here … all the time?’

  Siena eyes widened. ‘Well of course, except when we’re in the Paris apartment or at the ski lodge in Verbier. Where else would I live?’

  Laurie shrugged. It seemed mean to say that some girls her age lived with friends and had jobs. Siena’s pretty brow wrinkled in confusion and she shook her head. ‘No, I live here with Maman and Harry. He’s her latest husband. Very nice.’

  Laurie bit back a surprised laugh. Siena made it sound so commonplace as if perhaps their mother changed her husband on a regular basis.

  ‘Those jeans are awful. Where did you get them?’ Siena changed gear with a startling turn of speed

  ‘Next,’ said Laurie, too shocked by her sister’s forthrightness to stand up to her rudeness. For some pig-headed reason she’d resisted putting on her lovely new white linen trousers this morning.

  ‘Well they don’t do you any favours. You’ve got quite good legs but the cut is all wrong for you. I always get my jeans from Diesel, I swear by their fit. We’re the same shape − you should try them.’ Her face lit up and she darted off, bringing to mind an erratic fairy.

  Rummaging through a pile on the floor of the wardrobe, she pulled out a pair of denims waving them triumphantly like a trophy. ‘Here. Try these on, while I find you a dress for tonight. I’ve got just the thing.’

  ‘What? Now?’

  ‘Yes.’ Siena, began tugging enthusiastically at her zip.

  ‘Whoa, I can manage.’ Laurie pushed Siena’s busy fingers away.

  Siena winced, her big eyes shadowing. ‘Sorry … I’m a bit … too…’

  Laurie warmed to her sister. ‘You’re fine. But I can manage my own jeans. Honest.’

  ‘Well hurry up then. I’m dying to see you in a decent pair of jeans. Honestly those ones are so—’

  Laurie fixed her with a stern look.

  ‘Sorry, big sister. You look all scary like that.’ Siena giggled.

  Laurie’s heart turned to mush. Siena was trying to so hard to please her.

  ‘Now shoes for tonight. What size are your feet?’

  ‘Six … sometimes five and half.’

  Siena looked crestfallen.

  ‘No way. Are you sure?’

  Laurie raised an eyebrow.

  Siena giggled. ‘Sorry. Damn, I’m only a five.’ Then she brightened. ‘It’s OK, Maman’s the right size. Be right back. You put those on.’

  As she darted out of the room, Laurie took a breath. She felt exhausted. Siena was like a cheerful hummingbird, all action and colour.

  She came back with a pile of boxes, stacked so high that all Laurie could see was her legs and a hand anchoring the top of the pile. Her eyes widened as she spotted the words written on one of the boxes. She’d never even seen a pair of Jimmy Choos, let alone tried any on.

  Two hours later she’d been rubbed, plucked, brushed and teased before Siena was finally happy enough with the result to let her take a look in the mirror. In that time, Laurie had completely fallen in love with her sister and was determined to ensure that she spent more time with her. Vivacious and generous, completely innocent, she was utterly spoilt but without a mean bone in her body. It was hard to believe that she’d grown up with Celeste or that she didn’t remember Dad. He had loved her. Waves of pain rocked over Laurie as she thought of what he’d missed. Maybe that was why after the first few years he didn’t try so hard. Celeste hadn’t made visitation rights easy. It was easier to let go than feel the pain of loss all the time. As time went by it had been easy; just the two of them, her and Dad and in a way she’d liked it like that.

  ‘Ta dah!’ Siena allowed her to turn and look in the mirror. Laurie’s eyes fixed on the anxious face of her sister bouncing up and down in the background in the reflection in the mirror. With a burst of love, she turned round and gave her sister a hug, feeling the tiny bones of her ribcage crunch as her sister returned the hug twice as hard. They stood like that for a minute.

  ‘Thanks Siena. I’ve enjoyed this afternoon,’ whispered Laurie.

  ‘My pleasure, Sis,’ beamed Siena. ‘Now look what I’ve done.’ She pushed her around to face the mirror.

  The image stunned her. Siena had worked miracles. With clever shadowing and shading, she made her eyes look even bigger as well as smoky and sultry. Her cheekbones shone, dusted with highlighter which emphasised the shape of her face and her hair had been scooped up into some sort of up-do which then cascaded down at the back in a flurry of curls. She tossed her head from this side to that, entranced by the unfamiliar image.

  Mandy had made her look better but Siena had exceeded that. Laurie could scarcely believe it was her in the mirror. For the first time ever that slight sense of inferiority lifted. A smile tilted her lips. Looking like this, sh
e could certainly hold her own. She straightened and admired herself again.

  ‘Wow,’ she breathed not wanting to break the illusion that this glamorous creature was really her.

  In her sister’s borrowed dress, she looked beautiful. The designer sheath dress in midnight blue silk could have been made for her, it hugged every contour of her figure accentuating the length of her limbs and making her look long and lean. The neckline was far lower than she would have chosen but after a few furtive tugs trying to pull it a little higher over the deep V of her cleavage, she gave up. She pulled a wry face at herself in the mirror. It wasn’t that bad really by current standards and there were bound to be women with far more exposed cleavage.

  Laurie bit her lip. What would Cam think?

  Nerves danced in the bottom of her stomach. He was used to well-groomed, glamorous women. Would he even notice? With a fierce pang, it hit her. She really wanted him to notice her.

  Siena looked very very pleased with herself.

  ‘Right, now it’s my turn. I need to get ready.’

  ‘Do you want me to stay and give you a hand?’ asked Laurie, feeling a little more kinship with her sister. It was kind of Siena to have given up her time to make her look good and she hadn’t even started getting ready herself yet.

  Siena giggled. ‘No, I’ve got this one. I’ll see you later.’

  Effectively dismissed, Laurie headed back to her own room, wondering if Cam would be in there.

  The jeans tossed on one side of the bed, boxers on the floor and a pair of dark socks cast on the silk upholstered chair, suggested that he’d changed already. Did he have a dinner suit with him? She doubted it. Although with Cam, it didn’t really matter what he wore.

  In the bathroom, the mirror still had steam etched around its borders, testament to the room’s recent use. Lemon verbena permeated the still slightly damp air and a twinge of longing hit her stomach. L’Occitaine shower gel. The one she’d used in Paris. Without thinking she crossed to the bottle and took a dreamy sniff. The familiarity of the smell reminded of her of how many hours they’d spent in such close proximity in the car.