Read Online From Venice With Love by Alison Roberts - Free Book Online Page B

thoughts to go in when faced by two people who were ‘meant to be together’ and had made the connection at last?
    ‘Early days, Gran,’ she said in a stage whisper across the table. ‘Don’t frighten the poor man.’
    ‘Frightened? Me?’ To give him credit, Nico recovered fast. He actually winked at Lady Geraldine. ‘We men like to pick our own time, that’s all. The element of surprise, you understand?’
    ‘Oh, of course.’ Lady Geraldine beamed at him. ‘I promise I’ll be surprised.’
    She wouldn’t be the only one. Nico was only supposed to be posing as her new boyfriend, that’s all. Something that would make Gran happy because it offered hope for her not having a lonely future. This was getting out of hand. He was sharing family secrets as though he was already a prospective grandson-in-law.
    How on earth was she going to explain what had happened here tonight if, by some miracle, her grandmother’s treatment was effective and she lived for years after this?
    The interruption of formal speeches in praise of the symposium and its organisers filled in the time between courses and prevented any further bonding between her gran and Nico, but it didn’t lessen the increasing tension Charlotte was experiencing. It only got worse as people began to mingle between the tables and Richard Campbell came to say hello.
    ‘Did you enjoy listening to Charlotte this morning, Lady Geraldine?’
    ‘Oh, I did. So much. Thank you for arranging things,Dr Campbell. I am the happiest woman in the world tonight.’
    ‘So I see.’ It was impossible not to respond to the glow her grandmother was exuding. No one would believe that she could be facing confirmation of a terminal disease within days. And the misty look she was giving the young couple at her table was just as easy to read. Richard’s jaw sagged visibly as he followed her gaze.
    ‘Charlotte? You and…?’
    ‘Nico Moretti,’ Nico said, extending his hand.
    A new challenge, then. Could he pull off this pretence with the people who worked with Charlotte?
    ‘Delighted to meet you, Richard. Although I think we met some years ago. At St Margaret’s?’
    ‘That was where he first met Charlotte,’ Lady Geraldine put in.
    ‘Mmm.’ Richard was giving Charlotte a strange look and Nico’s heart sank. He remembered that impression he’d had when he’d been listening to her speak this morning. That her playing down her femininity might reveal a sexual preference that didn’t include men. Maybe her closest colleagues were aware of something that was kept strictly private. Something she didn’t want her grandmother to know, either.
    Was that what had been hidden beneath that absolute conviction that she would never be fulfilling her grandmother’s dearest wish of settling down and having babies? Suspicion on Jendi’s part might also explain that charged glance directed at her granddaughter, which he’d inadvertently provoked.
    Charlotte certainly seemed bothered by something.As soon as possible after Richard moved on to another table, she excused herself, muttering about needing a bathroom. He saw her ask a waiter for directions and then head out a door that led to a long balcony. Presumably the bathrooms opened off the balcony to one side of the restaurant.
    Which meant that Nico could also excuse himself and head in that direction. He could catch Charlotte before she came back into the dining room and just check that he wasn’t causing even more trouble for her, although exactly how to broach the subject of her sexuality in a sensitive manner was entirely beyond him at the moment.
    The balcony ran right along the canal side of the restaurant. It was quiet out here with the added darkness that came from the still water of the canal. Nico didn’t need to use the facilities so he paced back and forth, waiting what seemed an interminably long time for Charlotte to reappear. What was she doing in there? Twisting her hair back into some impossibly tight