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frozen as the lake in winter.
    ‘Don’t presume to tell me what I know or don’t know,’ he said with ice in his voice, and Caroline removed her hand quickly as though she had been burnt suddenly. ‘I’ve come here for a purpose and, whether you like it or not, I will ensure that things are wrapped up before I leave.’
    ‘And how long are you intending to stay? I never asked, but you really haven’t come with very much luggage, have you? I mean, one small bag.’
    ‘Put it this way, there will be no need to go shopping for food on my account. I plan on being here no longer than two days. Three at the very most.’
    Caroline’s heart sank further. This was a business visit, however you dressed it up and tried to call it something else. Two days? Just long enough for Giancarlo to levy his charge for Alberto’s past wrongdoings, whatever those might have been, with interest.
    She didn’t think that he was even prepared to get to know his father. The only thing that interested him, his only motivation for coming to the villa, was to dole out his version of revenge, whether he chose to call it that or not.
    ‘Now, any more questions?’ Giancarlo drawled and Caroline shook her head miserably, not trusting herself to speak. Once again, he felt a twinge of uninvited and unwelcome doubt. ‘I’m surprised at your level of attachment to Alberto,’ he commented brusquely, annoyed at himself, because would her answer change anything? No.
    ‘Why?’ Her eyes were wide and clear when she looked at him. ‘I didn’t have a load of prejudices when I came here. I came with an open mind. I found a lonely old man with a kind heart and a generous nature. Yes, he might be prickly, but it’s what’s inside that counts. At least, that’s how it works for me.’
    He really shouldn’t have been diverted into encouraging her opinion. He should have known that whatever chirpy, homespun answer she came out with would get on his nerves. He was very tempted to inform her that he was the least prejudiced person on the face of the earth, that if on this single occasion he was prey to a very natural inclination towards one or two preconceived ideas about Alberto, then no one could lay the blame for that at his door. He cut short the infuriating desire to be sidetracked.
    ‘Well, I’m very pleased that he has you around,’ Giancarlo said neutrally. Caroline bristled because she could just
sense
that he was being patronising.
    ‘No, you aren’t. You’re still so mad at him that you probably would much rather have preferred it if he was still on his own in this big, rambling house with no one to talk to. And, if there
was
someone around, then I’m sure you’d rather it wasn’t me, because you don’t like me at all!’
    ‘What gives you that idea?’
    Caroline ignored that question. The promise of what was to come felt like a hangman’s noose around her neck. She was fit to explode. ‘Well, I don’t like you either,’ she declared with vehemence. ‘And I hope you choke on your plans to ruin Alberto’s life.’ She spun away from him so that he couldn’t witness the tears stinging her eyes. ‘He’s waiting for you,’ she muttered in a driven voice. ‘Why don’t you go in now and get it over with?’

CHAPTER FOUR
    G IANCARLO entered a room that was familiar to him. The smallest of the sitting-rooms at the back of the house had always been the least ornate and hence the cosiest. Out of nowhere came the memory of doing his homework in this very room, always resisting the urge to sneak outside, down to the lake. French doors led out to the sprawling garden that descended to the lake via a series of landscaped staircases. Alberto sat in a chair by one of the bay windows with a plaid rug over his legs even though it was warm in the room.
    ‘So, my boy, you’ve come.’
    Giancarlo looked at his father with a shuttered expression. He wondered if his memory was playing tricks on him, because Alberto looked diminished. In his