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‘So who’s complaining?’ Joan asked. ‘I’m not.’
‘He’s all yours.’
At last the formalities were finished and Renzo called for their attention so that he could outline the plan for the next few days.
‘We’ll spend the nights in the huts we’ll find up there,’ he said. ‘Some are like good hotels, some are more basic, but I take it you’re all ready to rough it.’
There was a murmur of agreement and Mandy couldn’t resist calling, ‘Even those of us who are delicate.’
Renzo grinned. ‘I guess I’m not going to be allowed to forget that. Right, let’s go.’
As the others made their way out of the door, he drew her aside, murmuring, ‘I really am grateful. You’re not mad at me, are you?’
‘I can’t think what you’re talking about. I remember nothing.’
‘You’re probably right. Let’s be off.’
The first day was relatively easy, moving slowly up the lower slopes, linked by ropes.
Mandy had done just enough climbing to be able to cope fairly easily. The hardest moment was when Joan, roped to her, missed her footing. Briefly Mandy found herself supporting the young woman’s weight, and hung on grimly, but Joan recovered quickly and the moment passed. Looking up, she found Renzo watching her and had the satisfaction of seeing him nod in a way that suggested she’d done well.
There was also the ironic pleasure of discovering that she was far from being the worst of the party of twelve. That honour was reserved for Henry, a hulking, loutish young man. Though superficially good-natured, he wanted to do everything his own way and didn’t take kindly to instructions. Several times Renzo had to be very firm with him, and Mandy had to admit that he managed it without trouble.
As the light faded they came to the hut where they would spend the first night. It was small and when they had all crowded in the place was bursting at the seams, but the food was filling, the beds narrow but adequate and there was an air of jollity that carried them through the evening.
It amused her to see that as soon as they arrived Renzo became the target of attention again. The women gazed at him with pleasure, the men with jealousy. He accepted it all as his due, and Mandy had to admit that he had plenty of what the Italians called bella figura. More than mere good looks, it implied confidence, style, charisma, panache.
He was never at a loss. When someone produced a battered guitar he led the singalong with all the aplomb of a natural showman.
Now and then Henry butted in, making a noise—as someone observed—like a terrified monkey. But he was shouted down and vanished, scowling. After that nobody thought of him until bed time, when the sound of a slap followed by a yell showed that he’d had no luck there, either.
The next day they climbed up nearly three thousand metres and ended in a larger hut, perched on the edge of a ridge, staring down into the valley where the lights of Chamonix were just visible, like winking signals from another planet.
Mandy slipped outside to catch the last of the light, which had an unearthly quality here, in the heart of the snowy peaks. In the distant sky she could see a blaze of glorious scarlet, such as she’d never expected in February, and held her breath, longing for it to last.
A door behind her opened and she glanced back to see Renzo emerge. To her relief, he didn’t speak but stood in silence while they both watched the blazing colour fade swiftly into darkness.
At last she heard him sigh.
‘It’s breathtaking, isn’t it? I always come out to watch.’
‘And yet you must have seen it so often,’ she ventured.
‘It doesn’t matter how often. It’s always like the first time.’ He looked at her wryly. ‘I guess that surprises you, seeing as you have me down as an unrelieved jerk, totally insensitive and incapable of appreciating a moment of beauty. Don’t deny that that’s your opinion of me.’
‘I wasn’t going to deny it—’ she chuckled ‘—why should I?’
He looked aggrieved. ‘It might have been polite.’
‘I don’t do polite.’
‘Very wise. You save a lot of time that way.’ He came and sat beside her. ‘Are you coping all right?’
‘I’m fine, thanks. I’m really pleased with myself for not collapsing when Joan lost her footing. I just supported her until she was ready, you have to admit that.’
‘True, but with me above, supporting the two of you. All right, all right, don’t eat me.’
From inside came a burst of laughter, making him wince.
‘Shouldn’t you be getting back to your guests?’ she asked.
‘They’re not my guests, they’re my responsibility, and sometimes it’s one I’d much rather do without. I swear, this is the last time I take over a party where I haven’t been able to vet everyone first. And no, I don’t mean you.’
‘I know,’ she said cheerfully. ‘Henry. Do you know which one of the girls slapped him last night?’
He grinned. ‘They’re lining up to lay claim. Poor Henry. I saw him trying to attach himself to you earlier today. Is he giving you trouble?’
She glared. ‘You’re not chivalrously offering to take care of him for me, I hope.’
‘No way,’ Renzo said hastily. ‘You deal with him any way you like, and er—’ he gave her a significant glance ‘—I’ll dispose of the body.’
‘All right,’ she said, laughing. ‘Enough said. Actually, Henry really wanted to have a moan about you.’
‘Because I had to keep him in line?’
‘I think it’s more that you’re everything he wants to be and never will. He reckons you don’t get your face slapped, and that makes him want to kill you.’
‘What does he think I’m up to? Those bunk beds are only about two feet wide.’
‘Well,’ Mandy mused, ‘I suppose two feet might just be enough if—’ She left the implication hanging.
‘You’re making me blush, do you know that?’
‘I should really like to know what could make you blush,’ she said ironically. ‘Nothing I could think of.’
It was too dark for her to see much of his face, but his eyes seemed to gleam at her with unholy glee.
‘How do you know if you don’t try?’ he teased.
‘Now, you stop that,’ she said, suddenly cross. ‘I know what you’re doing and it’s a waste of time.’
‘Sure about that?’
‘Quite sure. Who do you think you’re dealing with? One of those girls in there, ready to sigh every time you go past?’
‘I’ve never pictured you like that,’ he said truthfully.
‘You think I want you swinging from my balcony?’
‘No way. You’d push me off.’
‘How astute of you.’
‘Let’s drop this, since I’m getting the worst of it. I think I’ll get us something to drink so that we can fight in comfort.’
Renzo went inside and Mandy leaned back in her chair, feeling content. She had a feeling of being in control, and she suspected that not many women had ever felt that with this man. It was very enjoyable.
CHAPTER TWO
RENZO returned after a moment with a bottle of light wine and two glasses.
‘Just a little,’ he said. ‘We’ll need all our wits about us tomorrow.’
When he’d poured and handed her the glass he said, ‘So Henry behaved himself?’
‘Only at first,’ Mandy replied. ‘Then he tried it on, but I gave him my “drop dead” look. It worked a treat.’
‘He has all my sympathy. You’re probably a karate instructor in your spare time.’
‘No such luck. I do research.’
‘Research? You mean—brainy stuff?’ He sounded nervous.
‘Well, I do have a couple of degrees.’
‘A couple?’ He edged away, as though fearful that her degrees would jump out and attack him.
‘It helps. I hire myself out to people writing books. They need stuff on other countries, history, language, that sort of thing.’
‘Is that how you come to speak Italian?’
‘That’s right. I had to learn some for a man who was writing a novel about the Borgia family and all their evil doings, and I liked it so much I went on and learned the rest.’
‘And I’ll bet that’s not the only language you know,’ he said, sounding more cautious by the minute.
‘I did French and German at school. They’re often useful too.’
‘You really are an academic.’ He sounded aghast.
‘Sure I am. Why do you keep looking down at the drop?’
‘I was wondering which would be the best place to throw myself off,’ he said in a hollow voice.
‘Don’t be in such a rush. Wait until we’re all safe, and I’ll think of something.’
They grinned in perfect understanding, and he refilled her glass.
‘You’re probably winding me up,’ Mandy said, sipping appreciatively. ‘I expect you went to college too.’
‘For a couple of years, but I was there on an athletic scholarship. As long as I won things, my lack of brains didn’t matter too much.’
She didn’t believe a word of it.
‘Don’t you ever want to write books?’ he asked.
‘I’ve done a couple of travel books.’
‘Is that why you’ve got a notebook?’ he asked, observing something in her hand. ‘You’re actually working out here?’
‘Just making a few notes. I do it wherever I am.’
‘Don’t you ever stop and simply enjoy yourself?’
‘But I do enjoy myself when I’m jotting things down. Often I only know afterwards how I’m going to use them. They dance around in my head and take on a life of their own, and who knows what may come of it?’
‘Fantastic,’ he agreed at once. ‘Throw the dice in the air and watch to see what happens.’
‘I guess that’s how you live.’
‘I like to let life surprise me, just like you. We’re alike, plenty of freedom and no ties. That’s the way to be.’
‘How do you know I have no ties?’
He shrugged. ‘You’re either free or you have a partner who’s content to sit at home while you climb mountains.’
A little devil prompted her to say primly, ‘And why not? We each follow our own path out of mutual respect.’
Renzo’s face was a picture of comical disgust. ‘Dio mio! You ought to get rid of him fast. Hell would freeze over before I let my woman risk her neck without me there.’
‘Let? Let? What century are you living in?’
‘Any century rather than one where this can happen. But you’re fooling me, aren’t you? Don’t tell me this paragon of dreary virtue actually exists.’
‘No, he doesn’t.’ Mandy gave a melodramatic sigh. ‘I just dream of meeting him.’
‘Sure you do. And it would serve you right if he turned out to be just like you described.’
‘What about you? No ties and you mean to keep it that way?’
‘For a while at any rate. Ties are all right— one day.’
‘No, I think you’ll live and die a free man, because that’s what life means to you.’
He raised his glass in salute. ‘Very clever of you.’
She lifted hers in response. ‘So be careful what you say. I see everything. I’m a witch.’
He peered at her in the shadows.
