(2012) Evie Undercover by Liz Harris Page B

cold glass , then pressed them against her flushed cheeks.
    Her hands still against her face , she glanced up and met Tom’s eyes. He was grinning broadly.
    ‘ I, too, feel somewhat warm, ’ he said. Still smiling, he look ed around the restaurant . ‘In fact, it’s the perfect afternoon for doing nothing. That was a good idea to leave Montefalco till this evening.’
    She felt the red fading and sat heavily back in her chair in relief.
    ‘Doing nothing sounds pretty OK to me, too. Doing nothing the Mediterranean way would be to sit on the loggia and star e ahead. We could fold up our towels, sit on them , lean back against the wall and let the mountain breeze waft over us. We might even drop off for a bit. Or maybe we could sit on the edge of the pool , like you suggested . Then later on, when we felt more energetic, we could finish the room plans and do the Montefalco thing. What do you think?’
    ‘I think it sounds a really good idea.’
    ‘Which bit of it sounds a really good idea?’
    ‘The bit you didn’t mention.’
                 
    ‘I’m getting us some water to drink,’ Tom called from inside the kitchen. ‘And I’ll bring out one of the bottles of wine we picked up.’
    ‘Do you need a hand?’ Evie asked, turning round as she heard Tom coming out of the kitchen. He was walking towards her, a thick piece of cardboard with two plastic glasses on it in one hand , and a bottle of wine in the other. ‘You look pretty laden.’
    ‘I’m fine, thanks. Well, perhaps you’d better take the wine – I wouldn’t want to drop it.’
    She jumped up and took the bottle from him . H e carefully set the makeshift cardboard tray down in the space between the two towels that she’d spread out on the grass, and sat down on one of the towels. S he sat down on the other , picked up one of the plastic glasses of water and stared thoughtfully down the slope at the pool.
    Their conversation at the restaurant had sounded as if it might lead to great things, whatever th ose great things proved to be , b ut the drive back to the house had broken the mood, and they were back to thei r normal friendly relationship. She couldn’t see how to get th e frisson back that they’d had at the end of their lunch , but she’d have to come up with something, and before long .
    She’d only got one and a half days left in which to find out about him and Zizi, and much of that time was going to be spent with two other people. This was the last afternoon that she’d be alone with him in Italy, and s omehow or other, she was going to have to get him talking.
    I f only she’d never got into such a shitty situation .
    If only she’d been offered a job on an ordinary magazine, no matter how lowly the job. If only she’d thought for a moment about what she’d have to do if she work ed for Pure Dirt . If only she’d never put herself in the position of finding herself in the hot sun, sitting next to a really attractive , fun guy, unable to think of anything else but how to worm out of him something he’d rather not tell her , and that she’d rather not hear.
    Sh e was caught in an unholy mess.
    She absolutely didn’t want to do the job that she’d been sent to do in Italy, but she was going to have to do it. Her editor was the sort of man who carried out the threats he made, and he’d see her blacklisted from every magazine if she jacked in the job at that stage.
    No way could she let that happen.
    She had a stark choice – kissing goodbye to the dream she’d had since she was ten years old or getting Tom to talk. The Tom option was the only possible choice for her, and she had to take it, no matter how much she didn’t want to. Everyone had to follow their dream, and that was that.
    ‘A penny for them, or a euro, if you prefer. You look miles away.’
    ‘I was just thinking how tempting the water looks.’ She gave an audible sigh. ‘I wished I was putting me into the water, instead of putting water into me.