A Christmas Escape by Anne Perry Read Free Book Online

should,” she agreed. “I’m sorry that my husband is late. It is most inconsiderate of him, but he seems to lose track of time. I do apologize, and I would feel far better about it if we all began to eat.”
    “You have no need to apologize,” Bretherton said quickly. “Nobody imagines it was within your control. But…thank you for making us feel at ease.” He did not look at her, as if he had meant to say something different and at the last moment changed his mind.
    Finbar sat at his usual place, and one by one everybody else took theirs, leaving one conspicuously empty seat for Walker-Bailey.
    Stefano came in, beaming with satisfaction, and offered them a choice of white wines with their fish.
    “And today I have a surprise for you,” he said happily. “The fish is very light. I think perhaps you would like a dessert, yes? I have a special dish here for you. A delicate pastry, with fruit and thick cream. You will like…I know this.”
    “Thank you,” Isla murmured.
    “You’re wonderful,” Candace said enthusiastically. “You always know exactly what we would like. I’m so hungry I need potatoes! And here they are. Do you know, Stefano, Mr. Latterly and I climbed all the way up to the caldera?”
    Stefano looked alarmed.
    “No, no!” she said hastily. “Just up to the top of the mountainside. I wanted to go over and look in. Maybe I would have seen the fire in the center of the earth, boiling rock—red-hot like blood. Do you think? But I didn’t, I promise.” She took some of the crispy potatoes. “Have you ever looked into it, Stefano? Please, tell me the truth. Is it boiling rock down there? Like the middle of the earth?”
    He looked at her with pleasure and a bright light of conspiracy in his eyes. “Yes, I did, once when I was young and very foolish…”
    “And…?” she asked breathlessly.
    “And it was crimson as blood,” he told her, ignoring everyone else at the table. “It throbbed, like a living heart…”
    Isla looked alarmed. Bretherton put his hand on her arm very gently, as if he hardly dared to do it. She did not move even an inch, nor did she look at him, but there was the very smallest smile on her lips.
    “Go on!” Candace burst out, urging Stefano to continue.
    He gave an exaggerated shrug. “It sent up a cloud of steam, very, very hot. I turned and ran for my life!” Then he burst into laughter till the tears ran down his cheeks.
    “You’re teasing me,” Candace protested.
    “No, I’m not,” he denied. “Once I was as young as you are, and just as curious.” Then suddenly he was serious. “But I knew the strength of the mountain. I have seen it throw fire and rock up into the air and seen the lava flow till all the grass and the bushes burn and the people gather up their children and run as fast as they can down to the sea.”
    “And you rebuild this house every time?” Quinn asked, a touch sarcastically.
    Stefano regarded him with disapproval, as if he had exhibited bad manners at the table, which indeed he had.
    “No, Signor Quinn. My great-grandfather took care where to build these houses in the first place. The lava does not come this way. Only sometimes hot rocks…on fire.”
    “I’m glad to hear that.” Finbar looked at him warmly. “I have no wish to feel the mountain’s displeasure. The fish is superb, Stefano. We are enjoying it very much. You are a master of this art.”
    Stefano smiled, accepting the compliment, and went back to the kitchen.
    “Do you think he’s right?” Isla asked no one in particular.
    “Of course he is,” Bretherton said quickly. “If his great-grandfather built this place, then there is every reason to believe him, and none at all to doubt.”
    “It probably won’t erupt at all while we are here, anyway,” Candace said in the silence that followed. She sounded rather disappointed.
    The fish had been removed and the surprise dessert served when Walker-Bailey finally staggered in. He was filthy: his clothes