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will admit that here you have every comfort, which is more than these friends of yours would have provided you with!'
    'Why shouldn't I admit it? That doesn't mean I shouldn't prefer my friends' poverty to '
    'Careful, cara,' he warned her. 'This afternoon I shall put these claims of yours to the test. It won't be my fault if the Mouth of Truth nips your fingers off!' His expression relaxed into a smile. 'Have you heard of our Mouth of Truth, signorina?'
    She shook her head. She would have liked to have questioned him about it, but at that moment a maid came into the room and announced that lunch was ready and waiting for them in the dining room. Signora Manzu gathered them up and led the way firmly from one enormous room to another, protesting that her hunger would brook no further delays, not even for Deborah to examine the many works of art that decorated the dining room.
    'Food,' she declared, 'is the greatest art of them all! And the only one that can't be put off until tomorrow for one's full attention. A good meal waits for no man! Some good pasta and a fine wine is all one needs to make the world seem a different place! Don't you agree, my dear?'
    And, not a little amused by such a forthright declaration of the proper priorities in life, Deborah admitted that she did.
     

CHAPTER THREE
    From her bedroom window Deborah could see some of the umbrella pines for which Rome is famous. Their scent came up into the room, beckoning her to the freedom she would find outside the Manzu palace if only she could find some way to escape. Yet there were many attractions inside her comfortable prison too. She admitted the fact to herself reluctantly, ashamed by her own spinelessness in not really wanting to escape— not until she had seen the marvellous works of art that she knew the palace contained! Any artist would want to do that, she comforted herself, so why not she?
    Domenico Manzu tapped on her open door. 'How do you find my palace?' he asked her.
    'Lush,' she said. Offhand, it was the most horrible thing she could think of to say. 'Too lush for everyday living,' she added.
    He glanced round the room. 'Even in here?'
    Her eyes followed his. 'You have to admit it doesn't look as though you need any ransom from my father to keep you going,' she murmured.
    'No?' His glance met and held hers. 'Perhaps I have kidnapped you for your beautiful face?'
    She was disconcerted by his words. 'I'm not so conceited as to think you are interested in me personally,' she said. 'Besides, you wouldn't have brought me here for that! Not with your mother here—and every thing!' She moved restively beneath his gaze. 'So it has to be money!'
    'You think too much about money, cara,' he rebuked her. There are other things in life. I am glad to know, however, that you have decided you have nothing to fear from staying under my roof.'
    'I didn't say that,' she argued. 'How should I know what horrors you have in store for me?'
    'But you are hoping for the best?' he taunted her.
    'I'm hoping you'll let me go!' she retorted, stung. As if she would ever want to be the object of his attentions ! 'If you own a palace and come from such a long line of gentlemen, surely you're a gentleman yourself? I'm not afraid you'll either murder me, or rape me, if that's what you mean?'
    He spread his hands in a gesture of fatality. 'Perhaps you should consider the possibility, Deborah Beaumont. I am a man before I am a gentleman—as were most of my ancestors, I believe.'
    'I still don't think you'll murder me,' she said stiffly. 'And as for rape, if you're as easily tempted as all that, you should think twice before you send your minions out to capture hapless females who don't want to have anything to do with you!'
    'Like yourself,' he murmured. 'It occurs to me you have been going out with this Michael of yours for too long. You may challenge him with impunity, but a real man is far more likely to conclude that you are asking for trouble.'
    She gasped indignantly.