““How else could I get shut in there?” I ask, cross now. “You saw that I was locked in! I had to put my hair clip into the doorjamb and lift the latch to get myself out!” “No,” he says infuriatingly. “ I get , you out. I come down the corridor and I see movement on the door to the passage, very strange. Why is it moving like that? I ask myself. Is there a ghost? So I go up and I see the serratura --” “Latch?” “Latch--it is going up and down--” “Just up! I was lifting it up!” “And so I unlock it and open the door and an English girl falls into my arms.” He shrugs. “It is a surprise, but a nice one.” “I unlocked it!” I protest. “No,” he says firmly. “I unlock it. I save you.” “I didn’t need you!” I snap. “I was doing it by myself--I didn’t need you to come along!” “ Bene ,” he says, taking my hand and lifting it to his lips, a gesture so unexpected that I goggle at him, wide-eyed, my mouth gaping very unattractively as he kisses my fingertips. “You are very modern. You save yourself. We agree this story.” “Because it’s true!” Narrowing my eyes, I snatch my hand back from him. “Don’t make fun of me!” “But--” Luca stops, and looks as if he’s thinking something over. His face is too close for me to be comfortable looking directly at him, so I drop my gaze down his body, to the hand he dropped to his lap when I pulled mine away.””
