But Maya knocked her drink back in one.
‘Here, have mine,’ Tash said, wrinkling her nose and smiling in amusement as she slid the drink across the table.
Maya gave a naughty grin. ‘I shouldn’t – but I will!’
Once more, she tipped back her head and the whole lot went down the hatch.
When Cleo looked at her again, her eyes seemed to have grown to twice the size and were glittering dangerously.
‘I hope you’ll be able to stagger back to the villa,’ Cleo said with a laugh. ‘We’re not carrying you.’
All of a sudden, she became aware of two women on the table to her left, looking at her intently. One was very striking, in her fifties, probably, with long, black, wavy hair, big brown eyes and a strong, straight Greek nose.
The other was much older with jaw-length, iron grey hair and wrinkled skin. She looked tiny and neat, like a little bird. She was sitting up very straight and her gaze was clear and steady.
Cleo smiled briefly before turning back to her friends. But straight away, she felt a tap on her shoulder and when she turned round, the old woman had left her seat and was standing beside her.
‘Excuse me for interrupting. Can I ask you something?’ she said in perfect, heavily accented English. ‘Are you staying at Villa Ariadne, by any chance?’
Surprised, Cleo said she was.
The old woman nodded. ‘I guessed as much. And do you have everything you need? Are you comfortable there?’ She paused for a few seconds before resuming. ‘You see, I am the housekeeper, Katerina Papadakis. We’ve never hosted a wellness retreat before. I do hope everything is to your satisfaction?’
‘Yes, thank you. It’s absolutely lovely.’
As she spoke, Cleo glanced at the younger stranger, who was still sitting at the table, watching the proceedings with interest. A small, polite smile was playing on her rather beautiful, serene face.
‘I’m so glad,’ Katerina went on.
Glancing back, Cleo noticed the old woman’s bony hands and the thin gold wedding band on her left finger. She was fiddling with a string of inexpensive-looking pearls round her neck, feeling their smoothness, and she had matching pearls in her ears.
‘We’ve been exercising a lot,’ Cleo explained, making conversation. ‘Yoga, circuits, Pilates and so on. Henrietta, our instructor, is very good.
‘This afternoon we decided to do a bit of sightseeing, though. We walked to Chora Sfakia and had a good look round. It’s so pretty.’
‘Ah yes.’ Katerina nodded, reaching out and resting a hand on the table for support.
Realising the old woman might be weary, Cleo asked if she’d like to sit. Before Katerina had a chance to reply, though, Tash had jumped up and pulled out a chair. Katerina sank down gratefully.
‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘I did not mean to disturb you. I will not stay long.’
Swivelling her head, she beckoned to her companion to join her and the younger woman pulled up a chair, too.
‘I’m Marina,’ she explained, extending a long, slender arm, jingling with multicoloured bangles, and shaking each of the Englishwomen by the hand. ‘Katerina and I go back a long way. She’s known me since I was a baby and was close to my mother when she was alive.’
The unexpected intrusion could have annoyed Cleo and her friends, but something about the two strangers was strangely captivating.
Cleo decided it was their stillness, as well as their deep brown eyes which fixed on Maya, Tash and Cleo in turn and seemed to penetrate into Cleo’s very soul.
‘Do you both live here, in Porto Liakáda?’ Tash asked slightly breathlessly. Perhaps the scrutiny was making her feel uncomfortable, too.
Marina explained she lived above her artist’s studio at the other end of the street.
‘But Katerina lives high up in the white mountains,’ she went on, raising her chin and glancing skywards, as if searching for the summit. ‘In a little cottage far from civilisation.’ She laughed. ‘It’s how she likes it, isn’t it, Kati?’
The old woman smiled. ‘Ah yes. I like peace and quiet. My husband died many years ago and there’s just me. I’m used to my own company by now.’
‘You must be incredibly fit, walking to and from the village,’ said Maya.
