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A tall woman in a figure-hugging backless gown the shade of ripe Hamburg grapes was standing by the windows. As she turned, her waist-length torrent of curling copper hair flew round her narrow white shoulders and great green eyes with the luminosity of jewels fixed on Jessica. Without doubt, she was one of the most beautiful women Jessica had ever seen.
'I'm Sunny,' she murmured, her gaze pinned to Jessica with disturbing intensity. ‘ Welcome to Paradise’
'Jessica Amory.' Jessica struggled not to feel self-conscious about her wet hair, bare feet and scrubbed face. Sunny Philippides, her hostess, no more than a handful of years her senior and as British as she was herself. Was an unannounced invasion the usual way she greeted her guests?
Sunny strolled about the room, her pale hands touching this, adjusting that before passing by Jessica to wander into the dressing-room and skim a hand through the garments visible and then walk back out
again without a shade of discomfiture. 'Did Carlo buy the clothes as a prop for the masquerade?'
'I'm sorry. I don't follow.' Jessica maintained her composure but underneath her tension was heightening.
Sunny laughed and sent her a gleaming look of amusement from below her artfully darkened copper lashes. 'I know... I know it's a masquerade. How much is he paying you? If you're good, 'I'll double it!'
'I don't know what you're talking about,' Jessica returned drily.
'Even the walls have ears... is that what he told you?' Sunny drifted fluidly over to the door. 'But you don't need to keep up the act with me. After all, I am aware that you only met Carlo for the first time last week,..'
'I've known Carlo for six years.'
Sunny stilled and turned. "That's impossible.'
Jessica's irritation was rising steadily. 'Why is it impossible?'
'You were married and Carlo.. .' Thrown by Jessica's announcement, Sunny frowned and then elevated an imperious brow. 'Oh that's the story is it? Clever. Lukas will appreciate it. Dinner's at nine. Don't be late,’ she instructed as if she was addressing an employee.
Jessica's knees sagged as the door shut. And what was all that about? Where had Sunny got her information from? How had she known that Jessica had been married? Had Carlo told them? But surely Carlo would not have told his father's wife that the engagement was a fake? Had Sunny simply been trying to trip her up?
With a furious frown of frustration, Jessica set about drying her hair and dressing, choosing a sleek gold satin and chiffon gown which she had thought was quite over the top until she saw the villa... and Sunny. 'How much is he paying you? If you're good, I'll double it.’ The hint that Sunny and Carlo were in partnership had been clear. Jessica swallowed hard, her stomach clenching. Carlo had some explaining to do.
Carlo...who didn't want to explain anything. Was his reluctance to explain based on the reality that the truth was distinctly unsavoury? With a hiss of impatience Jessica asked herself where her wild imagination was taking her now. She was not the melodramatic type. A recollection of that stupid scene on the jet replayed and her skin heated. She didn't want to think about that. Right now there were more important things.
A dark-skinned maid escorted her along a mile of corridors, down a palatial gilded staircase and into a drawing-room. Jessica registered her first mistake as a plump woman in a black dress adorned by an opulent diamond brooch moved forward to greet her. Not the housekeeper, she guessed, her cheekbones colouring. Marika, Carlo's sister.
'How are you feeling? I was going to send a tray up to you later. I thought you would sleep for hours.' With a firm hand she drew Jessica deeper into the room. 'She looks much better, doesn't she, Carlo? Sunny, this is Jessica...'
Sunny extended a languid hand as though they had not yet met. 'Do let me see your ring,’ she enthused, holding onto Jessica's fingers with a surprisingly steely grip. ‘If s gorgeous. Your choice or Carlo's?’
'A shared choice,' Jessica breathed, removing her band again, but before she could move away Sunny tucked her arm chumily into hers so that they stood side by side.
'What do we look like together?' Sunny giggled. 'She's so small, Carlo!'
Carlo strolled forward, dark and devastating in an off white dinner jacket. His golden eyes burned as scorch-ingly bright as flames, a tiny muscle pulling at the sensual line of his mouth. Jessica sensed his faint tension but his slanting smile was a masterpiece of cool.
'How do you feel, caraV
Sunny's hand dropped away. With relief, Jessica moved out of reach. 'As if I never want to board a helicopter again.'
Carlo lifted her hand and pressed his mouth hotly to the sensitive skin on the inside of her wrist. As she collided breathlessly with his hooded eyes, her every nerve-ending ran riot. 'You look ravishing,' he murmured huskily.
Act one, scene one... the Latin lover, Jessica thought tautly. He drew her down onto a sofa and signalled for a drink to be brought to her and as she took her seat, she glimpsed Sunny's furious face. Jessica looked away again. Marika started talking doggedly about clothes, seating herself beside Jessica and effectively blocking her sister-in-law from view. Carlo wandered over and stood at the windows with his back to them. Seconds later, Sunny drifted over to his side.
A humming sound turned Jessica's head. A big, broadly built man seated in a wheelchair had appeared in the doorway. Lukas Philippides had thick silver hair and a deeply lined, fleshy face. He was struggling for breath but furiously waving away the uniformed male nurse beside him. Sunken dark eyes scanned the room and centred on Jessica with perceptible force.
He lifted a hand. 'Come here,' he commanded brusquely like an old-fashioned potentate.
Helplessly, Jessica sought out Carlo. He was smiling with genuine amusement. She stood up under the glare of the huge chandelier above, her head high, her shoulders back and moved forward.
'She walks like a queen, Carlo!' Lukas Philippides subjected her to a thorough top to toe assessment. 'Small. Good breasts. Quick temper,’ he concluded, reading Jessica's flashing eyes with accuracy.
