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She had her own agenda for this hellish interlude, and she’d stick to it through thick and thin
She sat back in the soft leather seat as the chauffeured car whisked her luxuriously to her destination It did not take very long to get there, and she was not surprised After all, it had to be a convenient distance froenda of a busy chief executive whose time was scarce and valuable
‘Kyria?’
The voice of the driver was iot out of the car at her destination, was less so As she caught the discreet appraisal in his eyes, his expression of brief puzzlement only confirmed that she had been delivered to the correct place Why else would Theo’s chauffeur think it odd that he had just delivered a woman dressed in jeans and a cheap top to a place like this? The woht years away from her—they would never have worn chainstore clothes, or have been seen without a full face of make-up and hair done up to match They would be svelte and chic and sophisticated, and above all always stunningly beautiful—the way Christina Poussos was
And they would be preeningly gratified to be the object of his attentions Even lint in her eye as she surveyed her destination, to have been brought here
Her eyes ran over the house in front of her It had been built well off theeyes, deep in lushly watered gardens, surrounded by a high wall and the usual electronic security the wealthy found normal It was small by the standards of the rich, not a mansion, but it was opulent and luxurious and Vicky knew exactly what sort of place it was
She’d been told about it—but not by her husband By a wouest here—‘Many times, my dear’—so she had informed Vicky, with one of those sweetly insincere smiles she had become accustomed to Vicky hadn’t reacted—why should she have? It hadto her—and her blankness had clearly annoyed the woman
She reacted with the same blankness now as she walked into the house, the door opened for her by a nise froe The staff here would be quite different from those at any of the other Theakis properties in Greece—the vast mansion in Kifissia, the aparte in the mountains and the faux-primitive beach villa on the island
Even if they did recognise her, it would not matter The staff here, Vicky kneould have been selected not just for their ability to be invisible, but primarily for their absolute and total discretion, blind and deaf to the identities of their eossip columnists or paparazzi from these servants
It was cool indoors, compared to the brief heat of the exterior between the air-conditioned car and the air-conditioned interior, and Vicky gave an unconscious shiver It was the sudden chill that hadelse
With studied blankness she strolled forward, across the marble floored entrance hall and then into the shaded reception rooned for style and luxury, lacking any kind of personal touch Through the slatted blinds she could make out a veranda, and the sea beyond
Hefting her backpack to her other shoulder, she walked back out into the hall and headed upstairs There was no sign of any more staff anywhere, but Vicky knew that if she dumped her backpack on the hall floor it would invisibly be taken upstairs at sore contents unpacked for her
On the upper landing were several doors, and she opened one at randoe as a bedroom A small, scornful smile nicked her mouth, devoid of humour—with a sunken bath easily able to accommodate two people, plus a Jacuzzi and a walk-in shower The next door opened to what must be the master bedroom, with a bed the size of her own bathroom
She shut the door abruptly and returned to the first bedrooh still opulently decorated in the same professionally anonymous style of the downstairs décor, lacked a football pitch of a bed in which sleeping was obviously not the designated activity
Like an auto up the blinds and staring out She could see down over the gardens and the swile beach, with a jetty to one side and the sea glinting with a blue that the colder shores of the UK never saw