‘Are you sure you don’t want someone to show you around? Not Della,’ she added hastily. ‘That girl is just... She is really trying my patience today.’
‘Actually, it’s quite nice discovering things on my own, and if I have a guide to rely on it will take me for ever to find my way around.’
The older woman nodded and smiled. ‘Oh, I should mention that the room is being prepared for this evening, so there might be a little disruption. Can I get you anything—tea, coffee, cakes?’
‘Tea would be nice,’ she lied, thinking, This is how bored people put on weight. ‘So, I’m assuming the guests will be staying overnight?’ It wasn’t as if there weren’t room.
‘Normally they would, but, no, Mr Zach has arranged transport. They will be leaving by eight-thirty sharp.’ Kat picked up on the ‘whether they like it or not’ silent addition. ‘Hence the early start this evening. If you’ll excuse me, the musicians have arrived and they are being a little...artistic.’ She rolled her eyes and whisked away.
When the tea arrived it came with some delicious little honey pastries embedded with nuts and jewelled candy fruit, which Kat, who told herself she was still making up for her half-eaten dinner, demolished.
Exploring the second wing didn’t really work off many calories, Kat discovered. It was dedicated to the domestic area. Her appearance in a food-preparation room created a bit of a shock panic moment for the staff working there.
She apologised and backed out, then promptly lost her orientation once more and ended up outside again where she discovered that there was more than one swimming pool, and this one was in an enclosed courtyard. A shaded area lay to one side of the marble-floored space complete with what appeared to be an outdoor kitchen; on a raised plinth on the opposite side, a massive spa pool bubbled away happily.
She lay down on one of the loungers with a bump, marvelling at how different this world was compared to the one she was used to.
Not my world, but I’m still me.
The recognition eased the tightness in her chest. Her chin lifted. If she was going to do this, she’d do it her way. For starters, she’d do what she always did. Focus not on the negative but the positive. Yes, heiress was a bad fit for her, but she’d worn ill-fitting shoes before now and survived, she reminded herself, and they’d always looked good.
She’d already saved the refuge... If she was going to inherit money and power, there were a lot of worthy causes out there who just needed someone to notice them.
When a menu appeared for her lunch, Kat requested a sandwich. She intended to explore the gardens and beach.
‘Just a sandwich?’ Della looked confused. ‘What will I tell Mrs Carras?’
‘That I want a sandwich.’
Her irritation fell away as, without warning, the young girl’s face suddenly crumpled and she burst into loud sobs.
‘Fine, I’ll have lunch,’ Kat said, alarmed. The girl continued to sob.
‘He’s sending him away and I’ll never see him again, and I love him!’
‘Take a seat.’ She got up and the girl took her own, scrubbing her face with her apron. ‘Della, is it...? Who is he? The first he.’
‘Mr Gavros. Alexi thinks he’s marvellous, but he’s not—he’s cruel and heartless and he’s sending Alexi away because he thinks I’m too young! And he doesn’t want anyone to be happy!’
Kat had never been so glad to see anyone as she was to see Selene. The older woman took one look at the scene and bustled the weeping girl out. A few moments later she returned.
‘I am so sorry about that.’
‘It’s fine. She says that Zach is sending her boyfriend away.’
‘Oh, I know. She’s telling anyone who will listen the same thing.’
While Kat was the first to believe that Zach was no saint, that he was cynical and manipulative, the girl’s story just didn’t have a ring of truth to it. Why on earth would Zach go out of his way to blight young love? Mock it, yes, but not... No, she was sure there was another explanation.
‘So, is he?’
The other woman gave a chuckle. ‘Well, I suppose he is. Alexi is one of the placements, one of the big successes, and, as you might know, Zach has an arrangement with the university: if the youngsters he recommends pass the interview and entrance exam they are admitted without formal exams to do a foundation year. Alexi is starting next semester. The boy, as bright as they come, is over the moon.’
Kat tried to pick her way through the information. ‘So, this Alexi was originally—?’
‘Much like Zach, living on the streets, though obviously his situation was not as dire as Zach’s.’ The older woman, unaware she had just dropped a bombshell, shook her head while Kat’s imagination went into riot mode. ‘Not all the youngsters end up in academia, obviously, but they are all offered a way out, a safe way out.’
Kat shook her head. Zach had lived on the streets? She knew his family situation had been bad...outsider, he’d said. Now she fully understood what he had meant.