Diamond Fire. Anne Mather

outdoors.’

      Camilla swallowed her resentment that the housekeeper should come into her room without knocking, and cleared her throat. ‘Um … I think I’d like to have breakfast outdoors,’ she said, wondering if Alessandro Conti would like to join her. ‘Er—thank you for the coffee. I’m sure I’ll enjoy it.’

      ‘You’re welcome.’

      The housekeeper drifted out again, and, expelling a trembling breath, Camilla completed her toilet. She had washed her hair again, deciding it would be easier to style damp than dry, and after drying her body she put on the fresh towelling bathrobe Mama Lu had left in place of her own.

      It would have been easy to feel some impatience with the housekeeper for taking her own robe away, but she supposed Mama Lu was only being helpful. Camilla simply wasn’t used to having servants lay out her clothes for her, or provide her with her own pot of coffee that tasted just as delicious as it smelt.

      Abandoning any hope of remaining businesslike in these surroundings, Camilla dressed in cream cotton Bermuda shorts and a collarless silk blouse. The elbow-sleeved blouse was patterned in shades of cream and green, and was cool without looking too holidayish. The last thing she wanted Alessandro Conti to think was that she was regarding the present situation as a holiday. She might have told him she had come here with that intent, but obviously now that was not the way it was. On the contrary, in the clear light of day Virginia’s disappearance was no less disturbing. Camilla couldn’t understand why she should have done it. She must have expected her friend to respond to her summons, and, as soon as she had received Virginia’s letter, Camilla had made arrangements to do so. She hadn’t sent a cable, for obvious reasons. But there had been no reason for Virginia to lose hope so quickly.

      Perhaps she hadn’t run away. As Camilla plaited her hair down the back of her head and finished with a short braid that nudged her shoulder she wondered if it was at all possible that Virginia had simply decided to take a trip without telling anyone. It was irresponsible, of course, but when they had been at school together Virginia had been irresponsible sometimes. Looking back, Camilla had to admit that her friend hadn’t always done what was expected of her. So why shouldn’t she have arranged this trip and taken her daughter with her?

      Deciding it was at least something she could suggest to Alessandro Conti, Camilla finished her coffee, took one last, rather resigned glance at her reflection, and left the bedroom.

      The hall outside was bathed in sunshine. Long windows that overlooked the lawns at the side of the house had not yet had their blinds slatted, and the floor was striped in bands of gold. As in the lower half of her room, the floor itself was made of wood, polished around the heavy fringed rugs that were laid at intervals along the corridor. Camilla looked to left and right, and then started in what she hoped was the direction of the wide arching vestibule she had entered the night before.

      The house was huge, but she had known that before she had started out. Arriving yesterday afternoon, she had had some intimation of its size from the windows of the taxi that had brought her from the airport, but inside it was even more daunting. Halls and passages led off in all directions, and, while initially she had the side of the house to guide her, when she turned a corner even that reference was denied her.

      The corridor ahead of her now ended in a pair of double-panelled doors, and, although she gazed at them with some expectation, Camilla was almost sure she hadn’t come this way the night before. She was lost, and she decided to make her way back to her own room and start again.

      But as she turned away she heard the sound of a door behind her opening, and when she cast a hopeful glance over her shoulder she saw Alessandro Conti striding towards her. Immediately her heart sank. For heaven’s sake, she thought irritably, he would probably think she was searching the house, and she briefly closed her eyes against a fate that decreed she should meet this man again in difficult circumstances.

      However, there was nothing she could do about it now. He had seen her, and, watching him come towards her, Camilla was again struck by his disturbing personality. Wearing a pearl-grey suit of some fine material that moulded the powerful lines of his strong body like a glove, he looked every bit as compelling as he had done the night before. And, although she didn’t want to notice how the close-fitting trousers accentuated his physicality, she couldn’t help it.

      ‘Lost?’ he enquired, after wishing her good morning, and Camilla mentally smoothed her ruffled senses and glanced up at him.

      ‘I … Yes,’ she answered, obliged to fall into step beside him. ‘I’m afraid I must have come the wrong way.’

      ‘It’s easily done,’ he assured her, his tone not half as brusque as she had expected. ‘Did you sleep well?’

      ‘Very well.’ Camilla swallowed. ‘Which reminds me, I must apologise about last night. Falling asleep like that. I expect Mama Lu told you.’

      ‘Mama Lu?’ Alessandro arched an enquiring eyebrow. ‘Oh—yes.’ He inclined his head. ‘You were obviously tired.’

      ‘Even so——’ Camilla caught her lower lip between her teeth ‘—it was unfortunate. I … don’t suppose there’s any … news?’

      ‘About Virginia?’ A perceptible hardness entered his tone as he spoke his wife’s name. ‘No. No, I’m afraid not.’

      Camilla shook her head. ‘I don’t understand it.’

      ‘No.’ The look he gave her was enigmatic. ‘No, I don’t suppose you do.’

      They had reached the main hall, and Camilla looked about her in some surprise. They seemed to have bypassed her room altogether, and were now in the enormous vestibule with its exquisite crystal chandelier suspended above a mosaic-tiled floor. The marble tiles were in direct contrast to the maplewood floor of the corridor and the velvet carpet that had cushioned her feet in the parlour, she thought. Yet they all blended together beautifully, creating an attractive asymmetry of styles. That was one thing Camilla had noticed the night before: the elegant mingling of opposites.

      ‘Have you had breakfast?’ her host asked briefly as he led the way through an arched doorway at the back of the hall, and down a half-spiral staircase. The staircase could only lead to the lower level of the house, Camilla realised, following him, and as she did so another figure appeared below them.

      ‘Padrone!’ he exclaimed politely, spreading his arms in obvious welcome. ‘Everything is ready, signore.’

      ‘Thanks, Lee.’ Alessandro descended the final few steps of the staircase, and turned to wait for Camilla to join him. ‘This is Wong Lee,’ he added, as she stepped down into what appeared to be a kind of indoor garden. ‘He and Mama Lu take care of us—me!’ The amendment was almost savage. ‘Lee, this is Miss Richards. She’s from England.’

      No mention of the fact that she was his wife’s friend, Camilla noticed ruefully as she smiled at the little Chinese man. Well, perhaps that wasn’t so surprising in the circumstances, she thought. Virginia’s friends were rather thin on the ground around here.

      ‘So pleased to meet you, Miss Richards,’ Wong Lee greeted her, bowing from the waist. ‘Welcome to Hawaii.’

      Camilla smiled in return, and then looked around the room. The scent of perfume from the various exotic shrubs that grew in planters around the walls was overpowering, and Camilla used her interest in the plants to relieve her nervousness.

      ‘I’ve never seen so many different varieties of flowers!’ she exclaimed, addressing her remarks equally to Alessandro and his servant, and Wong Lee’s expression grew animated.

      ‘The signore’s mother is a keen gardener,’ he said, spreading his arms as he had done before. ‘She loves creating beauty.’ He shook his head. ‘But I hear there are many beautiful gardens in England. Do you have a garden, Miss Richards?’

      ‘Oh …’ Camilla cast a diffident look in Alessandro’s direction, and then made a negative gesture ‘… no. No, I’m afraid not. I … live in a flat, you