Chapter 237

• The car slowed then, sending her eyes to the side window to see that they’d arrived back at the villa without her noticing. Her biggest surprise was that she hadn’t known there was a different way into the villa than via the lake. Now a huge pair of heavy iron gates were in the process of swinging open. The car glided through them and on through extensive gardens to pull to a smooth halt beneath a covered portico at the side of the house.
• She hadn’t dared to come outside while she’d been staying here because she hadn’t wanted any members of the press to snatch a picture of her from their siege position on the lake. But glancing towards the lake now as Dami helped her alight from the car, she was stunned to see that it was no longer there! All view of the lake had been totally blocked by a wall of sturdy white canvas that had been erected along the cliff edge—she assumed to frustrate greedy camera lenses from taking pictures of the wedding celebration about to take place.
• The whole celebrity-style, over-the-top show intimidated her from that moment onward. If Adelina had been here, Charley would have taken it all in stride with a dose of healthy humor to help her along. But then, if Adelina had been here, she wouldn’t have been the bride at this wedding, taking the sparkling center of attention as her due, with Charley happy to fade into the background, as she liked to do.