The Art of Deception (Choc Lit) Read Free Page A

to stay on for the rest of the summer and produce some sketches of the house and area that I can use for promotional purposes. And I was thinking of commissioning a painting of the estate – an original for my collection which could also be used in the marketing material. It would be a real waste not to take advantage of having an artist of your calibre there. So, what do you think of the idea?’
    ‘ I think it sounds amazing,’ she said, fighting back a rising sense of excitement that she ought not to be feeling – the job was only a means to an end, after all. ‘I feel as if I’ve just been given the dream job: it’s the job of a lifetime. Thank you, Mr Castanien.’
    ‘Oh, I think you can call me Max now, don’t you? After all, we’re going to be working closely with each other this summer. ’
    She smiled broadly at him. ‘And I’m Jenny, of course.’ She paused a moment. ‘I hope I don’t disappoint you.’
    He gave her a slow smile. ‘I don’t think you will, Jenny. I think I’ve been very lucky to find you. Now, let’s talk about dates and how we’re going to organise everything.’
     
    Her senses spinning, she walked out of the building.
    On the surface Max Castanien was charming, easy to get on with, and had dark good looks and a sense of fun that she’d normally find so attractive; in fact, he was the sort of man you could easily fall in love with. But not her. She wasn’t going to let herself be taken in by what was on the surface. She knew from what her mother had told her that his beauty could only be skin deep. She must never for one minute forget that he was one of the two men whose actions had led to the death of her father. Every time he turned on the charm, she must consciously remind herself of that.
    She raised her arm to hail an approaching taxi. If only he were ugly, she thought as she stepped into the taxi; it’d be so much easier to think the worst of him.
     
    Her ticket for Italy and the travel details came soon after her interview, along with a note from Max telling her that he and his nephew, Stephen, would be arriving at their house shortly before the week-long course began. He added that Stephen had said that he’d like to go to some of the classes, but only if she didn’t mind. She was fully at liberty to say no if she wanted to.
    Of course she didn’t mind. On the contrary, she was thrilled : it meant that she was likely to meet her employer more often than she would otherwise have done. The more they met up, the greater the chance of a friendship developing between them, and her best hope of finding out what she needed to know lay in the exchange of casual comments between friends.
    She’d promptly written back saying that she’d be delighted if Stephen joined the class. She’d paused a moment, and then added that she was very much looking forward to meeting Max again.
    And, indeed, she was.

Chapter Three
    The air was filled with the heady aroma of the lilac-coloured wisteria that grew in profusion around the grey stone walls of the Umbrian house.
    Jenn y paused in the middle of arranging chairs in a semi-circle at the edge of the terrace, and glanced across the garden towards the distant hills, which were shimmering in a haze of blue and purple. Drawn by the view, she left the rest of the chairs where they were, and went along a path flanked by lavender bushes that took her past the pool and out on to an expanse of lush green grass, which ended at the top of a steep slope.
    She stood at the edge of the slope and stared at the scene in front of her.
    Neat rows of grey-green olive trees lined the sides of the hill as it fell to the wide plain below. Beyond the trees, a violet haze drifted upwards, uncovering fields that were painted in shades of green and sunflower yellow. A road, bordered by scattered oak and elm trees, meandered across the plain to the small Roman town of Bevagna, winding its way past clusters of grey stone houses whose walls and tiled roofs