She nodded.“ There will be a couple coming in to clean after we leave here, but they will never see us. I arranged it through an agency.”
Larry grinned sardonically.
There was a warning note in Noelle’ s voice.“ Don’ t ever make the mistake of underestimating Constantin Demiris. If he finds out about us, he will kill both of us.”
Larry smiled.“ You’ re exaggerating,” he said.“ The old man may not like it, but …”
Her violet eyes locked on his.“ He will kill us both.” There was something in her voice that sent a feeling of apprehension through him.
“ You’ re serious, aren’ t you?”“ I was never more serious in my life. He’ s ruthless.”“ But when you say he’ ll kill us,” Larry protested,“ he wouldn’ t …”
“ He won’ t use bullets,” Noelle said flatly.“ He’ ll find a complicated, ingenious way to do it, and he’ ll never be punished for it.” Her tone lightened.“ But he won’ t find out, darling. Come, let me show you our bedroom.” She took his hand and they went up the sweeping stairway.“ We have four guest bedrooms,” she said and added with a smile,“ we can try them all.” She took him into the master bedroom, a huge corner suite that overlooked the sea. From the window Larry could see a large terrace and the short path that wound down to the water. There was a dock with a large sailboat and a motor boat moored to it.
“ Who do the boats belong to?”“ You,” she said.“ It’ s your welcome-home present.”
He turned to her and found that she had slipped out of her cotton dress. She was naked. They spent the rest of the afternoon in bed.
The next ten days flew by. Noelle was quicksilver, a nymph, a genie, a dozen beautiful servants catering to Larry’ s every wish before he even knew what he wanted. He found the library in the villa stocked with his favorite books and records. Noelle cooked all his favorite dishes to perfection, sailed with him, swam in the warm blue sea with him, made love to him, gave him massages at night until he fell asleep. In a sense they were prisoners there together, for they dared not see anyone else. Every day Larry found new facets in Noelle. She entertained him with fascinating anecdotes about famous people she knew. She tried to discuss business and politics with him until she found that he was interested in neither.
They played poker and gin rummy, and Larry was furious because he could never win. Noelle taught him chess and backgammon and he could never beat her at either. On their first Sunday at the villa she fixed a delicious picnic lunch, and they sat on the beach in the sun and enjoyed it. While they were eating, Noelle looked up and saw two men in the distance. They were strolling toward them along the beach.