A Place in the Country Read Online Free PDF Page B

startled and still in her crumpled white skirt and the yellow sweater that was years old and matted from too many washings but happened to be the first thing she’d grabbed when she was so mad she couldn’t even see straight. Her hand reached for the phone and then stopped. Why wasn’t James calling on her cell?
    But the phone kept on, so she answered.
    â€œMy name is Gayle Lee,” a woman’s voice said. “I need to see you.”
    â€œDo I know you?” Caroline pushed back her tangled hair and stuck her glasses on her nose as if they would make her see the woman more clearly, or at least remember who she was. Could she be an emissary from James? A lawyer, asking them to return at once, all was forgiven? Everything back to normal?
    â€œI am on my way up to your suite,” the woman said, in such a crisp firm tone Caroline had no choice but to agree.
    When she opened the door a couple of minutes later the woman walked right past her without so much as a glance or a hello, or a hand held out in greeting. Caroline watched astonished, as she stood, taking in the small and by now rather untidy suite. Issy had left her clothes exactly where she had stepped out of them, in the middle of the living room floor, and for once Caroline had not picked up after her. She supposed it was because it reminded her of James, who she was always picking up after. Her husband always left his stuff on the floor for someone else to take care of.
    â€œHow do you do,” she said pointedly, in her best and most English disapproving voice, and when the English did “disapproval,” people usually got the point immediately.
    Not this woman, though. She walked silently to the window, then turned and looked at Caroline. They took each other in.
    She was Asian, older, yet somehow ageless, with amazing platinum white hair, a clear tan skin and, Caroline was soon to discover, a brain like a machete, ready to strike. She was strikingly attractive, slender and straight and taut as an armed crossbow. She wore traditional Chinese dress, green brocade, buttoned at the neck, slit to the thigh.
    The sudden sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach told Caroline she had finally met James’s mistress. This was the woman he’d betrayed her for.
    â€œI am your husband’s business partner,” Gayle Lee said.
    Caroline sank into the cushioned sofa. So that’s what it was called these days. She shook back her uncombed hair and straightened her glasses. In the middle of a crisis she was wishing she had at least put on lipstick before being taken by surprise.
    â€œI have been James’s partner for twenty years,” Gayle Lee said.
    But she and James had only been together for sixteen! This must have been going on since before they were married.
    Gayle Lee was still standing by the window and Caroline noticed she was clever enough to keep her back to the light so Caroline couldn’t see how old she really was. Older than her, that was for sure, but so perfect it didn’t matter. Her unusual platinum hair was cut in the traditional Chinese bob with deep bangs. She had narrow dark eyes, high cheekbones, and a small mouth colored the reddest Caroline had ever seen. Her heart sank. Gayle Lee looked great. And she meant great.
    â€œI didn’t know James had a business partner,” she said, still hoping she meant strictly “business.” “Other than Mark Santos.”
    â€œSantos was not involved. We had a private ‘arrangement,’ James and I.”
    â€œ Arrangement ?” It was a dumb repeat of her word, but she couldn’t think. How could she? She was being presented with a fait accompli she’d known nothing about, and she had been married to James for sixteen years.
    Gayle Lee gave her a hard-eyed look and said, “I heard you had left James.”
    Caroline knew the only person she could have heard it from was her husband.
    â€œI’m here to warn