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let you rest first. Mr Fu has my car waiting, I’ll take you.’
    He drove in the direction of Victoria Peak—not the highest hill in Hong Kong, but the most famous, and where, Debra knew, the rich lived.
    As they climbed, the skyscraper blocks fell away beneath them. The China Sea looked almost purple and the host of junks and sampans like toy models on a lake.
    They passed through dark patches of mountain scrub, interspersed by white buildings, and very soon turned into a narrow winding lane.
    It must be some place he’s taking us to, Debra thought with growing suspicion, but it was not until he stopped outside an impressive-looking villa that her fears increased.
    ‘We’re to live here?’ she queried doubtfully. ‘Who does it belong to?’
    ‘It’s mine,’ admitted Vane Oliver calmly. ‘The apartment I originally had in mind was not big enough for the two of you, and as this place can adequately accommodate us all, I ’
    Debra cut him short. ‘1 might have known! It’s my guess you had this planned all along!’ She returned to the car. ‘We’re not staying. Get back in, Liz, this man’s nothing but a scheming, low-down, dirty rat!’ She was so annoyed she could have hit him.
    But Liz had different ideas. ‘You’re a fool, Debra. It looks marvellous. Where else would we go? Rooms have always been short in Hong Kong. We’d end up in some flea-bitten shack. I vote we stay.’
    ‘You really have no choice,’ added Mr Oliver, watching her closely.
    He was right, they hadn’t, but it took a long inner struggle with herself for Debra to admit it. ‘We’ll stay temporarily,’ she said, ‘until we can find somewhere else. There is some other person living in the house? We won’t be entirely alone with you?’
    His lips quirked. ‘Scared about your virtue? You needn’t be, you’ll be perfectly safe. Lin Dai, my housekeeper, will make an adequate chaperone. Besides, no matter what you think, I’m not in the habit of luring attractive young women into my villa with the sole intention of seducing them.’
    ‘The thought never crossed my mind,’ flashed Debra. But it had, and what was more annoying, he knew it.
    They passed through a walled courtyard with tubs brimful of flamboyant flowers, peach trees, grotesque stone dragons. Liz gasped, admiring it all, but Debra was too annoyed to give it anything more than a cursory glance.
    The house itself was single-storied with a curving tiled roof and deep verandahs. It was in complete contrast to the new villas and apartments, which were like concrete boxes with square windows, uninspiring, ordinary.
    This villa had clearly been designed by someone well versed in Chinese architecture. It was beautiful, and quite genuinely she envied him living here.
    One could forget the hustle and bustle of the city, the overcrowded Chinese in their shanties and lean-tos. It was like an oasis in the desert.
    Fleetingly she thought she would be a fool to give it up for a tiny apartment somewhere. But the idea of living with Vane Oliver, for however short a period, was abhorrent. Their stay must be temporary, even though she had practically fallen in love with the place.
    Inside was as beautiful as out. Chinese furniture mingled happily with Western. Paintings by Chinese masters adorned the walls, precious Ming vases were displayed in glass-covered niches.
    The girl who met them was dressed in the traditional cheongsam, the slim lines suiting her tiny body, the high side slits revealing neat shapely legs. Her dark hair was secured tightly at the back of her head, her slightly tilted eyes warm and smiling.
    ‘This is Lin Dai,’ said Vane. ‘She’ll make sure you’re comfortable.’
    Somehow he had given the impression that his housekeeper was an older woman, not this beautiful vision who could be no more than thirty. All Debra’s misgivings returned and she glanced at her employer accusingly.
    Forestalling her question, he said, ‘I will get your cases. If there’s