What Happens in Tuscany... Read Online Free PDF Page A

employee, she felt more like an honoured guest. The house itself was as remarkable inside as it was on the outside. Victoria gave her a guided tour of a never-ending succession of magnificently decorated and furnished rooms until Katie had totally lost her bearings. There was a ballroom, a billiard room, a dedicated sewing room and even an observatory cleverly set into the roof. The kitchen was huge, dominated by the most enormous range cooker Katie had ever seen. Even the larder was about twice the size of her old bedroom. Upstairs here, the bedroom she had been given was bigger than the whole of her old flat. It was quite enormous, with its own private bathroom and a view out of the two huge windows across the lake, the wooded island in the middle of it and as far as the hills of Exmoor in the far distance. There was no doubt in Katie’s mind; Iddlescombe Manor was quite phenomenal.
    At the same time, there were, inevitably, a number of disadvantages to living in the great house. In particular, as Katie had already discovered, there was no mobile phone reception and, worse still, no internet connection. In fact, there was no sign of a computer in the whole place. Although Victoria invited her to use the landline whenever she wanted, she only made a short call to her parents. What she really wanted to do was to call Jenny, to recount the wonders of this amazing place and to describe the unique person for whom she was now working. She had to admit that it would also be rather nice to call Martin to see how he was and just to chat to him, but she could hardly do that from the venerable Bakelite telephone in the study with Victoria standing by.
    Otherwise, as far as she could work out, the only other telephone was in the kitchen, under the watchful eye and curious ears of Mrs Milliner. Mrs Milliner was the housekeeper, cook and butler, and clearly responsible for the daily running of the household. She was kind and friendly, but there was no way Katie could have the sort of cosy chat she wanted with Jenny or Martin under these circumstances. After two days, Katie resorted to snail mail and wrote a long and fairly incoherent letter to Jenny, which was taken by Mr Mackintosh to the post box at the station in Nymptonford.
    But, above all, what Katie found truly fascinating was her young employer. As the days passed, Katie slowly began to build up a clearer picture of Victoria’s background. It was bizarre, to say the least. Gradually, as they got to know and trust each other, Victoria added more flesh to the bones of her past.
    One of Victoria’s favourite places, Katie soon discovered, was the boathouse down by the lake. While the July weather stayed fine, the two girls got into the habit of going there most afternoons. It was down here, more than anywhere else, that Victoria felt most relaxed and most willing to talk.
    â€˜My mother died when I was ten.’ In answer to something she read in Katie’s face, she explained. ‘They were both involved in a car accident, on the corniche above Monaco, not far from where Princess Grace died. Father survived, but he spent ages in intensive care in Monte Carlo before they let him travel home. He had received a massive blow to the head in the crash and he was never the same again. Ask Mrs Milliner. She knew him before the accident. His behaviour became very peculiar. Above all, he became increasingly,’ she looked across at Katie, ‘some would say, obsessively, concerned for my security.’
    â€˜You weren’t with them?’
    â€˜No.’ Victoria raised her eyebrows as if that were the most ridiculous idea. ‘Me travel abroad? I hardly ever left Iddlescombe. Do you know something?’ Katie caught a look of great sadness in her eyes. ‘I sometimes used to think I was in a prison here. All right, it was a very comfortable, spacious prison, but a prison all the same.’
    â€˜You mean he kept you locked up here?’ Katie was