"Doesn't matter. I'll just rest, swim in the pool and the sea, take advantage of Marta's wonderful cooking. Kevin…are you trying to tell me your little neighbor friend might be upset by my visit?"
"It would be a bit difficult to explain you to her. She might not believe you're just a guest."
Vanessa's plucked and penciled eyebrows rose. "Explain me to her? You would need to explain me to her?"
"Well, in a way, yes," he said with a laugh. "She is my artistic advisor, you know. I wouldn't want her upset."
Vanessa patted her lips with her napkin, then dropped it on the table. "I see. Then we must make the most out of these ten days."
Vanessa accompanied Kevin to the parties following his day-long business meetings, as she had in years past. The days passed in rapid succession, a blur of work and parties, then drew to a close.
"We haven't had much time together," Vanessa said with a pout. "Not even for a stroll on the most famous promenade…"
"Vanessa, I think we've spent more time together this trip than on any other," he replied. He laughed. "Funny. When we were an 'item' so to say, we had so little time for each other."
"And now? You know I came to be with you, Kevin."
He looked at her. "I leave tonight, Vanessa. I'm sorry." He bent and kissed her cheek, then turned and left her standing alone.
* * *
A distinctive looking man fetched Vanessa at Kennedy airport. Luigi Amedeo, Count of Monteturro, enclosed her in his arms, then pushed her back and smiled at her. "Hello, divina," he said. "How was your trip?"
"Not a word," Vanessa replied. "I'm furious. Kevin acted as if I didn't exist."
"Well, my dear, you were there on a political mission, not a romantic one," he said, smiling. He took her arm and guided her from the airport. "Let me be the judge of how successful you were. Tell me all you gathered about the guest at the old mansion."