Sea of Lost Love by Santa Montefiore Read Free Book Online

a weasel or even a stallion.”
    â€œSo it’s a combination of beauty, class, and intelligence?”
    â€œExactly. You are not a herd animal. You have a beauty and grace that set you apart from the rest, and, although you are not the daughter of a duchess, you have all the qualities of one in abundance.”
    â€œExcept the egg face!” she laughed.
    â€œYou get your strong chin from me.”
    Â 
    When Monty entered, they were busy going through the family, placing them neatly into the food chain one by one, beside themselves with amusement. “What’s Papa?” Celestria asked as he looked at them indulgently.
    Pamela narrowed her eyes. “He’s a cheetah,” she said in a throaty voice. “Because he’s the fastest animal in the world.”
    â€œAnd you, my darling, are a white tiger: beautiful, solitary, and very, very rare.” He smiled at her tenderly. “So this is where you’ve been hiding out!” he said to Celestria. “It’s safe to come out now. It’s all done. Julia’s gone up to have a bath. I should think you ought to be doing the same.”
    â€œPerhaps I’ll meet my lion tonight,” she said, getting up.
    â€œDon’t accept anything less, Celestria. I didn’t.”
    â€œIt’s a good fire, isn’t it?” she added.
    â€œShe lit it herself, silly child,” Pamela said to her husband. Monty didn’t bother to point out that it was still summer. “I packed my mink stole this year,” she continued. “Tonight I shall wear it.”
    â€œIf you’re lucky, it will ward off any lesser beasts,” Monty said good-naturedly.
    â€œOh, I don’t think she needs the stole for that,” Celestria quipped as she left the room. “Lesser beasts can recognize a tiger when they see one.”

4
    C elestria stood in front of the window to watch the sunset. The days were slowly shortening, summertime forced into retreat by an overzealous autumn. The light was amber. Soft and warm and sad somehow. The sea glittered and sparkled like copper beneath a sky darkening prematurely with clouds. Of all the nights, the drizzle had chosen tonight. There may even be a storm, she thought with rising excitement, envisaging pressing herself against Dan Willmotte for comfort as claps of thunder ripped apart the heavens. The water was calm. Ominously so. As if holding its breath for the inevitable tempest.
    She studied her reflection in the mirror and smiled with satisfaction. The pink dress looked stunning, complemented by the sparkle of her mother’s diamonds. She pulled her shoulders back, admiring the gentle sheen of oil on her skin. She would shine the brightest tonight. Only a lion would do, she thought smugly. She’d leave the buffalo to Melissa. Poor Lotty, so foolish to allow herself to fall in love with an unsuitable man, she thought gleefully, certain that she was too cunning ever to make the same mistake.
    She waited in her room until she was sure that the rest of the family was downstairs. It was always fun to make an entrance. She heard them in the drawing room, their voices a low murmur, punctuated by sudden bursts of laughter. She closed the curtains. The sky was now a deep mauve, like a bruise, the sea already rousing itself for the oncoming storm. As she left her room she heard the first drop of rain break against the window pane.
    The noise of voices grew louder as she walked up the corridor. She reached the stairs to be met by Poochi and a strong whiff of tuberose. They could only mean one thing: that her mother had waited to make an entrance, too. She might have known. When Pamela saw her daughter, her face shone with pleasure. “Darling, you look beautiful!” she exclaimed, casting an admiring glance over the dress. In her daughter she saw the beauty she had once been and could be all over again, vicariously. “You’re going to slay them all,