He’d shown her the Hotel Vittorio’s brochure one evening when they were dining at the Ritz. ‘I’ve already made our honeymoon booking,’ he’d said, ‘in the Empress Suite.’
‘But darling, the cost-’
‘So what? Money is for spending.’
She’d spoken with passionate tenderness. ‘You don’t have to spend a lot on me. Money isn’t what it’s about.’
His quizzical frown should have warned her. ‘No, sweetie, but it helps.’
Then she’d said-and the memory tormented her still- ‘You don’t think I’m marrying you for your money do you? I love you, you. I wouldn’t care if you were as poor as I am.’
She could still see the wary look that came into his eyes, and sense the chill that settled over him. ‘This is a wind up, right? As poor as Lady Dulcie Maddox.’
‘You can’t eat a title. I haven’t a penny.’
‘I heard your grandfather blew twenty grand at the races in one day.’
‘That’s right. And my father was the same. That’s why I haven’t a penny.’
‘But you lot have all got trust funds, everyone knows that.’
The truth had got through to her now, but she fought not to face it. ‘Do I live like someone with a trust fund?’
‘Go on, you’re just slumming.’
She’d finally convinced him that she wasn’t, and that was the last time she saw him. Her final memory was of him snatching a credit card statement from his pocket and tossing it at her with the bitter words, ‘Do you know how much money I’ve spent on you? And for what? Well, no more.’
Then he stormed out of the Ritz, leaving her to pay for the meal.
And that had been that.
Sitting in the quiet of the Empress Suite Dulcie knew that it was time to pull herself together. Now there was another fortune hunter, but this time he was the prey and she the pursuer, seeking him out for retribution, the avenger of all women.
She showered in a gold and marble bathroom and chose something to wear for her first outing ‘on duty’. She finally left the hotel arrayed in an orange silk dress, with a delicate pendant of pure gold. Gold earrings and dainty gilt sandals completed the ensemble. So much gold might be overdoing it, but she needed to make an impression, fast.