The Affair: Week 6 by Beth Kery Page A

the best of friends. She grinned as she greeted him, privately thinking to herself how perfectly Niki matched the glamorous, romantic setting with his dark good looks, easy manners, and classic tuxedo.
    “The rose has bloomed,” Niki complimented her warmly, dark eyes roving over her dress in clear male appreciation.
    “But is still firmly attached to the stem,” Vanni replied dryly, giving his friend a half-warning, half-amused glance. “Give it a rest, Niki, she already had to endure Mario.”
    “Then she especially deserves my attention. She’ll think all drivers are swine.” She saw the merriment in Niki’s glance at Vanni. Clearly, Niki was an established flirt, but he’d been mostly ribbing his friend by admiring Emma so blatantly. Niki certainly had no cause to ogle other women. He introduced her to his date, a stunning blonde named Georgia who wore a white gown that displayed showstopping breasts. When she spoke, it was with a cool, regal English accent that was a fascinating paradox to her gilded good looks and the lack of a tan line anywhere in evidence on her plunging neckline. The paradox was only amplified when Niki referred to her casually as “George.” Vanni introduced her to Dean Shaw’s wife, Michelle, a friendly, middle-aged woman who seemed especially pleased to be introduced to Emma.
    “I see I chose well,” Michelle enthused with a smug grin, glancing down over Emma’s dress as they shook hands.
    “You chose impeccably,” Vanni said. “But as you can see, it would have been hard to choose poorly given the wearer.”
    “Without a doubt,” Michelle said warmly.
    Vanni noticed Emma’s bewildered look. “Michelle was kind enough to go to the Breakers and choose your wardrobe for your stay here,” Vanni said under his breath.
    “Oh, thank you!” Emma said. “You did an excellent job.”
    “Have you actually seen your inheritance?” Michelle asked her with a dry smile. Emma shook her head. “It would have been hard to go wrong. That closet is as large as our bedroom,” she told Dean, “and stuffed to the brim with clothes, most of which still have tags on them, and shoes and every geegaw you can imagine.”
    “Vanni’s aunt—Vera, that is—seems very fashionable. She must have been a good assistant to help you choose,” Emma said.
    “Oh, Vera wasn’t at the Breakers,” Michelle said. “She was here, in fact.”
    Emma blinked. “Will Vera be here tonight?” she asked Vanni. She wasn’t sure she was so wild about the idea of socializing with Vera Shaw for the next week, but perhaps it’d give her an idea of how to break through the woman’s dislike of her? Vanni glanced at Dean, a vaguely annoyed expression breaking through his typically impassive one.
    “Vera has left,” Dean said quickly, as if trying to fill the uncomfortable pause. “She had a great deal of work she needed to attend to back in Chicago.”
    Another woman at the table, who Emma learned was named Estelle Fournier, listened to this exchange with a shrewd, narrow-eyed focus. Her husband, Simon, sat next to her. Estelle was a good deal younger than Simon, who appeared to be in his late fifties. Nevertheless, both husband and wife were stunning. As Vanni seated Emma and took his place next to her, Emma found herself wondering idly if the exotic Mediterranean coast somehow sprouted splendid-looking people to inhabit it.
    Not only Vanni, but Niki, Michelle, and Dean were all very attentive to her during the dinner, something that went a long way to increasing her comfort level. Niki seemed very unconcerned about the upcoming race, and instead described to Emma and Vanni his adventure in catching an enormous sea bass that afternoon. Meanwhile, the woman named Estelle kept trying to engage Vanni in conversation in French, which seemed to annoy her husband, Simon. Knowing Emma didn’t speak the language, however, Vanni kept reverting to English, something that clearly annoyed the French beauty. At various