‘Charmed to meet you,’ the woman drawled, her voice slinky and purring like a cat.

Where her brother was pale, Jana was dark. Where Ugo’s skin was luminous and glowing, Jana’s was dry and dead. Whereas Ugo looked like he had spent a lifetime trying to keep out of the sun, Jana looked like she had never spent a moment in the shade. Her brown, creased face was plastered with thick, orange pancake make-up. She wore bright coral lipstick, and the heavy eyelids of her kohl-rimmed eyes were painted blue. She had an elaborate hairstyle, piled high on her head and entwined with silver chains. The hair was so black and glossy and perfectly sculpted that James felt sure it must be a wig.

Jana was dressed in swathes of gold and pink satin and was laden down with the most jewellery that James had ever seen on one person. Huge pendant earrings dangled from the stretched lobes of her ears like miniature chandeliers. Amber, gold and diamond rings glittered on her claw-like fingers; round her scraggy neck were gold necklaces and strings of pearls and she had a gigantic silver brooch studded with jade. There were even diamonds set into the toenails which protruded from her golden sandals.

‘Come, boy,’ Jana purred and crooked a finger at him, its painted nail long and curling. ‘Kiss my hand.’

James reluctantly stepped forward. As he approached he could smell the perfume which hung around her like an evil cloud, choking him when he bent to take hold of her hand. She looked at him hungrily and ran the purple tip of her tongue over her pink lips, moistening them.

‘You have a pretty face,’ she said, staring deep into his eyes.

James didn’t know what to say. He felt uncomfortable and embarrassed in just his swimming shorts, but he couldn’t get away. Jana held him fast in her talons, smiling at him possessively.

‘You will break many girls’ hearts,’ she said, ‘though you have a cruel mouth.’

As she said this she ran her dry fingers over his lips and he drew back from her.

‘I think I’d better go and put some clothes on,’ James mumbled and backed out of the room, Jana’s throaty laugh following him down the corridor.

When he came back a few minutes later, wearing thin South Sea Island cotton trousers and a short-sleeved shirt, Mauro was serving drinks, with his familiar, sullen expression.

Ugo was deep in conversation with Victor.

‘But you must come, Signor Delacroix,’ he was saying, ‘my palazzo is a marvel. As an engineer you will appreciate all that I have achieved.’

‘You seem to know all about me, Count,’ said Victor.

‘I make sure that I am always very well informed,’ said the Count, grinning and displaying his silver tooth. ‘But it is not just my palazzo. I have built a magnificent dam and an aqueduct, the like of which has not been seen since Roman times.’

‘That is quite an achievement,’ said Victor.