She wasn’t sure if he’d put a different connotation to her words than that which she’d intended—it could just be her fevered imagination—but as he rose and ushered her out of the sitting room with a cool hand in the small of her back she knew her cheeks were burning afresh. She had expected to eat in a formal dining room, so when he led the way out onto a spectacular roof terrace she caught her breath in surprise. The terrace was laid out as a dining room and living space with stylish furniture; olive, eucalyptus and silver birch trees in huge white pots surrounding the perimeter all underplanted with a mix of grasses, lavender, iris, allium and other plants creating a vista reminiscent of woodland and Mediterranean scenes. The glass balustrade kept the space serene and light-filled as well as enabling the view to be appreciated, a view that seemed to take in the whole of Kensington. The dining table had been made from a slab of white Carrara marble and was a thing of beauty in itself, and the exterior sofas and easy chairs on the other side of the terrace to the dining suite were grouped round a marble coffee table with a builtin fireplace.
What do You think about The Beautiful Widow (2011)?
