The Three Day Rule [antikvár]

Chapter 1 Kellie Vaughan pulled back the thick drapes and shivered, tying the white hotel robe around her. From where she was standing in the bay window of the penthouse suite, she could see down over the grey slate roofs of the houses to the harbour where small fishing boats littered the shallow inlet. At the far end, beyond the quayside with its old stone harbour wall, the headland was covered in purple and yellow heather and, beyond that, the Channel - this morning a deep navy-blue - glistened beneath the powdery sky, where a high wisp of cloud hung like a question mark. In the far distance, she thought she could just about make out the small island where Elliot would be spending Christmas with his family, but maybe it was wishful thinking on her part. Kellie turned away and sighed, looking round at the neutral creams and beiges of the hotel room and at the upside-down champagne bottle in the ice bucket on the table next to the plush sofas. She was in Fleet Town, the capital of St John's, which was the largest island of the group off the south Cornish coast. The islands themselves had a reputation as a great holiday destination, but now, in the depths of winter, they seemed bleak and uninspiring. Even though she couldn't complain about the five-star luxury surrounding her, three days stretched ahead and, for most of that time, she'd be here on her own. Perhaps it was something she should have considered when Elliot had first suggested her coming - but she hadn't. She'd done what she'd always done: made out that 3