Chapter One

Kathryn pulled on her boots, looked in the mirror and pulled her hair into a french twist.

She smoothed down her Dolce and Gabbana suit, and looked in the reflection of the mirror at the bed behind her. She sighed audibly. Right, she thought, time to leave.

She looked at the man behind her who was still in bed.

“Right then, I’m off now.” Her British accent identifying her roots.

“Do you want to catch up later?” he said.

She looked at him and sighed inwardly. “Look Marcus, last night I asked you for a cigarette and your telephone number. I did not however ask for a relationship with you. Therefore, the answer to your question, is no.” He looked crushed. “But thank you anyway, it’s been a pleasure.” She added quickly. “And on that note – I must be off now.”

Kathryn then turned on her kitten heel, picked up her handbag, and walked out the door.

She really did not like having to do that, but it’s always better to get it over and done with quickly after nights with random men. Or, in last night’s case, random cigarette smokers.

Kathryn walked over to her Mini Cooper, unlocked the door, and slid in. What a night she thought. She had better call her sister. She turned the car on, pulled into the early morning Saturday traffic, and dialled her home number.

* * *

Lizzie was coming out of a groggy dream, and could hear the phone ringing. Nope, there was no way she wanted to answer that.

She looked at the clock. Now she thought; who the hell would be ring at 6.30 in the bloody morning? She pulled the covers over her head, and snuggled down even more into her sleigh bed. The phone stopped ringing. Finally, she thought.

There was a light knock on her bedroom door. Bugger.

Lizzie climbed out of bed, wrapped her dressing gown around her, and opened her bedroom door. There was a very camp man standing at her door, dressed in a fluffy robe, and had a pink eye mask sitting on his head. He was holding the phone out.

“Morning Wallace” She muttered, as she turned around ignoring the phone and
walked back to the bed.

“Phone for you love.” He said as he handed her the phone. “I’ll go get you a cup of tea.”

“Hello?” she said.

“Babes, its me” Ahh, she thought – that would be Kathryn. Her twin sister.

“Hi Kathryn” she sighed down the phone. ”what are you doing? Why don’t you just
come into my room to talk to me?”

“Because I am in the car, on my way home.”

“Right then, well what do you want?” asked Lizzie, who was thinking that she really just wanted to go back to bed.

“Just checking in with you, and to let you know that I had a fabulous night last night, and that I am now on my way home.”

Lizzie sighed inwardly. “And did you break his heart as well?” She asked.

“Absolutely Darling, see you soon – I’ll come in and tell you all about it when I get there.”

The phone clicked, and Lizzie took a deep breath and stuck her head under the pillow.

Finally, she thought. Peace and quiet…Saturday morning sleep in….

Wallace walked back in after about 5 minutes muttering about how he couldn’t find any sugar.

“Come on love, life’s not that bad.” Wallace looked at her. “I’ve bought you a nice cup of Earl Grey – but I hope you don’t mind icing sugar –that was all I could find.”

“That’s fine Wallace, thanks for trying.” Lizzie gave him a big smile. “It’s going to be a long day today”.

“Yip, sure is Darls – We’ve got the big Auction today.” Wallace took a sip of his tea, and wrinkled up his nose. “This icing sugar’s not too bad, if I don’t say so myself.” He was looking so pleased with himself that Lizzie had to laugh.

“Oh Wallace, I don’t know what we would do without you!”

“Well – if I wasn’t here, then Sotheby's wouldn’t be holding their Old Masters auction today. After all, it is I who has the contacts.” He winked at her. “Shut your mouth dear - I’m joking Lizzie darling, but won’t it be fabulous publicity for Château de Lumière?”

“Yes it will be, but as I said before – it’s going to be a long day – and the hire people should be arriving soon to set up – my parents would have been be very proud that I’m following their dream of doing this.”

Lizzie and Kathryn’s father died when they were 12 years old, and then their mother passed away 6 years later of what the doctors’ called a broken heart. Thus leaving the girls an enormous house, with a vast amount of land, a 20% share of an airline, and an enormous amount of money. Fortunately, the twin’s grandparents also live in a large 6-bedroom house on the estate, and they farm the land and manage the gardens. They had lived on Château de Lumière Estate since Sir Andrew De la Croix and Lady Emilia; the twin’s parents first bought it 30 years ago, and had helped maintain it and looked after the twins since.

Château de Lumière Estate comprised of 450 hectares of prime English countryside not far from London, an enormous house totalling 80 bedrooms, an old castle, a number of farm cottages for staff, visitors, and farm hands, stables for stock; a riding school, and a six-bedroom country house situated on the northern side of the Estate for Kathryn and Lizzie’s grandparents.

The Estate is home to eight onsite staff, all of whom live permanently on the Estate. This includes Wallace – the Estate curator, a very camp 30 year old gay man. Wallace was employed just before Lady Emilia died, and has been there ever since. His role as a curator means that he acquires, cares for, and displays the Estates collection of artefacts and works of art. But he’s more of an onsite designer/historian who lives with the twins, and tends to oversee most projects around the house and grounds.

“Well, I should probably go make some fresh coffee for all those lovely boys who have to set up. And I’m sure that Walter would like one too.”

Walter would, Lizzie thought sarcastically. Walter, the Riding School Manager at Château de Lumière, is apparently a very nasty person first thing in the morning.

Kathryn and Lizzie felt it would be a good business venture, to open the school four years ago. So far, it has proven to be a complete success. They have been booked out for most of the year, and the people who are attending the Riding School stay onsite in the Old Castle. Today the Riding School is the site where the actual Auction is going to be, and all of the paintings and sculptures that are being auctioned off will be exhibited in the gardens, so that the people can wander around them. Kathryn and Lizzie have also opened the big house as well, so that people can wander through and admire some of England’s heritage.

Before Kathryn and Lizzie’s parents bought the Estate, it was known at Hatfield House. However, when the De la Croix’s bought it, they decided to change the name so that they would feel more at home. Since their father was French, they decided to call it Château de Lumière Estate, which is translated to ‘Castle of Light’. Their mother, Lady Emilia always had the dream of eventually opening parts of the Estate to the public, so that they could learn about some of the history of England, as Queen Elizabeth I had spent a fair amount of time there when she was growing up. She was imprisoned there for heresy against her older sister Queen Mary, and when the queen died, Elizabeth was still at Hatfield (The Old Castle) when she found out that she was to be the new Queen of England. Hatfield had been, before that time of Queen Elizabeth, a royal residence occasionally, and the second son of Edward III was born there, and was named William of Hatfield. During the latter part of the reign of Henry VIII, Prince Edward resided at Hatfield, and from there, his guardians brought him to London on his accession to the crown.

The present house was built later by Sir Robert Cecil and was finished in 1611. He had obtained the Estate from James I, in exchange for the Palace of Theobalds, which at the time was a larger house nearby.

Château de Lumière House is built of brick in the shape of a half H. In the centre is a portico of nine arches and a lofty tower. Each of the two wings has two turrets with cupola roofs. The north entrance leads into a spacious hall that connects to a very long gallery, open on one side to the lawn.

Wallace started fluffing around with the tea tray. ”Kathryn should be here soon, you had better get up – I am off to organise things for today. I will see you down in the Riding School soonish.”

“Alright, see you soon.” Wallace left the room, and Lizzie sighed, swung her legs over the side of her bed – a poor attempt at getting out. Slowly she eased herself up and out, and headed to the bathroom for a shower.

* * *

The plans had been set in place for this mission for a long time. He was looking over the house blueprints, and the secret passageways surrounding the Château de Lumière. There had been a particular person dear to his heart, who had approached him to obtain some items of value from the house that were worth millions to them.

In addition, by getting these items, they would be paying him an extortionate amount. They had agreed to pay him three million per item collected, and had asked him to obtain three. He thought that nine million pounds was a nice little pay packet for the day, and had decided that he would retire after this.

Originally he thought that he would just break into the house via one of the many secret passageways that lead to and through the house. He then discovered that there an enormous art auction being held there worth absolutely millions.

He felt that this would probably be the best time to get into the house, as it was rumoured that the house was open for exhibition to the public. This he thought was the perfect opportunity to get in there, and he was sure that if he joined one of the tours, they would not notice if he disappeared. He knew that he could quite easily slip into one of the passages of the house quite easily with out being noticed. He had obtained some security codes too, as he had managed to hack into the local security company’s database.

The plan was for him to go in there with a tour group, hide in one of the passages, and then once the coast was clear he would obtain the desired items. As he obtained them, he would take the items into the passages to hide them, until he had collected everything that he needed. He would then navigate his way around the passages to collect the goods together and once he had everything, he could take the items out of the house via one of the big passages that lead into a forest out the back of the house. He had organised for a helicopter to be waiting for him in one of the clearings, not far from the passage entrance – but that was the most risky part – getting them out of the passage entrance, as he knew there were camera’s situated around parts of the forest, and around some parts of the passageways. His plan was to try to disable them at the main house, but he knew that the cameras in the forest were on a separate system that he did not have access to. This same system had hidden camera’s that surrounded the entire Estate. Therefore, he knew that this was the dangerous part of his mission.

He was also aware that there were security posts on the Estate, but they were not always manned – so he was hoping that the one on the edge of the forest would be empty. It was a tricky one, but he knew that he would just have to do everything within his power to not be caught.

* * *

Kathryn drove down the long tree lined driveway, and pulled the car up in front of the house. ‘Jesus’, she thought. ‘There are a lot of cars and trucks here today’ – completely forgetting that the auction was on. She saw a well built bronzed man walk past the front of her windscreen carrying a trestle table. ‘Whoa. Wallace must love this - I know I would.’

She got out of the car and walked up the path to the front door. It was going to be a hot day and she was hoping to get some sunbathing in. The front doors were wide open, and there was a lovely cool breeze coming from somewhere within the house.

She went to the kitchen, and Walter was sitting at the breakfast bar.

She looked at him and smiled to herself - a wee bit of torment for him, she thought. “Lovely morning Walter?” He grunted at her. Typical, obviously he had not had his caffeine IV line inserted yet.

“So, have you got any plans for today? I thought that perhaps we could go for a ride later – after all, it is Saturday. What do you think?” She said.

Walter looked at her as if she were on drugs. “You must be joking. Your pretty boyfriend has organised all this arty farty crap right in the middle of my Riding School, and you are sitting here wanting me to go play ponies with you! Well – I don’t think so sweetheart. I have to be right here to make sure he doesn’t bloody trash my School.”

Alright, she thought. What boyfriend is he talking about? Oh – she realized. Wallace! “Don’t be silly Walter; Wallace wouldn’t do anything like that! He’s far too considerate.”

“He bloody trashed my school the last time we leased it – remember? – The Irish couple that were married there?” He sighed. “Anyway, I spent the whole of the next day cleaning up that mess, because he was so hung-over that he couldn’t get out of bed!” He swore under his breath.

Obviously, this was the wrong day to talk to Walter, but she still had one more question for him. “Umm... Just one last thing before I leave you in peace. What arty farty crap do we have here today?”

Walter started turning red. Alright, thought Kathryn, it really is time to leave. “Kathryn, it’s the fucking Art Auction today – remember? You of all people should remember that bloody thing – after all – it was you and your pretty boyfriend that bloody organised it!” All right, time to go now, she thought. Bastard. She turned towards the garden.

“Time for your injection Walter” she said flippantly as she walked out the kitchen door. Bugger, she thought, the auction is on today. She walked up the stairs to the first floor landing. Kathryn thought she could hear some terrible eighties music playing. That’s not like Lizzie to be playing that, she thought. The music was getting clearer, as she was heading towards Lizzie’s wing. Then just as she was passing an open door way, she looked in and saw Wallace posing in front of the mirror. The music was blaring out, and Wallace was doing a crocodile dance impression in front of the full-length mirrors. He had dressed himself and was trying his best to impersonate a golfer, crossed with a pirate, and was wearing oversized Versace sunglasses. He looked completely ridiculous. He turned around, but didn’t see her watching him. Wallace was bending right over, with his legs spread, and was looking through them at his backside.

“Nice and tight.” He said, grabbing a handful. “Taut and hard.” He gave his backside another squeeze.

“Yes Wallace, how could anyone resist?” Kathryn said to him, as she lent against the doorway.

Wallace got such a fright that he sprang up, lost his balance, and he tipped his backside into the mirrors. Just as they were about to fall over he managed to grab them. “FUCK!” he shrieked dramatically. “Oh, Kathryn – it’s just you. Jeeesus, you gave me a fright.” He walked over and turned the music down. He was looking a bit bashful.

“Shall we go for a fag Wal?” Kathryn said pulling out her cigarettes.

“Fuck, anytime darling – you know me - I’m always up for a fag!”

"No kidding. You are not going anywhere dressed like that’, she thought. “Alright then, get changed and we’ll go.”

Wallace started muttering about how he was looking fine.

“And you can change out of your pantaloons as well, Mr.” She said eyeing up his golf pants.

Wallace got changed and they walked out onto the balcony. Kathryn lit a cigarette, and took a deep drag on it. That’s better, she thought. She looked out over the grounds, the sun was shining and the Estate was looking amazing in the morning light. She could see all of the people working around the Riding School, carrying chairs, tables, glassware, food, and alcohol. Ugh, she thought thinking back to drinking last night; she should really take some painkillers. Wallace had cocked his head and was gazing intently at one of the men below in the courtyard.

“God bless, will you. Look. At. That. Arse… Mmm - mm.” He said quietly. “See?
Now he would like my golf pants – I’m sure of it.”

Kathryn could not quite bring herself to agree with him, but he did have a good point about the arse, not to mention the rest of him. She sighed. She knew that she would have to eventually settle down one day, but at the moment she seemed to be having too much fun in her life. She had the looks, the money, a business - everything that she wanted.

She was only 26, and she did not want to be too tied down in a relationship, and being held accountable to someone else all the time. This way – the only person she was accountable to, was Lizzie – and she did her own thing most of the time anyway. However, she felt that Lizzie was the only person who truly understood her. She did not judge, she could be herself, and nothing mattered when they were together. They have arguments every now and then, but that just bonds them even tighter together. That is probably one of the reasons why she had not settled down yet, or moved out – she doesn’t want to replace the relationship that she has with Lizzie.

They did buy a 3 bedroom apartment in central London a couple of years ago, it was a bit run down – but they gave it a face lift, and Kathryn had every intention of moving in there, but never really got around to it. They stay there every now and
then, but Kathryn just didn’t feel comfortable leaving the Estate.

“Right then, I had better go and get myself ready for this art thing.” She sighed – it was going to be a long day. “What time are we starting?” She said.

“About 1pm, after we have had some lunch.” Wallace said.

“OK then, I had better go have some breakfast.” She said looking at her watch. 8. 00 AM. Pain killers, coffee, and breakfast – all in that order. Then she could go get ready for this auction; ‘Life is all about Priorities’, she thought to herself with a smile.

* * *