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Claire looked out of the windows at the fading sunlight, desperate to change the subject. ‘Today is Deborah’s birthday. Twenty-one. Can you believe it?’
‘How could I forget? I’m her godmother.’ Sasha knew Claire so well, knew she needed a moment now, some space to think, so she didn’t press. But she was far from finished with the problem. ‘Have you spoken with our little musical genius yet?’ she asked.
‘She had classes all day, and then she and a friend have tickets to some big concert at the Albert Hall. I’ll call soon.’
‘What time is it in London?’
‘Four hours ahead. So I have time.’
‘Ah …’ Sasha moved so she could look at Claire. ‘I was just wondering. How would you handle it, if I told you someone was hurting Deborah?’
‘What are you talking about?’ Claire exclaimed.
Sasha fixed her with her laser-like gaze. ‘I don’t mean for real. What if someone was hurting her like Mark hurts you? What would you do?’
‘Don’t do this, Sasha. I don’t want to talk about it right now. Okay?’ Claire started to get out of the chair. ‘I just can’t.’
‘Don’t run away. We have to make a plan. Seriously Claire, we can’t do what we’ve been doing. We have to talk about this.’
‘Talk about what?’ The man’s voice was coming from the doorway. Neither woman moved.
Mark Saunders didn’t so much walk as glide into a room, bringing with him a heady mixture of good looks, charm and a certain danger that made him impossible to ignore. At forty-four, he still had the boyish blond looks that women love.
‘Hello, darling.’ He leaned down to kiss Claire, who was trying desperately to control her trembling.
‘Good grief, you look as if someone shot your dog. What’s going on?’ There was a smile on his face, but he was on full alert, taking the measure of the mood in the room. That was what he did for a living.
He turned his smile on Sasha. ‘You look beautiful, as always. How’s Jeff? How are the television ads? Still busy persuading the public to buy things they don’t need?’
Sasha held his blue eyes but did not return the smile. ‘I do what I can.’ She sipped her wine, not taking her gaze off Mark. ‘And Jeff is fine. I’ll tell him you were asking about him.’
Shooting her friend a pleading look, Claire was on her feet. ‘I thought you weren’t coming home till much later. I would have had dinner—’
‘Stop,’ he purred, putting an arm around her, the model of a devoted husband. ‘You’ll make Sasha think I keep you chained to the stove. So, Sasha, what is it you and Claire must talk about? I’m afraid I interrupted you two.’
‘Actually, you did,’ Sasha now returned his mega-smile with one of her own, equally charming and equally false. ‘I’m trying to persuade Claire to have this year’s Near and Far charity fund-raiser at Gilda, but the poor lamb is stuck in the past. She’s afraid people won’t want to drive home from the city late at night.’
Sasha put her wine glass down, and took Claire’s as well, so Mark would not notice that her friend’s hand was trembling. ‘Mark, convince your wife that just because we live in Connecticut, we don’t need a passport to cross the border into New York City.’
‘I wouldn’t try to convince Claire of anything.’ The tension in his jaw began to fade. ‘She’s a woman who knows her own mind.’
‘Oh Mark, I know now why you’re the star of Washington. Always the diplomat! Claire’s a lucky girl.’ She kissed her friend on the cheek gingerly so as not to hurt the bruises. ‘And, for Heaven’s sake, watch where you’re walking from now on. Mark, tell her! She walked into the door of the closet this morning, and look what it did to her face.’ Sasha made sure that Mark looked at each and every mark on Claire’s beautiful face.
‘My dear, how did that happen?’ he asked, sounding puzzled.
‘You know Claire. She has her head in the clouds and doesn’t see the danger around her,’ Sasha replied, keeping her voice even.
‘You know I’m clumsy.’ Claire managed to make her voice sound normal. She didn’t dare show Sasha how grateful she was for this little performance.
Mark put one of his perfectly manicured fingers on her cheek and traced the line of bruises. ‘This looks wicked. Poor girl. Sasha is right. You must take better care of yourself.’
‘I’ll be careful, I promise.’
Sasha looked Claire in the eye. ‘I’m going to hold you to that promise.’
‘So will I,’ Mark said, kissing the bruises ever so gently. ‘Not to worry, Sasha, I will take care of your friend.’
Sasha had to hurry from the room, because she was very close to punching Mark in the face, just as he had done to Claire.
Three (#ulink_562a68ef-f2b7-5d1d-97f2-b4aa4125ee70)
Claire knew Mark was watching: checking her mood, searching her eyes for secrets, judging each sentence that passed her lips.
He had taken his time with the dinner she had hurriedly prepared after Sasha left. ‘Are you sure you won’t have another glass of wine? It’s really excellent.’
‘I don’t think so, Mark.’
But he was already pouring. She dutifully thanked him and took a tiny sip. ‘What time do you leave for Egypt tomorrow?’
‘Early. You know, if you weren’t married to that job of yours, you could come with me. See the world.’
Claire managed a small laugh. ‘See the inside of a hotel room, you mean. You work night and day on these trips.’
‘And what do you do when I’m away?’
Claire knew she needed to be careful. She was silent.
‘Do you think you spend too much time with that gang of yours?’ he asked.
‘Mark, they are my friends; that’s all.’
‘You see them every day on the train. You’d think that would be enough. But then Saturday too. The unmissable Saturday lunches. What on earth do you find to talk about?’
‘You know. The kids, work.’
‘Do you tell them about me? What a monster I am?’
‘Of course I don’t.’
‘The roses look nice. Do you like them?’
It was all Claire could do to keep from screaming. ‘Very much,’ she answered quietly, holding herself still.
‘I’m sorry about last night. I feel terrible. But it’s almost as if you enjoy pushing my buttons.’ He stared at her intently.
Claire remained stock still, looking back at him, trying to keep her face blank. ‘If you had any idea how much pressure I’m under, how important my work is to the country, maybe you wouldn’t push me. Do you think I like hurting you?’
‘No. I don’t think that.’ Carefully, very carefully Claire pushed her chair back, keeping her tone light. ‘Are you about finished with dinner? It’s late in London, and I want to reach Deborah before she goes to bed.’
‘You know college kids. It’s her birthday. She’ll be up all night drinking shots with her friends.’
‘Mark, she won’t. She has to play for the college tomorrow, and she’ll want to be in top form. It’s the Royal Academy of Music, for heaven’s sake.’
‘Plenty of musicians party. Can’t she have a little fun?’ He turned his boyish grin on Claire. ‘You’re only twenty-one once.’
‘You’re right, of course.’ Her smile was cautious. His love for Deborah always touched her and maybe he really was just being sweet tonight. She needed to stop expecting another explosion. She so wanted to believe it wouldn’t happen again. ‘I suppose just because our daughter is studying to be a concert pianist doesn’t mean she can’t be a good-looking party animal like her father.’
‘Was he?’ Mark was staring into his wine, swirling it around and around, staring into the glass.
‘Oh, you still are quite the party boy.’ She took another sip. The wine was calming her. ‘Good looking, too.’ She touched his hand.
‘I was talking about her real father.’
He smiled at her again, but this time a chill began climbing her spine. She carefully removed her hand from his, knowing she must tread carefully now, and not contradict him. Mark was at his most dangerous when he was being charming. ‘You are the only father she has ever known,’ Claire finally said.
‘You didn’t answer my question,’ he shot back, his voice suddenly hard.
Claire got up and started clearing the table.
Mark continued to study his wine. ‘I know nothing about your great love. Was he tall? Skinny? Fat? Did he like music? Is that where Deborah’s talent comes from?’
Claire took the dishes into the kitchen without a word, trying to push back her emotions.
Mark followed her.
‘All I know about Deborah’s long-gone daddy is that he walked out on you before she was born. And never looked back. So I don’t understand why his memory is so sacred that you refuse to speak of him, won’t even tell me his name. Or maybe it’s because he’s not really gone.’
‘When you asked me to marry you, over twenty years ago, when you asked if you could adopt Deborah and raise her as your own, we made an agreement!’ Claire’s turquoise eyes were blazing now, her fear of him forgotten for a moment. ‘I would never tell Deborah you were not her birth father, and you would never ask me about the man who was. I have kept my end of the bargain! All these years, not a word to her, not a hint! You, on the other hand, have been at me constantly in the past few years! What did he look like? Why did he disappear? Does he know he has a daughter?’
‘Does he? Do you talk to him sometimes, tell him about her? About me? Is that why you love your job so much? So you can travel all over to be with him?’
‘Stop it, Mark.’
He grabbed her wrist roughly, and instinctively she let out a cry of pain. She was already bruised from last night. ‘Do you two laugh about how afraid I am that one day Deborah will find him, and won’t want anything to do with me?’ he hissed in her face.
‘You know better than that! What is wrong with you, Mark? I have not seen nor heard from him in over twenty years.’ She wrenched her arm from his grasp. ‘And if I had, he would not ask about Deborah, because he doesn’t know she exists!’
Tears of anger and frustration were streaking her cheeks now. ‘Hear me, Mark! This is the last time I will ever, ever discuss this subject with you. I’m going to bed.’
‘Don’t walk out while I’m talking to you!’ He lunged for her, but she sidestepped him and raced, still limping, into the bedroom, slammed the door shut and locked it.
Mark was after her in a flash, kicking at the oak door, hitting it with his shoulder. ‘You open this door! Claire, open it or I swear I’ll knock it down.’
‘If you do that I will call the police.’ Claire was trembling but her voice was calm. ‘They would probably be curious about how I got the bruises all over my body. Did I mention that you cracked a rib this time?’
Mark continued to batter on the door.
‘I’m not bluffing, Mark. I’ll do it. I’m sure the Washington Post would have a field day with the story: President’s special envoy to the Middle East arrested at his home.’
‘You wouldn’t dare.’ But he stopped his attempt to break open the door. ‘Too much is at stake.’
‘Don’t test me.’
Mark and Claire stood on either side of the bedroom door, both breathing hard. Finally, Mark took a step away, his face distorted in frustration and rage.
‘Don’t sleep too soundly tonight.’ He spoke softly, almost in a whisper, but every word came through the thick wood. ‘This isn’t over, Claire. Not by a long shot.’
And Claire knew that he spoke the truth.
Four (#ulink_471b960e-df57-551c-b64a-469e1f5b3b37)
Claire was fragile but gaining strength each day. With Mark away in the Middle East, she had allowed herself to sleep deeply without the ever-present fear that he would come home and find something to be angry about. She had worked from home all week, to avoid questions about her injuries. She had been relieved this morning when she saw that the bruises, which had stained her face, were mostly gone. The marks on her body were disappearing too.
Her heart? That would take longer to heal.
She pushed herself hard as she jogged along Beachside Avenue, past houses of another era, each one grander than the one before. She ran past the inlets where the tide pushed and frothed as it was pulled out to sea. How long had it been since she felt safe, really safe, she asked herself as she ran. The blare of a car horn jolted her out of her musings.
‘Are you trying to get yourself killed, lady?’
‘Sorry, sorry!’ she called after the car as it swerved around her and sped away. She slowed to a walk, her heart pounding, the good feelings slipping away. A reminder, she thought, determined to stay on her guard from now on. The world can be at its most dangerous when you’re feeling safe.
Martel was a French-style bistro plonked right on the line where Westport met Southport. When you walked through the etched-glass doors, you could imagine you were in Paris.
Marty, the larger-than-life owner, knew his patrons well.
Claire, Sasha, Julia and Paulina had been having lunch there most Saturdays since the doors opened, and always enjoyed being there.
Claire had showered quickly after her run and slipped into cream trousers and a cashmere sweater. A low-slung belt and a cropped leather jacket, the same turquoise colour as her eyes, completed the outfit. It was simple but striking.
‘Where were you last Saturday?’ Marty, the owner, greeted her like a lost love. She was his favourite.
‘I picked up a little bug, but I’m fine now. I missed you too, Marty.’ Her quick kiss on the cheek put the smile back on his face. ‘Am I the first to arrive?’
Marty gestured to the back room. ‘They’ve been back there for an hour with their heads together. Plotting the overthrow of the government is my guess.’
Claire hurried towards the back room and slid into her usual place next to Sasha in the big corner booth. The others were already halfway through a carafe of the special house wine, which Marty kept for his favourites. ‘Did you have breakfast here?’ she asked, air-kissing her three friends.
‘Having it now,’ Paulina said, pouring Claire a hefty glass.
‘Marty tells me you are up to something,’ Claire remarked.
‘We’re celebrating!’ Sasha answered.
Claire raised her glass. ‘What’s the occasion?’
‘That you’re here, of course.’ Sasha said. ‘Last Saturday was deadly, right ladies?’ The three friends clinked glasses and toasted Claire. ‘Marty sulked. And without you we were so depressed we all ordered healthy meals.’
‘You didn’t!’ Claire felt that warm rush of happiness that always came over her when she was with these women. Friends, especially women friends, gave life something extra. She wondered if men knew what they were missing. ‘Don’t tell me you had salads!’
