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‘So,’ he said at last. ‘What’s the problem?’
She touched the tip of her tongue to her dry lips. ‘I—I don’t want to be involved in this. Not again. Not after this evening.’
Her voice shook. ‘I may look younger than my age, and be called a child by the Queen of Diamonds back there, but that doesn’t make me an idiot. And you were using me tonight as a decoy to fool her husband, because you’re involved with—her. With Mrs Halsay. There’s never an excuse for breaking up a marriage. So, never again, thank you.’
‘Is that the case for the prosecution?’ he asked, and there was a note of amusement in his voice which scraped along her nerve-endings.
She said stormily, ‘It’s all a joke to you, isn’t it? A game with peoples’ lives—peoples’ hearts. You don’t care that there are innocent parties in all this who are going to be hurt.’
‘Actually, I do care,’ he said. ‘Quite a lot. Particularly when the innocent party is myself.’
She gasped. ‘You’re pretending that you’re not having an affair with Mrs Halsay?’
‘I’m pretending nothing,’ he said calmly. ‘Yes, Diana and I were lovers for a time, but that was eighteen months ago, while she was still Diana Marriot. Only she was looking for a rich husband, and I wasn’t interested in marriage, as I made quite clear from the first. She assumed she could make me change my mind; I knew she wouldn’t. She thought if she issued an ultimatum and walked out, I’d come after her. She was wrong about that too.’
It’s done with a great deal of charm, but it’s still over. Lynne’s words, thought Marin. And clearly no idle comment.
‘But she was the reason I was with you tonight,’ she flung back at him. ‘You can’t deny that.’
‘I won’t even try,’ he drawled. ‘You see, when Diana finally realised that I’d meant what I said, she looked around for a replacement and found Graham, who was just getting over a nasty divorce and wanted to prove it to the world with a glamorous new wife. Naturally, I wasn’t asked to the wedding, but after a couple of months she wangled an invitation to a reception she knew I’d be attending.
‘She was perfectly frank with me. Said she’d only married Graham because I wasn’t available, but now could quite understand why his first wife had ditched him for someone younger and more fun in bed. And, on those very grounds, she suggested that our former relationship should be quickly and quietly resumed.
‘She added that we’d need to be ultra-discreet, because Graham, due to his past problems, had a jealous streak, and regarded any of her previous involvements with suspicion.
‘However, when I said a blunt and unequivocal “no” to her flattering invitation, she first of all didn’t believe me. Insisted that she knew I still wanted her.’
Marin’s throat tightened. ‘And did you?’
‘You’ve seen her,’ he said laconically. ‘And I’ve never professed to be made of stone. On the other hand, I’ve always known she could be big trouble. And her offer simply confirmed that.
‘So I stayed politely adamant, and she got angry. Said that no one turned her down a second time, and that she was going to make me sorry for the way I’d treated her.
‘That it would be quite easy for her to make Graham think that I was sniffing round her again, trying to restart our affair, and how would I like to see the Torchbearer Insurance account go up in smoke, as it were, as a consequence.’
He paused. ‘However, she also suggested that under the circumstances I might like to rethink the whole situation, and fast. See sense, as she put it, and remember how good we’d been together.’
He added, ‘Since then I’ve taken damned good care to be accompanied by a female companion at any events where she’s also a guest. And, although it hasn’t the slightest appeal for either of us, sweetheart, that’s why you’ll be accompanying me to Queens Barton next weekend.’
He took out his wallet as the cab drew up at its destination. ‘We’ll discuss the details over a nightcap. I presume you know how the coffee machine works?’
‘You’re—coming up with me?’ She couldn’t keep the dismay out of her voice. ‘That won’t be necessary.’
‘I think it probably will,’ he said. ‘Unless you remembered to put Lynne’s key in your bag before you left. No? I thought not.’
A mistake, she thought as she accompanied him mutinously up to the flat and waited resentfully for him to unlock the door, that she would try not to make again—like so many others.
‘I’m going to have a brandy with my coffee,’ he told her when they were back inside. ‘May I get you one?’
‘No,’ she said. ‘Thank you.’
‘And I like my coffee filtered, black and without sugar,’ he continued. ‘As the world now believes we have breakfast together on a regular basis, that’s something you’ll be expected to know, and need to remember.’
‘Then the world must be blind as well as stupid,’ Marin said curtly. Do you imagine any man would want a skinny, ugly little bitch like you? For a moment, her memory blazed with the pain of those words.
She forced herself to add calmly, ‘As for your ex-girlfriend, I’d bet good money that she wasn’t fooled for a moment.’
‘Then we’ll have to be rather more convincing next time.’
‘There isn’t going to be any next time.’ She glared at him. ‘There can’t. I’m sorry Mrs Halsay apparently finds you so irresistible, but this ludicrous bargain of ours was strictly a one-off. You had no right to accept an invitation to this house party without consulting me first. For all you know, I might have my own plans for next weekend.’
‘Forgive me,’ he said, the blue eyes merciless. ‘But as you gave me the impression that you had nowhere to live and very little money, it never occurred to me that your social diary would be bursting at the seams.’
‘It isn’t,’ she said. ‘ But that doesn’t mean I’m willing to spend two days out of my life pretending we’re in a relationship in order to keep your ex-mistress at bay.’
He said, on a note of polite enquiry, ‘And presumably you also wish to forego the two thousand pounds I’m prepared to pay you to do exactly that?’
When Marin could speak, she said, ‘You must be crazy.’
‘No,’ he said. ‘Merely totally determined.’
‘But your girlfriend will be over her virus by the weekend,’ she protested. ‘Surely you should be taking her?’
‘Not,’ he said, ‘when the invitation was quite definitely extended to you.’
He paused. ‘Now, I suggest you make that coffee, and when you come back we’ll talk about what’s really on your mind.’
He added softly, ‘Which of course will be the sleeping arrangements.’ And he smiled at her.
Chapter Three (#uf6745005-e65c-52fd-95e3-78c506a18237)
MARIN HAD LEARNED to make coffee in all kinds of ways, for all kinds of people, using all kinds of equipment, so once in the kitchen she was able to switch easily to auto-pilot and begin her preparations without scaldings or spillages, however much she might be shaking inside. As she undoubtedly was.
As the tantalising aroma of the rich, Colombian blend began to fill the air, she arranged white porcelain cups and saucers on a beech tray then leaned against the marble counter top, staring into space.
Something else to add to the dossier on the minus side, she thought without pleasure. Jake Radley-Smith had turned out to be a mind reader.
But then it didn’t take too much perception to recognise all the implications of a weekend house-party in the country. Not when they’d been invited, and would presumably be treated as a couple.
He must have known that, she thought wildly, when he accepted the invitation. I suppose he imagined two thousand pounds would buy my compliance, but he’s wrong.
And if the prospect of being left to Diana Halsay’s tender mercies during the day while Jake was shut up with his host talking business chilled Marin’s blood, the thought that she’d almost certainly be expected to spend her nights with him was infinitely worse.
I don’t even want to contemplate that, she told herself. Or—my God—discuss it with him, either. I hoped he’d simply take no for an answer and opt for someone—anyone—else.
Because I’m not prepared to let myself be trapped into another situation that is none of my making, or made to appear as something I’m not. I—I can’t. Not again.
But it was becoming painfully and worryingly obvious that, in addition to the rest of his flaws, Jake Radley-Smith was not someone who cared to have his wishes opposed.
Drawing a deep breath, Marin put the coffee jug on the tray and carried it into the living room.
Jake was occupying one of the sofas, coat and tie discarded and his waistcoat unfastened along with the top buttons on his shirt. A cut glass goblet containing his brandy was on the pale wooden table in front of him, and he looked casual, relaxed and—as if she needed any reminder—very much at home.
Whereas she felt as if she was treading over broken glass.
She put the tray down on the table next to the brandy, poured the coffee then sat down opposite him, feet together and hands folded in her lap.
‘You look,’ he said softly, ‘as if you’re about to be interviewed for a job, and if it makes you feel better, we’ll play it that way. So let’s move straight to pay and conditions. I’m offering two thousand pounds for you to continue to play the role of my girlfriend as you did tonight, but this time from mid-afternoon on Friday next to some point after lunch on Sunday. That’s the deal on the table, and it won’t change.’
She said bitterly, ‘How simple you make it sound.’
‘Because, unlike you, I’m not looking for complications,’ he drawled.
‘But it is complicated,’ she said. ‘It has to be. If we go there together, they’ll think—that we are—together,’ she finished lamely.
‘In other words, we may end up sharing a bedroom and a bed.’ He shrugged. ‘You must have done so before. It’s no big deal.’
He’d said earlier that night that she looked untouched, but presumably he believed that was only skin deep. That a girl of her age and generation was experienced enough to shrug off any potential awkwardness. Maybe even to find it amusing.
Only he couldn’t be more wrong, she thought, swallowing down the bubble of hysteria threatening to rise in her throat. Yet she was reluctant to let him suspect her total innocence in case it amused him, although being laughed at might be the least of her worries.
‘But in the past, it’s always been my choice.’ She made herself speak steadily. ‘That—might not be the case this time.’
‘So, what’s the matter, darling?’ he asked, the blue eyes narrowing as he reached for his coffee. ‘Scared I may not be able to spend two nights in your company without being overcome by lust?’
He shook his head. ‘You really don’t have to worry. I never make a serious move on a woman unless I receive a very definite invitation first. And I can’t imagine anything of that kind coming my way from you. Right?’
Her face was burning. ‘Absolutely right.’
‘Said with true feeling,’ he murmured. ‘However, if it’s any reassurance, in the past when I stayed at Queens Barton with a lady, admittedly in pre-Diana days, we were always given adjoining rooms. Mrs Martin, the housekeeper, is the old-fashioned kind.’
He paused. ‘Naturally, I never bothered at the time to check if the communicating door locked, but I’m sure there’ll be a chair you can wedge under the handle if you’re worried I might sleepwalk.
‘In fact,’ he added, musing. ‘I might even take the same precaution myself, in case your dreams send you wandering in the small hours.’
‘They don’t,’ Marin said curtly. ‘And I won’t.’ She picked up her own coffee. Drank. Braced herself. ‘But there’s also the question of “window dressing,” as you call it,’ she added, her blush deepening. ‘I—I’d want that kept to a minimum.’
‘Agreed,’ he said promptly. ‘Even a peck on the cheek, arranged in advance and signed for in triplicate.’
She sent him a bitter look. ‘It really is just a game to you, isn’t it?’
‘No,’ he said with sudden harshness. ‘It bloody well isn’t. I am deadly serious about keeping Graham and Torchbearer on side, even if it means negotiating my way through a fairly tricky forty-eight hours, and the rest.’
His smile did not reach his eyes. ‘And the great advantage of having you beside me, instead of some more accommodating companion, Miss Wade, is that, as I told you before, you’re a total unknown.
‘You said just now that you hadn’t fooled Diana. Yet why else did she come flying over to accuse you of gate-crashing? Because you were a complete stranger, and it threw her. So she tried to find out who you were and what you were. And she’s still no wiser, so you need to be prepared to answer some questions at your next encounter.’
‘And what,’ she said, ‘am I supposed to tell her?’
He shrugged. ‘As much or as little as you wish—apart from the fact that you’re only with me because you’re being paid.’ He added thoughtfully, ‘Tonight’s air of shy mystery went down pretty well with most people.’
‘Perhaps because it was perfectly genuine,’ Marin said huskily. ‘I am shy, and the real mystery was, what the hell was I doing getting mixed up with someone like you?’ She shook her head. ‘I think that things would have been a great deal easier if you’d just—married her as she wanted.’
‘Not easier in any way that appeals to me,’ he said drily. ‘Besides, Miss Wade, I’m not the marrying kind. Has Lynne never mentioned that?’
She said too quickly, ‘She doesn’t talk about you.’
‘What a paragon.’ His tone was ironic. ‘I must raise her salary.’ He finished the rest of his brandy. ‘So, what about it, sweetheart? What’s your final answer? I’m offering honest pay for a couple of days of dishonest work, and you can’t pretend you don’t need the money.’
It galled her to acknowledge inwardly that he was right. ‘I’m going to have you fired, you treacherous little slut,’ had been Adela Mason’s parting threat; if she succeeded, Marin would be in real trouble. The Ingram Organisation was built on trust; it had to be, when its staff spent so much time travelling with clients or staying in their homes. If Wendy Ingram believed she’d betrayed that trust so deeply and fundamentally, then Marin would be out in the cold with heaven only knew what kind of a reference.
And the search for another job could be long and arduous.
So could she really afford to turn down this offer, however loaded? And knew what her answer must be.
She gave a small, defeated sigh. ‘Yes,’ she muttered unwillingly. ‘We have a deal.’
‘Good.’ He got to his feet. ‘I’ll be in touch during the week about the final arrangements. But before I go…’ Reaching for his jacket, he took a cheque book and pen from an inside pocket. He wrote swiftly, signed his name and handed the cheque to her.
‘For services already rendered,’ he said.
She looked down at it. She said numbly, ‘Five hundred pounds?’
‘Isn’t that enough?’
‘More than enough.’ She made a helpless gesture. ‘All I did was stand there.’
‘But you did it very decoratively,’ he said. ‘No one in the room would have dreamed it was just a business transaction.’ He smiled at her. ‘At times, I found it hard to remember that myself.’
So, Marin thought with sudden breathlessness, had she. Just once, and only for a moment when standing in the curve of his arm, she’d found herself fighting the temptation to lean back and rest her head against the strength of his shoulder. A brief battle he was totally unaware of and which, thankfully, she’d won.
And something she could not allow to happen again.
He shrugged on his coat and walked to the door. ‘Until next weekend,’ he said. His faint smile seemed to graze her skin. ‘Goodnight, Miss Wade.’ And went.
Leaving her staring after him, his cheque still clutched in her hand.
‘So,’ Lynne said, smiling, ‘You’ve heard all about my weekend. How did yours go? I’m sorry I had to leave you in the lurch, honey, but if you had to be miserable at least it was in comfort.’
She gave Marin a long look. ‘But you don’t seem to have found your surroundings particularly restful,’ she added candidly. ‘On the contrary, you look as if you’ve barely slept. Are you still brooding over the sudden demise of the dream job?’
Marin bit her lip. ‘And its possible repercussions,’ she admitted.
‘Come and tell me all about it while I get supper.’ Lynne got to her feet. ‘Mike’s mother, the lovely Denise, sent me back with one of her home-made chicken and mushroom pies.’
‘Don’t you want to keep it to share with Mike?’ Marin asked as she trailed after her into the kitchen.
‘Certainly not,’ said Lynne. ‘He didn’t offer me any of the leftover joint of beef she gave him.’ She handed Marin a pack of French beans, a colander and a knife. ‘Sort these out while I peel some potatoes.’
