Beaumont Brides Collection (116 page)

‘It’s more likely they’ll think you’re a lazy cat, but if that worries you, we could always stop and explain.’

‘Jack!’

‘God,’ he said, ‘I love it when you blush.’

‘You’re the only man who has ever had that effect on me.’

‘Plan on keeping it that way.’

Plan? Melanie let her head fall against his chest. She knew better than to make plans. This affair had nothing to do with plans or reality.

What had happened in the sea-caves had been entirely her decision. She had wanted him and she had sung her siren song, luring him into her arms, knowing full well the consequences. It had been beautiful, but as for plans, she wasn’t fooling herself.

Richard had warned her that Jack liked his women on a bed-and-breakfast basis without any messy emotional complications. And love was a pretty messy complication by any standard. If she wanted to hold onto him she would have to keep that well hidden.

It shouldn’t be that difficult. Like Caroline she had a life of her own, a thriving career, a beautiful apartment to go home to. Of course she would have to be careful to keep it light, watch any tendency to cling, to scare him away.

She stopped the treacherous thoughts.

She had promised not to fool herself and already she was pretending. She could act and act and act all she liked, but pressed again the warmth of his flesh, with the steady thump of his heart beneath her ear, she knew that kind of relationship would never be enough for her.

Like her mother she would have all or nothing.

But unlike her mother she refused to spend the rest of her life looking back, wondering, regretting, and in the end afraid to take a chance at happiness in case the man she had spent all those wasted years yearning for had forgotten her.

She would have the rest of this week and then she would say goodbye. Somehow she would manage to brush the whole thing off as a holiday romance; something to be cherished, but not extended beyond its natural span so that it ended, like his relationship with Caroline, in humiliation. He would probably be relieved and he would remember her, if at all, with a hazy fondness.

‘Hey, are you going to sleep?’

She opened her eyes and smiled up at him. ‘It’s been a pretty energetic morning.’

‘Then I have the perfect answer. A siesta.’

‘Before lunch?’

‘No, not before lunch. Before lunch we’ll have a warm shower. Then we’ll have lunch in bed. After that we’ll have a siesta.’

A siesta. We. The two of them. She would sleep in Jack’s arms and it would be heaven. And she wasn’t about to waste heaven worrying about next week, or agonising over whether to tell Jack her life history. The Ark was a moment out of time. The outside world didn’t matter.

‘You’ve got it all worked out, haven’t you? Did anyone ever tell you that you’ve a managing disposition, Mr Wolfe?’

‘I believe the odd comment has been passed, Miss Devlin. But then, it’s what I do best.’ He stopped at the cottage. ‘Would you like to open the door?’

‘You could put me down now,’ she pointed out.

‘I could,’ he agreed. ‘But why don’t you just leave the details to me. You open the door and I’ll carry you through to the shower. After that if you have any other plans for my hands, I’ll be happy to accommodate you.’

‘Not managing,’ she reflected, happily. ‘Just plain bossy.’

‘In that case I suggest you do as you’re told first time.’

‘Yes, sir,’ she said, snapping off a salute before reaching for the door handle. Who was arguing?

‘Mike?’

‘Jack, for heaven’s sake where have you been?’

Jack regarded the telephone with a slightly quizzical expression. ‘Swimming, relaxing. The things you do on holiday. Then, because I’m always concerned about my employees I thought I’d check in and see how things are going. So how are things going?’

‘Which particular things did you have in mind?’

‘Chicago?’

‘No more problems. Will you stop over on your way home?’

‘I might. Tamblin?’

‘Vacuuming up the shares like there’s no tomorrow. The TSC are watching him.’

‘Anything else?’

‘Melanie Devlin does not live with Richard Latham. She just uses his address.’

‘Anything else?’

‘You’re not surprised?’

‘No. I don’t believe she knows anything about the Carstairs or insider trading.’

There was a pause. ‘She was that good?’

Jack didn’t reply. He simply disconnected the call and switched off the phone.

*****

Mike Palmer regretted the words the minute they were out of his mouth. Yet he knew he was right to be suspicious. And once Jack came to his senses, he would be the first to admit that he’d been wrong. Yet in all the years he’d known Jack Wolfe he’d never known him to miss the obvious.

Even when Lisette had been killed and he was so wracked with guilt that he couldn’t eat, or sleep, he had never lost that edge. It was what had made him so dangerous.

Or maybe this girl was just another symptom. He’d sensed a change in Jack over the past few weeks, a new restlessness, as if work was no longer enough. The sympathy he had shown towards Latham had been a case in point. And the day he had planned to leave the office without saying a word, to picnic with this girl; that had bordered on the romantic.

It was then that Mike realized exactly what was different about Jack Wolfe. He hadn’t taken this girl to the West Indies because Caro had let him down. He’d taken her because he was in love with her.

He groaned. He would have been glad for the man, if he wasn’t so certain that he was being duped. Made a fool of, but couldn’t see it. Well, it happened to everyone once in a while and if Jack wasn’t thinking clearly enough to worry why Melanie Devlin had given a false address, somebody else would have to do it for him.

He flicked the intercom on his desk. ‘Get hold of Geoff, Nicki. Last week he collected a girl from the cottage at Henley. See if he remembers where he took her.’

‘I’ll get right on to it. Bob Gibson from the Courier called you a few minutes ago. He wants to know if its true that this girl Jack has taken on holiday with him is not an actress, but his cleaner.’

‘What!’

‘Apparently he’s had a call from Caro’s publicist. She says Jack’s planning some takeover and he’s taken this girl as cover because Caroline was too busy to go with him. According to her, Caro and Jack are still an item. Please tell me it isn’t true.’

‘It’s not true. At least the part about them still being an item.’ That was the one thing he could be certain of. He’d warned Jack that Caro wouldn’t take public humiliation lying down, but somehow he didn’t think calling him back right now and saying “I told you so” would be a healthy move.

‘So, what’s the cleaner like?’

‘She’s an actress, Nicki. An out-of-work actress.’

Nicki laughed. ‘You don’t have to sell the story to me. Tell it to Bob Gibson, he loves a good fairy tale.’

Fairy tale? Well that was a thought. ‘Well I’m sure I can top anything Caroline Hickey can offer. Get him back for me.’

‘Aren’t you going to call Jack first?’

‘Jack is too busy to be bothered with this kind of nonsense.’ It would be better handled by someone thinking with his head rather than his heart - or any other part of his anatomy. The phone rang. ‘Bob? Mike Palmer. I heard Caro’s stirring things up? Nothing like a woman scorned for vitriol,’ he said, with a laugh.

‘Vitriol sells newspapers.’

‘And I thought it was true love.’

‘True love needs an angle.’

‘Is that right? Well how about a cross between Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella?’

‘You’re telling me the cleaner story is true?’

‘Well, you know how it is, Bob. The girl’s an actress but she’s between jobs and she has to pay the rent.’

‘So Cinderella’s scrubbing the big bad Wolfe’s floor and when she kissed him he turned into Prince Charming. Is that about it?’

Mike swallowed. Jack would murder him. ‘You could put it like that.’

‘Can I quote you?’

‘Quote me? What did I say?’

Bob chuckled. ‘So this actress, tell me something she’s been in.’

‘Well there you’ve got me. Can’t Equity help? Even if she’s only done walk on parts she must be a member. She might even have an agent who can let you have a photograph.’ He crossed his fingers. ‘I think you’ll find it will be worth while finding one.’

There was a long pause. ‘What are you telling me, Mike?’

‘Nothing. I’m telling you nothing.’ Even he couldn’t bring himself to go that far. Then, with sudden inspiration he said - ‘Have you ever seen the brochure for The Ark, Bob? It’s really a very romantic place. I’m trying to think who got married there last year. Some American film star.’

‘They do weddings?’

Bob Gibson couldn’t get off the phone quickly enough after that and Mike grinned as he hung up. Sometimes he thought Jack too ruthless, and he never hesitated to tell him so. But he’d got a real buzz out of that; doing exactly what Jack would have done. If he hadn’t been otherwise occupied.

‘Geoff says he took Miss Devlin to Chelsea Harbour,’ Nicki said, coming in and distracting him. ‘He says she’s a really nice girl. He carried her things in for her and the porter at this really classy block of flats where she lives told him that she really is an actress. She used to be in one of those Aussie soaps. I’ll have to ask my girls if they know her, they love them.’

‘An Aussie soap?’ Mike demanded. ‘Have you any idea which one?’

‘No. She came to England last year, apparently.’

Well it didn’t matter. The coincidence was too great to be ignored. She and Richard Latham might not live together, but they clearly went back a long way.

*****

‘Are you going to throw yourself onto your sword,’ Nicki asked next morning as Mike stared in horror at the full page spread in the Courier.

‘Melanie Beaumont?’ he said. ‘It can’t be true. I mean...’ - he stared blankly up at his secretary - ‘...what the devil was she doing cleaning?’

‘Maybe she’s kinky. I can see that washing Jack Wolfe’s socks might have a certain attraction.’ Mike glared at her. ‘Personally,’ she went on, undaunted, ‘my favourite part was the bit about her father and step-mother being on honeymoon at the same resort. How would you rate that on the embarrassment scale? Eight? Nine? No? Well, maybe you’re right. A full blown ten.’

The phone beside him rang. ‘Answer that, Nicki,’ he snapped.

‘Don’t worry. Jack won’t have seen this. Yet. It’s only four o’clock in the morning where he is.’

She was right. It wasn’t Jack. It was worse. It was Luke Devlin.

*****

Melanie stirred and smiled as Jack kissed her throat. ‘Mmm. That’s nice.’

‘Wake up, sleepy-head. It’s our last day. We don’t want to waste it.’

Five blissful days had flown by and tomorrow they would go back to London. No, she wouldn’t think about that. Not a moment before she had to. ‘I agree. We shouldn’t waste a minute. Come back to bed,’ she said, resolutely keeping her eyes closed.

‘Behave yourself,’ he murmured, kissing her lids.

‘Not today,’ she said, reaching for him.

‘Not ever again, if I have anything to do with it. But a man has to eat,’ he reminded her, easing himself out of bed.

‘Call room service.’

‘Not this morning. I’ve got a treat for you. Gus spotted a pod of humpback whales yesterday. He’s taking us out to see them this morning.’ Melanie stretched, opened her eyes and he laughed. ‘Lady, you look exactly like a cat who has just had a saucer full of cream.’

‘I have,’ she said, softly. ‘Now all I need to make me purr is to be stroked.’

‘Not a chance. Come on, up you get.’ He pulled her to her feet and for a moment held her before releasing her with something like a groan. ‘I think you’d better shower on your own, or we’ll never eat.’ He turned her around and slapped her bottom. ‘Don’t be long.’

‘If you’re sure you’d rather look at a bunch of old whales.’

‘A pod,’ he said, firmly. ‘Old, young, babies. I promise you, you’ll be sorry if you miss them.’

‘I expect you’re right.’ So why was every bone in her body telling her that she should get back in bed and stay there, keeping him beside her?

‘I’m always right.’ Melanie paused at the door of bathroom and looked back. ‘Hurry, sweetheart.’

‘Come with me.’ She knew she was being foolish, that the sense of an ending was because everything they did today would be for the last time. Yet even as she extended her hand to him he seemed to hesitate. ‘How will I manage without you to scrub my back?’

Jack knew he should resist. He wanted to ring Mike, put the guy out of his misery. He’d kept promising himself he would. Today was a day for putting the world straight and starting anew.

He felt bad about hanging up on a man who was only doing his job. But what could he have said? It doesn’t matter what you tell me about her? In her arms I’ve discovered how to be human again? Mike would have been kind, but he would have thought him a fool. Well, maybe he was. But fool that he was, he knew with each hour that passed he loved her more.