Betrayal (41 page)

'We're very lucky,' she said brightly. 'Neal never seems to have any difficulty in keeping staff.' Afterwards she wondered why there'd been such an awkward silence. After all, it was remarkable, although possibly due to their high wages. Certainly there was no reason for people to look embarrassed.

Late that night when Neal was peeling the magnificent gown from her body and laying her carefully on the bed, as his hands started to touch her she looked up at him and for a brief moment he looked like a stranger. He was concentrating so hard on what he was doing that his features looked quite different, less cultured and more ruthless. She shivered slightly and he quickly looked into her eyes. 'You're mine,' he whispered, his fingers moving between her thighs, 'Mine and nobody else's. Nothing can alter that.'

Wishing that she could feel more passion, Lisa moved uncomfortably beneath his touch and wondered why she resented his pride of possession. Hadn't she always wanted to be loved? Hadn't she longed for someone who wanted her for what she really was?

Yes, she thought with a flash of clarity as he thrust into her, that was what she'd wanted but it wasn't what she'd got. Neal didn't want her for what she was. He wanted her to be his idea of the perfect wife, and at the times when she didn't fit the picture he became far from loving.

Perhaps, she thought, as he continued thrusting at her already aching body, no one ever did accept you for what you were. Perhaps everyone had to pretend just a little all the time. She hoped not. It was such a depressing thought.

With a groan he climaxed, but when she reached out to embrace him he pushed her away. 'Don't bother to show how grateful you are that I've finally finished! What's wrong with you?' he added beneath his breath. 'What is it you want?'

She couldn't tell him because she still didn't know. She only knew that whatever it was, Neal wasn't the man who was going to be able to provide it.

'We have heard that another robbery is planned.'

Bellini stared at Giovanni Muti in astonishment. 'They plan to hit us again?'

'So I believe.'

'You hear this from a reliable source?' 'Utterly reliable.'

'Then it is to be a deliberate slap in the face for me. They intend that I return to Rome with my tail between my legs.'

Giovanni shrugged apologetically. 'Who knows how their minds work? '

'I do. Tell me, what do you know about the laundering of our funds?'

Giovanni smiled uneasily. 'These rumours abound since the unfortunate affair of Roberto Calvi. For myself, I know nothing of it.'

'The term "God's banker" means nothing either?'

'I have heard it, of course. We have all heard it. It is a media term that has caught the attention of the public. So emotive with its religious connotations. Here in England they still wish to discredit Catholics.'

'I'm beginning to think we do not need their help!'

'You are at a party tonight, Renato. Could you not discuss this with someone then?'

'Everyone there is connected with the Gueras organisation. I would simply alert them to our suspicions and shorten my own life span!'

'Get close to the woman . It is said that all is not well within the marriage. Perhaps she could help you.'

He thought of Lisa's fragility, the danger he could place her in, and shuddered mentally. 'I do not use women,' he said shortly. 'Not where business is concerned.'

'Who will you take to the party?'

'Camilla Foxby . She and I understand each other.' 'How fortunate for you,' said Giovanni dryly.

At the same time as Renato Bellini was organising his affairs, Lisa was holding a screaming Jessica in her arms, wondering what had gone wrong. They’d been progressing so well and then this morning out of the blue she'd regressed to the terrified child of their first sessions. Now it was as much as Lisa could do to keep her on her lap. 'What 's the matter?' she murmured, trying to keep her eyes on her child's face. 'Please, Jessica, tell me what's wrong.' Jessica's eyes were screwed tightly shut as she kicked and punched, swinging arms and legs wildly at her mother who had obviously become the enemy again.

After thirty minutes Lisa gave up. Regardless of what Mrs. Honeywood said, she felt certain that today she wasn't helping her daughter. She was making her worse. Until she knew what had caused the set-back, she didn't intend to persist.

Once released, Jessica curled into a ball on the floor and rocked fiercely as though trying to banish her fears by the sheer force of her movements. After ten minutes she stood up, walked on the tips of her toes to the bookshelf and started hurling books all around the room until the shelf was bare. Then she grabbed hold of the shelf and swung on it until the brackets came away from the wall and she tumbled to the ground, the shelf crashing down within inches of her head. Apparently unperturbed by either the noise or the danger she gave a squeal of satisfaction and began investigating the brackets, running her fingers over the smooth metal as though it was a much-loved doll. Lisa looked across to Janice whose eyes were full of tears. 'What's happened to her?' she asked. 'Yesterday she was so good. I even took her for a walk with Rebekah. Now she's as bad as she's ever been. When did it start?'

'Yesterday tea-time.' 'Do you know why?' 'No, madam.'

'You do! You've never called me "madam" before. We're friends, we've been together for over a year now and I'm asking you, as a friend, what's happened to my daughter?'

'Mrs Gueras, I'm so sorry,' the nurse was barely able to speak coherently. 'She escaped again and I lost her. I thought she might have gone to look at the baby so I checked there, then I asked Rebekah to try and help me find her, but by the time we'd got down to the bottom floor it was too late.'

'What had happened?'

'I don't know exactly. I heard her screaming, you see. Really terrified screams, not just shouts. Rebekah realised where she was and ran into the dining-room ahead of me. By the time I got there he'd let her go but… '

'Who had?'

'Mr Bishop. He was in there with Miss Louise arid they were both in a fine temper. They said terrible things about poor Jessica, and Mr Bishop threatened to cut her throat if I didn't keep her upstairs where she belonged. He'd been holding her, there were bruises on her wrists, little blue smudges. Since then I haven't been able to do anything with her.'

'I'll kill him!' Lisa was white with fury. 'How dare he touch my daughter? Is he still here?'

'He went back to London early this morning. I think he spent the night in Miss Louise's room.'

'I don't believe it!'

'That's what the new maid told me.'

Lisa suddenly felt very tired. It was as though she was continually fighting against enemies who kept creeping up on her when she least expected it. Together, Louise and Bishop would make a formidable partnership, and with Neal already discontented could well succeed in driving him further away from her. She couldn't afford that. She needed Neal because of Jessica. And also, although she scarcely dared acknowledge it to herself , because she was now aware that no one walked away from her husband. They simply died.

'What can I do?' She sounded as frightened as Janice had felt on encountering Bishop's cold grey eyes across the dining-room the night before and listening to his brutal description of what he'd like to do to Jessica; a description she would never repeat to Lisa.

'I don't know.'

'I can't let him get away with it. Jessica needs a tranquil atmosphere and people she can trust. How could you let her get out again?' she added distractedly. 'You're the one person here I can normally rely on.'

The nurse didn't reply because she knew Lisa was right. It had been her fault, and she didn't like to explain that Jessica could be very cunning. She'd taken the nurse into the kitchen then run away, banging the main door shut behind her and triggering the automatic lock. By the time she'd got free, Jessica was far away.

'I'll speak to my husband,' said Lisa at last. 'Not about Jessica, I'm afraid he wouldn't listen, but about Bishop and Louise. I'm sure that will take care of the problem because if he's got any sense at all he'll banish Bishop from the house.'

But would he? she asked herself as she went downstairs. These days she was never certain how he'd react to anything she told him. Certainly it wasn't the right time to tell him when they met up before Felicity Manningham's twenty-first party. He was decidedly short-tempered and when he saw her new Bruce Oldfield dress and jacket in turquoise silk with a thigh-length split at one side, asked if she was planning to turn pornographic pictures into a full-time career.

Without a word, Lisa returned to the bedroom and changed into a high-necked black jersey dress with a diagonal pattern of silver sequins running from the right shoulder and a skirt that ended just below the knee. She only needed a veil to be allowed into a harem, she thought, and enjoyed the expression of disbelief on her husband's face.

'Where on earth did you get that?'

'Just a little something that was on the bargain rail in Harrods sale!'

'I hope they paid you to take it off their hands. I've never seen you wear anything so boringly conventional.'

'At least no one will take me for a soft-porn actress.' 'I didn't mean… '

'We'll be late,' she said shortly. 'Besides, it would be bad form to outshine Felicity, and God knows that wouldn't be difficult, so probably this is best for everyone.'

'I'm surprised you're willing to wear it when your most ardent admirer will be there to see you.'

'If he's that keen he won't mind what I'm wearing,' she murmured sweetly as she slid into the back of the silver Mercedes.

'Since he's a Catholic,' retorted Neal, his brow furrowed with displeasure, 'I suppose he might find a perverted pleasure in lusting after a nun-like figure.'

'Why isn't Mike driving us?'

'He's at a class—self-defense or something like that.' 'And Bishop?'

'Bishop, my dear, has been invited to the party as a guest.'

'I thought the Manninghams were particular about the company they kept. Who's he taking with him?'

Neal shrugged, totally indifferent, and Lisa wondered what he'd do if his own daughter turned up on Bishop's arm. She suppressed a smile at the thought. Even Bishop wouldn't dare go that far, but it would have been nice to see Neal coping with the situation. 'After tonight we won't be in London for a time,' he told her as they drove up to Claridges.

'Why not?'

'I think you should be spending more time with Alexi. I've also got several people coming to stay for a night or two at a time. It's easier if I'm in Berkshire because they can use the annexe.'

'Why the annexe? We've got plenty of rooms in the house.' 'Because I say so.'

No, she thought, emerging from the car with her automatic social smile for the cameramen, this was definitely not the right time to tell him anything about Bishop and Louise.

She felt Neal's hand on her arm and realised that now the acting had to begin again. They must look like the perfect couple. Moving closer to his side she wished it was true. They could have been, if she'd been able to respond to him as he deserved and he'd given her more time before revealing some of his less pleasant characteristics. As it was she no longer trusted him and he was tiring of her. But not in public. Not yet.

It was a very loud party. Normally she enjoyed being with people nearer her own age but tonight she realised that no matter what her birth certificate said, she was no longer young in the way these people were. For the first time she found their behaviour irritating, their laughter and high-spirited pranks juvenile, and their propensity for throwing food and drink over each other seemed nothing more than bad manners.

Neal was in a side room playing backgammon, supposedly for charity, and the floor of the ballroom was packed so she wandered off into a smaller room where some young people were already spread-eagled on the chairs and the floor, overcome by high spirits, drink, drugs or all three. 'I'm getting old,' she murmured, wishing she was back in Berkshire with her children.