Nicole: Star Crossed Lovers (A Wish for Love Series Book 2) (5 page)

"I tried to reach you all night long."  His voice tore the sweet mist in which she was lost.
"If I had known you were here I would have arrived hours ago."

She opened her eyes and lifted her head, meeting his soft look.  All she wished was to place her head on his shoulder again and drift away, his arms embracing her, but she heard her disembodied voice, self-possessed and cold.  "I'm surprised to hear that.  I was under the impression that Diane Stewart was the object of your attentions.  Why don't you leave me alone.  I'm sure she would be more than happy to amuse you tonight."  As soon as the words left her mouth, Nicole regretted them.  He might get the impression she was jealous.

"Diane didn't feel too well, and preferred to go to bed…" he began.

"I'm sure you'll be welcome there as well," Nicole interrupted, unable to control herself.  The notes of the song died, and another took its place.  Daniel held her arm and led her to a quieter, darker corner of the deck.

"I swear that for the longest time the relationship between Diane and me has been strictly business.  She drank too much tonight and I couldn't ignore her.  If I had, the film's public relations would have taken a beating."

She opened her mouth to reply but he soothed her. "Please, Nicole, let's declare a truce.  I've waited so long to meet you again.  Even the biggest sinner deserves some forgiveness.  You must believe me when I say that only now do I realize how much you suffered because of me."

Rage and bitterness replaced the warmth and tranquillity she had felt earlier.  "I don't believe you.  I don't believe a word you say.  After all, you didn't come to Australia because of me.  You came to make a movie that will fill your pockets with millions of dollars. You thought, if I have to spend a few weeks here, why not kill several birds with one stone?!  Why not spend a few pleasant nights with a girl I once knew so many years ago?  She was foolish enough to fall in love with me then." Nicole's voice betrayed her and she fought to control her quivering lips, feeling the pain in her throat return, choking her.

Daniel darted a keen glance around him and noticed the questioning stares.  I must be alone with her, he thought, someplace where he could comfort her and explain how mistaken she was where it concerned him.

"We're leaving, and don't even try to argue.  I think it's time for us to clear things up."  He took her hand in his and pulled her after him to the exit, ignoring the inquiring glances and the envious looks of the other guests.  On their way out they passed Ann and Rod.

"I'm taking Nicole home," he said calmly to Ann, unwilling to
release Nicole's hand. 

Ann looked at Nicole for reassurance.  She felt that behind their calm exterior Nicole and Daniel were acting out a drama in which she had no role to play.  She hoped Rod would offer to take her home and perhaps she could induce him to have a nightcap of premium brandy before he went back to his hotel.

The two women parted with a kiss and a promise to call each other the next day.

Nicole and Daniel crossed the marina side by side.  The noise of the party faded
and the illuminated water reflected the long shadows of the boats crowded closely together by
the docks.  Daniel had not touched Nicole from the minute they left the
Marella,
and without his soothing touch Nicole felt strangely abandoned.

"Are you cold?" He looked at her briefly.

"I'm fine."  She was quiet for a few minutes, trying to sort out her feelings.  "I think it's best for both of us if I went home.  I don't see any point in raking up the past.  We're just two strangers now."

"Are we?"  His voice sounded dangerously low.  The marina was behind them and they moved in the direction of the hotel.  "Don't fool yourself, Nicole.  You want me as much as you did eight years ago.  And I want you in the same way."

He didn't explain in what way he wanted her but she could easily guess.

"I don't want to talk about the past," he continued, "I want to learn to know you as you are now.  In the present."  He matched
his stride to hers.  He stretched out his arm and hugged her waist in a spontaneous gesture but removed it when he felt her lack of response.  For a second she was sorry he gave up so easily.  What's happening to me? she thought.  Why do I give in so easily to him?  Follow him like a mindless sheep? 

"This isn't the right time to talk.  I'm tired and I'm not in the mood for a heart to heart talk through the night.  Please, take me home."

They reached the hotel and Daniel saw his car parked at the entrance.  He debated a minute, struggling to overcome the urge to take Nicole up to his apartment in the hotel and force her to listen to him.

To Nicole's surprise he nodded in agreement.  "As you wish.  But on condition that you have dinner with me tomorrow evening."

For a minute Nicole was confused.  Tomorrow was her twenty-ninth birthday but Daniel seemed unaware of the fact and looked at her calmly, awaiting her decision.

Nicole rarely celebrated birthdays.  Her mother, always escaping to other worlds, never remembered and her father was usually too drunk to pay attention to such trifles.  The one and only time her birthday was a truly festive occasion was when she turned twenty-one.  Standing at the entrance of the hotel Nicole had a flashback to
that happy day when Daniel met her, the entire back seat of the jeep smothered in red roses.

*  *  *

From the day they first met a few weeks earlier, they spent every spare minute together, discovering the magic of love.  She remembered the long trip down the coast searching for a deserted beach where they could be alone and she recalled how on the warm white sand, beside the clear water, Daniel introduced her to the enchanted world of lovers.  For the first time she felt the touch of a man within her.  He was tender and gentle, confidently leading her to the sublime heights of passion while whispering words of love.  They swam in the sea and ate chicken salad and cheese sandwiches, only to fall into each other’s arms, intoxicated with the heady potion of true love spiked with passion.  At twilight the wind died leaving the sea smooth as glass.  Nicole lay on the blanket, her arms crossed behind her head, and gazed at the sky. Daniel leaned over and kissed her lips.  She looked at his magnificent body, into his adoring eyes, and a tremor of happiness passed through her.

"You've bound me body and soul, Daniel Miller." she whispered.   "I shall love you for eternity," she pledged.

As the night fell and a
trillion bright stars dotted the black velvet skies Daniel said, "close your eyes, I've got a surprise for you." 

With alacrity Nicole did as she was told, opening them to stare about her in wonder.  She was surrounded by myriad flickering candles.  The effect was amazing.  The flames, transmuted the sand into grains of pure gold. She remembered how he looked at her, confessing that nothing had ever made him feel as happy as when he caused her to be happy.  He lay beside her, one hand holding his head, the other stroking her body, which gleamed in the tremulous light. 

"I've got a present for you," his eyes still held a hint of the passion that had wracked his body such a short while ago.

"You've given me more than enough.  All this," her gesture encompassed the entire beach, "makes me feel like the richest girl in the world."

Daniel smiled and kissed her hand, arousing once again the sparks that had not yet burned themselves out.  He took a box out of the
knapsack that lay on the sand beside him.  Nicole's breath caught.  In a nest of green velvet was a pair of earrings set with small emeralds.

"They are exquisite." Tears sprang to her eyes.

"What happened?"  He drew her closer, stroking
her hair.  "I didn't mean to upset you."

She laughed through her tears. "I'm crying out of joy.  I've never received a birthday present before."  A new wave of tears threatened to wash over her.

He smiled in relief.  "You'll drown me yet in your tears. Please stop."  He dried her cheeks with his hand.  She looked down at the gems in her hand.  "They must have cost you a fortune," she said hesitatingly.

"So?"

"So, you shouldn't have spent so much money on me."

"Nonsense. I do exactly as I please.  What's money good for if I can’t spend it on the woman I love?"

Those were joyous days.

Even the fight she had with her father when she returned later that evening, even his shouts and threats, couldn't penetrate the happiness that enveloped her, protecting her from all harm.

*  *  *

"Darling," Daniel's voice forced her back to the present.

She stirred.  "What?"

He laughed.  "I'm sorry to interrupt your daydreams but I would be delighted to get an answer."

"Answer?"  Nicole found it hard to return to reality.

"I asked you to spend the evening with me tomorrow. Remember?" he repeated patiently, undisturbed by her preoccupation.  She felt he knew exactly into which worlds she had wandered these past minutes.

"Alright," she heard herself assenting, her mouth divorced from her brain, uttering words as though they
had a will of their own.

"Splendid!  Come, I'll take you home."  He opened the door of the car and waited for her to sit comfortably.  They drove through the streets as Daniel told her about the latest film he had directed.  Nicole was silent, thankful for Daniel's impersonal chatter, which helped her maintain her poise while sitting so close to him.  They halted at her doorstep.

"Do your parents still live with you?"

Nicole started.  "My mother was killed six years ago.  She insisted on going out in a storm to paint and she slipped at the edge of the cliff.  I wasn't home and couldn't stop her.  My father died of cirrhosis of the liver."  Her eyes had the vulnerable look Daniel had learned to recognize.  "I hope he isn't tormenting her there, in the next world," she said sadly, speaking more to herself than to him, "but she must be in paradise while he's surely burning in hell, so I guess there's no need to worry."

Daniel forced himself not to embrace her.  She didn't need pity.  She needed love.

"I'll pick you up tomorrow afternoon at four," he finally said.

"Isn't that a bit early?"  She wondered what he was up to.

"We're eating out of town and it will take us a couple of hours to get there."  He leaned over to kiss her, his lips close to hers, but thought better of it and slowly straightened up.  Nicole didn't wait to read the expression on his face.  She felt her cheeks burning and got out of the car.  She climbed the steps leading to the entrance door, forcing herself not to look back.  Only when she shut the door behind her did she hear the purr of the engine as the car took off.

She couldn’t believe she had agreed to see him tomorrow.  She'd lost her mind!  She'll call him tomorrow and cancel.  Nicole looked at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, hoping to detect resoluteness and determination.  That's that.  She'll tell him her plans have changed and that he'll have to manage without her company. In bed she tossed and turned for hours, conjuring up Daniel's image again and again.  As the dawn's rays stole beneath the windowsill Nicole was still desperately trying
to roll back the wave of bittersweet memories that prevented her from sleeping.  She finally drowsed off, weary with the effort of banishing Daniel from her heart and mind.

Nicole awoke to the sound of the front doorbell.  She jumped to her feet and threw on the robe laid out near the bed.  A hasty glance at the clock revealed it was noon.

"Coming," she sang out, dashing down the steps that led from the bedroom to the living room, to open the door.

She was face to face with an enormous colourful bouquet of flowers, on
a two-legged stand.  "Flowers for Nicole West," intoned the messenger boy.  Nicole gave him a generous tip and when the door closed behind
his back she read the attached card.  The flowers were from Ann.  Sweet Ann, Nicole smiled, she never passed up an opportunity to make her feel good.  She placed the flowers in a vase and called her friend.  Ann didn't answer and Nicole had to be satisfied with expressing her warm thanks in a text message. She washed up and made a cup of coffee, free to contemplate the day's plan.  She knew she couldn't put off phoning Daniel for much longer but for reasons not entirely clear even to her, she hesitated.  After all, she would eventually have to meet him.  She knew Daniel Miller all too well.  If he wanted something, he would get it.  And if what he wanted was to meet her, he would find the most efficient and elegant way to doing so.  Of that she was absolutely certain.

She would meet him! 

The decision was made so swiftly and with such surety that it surprised Nicole. She'd
meet him and make it very clear that her heart belongs to one person only. To herself!  It's time Daniel understood that the girl he once knew, the innocent girl who was so in love and so impressionable, doesn't exist any more.  That girl has metamorphosed into an independent, tough woman who isn't ready, under any circumstances, to share her life with any man, certainly not to the very man who with his own hands put an end to all her dreams eight years ago.

At four Nicole was ready.  She hadn't the faintest notion where Daniel planned to take her but had no doubt that it would be to one of the expensive and stylish restaurants that dotted the coast outside the city.  She dressed with care, motivated by one desire, to appear cool, self-possessed, experienced and sophisticated.   Daniel would discover the qualities of the new Nicole.  The doorbell rang.  She gave a last, fleeting glance in the mirror and opened the door, expecting to find Daniel standing there.  To her great surprise she saw a gray-haired man.

"Miss West?"

"Yes," Nicole managed to blurt out, her self-confidence abating.

"My name is James Danforth and I'm Mr. Miller's chauffeur.  He requested that I accompany you to your rendezvous."  He spoke in a thick British accent and Nicole couldn't decide whether to laugh or to cry.   She should have expected something like this. 

"Are you ready Miss West?"

"Yes. And please call me Nicole."  James nodded his head in polite assent and led her to the gleaming Mercedes, opening the back door for her.  The car glided past the town to the main road but then they turned off to a small road unfamiliar to Nicole.  She noticed several large buildings ringed by a network of wide roads.  The car slid to a stop in front of one of the buildings.  Nicole was totally confused.

"Could you kindly explain where we are, Mr. Danforth?"

"This is a private airfield.  Beyond this building waits
the plane that will take us to Mr. Miller.  Please follow me."

"I can't believe what my eyes see and my ears hear," Nicole whispered to herself.  She quickened her pace, trying to keep up with James whose long strides brought him in no time to the far side of the building. 

"Excuse me, Mr. Danforth, I'm not one to make scenes, but there's no way I'm going to go up in that plane."  Confused by the pace of events she took a deep breath, closing her eyes for an instant, and tried to calm herself.  When she opened them she discovered James was already on the runway where a private jet plane was ready for takeoff.  Nicole followed in his footsteps.

"Mr. Danforth."

"Please, my name is James," he said as he motioned towards the plane.  "Shall we go?"

"No, we are not going anywhere.  I must ask you to take me home Mr. Dan...that is, James."

"I'm very sorry, but I can't possibly do that.  I received explicit instructions from Daniel to make sure you arrive safely at our destination."

"Even if that involves kidnapping?" Nicole asked sarcastically.

"I beg your pardon, but Mr. Miller led me to understand that this meeting was by mutual consent.” 

Nicole began to feel silly.  "Well," she confessed, "the truth is that we agreed to have dinner together but I had no idea that I would have to get there in such a roundabout way."  Her voice sounded unconvincing even to her own ears.

"I quite understand your surprise, but if you think about it you'll agree that this is simply another method designed to get you from one place to another.  More expensive, quicker, but still just an alternative means of transportation."

Nicole gave in.  "Alright James, I won't interfere with your mission."  But you, Daniel Miller, will pay dearly for this! she swore in her heart as Danforth let out a sigh of relief.

Nicole and James were received warmly by the pilot and the hostess. "Welcome to a pleasant journey," they greeted them as they buckled the seat belts.  Nicole looked about her, curious at her first sight of a private plane, and had to admit it was impressive.  The space was divided into two compartments.  The room in which they sat was spacious and luxurious.  A thick beige carpet covered the floor from wall to wall and pale velvet curtains, tied
with darker-hued sashes, surrounded the windows.  Large, soft armchairs covered in brown leather were placed around two large tables.  Two screens hung on the walls and a well stocked bar stood in the corner.  They took off into the blue skies and Nicole, looking through the windows, saw the earth receding below.

"May I offer you a drink?" she heard the hostess beside her. 

"I'll have soda water."

"Let me take you on a quick tour through the plane,” James offered as he released his seat belt.

"Is this Daniel's plane?" she asked as she got to her feet.

"The plane belongs to N.M.W.D., the Production Company Daniel is a partner in.  You've probably heard of the mega-merger between Daniel Miller's company and that of Jack Stern." 

She vaguely recalled having read something to that effect a year ago but when she discovered the article was mostly about Daniel she stopped reading. 

On either side of the passageway were doors leading to two small but well-appointed washrooms, while a third led to another room enabling the plane to be divided into two self-contained units.  The room they walked into was a bedroom, furnished with restrained opulence.  In the middle stood a bed with a thick cover the color of burnished copper, embroidered with various patterns.  Nicole was immediately drawn to the painting hanging above the desk that stood by the wall.  It was an oil by a famous Dutch painter of the sixteenth century.  She recognized it from her years as an art student.  The scene depicted a young woman standing by the window of her room and Nicole, with her artist's eye, noted that the cover of the bed in the painting was an exact match of the one in the room in which she was standing. She didn't need to be told to know that Daniel himself had supervised all the details that had gone into the design of the plane.  Even as a poor student he had been sensitive to the aesthetic in things.  She remembered the earrings he had given her, no doubt spending his last penny.  She looked closely at the painting.  He was very lucky to be able to afford such a fine and important painting.  She felt an unexplained surge of warmth as she thought of him.  Everything he had he'd earned on his own! With his own two hands!

*  *  *

He grew up in Brooklyn in a small two-bedroom apartment with a tiny kitchen and one bathroom.  Daniel had recounted his childhood to Nicole with great emotion.  When he was a year and a half old his mother gave birth to twins, and three years after that to another daughter.  Daniel was the eldest and from early childhood had taken on the role of protector of his younger brother and sisters.  Despite their poverty they were a warm and loving family.  When he recounted how they would all gather in the living room, the father strumming a guitar, his mother singing along with him, encouraging the children to clap hands and dance to the rhythm of the music, Nicole felt a stab of envy.

Even as a youngster Daniel had shown exceptional intellectual and artistic promise.  He excelled in mathematics and was an outstanding athlete, which made him the undisputed leader at school and in the neighborhood.

He described his teenage years, how at sixteen he became wilder, resisting any control, to his parents' great distress.  He would disappear for days at a time, reappearing only to sink into a world of fantasies, unable to concentrate on studies.  "The truth is," she remembered the gleam
in his eyes and his smile as he continued, "I discovered New York City.  Manhattan!  I would wander around for hours, going from museum to museum, watching two, three movies a day, window shopping, eating frankfurters slathered with mustard."

"Where did you get the money?" Nicole asked, fascinated with his biography.

"I worked nights in a small neighborhood printing press and the pennies I earned were enough."

On his seventeenth birthday, after the entire family sang 'Happy Birthday', his parents presented him with a gift-wrapped package.  He nearly fell down from excitement when he uncovered the present. 

"It was an eight-millimeter home camera - secondhand but beautiful.  You should have seen me.  I was bursting with happiness, certain I was the luckiest boy in the world.  Every now and then I look at those first shorts I made.  I love to see my mother scowling into the camera and my brother and sisters dancing in the living room to the tunes of my father's old records."

*  *  *

A lot of water had passed under the bridge since that last conversation.  She knew that the year after his graduation, that dreadful year after he deserted her, Daniel had directed two full-length, low-budget movies.  Each had turned into a box-office hit.  He set up his own production company. Within few years, thanks to extremely successful films, a
merger of which he was a partner and a series of brilliant business investments, he had become one of the richest and most important persons in the entertainment world.  Despite her attempts to banish Daniel Miller from her thoughts Nicole couldn't shut herself off completely from the blaze of publicity that followed all of his moves.  When his movie, 'The Midas Touch', won five Oscars last year, she shut off her television when they announced his name and invited him to the stage.

"Daniel acquired the picture a year ago from East Germany."  James' voice shook her out of her reverie.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"I quite agree.  Strange as it may sound the tint of the girl's hair in the picture resembles yours."

"Do you really think so?" She stared intently at the painting.  " I hope that's where the resemblance ends," she laughed.  "She looks very old-fashioned."

James smiled.
"Shall we continue our tour Miss West?"

"Nicole!" she reminded him.

In the cockpit the pilot gave a short explanation on the various instruments and described their route. "We're flying over the Coral Sea at a height of twenty-five thousand feet making our way to Efate, a small island that is part of the group of islands in the Pacific Ocean called Vanuatu.  Flight time will be about two hours and we'll land at about seven
in Port Vila, the capitol of Vanuatu.  The weather is mild and I don't expect any problems."

Where, in Heaven's name, is he taking me?  If her life had depended on it Nicole couldn't have described her emotions.  Did she feel fear or excitement? Frustration or anticipation? She didn't know.

She thanked the pilot and sat in one of the chairs near a window, pressing her nose to the glass. 

"If you relax you may conclude that the experience of flying in a luxurious private plane is quite enjoyable." James stood beside her, looking sympathetic.  "Daniel is a fine man.  You needn't fear anything."

"I know that," she answered, still gazing out the window. It's not him she's afraid of, it's of herself.  Of her traitorous body when alone with him on a secluded island.  The mere thought made her skin tingle.  She would lose her mind if she continued to think about it.

"You're right."  She turned to James. "Let's just enjoy ourselves."

The rest of the flight passed pleasantly.  They watched an old Ernst Lubitsch comedy filmed in black and white and Nicole was glad James hadn't chosen one of Daniel's films.  She didn't want to be reminded of him.  At least not until she had to.

The sun had already disappeared into the sea and the sky was blush colored when the plane landed in the small airport.  They left the plane and went straight to a car waiting on the runway.  James sat behind the wheel while Nicole, over his protests, sat beside him on the front seat.

"Everything is so efficient and well-organized," she said.

"The team that works with Daniel, here and in his other residences, are most qualified and very loyal." 

"Like you?"

"Precisely." 

They drove on for a few minutes until they came to a lagoon where several boats were docked.  James helped her on to a white motorboat.  The skipper revved up the engine and the boat leaped forward, cutting the smooth mirrored surface of the sea, skirting the coast.  To the left Nicole discerned the shadow of several small islands.  Instead of the rage against Daniel and his subterfuges that had been building up inside her during the last few hours she felt wonder and excitement.