The Love Resort (11 page)

‘Of course it’s OK. You’ll have to go home with a signed book or everyone will think we’re nuts.’ Jimmy fell in love with her all over again at that moment. The vulnerable side to her melted his heart.

He went over and kissed her. ‘I’d better go and shower then.’

‘I think I’ll join you,’ she replied.

*

‘So, this is a holiday but we have to go to a meeting. I just don’t get it,’ Lee objected.

‘What’s not to get? We get a horrible cocktail and a few details about the resort, we meet the famous author and we also find out what our publicity commitments are.’

‘Wow, you seem to have it all organised in your mind. I just don’t see why we have to go to a meeting on holiday.’

‘So, if they called it the welcome party you’d feel better?’

‘Christ, Carla, I think you just might be a genius.’ He reached over and grabbed her in a bear hug. ‘I suppose I’d better get washed and changed.’

‘Hurry up, and we can get a quick beer before this thing.’

Lee’s eyes lit up. ‘Perfect. It’s all-inclusive, after all.’

It wasn’t hard to find Tim. He was sitting at the second bar she tried, engaged in a loud conversation with an American, who kept patting him on the back and ordering whisky for them both.

‘Tim.’ Thea approached him cautiously, like stalking prey. She worried that he would escape if she startled him.

‘Thea, my darling.’ He placed a wet kiss on her cheek, which she immediately rubbed with her hand. ‘This is...damn, I can’t remember your name.’ He gestured at his drinking partner. Thea cringed at the over-the-top public school accent he’d adopted.

‘I hate to break up the party, but we have to go to this meeting, Tim.’ She watched as Tim looked at his half-full whisky, then at Thea, then at his new friend. Thea held her breath. It could go one of two ways. He would come quietly or he wouldn’t come at all. Tim repeated his looking ritual once more. Then, to Thea’s relief, he downed his drink and stood up.

‘It has been a pleasure and I am sure that we will do it again.’ Thea rolled her eyes, said her goodbyes and steered Tim towards the welcome room.

The six of them greeted each other like old friends. Then the awkwardness of strangers set in.

‘The rooms are lovely,’ Carla said.

‘Really splendid,’ Emily concurred. ‘And it’s so hot.’

‘The bar’s great,’ Tim said.

Thea cringed. She was going to have to tell him to cut down on the drinking. The holiday was supposed to be an opportunity for them both to re-charge, not for Tim to spend two weeks drunk.

‘This holiday is going to be so cool,’ Lee said.

Before anyone could respond the door opened. They turned and stared. Leading the pack of three was the tiniest, pinkest woman they had ever seen.

‘Oh, my darlings, welcome, welcome.’ Anne-Marie went up to each of them, hugging them to her and clapping her hands. Hot on her heels were Ed and Lily.

Immediately, Thea knew that this had all been a hideous mistake. This woman wasn’t normal, although she should have known that anyone who owned something called The Love Resort wouldn’t be. She noticed Tim staring at Anne-Marie Langdale with his mouth open; she poked him and gestured. Was this romance? A pink fluffy woman who didn’t seem to be wearing shoes? She fought the urge to laugh and deliberately avoided looking at the others.

‘Now before we start, I thought we should all toast your arrival.’ Anne-Marie clapped her hands and they all turned to see a guy walk in with a bottle of champagne, followed by a woman with a tray of glasses. As they each had a drink, Anne-Marie launched into a formal talk about the resort. Thea tried desperately to follow what she was saying, but she found it increasingly hard to concentrate.

‘I trust your journey was all right?’ Anne Marie said when she’d finished her talk.

‘It was fantastic,’ Tim replied. ‘And can I just say it’s an honour to meet you.’

‘Why, thank you, Timothy.’

Thea rolled her eyes. She noticed her travelling companions were watching the exchange with interest.

‘No, Anne-Marie, thank
you
. And as I am a writer myself I’m hoping for the chance to get some pointers from you.’

Thea didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

*

‘Abigail, Abigail, are you there?’ Anne-Marie’s voice trilled as she opened the door.

‘Hang on.’

Anne-Marie stopped and stood just inside the door. She was sure that Abigail had shouted at her, or snapped at least. Then Abigail emerged, looking the worse for wear.

‘I had a headache, I was sleeping,’ she snapped again.

‘Oh, darling, I am sorry. Can I get you some pills?’ Anne-Marie refused to acknowledge the bad mood, although she felt really hurt by it.

‘No.’

‘Abigail...?’ Confusion crossed Anne-Marie’s face. Why was her friend being so mean?

‘I’m sorry, darling, I just had a row with Philip on the phone and then I went to sleep. Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap.’

Anne-Marie almost jumped for joy with relief. ‘What was the row about?’

‘Darling, I really don’t want to say.’

‘But I’m your friend, you must tell me.’ She was jigging about.

‘It was about your book.’

‘My book?’ Her excitement at not being in Abigail’s bad books evaporated; Anne-Marie felt as if she might cry.

‘Yes. Don’t worry, darling, I told him that you would be delivering soon. You know what he’s like; we’ve got catalogues to print up, publicity and marketing schedules to do and he thinks that the book’s way overdue.’

‘Oh, and you stuck up for me. You are such a doll. The competition winners are here, and I’ve met them—they’re lovely, adorable, just what we need. Now they’re here I promise to start writing the book tomorrow and you can tell your husband that.’ Anne-Marie wished she could get her hands on Philip. What a bastard for putting Abigail through such an ordeal.

‘I will and I’m sure he’ll be delighted. What can I do for you?’ she rubbed her head.

‘Dinner, tonight? I’ll pick you up about eight.’

‘Perfect. But listen, you didn’t need to come here, just telephone me.’

‘But that would have woken you up anyway,’ Anne-Marie reasoned sweetly, and swept out. Abigail obviously was having a tough time, poor darling. The sun didn’t seem to be agreeing with her, and now her beastly husband...Anne-Marie vowed to do something to make it up to her. She would write the book. She just needed some help.

*

‘Anne-Marie, calm down. I don’t understand what the problem is.’ Ed was in the living room with his wife, who was pacing, and muttering and swearing. Lily had been summoned.

‘I’ll tell you when Lily gets here.’

Ed went to pour drinks. He had no idea what had made his newly calm wife so agitated. He hoped she hadn’t found out about his relationship.

‘Lily, come in.’ Ed returned with the drinks to find Anne-Marie leading Lily in.

‘Lily.’

‘Ed.’ Lily looked nervous; Ed was sure that she was thinking the same as he was. The trouble with subterfuge was that you were constantly thinking you’d been discovered.

‘Right, well, I don’t have much time. The thing is that I am under an enormous, enormous amount of pressure with my new book and with the resort and everything—’

‘I thought all was fine now we have Todd and Katie and the competition winners here.’

‘If you let me finish, Edward, it’s OK, as you say, but I still need some help. You know that I need to deliver this book, and soon.’ Ed watched his wife begin pacing again.

‘Whatever I can do to help...’ Lily offered. She looked relieved.

‘Good. Because, you see, I need to get inside these relationships. Properly inside them, in order to write my book.’

‘Anne-Marie, I thought you were just basing your characters on these people, not actually writing about them.’ Ed was worried about the implications of her thoughts.

‘I am, Ed, I am. But still I need to know as much as I can about them to base my characters on them. I don’t expect you to understand. But I do expect you two to be my eyes and ears for the next two weeks.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean, Lily, dear, that I have devised a plan. You and Ed are going to spy.’

11

Perfect
Privacy

It’s not often that you get a chance to be together and forget about the outside world. Well, that is exactly what this holiday is offering you. You will be given the gift of privacy, so you can be as intimate as you want. Nothing else matters here apart from your love. And to this end, we will ensure that your privacy is respected at all times during your stay here.*

Guest
Handbook

*If for some reason your privacy is violated whilst you are staying here, please report this to the Management who will sort out any problems.

*

Todd looked at her. Again he felt sorry for her; she was trying hard. She was wearing a beautiful satin wrap dress, an unusual shade of green, which seemed to match her eyes. Todd admired her style but was unable to tell her. He didn’t want her to think that this was a sign he was about to get back into the closet; part of who he was was a man who appreciated pretty clothes. He didn’t expect her to understand.

They were sitting on their terrace, sipping champagne. Tonight, they were having a romantic dinner for two, all organised by Anne-Marie. Todd couldn’t argue against it; he even had to thank Anne-Marie for her thoughtfulness. He and Katie had been alone all day, although he’d had his head buried in a script for most of it, and he’d managed to resist all attempts by her to drag him into conversation. It was proving hard; she was more resilient than he’d imagined. He resolved that this evening, he would try to be nice to her, but at the same time he would try to ensure that she knew that he wanted only to be friends.

They sat at the beautifully laid table, candlelight bouncing off the water on their pool, the warmth of the Caribbean evening touching them, and as Todd realised how breathtaking it really was, the fact that he was a fraud once again threatened to drown him in guilt.

Marcus arrived with another waiter. ‘Good evening, sir, ma’am. Erik has prepared a feast for you tonight.’ Todd thought he heard Marcus’s voice shake slightly as he explained the menu and also asked them to choose the wine, and he wanted to jump for joy. He had seen it; it wasn’t his imagination. He had seen the interest, the attraction. Todd was under no illusions that it was love, but he recognised lust when he saw it and he’d just been given a major dose. God, he wanted to kick himself. He was on his honeymoon and was flirting with his butler. It wasn’t right, it was out of order. It was unfair on Katie.

‘Todd, I just want you to know how incredibly happy I am,’ Katie said.

‘Oh, so am I,’ Todd replied distractedly, as he continued fighting with himself.

*

Lily couldn’t believe that she was doing it. As soon as the staff had left, she’d taken her position, as per Anne-Marie’s instruc-tions, outside the film stars’ bungalow. As it was a stilt bungalow built into a hillside she had had to scramble up the back, unseen, before finding the best vantage point. They were both on the terrace, so she positioned herself behind a thick bush beside their swimming pool. She crouched down, clutching the binoculars that Anne-Marie had insisted on hanging around her neck. She didn’t really need them—she was close enough to hear and to see everything. As it was getting dark, she also had a torch, in order to see to make notes. Lily felt awful; invasive. But Anne-Marie wasn’t going to take no for an answer. She wondered fleetingly how Ed was getting on. She was pretty sure he didn’t have to hide in a bush. If only she could have stood up to her boss. Forget morals, she was spying on famous people on their honeymoon. She was no lawyer but she was sure she was breaking about one hundred laws.

At first sight, the honeymooners looked every bit the romantic couple. Boy, Lily thought, they were both so attractive, as they sat across from each other. Katie’s face was illuminated by the candles and she looked every inch the movie star; Todd was so handsome, his hair flopping across his forehead, his shirt showing off the outline of his taut body. She shook her head; Anne-Marie had already turned her into a proper voyeur. Although, it was understandable. Todd was one of the best-looking men in the world.

As they ate, she noticed that Katie was doing all the work. She was flirting for Hollywood, and Todd seemed quiet and a bit distant. Lily began to panic as she realised that this wasn’t what Anne-Marie was after. Then she cursed; she’d have to lie. From her point of view, Todd was edging away from Katie, who was edging towards him. She wondered if they’d had a fight, which was the only explanation she could think of. She was a bit sorry that she’d missed that.

‘I’m really sorry, but I am beat. It must be the sun; I have to hit the sack,’ Todd said. Lily saw him look at the dessertspoon that Katie was wielding in his direction. She was practically on his lap. Lily shuffled slightly closer.

‘Oh.’ Katie sounded so disappointed. Lily was certain there’d been an argument and Katie was obviously at fault. Otherwise Todd, she was sure, would have leaped across the table and ripped her dress off by now. Actually Lily might tell Anne-Marie that that was what had happened.

Todd stood up. He said good night and he walked away. Lily could barely breathe. Katie sat, head hung. She discarded the dessert she was trying to coax Todd to eat and she sat at the table alone. Lily felt terribly sad as she watched Katie start to cry.

*

Ed wondered what Lily was up to, annoyed that this latest scheme of his wife’s was keeping them apart. His mission was to keep an eye on the competition winners, all of them if they were together, or if not, to use his discretion as to which couple to follow. He sighed. It was madness. He and Lily had both been issued with notebooks and ordered to make notes of guests’ behaviour, conversations, mannerisms and anything else that could be useful, ready to brief Anne-Marie the following day. Ed had a feeling that he and Lily were actually being given the task of writing her damn book for her. His wife was, of course, dining with her publisher, without a thought for them.