The Monte Carlo Proposal

CHAPTER SIX

Della’s Story

NEXT day we left Monte Carlo and headed for Sardinia. It was time for me to do my stuff.

I made a grand entrance, sauntering to the smaller of the two swimming pools, where most of the others were stretched out. When their eyes were on me I pulled off a floaty chiffon jacket, leaving nothing but a tiny pink bikini. Then I stretched out and closed my eyes, as if totally unaware of everyone.

‘Well done,’ said Jack, stretching out beside me.

I was lying on my back, my eyes closed. Now I opened them halfway and surveyed him. I managed a smile, but in truth I was furious with him for last night. To compound his crimes he was wearing tiny swimming trunks that cleared up the question of his shape once and for all.

His build was slightly heavy, but he was tall with no fat, and gave an impression of controlled physical power that his elegant suits normally concealed. Seeing him almost naked reminded me of what might have been mine, and hadn’t been, and it didn’t improve my mood.

‘Good morning,’ I murmured. ‘Have we met?’

‘Yes, I’m the fellow who brought your coffee this morning. And I didn’t even get a tip.’

‘I never tip the hired help,’ I murmured languidly.

He laughed, and whispered, ‘That’s great. Play the indifferent card for all it’s worth. Act like I’m dirt beneath your feet.’

If he’d known how much I’d have liked to do just that he wouldn’t have risked saying it.

‘Are they watching us?’ I murmured.

‘And how!’

‘In that case-’

I brushed the backs of my fingers against his face. At once he took my hand, turned it over and kissed the palm. I braced myself against the tremors that went through me, and managed to smile.

‘I’ve brought you some sunscreen,’ he said. ‘You shouldn’t lie out like this with that fair skin.’

He handed me the bottle and I rubbed the lotion in well, until Jack took it and said, ‘Turn over.’

He did my back and my hips, down as far as the bikini bottom. Then I felt him undo the clasp of the bikini top and begin to work cream into my skin there.

‘I had to undo it or you’d have had a mark,’ he explained.

It would have been the easiest thing in the world to let his hand drift down the sides a little. But he didn’t. He simply finished oiling me and fastened the clasp again. It was like being guarded by a Boy Scout.

After a while someone called him from further down the pool and he went to talk to them. I stayed where I was, controlling my feelings with an effort. How I’d have loved to toss him into his own pool and hold him under. But the sun was making me sleepy, so I decided to let him live-for now.

I must have sort of dozed, because the next thing I was aware of was a hand rubbing more lotion into my back.

‘Mmm!’ I said.

‘Like it?’ asked a laughing voice.

That wasn’t Jack. I twisted around and found myself looking at Raymond Keller.

He was a pleasant sight-fortyish, lean and strongly built, with reddish hair. I was still sufficiently irked with Jack to do a little flirting.

‘I’m not quite sure,’ I mused.

‘Well, let me do a little more so that you can decide.’

‘No, I think that’s enough for today,’ I said, sitting up and regarding him.

‘You know,’ he said, ‘I’ve been trying to think where I’ve seen you before.’

‘Maybe you haven’t.’

‘Sure I have. You definitely look familiar.’

‘You’re probably just confusing me with some other girl in a pink bikini.’

‘It’s not really pink,’ he said. ‘More a kind of flesh colour. From a distance you look as if you’re not wearing anything. I’ve been watching you and studying the matter very seriously.’

His grin made it impossible to be offended. Just the same, I played it safe.

‘It’s pink,’ I said decidedly. ‘It makes us all look alike, you know.’

‘Not you. You don’t look like any other girl. Wait! I’ve got it! You were at the Davisons’ château last summer. We danced the night away, but you never told me your name.’

I made a pretence of considering this. ‘I’m afraid I don’t remember.’

He reeled off some more names and places, while I fenced and parried. It meant nothing. He knew we hadn’t met before. This was just a traditional opening gambit.

But then I struck lucky.

Jack returned and sat down on my other side, greeting Raymond briefly.

‘Della and I have just been trying to remember where we first met,’ Raymond said.

‘Really?’ Jack said politely. ‘Have you come up with anything?’

‘I’m not sure. I sure don’t seem to have made much of an impression on her if we did. How about the theatre, Della? I go to a lot of opening nights. Maybe I saw you at the opening of Flowers in the Rain?’

‘Do you mean that dreadful evening when they had to stop the show because a woman in the front row was taken ill?’ I asked.

‘That’s right,’ he said, beaming.

‘The actor playing the lead was put right off his stride,’ I said, in the voice of someone remembering. ‘He never really recovered after that-kept stumbling over his lines.’

‘Fancy us both being there! Yes, you definitely smiled at me in the Circle Bar.’

‘It’s a small world,’ Jack observed.

For some reason Raymond didn’t stick around now Jack was there, and when some of the other men dived into the pool he joined them.

‘What was all that about?’ Jack asked me. ‘Did you really see him at that first night?’

‘No, I wasn’t even there. I heard about it from someone who was. The point is, he’s now convinced he’s seen me around, and will vouch for me as one of his own circle. By the time he talks to Grace and Selina we’ll have been at school together.’

Jack roared with laughter.

‘You’re a really tricky lady,’ he said.

I’d only meant it as a joke, but I spoke truer than I knew-because suddenly Grace and Selina began to eye me more cautiously. They just weren’t sure any more, and that suited me fine. It suited Jack too. He was loving every moment.

There was a bar at the side of the pool, with stools just below the water line. After a quick dip, I swam over to get a long orange juice, and while I was sitting there, sipping, Selina came and joined me.

I have to admit she had a figure to be proud of. She was statuesque, and might run to fat later, but just now she was at her best-as her black bikini revealed.

Her manner was almost friendly.

‘So you’re an old friend of Raymond’s,’ she said. ‘You should have told us.’

‘I didn’t get the chance,’ I said. ‘Since I arrived things have just happened, one on top of the other. No time to think, really.’

I simpered, just in case she didn’t know what I meant by ‘no time to think’.

She managed to maintain her smile.

‘And I don’t really know Raymond,’ I continued. ‘Just distantly.’

‘Jack must have been incredibly surprised by you turning up so suddenly?’

‘We-ell, between you and me, I don’t think he was as surprised as all that.’ I became confiding. ‘You know Jack. You can never really tell what he’s about to do next. Well, I’m exactly the same. Like calling to like, I guess.’

‘I wouldn’t have called Jack unpredictable,’ she said, in a slightly tense voice. ‘His firm has been built on steadiness and reliability.’

I shrugged in a feather-headed sort of way. ‘Oh, business!’

‘Business is important,’ she said smugly. ‘Of course if you can’t share his interests-’

‘I do share his interests. Just not about business!’

I said this with my most wide-eyed gaze, and threw in a titter for good measure.

There was a time when I’d wanted be an actress. How I didn’t make it, I’ll never understand.

‘What are you two doing with your heads together?’ came Jack’s voice from the water behind us. ‘Are all the men being torn apart? Tell.’

‘Why do men always think we have nothing else to talk about but them?’ I asked. ‘We weren’t even thinking about you. Go away.’

‘Come in and swim with me,’ he said. ‘The water’s fantastic.’

Selina immediately slipped off her stool and swam towards him, leaving him no choice but to look pleased and glide away with her.

I wasn’t alone for long. Derek Lamming immediately took her place on one side, and Selina’s father popped up on the other. After a while they were joined by Raymond. Even Harry Oxton swam over and took a stool. He was Grace’s beau, according to Jack, and from the way her mouth tightened I guess she felt a bit proprietorial.

So there I was, surrounded by men and flirting like mad-especially with Derek and Harry. I don’t know how long this went on, but it ended abruptly with me being yanked off my stool from behind. The next moment I was underwater, with Jack’s arm about my waist.

‘What are you playing at?’ he asked me as our heads broke water.

‘I’m trying to do a really good job for you,’ I said.

‘Giving Derek and poor old Harry the glad eye?’

‘Of course. It’ll warn Selina and Grace not to take them for granted. Look, Selina’s already reclaiming her property.’

Sure enough, Selina had taken my vacated stool and was smiling at Derek.

‘You’re wicked,’ Jack told me.

‘No, just a good employee who thinks of everything.’

‘Hmm. You seem to have forgotten that you’re supposed to be mad about me. Now you’ve made eyes at the others, when is it my turn?’

He still had his arms about me, holding me close in the water. I had one arm round his neck and was looking up at him.

‘But I am making eyes at you,’ I said.

‘And that’s all I get?’

This was becoming dangerous. I could see us heading up the same cul-de-sac as before. But duty must come first, so I slipped a hand around the back of his head and drew it down to me.

His mouth seemed to fit so naturally over mine, and everything was easy. I tried to remember that we were performing for spectators, but there was a thin line between that and burning up, and we’d crossed it the first evening.

Even treading water, he knew just how to tease and incite, so that I found myself doing the same to him, using skills that I hadn’t known I possessed. Perhaps nobody had inspired me to use them before.

I felt his tongue against my lips-not commanding, just suggesting, retreating, returning. He was clever. He didn’t give me time to make up my mind before he’d moved on to my neck, just below the ear. Some devil must have told him about that place, because it’s just where I like to be kissed.

I ran my hands over the heavy muscles of his neck, his shoulders, then into his hair, and through the contact of our skin I could feel him almost losing control. But not quite.

Then I forgot everything else, including treading water. The same must have happened to Jack, because gradually we slid under the surface.

It didn’t make any difference, because by then we weren’t breathing anyway. We actually ran out of air before we discovered where we were, and had to shoot up to the surface, gasping and spluttering.

Charles and Jenny applauded. ‘We were taking bets on how long you’d be down there,’ Charles called.

Jack’s eyes met mine, and we knew we’d made the same decision. In a moment we’d vanished below the water again, making it last as long as possible. We were laughing when we came up.

It was a good way to live if you didn’t let yourself think of anything else. So I decided to go with it and have fun.

We spent that night at sea. One of the staff doubled as a DJ, so there was going to be a dance when dinner was over. I’d already developed a light tan, so I wore a long white dress to show it off and Jack nodded approval.

The last thing I did was take out my little diamond penguin. I’ve always been crazy about penguins, and whoever had designed this brooch had managed to catch their quirky daftness.

‘I’m going to wear Charlie,’ I told Jack, holding up the brooch.

That startled him. ‘You call a brooch Charlie?’

‘No, the penguin’s called Charlie.’

He grinned. ‘If you say so.’

‘I love him to bits. Can you pin him on for me? Careful!’

He’d dropped Charlie and slightly lost his balance at the same time. When he retrieved the brooch from the carpet the pin was slightly bent, where it had been trodden on.

‘Oh, no!’ I said in dismay. ‘Does that mean it’s un-wearable?’

‘No, I think I can do it,’ Jack said, squeezing hard.

Luckily he had strong fingers, and the metal was soon almost right, with just a tiny kink left to show that anything had happened.

He pinned it onto my left shoulder and smiled at the effect.

‘Charlie,’ he said. ‘Fancy calling a penguin Charlie!’

‘He’s my penguin; I’ll call him what I like.’

He kissed the end of my nose. ‘Whatever you want. You look fantastic, and you’re doing a great job. But if Raymond or the others want to dance with you-’

‘I’ll dance with them,’ I said.

I’m not sure that was the answer he wanted.

‘As long as you know that you don’t have to,’ he said at last. ‘You do what you feel like. Nothing else. There’s no need to put up with any funny business. This isn’t The Silverado.’

‘I know,’ I said, warmed by his consideration. ‘But I should act as if everything is normal, and on a trip like this everyone dances with everyone.’

‘They don’t give everyone the come-on, as you were in the pool this morning,’ he observed, sounding slightly testy.

‘But they do. On a cruise there’s no other way to pass the time except giving people the come-on.’

‘Just don’t overdo it,’ he said darkly, tucking my hand through his arm. ‘Let’s go.’

Even Jack had to admit that my methods were effective. Neither Derek nor Harry was allowed near me by their possessive womenfolk. They were in heaven. I don’t think either of them had ever received so much attention before.

The one who really hovered over me was Raymond. During a dance he insisted on telling me all about himself-how he expected to take over Consolidated, how much business he and Jack did, how rich he was, how rich he expected to be. I could have sat an exam on Raymond Keller.

The more he talked, the more my brief liking for him faded. Heavens, but he was a bore! Give me Jack any day, with his lightness of touch and refusal to take himself seriously.

When Jack and I were dancing he said, ‘Raymond’s very taken with you.’

‘Don’t I know it,’ I said grumpily. ‘My ears are aching. Doesn’t he ever talk about anyone except himself?’

‘I don’t think he knows there is anyone except himself.’

We laughed together and it was like being back at the Hotel de Paris, when we’d chatted for hours and known each other better in that short time than some people do in a lifetime.

The music was smoochy. He drew me close, so that my head rested on his shoulder, and dropped his own head, turning it slightly into my neck so that his lips brushed my skin.

It was physically exciting, and added to my frustration that I couldn’t have him. But it was also strangely cosy. The warmth that swept me was contentment. I could gladly nestle against him like this for ever.

Only it wasn’t going to be for ever. Another week. Perhaps less. Already I felt more in tune with him than was wise, but I knew I couldn’t be wise. Not with Jack. There was all the rest of my life for wisdom.

And sadness. And loneliness. And being grey and dreary, and knowing that the best and loveliest was behind me.

At last the party broke up and we went down to our cabins.

That kiss in the pool had confirmed something about Jack that I’d started to guess. He was far more complex than he seemed. However it looked, he was always actually in control. Last night had proved it.

Tonight I watched for the ominous signs, determined to get my retaliation in first. The sight of the pillow, firmly placed in the centre of the bed, decided me. I bagged the first bath and emerged yawning.

‘I’m so tired,’ I said. ‘I just want to sleep for an age. Goodnight.’

Not giving him time to say a word, I rolled into bed, pulled the sheet over my head and lay there.

That would show him!

We stopped one night in Cagliari, in southern Sardinia, and explored the old town while the boat took on supplies. I did a bit of shopping with Jenny, who was still watching Jack and me, thrilled by what she took to be our progress.

‘I’m so glad he found you,’ she said as we sat over coffee. ‘I just know you’re the one for him.’

‘Don’t be so sure,’ I said, trying to resist the enchanting picture this conjured up.

‘You’ve saved him. But for you, Selina would have had him on toast.’

‘I don’t think so,’ I said, suddenly realising the truth. ‘Jack seems easy-going, but I think he’s very stubborn underneath.’

Jenny considered this and nodded. ‘Good for you. It takes most people ages to learn that. You really understand him.’

I had to force myself to bring the conversation to an end. I was enjoying it too much.

When we were back on board Jack ceremoniously presented me with a cheque.

‘Your first week’s pay,’ he said. ‘And every penny well earned.’

I tucked it away, ready to be cashed as soon as we reached England, thinking how many problems it would solve

After Cagliari, we made a brief stop in Barcelona, then began to head home. A different mood was creeping over everyone. People who had come on the cruise with something in mind began to sense that time was running out. It was now or never. Perhaps that was why Jack kept me closer than ever.

Or perhaps he was keeping an eye on Raymond, who was drinking too much and making a great play of flirting with two women at once. I was never one of them.

There was another dance. I played my part for a while, then slipped away because the atmosphere was stuffy and I needed to breathe. I found a quiet place on deck and stood by the rail, looking out over the water, with the wash stretching away into the darkness.

That would be my life after this, I thought, leading away into a distance that I could not fathom. The only thing I knew for certain was that Jack would not be a part of it. And I knew now that without him it would mean nothing.

‘So there you are,’ he said, coming up behind me.

‘I just came out for some fresh air.’

‘Good idea. I’ll be glad when we reach Southampton in a few days.’

A few days! Then it would all be over, and he was looking forward to it. But I’d known the terms from the start, and I wasn’t going to complain now.

‘You’re not planning to desert me as soon as we land, I hope,’ were his next words. ‘We’ll have to stay together a while or the others will smell a rat.’

‘I can manage a while,’ I said, trying not to look too idiotically joyful.

‘A few weeks?’

‘Yes, probably.’

‘But not certainly? Do you have other appointments?’

‘You could put it that way,’ I said cautiously.

He took my hands. ‘We’ll get rid of the others and go to my apartment in town. I still officially share a roof with Grace, but I insist on my own place, where I can relax. Your being there will give me the perfect excuse to move in full time.’

So it was still very much a business arrangement. But I was too happy at the reprieve to worry about that. Just a little longer. That was all I asked.

As we began to wander back we heard a shout.

‘Hey, Jack! Come and listen to this.’

A group of men were on deck, laughing and cheering over some tipsy joke.

‘I’d better go and calm them down,’ he said. ‘See you later.’

I watched as he joined them, laughing, and gradually drew them inside. I was just thinking of following when a voice in the shadows said, ‘I thought I’d never catch you alone.’

It was Raymond Keller. I tried to appear pleasant, but said, ‘I was just going in.’

‘You can spare me a moment. You’ll be glad when you see what I want to give you.’

He’d planted himself in front of me, and before I could protest he opened a box, revealing a really fabulous necklace. Diamonds, of course.

‘I’ve seen how you like diamonds,’ he said.

‘Raymond, I can’t accept these. Please take them away.’

‘Oh, come on. I bought them specially for you.’

‘You shouldn’t have done.’

‘Look, you’re not going to be with Jack for ever. He’s not the faithful type. I don’t suppose you are either, but we could have some fun together. How about we leave the ship together-?’

‘Get lost,’ I said.

‘Now, look, I’m making you a fair offer-’

‘No, you’re making a pest of yourself.’

‘You think you can do better than me?’

‘I think anyone’s better than you. Now, get out of my way.’

‘Oh, no, not yet. You’ve led me on-’

He pounced on me, and there was a short, undignified struggle which ended with me escaping him and holding the box with the necklace over the side.

‘Back off,’ I said breathlessly, ‘or I’ll drop it in the water.’

He made a noise between a groan and a shriek. ‘You wouldn’t do that.’

‘I will if you give me any more trouble.’

‘What’s going on?’ It was Jack, who’d heard the noise and come to see what was causing it.

Raymond was beside himself with temper and petulance.

‘Your little tart’s been leading me on,’ he raged.

‘If you don’t stop saying that I really will drop it in,’ I threatened. ‘Maybe then you’ll believe I’m not interested.’

‘You think you’ve got richer pickings, don’t you-?’

That was all Raymond managed to say before Jack floored him.

Raymond sat rubbing his face, more surprised than hurt. Then he leapt up and made for me. I was just drawing my arm back from over the side, but I didn’t quite make it. His lunge took me by surprise, and before I could stop it the box was spinning down into the water.

‘Serves you right,’ Jack said curtly. ‘Now, get out of my sight before you follow it.’

Raymond glared, but didn’t answer back. He’d seen something in Jack’s eyes that made him scuttle away quickly. I’d seen it too, and it startled me. It wasn’t the look of a man protecting a business deal. Just what it did mean, I wouldn’t let myself speculate. I might get fanciful and think it was jealousy.

He took me in his arms. ‘Are you all right?’

‘Yes, I’m fine,’ I said in a shaking voice.

‘Don’t cry.’

‘I’m not crying. I’m laughing.’

Wave after wave of mirth was welling up inside me. It was terribly funny.

‘That necklace,’ I said. ‘It must have been worth twenty grand. And it all went into the water.’

He began to laugh too. ‘That’ll teach him better manners next time. How dare he insult you?’

‘He’s the one who’s sorry. I can look after myself.’

‘Now she tells me. After I put on that cheesy display of heroics.’

‘You’re not cheesy,’ I assured him.

We went back inside and had another dance, holding each other close so that Raymond would get the point if he happened to be looking. Actually, he wasn’t. He’d retired for the night.

But some word must have gone around, because while Jack was fetching me a drink I found myself facing Grace.

‘I hope you’re proud of yourself,’ she said, in a voice like a razorblade. ‘It’s all due to you that Jack has offended Raymond Keller, and that’s a disaster for him.’

‘Jack doesn’t seem to think so.’

‘As though you’d know anything about it,’ she snapped. ‘Keller is going to be the head of one of the biggest firms in the country soon, and that makes him an important man for Jack to know. Why do you think he was invited on this trip?’

‘Well, it wasn’t for his sparkling conversation, that’s for sure,’ I retorted.

‘It’s because he’s a man of substance.’

‘I know that. He’s told me a hundred times, and I’m not interested.’

‘Oh, please, don’t play the innocent with me. You’ve been flaunting yourself-turning his head with your cheap fancy-woman tricks, just like you turned Jack’s. And what’s the result? A brawl. Keller has a black eye, and Jack’s lost a useful contact.’

‘I’m sorry about that. But I don’t see why you blame me.’

‘Because a woman like you is always to blame. You’ve got big ideas, haven’t you? Just because Jack’s spent a bit of money on you, you think you’ve got him for life.’

‘Is that what I think?’

‘Of course it is. I know women of your sort. You think you’re entitled to anything you want, but you’re just an amusement to Jack. He’ll toss you aside when you’ve served your purpose.’

No matter what, I was determined not to let her make me angry.

‘Well, that’s his decision,’ I said, as coolly as I could manage.

Jack returned with the drinks at that moment. Grace sniffed and flounced off. When Jack asked me what she’d said I passed it off lightly. But I couldn’t help worrying in case I’d really damaged him.