21

‘DANNY, I’VE ALREADY told you, I don’t want to hear another word on the subject,’ Erik said firmly.

‘But …’

‘Danny!’ he warned, putting the view-finder back to his right eye as he scanned the colour transparencies on the slide box in front of him.

Danny grinned, she loved it when he was masterful. ‘How do they look?’ she asked, coming to peer over his shoulder.

‘Not bad,’ he murmured.

‘Not bad! Here, let me take a look,’ she cried, snatching the view-finder from him. ‘They’re fantastic!’ she declared, gazing rapturously down at the pictures of herself.

Erik laughed and went to sprawl out on an ivory leather and stainless steel armchair beneath the window of his Monaco apartment. ‘You’re fantastic,’ he said, leering outrageously at her naked breasts and making her laugh.

‘Do you really think so?’ she said, girlishly twirling a finger around one of her nipples.

‘Yes, I really think so. Now off you go and make me another coffee,’ he said, stretching luxuriously. ‘I’ve been up half the night …’

‘Yes, where were you?’ Danny said. ‘I tried to call you I don’t know how many times.’

‘I was over at St Tropez with Jake.’

‘Doing what?’

‘Mind your own business. Now go and get that coffee.’

‘You do know that Morandi’s been arrested, don’t you?’ she said, staying where she was.

‘Yes, we know. Jake has it all in hand and while we’re on the subject I don’t want you going near Consuela’s again. Have you got that? Stay away from her. No, no, no,’ he said, raising his hand as she made to interrupt, ‘I know what she’s told you and it’s up to you what you believe, but here’s where it stops, Danny. You’re not to go there again, do you hear me?’

‘Yes sir,’ she said, bobbing a curtsy. ‘Would you like that coffee now, sir?’

‘Yes. And make one for my guests while you’re at it.’

He grinned as Danny’s eyes darkened with the thrill of serving his imaginary guests. She was never happier than when playing some role or other and the things he came up with seemed just about to blow her mind – his too come to that.

As Danny wiggled off to the kitchen, her tight black mini-skirt barely covering her bottom, Erik got up, wandered to the window and stared down at the Port Fontvieille where Aphrodite’s body had been found. What next, he asked himself wearily rubbing a hand over his unshaven chin. He thought of Morandi sitting there in his police cell probably scared half out his wits. Would he talk? Erik wondered. Would he blow it all now? Since it didn’t bear thinking about he put it from his mind and went to sit down again.

A few minutes later Danny wiggled her way back into the room carrying a tray of coffee. She’d obviously popped into the bedroom while the coffee was brewing because she was now wearing a pair of black stiletto heels and one of his bow ties as well as her mini-skirt.

He watched, feeling himself grow harder all the time, as she went through the charade of serving his ‘guests’, asking them if they took milk and how many sugars, before setting their cups down. Her breasts looked so firm and heavy as she bent over that it was only with supreme self-control that he managed to stop himself reaching for them. But it wasn’t a part of the script, so he merely continued to watch her until she slopped coffee into a saucer and turned to him in dismay.

‘Come here,’ he said, beckoning her with his finger.

Danny tottered meekly towards him.

‘I apologize for her clumsiness,’ he said to the absent guest. Then looking up at Danny he nodded towards the floor.

Immediately Danny bent over and tugging her skirt up to her waist Erik cracked a hand hard over her bare buttocks three times.

When he had finished Danny straightened and turned shamefacedly back to the guests. ‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered to the empty chair.

‘Wait by the door,’ Erik barked, picking up his coffee.

Obediently Danny turned back to the kitchen door then stood quietly by as Erik sipped his coffee and ignored her.

She was marginally less aroused than she normally was during their games since there was so much else going on in her head. She desperately needed to speak to Consuela again because between them Sarah and Louisa had somehow managed to dent her conviction that Consuela was telling the truth. Except of course she knew Jake was a liar. She’d even spoken to his father who looked and sounded so much like Jake it was almost scary. But she had to find out what was going on where Morandi was concerned, because the last thing she wanted was to find herself starring in the wrong cast, and since Erik wouldn’t discuss it there was only Consuela she could ask. She’d have gone straight to Consuela’s that morning had Erik not called and told her to come here.

Now, as she looked at his handsome, though tired face she wondered what it must be like to be Swedish. He looked Swedish, she decided, not that she’d ever met a Swede before, but she imagined they probably all had blond hair and suntans, though not all of them would have such a wonderful mop as Erik, nor such a genuine tan. Theirs probably owed more to ultra-violet beds than the actual sun, because, though she wasn’t absolutely certain about this and she could be thinking of somewhere else entirely, wasn’t it night for half the year in Sweden? Yes, she was sure she was right, because that would account for how they found the time to learn such perfect English and got to be so utterly brilliant at sex, there was nothing else to do.

As Erik put his cup back on the table she immediately straightened her shoulders and gazed blankly at the window. A very painful amount of lust was suddenly biting into her loins as she felt his eyes sweep over her. Oh, life was going to be so wonderful married to him, she thought, for having someone else to play out her scripts with was, she realized now, what she’d always been looking for. And he was so good at it. She never gave him the lines, he seemed to know all of his own accord what was expected of him and that alone made him the perfect man for her. And, she mustn’t forget, it also served yet again to prove how expert she was at getting people to fall in with her performances without even realizing that it was she who was guiding them. What a shame she couldn’t get him involved with what she and Consuela were planning, but if she had any failings at all – and right at that moment she couldn’t actually think of any – then it certainly wasn’t that she couldn’t keep a secret. Even from Erik.

‘Here,’ he said, lolling back in his chair and lifting one leg up over the arm of it.

As Danny walked towards him he unzipped his shorts and took out his erection. He looked up at her, then pointed wordlessly at it.

Dropping compliantly to her knees Danny took it in her hand, licked it all over then inserted it in her mouth.

Erik’s hand came down on the back of her head, pushing her down harder. Jesus, did she know what she was doing when it came to this sort of thing!

After a while, assuming boredom with one of the most magnificent blow jobs he’d ever had, he pushed her away and looked contemptuously into her face. But his expression instantly changed when he saw that there were tears in her eyes and her bottom lip was trembling.

‘Sweetheart, what is it?’ he said, moving towards her and cupping her delicate face in his hands. ‘Did I hurt you?’

‘No,’ she sniffed. ‘No, it’s just that … It’s just …’

‘Come on, what is it?’ he encouraged, his limpid blue eyes anxiously searching hers.

‘Do you really love me, Erik?’ she said.

‘Danny, I’m crazy about you, you know that. Why else do you think I asked you to marry me?’

‘It wasn’t because Jake told you to, just to get me off his back?’

‘Oh, darling,’ he said, folding her in his arms. ‘We’ve been through all that before. There are a lot of things I’d do for Jake, but marrying a woman I don’t love isn’t one of them.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Of course I’m sure. And as soon as my divorce comes through I’ll prove it by marrying you and making you as happy as I possibly can.’

She smiled shakily. ‘Are you proud of me?’ she said.

‘Of course I am,’ he laughed. ‘What man wouldn’t be proud of a woman as beautiful and crazy as you?’

‘Do you really think I’m crazy?’

‘You’re the craziest woman I’ve ever known,’ he said. ‘Now come on, what’s really the problem?’

‘Nothing,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘I just want to make sure I’m doing the right thing.’

‘In marrying me?’ he smiled. ‘I hope you do think it’s the right thing, because I certainly do.’

‘Yes, in marrying you. But in everything else too.’

‘Well now, that’s a bit of a tall order, because we all make mistakes from time to time. And as wonderful as you are you’re no more infallible than the rest of us.’

‘I know that, but honestly Erik, I really do believe what Consuela told me about Jake. No, I know you don’t want to talk about it, but we have to. You see, I’m afraid for you. I’m afraid that he’s convinced you to see things his way and that he’ll end up dragging you down with him. And I just couldn’t bear for anything awful to happen to you.’

‘It won’t,’ he assured her, pulling her back into his arms. A few seconds later he tensed as her hand crept along his thigh and wrapped itself around his semi-erect penis, hardening it almost instantly.

‘Kiss me,’ he murmured, lifting her lips to his and pressing gently against them as his tongue moved into her mouth.

‘I love you, Erik,’ she whispered, when he let her go. ‘I mean I think I really love you.’

‘I love you too,’ he smiled.

She stood up, then climbing onto his lap and lowering herself carefully onto him, she said, ‘Do you think our marriage will work?’

‘Yes, I do,’ he groaned, closing his eyes as the wet, exquisite heat of her engulfed him. Then looking up at her and taking her large breasts in his hands, he smiled. ‘I don’t say that I’m not going to have my hands full, in more ways than one,’ he said softly, ‘but yes, I think we’ll work out.’

‘Did you say that to your other wives?’ she asked, moving slowly up and down.

‘I don’t remember, but even if I did, you’re different, Danny. A whole lot different. All I hope is that you don’t end up breaking my heart, because until I met you I never knew anyone who had the power to do that.’

He laughed then as Danny’s mood instantly brightened at the prospect of having such power. ‘I won’t break your heart,’ she promised. ‘But just you make sure you don’t break mine.’

‘No, but I’ll tell you what I am going to break,’ he said, sucking first one then the other of her fat, rosy nipples into his mouth, ‘is all kinds of records for how many times a day I can make love to my beautiful wife.’ Just thank God, he was thinking to himself, that she never delved too deeply, for, love her and adore her as he most truly did, there were certain things happening right now that he very definitely didn’t want her to know anything about.

Three days had gone by since Morandi was arrested, and while Sarah motored backwards and forwards to Nice and Danny came and went in her usual fashion, Louisa spoke only briefly on the phone to Jake. He’d found Morandi a lawyer, she knew that and he, or at least his crew, had sailed the Valhalla back round the coast to Golfe Juan. But not until that morning, when Marianne had come to collect her and drive her to his beautifully converted old barn in the Var, with an ancient round tower attached to one side and a lovely view down through the sparkling trees to the Lac de St Cassien, had she actually known where he was.

She stood now in front of the vast, empty hearth, whose chimney-breast rose all the way to the ribbed oak beams of the ceiling, gazing up at the old stone walls and the mezzanine that overhung the room and, as far as she could make out, housed some kind of study – certainly it was lined with leather-bound volumes and she could see a big, antique mahogany desk. Jake walked up the flagged steps from the kitchen, carrying a tray and looking somewhat baffled about what to do with the teabag in Louisa’s cup.

‘You seriously want milk in that?’ he said, as she whisked the teabag out and put it back on the tray.

‘Just a little, thank you,’ she answered, her eyes dancing with laughter at his foreigner’s confusion about the way the English took their tea.

Then, as abruptly as it had come, the lightness of his mood once again vanished.

She’d sensed from the moment she walked in the door and Marianne had driven away, that he was on edge. Even when he’d kissed her he’d seemed somehow distracted and she wasn’t quite sure whether or not she should ask him what was wrong. It seemed such an absurd question considering all that was obviously on his mind, so hoping that eventually he would get around to telling her, she asked if she might take a look around.

‘Sure,’ he said, seeming suddenly to remember she was there. Then he laughed and looked up at the beams. ‘This is about it,’ he said, sweeping a hand to indicate the vastness of the barn, ‘except the bedrooms, of course, they’re in the tower.’

‘Can I see them?’ she shrugged.

‘Go right ahead. That there,’ he said pointing to a door to one side of the chimney, ‘is my room. The others don’t get used much. You have to go up to the gallery to get to them.’

Louisa pushed open the door he’d indicated and looked inside. What she saw surprised her, delighted her in fact, for though it was an undoubtedly masculine room with its French boat bed and heavy armoires, the sun was pouring in through the window bouncing off the round, grey walls and filling the room with light. And, she guessed, if one were sitting up in the bed there would be a perfect view down to the lake.

‘What a wonderful way to wake up in the morning,’ she commented, glancing back over her shoulder.

‘What?’ he said. ‘Oh, yeah, it’s pretty amazing, mmm?’

‘How long have you had the house?’ she asked.

‘A year, I guess. I don’t use it as much as I’d like, but it’s good to have somewhere to come when I need to get away from the crew.’

‘But of course it still has its view of the water,’ she teased.

‘Not quite the same as the sea,’ he smiled. ‘But it’ll do. How are you doing with that tea? Can I get you some more?’

‘No, I’m fine thanks,’ she assured him, wishing she could get beyond this odd, unapproachable air he seemed to have cloaked himself in.

‘I think,’ she said, closing the bedroom door and going to stand behind one of the kelim sofas, ‘that I should tell you that Danny knows about us.’

‘Yeah, I know,’ he said, chewing his bottom lip.

‘Doesn’t it matter?’ she asked, surprised by his lack of reaction.

He looked up. ‘There’s nothing to be done about it now. If she knows, she knows.’

Louisa blinked, not quite sure where to go from there. What she really, very desperately, wanted to ask him was where his father was right now, but she couldn’t think of a way to approach it that wouldn’t seem as though she were doubting all he’d told her while they were in Corsica. And she didn’t doubt it, she truly did believe that for whatever reasons Consuela had got someone to masquerade as Jake’s father, but it would just be nice to hear Jake confirm it.

‘Do you think the lawyer might be able to get Morandi out of jail soon?’ she ventured.

Again she was interrupting his thoughts. ‘Uh, no, he won’t,’ he answered. ‘Morandi’s better off where he is right now.’

‘But he didn’t do it, did he?’ she said.

‘Not as far as I’m aware. Are you sure you don’t want more tea?’

‘No, thank you. This was revolting enough.’

He grinned and at last she felt she had his attention. But suddenly he was pacing the room leaving her once again at a loss, so walking around the sofa she sat down and put her cup on the low, wooden, coffee table.

As she watched him she found, to her horror, that she was evaluating how she might feel if he really was a murderer. She looked at his hands and tried to imagine them brutally attacking a woman, smashing and beating her face until she was dead then lifting her up and throwing her into the sea. But all she could see were the hands that had touched her and stroked her with infinite tenderness and care. Hands that she longed to reach out for now and hold between her own, or feel sliding into her hair, as she asked him to tell her what had happened to have disturbed him so badly. It didn’t seem to be Morandi’s arrest, or the fact that Danny knew about them, so, was it, she asked herself dolefully, the fact that his father was at Consuela’s?

‘At Consuela’s!’ he laughed incredulously when she at last blurted the question out. ‘Is my father at Consuela’s? What, are you out of your mind? My father’s in San Diego where I spoke to him just before you got here, so what the hell is all this about?’

Louisa explained what Danny had told her.

‘Bullshit!’ he said. ‘Either she’s making it up or, like you said yourself, Consuela’s got someone there who’s making out to be him.’

‘You don’t seem very put out about it,’ she remarked.

‘Why should I be? I know where my father is so she’s going to have a hard time proving someone else is him if it comes to the test, don’t you think?’

‘Yes,’ Louisa smiled, wanting just to throw herself in his arms with sheer relief. Instead, as he reached for the phone and punched out a number, she got up to go and look out of the window down through the hazy bands of sunlight streaming through the trees to the lake where the sun was glinting in fine, sharp blades from dazzling pools of light. That was how he made her feel, she thought idly to herself, bright and shining and filled with light, but just as ephemeral.

‘Erik?’ he said. ‘Yeah. What time are you leaving? OK. Get hold of Danny before you go and get her to tell you what she knows about some guy she met at Consuela’s … I’m not sure when, at the weekend, I guess. He’s saying he’s my old man. Yes, that’s right. Louisa just told me. Yeah, she’s right here. OK, find out what you can, but don’t call me back. I want this line free,’ and he rang off.

Feeling him come to stand behind her Louisa rested her head back on his shoulder and lifted her folded arms for him to slide his underneath. He smelt wonderful and she turned her face a little to inhale the delicate scent of pine mingled with his own maleness and, of course, that ubiquitous, though barely detectable, tang of the sea.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said softly. ‘I guess I’m not much company today.’

‘It doesn’t matter. I know you’ve got a lot on your mind.’

‘But more importantly right now, I’ve got you in my arms. I was afraid you might have changed your mind since the weekend.’

‘No,’ she said, pressing her lips softly to his neck. Then turning in his arms she continued to kiss his neck while slowly unbuttoning his shirt. She lifted her face and gazed up into his clouding eyes as she pulled his shirt open and ran her hands over his hard, pectoral muscles and up to his shoulders. Beneath the wiry hair his skin was soft and smooth and lowering her mouth she traced her tongue around his nipples. She expected him any minute to pull away and return to whatever was bothering him, but he didn’t, and as he pulled her up and gazed half-laughingly, half-wonderingly down at her she could see that at last he really was with her.

‘How about I do that to you?’ he said darkly, starting to unfasten her buttons. She looked down, watching his hands as he pushed her blouse aside and brushed them over her breasts. Then she was holding his head, twisting her fingers through his thick, glossy black hair, as he stooped to suck her hardened nipples into his mouth. The power of the sensations shooting through her was sapping the strength from her legs and he scooped her up in his arms.

As he carried her to the bedroom he was staring hard into her eyes, until breaking the gaze Louisa buried her face in his neck and began kissing his ear.

‘I’m gonna miss you,’ he said, lying down beside her.

‘I’ll miss you too,’ she smiled, not wanting to think about it now.

Again he was looking at her in that strange, almost expressionless way. Then seeing the confusion in her eyes he said in a voice so soft she barely heard him, ‘“Look not in my eyes, for fear they mirror true the sight I see, And there you find your face too clear And love it and be lost like me.”’

As she realized what he’d said Louisa’s heart tightened with a slow warmth that seemed to spread into her whole being. ‘That’s beautiful,’ she murmured. ‘Did you write it?’

‘No,’ he smiled. ‘It’s Housman.’

They lay quietly looking at each other for a while, stroking each other’s bodies and imprinting every feature of the other’s face in their minds. Then rolling her onto her back he knelt over her and pulled her skirt and panties down over her long, slim legs. When finally his eyes returned to hers she saw a heartrending sadness that made the desire in them seem all the more poignant. And without either of them moving, she felt him touching her, closing around her, sinking beneath her skin and loving her as she had never been loved in her life.

‘Jake,’ she whispered, the emotion in her voice rippling hopelessly in her heart.

‘I know,’ he whispered and lowering his lips to hers he kissed her and never stopped kissing her the whole time he made love to her.

‘Louisa,’ he said, holding her in his arms when it was over and stroking her as he gazed out of the window, ‘there are a lot of things I want to say to you, you know that, don’t you?’

‘Yes,’ she said.

He gave her a quick squeeze. ‘I’ll never forget you, you know.’

‘I’ll never forget you either,’ she whispered through the lump in her throat.

‘Maybe there’s a time for us in another world, another life.’

‘I hope so. Jake, you’re leaving, aren’t you?’

‘Sssh,’ he said, pulling her head onto his shoulder and kissing her.

‘Jake, please tell me,’ she said, hardly able to push her voice through the tears and panic that were choking her.

‘No, I’m not going yet,’ he said.

A few minutes later he eased himself gently from their embrace and went to answer the phone. He’d left the bedroom door ajar and hating herself for doing it Louisa tiptoed over to it to see if she could hear what he was saying. But all she heard was him telling someone to keep in touch.

When he came back it was obvious that the call had upset him and she could feel him moving away from her again.

‘Come on.’ he said, picking up his clothes. ‘I’ll take you back to the villa.’

‘Jake, please, will you tell me what’s going on?’ she implored.

‘Not right now,’ he answered. Then looking at her he put a hand under her chin and said, ‘Do you mind? I don’t want to talk right now, but I’ll stop by at the villa later, OK?’

Dumbly she nodded and started to pull on her clothes.

‘Do I get dinner if I come?’ he asked, obviously making an effort to lighten things a little.

‘Yes,’ she shrugged. ‘You can have dinner. I don’t know who else will be there, but …’

‘Just so long as you’re there, that’s all that matters,’ he interrupted and tweaking her nose he walked out of the room, stopping as he reached the door to say, ‘By the way, no one except Marianne and Erik knows where this house is, or even that it exists, so please, keep it to yourself.’