‘Really?’ Suzannah looked blank. ‘I forgot to put them in water when he gave them to me.
When ‘I woke up the next day they were all dead.’
The dedicated revellers were moving up a gear. People were stripping off to reveal swim suits beneath their party clothes, ready for a moonlight dip at high tide. A state-of-the-art camcorder ended up in a bowl of punch and one of the male guests, suspected of working on behalf of one of the more down-market tabloids, was handcuffed to a tree in the restaurant garden, his hairy ankles tied together by the reel of exposed film from his camera.
For Janey, introduced by Nick and Tony to an hotelier who was interested in flowers, the evening was turning out to be not so bad after all. He needed regular arrangements for his foyer and sitting rooms and a deal was struck over two hefty measures of cognac, both of which were drunk by the hotelier.
‘Sign here,’ said Janey, having written out details of the agreement on one of Bruno’s linen napkins. ‘You may not remember this tomorrow. I want something I can jog your memory with.’
‘You sound like my wife,’ he grumbled good naturedly. ‘I still don’t remember asking her to marry me. She just woke me up the next day and told me I had.’
‘Don’t worry.’ Janey grinned as he scrawled a haphazard signature across the bottom of the napkin. ‘This isn’t going to tie you down nearly as much as a wife.’
Bruno caught up with her as she was on her way to the loo.
‘I saw you,’ he murmured, catching her around the waist and pulling her towards him.
‘You’ve been talking to Eddie Beresford for the last twenty minutes.’
‘I’m amazed you even noticed.’ Bruno reeked of Shalimar. Janey tried to pull away, but he was stronger than she was. Now he was drawing her back towards the dance floor.
‘I notice everything.’ With a derisory glance in Eddie Beresford’s direction, he drawled,
‘He could hardly take his eyes off your cleavage.’
‘Don’t worry,’ said Janey in pointed tones. ‘I’m sure he’s faithful to his wife.’
But Bruno didn’t make the connection. ‘He’s so ugly ‘I shouldn’t think he could find anyone to be unfaithful with. Anyway, it’s my turn now.’ His green eyes glittered as he studied Janey’s rigid face. ‘And don’t think I’ve forgotten about my birthday present either. How about a couple of dances to put us in the mood, then you head on up the stairs and make yourself ...
comfortable? I’ll have a quick drink with Guy Cassidy and the redhead, and follow you up five minutes later. If anyone spots you on the way, just tell them you feel faint.’
He’d got her as far as the dance floor but Janey wasn’t moving. Causing a major scene was the last thing she wanted.
‘I see,’ she said carefully. ‘But what should I do if the bed’s already occupied?’
Bruno laughed. ‘Sweetheart, the keys to the flat are right here in my pocket. I’m hardly going to rent out my own bedroom to whoever fancies a quickie!’
‘It’s your quickies I’m talking about.’ It was no good, she hated Bruno about as much as she despised herself for having been so weak-willed in the first place and she couldn’t contain herself a moment longer. With icy disdain she said, ‘I can’t seem to spot the blonde you were dancing with earlier. Are you sure she isn’t still up there, hunting for her knickers and hoping for a repeat performance?’
‘Oh dear.’ He gave her a mock-sorrowful look. ‘Are we jealous?’
Janey, who’d said it but hadn’t meant it, realized with a sickening jolt that she’d been right.
‘I’m not jealous.’ The urge to punch him was almost overwhelming. ‘I just can’t believe it’s taken me this long to find out what you’re really like. I can’t believe I’ve been so stupid. Believe it or not, I actually trusted you..’
Bruno, who liked Janey a lot and who found her innocence particularly appealing, decided that he could bluff his way out of this one. True, she was upset, but only because she didn’t realize the sacrifices he’d made since their relationship had begun.
‘Sweetheart, there’s no need for this.’ Still smiling, he tried to draw her towards him. It was like dragging a child into the dentist’s chair. ‘You can trust me. OK, so maybe I’ve played the field a bit in the past, but if you only knew how many women I haven’t slept with since we’ve been together ... I’m a reformed character, truly I am!’
‘Liar,’ hissed Janey. ‘I spoke to Nina. You don’t have any kind of understanding.’
Bruno, determined to chivvy her out of her mood, gave her a disarming look. ‘OK, call it an unspoken agreement. Whichever, she’s hardly likely to admit it to you.’
‘And what about all the others?’ Janey countered bitterly. ‘My God, ‘I don’t know when you find time to sleep! Let go of me ... !’
This was more than a mood, he realized. Janey meant business. Oh well, it had been good fun while it lasted.
‘So what are you saying?’ He released his grip on her arms so abruptly that she almost staggered backwards. ‘That you don’t want to meet me upstairs in ten minutes after all?’
‘You arrogant bastard.’ Without her even realizing it, Janey’s eyes had filled with tears. ‘I never want to meet you again anywhere. I never want to see you again!’
Bruno’s relationships ended when he wanted them to end. He had never been dumped in his life. And if Janey thought she could get away with doing it in public, with making a fool of him at his very own party, she could suffer the consequences in return.
At that moment, by chance, the dance music which had been blaring through the speakers came to a halt. The tape had finished.
‘Oh dear,’ Bruno drawled into the ensuing silence. ‘And there I was, doing my good Samaritan bit and thinking you’d be grateful for the attention. I’m beginning to realize now why your husband might have wanted to disappear. Is that what you yelled at him, Janey? Did you tell him you never wanted to see him again?’ He paused for a second, then added with a cruel smile, ‘If you ask me, the poor sod probably couldn’t believe his luck.’
Chapter 27
It was a nightmare. A
