Oliver kissed her warm shoulder. It was ironic, he felt, that they should both have been through virtually the same ordeal. In his own case, however, Veronique’s untimely death had effectively prevented him from ever being able to be proved right.
‘Of course she was,’ he said consolingly. ‘I know how hard it is; we do our best for our children, God knows, but sometimes they have to make their own mistakes. Give her time, darling, and maybe she’ll come to her senses.’
‘I bloody hope so.’ Thea’s tone was fretful; she still nurtured a fearsome longing to corner Alan Sinclair and slap him senseless. ‘But how much longer is she going to need and how much more damage can he do in the meantime? Janey’s so stubborn it almost frightens me,’ she added, her tone bleak. ‘I wouldn’t put it past her to get herself pregnant, just to spite us all.’
Chapter 48
Janey was looking wonderful, thought Bruno, watching from a distant corner as she entered the party on Alan Sinclair’s arm. In a billowing white silk shirt tucked into white jeans, and with her blond hair left loose to fall past her shoulders, she exuded an air of careless glamour he had never seen in her before. The self-esteem which had been at rock-bottom for the past two years had clearly been revitalized by her husband’s return, he decided, impressed by the almost magical transformation. It was as if she had been brought back to life, like a desperately wilted flower plunged into a bucket of water in the nick of time.
Hastily, Bruno pulled himself together. What was the matter with him anyway? Nauseating similes weren’t his bag at all. Talk about un-macho .. .
Janey looked good because she was happy and in love, he decided, firmly banishing all thought of wilting flowers from his mind. It was as simple as that. Whether she would deign to speak to him when she realized he was here, however, was another matter altogether.
In the event, Janey didn’t have a lot of choice. Having resolutely decided to ignore Bruno her plans were scuppered within minutes by Pearl, who dragged him into the kitchen. Janey, leaning against the fridge, was still waiting for Alan to uncork a bottle of Australian white.
Gazing at a heavily doodled-on Chippendales calendar above the cooker, she assumed a fixed, I’m-not-listening expression. But the kitchen wasn’t that big and nobody had ever called Pearl subtle.
‘... I still don’t believe you, darling!’ she cried, clinging to Bruno’s arm and waggling an admonitory finger at him. ‘It’s all very well saying you’ve fallen madly in love with this Maxine character, but does this mean you’re actually planning to stay faithful to her, forsaking all others and all that gloomy stuff? You realize of course the whole town’s laying bets on how long you’ll manage to stick it out,’ she added gleefully. ‘So far nobody’s dared risk their money on anything more than a month.’
Behind her, Alan glanced across at Janey. Eyebrows raised, he mouthed, ‘Maxine?’
Nodding, she forced herself to smile as Bruno turned to face her. If she didn’t, Alan would wonder why.
‘Oh, I’m a reformed character.’ Bruno grinned. ‘It can happen, you know, even to me.
Although if the odds are that good, maybe I should think about placing a bet myself.’
‘So you’re Bruno.’ Stepping forward, Alan shook his hand. ‘Hi, I’m Alan Sinclair, Maxine’s brother-in-law. I’ve been hearing quite a bit about you.’
‘That’s a coincidence,’ said Bruno easily. ‘I’ve heard about you too.’
Pearl, who had been drinking double tequila slammers to celebrate the success of her party, was in high spirits.
Bruno was the greatest fun; she loved him to death. And although she hadn’t actually been introduced to Alan Sinclair before, he had been one of the crowd at the surf club when she’d popped in and issued an open invitation to tonight’s bash. The fact that he was deeply attractive hadn’t escaped her notice at the time, either. It was just a shame, Pearl thought, that he should have chosen to turn up with a sleek blond girlfriend in tow.
‘Everyone’s heard about Bruno,’ she told Alan with a giggle. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t be saying this if you’re related to Maxine, but it’s my party so what the hell! This man is wicked.
Gorgeous,’ she admitted, clinging to Bruno’s arm and giving it an affectionate squeeze, ‘but seriously wicked ... possibly the wickedest man in all Cornwall.’
Janey cringed. She still couldn’t believe she’d never heard so much as a single word of gossip about Bruno before getting involved with him herself. As far as everyone else was concerned, she thought bitterly, his conquests were practically the stuff of legend. And Pearl, whom she’d never met before in her life, was moving perilously close to the knuckle .. .
‘You are looking at a seducer extraordinaire,’ she continued, blithely unaware of Janey’s unease. ‘He’s been doing it for years, you know. None of us can figure out how he manages to keep on getting away with it.’
‘Thank you,’ said Bruno with mock gravity. Janey, standing behind Alan, was looking positively stricken. Feeling sorry for her, he attempted to steer the conversation on to safer ground. ‘But that was in the bad old days. From now on I’m a changed man, I promise you.
How’s your father, by the way? Has he managed to sell that yacht of his yet?’
But Pearl hadn’t finished. Yachts were boring. The idea that Bruno Parry-Brent had turned over a new leaf, on the other hand, was simply too entertaining for words.
‘In the bad old days!’ she shrieked, gurgling with laughter and only narrowly missing the sleeve of Alan’s faded denim shirt as tequila sloshed haphazardly out of her tilted glass. ‘How long ago was your birthday, you old fraud? ‘I might have missed the party but Suzannah told me all about it. She said you had the most terrific showdown with some poor girl you’d been seeing on the quiet until she found out what you were really like. Who did Suzie say she was, now?’
She hiccuped, tried to think, and shook her head. ‘No, I give up. Come on Bruno, remind me! I can’t remember her name, but apparently she runs the flower shop in the high street ...’
‘Oh for goodness sake, will you stop going on about it.’ Janey, stepping out of her clothes, left them in a heap on the bedroom floor. As she made her way through to the bathroom she added crossly, ‘It was embarrassing for me too, you know.’
‘I should think it was.’ Alan’s eyes were narrow with anger. ‘You must be the laughing stock of Trezale ... and you expect me to forgive you, just like that? Jesus, you aren’t making it easy for me! You told me there hadn’t been anyone else and I was stupid enough to believe you.
Now I find out you’ve not only been screwing another man’ — he spat the words out in disgust
— ‘but you had to make a complete fool of yourself and choose the town fucking stud.’
