‘It’s a haunt of my father’s,’ said Rupert. ‘He says it’s the one place in London one never sees anyone one knows.’
‘Rupert, darling!’ A beautiful woman with wide-set violet eyes was standing by their table.
‘Lavinia.’ He stood up and kissed her. ‘How was Jamaica?’
‘Lovely. I can’t think why I came home.’
‘Have you met Bella Parkinson?’
‘No, I haven’t. How do you do?’ She looked Bella over carefully. ‘I’ve read all about your play, of course.
She turned back to Rupert and said, a little too casually, ‘How’s Lazlo?’
‘In Buenos Aires.’
She looked relieved. ‘That’s why he hasn’t rung. When’s he coming back?’
‘Next week sometime.’
‘Well, give him my love and tell him to ring me before my suntan fades.’ She drifted off to join her escort at the other end of the room.
‘She’s beautiful,’ sighed Bella, admiring her beautifully shod feet. ‘Who is she?’
‘Some bird of Lazlo’s.’
‘Who’s he?’
‘My cousin.’ He lowered his voice. ‘Evidently Lazlo complained her bed was too small, so she went out to Harrods and bought one three times the size.’
‘She’s
‘Women think so. I know him too well. We work together.’
‘What at?’
‘Banking. We’ve got a bank in the City. But most of our business is tied up in South America. My father’s chairman but Lazlo really runs it.’
‘You look a bit Latin yourself.’
‘My father’s South American. My mother, alas, is pure English. She’s coming home next Friday, worse luck. I’m hoping someone will hijack her plane. She keeps sending me postcards telling me not to forget to water the guides.’
Bella giggled. ‘Who?’
‘One of her interests along with the Blind, the Deaf, the Undernourished, and any other charity she can poke her nose into. Alas, there’s no charity in her heart. Her life is spent sitting on committees and my father.’ He looked at Bella. ‘What were your parents like?’
Bella’s palms went damp. ‘My father was a librarian,’ she said quickly. ‘But he died when I was a baby, so my mother had to take a job as a schoolmistress to support me. We were always terribly poor.’
Poor but respectable. She’d told the same lies so often that she’d almost come to believe them.
Their first course arrived — Mediterranean prawns and a great bowl of yellow mayonnaise. Bella gave a little moan of greed.
Later, when she was halfway through her duck, she suddenly looked up and saw that Rupert was staring at her, his food untouched.
‘Bella.’
‘Yes.’
‘Will you have dinner with me tomorrow?’
‘Of course,’ she said. She didn’t even stop to consider it. The one thing that could have spoilt her evening was the sense of being a failure, that he’d get to know her a little and then decide she was a bore.
Later, they went back to her flat for a drink and Bella drew back the curtains in the drawing-room to show Rupert the view. Half London glittered in front of them.
‘Isn’t it gorgeous?’ said Bella ecstatically.
‘Not a patch on you, and you’ve got the most beautiful hair in the world.’ He picked up a strand. ‘Just like Rapunzel.’
‘Who’s she?’
‘The princess in the tower who let down her hair and the handsome prince climbed up and rescued her. You must have read it as a child?’
Bella looked bleak. ‘My mother didn’t approve of fairy stories.’
Rupert frowned and pulled her into his arms. ‘The more I hear of your childhood the less I like it,’ he said.
Then he kissed her very hard. After a minute he pulled her down on to the sofa and began fiddling with her zip.
‘No,’ she said, stiffening.
‘Why not?’ he muttered into her hair. ‘Christ, Bella, I want you so much.’
Bella took a deep breath and burst into tears. One of her greatest acting accomplishments was that she could cry at will. She had only to think of the poor unclaimed dogs at Battersea Dogs’ Home, waiting and waiting for a master that never came, and tears would course down her cheeks.
‘Oh, please don’t,’ she sobbed.
Rupert was on his knees beside her. ‘Darling. Oh, I’m sorry. Please don’t cry. I shouldn’t have rushed things. I’ve behaved like a pig.’
She looked at him through her tears. ‘You won’t stop seeing me because I won’t?’
He shook his head wryly. ‘I couldn’t if I tried now. I’m in too deep.’
After he’d gone she looked at herself in the mirror. ‘You’re a rotten bitch, Bella. God, you’re in a muddle,’ she said slowly.
She wanted men to want her, but once they tried to get involved she ran away, frightened they’d find out the truth.
Chapter Three
Rupert arrived next evening, his arms loaded with presents.
‘I’ve decided you missed out on a proper childhood, so we’re going to start now,’ he said.
In the parcels were a huge teddy bear, a Dutch doll, a kaleidoscope, a solitaire board filled with coloured marbles, a complete set of Beatrix Potter and
Bella felt a great lump in her throat. ‘Oh, darling, you shouldn’t spend all your money on me.’
Rupert took her face in his hands. ‘Sweetheart, listen. There’s one thing you must get into your head; there are a hell of a lot of disadvantages about being a Henriques, but being short of bread isn’t one of them.’ He held out his hands. ‘We’ve got buckets of it. My father’s worth a fortune and, since Lazlo put a bomb under the bank, we’re all worth a lot more. I’ve got a private income of well over ?25,000.’
Bella’s jaw dropped.
‘That’s what’s so lovely about you, Bella. Anyone else would know about the Henriques millions. I’ve never worried about money in my life, and when I was twenty-one last month I inherited. .’
‘Twenty-one?’ said Bella quickly. ‘You said you were twenty-seven.’
He looked shamefaced. ‘I did, didn’t I? I knew you wouldn’t be interested in me if you knew how young I was.’
‘But I’m twenty-three,’ wailed Bella. ‘I’m cradle-snatching.’
‘No you’re not,’ he snuggled against her. ‘Anyway, I’m crazy about older women.’
From then on they were inseparable, seeing each other every night, touring the smart restaurants and getting themselves talked about.
As spring came, turning the parks gold and purple with crocuses, Bella found herself growing more and more fond of him. He was very easy to like, with his languid grace, sullen pent-up beauty, and his appalling flashes of
