Inside, there was more of the same as they made their way to the huge restaurant at the back of the hotel. It was called Aladdin’s Cave, and decorated with a magical theme. Brightly coloured lanterns hung from the ceiling, elaborate pictures decorated the walls and everywhere there was the glitter of gold.
They were escorted to a table for two, where he settled her with every attention and said, ‘Let’s have something to drink.’
‘Orange juice for me, please.’
‘This is an evening for champagne,’ he protested.
‘Orange juice,’ she said firmly. ‘Or sparkling water.’
He was silent a moment, but then nodded and made the order. He asked no further questions, but she had a sense that he understood why she wouldn’t touch alcohol.
Denzil bustled over, rubbing his hands with delight, paid Charlene extravagant compliments and then bustled away. People were arriving slowly, waving at Travis, looking curiously at Charlene before flaunting themselves before each other, all putting on performances. For the moment it was still quiet enough to talk.
‘You’ve saved my neck, you know that?’ Travis said. ‘All those pictures they took of us outside. I have a career again.’
‘Just like that?’
‘It can happen that way in this city. Here today, gone tomorrow, back again the day after.’
‘Don’t you ever find the life exhausting?’
‘Well, I do end up living on edge a lot of the time, but it can feel worth it.’
‘I suppose success is wonderful.’
‘Yes. Not that I’ve been a success long enough to know very much. But it matters to me to achieve everything I can, just to stop my father disowning me.’
‘But surely you don’t need him? You’re independent.’
‘I meant disowning me in spirit.’ Travis gave a brief laugh. ‘It’s odd isn’t it? I disapprove of Amos, sometimes I even dislike him. But I still hate the feeling that I’m the one on the outside of the family. He despises me for not being like him, the way my brothers are.’
‘All of them?’
‘Mostly. Darius is a big man in finance, just like Amos. He’s been hit by the credit crunch, and now he’s living on Herringdean, an island off the south coast of England that one of his debtors used to pay him off. He started out hating it, but he came to love it. Falling in love with a local girl helped. I was at their wedding a few weeks ago and if ever two people were crazy about each other it’s those two.’
‘You sound as though you envy them.’
‘In a way I do. It’s nice to know your final destination, and be able to reach it. Darius has been married before and it didn’t work out, but he’s safe with Harriet. Plus his first wife likes her, even encouraged them to marry because their two children like her as well.’
Charlene recalled him talking about his father and all the children Amos had by different women. His brother’s arrangement sounded so much happier that she began to understand the touch of wistfulness in his voice.
‘What did you say?’ Travis asked, staring at her suddenly.
‘Nothing.’
‘I thought you whispered, “Shut up, Charlie”.’
‘Did I say that out loud? Oh, heck!’
‘You actually call yourself Charlie?’
‘When I’m trying to remember to be sensible. It’s not easy in a place like LA. Common sense seems the last thing you can manage, and actually the last thing you want.’
‘I know the feeling,’ he said wryly.
‘So your brother’s settled for common sense?’
‘That’s not what Darius calls it. To him it’s finding out what his life is really all about.’
‘And it’s not just about money?’
‘Not any more. It was once but that was his “Amos” side. Now he’s found something else and the Amos side is having to stand back.’
‘I’ll bet Amos doesn’t like that.’
‘Too right. He tried to stop their marriage, but failed. Mind you, Darius will climb to the financial top again. It’s in the Falcon genes. Marcel is like Amos too, except for being half French. He makes his money from hotels. He’s got a big, glamorous place in Paris and he’s recently bought another one in London to “extend his empire”. Amos loves that. To him, that’s how a Falcon should think, in terms of empire.’
‘Perhaps you need to play a Roman emperor,’ Charlene mused. ‘How about Julius Caesar?’
‘Better still, Nero,’ he said, catching her mood. ‘Or Caligula.’
‘But Nero was a tyrant,’ Charlene objected.
‘Great. That makes him a true Falcon.’
‘And Caligula was mad. Wouldn’t your father hate that?’
‘Not if it made money.’
They laughed together.
‘Haven’t you got two other brothers?’
‘Yes, there’s Leonid, who’s Russian and lives in Moscow. We don’t know a lot about him, but he must be successful because Amos always speaks of him with respect. Jackson’s different. He’s a naturalist. He’s written books and has a television series about wildlife all over the world.’
‘That doesn’t sound like it makes him a millionaire.’
‘No, he’s not. But Amos respects him, nonetheless, because the world knows him as a “serious man” doing a “serious job”. I just “flaunt myself for the press”, but Jackson “defends the environment” and that elevates the name Falcon, even if not in business.
‘He actually told me once that I should change my name because he didn’t want to be connected with someone “prancing around for the cameras”.’
‘Your father doesn’t want you to be called after him?’ she asked, aghast.
‘He despises what I do. He was furious when I wouldn’t take a different name.’
‘No wonder you feel shut out,’ she said sympathetically.
‘Not by the others. I get on fine with my brothers, what little I see of them. But I think Amos is just hanging on in the hope that one day I’ll change into a mini-Amos.’
‘You could always act it,’ she suggested.
‘Not if I want to stay sane,’ he said hastily. ‘This way, at least I know who I am. Or I would, if people didn’t keep wanting me to put on a performance in private as well as in front of the cameras.’
‘You poor soul.’ She sighed. ‘The burdens of fame. Just think of all those unemployed actors out there who must be so grateful they don’t have your problems.’
He scowled for a moment, but then relaxed and squeezed her hand, smiling ruefully.
‘Yeah, right. I must be coming across as a bit of a wimp, eh? It’s your fault. You’re such a tempting, sympathetic shoulder to cry on that I gave in. But no more.’ His voice deepened and he assumed a haughty mien. ‘From now on, just macho authority and stern resolve.’
‘Ouch, please, no!’ she said. ‘I can’t stand men like that.’
‘Neither can I,’ he admitted. ‘Perish the thought that I should ever be one of them.’
‘Nothing could be less likely,’ she reassured him.
He met her eyes in a look of total understanding, and suddenly she had the strangest feeling of having known him all her life. It made no sense but instinctively she was his friend, and she sensed him becoming her friend.
‘You see right through me, don’t you?’ he said, amused.
‘I guess I do. Do you mind?’
‘Not a bit. Know what? I think we’re going to get on really well.’
‘Me too. Here’s to a great evening.’
They raised their glasses, and were about to clink when a voice cut in between them like a knife.
