‘Becky, I can imagine how your appointments read. Lunch with this one, drinks with that one, supervising some hotel function, attending a conference. How am I doing?’
‘Pretty good.’
‘And how vital is any of it? Nobody needs that lunch, that social occasion. Conferences are hot air. The deals depend on cold cash, nothing else, and they’re all sewn up before anyone arrives.’
‘You’re saying that I’m just playing at doing a job,’ she said indignantly.
‘No, I’m not. My own job is just as full of froth. It’s the way of the world these days. I escape it whenever I can, and the skies don’t fall. Will they fall if
She was about to say that it was impossible when she realised that he was only voicing her own recent thoughts. Golden, glittering and hollow; that was how she’d seen her life as she arrived at Philip Steyne’s house that fateful night.
‘I could have a word with my assistant,’ she said. ‘She’s very good.’
She didn’t mention that she would have to break a date with Danvers, but that would have happened anyway. After what had occurred between her and Luca there was no way she could maintain the pretence that she and Danvers were an item.
All the way back to the hotel she thought about what she would say to him. Entering the Allingham alone, she went to her office and made the necessary arrangements with her assistant, an efficient young woman who could hardly contain her delight at being left in charge.
‘By the way, there’s a message from Mr Jordan,’ she said. ‘He has to be away for a few days, maybe a week, he wasn’t sure. He says he’ll call you when he gets back.’
‘Fine,’ Rebecca said, torn between relief that she could defer the problem, and dismay that it was going to drag on.
But perhaps this was best, she thought as she slipped out into the street with a suitcase. Now she could forget everything but enjoying a holiday.
The next few days felt like the first true holiday of her life. Hidden away with Luca in the shabby little hotel, she felt as though she were living in the sun.
He was a tireless lover, who could bring her to the heights again and again, and still want her. And she, who had long ago decided that the traumas of her youth had left her cold and unresponsive, could be ready for him at any moment of the night or day, except that night and day were indistinguishable.
The hotel had no Room Service so they ate burgers at a cafe around the corner, always hurrying back to fall into bed. For four days they loved and slept, slept and loved. In fact, they did everything except talk. But at the time that didn’t seem very important.
One morning Rebecca came out of the shower to find Luca just hanging up the phone, looking exasperated.
‘I’ve got to go back to Rome,’ he said. ‘One of my deals is unravelling, and I need to be there.’
She tried to smile, but the turmoil inside her was alarming. He was going away, and she couldn’t stand it.
‘Oh, well,’ she said lightly. ‘It’s been great, but we knew it couldn’t last forever.’
‘We have to give up this room,’ he agreed, ‘but I’ll be back in a few days.’
She’d got her second wind now and could smile.
‘Hey, I won’t count on it. You may need to stay.’
He was still sitting on the bed, and as she passed him he caught both her hands in his, looking up into her face.
‘I’ll be back in a few days,’ he said. ‘I don’t think I could stand it for longer.’
‘I suppose I should be glad you’re going,’ she said with a faint smile. ‘It’ll give me a chance to catch up with real life.’
‘Real?’ He regarded her with raised eyebrows. ‘This hasn’t been real?’
She caressed his hair. ‘You know what I mean.’
He grinned. Laughing, she leaned down and kissed him.
‘I must try to get my mind back on my job,’ she said a few moments later. ‘And I suppose I ought to speak to Danvers, just to tell him that what little there was between us is all over. Don’t worry about him.’
‘I won’t,’ he said simply. Then he gave a broad grin. ‘Danvers Jordan doesn’t worry me at all.’
She thought he meant that after the last few days he was riding high on pride and sexual confidence.
Afterwards she was to wonder how she could have been so stupid.
CHAPTER SEVEN
LUCA was away nearly a week, during which he called her ten times. She lived for those calls. It grew harder to pretend that she didn’t, and after a while she wasn’t pretending at all.
She didn’t know what to call this feeling. Somehow love did not seem the right word. The bond between them had mysteriously survived years and distance. Now she could think of nothing else but him. Her whole life seemed concentrated around the thought of him, his next call, the likely date of his return.
And yet, for reasons she did not understand, she resisted calling it love.
Two days before he was due home she was on duty at a hotel reception. It lasted only two hours, yet the time seemed interminable, because these days she could no longer take such occasions seriously. She wondered if she would ever do so again.
Smiling mechanically at someone who had claimed her attention and seemed determined to keep her forever, she managed to look around the room and, to her surprise, noticed Danvers on the far side. She hadn’t known that he was back, and that was strange because he was normally so punctilious.
The sight of him made her realise how little she’d thought of him while he was away, so absorbed had she been in Luca. If Danvers had not contacted her, neither had she contacted him. Soon she must see him and explain why their relationship, such as it had ever been, was over.
At last she managed to bring the present conversation to an end and made her way through the crowd, noticing that Danvers was deep in conversation with a young woman. When he became aware of Rebecca a sudden alert look came over his face, and she could almost believe that he met her with reluctance.
‘Rebecca,’ he said with a forced smile. ‘How nice to see you.’ As if she were a casual acquaintance.
‘Good evening, Danvers.’ She smiled at the young woman. A strange feeling was growing in her.
‘Ann, this is Mrs Hanley, the Allingham’s public-relations officer. Ann is my secretary at the bank.’
The two women greeted each other politely. Danvers looked around in the crowd.
‘Is Montese with you?’ he asked.
‘No. Why should he be?’
‘I just wondered. Ann, would you mind…?’
The other woman slipped away, leaving Rebecca looking at Danvers in a puzzled way.
‘Did you have a good trip?’ she asked.
‘Yes, it went very well.’
‘Have you been back long?’
‘Three days.’
Three days. And he hadn’t called her. That was more baffling than painful.
‘You normally don’t wait that long to call me,’ she said, trying to sound light.
‘Oh, please, Rebecca, don’t pretend. You know perfectly why I haven’t been in touch. Don’t tell me that you mind.’
She frowned. ‘Danvers, I-’
‘It would have been quite enough for you to tell me yourself, you know. You didn’t have to send in the heavy squad.’
‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘I mean Luca Montese claiming ownership like some tribal warlord.’
‘Ownership of what?’
