I stretched a leg luxuriously, raising it out of the water, all sleek and sudsy. Then I put it down again quickly, remembering.
‘Please don’t do that,’ he begged. ‘I’m trying to be a gentleman, although after the evening we’ve had-But don’t worry, I’m on my best behaviour. Do you realise that I know nothing about you?’ he hurried on. ‘Except that you came out of the water, all silver and shining like a mermaid. Are you married?’
‘No.’
‘Engaged? Promised?’
‘Nothing. Nobody,’ I said briefly.
‘There’s nobody who’s going to appear suddenly, yelling, “She’s mine!”?’
I raised an eyebrow at him. ‘You left it a bit late to worry about that, didn’t you?’
He grinned. ‘So I did. But you wouldn’t like to think of me shaking in my shoes for fear of the man in your life, would you?’
‘I don’t think I could ever imagine you shaking in your shoes,’ I said. ‘More likely to make other people shake.’
He grinned again. It had an unsettling quality.
‘I’m harmless, I promise. To you, anyway. But seriously, is there anyone you want to call to say where you are?’
Various members of my family flitted through my mind: my aunts and uncles, cousins. No need to bother them. They had their own problems. Finally I thought of Grandad, and decided that where he was he didn’t need any more trouble.
‘Nobody,’ I said.
‘So, come on, tell me something about yourself.’
I thought about all I could have told him, which was a lot. He wouldn’t like it. There was much about my life, my past, that even I didn’t like.
‘Perhaps the less you know about me the better,’ I mused. ‘I’m just here to fit into the part you want me to play.’
‘But you’re still a person in your own right,’ he said. ‘You don’t just exist for my convenience.’
Oh, hell’s bells! Do you know how hard it is to get a man to think like that? And when I finally met one he had to be a ship that was going to pass in the night. Life just wasn’t fair!
‘I think, for a while, you need me to exist for your convenience,’ I said cautiously. ‘I am Cindy, and my past is whatever you tell me it is.’
‘Is that your way of telling me to mind my own business?’ he asked, with his head on one side.
‘If I tell you that I’m a hundred per cent with you, and I won’t let you down, what else do you need to know?’
‘Nothing.’
‘In that case-’ I laid my finger over my mouth.
‘Good. OK, here’s the deal. I’m employing you-for a length of time to be decided later. Your job is to convince Grace that she’s wasting her time. I shall provide a complete wardrobe, a generous salary, and anything else necessary for you to be convincing. Now, I’ll leave you before your suds start to fade. When you’ve finished there’ll be a meal waiting for you next door.’
He closed the door, leaving me to my thoughts.
I refused to think of the problems that might lie ahead. For the moment things were looking good, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my colourful and sometimes bizarre, existence, it’s to take life as it comes.
I leaned back, sipping champagne.
CHAPTER FOUR
I WAS drowning. Perfumed suds were going up my nose and I was floundering about, submerged in water, not knowing where I was, getting scared.
Just in time a pair of hands grasped me and hauled me out of the water.
‘What happened?’ I choked, sending suds everywhere.
‘You must have fallen asleep and slid underwater,’ Jack gasped.
I had a violent coughing fit, clinging to him for dear life, too frightened by what had nearly happened to care that I was naked. Jack had climbed into the bath with me, and now he was sodden, his shirt transparent. Without letting go of me, he reached out and pulled the plug so that the water drained away.
‘Thank goodness you came in,’ I spluttered.
‘I nearly didn’t. I called something through the door. When you didn’t reply I got worried, but I didn’t know what to do. I felt kind of shy about bursting in on you.’
If I hadn’t been recovering I might have said something like,
‘I must have fallen asleep,’ I said. ‘Another moment and-’ I shuddered.
‘Let’s get you out of here.’ He hauled me out of the bath so that I could sit on the carpet, then tossed the robe over me and headed for the door
‘Selina’s sent you some of her clothes,’ he said over his shoulder. ‘I’ll hand them through.’
A moment later the door opened. His hand appeared, dropped a bag on the floor, and retreated.
If they were Selina’s clothes, I was a monkey’s uncle. She must have had a maid with her, and this was one of her uniforms-grey, shapeless and too big.
It was a declaration of war.
Fine! If that was what she wanted, I was up for it.
I opened the bathroom door and called out, ‘Are you ready for this?’
‘Yes,’ he called back.
Without a word I walked out and presented myself to him, turning very slowly so that he could view the dress in all its ghastliness, while his eyes popped and his jaw dropped.
‘I don’t know what to say,’ he said at last. ‘Except that I’m sorry.’
I’d recovered my sense of humour by this time. ‘I suppose you could see this as a positive sign,’ I pointed out. ‘It means she’s taking me seriously, which is what you want.’
‘That’s the spirit. And I’ll buy you a new wardrobe tomorrow.’
Jack had also changed, since his clothes had got wet. Now he was in casuals, but he still managed to look as though he owned the world.
I don’t know what I ate, I was too tired and hungry to care. Jack served me himself, as tenderly as a mother, eating little and always watching out for my needs.
‘More champagne?’ he asked me once.
‘I could murder a cup of tea,’ I said.
He was on the phone to the kitchens at once. Just as he finished there was a knock at the door. He was scowling as he went to open it, but he smiled when he saw who it was.
‘Jenny, Charles-come in.’
It was the man and girl I’d seen holding hands on deck, and then later when they showed Vanner below.
‘We’re not disturbing anything, are we?’ the girl asked, coming in and smiling at me.
‘Not a thing,’ I said, liking her at once. She was in her twenties, very pretty, with real warmth in her smile.
I liked her even more when I learned why she’d come.
‘We’re the same size,’ she said, opening a bag and showing me the contents. ‘So I brought you some of my clothes. I thought Selina would try something, and I can see she has.’
‘Bless you, Jenny,’ Jack said.
I blessed her too when I saw the clothes. They were beautiful, and they fitted.
Jenny was a darling. She could see that I was almost asleep, and she took Charles away quickly.
