An Affair to Forget (10 page)

“
Yes I did… eventually. And you saw me and Gareth, didn’t you? You saw him… us… kissing.”

“
Well – yes, I did, but I don’t actually know what went on, do I? Did you manage to get him to stay on?”

“
Is that all you’re interested in?”

His
brow furrowed. “It’s important. You were supposed to be working on him… and from what I saw last night, my love, you were doing a very good job.”

Morrin
had to blink hard to keep tears of rage and shock from her eyes. It was a moment before she could trust her voice.

“
Well?” Sam prompted.

“
You shouldn’t believe everything your eyes tell you, should you?”

“
Damn!” He turned away, drumming his fingers on a carved sideboard. “I was so sure that – ”

“
Perhaps you should have done as I suggested and entrusted the job to Vicki. I’m not a professional temptress, Sam. I didn’t quite understand what was expected of me!” She clenched her fists. “I’m here as your assistant, not as… as bait. If you want to seduce playwrights you’ll have to hire someone else.”

“
For heaven’s sake, you’re surely not making all this fuss over one little kiss, are you? Come on, love, I wasn’t exactly asking you to make the supreme sacrifice. All I wanted you to do was persuade Sinclair to give us one more day. So you failed… and I’m not blaming you.”

“
Now I’m a failure, is that what you think?” She tried to push past him towards the dining-room but he caught her shoulders, shaking her gently.

“
Morrin, Morrin, how do you think I got where I am today? Sometimes people have to be manipulated a little, and it’s worth it when I know that I’m right. This play could be great at the box office, and all I need is the time to persuade Vicki and Sinclair. I only asked you to help me a little, that’s all.”

“
I’m sorry if I let you down.”

“
Don’t try sarcasm, it doesn’t suit you,” Sam said coolly.

“
Neither does behaving like a tart just to get you what you want.”

“
For God’s sake, Morrin, you were doing nothing of the sort!”

“
It felt like it.” Her voice shook.

“
Darling, don’t be like that. I don’t know what you’re getting so worked up about.” Sam drew her into his arms, holding her close, kissing her hair. “It wasn’t your fault. I’m sure that you did your best.”

Don
’t
you
care
? she wanted to ask him.
Didn’t
you
hate
to
see
another
man
hold
me
,
kiss
me
,
the
way
Gareth
Sinclair
kissed
me
last
night
? But he didn’t give her the chance.

“
I would never expect you to do anything against your own will. It’s just that… I knew from the first minute you walked into my office, into my life, that you were just what I had been looking for. You and me, Morrin, taking on the world and winning. Each of us playing our part, using our particular skills. Isn’t that what it’s all about?”

It
was a still, warm morning, just right for the sleeveless green sweater and cream-coloured jeans Morrin wore, and yet she felt chilled. This was not the Sam she knew and felt so safe and secure with. This was a stranger, a man willing to make whatever use of her he could in order to achieve his own ends.

“
I – I don’t know if I can handle this job any longer, Sam.” She turned away from him, moving into the dining alcove. “It might be better if I handed in my resignation.”

“
No!” He tried to draw her to him again but she broke free. “What would I do without you, Morrin?”

“
You would find someone else, someone more willing to – ”

She
stopped short just through the archway, a hand flying, too late, to her mouth.

“
Good morning,” Gareth said pleasantly, smiling up at her from the breakfast table.

Ten

Gareth sat alone at the table, buttering a roll. A half-finished cup of coffee and a neat pile of orange peel showed that he had been there for some time.

Sam
pulled himself together while Morrin was still staring with dismay at the evidence that Gareth must have heard a good part, if not all, of their quarrel. “Good morning, Sinclair, did you sleep well?”

“
Eventually. It was an… interesting night, all in all.” Gareth’s eyes rested lightly, mockingly, on Morrin’s. “I woke early and went down to the village to have a look around.” He smiled, seeming quite unaware of any tension between his companions. This morning he wore a striped short-sleeved sweatshirt and white shorts. The sun danced in his hair, which had been left uncombed in a tumble of curls about his face.

Sam
pulled a chair out for Morrin, signalling with a faint flicker of an eyebrow as he bent over her that they might as well brazen things out. Maria came with more coffee and a plate of crisp rolls, but Morrin had only taken one sip from her cup before she remembered the phone call she had still to make.

She
began to get up. “I’d better contact the airport.”

“
Why should you want to do that?” Gareth asked.

“
I have to book your…” Her voice faded as she looked into his green eyes.

“
Dear me, you must still be asleep,” he teased, an indulgent adult being kind to a child. “Haven’t you told Sam yet about my change of plan?”

“
Change of plan?”

“
I’ve decided to stay on for a couple of days.”

“
That’s great!” Sam’s voice cracked with astonished pleasure on the second word.

“
Mind you, Kennedy, I’m still not at all sure that this idea of yours will work, but last night Morrin persuaded me against my better judgement to give it a few more days. And I can’t go back on my word, can I?” He beamed on them both again then the smile changed to a faint frown. “There’s just one problem…”

Sam
was glowing with pleasure. “Name it and I’ll put it right at once,” he promised sweepingly.

Gareth
stared down at the orange peel on his plate, pushing it round with the tip of one finger. “Morrin pointed out last night that it would be an idea for me to have a shot at roughing out the play and writing some dialogue for Vicki. But I’m used to dictating to a secretary. I would have to find a secretary who understands English and can work fast. And a grasp of scriptwriting would be a big help since I’ve never done it before. It would surely be impossible to find someone like that on Tenerife at such short notice.”

Morrin
sat down again, her knees weak as she realised that he wasn’t finished with her after all. Already Sam was saying, “Is that all you need? No problem. Morrin brought her laptop with her, and she knows the book well… plus she has a fair bit of experience as far as scripts are concerned. Isn’t that right, sweetie?”

“
I’m not sure that I’d be of much help.” She was clutching at straws, knowing that they were going to be pulled away, leaving her to drown. “I’ve never worked with a playwright before.”

“
But surely it’s just like taking dictation for a book,” Gareth said. “And you know all about that, don’t you?” Then as she looked at him sharply he went on, without missing a beat, “Not book dictation, since you’ve never worked for an author, have you? I meant that you’re surely used to taking dictation, and you’ll have more experience of scripts than I have. So you’d be a real help to me… if you’re willing, that is?” He ended on a note of false hope.

Morrin
bit her lip. The green gaze holding hers was pointing out quite clearly that if he had wanted to he could have given her away just then. Instead, he had kept her secret… but there was a price to pay.

She
had no option but to nod and say, “I’ll do my best.”

“
Your best,” Gareth said smoothly, “is all I can ask of you.” He drained his coffee, put the cup down and rose. “We’ll start this afternoon, shall we? I’ll leave you both in peace to enjoy your breakfast.”

As
soon as Gareth had gone Sam caught Morrin’s hand in his and kissed the palm. “Why didn’t you tell me you had talked him round, you wonderful little idiot? I knew you wouldn’t let me down!”

Morrin
took a deep breath. The sooner she told him the truth the better. “Sam, about Gareth. I…”

“
I know, I know, you don’t like him for some reason and you don’t like the idea of having to work with him. But just hang on for a couple of days… please? For me?” He kissed her hand again, finger by finger. “I am so sorry, my darling; I should have trusted you. Let’s have dinner tonight, just the two of us.”

“
Sam, will you listen to – ”

“
On the other hand, perhaps we should stay close to Gareth and Vicki for the moment, just to keep them both sweet. I’ll take her shopping this afternoon; she loves shops.”

*

Vicki breakfasted in her room and joined her guests on the sun deck shortly before lunch, wearing a skimpy lilac bikini that revealed that she was an even coffee brown all over.

When
Sam, who had been waiting impatiently for her, blurted out his news she merely handed him a bottle of lotion and said, “Rub that on my back, will you, darling?” then stretched out on a lounger.

“
I thought you’d be thrilled by our news.” He lifted her long dark hair from her shoulders and spread it carefully to one side as she settled herself face down. Vicki’s hair was like smoke, Morrin thought idly; it seemed to take in the sunlight and hold it captive, but it wasn’t as glossy or as soft looking as Gareth’s.

She
and Sam had recently left the pool but Gareth was still in the water, covering length after length with his effortless crawl.

“
I thought he would change his mind,” Vicki said sleepily, then made a purring noise deep in her throat as Sam’s long-fingered hands moved gently over her back. “Mmm, nice. Just a little firmer.”

“
All we have to do now is to get a workable script, and we’re all set.”

Vicki
said nothing until he had finished working on her back. Then she turned over and sat up, holding her hand out for the bottle.

“
We’re not quite all set, Sam.” She tipped some lotion on to her fingertips and began to cream her arms and shoulders with long caressing strokes.

“
No?” He was still kneeling beside her like a slave attending an Egyptian queen. Vicki, with her lush brown body and long black hair, her eyes hidden behind enormous sunglasses and her mouth enigmatic, could have played the part of Cleopatra the Egyptian temptress easily.

“
You still have to persuade me,” she said now.

Sam
’s face fell. “But you said last night that you wanted to play Charlotte.”

“
That was before Gareth” – Vicki turned and looked at the dark head cleaving the water in the pool – “decided that I wasn’t good enough to be the damned woman.”

“
He didn’t say that, darling!”

“
Are you suggesting that I imagined it?” Vicki’s voice was acidic now, and Sam cast an imploring glance at Morrin.

“
I believe that what Gareth meant,” she said reluctantly, “was that he wondered if you knew Charlotte’s character well enough to tune in to its various facets.”

“
Exactly!”

“
That,” Vicki said, “was not what it sounded like to me.”

“
Sweetheart,” Sam coaxed, sounding just as he had earlier, when Morrin had accused him of using her to sweeten Gareth, “the important thing is that he’s changed his mind. Now he wants to stay here and do some work on the play.”

At
that moment Gareth’s hands caught the edge of the pool and he lifted himself out effortlessly, water streaming from his hair and face and rippling down his body as he stood up.

Vicki
’s sunglasses turned in his direction. “I hear that you’re going to stay on, after all.”

He
grinned down at her. “Yes, for a day or two, but I’m not promising you a play, as yet.”

She
took the glasses off and eyed him from head to foot, then deliberately ran the tip of her tongue over her lower lip before saying in a sultry voice, “And I’m not promising you an actress… as yet.”

His
brows lifted slightly. “So you want us to coax you, is that the idea?”

“
That” – Vicki shook a few drops of lotion from the bottle and smoothed it over her throat, then down over the full ripe swell of her breasts – “is the idea.”

Her
slim manicured hands caressed her body sensuously. Both men watched her, and neither looked up when Morrin rose and walked to the edge of the pool.

“
I like to be coaxed,” she heard Vicki say, just before she dived into the water.

After
lunch, which was served by the pool, Morrin showered and changed into a blouse and light cotton slacks then made for the guest house. She had no option but to work with Gareth, so she might as well get it over with as quickly as possible.

The
guest house door was ajar, the room flooded with sunshine. The buzz of an electric razor sounded from the bathroom. That door, too, was open, and Gareth, still in his black bathing trunks, was shaving, his back to her. As the mirror picked up her reflection behind him his eyes flickered briefly in her direction.

“
Won’t be a moment.” His shoulder muscles flowed beneath the skin as he moved and his well-proportioned body balanced easily on the balls of his feet. He carried himself with an easy grace that almost made a mockery of clothes, Morrin thought idly, then gave herself a mental shake and leaned on the door frame, her arms folded.

“
Why, Gareth? Why have you decided to stay on?”

“
Perhaps I realised that your Sam has a good idea there after all.”

“
But last night…” She wanted to beat at his broad, indifferent back with her fists and at the same time she wanted to touch that velvet skin with the tips of her fingers. She tightened her folded arms as though trying to keep her hands out of the way of temptation.

“
Last night” – Gareth killed the razor’s whine, put it down and reached for a bottle of aftershave – “was really something, wasn’t it? We must do it again some time.”

“
Last night you had no intention of staying on. Then this morning you suddenly came up with a ridiculous story about being talked round… by me, of all people. Why?”

“
What makes you think that you couldn’t talk me round?” He was still using the same aftershave. Its scent brought back memories of a life that was over, and a love that could never have come to anything.

“
We both know that I’m the last person you’d listen to. Why lie to Sam about it?”

“
To help you, of course.”

“
Help me? You could have helped me by just leaving today, the way you planned.”

“
You don’t understand, do you?” he said kindly. “Last night I thought that the two of you had cooked up a scheme between you, then when you had that little tantrum this morning I realised that you hadn’t been as calculating as I’d thought.”

“
You were listening to us, to Sam and me.”

“
I couldn’t help but listen, since the two of you were having a row not two metres away from me.” He put the bottle down on a shelf and swung round to face her. “I saved your job this morning when you were about to throw in the towel.”

“
My job was never in jeopardy.”

“
No? You seem to have a very casual approach to employment, Morrin. I thought it best,” he said silkily, moving into the bedroom as though the doorway was empty, forcing her to skip aside in order to avoid being jammed in the narrow framework with him, “to let Sam think that you had done as he asked you to do. Thus saving you from your own impetuous nature.”

“
You expect me to believe that you’re staying on here for my sake?”

He
looked back at her, a half-smile on his face. “You’re extremely suspicious for one so young. Whatever happened to your faith in mankind?”

She
rammed her hands into the pockets of her slacks, resisting the urge to lash out at him. “Perhaps Yorkshire happened.”

Gareth
raised a mocking eyebrow. “Are you referring to my lifestyle? You’ve got to learn to be tolerant, petal. It takes all kinds.”

“
I had noticed that. Models, hairdressers, designers…”

“
My life is my own business. It doesn’t hurt you or anyone else.”

“
What about Charlotte? Doesn’t it hurt her?”