Swindled (2 page)

Chapter 3

Beth stood soaked and in shock. The pain had subsided under the icy cold water but she was covered from head to toe. Water dripped from her sodden hair to fall onto her shoulders. It ran down her arms and fingers to drip onto the carpet. Her silk suit looked like a wet handkerchief that had been sent through the rinse cycle one too many times. There was an unnatural silence in the room. Everyone including Beth had frozen in the face of the tidal wave.

The waiter stood in shocked stupor. He stared at Beth, with water dripping from her body, as if he didn’t know where she had appeared from. The middle aged man and his young companion sat holding their wine glasses unwilling to break the silence. The manager looked stunned as his polished bar took on the look of Sea World.

Vickie stood up with a hand firmly clamped over her mouth. She had managed to avoid the water completely. With one knuckle stuffed in her mouth, Vickie looked very much like she was trying to stop a giggle. Beth was much less amused.

“Um…” The waiter couldn’t seem to pull himself together. He stood staring; first at Beth and then down at his empty tray. The table was covered in upturned cups and saucers, coffee dripping from the table edge to the floor. There didn’t seem to be much anyone could say.

The manager shuffled up quickly. He looked unsure of whether to be proud of his quick thinking or if he had made the situation far worse. He stuttered an apology and offered to have her clothes cleaned while she waited in a hotel room.

“While all the rooms of the hotel are booked for the evening, we have several late arrivals and we would like to extend an offer to use one of those rooms until we have your clothing returned to you,” he assured her as he dabbed at her suit ineffectually. Beth just watched him, her mouth hanging open.

“Someone is flying in at midnight so we can re-clean the room after you’ve used it. Its one of the best suites,” he said trying to sweeten the deal as she stood there dripping. She couldn’t bring herself to say anything. She couldn’t bring herself to even believe it was happening. The manager’s earnest face fell when she didn’t respond. He looked almost ready to cry and he didn’t look ready to accept a no. That or he really wanted to get the dripping wet woman out of sight before the evening rush of customers arrived.

Could this day get any worse? It did make sense to get sorted out before going to Karin’s but that was on the assumption she would make it to Karin’s in one piece. Beth was almost frightened of leaving the hotel and trying her luck. It was only early evening and that left far too much scope for another disaster to strike. Staying in the hotel for a peaceful hour sounded actually the safest option. She didn’t think she, her family and her business would be able to bear another brush with fate today.

*

Walking up to the baggage carousel, David grabbed his suitcase with his left hand. His right shoulder felt like it was on fire. The pain was getting steadily worse as he left the terminal and got into the waiting car.

David’s manager, was a man of many talents and so the chauffeur. He had even gone the extra mile, David realised when he picked up the hotel room key sitting on the backseat. He had checked him into the hotel room. It meant David wouldn’t have to deal with any journalists or the general hubbub that generally surrounded his return to the UK. Leaning back in the car, as it slowly itched its way in to the airport traffic, David called Thomas.

“What did you do?” David asked keeping his eyes shut and his head firmly back on the seat headrest.

“David! Welcome home!” Thomas sounded pleased to hear from him. Then again Thomas was talented enough not to get caught sounding anything less then pleased.

“And what makes you think I’ve done anything?” He added with a chuckle. David spared a thought to how long it had taken Thomas to get his suave manners down pat. In university he had been more concerned with being the life of the party.

“The car, the key… a welcome message when I got off the plane,” David reminded him. “What have you done?” He asked again. His shoulder was killing him. He couldn’t find the energy to do more then mutter into the phone. Lifting his head from where it rested was going to be an impossibility.

“Now is not the time for all the gory details, my boy. Not the time at all,” Thomas assured him. “We’ll discuss everything when we meet up for lunch this week. OK? In the meantime is there anything you need?” He asked, sounding full of boundless energy.

Too tired to argue with his so called friend and too frustrated to care, David thought.

“Listen, I know its short notice but are any of the back-up physiotherapist around?” he asked finally. “I could really use someone to get the tension out of my shoulder.”

“A massage? No problem!” Thomas said nearly falling over himself with glee. “I know just the woman to sort it out for you. She’s discrete and amazingly talented,” he sounded wolfish. Then again, with any of the women in Thomas’s acquaintance, that was probably the right reaction David had to concede to himself.

“I need a qualified therapist Thomas. Not one of your old girlfriends.” He could barely keep his eyes open. He was exhausted, pissed off and generally ready to take his elephant tranquillisers come what may.

“That might be more difficult,” Thomas paused. “Tell you what. I’ll see who’s around and we’ll arrange something for you tomorrow.”

They chatted for another minute before hanging up and David fell into a half doze thanks to the gentle swaying of the car. So much for the life of a sports star, he thought drifting off.

*

Chapter 4

The manager had wasted no time in putting Vickie in a cab and ushering Beth into a suite on the top floor of the hotel. Beth had to admit that she was suitably impressed.

The suite was massive and beautiful but the bathroom itself was sheer heaven. A glass sided shower stood in the middle of the room. Two sinks embedded in granite stood along the side with the other bathroom essentials. On one side was a bath big enough to fit at least five people with positioned jets to hit every aching muscle a person might have. The whole room was tiled in cream marble spread across the floor and walls. The granite topped surfaces gleamed in the down lighters.

After the day she had, Beth felt like she had stepped into paradise. Peeling her clothing off with relish, she shrugged on a robe and gave them to the waiting housekeeper. Beth sighed in relief as she leaned against the cool marble of the wall by the door, alone at last. In an hour she would be redressed, and hopefully refreshed. If the bath was as good as it looked, she might even survive the day.

Forty-five minutes later, Beth took a deep relaxed breath. It was probably time to face the world again. It was time to get out of the bath. The bubble had all disappeared and the water was cooling. Beth dunked herself to give her body one last rinse off. She wasn’t going to be able to ignore what happened for much longer, no matter how hard she tried.

Neither Beth nor Vickie had enough clout to bring in the people they needed at short notice to make their business a success. Brian had the connections. He was friends with these people. For him, as ‘a buddy’, the buyers would have cast a quick eye over his baby sisters’ productions. At least that’s what Brian had assured them. Beth wasn’t as confident. Had Brian skipped out because he couldn’t care less or because he couldn’t deliver?

She leaning forward, placing her head against the tiled bath edge. She let the last of the water’s heat seep into her skin, soothing her aching shoulders. The stress was starting to kick in again. What to do?

There was a noise of the maid coming into the main room of the suite. Beth called out through the slight open door of the bathroom, “Just give me a minute and I’ll be ready.”

She sat up and pulled the plug from the bath. It was time to get out, time to face the world. She glanced over at the fluffy white towels on the glass shelf sitting halfway down the wall. There was no putting it off any longer, it was really was time to get out. As she stepped from the bath, Beth caught movement as the door of the bathroom push open.

“Hey!” she said surprised and grabbed for a towel. As she stepped forward, her foot slid on the wet tiled floor and she slid, at speed, across the floor. Dropping everything, Beth frantically flailed her arms to get balance. She didn’t stand a chance, with the wet marble nothing short of a full set of breaks would have made it possible to stop.

“What…?” was all the man at the door managed to get out before she smacked into him.

There was silence. Everything felt as though it had slowed down. All Beth could hear was the water drain from the bath and the pounding of her own heart. Getting a grip on herself, she glanced up at the man she had crashed into. He stood still, looking shocked to find his arms wrapped around her. Instinctively he had grabbed her as she had fallen, stopping her from ending up in a complete mess at his feet. Instead, Beth ended up a safe but wet soggy mess in his arms. Not much better for her ego but at least she was still sort of on her feet.

“Just what kind of masseuse did Thomas send?” the man asked gruffly after a brief pause. The faintly stunned expression stayed on his handsome face. He seemed completely at a loss about what to do with her.

“What…what do you mean?” Beth finally asked when his words filtered into her panicking mind. She felt light headed, no doubt from the hot bath, her near spill onto the glossy marble floor okay and the alcohol in her system.

As his voice had washed over her, Beth couldn’t help but notice that the body she was pressed up against was hard in all the right places. He seemed to be using very little effort to keep her upright. Given she was bearing very little of her own weight that was pretty impressive. He was a tall man with broad shoulders and dark hair. He looked rugged and tired but handsome and very appealing.

Now Beth was in a dilemma. Realising he was attractive made her all the more aware of it. She couldn’t let go of him because it would mean revealing her very naked body. To let go of him and to step away to reach her dropped towel was completely unthinkable. Besides, she wasn’t sure if her legs were steady enough yet.

“I asked my manager for a qualified therapist,” he explained and then paused significantly, “Not a … ah… therapist of a different sort.” He sounded tired and not that impressed with the nude woman soaking his front.

“Not that I don’t appreciate this but I’ve just spent the last ten hours on a plane. All I want to do now is sleep,” he continued. While explaining, David was quietly deciding that he was going to kill Thomas when he got his hands on him. This was just what he didn’t need.

“No… of course. Look,” Beth went from mortified to horrified to mortified again as she realised what he was insinuating.

“No, the hotel manager didn’t expect you until much later and …” Beth slowly moved a little away so she could look at his face. She really couldn’t stay sprawled against him. Even if it was the most dignified of positions she could find herself in, given the circumstances. Besides, while the front of her was toasty warm, the air was cooling the water on the rest of her. She was starting to get cold. She weighed her options... run for the towel or run screaming from the room?

“I’m just waiting for my clothes from housekeeping. There was an accident,” Beth said as she tried for the nonchalant approach and stood. She moved toward the towels, careful not to glance his way, afraid she might die of embarrassment. Was it possible to die of sheer embarrassment? Beth wondered briefly before grabbing a towel from the shelf. Once she was completely covered, she looked up at him, hoping to look casual and calm.

He was watching every move she made. Though he looked ready to drop, his deep blue eyes had tracked her walking away from him and were currently focused intensely on where her fingers were tucking the ends of the towel. He looked bedraggled with the imprint of her body pressed wetly on his wrinkled grey suit. Obviously a breast man, Beth thought as she tried to tuck the towel more tightly around the swells of her bust. He was a good looking man even in the state he was in. Beth felt a certain sort of satisfaction that he was responding to her body. Down ego, she thought to herself trying not to smile.

“My name is Elizabeth Grant. Beth,” she took a careful step forward to shake hands with him. There was no way she was going to risk flying bare-assed naked through the air again.

“Umm they didn’t expect you till midnight so allowed me use of the room ...” she trailed off. Now that she was covered, she took the time to take a better look at him. He really did look ready to fall off his feet from pure exhaustion.

“David Andrews,” he replied and shook her hand. He blinked as if trying to wake himself up. Beth figured he probably wasn’t sure just how he ended up in a hotel bathroom with a strange woman.

“I don’t suppose my clothes have been dropped off while I was in the bath?” She asked keeping her fingers crossed that this fated day would go her way for once.

“I don’t think so…” David looked vaguely behind him toward the main bedroom. He glanced back at Beth and seemed to wake up a bit more. There was a gleam starting to shine in his eye. There was, after all, a naked woman in his bathroom.

He gestured to the main room. “Why don’t you come through and we can call reception?” he asked walking back into the suite.

Beth stood dripping on the tile floor trying to get her tingling body under control. All it had taken was that gleam in his eyes to kick start all the nerves in her body. She felt that warmth fill her and quickly grabbed the robe from behind the bathroom door. The more layers between him and her traitorous nerves, the better!

*

David wasn’t sure what had just happened. He shook his head. Was there really a naked woman in his bathroom?

He closed his eyes and tried to erase the image of her naked body from his mind. It wasn’t going to work. That woman had the body of an angel. He groaned. He was tired, his shoulder was a complete mess and he was lusting after a naked woman standing in his bathroom.

*

Skirting past the king sized four poster bed (hotels really made an effort for the rich and famous), Beth wandered over to join him in the main room. Sitting down in one of the large lounging chairs positioned at an angle to the couch, she concentrated on tucking her robe around her legs to make sure that it didn’t gape.

David seemed nearly asleep when she had walked down the two stairs to the living area but she could feel his eyes on her as he took in the robe, damp and pinned up air, her bare feet…

“Bad news,” he said, “they sent your clothes for an overnight service instead of the one hour cleaning.” His eyes met Beth’s. She stared solemnly back at him.

“They’re trying to sort out a room for you but things are full because of some conference,” he finished looking sympathetic. Beth nodded miserably but lifted her head when he continued, rubbing a hand over his face, “Look I’m too tired for this. Why don’t you just stay here? I’ll sleep on the couch or something...” he trailed off almost dozing in his chair. He was slouched over and barely conscious by the time he finished talking.

Beth took stock. She should really just borrow something to wear and take a taxi home but the thought of returning of having to face what was waiting there was too much for her. There was also the issue of tempting fate by leaving the semi-protection of the hotel. Beth had a real concern that she might get struck by lightening at this rate.

She looked back over at David with his tussled dark hair, wrinkled drying clothes and the relaxed muscles. She could feel the effect of him on her body, she felt heated and flushed. Did she trust herself alone with him? He looked harmless sleeping in the chair.

“Ok,” she said quietly. David opened blurry eyes to look at her.

“We’re both adults, we can choose to be adult about this. Do you sleep on the right or the left?” she asked standing up. “Neither of us are in any shape to do anything untoward so why not?”

“Left,” he muttered and pulled himself out the seat. As he ambled toward the four-poster he shed his tie and shirt. He sat on the edge of the bed, pulled off his socks and lay back half dressed. Beth followed him feeling oddly relieved that the day was over.

By the time she had made it round to her side of the bed, David’s breathing had deepened and evened out. He was asleep. She crawled into the bed and curled on her side. Listening to his relaxed breathing made it easy to calm down again. There was just no point in worrying anymore. There was nothing she could do lying in a hotel room bed next to a stranger. The money was gone, the business was in trouble but at the moment Beth found she wasn’t thinking about any of it. She let herself drift quietly to sleep mere minutes after her companion.