‘I can’t wait.’
‘I’d better go up and pack. We need to leave for the airport
for our flight to Naples at five.’ Would he offer to come with her? And if he
did...
‘I’ve got a few phone calls to make.’
Julia tried not to feel disappointed.
‘And, by the way, I’ve cancelled your booking at that guest
house and booked us both into the Hotel Arcadia instead.’
‘The Arcadia? But that’s the most exclusive hotel in Positano.
It costs the earth to stay there, and Lucy—’
‘Stop panicking. Naturally I shall be paying the bill. Did Lucy
say that Dorland was going to come over?’
‘Yes. About three.’
Upstairs in the suite, Julia packed quickly and
efficiently—leaving plenty of room for her new shoes. Her normal travelling work
‘uniform’ consisted of her current favourite pair of jeans, (her love affair
with jeans came a close second to her shoe addiction—Julia was simply not what
she called a ‘suit and two veg’ fan), several tee shirts and strappy tops, a
swimsuit just in case she got the chance to have a lazy day, and a long, sleek,
very plain jersey dress that rolled up into a ball, which she wore when she
needed to be dressed up. Added to these basics were casual cut-offs and a few
boho-type tops, plus a much loved floaty skirt.
Julia adored accessorising her clothes with one and sometimes
more of her trademark boho ‘finds’. Her personal look was very different from
the designer ‘footballer’s wife’ style adopted by so many of their clients. One
of her most cherished moments was the time a stylist for
Sex and the City
had stopped her in the street to ask where she had
got the top she had been wearing. Julia’s current favourite accessory was a dark
brown wide leather belt, ornamented with leather flower petals sewn with tiny
turquoise beads to form the flower stamens. She had bought it from a stall at
Camden Market, and wore it at every opportunity. She had been seriously tempted
to buy a pair of Aztec-inspired turquoise earrings she had also seen on the
stall, but had managed to resist.
Her packing finished, she looked at her watch—the plain but oh,
so elegant Cartier that Lucy had so generously insisted on buying for all three
of them out of her first profits.
Those had been happy, heady days, filled with fun and laughter.
Julia frowned. The initial success of the business seemed to have been replaced
by a series of financial problems, causing poor Lucy to have to dig deep into
her trust fund to provide Prêt a Party with more capital. No wonder her friend
was looking so stressed.
It was almost three o’clock. She might as well go back down and
wait for Dorland to arrive. Most of the necessary organisation for his
end-of-summer party had already been done by Dorland himself, but, as Julia
knew, he liked to fuss and fret over every tiny little detail, and virtually
every day she received anxious urgent e-mails from him.
She had just stepped out of the lift into the guest house’s
dusty, faded hallway when her mobile rang.
‘Darling!’ She heard her mother’s voice exclaiming. ‘How
naughty of you not to tell us about you and Silas. I couldn’t believe it at
first when Mrs. Williams showed me the article about the two of you in that
celebrity gossip magazine she buys. Such a lovely photograph of the two of you,
darling, but I must admit I was rather shocked. Not that we aren’t all thrilled.
We are, of course—especially Daddy. I drove straight round to see him, and he
was so pleased that he instructed Bowers to open a bottle of the wine he put
down when you were born, to celebrate. It’s what he’s always longed for. Of
course I had to ring Nancy. So silly of me to get the time difference wrong, but
naturally she is as excited as we are. You’ll be married at Amberley, of
course—every Amberley bride always is, but have you decided on a date yet? I do
so think that winter weddings have a certain
élan
.’
With every excited word her mother spoke, Julia’s insides
churned a little bit more tensely.
‘Ma...’ She tried to protest when she could eventually
interrupt her excited happiness, but it was no use. Her mother, as high as a
kite on maternal delight, was too busy listing all the many sections of the
family who would want to supply a potential bridesmaid.
Silas was on his own in the small courtyard. Julia didn’t waste
any time announcing in despair, ‘Ma’s just been on the phone. She thinks we’re
getting married.’
When Silas refused to react with the shock she had expected,
she added, ‘She’s told your mother, and Gramps was so pleased he instructed
Bowers to open a bottle of the wine he put down when I was born.’
‘The Château d’Yquem, eh?’ Silas looked impressed. ‘He’s
obviously pleased, then.’
‘What? Of course he’s pleased. According to Ma it’s what he’s
always wanted. But that isn’t the point. We
aren’t
engaged—we aren’t even in a
relationship
. Can you
imagine what it’s going to do to him when he finds out the truth?’
‘You’re right,’ Silas agreed firmly. ‘We can’t let that
happen.’
Julia had the unnerving feeling that she was a passenger in a
car that had suddenly taken a dangerous curve at high speed and left the road
completely.
‘Silas...’
‘For his sake we’re just going to have to go along with the
situation for now.’
‘Go along with it? Ma’s already planning the wedding—right down
to the number of bridesmaids!’
‘Mothers are like that,’ Silas agreed gravely.
Julia glared at him.
‘You aren’t taking this seriously,’ she accused him.
‘Because it isn’t serious,’ Silas told her. ‘Okay, it’s
unfortunate, but it’s hardly the end of the world. People get engaged to one
another every day.’
‘Yes, but
they
have a reason for
being engaged,’ Julia told him through gritted teeth. ‘We don’t.’
‘No, but we do have a reason to maintain the fiction that we
are engaged.’
‘Gramps?’ she guessed helplessly.
‘Exactly,’ Silas agreed. ‘No matter what our personal
feelings—or lack of them—I am sure we are both agreed that not upsetting your
grandfather is of more importance than they are.’
‘Yes, of course,’ Julia agreed immediately.
‘So, then, we are both agreed that for his sake there is
nothing we can do other than to accept that we are now “engaged”.’
Julia swallowed—hard. ‘But ultimately...’
‘Ultimately a solution will have to be found,’ Silas agreed
calmly. ‘Either by us or perhaps by life itself.’
Julia looked at him. ‘You mean that Gramps might...that he may
not... I know his heart isn’t very strong, but—’
Before she could continue, the door to the courtyard opened and
Dorland hurried in.
‘I suppose you’ve heard about those wretched diamonds? How on
earth can they be lost? Martina swears she remembers taking them off and putting
them back in their case, and asking someone to give them to the bloody security
guard-who I paid a small fortune to do nothing other than watch over them. He
says he never got them, Martina can’t remember who she gave them to, and she
screams every time I try to get her to remember. And George—would you believe
it?—was shagging one of the waitresses when Martina took them off. I’ve got
Tiffany on the phone every five minutes, demanding that I pay them a million
dollars for their necklace. Thank goodness I managed to persuade the
Beast
to pay for an exclusive account of how George
was discovered
in flagrante
, the very night he had
reaffirmed his marriage vows. You should see the photograph they’ve done—George
and this girl, naked apart from a diamond necklace.’
‘The
Beast
?’ Silas questioned.
‘Dorland’s pet name for a certain red-top daily,’ Julia
explained.
‘My little joke, Silas.’ Dorland beamed. ‘The editor, the
dearest boy, has a fondness for dressing up as King Kong, as part of his mating
ritual.’
‘Dorland, I’ve got a bone to pick with you,’ Julia informed him
grimly.
‘Oh?’
‘My mother’s daily showed her an article in
A-List Life
with photographs of me and Silas and the
information that—’
‘I’m sorry, sweetheart, but I just couldn’t resist.’ Dorland
stopped her, looking more smug than repentant. ‘It was such a tempting tidbit.
Fortunately the photographs I told the guys to take of the two of you turned out
well, and I told Murray to make room for them. I thought up the headline myself.
“Keeping it in the Family.” Then it said, “My spies tell me that one of
A-List
’s favourite party girls is soon to be planning
a wedding. And guess who to? Her grandfather, the Earl of Amberley, is bound to
be pleased, since her husband-to-be is also his heir, the American billionaire
Silas Cabot Carter.” You’ll be getting married at Amberley of course?’ he
continued, unconsciously echoing Julia’s mother.
‘Of course,’ Silas agreed smoothly. ‘But not yet. I haven’t
forgotten my promise to Lucy.’ Really, Silas reflected inwardly, things couldn’t
have begun to work out better if he had planned them this way himself.
‘Jules, I’ve been thinking—the fireworks. Do you really think
it’s a good idea to colour-co-ordinate them?’ Dorland demanded, having obviously
lost interest in their ‘engagement’.
‘I think it’s an excellent idea,’ Julia assured him, well aware
how much it would cost if she were to instruct the firework suppliers to change
the order she had already given them.
* * *
‘Lucy, I know you’re about to leave, but have you got a
minute?’
‘Of course. Nick’s gone down with our stuff to wait for the
taxi.’
She hated doing this, Julia thought. No way did she want to lie
to her best friend, but with her grandfather having sent off a notice of her
supposed engagement to
The Times
, Lucy was bound to
wonder why on earth she hadn’t said something.
‘Silas and I are getting engaged.’
‘Jules!’ Immediately Lucy threw her arms around her and hugged
her fiercely, her face alight with happiness. ‘Oh, I am so pleased for you.
You’re perfect for one another. Oh, Jules, how exciting—and you never said a
word...’
‘It’s all been very sudden,’ Julia told her uncomfortably.
Well, that much at least was true.
Despite the fact that her friend was obviously happy with the
news, Lucy looked weary.
‘You’re happy, aren’t you, Lucy?’ Julia demanded abruptly. ‘I
mean, with Nick?’
‘Of course I am,’ Lucy told her immediately. ‘Why shouldn’t I
be?’
* * *
‘A word with you, if you please, Blayne,’ Silas demanded
quietly.
This was the first time he had managed to catch Nick on his own
following Julia’s revelations.
Nick shrugged. ‘Sure. How can I help?’
Silas studied him assessingly. Was it only another man who
could see that the too-handsome face hinted at weakness?
‘You’re walking a very precarious line right now, and whilst
your marriage is not my concern, Julia’s well-being is.’
‘You’re warning me off?’ Nick asked lightly, smiling. He gave
another small shrug. ‘Jules has a very passionate nature. She’s never made any
secret of the fact that she has a bit of a thing for me—’
‘Really? And what do you have a thing for, Blayne? Apart from
assaulting women, of course.’
An angry red tide of colour had begun to seep up under Nick’s
tan.
‘I don’t know what she told you, but she was—’
‘Trying to tell you that she wasn’t interested in having sex
with you. Let me give you a friendly warning. You’ve been lucky. You married
Lucy. Don’t push that luck too far, otherwise you could very easily find
yourself unmarried to her. Right now she’s all that’s stopping me from turning
your life inside out. You’re scum—you know that, and I know that. So, in case
you want what we both know to become public knowledge, I suggest that in future
you remember what a very lucky man you are.’
‘It’s all very well for you, standing there all high and mighty
with your billions of dollars behind you,’ Nick burst out savagely. ‘You don’t
even begin to know what the real world is all about. If you did—’
‘If I did, I still wouldn’t use a woman to satisfy my own needs
if that wasn’t what she wanted. Money has nothing to do with morals, Blayne.
We’ve all got freedom of choice.’
‘Bastard,’ Silas heard Nick mutter venomously as he walked away
from him. But the sudden compression of his mouth into a hard line wasn’t caused
by Nick’s aggression.
He had claimed a moral superiority over Blayne, and it was true
that he would never physically abuse or force a woman in any kind of way, but
according to his mother in planning to marry Julia he was using her.
‘A marriage between us will benefit her as much as it will me,’
he had told her.
‘Only if she shares your thinking, Silas, and I have to say
that I don’t think she will. You claim to be a practical man who has no desire
for a marriage based on love. I doubt that Julia will share that point of
view.’
Silas stopped himself. This was hardly the best time for him to
start indulging in a guilt trip over Julia’s feelings.
Any practical person would agree with him that a marriage
between them would be extremely beneficial to both of them. In and out of bed.
He considered himself to be an aware and fair lover, and Julia hadn’t flirted
with him earlier on because she
didn’t
want to have
sex with him, had she? There was no reason why they shouldn’t share a mutually
very satisfying sex life. If they did, then he was certainly prepared to remain
a faithful husband, and he felt confident that he could keep Julia satisfied
enough not to want to stray herself. Their marriage would certainly have a far
stronger foundation than one based on ‘romantic love’. One only had to look at
the tragedy of Lucy’s marriage to Blayne to know that.