Steven coughed. 'I am afraid it was the sudden sight of me,' he said, and smiled. 'We are, what shall I say, old friends.'
Robert doubted it, and found his hands curling into fists. He hastily hid them beneath the table. The man's tone, his complacency, and the smile on his face, which was more like a smirk, made Robert want to hit the fellow. What had he done to Julie? What was he to her?
'What do you mean? Old friends? It didn't look as though she felt that way about you,' he said, striving to keep his voice mild, though his words were not conciliatory.
'I – oh, well, we were once – what shall I call it – good friends? It must have been a shock for her to see me. But I'm afraid we had a rather acrimonious parting, and no doubt Julie blames me. She's never replied when I've tried to explain, make it up, you know.'
He grinned round at the others and picked up his soup spoon as the waiter brought the starters. The Tomkins were looking rather puzzled and turned to Susan.
'Will your sister be all right?' Laura Tomkins asked. 'Ought you to go and see how she is?'
Susan shook her head. She was looking rather flushed.
'It was the shock, as Steven said,' she said. 'It must be difficult to see an old flame unexpectedly. But Julie prefers to be alone when she's upset. I'll see her later, make her have something to eat in the cabin when she'd had some time to recover.'
Robert looked at her for a moment, then rose to his feet.
'Excuse me,' he said, and without further explanation went swiftly from the dining room.
*
'Are you OK?' he asked Julie gently. 'I promised your sister I'd make sure you were all right.'
He hadn't, but what did a white lie matter if it made her more willing to let him help.
She tried to smile as he took her elbow and led her over to some chairs and urged her to sit down. He dropped into the chair beside her and took both her hands in his, chafing them gently.
'I gather you had a shock, seeing him, but you mustn't get cold. Do you want to talk?'
Julie didn't know whether she did or not, but she discovered the human contact was soothing, and the gentle pressure of his warm fingers was a comfort.
'You knew him from before?' Robert asked gently. 'He said something about it.'
'Yes.'
He would, Julie thought. Trust Steven to attempt to show himself in the best possible light, so that afterwards people would think she was protesting too much.
'How did he harm you?'
'Harm me? How did you know? He – well, perhaps it wasn't real harm. It felt like it, to me. But I don't know. He said he'd misunderstood. He – and others – thought I'd made a fool of myself.'
At least she seemed willing to talk, and perhaps telling a stranger would help. He caught his thoughts. He didn't want to be a stranger.
'How long ago?'
'Two years.' Suddenly Julie felt the need to confide in someone. Susan had never understood the remorse she had felt, and would not now. Later, Julie promised herself. Later she'd discover whether Susan, devious and determined to run her sister's life for her, had somehow arranged this. She'd refused to accept Julie's assurances at the time that she never wanted to see Steven Wilkes again, insisting that it had just not been the right time for starting a new relationship, it was too soon after Andrew's death, and later Julie would feel differently.
'Tell me if it would help.'
His voice was calm, almost hypnotic. Deep and smooth, confident and persuasive, it made her want to talk to him. His eyes held only concern, no condemnation for her weakness. Julie just knew he could be trusted.
*
Chapter 3
Julie drew a deep breath. She vowed she would be calm, strong.
'It was two years ago,' she said slowly. 'My husband, Andrew, had been dead a year, and Susan persuaded me to go on holiday with her and her boyfriend, and some friends who had rented a villa in Italy. He – Steven Wilkes – was there too, and seemed so sympathetic. I spent a lot of time with him. We were the only unattached people in the group, so we were thrown together. He – assumed more than was there. I just felt he was a sympathetic friend. I wasn't ready for another relationship.'
'He wanted to marry you, I suppose.'
His voice was so matter of fact, and Julie knew she had been making too much of the whole thing, then as well as now. She shook her head.
'It would have been much better if he had wanted marriage. That was what I thought, but – '
Robert squeezed her hands as she forced herself to control her voice.
'What had he done to affect you so badly that after two years, the sudden sight of him unnerved you?' he asked. 'Sorry. Don't tell me if it's too painful.'
Julie shook her head. 'Not painful, shameful. I thought he meant marriage, and I wasn't looking forward to refusing him. He had been kind. But he didn't. He knew somehow that I'd been left quite well off. Andrew had inherited a great deal from his parents, and there was a pension and insurance. He, Steven, made it plain that if I lost some of this income, such as my husband's pension, when I remarried, he wasn't interested. He assumed we could just live together, in my house, and he would have the benefit of my income. I felt – used! Cheap! And a fool for imagining he was fond of me.'
'He's the one who should feel ashamed.'
Robert sounded more furious than she had been, and Julie almost laughed. It meant nothing to him, but his support was comforting.
'I was a fool. I took it for granted when he said he loved me he meant marriage. Perhaps I'm too old-fashioned.'
'No, just honest and normal. But you're not going to let a jerk like him spoil this holiday, are you? The ship's big enough for you to keep out of his way.'
Julie took a deep breath. She had been weak to show her distress, and she was furious with Susan, who must have been behind this. She'd have something to say to her sister later. Meanwhile she was beginning to regain control of herself, able to face Steven, and this man, this stranger, was helping. He was so calm yet strong and dependable.
'No, he'll not ruin it for me. I'd prefer not to meet him, so can I change tables? That would help, not having to see him every evening.'
'No problem. I'll arrange it for you. But he should be the one to move. Now, do you feel able to come back, or would you like dinner to be sent to your cabin?'
Julie looked at him and smiled. He'd helped so much.
'That would let him win, wouldn't it? I was a coward, I ran away.'
'Seeing him must have been a nasty shock. Can you face him? Or shall I arrange a different table now?'
'That would create too much fuss. No, I'll outface him. Thank you, Robert. I'd better go back.'
'I'll be with you.'
*
Julie and Robert went back to the dining room, where the waiter was serving the main courses.
'OK?' Susan asked, looking worried.
As well she might, Julie thought, if her sister had engineered this meeting, and there was no other way Steven could have been on the same cruise, even the same table. Such coincidences just did not happen.
'I suddenly felt rather queasy,' she said clearly, flickering a glance at Steven. 'I'm fine now, thanks.'
She was tired as well as angry with Susan and embarrassed at meeting Steven again so unexpectedly. She'd slept badly and got up at an unearthly hour that morning to get to Gatwick. She ignored Steven, and sat back observing the others.
James was an experienced traveller, commenting on the different ships he'd been on. Steven, not to be outdone, said cruising was a new experience for him, he preferred adventure holidays in exotic locations. Julie was sure, from her earlier contact with him, that he had done nothing more exotic than a week's safari in Kenya. She glanced once at Robert, and had the distinct impression he was thinking the same as he winked at her. She suppressed a desire to giggle.
Susan and Laura were more interested in the shopping opportunities, and what would be good value at the ports on this trip, and what Susan mig
ht suggest Cathy bought for the ship's shop. Laura, Julie found, already knew a great deal about several passengers, and seemed willing to gossip about them. Robert, like Julie, sat back and listened, but she was aware that he looked across at her several times. He was so different from Steven, caring rather than self-obsessed.
'Gib tomorrow,' Steven said as the coffee was served. He turned to Julie, a confident smile on his face that made her want to hit him. 'You'll be going up the Rock, I imagine? Unless you've done it before. Perhaps we could make up a party?'
This was something she certainly didn't want, to spend any time with him.
'The boat organises trips, I'll go on one of them,' she said hurriedly.
'They use the same taxis as we can, no monster coaches here,' Steven said cheerfully. 'Costs less by ourselves if we share, the ship doesn't take part of the fare just for arranging it. That's often a better bet, the rate can be negotiated, and we can take all the time we like.'
'How is that organised?' Laura asked.
'They'll be waiting on the quay. So why don't we share one, the six of us?' he repeated.
Julie wondered why she had not seen, two years ago, what a conceited, pushy man he was. Couldn't he see she didn't want to, and what was more, would not be bullied into such a thing? To her relief, before the blistering words on the tip of her tongue could be uttered, James shook his head.
'Sorry, we're visiting some old friends who live here.'
'Then just the four of us? Unless you'd prefer to go up on the overhead rail?' he added, looking at Julie.
'I don't think so. I'm always terrified they'll get stuck. And I'm going on a taxi the ship organises.'
Steven was unrepentant, or oblivious. What an irritating man he was. Why hadn't she realised this when they'd first met, two years ago? Had he been different then? Perhaps, as the people in the villa were his friends, he hadn't felt this pathetic need to impress, to assert himself.
'You won't come to any harm, I promise. There's a wonderful new cable car in Madeira, too, fabulous views over Funchal harbour. I must take you on that one.'
'No, thank you.' Long before they reached Madeira, one of the last stops on the itinerary, she would make it crystal clear to Steven that she wanted nothing whatsoever to do with him. But what she had to say must be done in private, not at this public dining table. Unless, she thought, he became even more obnoxious and tried her patience too far.
'One taxi then. You too, Robert?'
'You heard what Julie said,' Robert almost snapped the curt reply. 'The taxis are ordered, and that's the end of it. Now, please excuse me, I'll skip the rest. I really have to go.'
*
Robert made his way to the penthouse deck, the highest passenger deck on the ship. He nodded to the security guard sitting in the half shadows at the far end of the corridor, and knocked at one of the suite doors.
Moments later the door opened and he went inside. A trolley with the remains of dinner on it stood by the door, and he absently helped himself to an apple as he wheeled it outside.
'We can get rid of this and have no interruptions. I see you have coffee waiting.'
A flask and three cups were on a low table. An older woman sat behind the table, and the red-haired girl who had let him in went to sit beside her while he sat facing them.
'Well, young Robert, what are our orders?' the older lady asked. 'What do we have to do?'
He looked at them both affectionately. They had agreed to his plans with no hesitation. Knowing how difficult it might be to catch a thief red-handed, he had devised this plan in the hopes of setting a trap. Even Bea, in the throes of preparing for her wedding, had said cheerfully that she would take the opportunity of doing some shopping.
'Not a lot, Aunt Mary. You and Bea are just passengers, very wealthy ones. No one knows we are connected. Wear as much jewellery as you can, both of you. Be ostentatious about it. Forget about it being tasteful or discreet. We need it to be noticed. The things I provided for you are excellent copies, it would take an expert to tell the difference. Aunt Mary, you are the scatty one, lose your purse as often as possible, forget it, leave it behind, and make a noise while looking for it. Show a lot of cash the first time, then say it doesn't really matter, you'll leave your cash in your suite in future. Bea can complain, say the way you are always losing purses it will be as well if you don't carry cash. And she despairs of how you are always leaving your rings in the bathroom. Use the public loos when people can see you, especially if any of these women are in there.'
He passed over a list and the two women studied it.
'Do we have to swallow this now, like real spies?' Bea asked, a twinkle in her eye.
'Tear it up and flush it down the loo, chief spy!' Robert said, grinning. 'At the public cloakrooms note who follows you in. We think the thief might be a woman.'
'Don't I have to do my Mara Hari act?' Bea asked, laughing.
He grinned at her.
'What would your Jonathan say?'
'We're not married yet, Robert my dear. But I left my engagement ring at home, I wasn't risking your thief getting hold of that.'
'You can make eyes at the single men. They're likely targets too. Start inviting people to drinks, up here, as often as you can. Here's a list of those we want to check up on. Keep it in the safe, you may need to refer to it as there are quite a number of suspects.'
'You haven't taken on an easy job, Robert dear,' his aunt said.
'With your help we'll solve it. We'll keep tabs on which waiters come here, though they are not prime suspects, and after each party we'll check the cash. If it's gone we'll watch the people who could have taken it.'
'We're going shopping in Gib,' Mary said. 'I've been up the Rock before, and we thought that if we arrive back just before the ship sails, when there will be lots of passengers on deck, with as many bags from expensive shops as we can carry, it will establish us as the big spenders.'
'You're not hoping to claim all that back from the company, I hope,' he said, laughing.
'No, it'll be for my trousseau,' Bea said, striking an attitude. 'And I shall, very artistically, drop a bag stuffed with a couple of old dresses over the side as we come up the gangway.'
Robert grinned. Bea had always loved acting, and might have gone on the stage had she not met Jonathan.
'Is this a cue for a great big scene?'
'Of course not. If I did some of you macho men might try to rescue it. I shall shrug, and say as loudly as I can I'll have to buy some more, as I simply couldn't wear anything that had been immersed in such horrid dirty water. The spoilt brat, that's me.'
*
After Robert had departed Steven tried to persuade them to dance, and Susan added her voice, but Julie firmly shook her head.
'Sorry, I'm bushed, I have no wish to dance. I must go to bed.'
Steven seemed inclined to argue, but Susan, after a glance at Julie's face, said she had to be in the shop for a while.
'We had to get up before dawn. Tomorrow, perhaps. Come on, Julie, you need an early night.'
He frowned but bowed to the inevitable.
'See you at breakfast then. Sleep well, ladies.'
Julie was not asleep when Susan finished at the shop and slipped quietly into the cabin. Though exhausted, her annoyance with her sister had kept her awake.
'You arranged this,' she accused as Susan began to undress. 'It was a sneaky thing to do, and I can hardly believe you would hurt me like this!'
'Arranged what?' Susan tried to look innocent as she hung up her dress, and then laughed rather uncertainly. 'Oh, Julie, don't let's quarrel.'
'How could you do this to me? You knew something had annoyed me that last time you tried to pair us off, so how come he's not only on this boat but on our table, and we get thrown together?'
'You liked him when you first met.'
'He was amusing, and he seemed pleasant at first, but I never wanted to marry him – '
'Who's suggesting marriage?'
Julie paused. She'd never told Susan the full truth, that Steven had not asked her to marry him. She'd been too astounded when he'd assumed that, a widow of a year, she'd be only too eager to fall into bed with him and share her home and the substantial income Andrew had left her. She knew that, in her loneliness, and knowing she had to get over Andrew's death somehow, she'd accepted the fact that as the two unattached people in the party they'd been thrown together, but his calculating mind, as he explained the financial advantages of not marrying, had deeply offended her, even though she'd had no thought of marrying him or anyone else.
'Did you tell him I was coming on this cruise?' she asked instead.
Susan went into the bathroom.
'I may have mentioned it. I just happened to see him in London one day while I was shopping,' she said, her voice muffled.
Julie wondered if it really had been as innocent as Susan made it sound, but somehow she doubted it. She accepted Susan was concerned about how long she was grieving for Andrew, but if her sister thought that throwing men like Steven Wilkes in her path was the way to make her overcome her grief, she was utterly wrong.
'I don't want to have to be polite. And I won't to go on this trip tomorrow with him, we'll use the ship's taxis.'
Susan sighed. 'You're making a great deal of fuss, Julie, about nothing. Whatever happened, we're all mature adults, and can surely behave politely to one another for a week or so.'
Julie left it at that. She'd do her best to avoid Steven, but she hoped Robert would be able to arrange for him to be moved to another table. If he couldn't, and she had to sit at dinner with him she'd have to be be polite for the sake of the others, but no more.
*
To her surprise she slept well, the gentle movement of the boat lulling her to sleep. She was wide awake by seven, and she and Susan pulled on jeans and thin sweaters and then climbed to the topmost deck to watch the approach of Gibraltar.
Julie could see why this massive rock fortress was such an important stronghold. It dominated the entrance to the Mediterranean. Whoever had controlled it in the past could prevent enemy ships either entering or leaving the inner sea. She watched the busy harbour, crammed with both merchant and pleasure shipping, and the backdrop of both old and new buildings rising up the steep slopes. They could see the airport on the flat strip to the left, and Julie laughed when a fellow passenger explained that the only road across it, to the entry point with Spain, had to be closed when planes were landing or taking off.
Lucky for Love Page 3
