'No, I haven't,' Gerald answered for himself truculently. 'I'm just tired, that's all. Bloody women! God, I've had enough!' And shaking himself free of Romily's arm, he made his uneven way into the bathroom and shut the door behind him with a slam.
'Lord, I hope he doesn't fall asleep in there,' Romily remarked. 'We'll never get him out.'
Carol shrugged. 'We'll just have to leave him to sleep it off, then.' She turned to face Romily. 'Has James gone?'
Romily nodded shortly. 'Yes.' She turned to go, but Carol closed her bedroom door and came after her. 'Just a moment. I'd like to speak to you.'
Immediately on the defensive, Romily said coldly, 'What about? I'm tired and I want to go to bed.'
Her beautifully shaped eyebrows raised, Carol said, 'I merely wanted to talk to you about tomorrow. Susan was very good, she did most of the washing up and I put away all the food that was left over for you, so all we have to do in the morning is to make sure the cleaners get the dining-room cleared up in time for breakfast. Not that I think many people will be up early for it—all the hotel guests looked as if they had quite a lot to drink themselves.'
'Yes, it was a good party,' Romily agreed stiltedly.
Carol gave an acid laugh. 'It might have been if you hadn't been stupid enough to invite James here without asking us first. But now you've given the whole of Inverness something to gossip about.' Going over to the sideboard, she picked up a packet of cigarettes and lit one. Romily would have liked to leave, but felt that she had to stay in case Carol needed help with Gerald.
Her sister-in-law blew out cigarette smoke and looked at her narrowly. 'I suppose James told you all about it? I suppose he said it meant nothing to him?'
'No,' Romily corrected her. 'It was Gerald who told me. I didn't know anything about it until this evening.'
'The poor darling,' said Carol, presumably referring to Gerald. 'He was terribly upset when it all happened. That's why we had to leave here and go to Bahrain, you know. God, how I hated that place! So hot all the time. I always longed to come back, but it took me ten years before I could persuade Gerald that it would all have blown over and be forgotten. But then you, you little simpleton, you let James charm you into bringing him here to spoil everything for us again. Heaven knows how long it will take Gerald to get over this!'
'James didn't come here to make trouble for you,' Romily retorted, immediately springing to his defence. 'He merely came as my escort.'
Carol gave one of her high-class trills of laughter. 'My dear girl, if you believe that you'll believe anything! Do you really believe that James is in love with you? I doubt if he even fancies you. You're not his type.'
That's what you think! Romily thought fiercely, but aloud she said, 'Well, Gerald doesn't agree with you. He seems to think that James goes for anything in a skirt. He even had the cheek to tell him so.'
'Really?' Carol was immediately diverted. 'What did James do?'
Romily remembered the anger in James's face but wasn't going to give Carol the satisfaction of knowing. 'Nothing. He realised that Gerald was drunk.'
Carol laughed. 'And also because he knew that it wasn't true. James is a macho kind of man who acquires that kind of reputation just because women can't resist him. But that doesn't mean that he can't resist them. He's had women, of course, but there was only one that really meant anything to him.'
My God, she means herself, Romily realised with astonishment. Coldly she said, 'Really? Who was that? Someone you know?'
Carol laughed again, but there was a cutting edge to it this time. 'I mean myself, Romily darling. Do you really think I would have risked my marriage like that if James and I hadn't fallen desperately in love? We tried to fight against it, of course, or at least I did, but I'm afraid James went all out to win me. He just couldn't wait to make love to me.'
Romily turned away, unable to look at the other woman. 'For heaven's sake, Carol! You're writing your own scenario. Or have you come to believe that it happened like that because that was the way you wish it really happened?'
Getting to her feet. Carol said petulantly, 'That is the way it was. We were crazy about each other.'
'But you were five years older than he was.'
'Only four.' Carol caught herself up and smiled grimly. 'But the age difference didn't matter. We both knew it was the real thing.'
'So why didn't you stay with him, then, if you were so much in love?' Romily asked sneeringly.
'I would have done—James begged me to often enough. I would have divorced Gerald and married him if it hadn't been for Christopher,' she declared, naming her eldest son. 'I couldn't let him go. He was so young, only two years old. And Gerald refused to give me custody of him. It wasn't so easy ten years ago. It wasn't so simple to get a divorce. And then I still loved Gerald. In an entirely different way, of course. And I didn't want to hurt him.'
'So you conveniently went back to the poor devil when James broke it up,' sneered Romily.
'My dear Romily, what a lot you have to learn about men—and about love. Though I don't expect you have much experience of the latter yet, have you?' Carol said cattily. 'My love affair with James was stormy and tempestuous. We were always on a high plateau of love because we both knew that it couldn't last, that in the end I would go back to my child.'
'And your husband,' Romily pointed out coldly,
'Of course. But James vowed that he would never stop loving me, that he would wait for ever if he had to, in the hope that I would one day be free to marry him.'
'That's ridiculous!' Romily exclaimed. 'No one makes declarations like that. You're just making it up.'
'Am I? I'd only have to lift a finger and James would come running back to me,' boasted Carol.
'Now I know you're lying!' Romily declared triumphantly. 'Because only tonight James asked me to go and live with him.'
Her left eyebrow arching in disbelief, Carol said, 'What do you mean?'
'Exactly what I said. When Gerald started going off at me James offered to take me away from here.'
'To take you away, yes. James was always gallant, even with people like you. But not, I think, to live with him.'
Romily was silent, trying to remember his exact words, but before she could speak Carol said swiftly, 'I thought not. And I'm quite sure that he hasn't asked you to marry him. Or even told you that he loves you. And he won't,' she went on in gloating triumph, 'because James is a man of his word, and he gave his promise to me when I had to leave him ten years ago.'
Romily's chest felt tight, but she clung stubbornly to her belief in James. 'That isn't the way he tells it.'
'My dear, I didn't think for a moment that he told you the truth. The memory of it is far too precious for him to tell anyone, especially to you when he was only using you so that he could see me again.'
Romily gasped incredulously. 'My God, you don't seriously believe…' She laughed, sure now that Carol was only saying what she wished was true. 'Go to bed, Carol, I think you've had as much to drink as Gerald, only yours has gone straight to your imagination. I'll see you in the morning.'
She went to walk out of the room, but Carol called after her angrily, 'If you don't believe me, try asking James just why we broke up!'
Romily paused for a moment with her hand on the doorknob, looking back at her sister-in-law's still attractive face and slim figure. She's a bitch, she thought. The first real bitch I've ever encountered, and I didn't even realise it. There were a dozen remarks she could have made, but she refused to lose her temper, instead walking silently out of the room and closing the door quietly behind her.
For what was left of that night Romily slept only scrappily, her mind often surfacing to go over the events of that terrible evening, but she was up at six- thirty to make sure that the cleaners had finished with the dining-room in time for her to lay the tables for breakfast. Carol had been right about the guests who'd been to the party coming down at the last minute, and two of the wives didn't appear at all, but the other peop
le who were staying there all came down for breakfast as usual, and as neither Gerald nor Carol put in an appearance Romily had to do the cooking and serve as well. She didn't really mind; eight breakfasts were nothing, and she supposed her relations had some excuse for being irresponsible today, but she wondered what would have happened if she had decided to take the morning off too. Would the guests have had to get their own breakfast?
When the last guests had left the dining-room after their usual chat about how they were going to spend their day, she was able to relax her fixed smile and hurry to the phone. 'James.'
'Are you all right?' he asked urgently.
'Yes. Yes, I suppose so. Can we meet today?'
'Yes, of course. This afternoon? At the boat- house?'
'AH right. I'll be there at two-thirty. James?'
'Yes?'
'Oh, it—doesn't matter. It's nothing.'
'What's wrong, Romily?'
'Like I said, it's nothing. I'll see you this afternoon. 'Bye!'
She went slowly back to the kitchen and cleared up after breakfast, then sat down to write a rough copy of the dinner menu. While she was doing this Carol came in and Romily stiffened, expecting her to display some of the nastiness that she'd shown last night, but Carol was her usual model of sweetness and light and behaved as if nothing at all had happened. That suited Romily just fine, and she was able to concentrate on making the pudding for the dessert trolley and preparing whatever else she could for the evening meal. Gerald didn't put in an appearance until nearly lunchtime and, if anything, looked worse than he had last night. He groaned quite a lot, his drunken brashness of yesterday completely gone, demanded to know where the Alka-Seltzer was, and then disappeared again.
All her chores were finished before lunchtime, but Romily didn't feel like eating with the others, so she made herself a ham roll and went out in the car, driving to a quiet spot off one of the valley roads where she parked and looked out over the mountains, some of them still capped with snow on their peaks, but beginning to show the brilliant green of new grass at their feet. She ate her roll and drank a can of Coke, her eyes on the impressive landscape but her mind miles away. Try as she might, she couldn't forget what Carol had said last night. Especially that last parting shot when she'd told Romily to ask James why they'd broken up. What was so mysterious about that? Presumably James had just got tired of the whole thing and wanted to end it. Which was bad luck on Carol, of course, if she was still keen on him, but it was obvious that it would have to end some time. James had admitted to Romily that on his part it was just a sexual experience, whatever Carol thought it. But he hadn't actually said why it had ended, now that she came to think about it. He had just said that Carol had confessed to Gerald and there had been a hell of a fuss. Had she confessed to try and force Gerald into divorcing her and James into doing the decent thing and marrying her? Romily wondered. After last night she wouldn't put that past Carol at all.
Romily sat on in the car, musing, wondering, feeling strangely unsure again until it was time to drive back to meet James. Today she drove straight to the boathouse and found James already there, waiting. As soon as she came up the stairs into the room, he shut the door behind her and took her in his arms. He kissed her avidly, his lips greedy for the response he soon aroused in her.
'James…' She tried to speak to him but he wouldn't let her, his mouth devouring hers in a heat of need. His hands went to the buttons of her jacket and he took it off, then to the fastening of her skirt. His hot breath scorched the hollow of her neck as he kissed her throat, her chin, bit hungrily at her ear. 'Oh, James. Oh, God!' She began to take off his clothes too, a button tearing off in her haste, their hands getting in each other's way as they undid buckles and pulled at zips.
James pulled her sweater over her head and gave a glad cry of wonder when he saw that her breasts were bare. 'Oh, sweetheart!'
'You said—you said that bras were a waste of time,' Romily said breathlessly, for already his mouth had found her and she moaned at the sudden ecstasy of it.
He went on kissing down her body as he bent to take off her shoes and tights. 'You're beautiful,' he murmured as he looked up at her. 'Perfect.' He kissed her again, the most intimate kiss she had ever known, driving her body into an aching, screaming need for fulfilment.
She gave a long, shuddering moan and drew away. 'James, please, please love me—I can't take any more!'
Quickly he picked her up and carried her over to the sofa that was as big and soft as a featherbed. He laid her down on it with her head on the arm and stood beside it as she reached up to take off the last of his clothes. With clothes on James was extremely good-looking, without them he was beautiful, his nard body slim and tanned, with long legs and a lirm, flat stomach, a narrow waist but broad, strong shoulders. He stood for a moment, letting her look at him, then lay down beside her, his hands stroking her skin, discovering every part of her anew. 'Is this what you like?' he breathed. 'And this?'
'Yes, oh, yes,' she moaned in reply, her body arching to meet his hands.
And when he had had his fill he took her hand and put it on his own body. 'Now you can have your turn,' he said softly.
To touch and caress him was a surfeit of pleasure because it not only aroused James even more but her too. Their breath grew hot and gasping, sweat broke out on James's skin as he strove to control himself until she had explored him as he had her. Her fingers touched in caresses light as a kiss, tantalising, enticing, making him shake with anticipation.
No need to ask what he liked, his body told her that when it quivered as she touched him, and soon his gasping breath had turned to groans.
'Romily. Oh, dear God!' He lay on top of her, his hands buried in the thickness of her hair as he lifted her head to meet his. 'My dearest, my love!'
His rampant body took hers, slowly at first and then with ever-increasing fervour. Waves of heat and pleasure washed over her and she felt as if she was drowning in a bottomless sea of sensuality, sinking deeper and deeper until it engulfed her. Her hot damp skin, the thrust of her breasts and thighs as she responded to the urgency of his lovemaking, drove James to a savage frenzy of passion. He cried out her name over and over again as his body arched in spasm after spasm of climactic excitement.
Romily lay with her head on his shoulder, completely content, slowly floating up from the depths of physical fulfilment through all the layers of pleasure and happiness to the commonplace joy of just being close to him, held in his arms and able with every sense to know that he was there, loving her. Slowly she opened her eyes to see James smiling tenderly down at her. 'I think,' he said softly, stroking her damp hair from her forehead, 'that you enjoyed that.' His heart that had been thundering before now only beat like a loud hammer.
'I think you did too. Just a little.''
'Just a little,' he mocked, 'Did I say hallo to you, by the way?'
'No. Somehow I don't think there was time.'
He chuckled against her hair and gently blew at a strand of it that lay across her cheek. 'I'm crazy about you.'
'Are you?' Romily turned her head to look at him, her eyes suddenly serious.
'Can you doubt that, when we're together like this?' he said softly. 'Oh, Romily, don't lose your trust in me. Not now, not after what we've just shared.'
No, I haven't. Of course I haven't.' She said it quickly, reassuringly, but then lay still, her eyes turned away and not speaking.
After a few moments James gave a harsh sigh. 'All right, Romily, you'd better tell me. What's happened?'
'Nothing. Only—only last night, after you'd none, Carol started talking to me.'
He gave a derisive snort. 'She would! And succeeded in planting some poison in your mind, by the sound of it. I should have insisted that you come away with me last night. Right, let's have it. What did she say?'
'All kinds of things. Mostly about the two of you. That you'd been madly in love and that you'd begged her to leave Gerald to marry you. And that…'
'Why? Why did she tell him?'
James hesitated, then lay back on the settee and shrugged. 'At first all she wanted was a sexual adventure too, but then she started to get serious. Maybe she liked my lifestyle, I don't know. I just wanted to be finished with her, but she clung like a vine. When it finally got through to her that I didn't want to know, she resorted to all kinds of threats and finally told Gerald. In the hope that he would have divorced her and I'd have married her, I suppose.'
'And would you have done?'
'My God, no! She was bad news then, and it sounds as if she still is the way she's trying to poison your mind.' James turned to look at her. 'You didn't seriously believe her, did you?'
Romily smiled and put a hand on his still damp chest. 'No. Even the way she told it seemed all wrong. But some things she said she seemed so sure of.'
'Oh? What were they?' Picking up her hand, James began to gently bite her fingers.
'Well, she said that she only had to lift a finger and you would go running back to her.' James made an extremely rude noise against her hand and she burst into laughter. 'So that's what you think of that idea, is it? You're terrible!'
'Most definitely. Do we have to go on talking about Carol? I can think of other things I would much rather do with your mouth.'
'In a minute you shall do exactly as you like with it. But there was one other thing she said, right at the end. She said that if I didn't believe her I should ask you why you broke up. Now, why should she…' Her voice trailed off as James's fingers suddenly tightened on hers.
But then he smiled at her and said, 'I told you— she got too clinging.'
'Nothing else?' she asked, slightly puzzled.
Sally Wentworth - Tiger in His Lair Page 13
