'Hold on,' Rezia interrupted. She was becoming as angry as he was. 'I carry that camera because it's convenient, and I made no secret of taking photos of you on the beach! You knew I had it.'
He ignored her. 'You were at the house in the afternoon when only Johanna was there, and most of the time she'd have been asleep. You'd have had plenty of opportunity to sneak into my room then.'
'As it happens I didn't! Not all of those are my pictures. But anyone else might have slipped in! You had all the doors and windows open. Johanna told me there was no need to lock them out there, not when people were around. Anyone who cared to risk it could have slipped in.'
'A good excuse! It doesn't explain how anyone could have gotten into my apartment. You had a key, only you. How much did these rags pay you?'
'Mrs O'Brien has a key,' she began, guiltily conscious that she had looked in this bedroom, but he cut in.
'So now you're trying to throw the blame on her? That's despicable! She's worked for me for over ten years.'
'I'm not trying to throw the blame! I'm just saying other people could have used another key! Doesn't the doorman have a master key? In case of emergencies? Has he worked for you for ten years too?'
'The management only employs honest people. It's a pity Gina didn't take the same care to check references for her tenant.'
'Get out!' Rezia said. 'If you can't discuss this calmly I won't put up with being shouted at and accused of dishonesty.'
'I'll stay here until you admit it.'
'Then I'll go!' she said, and turned towards the door. He was there before her and seized her arm.
'Oh no. We'll get to the bottom of this now, before you have time to think up excuses. You've done quite well so far, but then, you must have known I'd be asking.'
*
Rezia was helpless as he almost dragged her across the room and thrust her into a settee. 'How much were you paid?'
'Why should I have been paid?' she gasped, breathless from his nearness and her anger. 'I didn't take any but the ones at the party, and those must have been stolen. I explained.'
'At A.P.P?'
'Yes. That's the only explanation I can think of.'
'All these rags are A.P.P. publications. And you work for them.'
'But they're a huge firm! I don't know more than a few of the employees, and certainly not more than three or four in New York!'
'Look at the byline,' he ordered, and almost threw one of the papers into her lap.
'Ricky Saint? So? I haven't a clue who he is.'
'Saint and Santos are almost the same. And R for Ricky or Rezia.'
'There must be quite a few employees with the same initials,' she said coldly.
'Read it.'
She shrugged, and did so, then looked up, aghast. 'They say you'll lose the contract for the hotels, as you can't afford to pay for the partnership. Is that true?'
'Don't play the innocent. It's not true, but rumours like this will drive down the price of my stock in the shipping line. And they think I'll have to sell some to raise the cash. There have been damaging rumours in the financial pages for some time, about the line's viability '
'Can't you deny them?' she asked. 'Or sue or something.'
''Don't be naive. Denials simply fuel the rumours, and I can't sue if it's just insinuation and speculation. It's very cleverly done. My lawyers have been working on it, but they've been too clever.'
'They also say you were marrying Gina because her money would have meant you needn't sell.'
'Don't you know?' he sneered.
'I only know she was afraid of meeting you, that first day. And the way you burst in I don't blame her. You never said why you were so angry with her.'
'It doesn't matter. I thought she'd told someone lies about me. Gina and I were finished weeks before. It had been a mistake, and fortunately we both realised it almost at once. That's the problem when you've known someone all your life.'
'How was that?'
'The families lived in the same street, in Boston. But surely you researched all this?'
'I didn't know she existed until a week before I flew over. Nor you, apart from a name on a few pictures of your buildings, and I'd forgotten that.'
He sat down beside her, his initial fury somewhat dissipated. 'How did you know about the contract? I suppose your paymasters told you. I hadn't mentioned it. In my stupidity I thought it better you didn't know who I was, as you didn't seem to recognise me. You're a good actress.'
'As it happens, a friend told me. I don't read gossip columns – '
'No, you just write them,' he interrupted.
'I neither read nor write them. I thought your name familiar, but I didn't connect it with your profession until a photo fell out of that hotels folder. I knew the building. It's a big conference complex in England. And I don't read about you in this sort of rag!' she added, throwing down the paper.
*
He stared at her, then slowly shook his head. 'It must have been a disappointment when you almost managed to persuade me to propose to you. You'd have had far more money married to me compared with the paltry sums these rags pay. Or were you planning a series of revelations about life as Klaus Edmondson's wife? A book perhaps? Kiss and tell all, life from inside the jet set?'
Before she could deny these fresh accusations he groaned, and pulled her to him, crushing her protests as he captured her lips with his own. She fought, but he was too strong, and she felt her anger vanishing and an incredible weariness taking its place, so that her limbs were weak, and her brain refused to function.
All she wanted was for him to stop torturing her with the promises of what might have been. If only things had been different. She knew now, despite his dreadful suspicions of her, that she loved him and wanted him, and would never be able to forget these bitter-sweet kisses. Abruptly he released her and stood up.
'Rezia, why aren't you what I thought?' he said, his voice harsh, and went swiftly out of the apartment.
For a moment she lay back on the settee, trying to recapture the feel of him, and then she shook her head to clear it of the mists of desire. Gradually anger replaced her need for him. She would not let this happen, she'd fight to clear her name, discover who had caused this disaster. And when she knew, she promised herself, she'd chop him into little pieces and feed them to the animals in the zoo!
Forcing herself to approach it calmly she sat at the table, spread out the papers, and deliberately read every word to try and pin down what were facts and what speculation. Several times the insinuations made her long to tear the sheets of paper to shreds, but she knew she had to go on. She made notes, but learned little more.
Who was Ricky Saint? She'd go to the A.P.P. offices tomorrow and ask. Luckily, since they published weekend editions, someone would be there. Then she had to discover how anyone could have been in Klaus's apartment. The doorman had let the photographer in, maybe he was the culprit? It wasn't likely a press photographer who specialised in this sort of surprise photo had visited anyone in this building, so maybe the doorman was open to bribery.
Why had Gina been afraid? Had she, as Klaus claimed, told lies? And if so what sort of lies? It had to be important to make him lose his cool to such an extent. Yet did it? He had a volatile temper.
Rezia sighed and discovered she was hungry. She glanced at her watch and looked again. Surely it could not be after midnight?
It was, and time she was in bed if she meant to start asking questions the following morning.
*
By eight the next day Rezia was in the newspaper offices. There was no one there she knew, but they willingly gave her access to the cuttings library. Ricky Saint, she discovered, specialised in celebrity stories for the gossip columns. She asked the duty editor about him.
'He's a freelancer. Does quite a lot for us, always popping in here. What's your interest?'
So he could have persuaded someone to show him her snaps, let him have copies.
'He's been writing
stories about a friend of mine, and someone tried to photograph me the other night,' she explained. 'I wanted to find out if it was him.'
'We can't give you his address or phone number, I'm afraid,' he said. 'It's against A.P.P. policy.'
She went back to the financial pages, and after much searching through the unfamiliar jargon found the pieces on Klaus. There were several, and many were by a David Gabriel. Once more she appealed to the duty editor.
'Gabriel? That's odd.'
'What is?'
'Gabriel's another freelancer, and I seem to recall it was Saint who suggested he write for us. I believe he's in the movie business. He can't need the dollars, but he occasionally sends us oddments about the stock markets. He's in the know, has lots of rich buddies, so we often get good tips from him.'
'Don't you check they're true?'
'Only if we can, and we're printing facts which could be challenged. This game's a ruthless business, honey. We have to be first with the news.'
'Isn't there some reference book he'd be in?'
'Try the Internet.'
He showed her to a screen, produced a list of websites where she might find that information, and left her to it. An hour later she struck gold. She printed out some sheets, and made a few telephone calls, thanked the duty editor profusely and set off for home.
*
On the way back to the apartment she prayed that Klaus would be there. The elevator seemed excruciatingly slow, and she rang Klaus's bell twice before he answered. He was wearing a towelling robe and his hair was wet, plastered close to his head.
'Now what?' he demanded. 'Have you thought of more excuses?'
'I've found out things you ought to know,' she answered, and pushed past him.
'I've a flight to catch. I have to be back in L.A. for a meeting tomorrow morning.'
'This will take five minutes if you shut up, and longer if you argue,' she said, trying not to let the sight of his bare neck and half-revealed chest affect her. 'It's the very least you can do after all the despicable things you accused me of.'
He sighed, and pointed to one of the leather armchairs. 'Tell me while I finish dressing. If you speak up I'll be able to hear you. Unless you'd prefer to come into the bedroom.'
She shook her head hastily, and he grinned. She relaxed. It might not be so bad after all, he wasn't in a furious temper now and would listen to her.
He vanished, and she pulled out the sheets of notes and printouts, and began to talk.
'Ricky Saint isn't his real name,' she said loudly.
'No, it's Rezia Santos,' a muffled voice replied.
'Damn you!' she exploded. 'Are you so pig-headed you won't even listen to another explanation?'
He emerged from the bedroom, zipping up a pair of tight-fitting jeans, a silk polo-necked sweater slung over one shoulder.
'So far you haven't provided one, and two of your five minutes have gone,' he said, pulling the sweater over his head.
Why did he have to be so handsome, tanned, fit, muscular, and more devastatingly attractive than any other man she'd known? Rezia dragged her mind away from his physical attributes and concentrated on what she had to say.
'He's really Richard Gabriel, and he has a brother David, and a sister Maureen. Their home is in L.A.'
He shrugged, and went back into the bedroom, returning with a pair of shoes in his hands. 'And a few million others. What has that to do with us?'
*
'You remember Gina said she was staying there with a friend Gabby? I thought, and you did too, she meant that as a first name. I called them.'
'You did what?' He sat down opposite her and slid his feet into the shoes. 'Why do that?' he asked as he tied the laces.
'Maureen hates her name and is always called Gabby. She was at college with Gina before Gina went to England to study.'
He was staring at her in disbelief. She thrust the sheaf of papers into his hands.
'Look, the address is there, and notes of what she told me.'
He read them rapidly, then looked steadily at her. 'And Gina is staying with them? Did you say who you were and why you were calling?'
Rezia blushed. 'No. I said I was ringing from A.P.P., which is true as I was using their phone, and was writing a piece for one of their magazines – '
'Which wasn't true, I take it?' he asked, grinning at her.
She breathed a sigh of relief. 'You believe me? At last?' she demanded. 'You don't think I wrote the other things?'
He shook his head and stretched out his hand to her. 'Rezia, I think I knew deep down you wouldn't have betrayed me like that, and I didn't want to believe it, but I was so furious I took it all at face value. You could have done, and some of them were your photos.'
'Except that I didn't use them. But the one of us in the restaurant together, that couldn't have been me.'
He rubbed a hand across his eyes. 'What restaurant? I missed that one.'
She explained, and he looked thoughtful. 'Of course not, but you might have told someone where we were.'
Rezia shrugged. 'Except that I didn't. And it wasn't me outside this door that night. That was probably this Ricky guy.'
'So you are now my new mystery woman. Are you, Rezia, or have I driven you away with my evil temper?'
She glanced thoughtfully at him. 'Are you bad-tempered much of the time, or only occasionally?'
'Depends who I'm with,' he replied, grinning. 'Come over here. I think we'll be more comfortable on the settee,' he suggested, but she resisted his attempt to pull her to her feet.
'No. We have to sort this out first, Klaus. Or I won't be able to concentrate,' she added hurriedly as she saw his intention of forcing her.
He grinned. 'OK, tantalise me. What else is there?'
'I looked at the pieces David Gabriel wrote. They began before I arrived. Were they the lies you accused Gina of telling?'
He dragged his hands through his hair. 'I suspected. I didn't know she knew Gabriel, I thought she'd just said a few things generally which he'd picked up somehow. When we broke off our engagement she was very bitter, and threatened to get back at me.'
*
'Why? That was very extreme, surely?'
'Especially as she broke it off. I made the mistake, I suppose, of telling her that if she hadn't, I would have done.'
'Why did you finish?'
He sighed. 'All sorts of reasons. We'd known one another all our lives, I thought we got on well enough, Johanna kept telling me it was time I settled down, and I thought she would do. Then I realised I didn't actually love her, and that mattered.'
'Did she love you?'
'No. She'd just broken off with a former boyfriend when I asked her. I think she was trying to show him she didn't care, could catch a bigger fish if she tried. She's never grown up, and this attempt to damage me is typical of the mean tricks she used to play as a girl.'
'So as well as giving Gabriel misleading information, she could have given Ricky Saint a duplicate key to this apartment, and told him about the Long Island house, where it was. How could anyone behave so despicably!'
'Gina appears to have done so. I think I'll pay her a little visit while we're there.'
Rezia tried to ignore the 'we'. This was going too fast.
'Will it hurt your prospects for the hotels contract? Will you be able to raise the money for that? Gabriel was saying you'd have to sell stock, and as the price has fallen you might not be able to raise enough.'
Klaus laughed. 'I can raise the money elsewhere, and the stock will soon recover. But it's a competition, there are three of us involved. We have to do our final presentation tomorrow. The money isn't the only consideration.'
'That's why you need to get back to L.A.? Klaus, you mustn't miss the plane! We've been more than five minutes!' She glanced at her watch. 'What time does it leave?'
'I'm not going back – '
'You must! It's important to you!'
'I'm not going back,' he repeated. 'The competition isn't
the most important thing in my life.'
At this she lost her temper. 'Klaus Edmondson, do you have to be such a fool! Are you going to let all these despicable, jealous cats get the better of you? Have I had to put up with your accusations and suspicions for nothing? Go and catch that plane, and go all out to win!'
'Do you care so much?' he asked, curious.
''You are talented. You wanted this until a few minutes ago. I hate men who dither! You've still time to catch the plane if you're lucky with the traffic.'
'There's another plane tonight, but it's late getting in. I hoped for an early night, but now that's not important. You are my talisman, Rezia, and I need you with me.'
Startled, she opened her mouth, but before she could speak he put one hand over it. As she instinctively raised her hands to pull him away he captured them, pulled her close, and began to kiss her. First his lips trailed across her eyelids, he nibbled her ear lobe, and as she once more opened her mouth to protest his lips closed over hers.
*
Her thoughts were in a whirl. He believed her, and she was so relieved to have convinced him. She wanted him, she knew that now. But she wanted him to win this competition too. And while his lips were doing such delicious things to her she couldn't think straight. Finally, with a desperate effort, she pulled away from his tantalising touch.
'You must go, Klaus!'
'Not until you've promised to marry me – '
'Marry? Don't be ridiculous! You can't decide something like that in a hurry!'
'Be quiet, and listen to me this time. I'm not going without you. We'll have time to discuss whether you want to marry me on the flight. If you do it's only a short hop across to Las Vegas, and we could get married there on Tuesday. Then, if you insist, we can come back here for you to finish off your assignment before we take a honeymoon trip to Europe to see all these hotel sites. If I win the competition. If not we'll make it a tour of art galleries.'
She knew he was crazy, and that she had no intention of flying off with him and getting married in such a hasty fashion, but once more he was kissing her too thoroughly for the words to come out. At the back of her mind she was asking herself whether she wanted to marry him so impulsively, and under the spell of his kisses the answer that she did was pushing up through the doubts. Then she recalled one last doubt.
Manhattan Magic Page 4
