Give a Man a Bad Name

by Roberta Leigh

  Having almost convinced Andrea of this by the time her plane was ready to continue its flight, Marly returned to the city a little easier in her mind. What a nasty trick of fate that Alex Hamilton should turn out to be the biggest pig this side of Eden! Who cared if he was Adonis in looks and charismatic in character? Much better if he had been honest and loyal. But why was she getting so hot under the collar over a man she had merely glimpsed in the entrance lobby of a hotel? It was quite on the cards that if she waited by the magazine stall again she would see a dozen equally handsome and magnetic men!

  ‘Enjoy your day?’ Nan enquired, coming into Marly’s bedroom later that afternoon, where she sat brushing up her Thai from a television film.

  ‘Not especially. I saw Andrea.’

  ‘She’s here?’

  ‘Not any longer.’ Briefly Marly recounted Andrea’s story, and had the dubious pleasure of seeing Nan become as furious as herself.

  ‘I know Mr Hamilton plays the field, but I never imagined he’d ask a girl to marry him and then walk out on her. Are you sure she wasn’t exaggerating?’

  ‘Oh, come on, Nan, you know Andrea better than that. She may look like a dumb blonde, but she certainly isn’t one. Believe me, I’ve never seen her so devastated.’

  ‘I wish you’d persuaded her to stay with us for a week or so.’

  ‘I was going to suggest it, but I was worried she might bump into him here. I didn’t tell her he hadn’t gone to Rome.’

  ‘I’d forgotten that.’ Nan sank cross-legged to the floor. ‘A good thing you discovered the sort of man he is. From the way you reacted when you saw him, you might have become the next discard!’

  Marly was honest enough not to deny it.

  ‘Think you can take another shock?’ Nan ventured.

  ‘Depends.’

  ‘We need someone to replace Siri, the other Thai girl in the cabaret. She’s gone down with bronchitis.’

  ‘So why tell me?’ Marly asked.

  ‘Because the part calls for a Thai, and you can pass for one.’

  ‘But I’ve never acted in my life!’

  ‘All females know how to act!’

  ‘Maybe, but not on stage.’

  ‘What’s the difference? Be a sport, Marly. Siri was only in one sketch, and with your photographic memory you’ll waltz through it.’

  Marly sighed, swayed by Nan’s downcast expression. ‘Very well, but don’t blame me if I flop.’

  ‘You won’t. You’ll be wonderful!’

  ‘What if Mr Hamilton won’t give me time off to rehearse? Now he’s back he may expect me to get cracking on the software.’

  ‘Find out and let me know.’

  Next morning Marly hung around restlessly in her office waiting to be summoned to meet Alex Hamilton, and when lunchtime came and went without a call, she bearded his English secretary, Miss Granger.

  ‘Sorry I didn’t contact you before now,’ the girl apologised. ‘I meant to, but it’s been hectic here. Mr Hamilton asked me to apologise on his behalf, and say he won’t be able to see you for several days. He was away longer than he anticipated and has a mass of work to catch up on.’

  Far from being upset by this, Marly was relieved. She was still seething over his treatment of Andrea, and might have found it difficult to hide her feelings. But this respite would not only give her a chance to learn her lines and rehearse for the show, but also enable her to get used to the idea of working for a man she thoroughly despised.

  CHAPTER TWO

  ‘YOU’RE not totally deaf, I presume?’

  The raised male voice coming from the next-door office to Marly’s made her look up from her terminal in surprise, and unashamedly she eavesdropped. From his tone, the man was in a rousing temper.

  ‘Or perhaps you’re on a higher plane and haven’t heard anything I’ve told you?’ he went on.

  ‘I did exactly what you asked me to do, Mr Hamilton,’ a woman protested, and Marly instantly recognised it as Alex Hamilton’s secretary.

  ‘In your own stupid way, Miss Granger!’

  ‘Look, Mr Hamilton—’

  ‘No, you look! If you can’t follow simple instructions, maybe you should return to the typing pool.’

  ‘Maybe I will!’

  There followed a burst of tears and a sharp male curse, and Marly, on the verge of going to comfort the girl as she heard a door slam, stopped at the sound of Alex Hamilton’s voice. It was his secretary who had stormed out, not him.

  ‘Personnel!’ she heard him bark. ‘Assign Miss Granger to someone more long-suffering than me, and send me a replacement. What? No, keep her on the same salary she was receiving.’

  To pay off his conscience, no doubt, Marly seethed, casting daggers at the wall dividing her from this most horrible of men. If she were self-employed and did not have a responsibility to her company, she would walk in and tell him what she thought of him! If he was expecting her to bow and scrape to him, he had another think coming!

  She was still seething when she arrived for rehearsals in the hotel ballroom late that afternoon, though she soon calmed down as Richard, the young director of the cabaret, who normally worked in Accounts, put her through her paces. Her part couldn’t have been easier, given her retentive memory, for all she had to do was to learn six pages of dialogue, and spend the rest of her time looking sweet and gentle and quietly amused by the embarrassing antics of the Western visitors to her stage parents’ home.

  ‘You were terrific!’ Richard exclaimed as rehearsals ended for the day. ‘For a gag, we won’t put your surname in the programme and will just name you as “Marly”. Then the audience will automatically assume you’re Thai.’

  ‘Which they’d never do if you printed ”Amalia Bradshaw”,’ she chuckled, and was glad she had let Nan persuade her to participate in the show. It would at least keep her occupied while she was waiting for Alex Hamilton to clear his desk and spare her his time.

  By the evening of the performance she was proficient in every word and mannerism of her part, and took equal pains with her appearance, emphasising the exotic slant of her eyes by skilful use of black eyeliner, and parting her hair in the centre so that it fell in a black satin curtain down either side of her face. Wow! She looked just like her great-grandmother.

  The sketch she was in was the most successful one of the show, and as it came to an end many people in the audience called out to her in Thai as she accepted a vociferous ovation.

  However, some of her pleasure ebbed when she saw Alex Hamilton sitting in the front row, vigorously applauding her. Their eyes met and he half inclined his head and raked her from head to toe as he continued clapping, the gesture truly revealing the sort of man he was! Poor Andrea! If this two-timing Lothario thought he had found another heart to break, he could go jump in a lake—and drown there while he was about it!

  With a sigh of relief she watched the audience disperse for the Christmas party that was being held in an adjacent conference-room, and suddenly decided not to attend.

  ‘Where are you going?’ Nan stopped her halfway down the corridor, as Marly made for the powder-room to change out of her stage clothes.

  ‘Home,’ she replied. ‘I’m tired.’

  ‘And I’m Mickey Mouse! For heaven’s sake, this is your friend you’re trying to kid. What’s up? You were the star of the show and everyone will want to meet you.’

  ‘That’s what worries me. Did you see the way Alex Hamilton eyed me? As if I were a nut cutlet and he was a starving vegetarian!’

  ‘So what? You’ll have to meet him soon anyway. That’s why you’re here, remember?’

  ‘You have a nasty habit of being right,’ Marly sighed. ‘I suppose I’d better go change and join you.’

  ‘You look marvellous as you are!’

  ‘But—’

  ‘Come on, Marly, if we hang around any longer, the party will be over.’

  Somewhat apprehensively, Marly followed her friend into the green and gold reception-room where the
theatre party was being held. Not only were all the clerical and senior staff there, but their families too, and she was soon surrounded by an admiring throng, compliments falling thick around her.

  ‘You’re a natural actress...’

  ‘I’ve never laughed so much...’

  ‘You should be on the stage.’

  ‘You were marvellous...’

  ‘You’re also very beautiful,’ added a deep, resonant voice, and she looked up, startled, the smile on her lips freezing as she saw Alex Hamilton staring intently down at her.

  Close to, he was even more devastating than when she had espied him in the lobby; his tawny, lion’s mane hair was flecked with gold where the sun had touched it, and his skin was the colour of pale honey, making his smoke-grey eyes even more remarkable.

  ‘I’m Alex Hamilton,’ he introduced himself. ‘I see from the programme that you are Marly.’

  ‘Yes,’ she managed to say, her mouth so dry she could barely twist her tongue around the word.

  ‘It’s a lovely name for a lovely young woman. And you played your part very amusingly; but I suppose it came naturally.’

  ‘Naturally?’

  ‘I assume you’ve met many Westerners who are as ignorant of your customs as the two actors were in your sketch.’

  Heavens, she thought, he also thinks I’m Thai! Unable to stop herself, she smiled, and he smiled back. It riveted her eyes to his lips, which were beautifully shaped, the top one well curved, the lower one fuller and sensuous. How many other lips had they kissed? she wondered. How many lies had they told? How many women had he deceived, as he had Andrea?

  Drawing herself up to her full height of five feet two inches, she was on the point of telling him exactly who she was, when he spoke again.

  ‘I think it’s important to understand the customs of the country one is living in, but sometimes it’s not easy to follow them.’

  ‘Are you thinking of anything in particular, Mr Hamilton?’

  ‘Very much so. Normally I’d have no hesitation in asking you to have dinner with me tonight, but since I don’t know whether your parents are strict on protocol, I can only suggest that you allow me to take you home and ask them if I may see you again.’

  Open-mouthed, she stared at him, and he instantly misinterpreted it.

  ‘I’m sorry if I’m coming on too strong, but you’re the loveliest girl I’ve seen and I’m not letting you walk out of my life.’

  Beyond his shoulder she glimpsed Nan mouthing words she could not understand, and she seized this as a means of escape.

  ‘Excuse me a moment, please. I have to give my friend a telephone number.’

  ‘I’ll only excuse you if you promise to come straight back,’ he said, and turned to watch her as she hurried across to Nan.

  ‘What were you trying to tell me?’ Marly asked as she reached her side.

  ‘I wanted to know if you needed rescuing.’

  ‘Every woman under the age of fifty needs rescuing from that man! Talk about charm.’ Marly lowered her voice, laughter trembling in it. ‘Believe it or not, he thinks I’m Thai. He wants me to have dinner with him but isn’t sure whether he has to ask my parents’ permission!’

  Nan stifled a giggle. ‘That must be a first time for him, then.’

  Marly nodded, then narrowed her eyes as a thought struck her. A man who had treated Andrea the way Alex Hamilton had clearly had little respect for women. Yet how deferentially he was behaving towards the unliberated girl he thought her to be. And not just deferential, but anxious to know her better. Was that because he believed her to be different from the girls he usually favoured? If so, he had just given her a golden opportunity to teach him a well deserved lesson.

  Instead of enlightening him, she would continue with her act until he had fallen for her hook, line and sinker. Only then would she disclose her identity, and he would discover that a woman had finally given him his come-uppance, instead of the other way around!

  ‘What scheme are you cooking up?’ Nan enquired, recognising from old the mischievousness on Marly’s face.

  Slanting a glance in Alex Hamilton’s direction, and seeing him still watching her, she hurriedly answered her friend’s question.

  ‘You’ll never be able to keep it up,’ Nan gasped.

  ‘Yes, I will. I can’t go into it now, there’s no time, but we’ll talk it over later.’

  Leaving Nan still protesting, she glided back to the man waiting for her and gave him a respectful wai. ‘Thank you for being so patient.’

  ‘You’re worth waiting for,’ he responded, smoky eyes serious.

  For answer, she lowered her head.

  ‘You work here obviously,’ he went on, ‘or you wouldn’t have been in the show, but I don’t remember seeing you around.’

  ‘Why should you? You employ so many people.’

  ‘I wouldn’t miss you.’

  ‘I only started a few days ago.’

  ‘That explains it, then. What do you do?’

  ‘I—I’m a—’

  ‘Never mind,’ he cut in, eyes ranging over her butterfly-wing cheong-sam and back to her face. ‘You look pale. If you’re tired, I’ll drive you home.’

  ‘I’m not tired,’ she replied softly. ‘If your dinner invitation is still open, I will be honoured to accept. You are an important man, and I know my parents would not object.’

  ‘That’s marvellous.’ Alex Hamilton could not quite hide his elation. ‘There are a few people I should say hello to first, then we’ll go.’

  ‘As you wish,’ she murmured.

  ‘Give me fifteen minutes.’

  As he moved off, Nan rushed to her side. ‘You were fantastic! Carry on as you are, and you’ll have him eating out of your hand.’

  ‘If he doesn’t bite it off first!’

  ‘Are you kidding? From the way he was ogling you, it won’t take you long to bring him to his knees. It’s my bet he’ll proposition you before the year’s out.’

  ‘That’s still ten days away,’ Marly hissed, watching the tall, athletic figure circulate among the hotel guests and staff, every movement relaxed and unhurried, his smile sincere and unforced. ‘What do I do when I meet him as his computer expert after Christmas? Keep acting gentle and acquiescent?’

  ‘Obviously. That’s if you want to finish what you’ve started.’

  ‘Oh, I do. When I remember how dreadful Andrea looked... Yes, I will do it.’

  ‘He’s coming back. Good luck.’

  Nan melted away, and Marly softened her features as she turned to face Alex.

  Gently he took her elbow and steered her from the room and across the grey and blue carpeted lobby to the entrance, where a chauffeur stood holding open the back door of a silver-grey Mercedes.

  Settling in the soft leather seat, she was all too aware of the man close beside her, the spicy scent of his aftershave prickling her nose, the warmth of his body seeming to permeate hers, even though he had made no move to touch her. Watch it, she warned herself. You’re supposed to be paying him back for the way he treated Andrea, not falling for him yourself!

  ‘We’re dining at the Shangri-la,’ he said. ‘Is that all right with you?’

  ‘Of course, Mr Hamilton. I’m happy to go wherever you wish to take me.’

  He gave her a quick glance, as if not sure whether she was teasing, but her calm stare assured him otherwise, and he gave a little sigh of satisfaction.

  ‘Not Mr Hamilton, Marly, my name is Alex.’

  ‘I couldn’t call you that. You are my employer and it wouldn’t be seemly.’

  ‘But I’m asking you to do it.’

  ‘No, it is not the custom.’

  ‘I don’t believe I’m hearing this,’ he muttered.

  ‘I’m sorry if I’ve offended you.’ Putting her palms together, she lowered her head till her chin touched the tops of her fingers in a traditional wai. ‘I do not wish to make you angry, but—’

  ‘I’m not in the least angry. In fact
, I think you’re very sweet.’

  If only you knew, she thought, doing her best to look demure. ‘And I think you’re very nice, Mr Hamilton.’

  ‘I hope you’ll let me show you just how nice I can be,’ he said gruffly.

  Beginning to enjoy herself, she gave a laugh, but made no reply.

  ‘We’ve arrived,’ he stated as their car eased up a ramp and came to a stop outside the entrance of the Shangri-la. Not waiting for the chauffeur, he opened his door and hurried round to help her out, cradling her hand in his as he did, and not releasing it.

  She could not believe he normally acted this way with his girlfriends, and stifled a giggle at his oldfashioned behaviour.

  ‘May I have my hand back?’ she whispered. ‘It is not seemly for you to touch me in public.’

  ‘Sorry.’ He dropped it fast, but as they entered the vast reception area, milling with people, and a stout man toting a camera backed into her, he automatically cupped his hand under her elbow in a protective gesture, then gave another strangled ‘sorry’ and let it go.

  ‘In this instance it is quite seemly for you hold my arm, Mr Hamilton,’ Marly said, struggling hard not to laugh.

  ‘Then I’ll have to make sure we’re always in a crowd,’ he came back fast, ‘because I like the feel of your skin!’

  Awarding him full marks for making the most of the situation, Marly glided along beside him. She had been out with many tall men, but there was something about this one that made her feel extra-tiny and helpless. Perhaps it was the aura of invincibility that emanated from him. The divine right of the arrogant male, she supposed, and as she remembered Andrea’s tear-stained face, her resolve to give him a taste of his own medicine hardened.

  CHAPTER THREE

  ‘WHICH of the Shangri-la restaurants do you fancy going to?’ Alex Hamilton asked Marly. ‘They have several.’

  ‘I don’t know any of them. Thais rarely come here.’

  Disconcerted, he stopped in his tracks. ‘Why is that? I’ve only been in Thailand a couple of months, and working flat out at the hotel most of the time, I’m still a stranger to the social scene. If there’s any reason why your countrymen don’t dine here, we can—’