Something Stupid

by Victoria Corby

  His eyebrows snapped together as I gasped, with sur­prise, not with guilt or displeasure or whatever it was he evidently thought I was feeling. ‘You are busy. I will come another time,’ he said coldly.

  ‘I was talking to the cat, not to you. I’m sorry, I was surprised. Come in.’

  He looked pointedly at my dressing gown and bare feet. From his expression of extreme disapproval you’d have thought he was the vicar and I was offering to entertain him in my most diaphanous negligee, not an extremely proper tartan flannelette floor-length job from Marks and Sparks. Maybe he was merely objecting to people who aren’t dressed by midday, but men who haven’t shaved when they have that much beard, I thought with a glance at his chin, aren’t really in any position to cast aspersions. Designer stubble didn’t work on Stefano, there was just too much of it. Finally he appeared to make up his mind that I wasn’t about to do a flannelette version of the dance of the seven veils and, inclining his head slightly, came in.

  ‘I expect you’ve come for Cressida’s things, haven’t you?’ I asked as he looked around the small living room with the vague air of someone who isn’t really used to being in places like this. Thank heavens I’d already cleared away the worst of the clutter. ‘Sit down for a moment while I get some proper clothes on,’ the fashion in which he was pointedly averting his eyes from my bare feet was making me feel uncomfortably underdressed, ‘and I’ll find them for you.’

  He took off his coat and sat down gingerly on the sofa, casting a wary glance at Horatio who was glaring at him balefully, probably blaming him for his precipitate trip to the floor. I had a feeling that Stefano was about to get the treatment that any self-respecting cat will dole out to someone they sense doesn’t like them. Since he had just gone to the top of my list of the ten rudest men in London I reckoned I’d leave Horatio to it.

  More haste, less speed. The sort of infuriating thing Imogen says, but true nonetheless. I put my finger through my tights in a place that was going to show and had to search desperately for a clean pair in the rubble that counts as ‘putting things away’ in my drawers. After that I decided it wouldn’t hurt Stefano to wait, he had Horatio to look after him and James would be back soon, so I took my time over choosing which jumper suited me best - I didn’t have much choice, there were only two that were clean and without holes under the arms - and putting on confidence-boosting make up. Five minutes later I stepped out, dressed, groomed, coiffed and displaying a lot more of myself than I had when I’d answered the door. Stefano stood up promptly as I came in. I felt this had less to do with formal politesse than an urgent desire to get Horatio off his knee.

  His very presence was making me nervous. It was too easy to believe every word of what James had told Sam yesterday about someone who was staring at me with black brows drawn together in a straight line, mouth grim and unsmiling.

  ‘You’ll have some cof­fee, won’t you?’ I asked and escaped kitchenwards without waiting for an answer. I needed some sort of stiffener, and I’d already made a bad enough impres­sion without adding to it by hitting what was left in the gin bottle before midday. So it would have to be a hefty dose of caffeine, just the thing to get my nerves really jangling. Stefano followed me and stood watching me in brooding silence as I ladled coffee into the filter paper. His unwavering gaze was making me even more edgy. ‘How’s Cressida?’ I asked to break the hush. ‘Did the operation go well?’

  ‘Perfectly. She is sore, of course, but she has already had a walk down the corridor.’

  My heart gave a nasty little tumble. He sounded so severe I wondered if there had been another row or, God forbid, if there was something else that Cressida had done and hidden from me? I ploughed on, ‘And the baby? You must be so thrilled.’

  His sombre expression disappeared and he took on the beaming look of the intensely proud expectant father. ‘Yes, I am. I am still not quite used to it.’

  The frank delight in his voice made me feel all gooey and sentimental inside. He sounded like a changed man, reformed by impending fatherhood, I thought mistily. ‘You should have seen Cressida’s face when the nurse told her. She was completely over the moon.’ No need to mention that she probably saw it as the best-timed marriage saver ever.

  His dark eyes flashed. ‘I was afraid she didn’t want children.’

  ‘She seems to have got her wires in a bit of a twist,’ I said carefully, wondering how pleased he would be if he knew exactly how much Cressida had confided in me. I was absolutely sure he wasn’t the sort of man who would appreciate someone knowing that he’d been driven to slipping off quietly to a fertility clinic to get himself tested. ‘She was worried you wouldn’t find her attractive once she was pregnant.’

  ‘Impossible!’ he exclaimed incredulously. It could never have occurred to Stefano that there were any circum­stances in which he wouldn’t find his wife attractive. Well, I approved of men like that, I decided, thinking that perhaps he did have the makings of a good egg or whatever the Italian equivalent was. A buon uovo, presumably.

  ‘What are the visiting hours for the ward? I’ll go along and see her this evening.’

  The mood of bonhomie vanished like hail in a micro­wave. ‘I am not sure-’

  ‘Oh, I won’t stay for ages and exhaust her, I promise you.’

  He bent down and brushed cat hair off his immacu­lately pressed dark trousers. ‘The truth is, Laura, that I would prefer it if you did not visit my wife.’

  ‘Might I ask why?’ I said after a moment.

  He straightened up to look at me. ‘While I realise it isn’t actually your fault that she had appendicitis-’

  ‘How kind of you to acknowledge that.’

  His jaw tightened. I’d forgotten that Stefano didn’t care to be interrupted. ‘I think your influence on her is not good.’ This statement was so outrageous I could only stare at him, no doubt with my mouth open in very unflattering fashion. ‘Of course I should have known that anyone associated with James Lovatt would not be reliable, but you have - what do you call it? - an honest face. I believed I could trust you.’

  ‘What have I done to deceive you?’ I asked, finding my voice.

  ‘To start with, you were not honest about your other boyfriend.’

  I raised my eyebrows. ‘What makes you believe I’m obliged to tell you anything about my love life?’

  Our eyes locked, then to my surprise his dropped. He must have conceded that point. ‘And you promised me you would tell where she was.’

  ‘All I promised was to tell you if she was with James, and she wasn’t.’

  Stefano sighed impatiently. ‘You know perfectly well that you broke - how do you English put it? - the spirit of our agreement, if not the letter. You should have told me you had found her. You, of all people, knew how worried I was about her.’

  He shot me a pugnacious glance but I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t. A guilty little voice was telling me I could at least have sent him a message as soon as I realised Cressida wasn’t being entirely honest about her efforts to get in touch with him, but I could hardly tell him that at that point I wasn’t completely sure he hadn’t been doing something horrible to her.

  ‘And then to be irresponsible enough to persuade her to go to France with you, and put her in danger by insisting she come to that ridiculous conference. How stupid are you to book a riverside hotel in this season?’ He shuddered dramatically. ‘When I think that my precious girl could have drowned because of you, I feel like killing you!’ His hands flexed on the counter top.

  My mouth snapped shut at last and I slammed the tin of coffee in my hand down on the chopping board. Stefano stopped in mid-denunciation and looked at me in mild surprise.

  ‘I’ve had enough of this,’ I said in a tight voice. ‘I refuse to carry the can because your wife doesn’t appear to be able to behave like an adult. None of this would have happened if she didn’t throw temper tantrums like a toddler.’ I glanced at him sharply and demanded, ‘She’s told you the truth, hasn�
��t she? About how she flings antiques around like building bricks?’ I saw him wince and it made me even more annoyed that he felt he could lay any responsibility at my door. ‘Do you really think I wanted Cressida tagging along when I was making my first trip to see my mother in nine months? Or to put myself fathoms deep in debt paying nearly all her expenses because she went on buying clothes even after she knew her Gold Card wouldn’t work?’

  ‘She told me she’d borrowed some money off you. If you are so worried about it I can give you a cheque now,’ he said in a bored voice, patting his pocket, ‘or cash if you prefer. How much is it? About a hundred pounds?’

  ‘More like five or six hundred.’ His eyebrows shot upwards. ‘I’ll work it out accurately and give you a detailed account. I’d hate you to feel that besides deliberately endangering your wife I was making a profit out of you as well.’

  He sucked in breath through gritted teeth. ‘I do not believe it was deliberate,’ he declared as if he was gener­ously conceding a point. ‘You may have meant well, but you did not think far enough ahead.’

  ‘Well, thank you!’ I snapped. ‘And did you think ahead when you told Cressida she was being put under the jailership of your mother?’ I was pleased to see he looked as if I’d just hit him. ‘Or did you bother to think that your and Cressida’s shenanigans were probably going to cost me my job?’

  He started. ‘I do not understand. What have Cressida and I to do with your job?’

  I glared at him bitterly. ‘To start with, my boss wasn’t impressed by your bursting in to the office and creating a row. Still less by my taking a friend along to a client’s sales conference, no matter how useful her language skills turned out to be. I’ve got to explain myself to her tomorrow morning, and I’ve a jolly good idea what she’s going to say. The chop. Push off. Finito.’ I took a deep breath, absolutely determined I wasn’t going to let this horrible man see how worried I was about my future. ‘And the basic reason I’m going to get the sack is because you and Cressida prefer throwing dramatic scenes to talking to each other,’ I said, punctuating each word by jabbing a finger towards him. ‘So how dare you blame me for anything, you ... you ungrateful toad.’

  Judging from his stupefied expression Stefano had been called many things in his life but never that. He opened his mouth to speak but before he could say anything I pushed past him roughly, not trusting myself to stay in the same room as him. ‘I’ll get Cressida’s case from my bedroom. I won’t keep you more than a minute so perhaps you’ll be good enough not to add unreason­able delay to the list of my sins you’re compiling.’

  The case was dumped unceremoniously in the middle of the living-room floor. Horatio had made himself a comfortable nest on the coat Stefano had flung across one of the chairs. I didn’t remove him. I hoped Stefano was allergic to cat hair. I marched back to the kitchen. Stefano still hadn’t moved. Hands shaking with temper, I placed three packages in front of him. ‘Your property, I believe.’

  He glanced down vaguely. ‘Are these something to do with Cressida?’ He looked at one curiously and pulled at the wrappings. A cherub’s head appeared. ‘Oh,’ he said, for once apparently lost for words. ‘

  ‘I’m beginning to regret not telling her about the interesting things we found in James’s house, but at the time I didn’t want her to think badly of you.’

  He lifted his head; to my amazement he was flushing brick red beneath the olive tone of his skin. ‘Thank you,’ he said quietly. Stefano was many things but at least he wasn’t a hypocrite. ‘How did you find them?’

  I told him and he nodded. ‘I knew you were clever.’ He needn’t think he could get around me by paying me compliments now. ‘I was only going to use them to threaten James, make him tell me where Cressida was,’ he said absently as he finished unwrapping the cherub and laid it down.

  I raised my eyebrows sceptically. ‘Like hell you were. You were trying to teach him a lesson. Show him how powerful you are, how you can skirt around the law, plant evidence of a crime, do what you like. Let him know that people who cross you are never safe.’

  Stefano stared at me. ‘You are very acute, Laura.’

  ‘Not really. I’m only just beginning to appreciate the sewer-like paths of your mind.’ He looked really annoyed at that. I cast a wistful glance at the coffee machine and wondered if I could pour myself a cup. I was damned if I was going to offer him one now, he didn’t deserve my hospitality. I decided I could quite easily ignore the manners carefully driven into me by Mum and Imogen. I got my mug out of the cupboard, saying over my shoulder, ‘And if you hadn’t been able to persuade the police to have the house searched? I doubt Dolly the domestic treasure could have been tricked into letting your man in a second time so your lesson would have been a very expensive waste of time.’

  Stefano shrugged in the manner of a man who can afford to lose a few thousand without it hurting too much. ‘It would not have mattered, they aren’t pieces I care about very much.’

  ‘If you don’t care for those cherubs you have no soul.’ I filled my mug and took a reviving gulp. His mouth tightened as he noted the omission of a cup for himself. I leaned back against the cooker and looked at him. ‘But surely you know that James just gets more and more stubborn if he’s threatened? Even if he’d known where Cressida was, he’d never have told you, whatever you did.’

  He shook his head. ‘I didn’t expect he would. He is no weakling. I was merely starting my revenge. For his stealing my wife from me. And my china.’ His eyes narrowed reflectively. ‘And if he had taken either he would have been a lot safer in prison than anywhere I could reach him.’

  Funny how he and James were in complete agreement on that point.

  He was so direct, so straightforward in his belief that what he’d done was at the very least understandable, if not absolutely justified, that I almost laughed. It was that or give way to fear. What had he been planning to move on to next? And in their capacity to find an excuse for whatever they did he and Cressida were well matched, I thought, annoyance mounting again and vanquishing the collywobbles.

  ‘So you set James up for his own sake, to avoid being tempted to do him over?’ I said derisively. ‘How very noble of you.’ Stefano’s jaw tightened aggressively. ‘And it was a complete waste of time too. For heaven’s sake, he certainly didn’t want to take her-’

  Stefano shook his head disbelievingly, as if it were impossible that any man wouldn’t want to run off with Cressida if he had the chance.

  ‘And she’s never had any intention of going back to him, no matter what she might taunt you with when she’s annoyed.’ His face wore the blank mask of someone who is hearing, but not listening to what is being said to them. ‘I’ve just spent a solid week in Cressida’s company and I can swear that it was you she was thinking about all the time, you she referred everything back to, you she talked about until I was about to scream at the sound of your name.’

  The exasperation in my voice caught his attention. The aggressive set of his cashmere-covered shoulders relaxed. ‘This is true?’

  I bared my teeth in a smile. ‘Right now I’m not in the mood to make up nice little lies to make you feel better. So if I tell you Cressida would no more dream of leaving you for another man than fly to the moon, you’d better believe it, buster.’

  He was silent, fingers running absently over the face of the cherub, tracing the little upturned nose, the curve of the smiling mouth. ‘And the way they were during the hunt ball?’ he asked at last. ‘They never stopped embracing.’

  ‘A bit of an exaggeration. I don’t know what Cressida thought she was up to. Maybe playing power games, showing that if you didn’t do what she wanted she had other fish she could fry if necessary.’ The sharp look I got indicated that perhaps I’d hit a chord. ‘A dangerous game,’ I added, and got a nod in response. ‘And as for James, I think he just enjoyed yanking your chain a little.’ Stefano stared at me, puzzled.

  ‘You ground his face in the proverbial dirt when you
took Cressida from him - did it publicly too. I expect he couldn’t resist dealing out a bit of the same when he got the opportunity.’

  Stefano inclined his head as if he totally understood this macho way of thinking. ‘But he is still in love with her. Everyone knows that.’

  ‘Who says so? Cressida?’ Bet I was right there. ‘It’s not true, and I wouldn’t hang around him if it were. I’m not into three in a bed, even if one of the three is a figment of wistful imagination. But I’m not going to say anything more about it. You’re too pig­headed to see that the most James feels for Cressida is fondness and that all she wants to do is flirt with him. You must positively enjoy being jealous.’

  Somewhat to my surprise he didn’t fly into a rage, merely took a deep breath and said slowly, ‘You are very sure.’

  ‘I am.’

  ‘Good, I am glad for you. It is not pleasant to doubt the one you love - I don’t do it through choice. Maybe now I can be easier.’ He looked at me out of those dark eyes and smiled. ‘I can believe that if you really are James’s girl­friend he has no need to look at other women.’ The look he gave me spoke volumes. I wondered if he had known about the deception right from the very beginning, before James ever took me to the hunt ball. ‘Certainly not at my wife,’ he added pointedly. Then, as if the atmosphere hadn’t recently heated to about a thousand degrees, he pulled down the cuffs of his shirt, adjusted them just so, and casually shoved the cherub back into its wrappings. ‘Thank you for the offer of a cup of coffee,’ not by the flicker of an eyelid did he indicate that I’d pointedly not given him one, ‘but I must return to my sister who will be awaiting news. Cressida has been moved to room 8 in the private wing of the hospital,’ he said, tucking the three packages under one arm. ‘I know she will be pleased to see you.’