by Kay Thorpe
‘So, let’s have it,’ Ross said when they were on the road. ‘I can feel the heat here!’
‘I don’t like being railroaded!’ she said tautly. ‘First the house, now the move! This might be a temporary affair, but while we are married I expect a say in things!’
There was a dangerous slant to his lips. ‘I’ll make whatever decisions I think fit, whenever I think fit. As you said a while ago, you’ll only be around a few more months.’
It was true, of course, but it still hurt. Damn him! she thought fiercely. Damn this whole farce of a marriage!
The silence was heavy. He reached out and switched on the radio. Gina stole a glance at him, taking in the set of his jaw. That he was good and angry there was no doubt. Well, so was she!
About what exactly, though? came the question. The presumption might spark a certain umbrage, but it wasn’t worth getting in a rage about. Neither should she be judging him on the evidence of one phone call she couldn’t even be sure was from a woman at all.
He went straight in for a shower when they got to the apartment. Gathering the outer clothing he’d discarded, Gina felt the shape of his mobile in a trouser pocket. Unable to resist the urge, she dialled up the last call received.
The name that appeared above the number displayed was only too familiar: Dione. She put the phone back where she’d found it, chest tight. He’d said he would call back later. To make arrangements to meet, she assumed. She should have left well alone. What the heart didn’t know it couldn’t grieve over.
As it was to be their last night in the hotel, they had dinner in the Barlborough restaurant. Told of their coming departure, the maître d’ expressed his regrets, along with his hope that they would continue to dine there occasionally. The senior Mrs Harlow would be well taken care of by everyone, he assured them.
‘She’ll make sure of that for herself,’ Ross observed as the man departed. ‘She may come across as easy-going, but heaven help anybody who falls down on a job they’re paid to do!’
‘I still think she may be making a mistake,’ Gina said, finding no reason to hold her opinion when it came to someone she thought a lot of. ‘It’s so different from what she’s been used to.’
‘She needs a different environment. The house has too many memories just now.’ Ross studied her across the lamplit table. ‘Maybe for you too.’
She shook her head. ‘I didn’t have long enough with Grandfather to develop any. I’ll always regret that.’
‘His fault, not yours. At least he died knowing he’d done his best to put things right.’
‘Yes.’ Gina took up her glass, wondering whether the action they were taking to get round his edict would have crossed his mind. It was very possible that Ross was right in saying the tumour must have affected his reason.
‘You told me you’d once seen a photograph of my mother,’ she said. ‘Do you know where it might be now?’
Ross shook his head. ‘It was several years ago. I was using the computer in the study, and was looking for more paper for the printer. The photograph was in a drawer. It isn’t there now,’ he added, anticipating the question. ‘I’ve looked for it. My mother doesn’t know what happened to it either, I’m afraid. You do look like her though. Even more so these days.’
‘Since I was made over to LA standards, you mean?’
He made a small, impatient gesture. ‘I didn’t mean it like that, but if it’s the way you want to see it…’
Gina bit her lip. They’d only just got back on reasonable terms, now here she was throwing a spanner in the works again. All down to that phone call. So far he’d had little opportunity to make the return call, but there was no doubt in her mind that he would be making it.
She made an effort to put the other woman to the back of her mind. There was nothing to be gained from agonising over her.
The move to Buena Vista went smoothly. Apart from personal items, there was little to transport. By late afternoon they were more or less settled into their new home.
The master suite was the last word in luxury. The sitting room adjoining the bedroom opened via French doors onto a balcony overlooking the fantastic view. From up here, the sea looked closer, reminding Gina that she’d only been out that far once in two whole months. It would take years to become as familiar with the city as Ross himself was. Years she just wasn’t going to have.
Elinor had basic plans for the apartment already drawn up. The work was due to start the next day, with completion in four days. Ross reckoned there was no reason why the paperwork dealing with the transaction shouldn’t be completed by then.
‘The Petersons have agreed to stay on, by the way,’ he said that night. ‘Although Lydia had some reservations. She seems to think you don’t like her.’
‘I barely know her,’ Gina protested. ‘She isn’t easy to get to know. I had the feeling from the beginning that she thought I’d no right to be here at all.’
‘Are you sure you weren’t being a little over-sensitive?’ he asked.
Eyeing his reflection through the dressing-table mirror as he lay nude on the bed, she was in no mood for argument. ‘Probably so,’ she said. ‘You do realise it’s that time of the month?’
‘I didn’t, but I guess I do now.’ He sounded more amused than disappointed. ‘I dare say I can cope.’
More than adequately, she found when she joined him in bed. Lovemaking didn’t necessarily have to involve penetration, he said when she reminded him again. He took her to the heights with just lips and tongue, inciting her to respond in kind. Held in his arms later, listening to his steady breathing, she knew she was never going to find another man who could fulfil her the way Ross could. It was a bleak thought.
CHAPTER TEN
THAT first week went by swiftly. There was a board meeting on the Friday, at which Gina was content to sit back and simply imbibe.
‘Things seem to be going well between you and Ross,’ Warren Boxhall remarked afterwards, having called in to her office before taking his departure.
‘Why wouldn’t they be?’ she returned. ‘We’re hardly going to be at loggerheads after three weeks.’
‘It’s been known,’ he said. ‘My marriage went down the pan on honeymoon!’
‘Which one?’ she asked blandly, drawing a laugh.
‘The last one. Last time I venture down the marital road,’ he added. ‘Too costly.’
‘Only when it breaks down. You’ve obviously never met the right person.’
‘I have,’ he rejoined, with a mock sigh, ‘but just too late.’
Gina was unable to contain a laugh of her own. ‘If that’s supposed to soften me up, you’re way off track. I’m happy with things the way they are.’
‘You and Ross might be OK, but we’re not all in the same bracket,’ he said. ‘I’ve three lots of alimony to find!’
‘Be thankful you didn’t have children with any of them,’ she rejoined, refusing to sympathise.
His sigh this time was genuine. ‘You’re a hard woman, but I don’t give up easily. I’ll win you round yet!’
Not in a lifetime, she thought, but she didn’t bother saying it.
Ross was lunching with Isabel Dantry again. He hadn’t suggested she tagged along, and she wasn’t going to suggest it. With capital from the shares she’d let Ross have, she was in a position to start making investments on her own account. What she’d said to Ross about not being interested in increasing her fortune had been baloney, but she certainly didn’t see much sense in actioning it until she knew where she was eventually going to finish up.
Eager to show her what had been done to the apartment to date, Elinor had suggested she come over for lunch. Gina hardly recognised the place when they viewed it after eating in the restaurant. The Scandinavian furnishings were gone, the neutral walls in the living room painted a deep green, the stripped-pine floor covered in thickly piled, off-white carpeting. Figured gold drapes had replaced the blinds at the windows.
‘I wasn’t sure a
bout the colour at first, but Maurice says it will show off my art collection to much greater effect,’ Elinor said. ‘He’s going to position them tomorrow. Sorry to leave so many gaps at the house,’ she added, ‘but they were all presents from Oliver.’
‘They’re about the only things you have taken,’ Gina chided. ‘Surely some of the furnishings would fit here too?’
‘Not according to Maurice. He demands a free hand throughout.’
‘We met someone in Barbados who once did some design work for you at the house,’ Gina said casually. ‘Samantha Barton?’
Elinor’s brow wrinkled for a moment, then cleared. ‘Oh, yes! About three years ago. I used her just the once when Maurice was out of the country. She made over two of the bedrooms. Good, though not up to Maurice. Was she there on vacation?’
‘She’s in business there. Doing very well too, it seems.’
‘That’s nice.’
It was obvious Elinor had no inkling that anything had occurred between the woman and her son, nor any interest in pursuing the subject. Time she forgot about it herself, Gina acknowledged. Samantha wasn’t the problem.
It was gone three when the two of them left the hotel. Too late to bother going back to the office, Gina decided. Not that she’d be missed. Her usefulness to the company was nil at present. She sometimes doubted if it would ever be anything but.
She had a swim with Elinor back at the house, then spent an hour or so basking in the late-afternoon sun. Ross still wasn’t home when she went up to shower at six.
He arrived some twenty minutes later, coming straight upstairs.
‘Traffic was murderous tonight,’ he said, peeling off his jacket. ‘Two accidents on Hollywood. How about you? Had a good afternoon?’
‘Pleasant,’ she acknowledged. ‘The apartment’s looking very different.’
He laughed. ‘I imagine it is.’
‘I’m surprised,’ Gina remarked, ‘that you don’t want the house restyled.’
‘What suits one place doesn’t suit another. I’ve no quarrel with the decor here. As I’ve said before, there’s nothing to stop you from altering it if you want to though.’
‘As I’ve said before, I don’t. Apart from a few pictures to cover the holes left by your mother’s, it’s perfect the way it is.’
‘As wives go, you have to be one on your own,’ Ross observed drily, already on his way to the bathroom.
As wives anywhere went, she was, she thought acidly. She was wearing a semi-sheer black peignoir over the briefest of black underwear, but he didn’t appear to have even noticed. More important things on his mind, she took it.
She was fully dressed when he emerged from the bathroom. He took fresh boxer shorts from a drawer, dropping the towel wrapping his hips to pull them on. Muscle rippled beneath the tanned skin of his upper arms and shoulders in tune with his movements. Gina had an urge to go to him, to slide her arms about his lean waist and press her lips to the smoothly tapering back. A week ago she might have given way. Tonight, she let the momentum pass.
Ross slid his trouser zip, and buckled the leather belt, eyeing her across the width of the room. ‘New dress?’
She held back on the sarcasm, settling for a shake of her head.
‘Looks good on you, anyway,’ he commented. ‘But then, you look good in anything. That black item you were wearing when I came in almost stopped me in my tracks!’
‘It wasn’t noticeable,’ she said before she could stop herself, and saw his mouth widen.
‘I’d been an hour held up on the freeway. One call outweighed the other at the time. Maybe you could wear it again later.’
‘I’m not dressing up just to entice you,’ she declared coolly. ‘I may not even feel like it later.’
The glint in his eyes became a gleam, not wholly of amusement. ‘I always did like a challenge.’
‘That wasn’t…’ Gina broke off, holding her hands up in mock surrender. She should know better by now than to take him on in a battle of wills. He only had to touch her to melt any resistance, and he knew it.
Unless he was seeing her in the day, he’d had no opportunity since they moved up here to meet with Dione. They’d been out to dinner one evening, the others they’d spent here with Elinor, as they were doing tonight. She was moving into the apartment tomorrow. There would be no need for Ross to continue acting the dutiful husband. No reason why he shouldn’t stay out all night if he wanted to.
That wasn’t the only reason she was going to miss her mother-in-law. They’d become close friends. Elinor was bent on involving her in the charity work she took such interest in herself. Gina was already drawn to it. More, she had to admit, than she was drawn to the world of big business: especially taking her limited time here into consideration. She could at least do some good while she was here.
She put the proposition over at dinner, drawing a delighted response from Elinor. Ross’s reaction was less easy to define. If it was what she wanted, he said. Obviously, as a major shareholder, she’d still be expected to attend board meetings. Gina could see no real reason for that either, as she was hardly going to be making any useful contribution, but it was only once a month.
‘If I’m not going to be here, there’s little point getting to grips with the job,’ she said later when Ross queried the decision.
‘Your choice,’ he rejoined expressionlessly. ‘Before I forget to mention it again, we’re at a première next week. Dione Richards’ new film. You’ll be needing something special. They’re big occasions.’
Gina kept a tight rein on herself. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t let you down.’
It wasn’t what he’d meant, as she was very well aware. Unlike most men caught in similar traps, he made no attempt to correct the impression, simply shrugged and left it.
There had been a time when the mere idea of attending a film première would have had her over the moon, she thought as he turned away. If it had been any other film, she might still feel the same, but if it had been any other film, they probably wouldn’t be going. Ross wasn’t into that kind of function on a regular basis, she was pretty certain.
She’d go, of course. She wouldn’t give the other woman the satisfaction of a refusal. But it would take every scrap of self-control she could muster to get her through the event.
Elinor gave no outward indication of finding it a wrench to leave the house she’d shared with her husband for so many years, but Gina wasn’t wholly deceived.
‘I feel as though we’ve driven her out,’ she said to Ross that evening.
‘It was her suggestion that she move in the first place,’ he returned. ‘The rest made obvious sense.’
‘It’s all so cut and dried to you, isn’t it?’ she responded after a moment. ‘No room for sentiment.’
‘No room for over-emotionalism, for certain.’ The glance he turned her way held a hint of impatience. ‘I think I can claim to know my mother rather better than you do. If she hadn’t wanted to go, she wouldn’t have gone. It’s as simple as that.’
They’d eaten dinner indoors due to an unexpected late-afternoon shower that had soaked the chair cushions before they could be covered, and were now seated in the living room, neither of them watching the television playing with sound muted. Ross had been out most of the day playing golf, arriving home at six looking out of sorts. Lousy game, he’d said shortly when she asked.
Gina had never played golf herself, and considered losing a game a totally inadequate reason for ill-humour. If that was the reason. Lugging around a set of clubs was no proof of a game actually played. Although why would an afternoon spent with Dione put him in a bad mood? she asked herself.
‘I suppose we should think about having some people to dinner ourselves now we’re on our own,’ she said, abandoning the previous subject. ‘Maybe eight, counting the two of us. Do you reckon Lydia would cope?’
‘She’s done it before. My mother entertained on a regular basis before Oliver was diagnosed.’ Ross sounded far from inte
rested. ‘Who did you have in mind?’
‘The Thorntons for certain. They’ve already had us over there. The others, I’m not too sure. Maybe you should choose.’
He shook his head. ‘It’s your idea, your baby. Just don’t make it a birthday party. I’m a mite past blowing out candles.’
‘I didn’t even know you’d a birthday coming up,’ she said. ‘Which is it?’
‘I’ll be thirty-five in a couple of weeks.’ His smile was faint. ‘Getting on a bit, as they say. When’s your birthday?’
‘October,’ she acknowledged. ‘Three more months.’
‘I can count.’ The irony was heavy. ‘If you’re thinking we’ll be divorced by then, you’d better think again. I’m given to understand that the only way we’ll get it through that fast is to go to Reno. Even then, it may not be valid outside the country.’
Gina gazed at him in silence, her mind in a spin. ‘How long will we have to wait, then?’ she got out at length.
The grey eyes held steady. ‘The year out, at least.’
‘A year!’
His regard sharpened into mockery. ‘Afraid you’ll just have to accept it. It could be worse.’
Not from where she was sitting, she thought dispiritedly. It was bad enough now living with a man whose only feeling for her was physically orientated. How would it be after a whole year? To say nothing of Dione Richards and her like!
‘It doesn’t mean I have to stay that long though,’ she said, grasping at any straw she could find. ‘Your mother is the only one likely to be upset by the break-up, but she’d have time to come to terms with it if we started having problems, and decided to take some time apart.’
Ross inclined his head, face impassive. ‘Maybe. Let’s see how it goes, shall we?’
He shifted his gaze to the open terrace doors. ‘It stopped raining. How about a moonlit swim?’
The sudden change of subject left her floundering for a moment. ‘It’s barely an hour since we ate,’ she said at length.
‘More than long enough. Especially in water as warm as that out there. I’ve never used it at night before.’
