'Karen!' A man's voice sounded from the pool-side and her heart missed a beat. Saul! She floundered, went under and came up gasping, swallowing a mouthful of water. A couple of quick strokes took her to the steps and she climbed out—to see Max Friend, in sunglasses and pink shorts over a pale, rather-too-podgy torso, standing there grinning at her.
She tried to push back her disappointment. 'Hullo, Max.'
'My little friend Karen, looking more beautiful than ever.' He took off his sunglasses and his eyes roamed over her shamelessly. 'How come the gorgeous sun-tan? I didn't know you were a member of the Gilded Set. You make me feel like an undercooked plaice.'
'Gilded Set? Me? I'm a working girl. A few sessions on a sun-bed at the local health club.'
'Ah-ah,' gloated Max. 'Sun-beds, is it? Do they have mixed sunbathing at your health club? I wouldn't mind sharing a sun-bed with you, my lovely.'
'Wouldn't you indeed?' quipped Karen mechanically. This was harmless foolery but very boring and she wished she hadn't been so eager to get out of the pool when she thought she heard Saul calling her.
Max pulled out a couple of the red canvas loungers. 'Relax and dry off, darling, while I go and get us some drinks.'
There was a bar near the pool, under the trees. He came back and handed her a long green drink in a frosted glass. 'Your favourite,' he said. 'I remembered.'
She thanked him and lay back, letting the sun dry her body, sipping the limejuice, her eyes moving round the pool-side.
'Looking for the Big Boss?' Max grinned. 'I saw him some while ago with our Lovely Liz. Talking over old times, no doubt,' he added with a leer.
'What do you mean?' The question was out before she could stop it.
'Don't you know?' Max lay back and put on his sunglasses. 'No, of course, you're a new girl, aren't you? Saul and Liz had a big thing going at our last conference in Geneva six months ago. It seemed to be heading up for the altar and then, all of a sudden, she married Harry Walker.' He chuckled. 'Saul's not exactly the marrying sort, wouldn't you say, and I guess Liz knew which side her fruit-cake was buttered. She probably followed Harry here meaning to have the best of both worlds when Harry wasn't looking. I guess she got a shock when she saw you.'
Karen said coldly, 'I'm really not interested in Liz Walker—and I don't care much for gossip.'
Max grimaced and put up a hand to ward off an imaginary blow. 'Wow! Straight between the eyes! I deserved that—but it was meant as a friendly warning, my poppet. Anyway, he'd be a bloody fool to look twice at Liz Walker when he can look as often as he likes at you. And I bet he's given her her marching orders once again if she's planning a comeback. Saul's not the type to enjoy warmed-up porridge,' he added crudely. 'No, I'd say it's all over between those two. Or ‑' he paused significantly and gave a low whistle, jerking his head towards the hotel '—or is it?' he added slowly.
Karen followed his glance. Saul and Liz Walker were walking slowly down the path that led from the hotel. They made an eye-catching couple under the canopy of giant tropical leaves—Saul, tall, bronzed, muscles rippling. Liz Walker in a bikini that was little more than two narrow ribbons of a clinging material patterned (appropriately, Karen thought) like snake skin. It didn't seem fanciful to imagine her sliding through the undergrowth, rearing her beautiful head to strike poison from her fangs. She was clinging to Saul's arm, gazing up at him, her russet head pressed against his shoulder as they walked. He was smiling down at her and they looked as if they were glued together. Karen felt a sharp stab of what she recognised as jealousy. Just a gut reaction they called it, didn't they? Just because he had taken her out last night and kissed her. It didn't mean a thing.
She remembered Ben saying that he had heard that Saul had some girl following him round to conferences. Liz, evidently. Probably, in the set they moved in, a little matter like being married to someone else didn't count, she thought with unusual bitchiness. But what did it matter to her what they did? This wasn't her scene and never could be.
Saul detached himself from Liz as they came near and grinned down at Karen, stretched out on her lounger. 'Been swimming, Karen? Wish I could have joined you, but some people have to work. Max, I've been looking for you—Roberts wants to talk to you about that German deal you've been planning together. Could we go up now?'
Max had pulled himself out of his chair and now he groaned. 'O.K. Chief.' He squinted down at Karen. 'Notice how this bloke always appears in time to split us up, darling. Never mind, our time will come.'
He and Saul turned back towards the hotel and Liz sank gracefully into the lounger that Max had vacated. Karen lay back with her eyes closed. The last thing she needed was a cosy chat with Liz Walker. But she opened them again when Liz said, 'How's your man getting on—the one in hospital? Saul told me about the situation.'
This seemed safe ground. 'He's doing very well, thank you. The hospital seems pleased with his progress.'
'That's nice.' Liz felt in her beach bag and put on a pair of huge black-rimmed sun glasses. 'You must have been relieved to hear that.'
'Very,' said Karen.
The sun glasses turned her way. They were the kind that were silvered on the outside and Karen felt as if two searchlights were being focussed on her. 'Yes, it was bad luck, his not being able to attend the conference.' Liz's husky voice seemed to hold some deeper meaning. A little pause, then, slowly 'You must have been desperately disappointed.'
That was a loaded remark if you like. Annoyance began to sizzle inside Karen. Ben was desperately disappointed,' she said coolly.
'Ah!' A slow smile spread over Liz's lovely face. 'I see.' She changed her approach. 'It's very good of Saul to take you under his wing, as your man can't be here.'
Karen glanced around to see if she could get away without being rude, but there was nobody she recognised among the bodies lying round the pool. 'Saul's been very kind,' she said stiffly.
'Kind!' Liz gave a throaty chuckle. 'Saul has many fascinating qualities but I shouldn't put kindness among them. To be kind you need a heart and I doubt if Saul Marston has one.'
Karen pulled herself up in her chair. She felt vulnerable lying back listening to this woman, who seemed more like a snake than ever. Flick—flick—her tongue exuded venom with every word.
'I'm really not interested in Saul Marston's heart, or lack of it,' Karen said. 'I'm here to represent Ben Clark's company and my dealings with Saul are on a purely business basis.'
'Yes?' It sounded curiously like a hiss. 'Well for your own good I'd advise you to keep it that way.'
Karen had had enough of this poisonous woman. She scrambled up and dived back into the pool. The water felt cool and cleansing to her hot body as she swam quickly to the far end. She retrieved her beach coat from where she had left it and ran up the path to the hotel.
'Hullo, Karen, been swimming?' It was Annie Goodall in a tight blue dress and a huge Mexican straw hat. 'You do look stunning, dear, you're so lovely and brown and slim,' Annie sighed. 'I daren't wear a bikini—anyway Bill wouldn't really approve. So glad you're joining our little party tonight, it should be fun. Saul says he's bringing you along, you lucky girl!' She did an expressive double-take.
'Yes, aren't I?' Karen said brightly. She didn't want to discuss Saul.
In her room she stripped off her bikini and stood under the shower. She dabbed herself dry with a soft pink towel and draped it loosely round her shoulders. She was still thinking of that beastly Liz Walker and her innuendoes. It was silly to be upset over her sly hints, but Karen had always responded badly to aggression—it made her feel quite ill. She really must learn to toughen up, she thought, if she wanted to get on in the world of business.
She sat brush-drying her hair in the heat that poured in through the open window, looking down at the scene far below, trying to recapture the light-hearted mood of earlier in the afternoon. The beauty of the place was still the same, but now she felt vaguely depressed. If only Saul would make up his mind about taking over Clark's Compone
nts! Suddenly she wanted this conference to be over, wanted things to be normal again, with Ben recovered and the two of them working together happily as they had before—only with the difference that the firm would be on its feet again and Ben wouldn't be worried sick about it.
She sighed and stood up and the pink towel slid from her shoulders on to the floor. At that moment there was a sharp rap on the door and it swung open to disclose Saul standing there.
Karen let out a yelp, dropped her styling-brush, grabbed the towel and wrapped it round herself. It just about covered her from the waist down. She tried to hold her arms across the top of her and keep the towel in place at the same time but it kept slipping.
'The least you could have done,' she burst out, crimson-cheeked, 'was to knock and wait before you barged in like that.'
Saul strode across the room, picked up the brush and put it on the dressing table. 'Ah, but think what I should have missed if I had.' The dark laughing eyes passed over her with undisguised relish. 'I looked for you down at the pool but you weren't there.'
Karen had felt warm before but now she was burning all over. She pulled open a drawer with one hand, holding the pink towel with the other and rummaged through the contents for some garment to slip into, but found nothing but a pile of panties and bras and handkerchiefs. 'Go away,' she muttered. 'Get out of my room.'
He ignored that and went on leaning against the window frame. She cast him a quick, flustered glance, and her inside lurched because he looked so shatteringly handsome. Down at the pool he had been wearing a loose shirt over navy shorts but the shirt had now been discarded. Suddenly she was tinglingly aware of his magnificent body, only a couple of yards away from hers. He was so bronzed and fit-looking, a mat of dark hair on his chest and a small tuft on each shoulder. She had a crazy impulse to touch the tufts of hair, to run her fingers through them, to let her cheek rest against his wide brown chest. He was watching her with amused eyes. 'Not shy, love? Nobody wears clothes much in Acapulco. You must have gone topless on holiday before now.'
Once, briefly, she had. But not in a bedroom with the sexiest man she'd ever met looking at her in a way that turned her bones to water.
'I don't take my holidays in such sophisticated spots,' she said.
Heavens, that sounded stilted and up-tight, but he only laughed. 'Really? We must extend your education some time. But right now I propose to take you for a drive. I've finished my business for the day and I've managed to hire a car until Saturday. Come on, darling, put the minimum of clothing over that delectable body and we'll go out and let the wind rush through our hair.'
Imagination is a potent temptress. Karen saw a picture of an open car with Saul at the wheel and herself snuggled against him, the sun warm on her arms, her hair streaming out behind her like the TV adverts. She could almost feel the touch of his skin against her cheek, smell the faintly astringent scent of the cologne he used.
She was lost. All her good resolutions about not being alone with Saul went out of the window. 'I'd like that,' she said, 'only do please go away while I put something on.'
'Must I?' he sighed. 'O.K. I'll be a little gent and wait for you outside the door.'
Ten minutes later Karen was climbing into a sleek olive-green sports car and Saul was easing his long body in behind the wheel. 'Nice little job,' he said, slipping through the gears expertly. 'She's the personal car of the hiring firm's owner. They wanted to palm me off with an ancient Chewy—then I saw this and used a spot of gentle bribery to get her for a couple of days.'
Karen glanced up under her lashes, her eyes teasing. 'Is that the way you always conduct your business?'
'Oh yes—the only way to succeed. Bribery and corruption with a spot of blackmail thrown in now and then to finalise a big deal.'
Karen giggled. 'You know where you'll finish up, don't you?'
He' glanced briefly down at her. 'I know what I want,' he said. 'And I know how to get it.'
There was a tiny pause. Then Karen said, 'Where are we going?' and suddenly found that it didn't matter. It was enough that she was here and that Saul was beside her. This train of thought was dangerous, she knew that, but you couldn't be in Acapulco and resist the holiday mood.
He said, 'Not too far this time. Puerto Marques Bay, for a start. We can have a swim there and get right away from the gang. Then I've got a few other things to show you before we head back to join the party for dinner. I told Annie Goodall we'd meet them at the hotel.'
The afternoon was pure magic. A hazy golden glow hung over everything and the faintest of breezes wafted about lazily, just enough to stir the leaves of the palm trees. The beach at Puerto Marques Bay was smaller, more secluded and less crowded than that at Acapulco and the sea calm as a millpond, with only a smudgy, misty line to show where it merged into the pale blue of the sky.
Karen had covered her bikini with a thin white cotton shift and when Saul said, 'Come on, let's swim,' she threw it off and put her hand in his as they ran down the beach, toes sinking into the hot sand. It was marvellous to be able to run straight into the sea without that preliminary gritting of teeth to meet the shock of cold water that you always had at home, even in the best of summers. Here the water was just about body temperature and closed around you like silk. Karen was a good swimmer and kept pace with Saul as they swam out far enough to get away from the tossing beach-balls and the floating li-los.
She stopped and turned on to her back. 'Heavenly,' she called to Saul, treading water a few yards away. Then he was beside her, floating too, one arm holding her waist and as they lay side by side, gently rising and falling with the sparkling water, Karen thought she had never enjoyed anything so much in her whole life. A purely physical enjoyment that touched something deep and primitive inside her. Later, as they lay on the beach, drying off, she sighed, 'Oh, that was wonderful. I can't think why our remote ancestors ever decided to crawl out of the sea and begin life on the hard unforgiving earth.'
Saul chuckled. 'Life in the sea couldn't have been all that easy. What about the predators?' He turned over on his front and squinted down at her. 'A pretty little morsel like you would have been snapped up in no time.' He made snapping motions with one hand while his head came down to hers and his mouth covered her mouth, his teeth biting gently against her lips, a kiss that went on so long that her limbs melted and she was fighting for breath.
When he lifted his head she gasped, 'All right, all right, you've proved your point. Perhaps a fish's life isn't all bliss.'
He pulled a face at her. 'Wasn't that bliss then? I must be slipping. Let's try again.' His hand cupped her chin and moved down to her shoulder.
But at his touch she rolled away from him with a little shiver. He was just amusing himself, but she was suddenly acutely aware that even a casual kiss from Saul Marston was enough to set her alight and that was dangerous. 'What are the other things you have to show me?'
The corners of his eyes crinkled. 'You put other things out of my mind,' he said softly. But he got up and pulled her to her feet. 'O.K. let's go then.'
At the back of the beach was a row of shacks selling beer and soft drinks and sea-food. Saul bought prawns and they sat on the warm sand shelling them and piling the shells into a paper bag and drinking a heavenly fruity drink with slices of pineapple floating on the top. Karen had never tasted prawns so fat and delicious and wolfed them greedily, licking her lips.
Saul leaned back against the spiky trunk of a palm tree and watched her. 'You know, you don't look in the least like an up-and-coming young woman business executive at the moment,' he mused. 'I think Acapulco is bringing out the best in you.'
'Or the worst,' mumbled Karen, and then, because when he looked at her like that she felt suddenly stupidly shy, 'I know it doesn't seem like it at the moment but I am still here on business, you know. I wish you'd make up your mind about taking on Ben's company. I suppose you wouldn't tell me, would you?'
He said thoughtfully, 'You're keen on this deal coming off, aren't
you?'
'You know I am.' She sighed. 'I've told you often enough.'
He grinned. 'Yes, you do go on and on about your loyalty to Ben. Have you considered what might happen if Clark's Components does join my group?'
She frowned. 'I suppose—well—things would go on much the same as usual, except that we'd have more capital to work on, train more staff and so on.'
He shook his head. 'Oh no, it wouldn't be quite as cosy as that. The Lessington works would be used almost entirely for production. All the administration would be done from my London office. Which would make you redundant, my dear. I would probably move you to London. How would you like that?'
She sat up, startled. 'I wouldn't—you couldn't ‑'
'Oh yes, I could,' he smiled. 'Haven't you noticed I usually get what I want?'
'I'd resign,' she said flatly. 'Anyway, Ben couldn't do without me.'
'Couldn't he? If Ben had to choose between saving his company and keeping you on as his P.A. I think I know which he'd choose. Anyway, this is all hypothetical because I haven't made up my mind about anything yet. I've still got another man coming to see me tomorrow.'
She stared out at the calm, flat expanse of sea with the coloured sails dotted about on it and said, 'I wish I knew what makes men so singled-minded about success. Most of you seem to put it before anything else.'
She glanced sideways at him, regretting the remark almost before it was out. Saul Marston wasn't likely to open up and analyse his deeper motives for her.
But after a moment or two he said, 'I can't speak for the rest of my sex but I know damn well why I wanted success.' He turned his head and looked straight at her, then away again. 'I lost both my parents when I was three. I found out years later that it was on a holiday and my mother got into difficulties in the sea. My father tried to save her. They were both drowned. The authorities searched in Mexico and the U.S. but couldn't find any relatives still living—I told you I was a mongrel, didn't I?—and there wasn't much money so they put me in a children's home. It was quite a good home, but if you grow up without parents in what they call a communal environment I think you tend to develop a fighting instinct from an early age, or else you become docile and end up as a yes-man. I never remember feeling particularly docile.' His mouth set grimly. 'I must have been a beastly little boy.'
Acapulco Moonlight Page 11
