by Jessica Hart
‘Well…’
‘I’m sure you’ll want a chance to freshen up,’ Kate said kindly, although the eyes that inspected Thea from head to toe were unmistakably critical. Clearly the slatternly look held no appeal for her. ‘We’ll expect you at six, shall we?’
CHAPTER FOUR
‘WHY didn’t you make some excuse?’ muttered Thea as Kate clicked off on her perfectly polished shoes. ‘I thought the whole point of the pretence was to avoid them, not spend our time having drinks with them.’
Rhys waited until Kate was out of sight before dropping his arm. Having willed him to do just that, Thea found that she missed its warm support and perversely wished that he would put it back.
‘We had to go some time,’ he said as she concentrated fiercely on her sarong instead, tying it in such a tight knot that she was in danger of cutting off her circulation altogether.
‘We might as well get it over and done with,’ he went on. ‘I’d rather have waited until tomorrow, but when I saw her heading over here I thought I’d better come and cut her off. I managed to stop her before she got to your door, and told her about our touching little romance. Agreeing to drinks was the best way I could think of to get rid of her. I didn’t think you’d want to meet her unprepared.’
‘No, really, I’m delighted I could meet her like this instead,’ said Thea with more than a touch of sarcasm. She gestured down at her sarong, but carefully. She didn’t trust the slippery material. ‘With me looking so smart and all!’
Rhys smiled, one of those swift, disturbing smiles of his. ‘I didn’t know you were going to open the door just then,’ he pointed out. ‘Anyway, you look great.’
‘It’s all right,’ said Thea, flushing slightly. ‘You don’t need to act when the Paines aren’t here.’
‘No, I mean it,’ he said.
Uh-oh, here came one of those tingly moments again. Thea didn’t want to look at him, but it was as if her eyes had a will of their own, dragging her head round until she was gazing straight at him.
‘Really,’ he said with a smile.
Oh, please don’t do that, Thea wanted to say. She was having enough trouble coping with the peculiar behaviour of her hormones as it was.
She moistened her lips. ‘I keep forgetting you’ve been out in the desert with no women for the last few years,’ she said, and he laughed, which just made things worse.
Sighing inwardly, Thea made an effort to pull herself together. Really, it would be much easier if he would just go back to being grumpy and disagreeable, the way he had been when they had first encountered each…Was it only that morning? She felt as if she had known him a lifetime.
‘So.’ From somewhere she produced a bright smile. ‘We’re committed now. Kate seemed to believe that we’ve known each other longer than a few hours.’
‘So far, anyway,’ Rhys agreed. ‘We’ve still got to get through the inevitable interrogation over drinks, but if we brush through that, we should be fine. I hope they’ll leave us to do our own thing after that. Kate wanted us to go over for supper, but I compromised on drinks, the subtext being, I hope, that a quick gin and tonic was all we could manage without ripping our clothes off each other. I thought drinks would be enough to cope with!’
‘Quite enough,’ said Thea, trying not to imagine the clothes ripping scenario too clearly.
Glancing at her watch, she saw that it was already almost six. ‘I was on my way to check on Clara and have a swim, but I think I’d better have a shower now. Have you seen Clara at all?’
‘I have. I’ve been keeping an eye on them all, and it took her about five minutes to subvert the Paine children from good little boys to shouting, splashing and dive-bombing with the best of them,’ said Rhys with a grin. ‘They’re all having a great time, although Kate didn’t look too happy with the transformation in her sons.’
‘Oh, dear. Do you think I should go and have a word with Clara?’
‘No. The other three have been staring at each other all week, and it’s taken Clara less than a day to get them all playing together. They’ll enjoy the rest of the holiday now. I’d say Clara was more than a match for Kate, anyway!’
Thea laughed. ‘You’re probably right. I’ll go down and see what’s going on when I’ve had my shower.’
‘I’ll see you at the pool, then, and we can go over to the Paines’ together.’
With a wave, Rhys set off down the steps, leaving Thea to wonder why she should feel vaguely resentful, and then to be horrified when she realised that it was because he had gone without kissing her goodbye.
God, she must pull herself together! They were pretending, remember? Rhys didn’t really want to marry her and he didn’t have to kiss her at all, and she shouldn’t want him to. She was supposed to be broken-hearted about Harry, anyway.
Turning to go inside, she reassured herself that she was just confused after a long day. She would be fine tomorrow, and in the meantime maybe a shower would help.
Preferably a cold one.
Thea was aghast when she caught sight of herself in the bathroom mirror. With her hair all over the place, a white pasty face, bleary eyes and horrible black mascara smears, she looked as if she had stumbled off the set of a horror movie. The Afternoon Nap of the Undead perhaps. No wonder Kate had looked unimpressed!
Clearly drastic measures were called for. Thea jumped into the shower, washed her hair and slathered on the curl control cream. This was no time for restraint on the lotions and potions front.
By the time she had dried her hair it didn’t look too bad. Still no sleek, shining curtain, but at least it looked more like a fluffy cloud and less like a haystack. It had been worth bringing that hair-dryer after all. Nell had said that she wouldn’t need one, and it was nice to know that her big sister could be wrong sometimes.
Glad that there was no Clara this time to ask awkward questions, Thea made up her eyes carefully and pulled on a cherry-red dress. It was one of her favourites, quite old now, but still the most flattering for her curvaceous figure, emphasising her cleavage and drawing attention well away from her hips and thighs. Lovely soft material too, that floated around her bare legs. Wearing it always made her feel sexy.
The only trouble was that it creased badly. Thea tried smoothing down the skirt again, but it didn’t make much difference. Still, it would have to do. With any luck it would get dark soon anyway, and she was damned if she was going to ask Kate if she could borrow her iron!
Six o’clock…Thea squinted at her watch. ‘OK,’ she muttered, scrabbling through her make-up bag for a lipstick. ‘Lipstick…lipstick…lipstick…ah, there you are! Now…shoes…earrings…earrings!…God, what did I do with my earrings?’
She looked wildly around the room. If only it wasn’t in such a mess where she had pulled everything out of the case earlier. She’d never be able to find anything now.
Thea was frantically tipping various cosmetic bags out on to the bed in search of her jewellery when she suddenly realised that she was hyperventilating, as breathless and excited as if she were going out on a heavy date.
‘Calm down,’ she told herself and took some deep breaths. It was just drinks with tiresome neighbours.
And supper with Rhys, that sly inner voice whispered.
Yes, well, that too, but really she was dressing to convince Kate that she didn’t always look like an extra from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Thea tried to convince herself. All this effort was simply in aid of the pretence.
Sure, said the voice.
It was a bit much when your own inner voices went sarcastic on you, Thea reflected glumly, spotting her earrings at last. They were supposed to restrict themselves to the occasional note of caution, not outright mockery and discomfiture.
Maybe it did look as if she had made too much effort for casual drinks, though? Thea’s confidence, ever shaky, faltered as she squinted at herself in the bathroom mirror while her nerve got ready to run off and hide in the bushes with its tail between its legs.
‘Get a grip,’ she said sternly to her reflection.
Judging by the squeals, splashes and giggles emanating from the pool, Clara hadn’t spent the afternoon missing the care and sound counsel of an adult, although Thea was relieved to know that Rhys had been keeping an eye on the girls while she had been crashed out in bed.
By rights Clara should have been exhausted too, but no, there she was, in the thick of it and, by the looks of things, all four of the children were thoroughly over-excited.
Obviously Thea wasn’t the only one who thought so. As she came down on to the poolside, she saw Kate, as immaculate as ever but looking exceedingly tight-lipped as she watched a little boy leap off the side of the pool and land with a terrific splash.
‘Hugo! Damian!’ she was shouting. ‘How many times have I told you not to jump in like that? Get out right now!’
‘Oh, Mu-um…’
Poor kids. Imagine not being allowed to dive-bomb in a private pool on holiday, thought Thea. The Paine household was obviously run as a very tight ship, with instant obedience the norm to judge by their mother’s astonishment at being answered back.
‘It’s after six, boys,’ Kate said, careful to sound reasonable, because clearly Kate was the perfect mother who never lost her temper. ‘You know perfectly well that you always have a bath now, and then you’re ready for the evening.’
‘But we’re playing this brilliant game,’ one of the boys objected.
‘Everyone is getting out now, anyway.’ Kate’s eye fell on Thea. ‘Ah, good, there you are,’ she said briskly, as if Thea was an errant pupil who had turned up late without a proper excuse. ‘You want Clara out now, don’t you, Thea?’
Behind Kate’s back, Thea could see Clara shaking her head emphatically. ‘I don’t see why, if she’s enjoying herself.’
‘But she must be tired!’
‘She’s on holiday,’ said Thea with a touch of defiance, trying to ignore the jubilant thumbs-up signs Clara was making from the pool. ‘She can sleep in the morning if she wants.’
Kate sucked in her breath. ‘Are you sure that’s wise? I gather Clara is your niece, and it’s obviously tempting to be indulgent when it’s not your own child,’ she added patronisingly, ‘but parents know that children really need routines.’
‘At home, maybe, but I would have thought that the whole point of a holiday is to give the child a break from routine,’ said Thea, ultra-reasonable.
Balked, Kate swung back to the pool. ‘Well, the other three are certainly getting out now,’ she said crossly. ‘I’m sure your father will think you’ve had enough, Sophie.’
‘Enough what?’
At the sound of Rhys’s voice behind them, Thea’s heart leapt into her throat and lodged there, quivering, as she swung round. He had put on a clean shirt and shorts, and he looked crisp and clean and self-assured, but there was nothing special about him. He didn’t have Harry’s romantically floppy hair or dazzling blue eyes or chiselled features. He was just ordinary, really.
So why did it feel as if every cell in her body had jerked to attention at the sight of him? Why, after knowing him only a matter of hours, did he seem so familiar, and yet so joltingly immediate at the same time?
And why did the way his cheeks creased as he smiled—yes, like that—dry the breath in her throat?
‘You look wonderful,’ he said, ignoring Kate completely, and slipped an arm around her waist. Before Thea—and possibly he—had quite realised what was happening, he had dropped a warm, casual kiss on her mouth.
Caught unawares, Thea’s heart, already in turmoil, seemed to stop altogether. The paving round the pool dropped away beneath her feet, and for a moment she swung dizzily in space, her only anchor the searing, dangerously exciting touch of his lips.
It was just a moment, though. The next Rhys was lifting his head, and as their eyes met fleetingly, Thea thought he looked as shaken as she felt. It was almost as if he had acted without thinking, and now wasn’t sure what had happened.
Kate was tapping her foot impatiently. ‘I was suggesting that all the children get out of the pool now and get ready for bed,’ she told Rhys, apparently unaware that his arm was all that was keeping Thea upright. ‘They’re all getting over-excited, and the boys have been in there quite long enough. When they’ve had their baths, I think they should sit quietly and read so they can all calm down before they go to bed.’
Rhys looked at the children in the pool. ‘They don’t look to me like they’re in much of a mood for reading,’ he said.
‘That’s because they’re playing this silly game,’ said Kate, exasperated.
‘Games are supposed to be silly, aren’t they? Isn’t that the point of them?’
‘The point is,’ Kate said icily, ‘that Sophie isn’t usually in the pool this late, is she?’
‘Oh, Dad,’ begged Sophie, who had been hanging around near the edge waiting to hear her fate. ‘Don’t say I have to go to bed yet! We’re playing this totally cool game, and Thea says Clara doesn’t have to get out.’
‘Hugo and Damian are getting out,’ Kate intervened, provoking another chorus of moans from her sons, ‘so Clara will get pretty lonely in there on her own.’
Rhys let go of Thea and went over to squat by the edge of the pool so that he could talk to Sophie. ‘You can stay in with Clara while we have drink,’ he told her, ‘but when I call you, I want you both out straight away.’
‘Thanks, Dad!’ Sophie could hardly believe her luck.
‘That goes for you too, Clara.’
‘OK.’ Clara beamed, and celebrated by doing a handstand on the bottom of the pool. ‘Thanks Rhys, thanks Thea!’ she called when she surfaced.
‘Rhys.’ Kate lowered her voice as he straightened and came back towards her and Thea, whose legs were doing the most amazing impersonation of cotton wool and who was still rooted to the spot where he had left her, afraid to move in case she simply collapsed.
‘Are you sure it’s wise to give in to her like that?’ Kate went on in concern. ‘I know Lynda believes in setting very strict boundaries, otherwise Sophie can be, as you know, quite…well, difficult…’
‘I know all about Lynda’s boundaries, thank you, Kate,’ said Rhys in a cool voice. ‘Lynda’s not here, I am responsible for my daughter, and for once she seems to be having a good time. I’m not going to spoil that by insisting on needless confrontation. Now, did someone say something about a drink?’ he finished, closing the discussion firmly.
Wow, assertive or what? Thea watched, incredibly impressed, as Kate gave ground. She obviously longed to make an issue of it, but there was something in Rhys’s face that evidently made her decide not to push the matter.
‘Yes, of course,’ she said, forcing a tight smile. ‘Nick’s waiting for us now.’
Kate’s husband was waiting for them at the top of the steps. He was a big, florid man, exuding bonhomie. ‘Come up, come up,’ he urged them, and wrung Thea’s hand. ‘I’m Nick, Nick Paine. Paine by name, pain by nature!’ He laughed heartily.
You said it, thought Thea. What was it about people who laughed at their own jokes that made them so intensely irritating? She had hardly stepped on to the terrace and already her teeth were on edge. No wonder Rhys had been so keen to find a way to avoid them. Thank God she had listened to him, instead of insisting on finding out what the Paines were like for herself. It would have been too late then.
‘Thea Martindale,’ she replied with a polite smile, extracting her hand with some difficulty from Nick’s clammy clasp, an extra incentive, if one was needed, to make her pretend engagement to Rhys as convincing as possible.
‘But not for much longer, I gather?’ Nick ogled her cleavage. ‘That Rhys is a dark horse! He never breathed a wo
rd about you, and now Kate tells me that you’re getting married!’
‘That’s right.’ Thea stepped back before Nick actually fell down her cleavage and took Rhys’s hand, which was warm and strong and dry and infinitely comforting. A contrast to Nick’s, in fact. ‘We’re so happy.’
‘We must toast your health.’
Thea sensed that Kate was not overly pleased by this unexpected development. She might be in favour of Rhys getting married again, but only to someone of her choice, and definitely not anyone related to subversive influences around the pool!
Still, to do her justice, she wasn’t going to say it outright, however much she might want to.
‘Nick, get the wine.’ Kate didn’t quite snap her fingers, but she might as well have done the way Nick leapt to obey.
Thea sat down next to Rhys on a bench and wondered whether Lynda was like her friend. She couldn’t imagine Rhys responding well to a barked order.
‘Well, here we here!’ Kate waited until Nick had poured out four glasses, and lifted her glass. ‘Congratulations!’ she said, but smiled in a way that made Thea a little nervous. ‘You must tell us everything!’
Ah, the interrogation. ‘Have you known each other long?’
‘Not long, no,’ said Rhys, and Thea quickly trotted out the dinner party story to explain how they had met.
Kate frowned slightly. ‘I thought Lynda said that you’d been abroad so long you didn’t know anyone in London?’ she said. ‘She was quite worried about you when you came back.’
‘I know these friends who had the dinner party,’ said Rhys coolly, ‘and of course I know Thea now.’
He rested his hand on the back of the bench and his thumb caressed the nape of Thea’s neck, sending delicious shivers down her spine. She would never be able to concentrate if he kept on doing that.
‘I’m surprised you’re engaged already,’ said Kate, disapproving. ‘You can hardly know each other.’
‘I knew the moment I saw Thea that she was the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with,’ said Rhys, sounding so convincing that Thea lost track of her breathing for a moment.