Sins of Sarah

by Anne Styles

  She was as good as her word, and spent an evening at Sarah's flat, giggling and laughing, sorting out her clothes. Approving of some, tossing others aside, she was a god-send. Over a bottle of wine they made a list of what was needed and talked long into the night.

  In a few short weeks the two girls became firm friends. Sarah had to trust her, since Cress was the only one of the crew to see the bruised ribs left by a day on a Marines' assault course. 'Nick'll kill you when he finds out!' she told Sarah, staring with genuine horror at her purple and yellow ribcage. 'That will take weeks to disappear!'

  'It will be weeks before we do that scene,' Sarah assured her. 'Anyway, he's not to know when any of that film was shot.'

  'He knows what he told you not to do. Don't under-estimate him, Sarah, and don't make an enemy of him, for heaven's sake!'

  'I have no intention of it. Believe it or not, Cress, I quite like the arrogant so and so. I just won't let him boss me around, and neither will Paddy.'

  Cress sighed. 'You've got a lot to learn, sunshine. Chris and Nick are not producers you can manipulate at will, like you obviously can Paddy.' She stood back and looked critically at the Bruce Oldfield dress Sarah had on.

  'That might do for Conor Blair's show next week. It's smart, but it doesn't show too much.'

  'In that case, sold!' Sarah unzipped it. 'I'm punch drunk with shopping, and we still have to fetch those dresses from Catherine.' Catherine Jayson had made two beautiful dresses for her, totally unlike anything Sarah had owned in her life. She hadn't been able to choose between the two designs, so she had ordered both. Her brother, who handled all her financial affairs, had nearly fainted when she had asked for the money from the account he kept for her business expenses.

  'You could buy a car with that amount of money!' he had protested.

  'George, I'm moving up a league now,' she had argued. 'I need new clothes, and I haven't bought anything but jeans and the programme stuff for years.' He'd had to agree.

  'I suppose that's true. I'll transfer some of your trust money. Get what you need, and save all the receipts.' Sarah and Cress had done just that - and even Cress was drawn into the spending spree when they got to the lingerie department.

  'Well, you never know.' She smiled. 'Anything can happen on location, and I never could resist La Perla!' She held up a lacy black body. 'How about this?'

  'It's gorgeous,' Sarah agreed. 'Do you suppose it's tax deductible?' She was ever mindful of George's training.

  'Not a chance! Unless you want to seduce your taxman. But I wouldn't mind letting James rip it off if I was wearing it, it would certainly justify the cost!'

  'James? Do you really fancy him?' Sarah asked, rather relieved.

  Cress laughed. 'I've fancied James for years! Mind you, this is the first time we've worked together and he hasn't been married, so this is my chance to pin him down. I've given up on married men - too many problems!'

  'Well, in that little number he won't stand a chance!' It was all the encouragement Cress needed. Loaded with shopping bags, they got a taxi to Catherine Jayson's showroom before they spent any more money.

  * * *

  'Can I have a G and T, Daddy? Just for tonight?' Charlotte wheedled, watching Nicholas pouring his own drink.

  Nick gave in, put a teaspoon of gin in a glass and topped it up with a lot of tonic. 'Don't let your mama catch you.'

  'She's too busy fussing over the table plan,' Charlotte assured him. 'Do you like my dress? Do you think James will like it?' Her father's look of horror told her that he most certainly would! Nick was sure Diana knew nothing about the skimpy little number their daughter was almost wearing!

  He and Diana traditionally gave a black-tie dinner party for the cast before he started a film in England. It helped him to relax his cast, and Diana loved the opportunity to play the director's wife. Charlotte was there for the first time, having wheedled and persuaded until Nick had given in.

  'You are putty in that girl's hands,' Diana complained vehemently. 'I really don't want her sitting there making eyes at James and Ben all evening!'

  'She's got to start some time,' Nick said reasonably, surprised at his own tolerance, but knowing inside that he could deny his precious daughter nothing, he saw little enough of her as it was. 'And James and Ben are well aware of the limits. She might as well practise on them while you are watching.'

  'They had better be aware of the limits!' Diana retorted coldly, and swept out to deal with the two friends of Caroline's, who were cooking dinner. Nick's heart sank, and he cursed inwardly. She was not in the best frame of mind for a cast dinner, he realized, and he mentally braced himself for a difficult evening, wishing he had asked Jane to come and help out. Jane could always be relied on to look after things and keep everything calm.

  * * *

  James and Sarah, fortified by a drink with Conor Blair after the show, arrived last. Sarah had changed into Catherine Jayson's black chiffon dress, the low-cut bodice displaying her beautiful breasts, the skirt clinging to her sheer black tights. She wore perilously high heels, chosen by Cress, making her height on a par with most of the men in the room, bar Nick, and the effect, as Cress had predicted, was enough to stun the entire room into silent admiration - including Nick.

  'I bet you had trouble with this one on the way over!' Nick said, nodding at James and smiling as he finally pulled himself together.

  'I was strong-armed into behaving,' James assured him. 'Though it took a great deal of control on my part!'

  'I'm sure it did. It probably would have done on mine as well! I hope you realize the damage you could be doing to some senior's blood pressure, Sarah.' Nick took her arm. 'Let me introduce you to everyone. James, you know most people?'

  'I will allow you to steal her for a few minutes,' James grinned, and went off to greet Ben Todd, one of his best friends.

  Every actor and actress in the room was a well-known face - people that Sarah had known on cinema screens since she was a child - and suddenly she was overwhelmed by them. Totally awestruck, she felt as if she should be asking for autographs. Strangely, the touch of Nick's hand on her arm, or lightly on her back, was immensely reassuring. He seemed aware of her uneasiness and didn't leave her until he was sure she felt comfortable. At least she wouldn't have trouble remembering names that evening.

  James brought Ben Todd over to her. 'He's playing your nasty bullying brother,' he introduced. 'But he's quite harmless, really.'

  'And this is Tony Fletcher, the man you're supposed to marry!' added Ben.

  'Any time you like!' laughed the thickset and very familiar-looking actor. They were enjoying teasing her over their instant relationships, and Sarah relaxed with them and gave back as good as she got until, feeling more at ease she wandered away to speak to Charlotte, the one face that she couldn't place.

  She needn't have worried. Charlotte pounced on her, introducing herself, chattering easily about the programme, and plying her with questions about James. Smiling, Sarah introduced her to the three men, as she had been angling for, and walked over to look at a painting over the fireplace that had caught her eye. The beautiful flat had many impressive modem paintings, in keeping with the mix of antiques and classically modem furnishings.

  'Peter Blake,' Nick said quietly behind her. 'I bought it to celebrate King's Daughter getting an Oscar.'

  'It's lovely,' she said admiringly. 'My father was a great fan of his work; he would have loved your paintings.'

  Nick topped up her glass. 'Would have?' he enquired, handing the bottle back to the waitress.

  'My parents died in an air crash four years ago,' she told him, her voice breaking slightly, and she bent her head to hide her pain.

  Nick was startled by her sudden desolation. 'I'm sorry,' he said. 'I shouldn't have asked.'

  Sarah hastily took hold of herself and looked up, reassuring him. 'You weren't to know, don't worry. I just don't broadcast it because it's taking a lot of getting used to.'

  He smiled gently b
ack at her. 'You will - eventually. I did when my father died, but then I didn't see as much of him as you probably did of yours.'

  'I was very much the baby of the family,' she admitted. 'George is fifteen years older than me. It just seemed so unfair to lose them both when I still needed them so much. Mummy would have been so proud of all this happening.' She spread her hands, encompassing the whole room. 'Mind you, she would definitely have categorized James as NSIT.'

  'What on earth is that?' 'Oh, it's an old phrase from when she was a deb. Iffy escorts were coded by the mothers as "not safe in taxis"! Somehow Daddy managed to make himself acceptable to Granny, even though he was a disreputable Guards officer at the time.'

  'He didn't stay in, though?' Nick remembered her conversation at the audition, but, coming from an Army family himself, he was intrigued.

  'No, he became a stockbroker long before I was born.'

  'Mine was a career officer. He was a general by the time he retired,' Nick admitted. 'I was born in Malaya. I think I lived in six different countries before I came back here to school, and I was only eight then.'

  'Is that why you spent so much time with Charles, then?' Sarah remembered snatches of the conversation in Charles's car the day of her audition.

  'Our families were close friends. Our mothers still are.' He laughed. 'And they still scare the pants off us!'

  'I thought you were the one who frightened everyone else!'

  'You haven't met my mother - or Lady Hastings!' Nick suddenly realized his mistake. 'Oh, I'm sorry, that was insensitive of me. I'm not usually so tactless.'

  'Not at all it makes you seem more human somehow! I can't imagine you would be frightened of anyone!' Nick knew he was neglecting his duties as a host but he suddenly wanted to stand there talking to her for ever.

  He wanted to know so much more about her.

  Sarah herself was beginning to feel very guilty about defying him over the stunts. He was being so nice to her.

  Now she didn't want him to be angry with her as she knew he would be.

  'I think your wife needs you' she pointed out reluctant to move away but painfully aware of Diana's angry eyes suddenly on them.

  'She's probably ready to start dinner.' Reluctantly Nick tore himself away. 'We'll talk later Sarah, I hope. I'd like to show you some of the other paintings.'

  Diana discovered as their guests were being seated that Charlotte had craftily changed the place settings around, seating herself where Sarah should have been, next to James. It did nothing to improve her temper, since to move her would make more difficulties. So she had to let it go and furiously watch Charlotte flirting outrageously at the opposite end of the long candlelit table, well away from any parental control.

  Sarah found herself between Sir John Redman, who played her father, and Tony, with Nick opposite her. It would have been a safe haven for Charlotte, Diana thought wistfully, as the girls served the first course.

  The fact that Nick was paying a great deal of attention to Sarah Campbell did nothing to enliven her mood. The girl was lovely to look at, she thought bitterly, and she knew his weaknesses only too well. Luckily for Sarah, Sir John was wonderful company. Champagne had sharpened his wit, and, though Nick noted with amusement that he never took his eyes from Sarah's breasts, he entertained them all with stories of his early TV and theatre days. The laughter at their end of the table was beginning to rival that at James and Ben's end.

  'You are going to need a horse-whip for those two,' Diana told Nick grimly.

  'Don't I always, with James and Ben?' He looked down the table. 'However, I might need it here later!' Sarah saw the flash of warning between him and Charlotte and it made her shiver - though it hardly daunted Charlotte at all. She pouted back at him without a care in the world, secure in the knowledge that Nick could easily be manipulated. Sarah knew her own father would never have allowed her to wear the dress that Charlotte had on, when she was fourteen. Not that she would have had the nerve to try...

  Nick sighed. 'I might just as well spit in the wind! he commented resignedly.

  'Oh, she'll get worse than that!' she told him cheerfully. 'You should have seen me in Aylesbury on Saturday afternoons when I was a teenager!'

  'Pure jail-bait, I should think.' Tony smiled. 'Knowing some of the stage-school girls we had on a show once.'

  James obviously thought the same about Charlotte too. As they moved around the room after the meal he shot over to Sarah. 'I can't cope any more!' he wailed at her. 'She is definitely after my body, and that one is definitely a no-no!'

  'What did you tell her, then?' Sarah laughed at his discomfort. The evening was teaching her all sorts of things.

  The powerful Nicholas Grey was an over-indulgent father, and James could be intimidated by the same fourteen-year-old. James looked slightly uncomfortable with her question.

  'I told her I screwed you three times a night, and I was too worn out for anything else.'

  'You idiot!' Sarah whispered sharply at him. 'God knows who she'll repeat that to!'

  'The way Diana has been glaring at you, it might be a good idea if she does tell her,' James told her. 'Now be a good girl, pretend you're madly in love with me, and I'll take you to Archies as soon as we can escape. Ben's meeting his girlfriend there.'

  Sarah's eyes lit up. 'OK, you're on'. 'I've never been to Archies.' And she took pity on him for the last half-hour, staying with him, to Nick's annoyance. He was surprised to feel a real surge of jealousy when they left and James announced where they were going.

  'Oh, lucky things!' cried Charlotte. 'Daddy, I don't suppose . . .?'

  'No way!' said Nick and James, in unison.

  James felt quite safe now. He brushed Charlotte's cheek lightly. 'We'll all be queuing up on your sixteenth birthday,' he promised. 'As long as your dad isn't around!'

  'Dream on, Willoughby!' Nick assured him, seeing the teasing look turn to relief in James's eyes. 'Goodnight, Sarah.' He hardly needed to bend to kiss her, following the lead James had given him with Charlotte.

  His mouth was surprisingly soft and warm as it lingered gently on hers. Light though the contact was, the effect on them both was like an electric shock, and they drew back, staring at each other for a second in surprise. In six weeks he had never done any more than shake hands with her, which was unusual, to say the least, in the film business -the most tactile industry in the world, in her experience.

  'Have fun, children,' he said - rather wistfully, Sarah thought. 'Remember NSIT, Sarah,' he added as she moved away.

  'What on earth did he mean by that?' Ben asked as they went down to the waiting car.

  'Oh, I'll tell you some time,' she told him sweetly. Her mind was still on the gentle kiss Nick had given her. Why on earth had it affected her so much? she wondered in amazement. It was just a kiss, after all, and a light one at that.

  * * *

  Nick was pensive that night as he joined Diana in their wide bed, long after the party was over. He had been restless, and in no mood to sleep, and had spent time trying to unwind playing the piano, as he often did when he was unable to sleep.

  Diana was still awake, however, when he finally came to bed, and surprisingly moved into his arms - something she rarely did these days. For a few moments he lay still hoping she wouldn't make any other demands. The days when he had been eager to make love to his wife were over, and Diana had ceased to really welcome him from the moment she had become pregnant with Charlotte. But tonight she moved impatiently against him as he tried to move away.

  'What's the matter, Nick?' She was furious, because he was behaving as if she were not there.

  'Nothing's the matter,' he said slowly. 'I'm tired, that's all.'

  'You're never tired when it comes to sex with other women,' she almost jeered at him. 'What's the matter, then? Have you got that wretched child on your mind still? I might have known you'd chosen her for more than her acting ability!'

  'Stop that!' He pushed her back onto the pillows and rolled away
from her, but Diana, furious at his rejection when she had made an effort, swung a fist at the side of his face, catching him unawares. Nick was simply angry that she had reminded him of the girl he had kissed earlier, whose soft mouth was probably still imprinted on his, however much he had tried to push her to the back of his mind.

  He was uncharacteristically hurried as he finally gave in to the need inside him that he knew Sarah Campbell had evoked. Then, at last, his better nature took over, and he was filled with real remorse.

  'Darling, darling,' he whispered. 'I'm sorry - I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. Put it down to too much champagne.' But it wasn't champagne, and they both knew it.

  Diana, he knew, was the perfect wife for him. In all their years of marriage she had never complained about his appalling working hours, or the months he spent away from home on location. She was an ideal hostess, an incredibly good mother to Charlotte, and he never had to worry about domestic details in any of his homes.

  So why, for heaven's sake, was he thinking as he was, about a young girl of twenty-four? From what Charlotte had confessed of her conversation with James, she was probably already sleeping with James anyway, and, knowing James as he did. Nick knew it was more than likely.

  CHAPTER 5

  It was hard to believe this was her last Do or Dare, and even harder to concentrate after the wild farewell party the night before. Paddy clutched his head in his hands as she messed up an introduction for the umpteenth time that morning. 'Tell her Nick Grey will be a doddle compared with what I am going to do to her in a minute!' he roared into the mike connected to the floor manager's head-phones. He yelled so loudly that Sarah could hear it through the cans. Rob raised his eyebrows at her.

  'Buck up, Sarah,' he chided quietly. 'We are getting our knickers in a twist!'

  'And don't sympathize with her!' Paddy rejoined in his ear. 'Too many late nights, that's her trouble!' Sarah smiled sweetly into camera one.

  'Sorry, Paddy, darling.' She disarmed him completely, and proceeded to do it perfectly. At that moment, more than one hardened stage-hand thought regretfully that Do or Dare would not be the same from then on.