The Scent of His Woman

by Maggie Pritchard

  ‘There she is’, he screamed, ‘there is the traitor, the one who sold out to the capitalists, it must have been worth it because here she is still spying on our work so she can sell us out a second time.’

  Geth must have spoken to the papers, she thought, but why it made no sense. She tried to take hold of the paper Rowan was waving in front of her face as he shouted, but he whipped it away handing it to the others, who passed it around and as they did so the level of anger escalated frighteningly. Lexie, struggling to make sense of it all, was aware of being pushed and shoved around, of Rowan and others accusing her, of camera flashes exploding all around. The world seemed to take on a new and frightening reality in which she was the focus for all this anger, all this contempt.

  Then Geth was there, pushing through the crowd of angry faces, a couple of big men each side of him also pushing back the protestors. Lexie didn’t for one moment question why he had come for her, all she knew was that he was here and she felt safe. Within seconds, he and his men had extricated her from the crowd and they were headed back through the now open site gates. Lexie vaguely heard the sound of the gates crashing shut and before she knew it she was bundled into one of the temporary site offices.

  All at once the noise stopped, she was seated on a hard backed chair in someone’s untidy office and the clamour had stopped. Slowly she regained her senses, there were a number of men in the room too, Geth was one of them and he was asking her something, but she couldn’t make sense of it to answer.

  ‘Lexie, cariad, speak to me, are you alright? Did they hurt you?’

  Looking up he barked at the others, ‘ok boys good work now get out and give her some air, will you? Alun we need an ambulance.’

  At the word ambulance Lexie woke up to what was going on around her and found her voice.

  No, please no I’m alright there is no need...’

  All of a sudden he was back at her side, all concern.

  ‘It’s alright cariad, you’re safe now, what happened back there?’ ‘

  I don’t know,’

  Her voice was shaky still as she tried to make sense of it all.

  ‘The newspaper, there was something in the paper, did you speak to the papers?’ He didn’t answer, turning to the man he’d called Alun who still stood by the door. ‘Can we get the papers for today?’

  The man didn’t answer, just turned on his heel to obey. Geth moved to the corner of

  the room and flicked the switch on an electric kettle, soon he pressing a cup of something warm into her hands.

  ‘Drink this it will help.’

  He was still hunkered down beside her, encouraging her to drink the awful concoction when Alun returned, a paper in his hand and a grim look on his face. Passing it to his boss he then beat a tactful retreat, best not be around when the boss saw what was on the front page of the paper, he thought.

  Geth looked at the article together with its damning photograph and cursed himself for a fool. How many times had he been caught like this, he ought to know better, indeed he did know better than to kiss a woman in the open and when the press were likely to be watching a new project like this one with local interest. To make matters worse it had nearly resulted in her getting injured, she was not going to like this not one little bit.

  ‘What,’ she asked ‘what is it.’

  She took the paper he proffered, reading the front page article in silence.

  “GLM’s spy in Llan-aberth” the headline screamed and the article began, “Gethyn Mathias of GLM construction has a direct line to inside information at the Llan-aberth protest camp that gave him the upper hand this week, our reporter discovers. The spy in the protest camp was identified today as Alexandria Owen a local resident. Despite standing to make substantial gains when GLM carry out the promised renovations to a number of village properties newly acquired by the construction giant. Ms Owen has played a prominent part in the protest against the development, giving her numerous opportunities to gain the inside information she needed to pass on to GLM. Our sources also reveal a romantic link between Ms Owen and the Welsh playboy construction boss.” There was a photograph of her and Geth at her front door last night in what could only be described as a passionate clinch.

  Lexie slowly put the paper down on the desk beside her, not wanting to read any more.

  ‘I don’t understand... what does this mean? I understand they think I told you when everyone would be in London, but what does the rest mean? What does renovations to properties have to do with me? How did they get this picture...’

  She tailed off in confusion, waiting for Geth to explain. He shrugged.

  ‘We bought some properties in the village, your shop is one of them. Renovating them and renting them to locals is one of the requests the village council wanted in return for supporting our planning application. The papers must have found out. As for the photograph, it happens, they hang around just waiting for a shot that they can hang this kind of rubbish on, it’s not worth worrying about.’

  ‘You’re the new owner? I got a letter but it didn’t say who.’

  Turning on him she continued, eyes blazing as the impact of what she’d just read and his culpability began to sink in. ‘

  You own my home, my shop, just when were you going to tell me? Then you had to insist on kissing me in public, knowing it was not safe. How could you, how could you do such a stupid thing. How am I to deal with this? Just tell me that. How am I to go on living in my home after this?’

  She was on her feet and shouting by now and Geth could do nothing but wait for the tirade to end, she had every right to complain, there was no denying it. Finally she stopped shouting and sat with her head in her hands in silence, Geth wished she’d carried on shouting, it was easier to take than this abject despair. He tried to reassure her.

  ‘Look it will pass, the press will soon find someone else to persecute, take my word for it they’ll soon move on.’

  She looked up to answer, her voice dripping contempt.

  ‘Well that’s ok for you Mr. privileged and rich with plenty of places to go, what am I supposed to do while I wait for them to move on as you put it? Am I supposed to leave my home, shut up my shop, lose customers, tell me, what?’

  ‘Don’t be so melodramatic, we will just have to drop out of sight just for a short while and don’t worry about the shop, I’ll see you’re compensated for loss of business.’

  He took out his mobile and barked a few commands into it.

  ‘Alun, bring me a vehicle will you, and see that it’s fueled up.’

  Lexie could hardly believe her ears, not content with ruining her life he was arrogant enough to think he could rearrange her life to suit himself now!

  ‘I am not going anywhere with you,’ she began, but broke off when the other man re-entered the room.

  ‘Sorry boss but you won’t get out via the front entrance or in one of our vehicles, the press are there in force now, cameras and stuff everywhere, only need the TV guys now and you’ll have the full set.’

  Geth swore in his own language, a volley of vehement Welsh oaths.

  ‘Ok, can we get the copter in?’

  He knew the answer before he asked the question.

  ‘Not a hope, you know we don’t have room for it to land yet and anyway it’s more than an hour away, you need to get away now before they get round to blockading your apartment not to mention the young lady’s house.’

  As Geth took in this information he hesitated, then tersely asked.

  ‘Can we get a vehicle round to the road at the side so we can get out through the back of the site on foot?’

  ‘Maybe’, said Alun slowly, ‘it might work the only problem will be getting a vehicle out without giving the game away.’

  Lexie who had been listening with increasing dismay to the conversation, suddenly interjected here.

  ‘No need, there is no need to take one of your vehicles round, all that will do is draw their attention, my car is already there parked at
the side of the road, all you need to do is show me how to get to it.’

  Lexie watched the uncertain look on their faces and decided she’d had quite enough.

  ‘Please yourself then, I don’t need your help, I can find my own way.’ She moved to leave, pushing belligerently past the two men as she did so. ‘ Wow, wait just a second, let me think this through.’

  Before either man could react Lexie had the door open and was making her way around to the back of the building. It seemed simple enough, she could work her way along the hedge unseen, somehow she would have to get over or through it onto the road, then it would be a few steps to the car and escape. She was fairly certain no-one would realise she had parked her car nearby and once she was home she would be safe enough.

  Working her way along the hedge she searched for a weakness, any place she could get over it onto the road, not taking any notice of the two men following, until at last finding a small gap in the thorny barrier, she pushed through and they followed. By sheer good luck they were within sight of the little car. Moving forward Lexie fumbled in her pocket for the keys and was just about to climb in and drive off, when Geth caught up with her, grasping her arm and stopping her in her tracks.

  ‘Just how far do you think we’ll get in that deathtrap?’

  He was incredulous, and even in her agitated state the look on his face made Lexie smile.

  ‘Well boss, I can’t agree there, you’ll be safe enough, no way can that thing go fast enough to kill anything!’ Alun laughed.

  ‘What makes you think you are invited? You can find your own transport, to wherever you want to go, I’m going home and if I never set eyes on you ever again it will be far too soon.’

  With that final remark Lexie climbed into the little car, belted up and started the engine, but before she could make good her escape Geth reluctantly climbed in beside her.

  ‘Get out, I told you find your own way out of this mess, I don’t want you near me ever again.’

  His patience was wearing thin now, the situation was bad enough as it was, without this exasperating woman refusing to see that she needed him now, to protect her from the worst excesses of the press, at least until the furore died down, which as he knew from experience it would do in a few days.

  ‘Look just drive will you before we’re seen, we can talk this through when we get to my apartment.’

  ‘Your apartment, I’m not going anywhere near your apartment, how do you think that will look? Well I’ll tell you how. It will just prove to everyone that those lies they printed about me must be true. No, the only way out of this for me is to let everyone see I have nothing whatever to do with you or GLM. I’m going home to wait it out. They will soon get bored of watching me when nothing happens. So get out of my car.’

  Geth belted himself in without another word, giving Lexie no option but to drive away, he was right, if they delayed any longer someone would spot them and the game would be up. “Right buster” she thought, “let’s see how you like being driven by someone in a proper temper!”

  Geth could hardly believe the noise the little car made as she stamped on the throttle, he’d never heard anything like it, more like a sewing machine than a car. He had to admit though, Alun was wrong, it could certainly move fast enough to kill something. Not only that, but if she kept on throwing it around corners at breakneck speed, that something would be the two of them!

  ‘What the...’ he struggled not to let lose a stream of curses as she took the next bend, throwing him against the door despite the seatbelt.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ she said with irony in her voice, ‘we won’t roll, 2CVs are designed not to roll and anyway, in two minutes I’ ll be home and you’ll be walking.’

  Hardly were the words out of her mouth, when they rounded another bend in the road and the village green with her little shop came into view and Lexie began to slow the little car. At least she would have been able to see her shop, if it wasn’t for the troop of press and photographers waiting outside. Not knowing what to do, Lexie hit the throttle again and Geth was pressed back into the uncomfortable little seat by the sudden acceleration as they whizzed by. He only just caught a glimpse of the resulting scuffle of the press men, as they recognised her car and scrambled into their vehicles to give chase.

  A gamut of emotions flooded through Lexie as she drove past, she was angry, both with Geth and the press hounds, how dare they interfere in her life in this way? She was incredulous that they should want to, who was she to warrant this kind of attention? But now she was beginning to be frightened too, if she couldn’t go home where could she go? If she went to either of her sisters she would only involve them in this nonsense, for nonsense it was, press hounding people in South Wales, she could hardly credit it. So what was she to do? The only sensible option seemed to be to take Geth up on his offer to look after her, but that would mean spending time with him, the result would be tantamount to an admission of guilt, and even if, technically, he had got the information from her, she was still innocent, he had tricked her, plied her with wine and romance, and she had not been worldly wise enough to see what he was doing. No she certainly knew who the guilty party was and it was not Alexandria Owen, no matter what the world thought.

  Geth watched her face as she drove, the stricken look sending an unfamiliar surge of guilt through him. Later there would be time to explain it all to her, that the information had come from within the village council and not only was she not to blame, but neither was he guilty of tricking her into providing the intelligence that had enabled them to turn the tables on the protest. He’d bought the cottages as a good investment, but also as leverage to make sure she complied with his demands. It had taken some pretty forceful tactics to get the deal all but done and dusted during the last week, but his staff as usual, had risen to the challenge. Soon he would play that little ace, but now was clearly not the time, the press were hot on their heels and no way could they outrun them in this glorified toy. His voice was calm, in control as he spoke, giving her instructions.

  ‘Head for Cardiff and my apartment, with a bit of luck we can get to my car, then we will be able to outrun them.’

  ‘They’ll catch us on the motor-way, there is no way I can outrun them in Belinda.’ Her voice was scathing.

  ‘Take the old A48,’ he instructed, they might not think you would do that and it will give us a head-start.’

  As she drove at breakneck speed down to the city, he found himself praying she was right about the little car’s anti-roll design and at the same time he wondered who in their right mind would name a car at all, never mind call it Belinda!

  As they reached the outskirts of the city, the press cars had still not found them and Geth began to be confident they would reach his apartment without incident. Once there however, he knew the press would be waiting and they would only have a very short time to get away in his car. He began to direct Lexie through the back streets, not wanting to approach the building from the front and was gratified when they were able to drive into the underground parking area undetected. Lexie, recognizing his car from the row of sleek machines parked there pulled up beside it with a flourish, cut the engine and turned to look at Geth.

  ‘Well, what now, I have got us this far and we can certainly outrun anyone in that,’ she said scathingly, looking at the Porsche ‘but where exactly will be running to? No way am I coming with you unless I know where we will be headed. I’d rather take my chances with the wolves.’

  Taking a deep breath Geth did his best to keep his temper in check.

  ‘Look, let’s just get in the car and I’ll explain on the way, we don’t have long before someone spots us, but if we move now, we may just get away unnoticed.’

  ‘Absolutely not, either you tell me were you are taking me, or I don’t go with you, it’s that simple.’

  That was it, the last straw, Geth could not believe how pigheaded she was being, he reached down and unclipped both seat-belts, before getting out of the car.


  ‘If you don’t get out of this deathtrap and into my car, I warn you I will come round there and make you. We can discuss what happens next on once we are away from here.’

  Something implacable in the tone of his voice told Lexie he meant it and reluctantly she followed his instructions and within minutes of arriving they were back on the road undetected. Lexie sat in silence watching him drive with relaxed confidence, feeling strangely safer and calmer than she had done for some time and not able to work out how that could be when she had been, to all intents and purposes, kidnapped again!

  Once free of the city traffic Geth turned the car eastwards, heading towards London on the M4 and as the big car ate up the miles he began to relax and give some thought as to what the next step should be. One thing was certain, he realised, not only did he need to come up with a plan, he needed to do it quickly. Lexie was sitting quietly enough at the moment, but he was certain that she would soon start to demand to know what he proposed. By the time that happened he was also determined to have thought of a way of capitalizing on this situation, to keep her close to him for as long as he could, this was an unexpected opportunity he was not about to waste.

  With that in mind he turned to the small figure seated beside him.

  ‘I think the best thing we can do is to find somewhere we can stop and have a coffee, maybe an early lunch and work out what to do next. I know of a nice little place about an hours drive away, what do you say? Once we get there you can think about ringing your sisters too, they will start to worry once they get wind of this’