‘Do I?’
‘And Drew came over all furious and protective and masterful,’ Nicola sighed.
Shelley nodded. ‘That’s right. He did. Some people might have said that he came on very heavy!’ She knew what was coming next. A question on the lines of what exactly was happening between her and Drew nowadays. A question she did not want to answer, simply because she couldn’t. She didn’t know herself. Maybe nothing.
Maybe it was naive to suppose that, just because they were no longer hurling abuse at each other, something romantic was waiting to burst into life instead. The only thing she was sure of was that he still wanted her physically, only this time he was prepared to follow through. And this time she didn’t even have the reassurance of knowing that he loved her. It was time to move away.
She raised her empty glass. ‘I’m going to find another of these before the fireworks start,’ she said.
‘There’ll be fireworks starting any minute now if my husband has much more to drink,’ said Nicola grimly, her eyes fixed on a tall man at the other side of the garden who seemed to be having difficulty maintaining his balance.
Shelley looked around the garden for Drew but couldn’t find him, so she wandered off towards the house to see just what he had done with it.
He had certainly kept it simple—but then, it had such a fabulous location that fussy decor would have taken attention away from the stunning views.
The kitchen was painted in a soft turquoise, with units in a deeper shade. There were windows on three sides of the room, and one which directly overlooked the sea. Now the water was as dark and glossy as oil, but she thought how wonderful it must look during the day—almost as if you could reach your hand out and touch the waves themselves.
She filled her glass and strolled down the corridor leading to the sitting room, where she could see a log smouldering in the grate of an enormous fireplace. She liked the kitchen. She liked it very much. She wondered what he had done to the sitting room.
The floor was made of bare boards and her deck shoes made no sound on the polished wood. She passed a set of exquisite mirrors, each one different, their frames encrusted with shells.
She only got a brief impression of what the interior of the room was like—sky-blue walls and a vast painting of a boat—because a noise from the far end of the room distracted her, and when she looked she could see a big, book-lined study.
But that wasn’t the only thing she saw. Two figures stood engaged in deep conversation, one instantly recognisable and one not.
The recognisable one was male and tall and rangy with dark, honey-tipped hair, while the unrecognisable one was female, freckled and had an aggressively assertive tilt to her pelvis.
And of course, on closer inspection, she wasn’t completely unrecognisable—because it was the woman who had been talking to Drew so animatedly by the bonfire, noticeable mainly for the length of her skirt. Or rather the lack of length. Shelley had thought that on a bitterly cold night it was a little pointless to wear a mini-skirt—especially when every other female in the place was in jeans.
But maybe it wasn’t so pointless. If the point had been to attract Drew Glover, then it looked as though she had succeeded very well.
Shelley hunched her shoulders up as she shrank against the wall and watched them, like an animal retreating into the protection of its shell, and for one crazy moment she could have sworn that Drew saw her. But no, he was too wrapped up in what was happening in front of him to notice anything.
She saw the woman, or girl—for she looked virtually pre-pubescent in such a ridiculous outfit—reach her arms up around Drew’s neck and push that assertive pelvis towards him.
He didn’t push her away.
Like watching a silent movie, Shelley saw her laughingly say something before raising a moist, eager mouth to his…
Shelley wanted to scream from the base of her lungs, but she couldn’t bear to add humiliation to her agony. She slunk back along the corridor like a thief and put her glass down on the table with trembling hands. And once outside she was swallowed up by the darkness, unnoticed by the laughing faces collected round the now blazing bonfire.
Shelley knew the area like the back of her hand; she knew which paths were unobserved and which ones to take so that she would not be followed.
But who was she fooling? There was no sound of frantic footsteps. No hot pursuit on her heels. And why would there be? Drew was a free agent. He could do what the hell he liked. Just because she had started to imagine happy-ever-after or some kind of resurrection of their doomed affair, that didn’t make him an active participant in her fantasies.
She waited until she was clear of the house before she started to run, and then the sky started to explode in a cascade of golden rain and a shower of silver stars which were brighter and more dazzling than the real thing.
Someone must have let the fireworks off.
She thought that the pub must have lit theirs at almost the same time as Drew, for there were far too many to be just from one source. She heard the gunfire sound of bangers and saw a breathtaking eruption of emerald and deep rose-pink against the backdrop of the sky, but mainly gold, always gold—so that the sky looked lit up in celebration.
Some celebration!
She ran nearly all the way home, only slowing down as she approached her house. She didn’t want the sound of pounding footsteps to alarm Jennie.
But Jennie’s curtains weren’t drawn and Shelley could see her moving around the sitting room, bending down to pick up discarded toys and putting them unenthusiastically into a box.
Her whole body carried an air of defeat about it, as if life held no joy for her. And maybe that was exactly how she felt. She was in love with the father of her child who in turn was made to feel inadequate because he worked like a dog simply to break even. Even if Jamie did move in next door, he would still have to live with the galling knowledge that Drew was his disapproving landlord.
And Shelley suddenly discovered that it was easy to channel her feelings of hurt into those of righteous indignation. Because you would think that Drew—of all people—would sympathise with Jamie. Hadn’t he once been in the same position himself?
Why wouldn’t Drew give Jamie the financial help he needed to make something of himself? Not because he wasn’t able to, that was for sure.
She had seen the boat and been convinced of its investment value. So had Gerald O’Rourke. She had watched Jamie hard at work, and heard the respect with which Gerald spoke about him. And old boatmen like Gerald didn’t give their approval easily.
An idea grew in her mind with the speed of a weed pushing its way up towards the sun. It was so simple she wondered why she hadn’t thought of it before. Why didn’t she step in and help out? Why not use some of her savings to help Jennie and her partner—just for the sheer altruistic hell of it?
And if Drew objected?
Well, so what? She didn’t have to follow the same rigid, controlling path in life that he was obviously hell-bent on!
She thought about the sum Jennie had mentioned. It wasn’t a fortune exactly, but it was still a lot of money. What would Marco have said? She unlocked her front door slowly. She didn’t have to decide tonight.
She would sleep on it.
CHAPTER TEN
IT WAS midday when Shelley opened the front door in response to the furious ringing of the bell. ‘Drew!’ she exclaimed in surprise more than anything, and then, ‘Drew!’ in confused alarm as he pushed his way past her, straight into the sitting room.
She calmly followed him in there because she had been half expecting such a visit. And whatever he wanted she was going to keep her dignity. If he told her that the kiss at the party last night had all been a mistake, she was going to shrug her shoulders and say that what he did was his business, and nothing to do with her.
Of course, the fact that it was now midday probably meant that it had been anything but a mistake. No doubt he had only just dragged himself from the
Pelvis’s bed. Those looked pretty dark shadows underneath his eyes…
She folded her arms across her chest and fixed him with a questioning look. ‘Yes, Drew? And to what do I owe this charming entrance?’
He seemed to be having difficulty keeping his breathing under control. ‘Did you or did you not,’ he said, biting each word out carefully, ‘lend Jamie a substantial sum of money early this morning?’
She frowned. ‘That’s my business—’
‘No!’ He cut across her words with deadly intent. ‘No, no, no! That’s just where you’re wrong, kitten! It involves my sister, and therefore it involves me—and that makes it my business!’
‘And? What if I did?’
‘Well, then—’ he sucked in a low breath ‘—I’d like to know exactly what you think you’re playing at.’
The look of righteous fury which had darkened his face so that he resembled some kind of devil made her feel slightly uneasy. But not for long. She was not going to be intimidated by him.
‘I’m not playing at anything!’ she snapped. ‘I knew what the financial situation was with Jennie and Jamie and I knew how unhelpful you had been—’
‘What did you know?’ he snarled.
‘That you had refused to invest in a sure-fire scheme to make money! I’ve looked at the boat and I’m surprised at you, Drew—you more than anyone should know that a lucky break is all you need some time!’
He shook his head. ‘But that’s where you’re completely wrong, kitten—I did it all myself! I didn’t ask anybody to cushion my way with handouts—’
‘Which is one of the reasons we split up, isn’t it? Because you nearly killed yourself in the struggle to make yourself the man you are today! Only we didn’t have a baby, did we, Drew?’
His mouth tugged into a grim line, but his voice sounded oddly restrained. ‘No. We didn’t.’
‘And we didn’t have anybody we could go and ask for money either!’
‘And if we had, do you think I would have gone out—cap in hand—looking for capital?’
Shelley sighed. That was the trouble. No. She didn’t. He was a stubborn, stubborn man! He had done it all on his own—but at what price?
‘That’s irrelevant!’ She pushed away an irritating strand of newly grown hair which kept flopping into her eyes. ‘I happened to have some spare cash which I wasn’t using and I thought, Why not put it to some good use? So I went down to the boatyard and saw the boat in question—I even spoke to Gerald O’Rourke who wouldn’t stop praising Jamie’s maritime qualities—and you know what an old cynic he is! The boat was a good price—Jamie can’t lose on it.’ She shrugged her shoulders. ‘I can’t understand what your problem is, Drew. I should have thought you would have been glad to make your sister happy!’
He shook his dark head angrily. ‘What a naive and gullible little fool you are, Shelley! If that were the case, then why the hell do you think I didn’t loan him the money myself?’
‘Bloody-mindedness?’ she challenged.
‘You know, I feel sorely tempted to throw you over my knee and wallop the living daylights out of you—’
‘You wouldn’t dare!’
‘No, you’re right—I wouldn’t!’ He sucked in a breath. ‘Don’t you think I know my sister’s partner a little better than you do after—what—three meetings?’
‘I—’
‘And the reason I’ve never loaned Jamie so much as a bar of soap is because he seems unable to do anything other than fritter it away—like a student determined to blow his grant in one evening! As he has demonstrated once again.’
Something in his voice was beginning to alarm her. ‘Wh-what do you mean?’
‘I’ll tell you exactly what I mean! I mean that the boat is sitting in the boatyard in the same place as it was yesterday and the day before. And that Jamie seems to have disappeared with all the money you loaned him. No one’s seen him—not his mother, not the boatyard and not, most importantly of all, Jennie and his daughter.’
‘Oh, no,’ she whispered.
‘Oh, yes,’ he contradicted darkly.
‘So what do we do?’
‘We?’ he mocked. ‘Shouldn’t that be I? I should leave you to sort out the whole bloody mess you’ve created for yourself!’
‘Go on, then!’
‘Oh, no!’ He shook his head. ‘I’m going out to find him and I’m going to bring every single penny back. For Ellie’s sake more than anything.’ He scowled. ‘Having a father in jail for obtaining money by deception is not what I’d call the best start in life. But I’ll tell you another thing, Shelley Turner—’
She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously, sensing trouble. ‘What?’
‘That I don’t believe you were simply motivated by a need to help Jennie and Ellie. I don’t think you’re that good a person!’
‘Oh, don’t you?’
‘Not right now, no! I happen to think that your action was driven by a need to strike out and hurt me—’
‘No!’
‘Yes!’ he snarled. ‘You knew that I was opposed to the loan, but you went right ahead with it anyway. As an act of revenge it was pretty spectacular!’
‘And why would I want to do that?’
‘Think about it, kitten,’ he said, as he fished a gleaming shoal of car keys from the pocket of his jeans. ‘Just think about it!’
Shelley would have plenty of time to think about it in the next twenty-four hours, but first she knew that she had to go next door to see Jennie.
Jennie was red-eyed from weeping.
‘I’m so sorry,’ breathed Shelley.
Jennie shook her head and sniffed. ‘It’s my fault,’ she moaned. ‘I made out that Drew was just being tight, when really it was more to do with the fact that I couldn’t face up to Jamie’s spendthrift ways. If only you’d told me what you were intending to do, Shelley!’
But she hadn’t known herself—and if she admitted to impulse that would make it a hundred times worse. ‘Jamie made… No, someone can’t make you do anything,’ she amended. ‘He asked me not to tell you. Said he wanted to buy the boat and wrap a big ribbon round it for you. And he also said he wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret for long. That’s why I drew the money out in cash.’
‘Cash!’ echoed Jennie, going positively pea-green. ‘Oh, my word! What if he’s spent it all by the time Drew catches up with him?’
‘If Drew catches up with him,’ said Shelley grimly.
‘Oh, he will. You can be very sure of that.’
‘Well, in that case—’ she swallowed down her guilt as she thought about how her stupidity and her stubbornness might have reduced her savings by a third ‘—I’ll just have to put it down to experience.’
The hours ticked by with agonising slowness, but she didn’t dare leave the house in case there was any news. She was unenthusiastically thinking about preparing herself some supper when the doorbell rang and she rose to her feet, hardly daring to hope.
Her heart leapt at the sight of the broad-shouldered shadow standing outside, but her face was cautious as she opened the door to him. He had been seething with rage earlier, and although he might have felt that his anger was justified she wasn’t sure if she would care to repeat the experience.
She drew a deep breath. ‘Hello, Drew,’ she said quietly.
‘Can I come in?’
‘Of course you can come in.’ She stepped aside, not daring to speak.
It wasn’t until they were facing each other warily across her sitting room that she summoned up the courage to ask. ‘Any news?’
‘I’ve found him,’ he said flatly.
‘Oh, thank God! Is he okay?’
Drew shook his head in disbelief. ‘The man walks away with a great stack of your cash, without any intention of using it for the specified purpose of the loan—and you ask me is he okay?’
‘Someone could have robbed him and beaten him up!’
‘Shelley!’ he howled, and then, unexpectedly, he smiled. And kept
smiling. ‘Yes, he’s okay! Fortunately, I caught up with him before he managed to work his way through more than a couple of hundred pounds of the money. He told me that he was planning to come back anyway—but he was drunk when he said that, so I don’t know if it was true.’
‘And where is he now?’
‘At his mother’s house,’ said Drew grimly. ‘Sobering up. Actually, can you pour me a drink?’ he asked suddenly, and flopped down into an armchair. ‘I think I need one.’
She didn’t comment on the irony of his request, just poured him a gin and tonic which was all she had. He took a large swallow and winced, before putting the glass down and delving deep into the pocket of his jeans. Always a distracting movement, thought Shelley as she watched him, like a cat watching a mouse.
He withdrew a wad of banknotes and threw them down on the table. ‘These are yours. The exact amount—’
‘Minus two hundred,’ she agreed.
‘No,’ he contradicted. ‘Minus nothing. It’s all there. I made up the amount myself—’
‘Drew, I can’t—’
‘Shelley, you can, and believe me you’re going to. Jamie is family—kind of—so he’s partly my responsibility. And that’s an end to it.’
‘I don’t deserve it,’ she said, in a small voice.
‘No, you probably don’t,’ he agreed, but at his mouth was another glimmer of a smile and she knew that she had to tell him the truth.
‘You were right all along,’ she sniffed.
‘No crying, Shelley. I refuse to be manipulated by your tears,’ he warned her softly, then frowned suspiciously. ‘You mean about Jamie squandering money?’
She shook her head. ‘No—about the reason I lent him the money in the first place! It’s true—I did it as a spectacular act of revenge—to use your very own words!’
‘I see.’ He leaned his head back and his eyes were half-closed. ‘And what was your reason for this spectacular act of revenge?’ he asked calmly, as if it were the sort of question he asked every day.
‘Because I saw you kissing that…that—’ She swallowed down her first choice of word. Bitchiness was never an attractive quality. ‘Woman at your party.’
The Final Seduction Page 15