by Miranda Lee
Violet probably would, though. She was sharp, that girl. On top of that she was honest. She wouldn’t pay him lip service. She would tell him the truth, no matter how unpalatable. Given how determined he was not to have another major flop—or even a minor failure—he would just have to grit his teeth and bear talking to her on Sunday night. And bear the sleepless nights which would undoubtedly ensue.
Meanwhile, a visit to Mandy was definitely in order. He would give her a ring as soon as he finished doing what had to be done. Sitting down at his desk, he turned on his computer and set about writing Violet a brief email, after which he attached the screenplay then sent it off. That done, he returned to his bedroom, found some fresh clothes and headed for the shower.
Finally, after he emerged from the bathroom, he called Mandy.
‘Oh, Leo,’ she said distractedly. ‘You’re back.’
A rather different response from the one he’d received when he rang Violet yesterday. Still, he understood it wasn’t easy looking after two boys when you weren’t used to it.
‘The twins giving you trouble, are they?’ he asked intuitively.
‘You have no idea.’
‘Actually, I do. I was a boy once. Wait till they hit fifteen.’
‘I don’t even want to think about it,’ Mandy snapped. ‘I’ve come to the conclusion I’m not fond of the male sex. They’re born arrogant and selfish and downright lazy. So, how was Christmas down under?’
‘Wonderful,’ he said, and meant it. It had been wonderful.
‘Bonk a few Bondi blondes while you were there, did you?’
Leo found himself repelled by Mandy’s rather uncouth turn of phrase. Plus, the implication that he would have indiscriminate sex with not one but several females. It showed him just what she really thought of him. Suddenly, the idea of having sex with Mandy again also repelled him.
Which meant he had to tell her that it was over between them.
‘Mandy...’ he said, a sharp edge creeping into his voice. He’d always hated hurting any woman, even one as cynical as Mandy.
She sighed a weary sigh. ‘Please don’t say you want to come over tonight, Leo. The boys are still here and I’m terribly tired.’
‘No. I don’t want to come over. The thing is, Mandy, I won’t be coming over again. It’s been great—and I still like you enormously,’ he added, hoping that would soften the blow to her ego, which was considerable. ‘But I’ve met someone else.’
‘Well, goodness gracious me!’ she exclaimed, unsuccessful in hiding her pique. ‘You mean one of the Bondi blondes got her claws into you?’
‘Violet is not from Bondi,’ he pointed out quite coldly. ‘And she’s not blonde. No claws, either. I think all the female cats live in London.’
‘My my! No need to get all snooty. I didn’t mean to offend. Obviously she’s a darling, since she’s made such an impression on you. After all, you always said you weren’t interested in any kind of serious relationship, just drinkies and sex afterwards. So, did she fly back with you, this Violet? Have you already moved her into your townhouse?’
‘No. She’s still in Sydney.’
‘You do know, Leo, that long-distance relationships don’t work, not with a man like you. Or any man, for that matter. Too many days and nights without sex.’
‘I’m not that addicted to sex, Mandy,’ he argued, wishing he hadn’t had to imply that he was having a relationship with Violet when he wasn’t. But he’d had to say something. It would have been cruel just to cut Mandy off without some sort of excuse. After all, he’d been sleeping with her on a regular basis for some time.
Leo was well aware that women often became emotionally involved with their lovers, even when they didn’t mean to. That was the very reason he hadn’t wanted to sleep with Violet in the first place, because she would be extra vulnerable to that kind of emotional involvement. Fortunately, that didn’t seem to have happened. Yet.
‘I hope you’re not upset with me,’ he said.
‘Not upset. No. But I’m going to miss you, Leo. You are a wonderful lover. Much better than you know. But I have to confess to being quite shocked. You always said you’d never fall in love and get married again.’
‘I didn’t say I’d fallen in love,’ he denied fiercely. ‘Neither do I have any intention of getting married again!’
‘Okay, fine; no need to shout at me. I believe you. But I hope you made that clear to your new girlfriend. How old is she, by the way?’
‘I don’t think Violet’s age is any of your business, do you?’
Mandy’s laugh was dry. ‘Oh, I see. She’s young. Very young, I suspect. And beautiful, no doubt.’
‘She’s not that young,’ he bit out. ‘But yes, she’s beautiful, inside and out.’
‘Oh dear. You’ve got it bad, haven’t you? Perhaps you’d better fly back to Sydney and take this Violet to bed for at least a month. Get her well and truly out of your system, otherwise you might just do something seriously silly like propose.’
Now it was Leo who laughed. ‘I thought you knew me better than that.’
‘I thought I did, too. I won’t say there’s no fool like an old fool, because you’re not that old. But be careful, Leo. Love makes fools of all of us. Anyway, do give me a ring if and when you come to your senses. Or you get bored with having phone sex. Meanwhile, good luck. I have a feeling you’re going to need it.’
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
VIOLET TOLD JOY the truth. Not the total truth, of course. She left out the bit where she’d gone to bed with Leo instead of to see the show at the Lyric. But she told Joy about the phone call Leo had made from the airport, his request that she have a look at a screenplay he’d acquired and that he would ring her about it on Sunday night.
Consequently, when Sunday night rolled around, she didn’t have to hide anything from Joy—only her nerves, which were considerable. After all, this was her one and only chance to convince Leo that he should continue to ring her. The way she handled this call would mean success or failure. It was a touchy situation, given she had to tell Leo that there was a major flaw in his screenplay.
Would he be annoyed with her? Would he even believe her?
Violet knew how unresponsive a lot of authors were to criticism over their precious work. Some gave full-on aggravation. She hoped Leo wouldn’t be like that. She hoped he would listen. Because, if he didn’t listen to her opinion, if he wasn’t prepared to make the change she was going to suggest, then there would be no reason for him to continue contact with her, and any chance of being with him again in the foreseeable future would be gone.
And Violet could not bear that thought. She could not wait till next Christmas. After all, he might not even return next Christmas. It had taken him eight years to make this last visit. She also wasn’t sure she could wait till Wimbledon, which she’d discovered was in late June. That was nearly six whole months away. Twenty-six weeks. Almost two hundred days and nights.
The last two nights had been bad enough. She’d been plagued by dreams, wildly erotic, extremely kinky dreams where she’d done things with Leo that she’d only read about in books; things with fur-lined handcuffs, exotic oils and other assorted sex toys.
She’d woken each morning in a lather of longing, making her wonder again if she was just suffering from a severe case of lust. Surely love wouldn’t want to indulge in such activities? And she did. Very much so. But only with Leo, of course, so maybe it was still love.
‘You’ve got St Vitus’ dance, Violet,’ Joy said when she got up from the sofa for the umpteenth time.
‘I hate it when people don’t ring on time.’ In truth, Leo was only five minutes late.
Just then her phone rang. Violet struggled to maintain her composure in the face of her stomach contracting around the host of butterflies which had been swirling in there for the last half hour. With clenched teeth she took her time walking over to where she’d left her phone, casually sweeping it up to her ear as she left the living room and
headed for the privacy of her bedroom.
‘Hello, Leo,’ she said on the way, pleased with how cool she sounded.
‘Violet,’ he replied. ‘Have you had time to read the screenplay?’
Violet tried not to be dismayed by his lack of social pleasantries. He could at least have asked her how she was.
‘Yes,’ she returned crisply. ‘I’ve read it a couple of times.’
‘And?’
‘It’s quite a good story.’ Basically, it was about an ordinary man, an accountant, whose less-than-ordinary twin brother—a flashy private investigator as well as a playboy—was murdered. To solve his murder, the accountant steps into his brother’s shoes, aided and abetted by the pretty receptionist in his office who’s always had a thing for him, despite his being married. Unhappily, of course.
‘Damned by faint praise,’ Leo said drily. ‘What’s wrong with it?’
‘Not a lot. The plot’s original and the main two characters are very engaging. I was really drawn into their journey and wanted things to turn out well for them. Which they did, thank goodness. An unhappy ending wouldn’t have done at all.’
‘You still haven’t said what’s wrong with it.’
‘It’s the sex scene which bothers me.’
‘The sex scene!’ No doubting Leo’s surprise. ‘What’s wrong with it?’
‘A lot. Firstly, it’s very in-your-face. As it stands, it would lift your censorship rating, which I don’t think would be good for the film’s release, commercially speaking. Far better it was lower rated.’
‘Lots of sexy films do very well at the box office,’ Leo argued. ‘Sex sells, Violet.’
‘Look, you want my opinion, don’t you?’
‘Yes, yes, go on.’
‘Okay. Aside from the fact that I think the sex scene is way too explicit, it is way too early in the story. Positioned where it is, it will totally destroy the delicious sexual tension which is built into the plot and which should be allowed to continue for a lot, lot longer.
‘On top of that, at this point in the story, the hero is still living in the marital home. Okay, so his wife is cheating on him and the audience knows that. But if he sleeps with the heroine before he confronts his wife and leaves, he becomes less of a hero. Yes, he’s tempted; of course he is. Yes, he should definitely kiss the girl. But he should not go all the way at this stage. That should be kept for the denouement. Even then, it would be best implied rather than shown.’
‘For pity’s sake, Violet, I thought you liked raunchy sex scenes.’
‘Only in books,’ she said.
When Leo gave a rather frustrated-sounding sigh, Violet felt terrible.
‘I’m sorry, Leo, but you asked me for my honest opinion. There’s nothing worse in a romance than to destroy the sexual tension too early. And your screenplay is a romance as well as a thriller.’
‘Unfortunately, I think you could be right.’
‘You agree with me?’
‘Only with regards to this movie. I can see that this particular scene is somewhat gratuitous. I’ll have the screenwriter change it to a passionate kiss, followed by our noble hero backing off. Though it’s not the sort of thing which would happen in real life. In real life, no red-blooded, heterosexual male would back off from that situation—especially when the girl in question is beautiful and sexy and has made it obvious that she wants the man.’
‘I...er...suppose not.’
‘There’s no suppose about it,’ he stated firmly. ‘Lust will have its wicked way, believe me. So, is that it with regard to the screenplay? You have no further criticisms to make?’
Dismay hit Violet as she realised Leo was bringing their conversation to a close. She raked her mind for some other small criticism to make, but really there was none.
‘No,’ she said, her voice sounding as flat as she suddenly felt. So much for her finding some way to convince Leo to keep on ringing her.
‘Good. Time I let you go, then. Thanks a lot, Violet. I... Oh damn it, damn it, damn it!’ he exclaimed suddenly and very heatedly. ‘This just won’t do. I’ve tried to resist you. I really have. But I guess, in the end, I’m not that noble. I knew I was in trouble the moment I broke things off with Mandy.’
Violet was stunned by Leo’s sudden outburst. ‘Er...who’s Mandy?’
‘Just a friend. Don’t worry, she wasn’t in love with me or anything like that. We had this...arrangement. Strictly sexual. Mandy’s divorced. Anyway, I rang her soon after I got back. I thought if I had sex with her I’d stop wanting you. But the moment she answered the phone, I realised I couldn’t do it. Because I didn’t want her. I wanted you, Violet.’
‘Oh!’ Violet gasped.
‘You do still want me, don’t you?’ he demanded with the most corrupting passion in his voice.
Want him? She wanted him so much that it was a fierce ache in her heart. There was a fierce ache in her body too, one which she’d feared would never go away.
‘Yes,’ she confessed shakily. ‘Very much so. But Leo—’
‘I already know all the buts,’ he broke in. ‘They’ve been plaguing me ever since that night. None of them matter any more. I have to be with you again, Violet, or I’m going to go stark, raving mad. I don’t give a damn about the age difference, or even the distance difference. Do you have a passport?’
‘No. But I can get one.’
‘How quickly?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘If Australia is anything like England, then it will take weeks. Not that it matters. I’m tied up for three whole months shooting this damned film. Nothing I can do about it now. I’m locked in.’
‘I suppose I could fly over there,’ Violet said, despite not being too keen to get on a plane again so soon. ‘Though Lord knows what I would tell Henry. I’m not due any more holidays till the end of the year. He wouldn’t mind if I took off a day or two but it takes nearly a day to fly to London.’
‘Tell me about it! Look, I can bear the frustration if I know I’m going to be with you eventually. How about Easter? I’ll be finished the film by then. Could you take off a couple of extra days around then? I’d really like to show you Paris. It’s lovely there in the spring. Still a little cold, but if it’s too cold we’ll just stay in bed. What do you think?’
All the air had been punched from Violet’s lungs at the thought of their not getting out of bed.
‘I think,’ she said carefully, ‘that I would love to see Paris in the spring.’
‘Great. I’ll organise everything from this end. You won’t have to pay for a thing. All you have to do is get a passport.’
‘I’ll get onto it straight away.’
‘Fantastic! You’ve no idea how better I feel now. It was driving me crazy, the way I was feeling. I haven’t felt like this since... Well, since I was horny teenager.’
Violet didn’t like it that it was just male hormones driving Leo. But that didn’t mean she was going to make any kind of fuss. No way would she risk spoiling the chance of being with him again. If she was honest with herself, she was as much in lust with him as she was in love. She could not wait to be in bed with him again, to feel his naked body pressing against her and into her. She longed to touch him all over, kiss him all over.
And vice versa. That was one of the things he’d done to her that night that she’d adored. She shivered at the thought of his mouth down there, and of where he would want her mouth. She swallowed convulsively as a wave of heat flooded her body.
Thank heavens Leo couldn’t see her. Violet knew that the worst thing she could do with Leo was betray the depth of her feelings.
‘I’ve embarrassed you,’ he said ruefully when she didn’t say anything.
‘No, no,’ she insisted. ‘I’m just...surprised. I mean, I would imagine you could have just about any woman in England.’
‘That’s very flattering of you to say so, but I don’t want any woman in England. I want you.’
‘But why?’ Violet asked, genuin
ely perplexed by his passion for her. ‘Why do you want me?’
‘Perhaps it’s because you would actually ask a question like that.’
‘That makes me sound stupid.’
‘In that case, I expressed myself badly. Because you’re as far removed from stupid as a girl could be. You’re very intelligent, Violet. I love talking to you. At the same time you have what I would call an untainted character, which I find irresistibly charming. I love it that you are unguarded in your opinions. I also love it that you haven’t slept around.’
‘You mean my being a virgin turned you on?’ Violet wasn’t sure if she liked that thought.
‘Again, I have expressed myself badly. I just meant I’ve grown tired of being with women who’ve been putting it out there for so long and with so many men that there’s nothing left for them to discover. No new pleasure. No new experience.
‘And, yes, before you accuse me of double standards, I’m guilty of the same. At forty years of age there isn’t much that I haven’t done, sexually speaking. I’ve become jaded with the whole scene. To be frank, in the past year sex was just something I did to relax. When I’m with you, however, it’s nothing like that. It’s incredible, Violet. You’re incredible.’
Violet flushed at his flattering words. At the same time, she refused to let his compliments confuse her. ‘So my being a virgin did turn you on,’ she repeated firmly.
He laughed. ‘Oh, all right. If you insist. Your being a virgin turned me on. Big-time.’
‘I’m not a virgin any longer, Leo,’ she pointed out to him, struggling to contain a growing anger.
‘No. But I’m still your first lover.’
‘And do you expect me not to date anyone else between now and Easter?’
She heard him suck in sharply, his shocked reaction soothing her distress.
‘After all,’ she went on before he could say another word, ‘it was you who advised me not to embrace exclusivity. You said I was to try different things, which I presumed to mean different lovers.’