The Bracelet

by Fredrica Alleyn

  She was quite tall, five foot seven, and slim but she thought that her breasts were too small and her bottom too large. The fact that men always found her sexy and she’d never had any shortage of admirers still hadn’t given her the kind of confidence in her looks that she felt she should have. The trouble was, she longed to be a cool blonde with a hint of colour along high cheekbones and a wonderful figure with a cleavage she could show off in low-cut dresses. Someone more like Jacqueline she supposed.

  Finally she settled for a pine-green fit-and-flare dress overlaid with an asymmetrically cut tunic of see-through lace. The outfit clung to her body like a second skin and the slightly scooped neckline and long sleeves of the lace over-tunic disguised her slenderness a little, making her look more interesting, she thought. Not that there was a lot of point in looking interesting. She’d known William for five years and Jacqueline for twelve. Neither of them were likely to take more than a cursory glance at her, but for some reason she felt that she had to start changing things, making more of an effort to get out of the rut that she was in. It might be a high-powered rut, but it was still a rut.

  ‘Hey, that’s a bit over the top isn’t it?’ asked Ben as he started dressing. ‘We’re only going to a bistro.’

  ‘I felt like dressing up.’

  ‘You look incredibly sexy,’ he admitted. ‘Are you sure we haven’t got time for a quickie?’

  ‘Quite sure,’ she said firmly. She never enjoyed Ben’s quickies. It was rather like being really hungry and then having someone give you a bowl of thin soup and expecting you to be grateful. ‘I wonder when they’ll be getting married,’ she asked as they climbed into Ben’s car. ‘The summer I suppose. Summer weddings are nice.’

  ‘Do I detect a brooding note?’ asked Ben with a grin.

  ‘Certainly not,’ said Kristina sharply, and Ben retreated into hurt silence for the rest of the journey.

  The restaurant was crowded and it took them a few moments to find Jacqueline, but then Kristina noticed her very blonde hair at the far side of the room and she waved. Jacqueline waved back, and Kristina thought she’d never seen her friend look so happy. ‘There they are,’ she said to Ben.

  ‘Where?’

  ‘Over there, by the window. Jackie’s had her hair cut short. Doesn’t it look great?’

  ‘Yes, great. William appears to have had a head transplant,’ he added in a low voice.

  ‘A what?’ asked Kristina as they approached the table, but before he could answer her they were there and then she realised what he’d meant because the man sitting next to Jacqueline wasn’t William at all, it was a complete stranger.

  Jacqueline smiled broadly at Kristina. ‘I thought you’d forgotten, you’re not usually late. Laurence, I’d like you to meet my oldest friend Kristina and her partner Ben. Kristina, Ben, this is Laurence van Kitson.’

  Laurence rose to his feet, and by the way he towered over Ben, Kristina realised that he must be at least six foot three and very well built. His hair was as blond as Jacqueline’s and his rather angular face was tanned. His light blue eyes seemed to look straight through Kristina and she felt a faint shiver of something strangely like fear run through her.

  He held out a large hand but when she took it his grip was surprisingly gentle, almost a caress. ‘Pleased to meet you,’ he said in a clipped voice, and she realised then that he was a South African, which explained both the name and the colouring.

  ‘Who is he?’ whispered Ben as the pair of them sat down.

  ‘No idea,’ Kristina whispered back.

  ‘No engagement announcement by the look of it,’ he muttered, and looking at the glow on Jackie’s face and the way she was smiling at Laurence, Kristina had to agree. William, it seemed, had vanished from the scene.

  ‘Love the outfit,’ she remarked to Jacqueline, who was wearing a soft purple-heather coloured trouser suit that looked to be made of some kind of damask material. The long tunic with side vents and pointed sleeves was extremely soft and flattering, totally unlike her friend’s usual fitted dresses or sharp suits. In fact, now she came to look at her more closely, Jackie looked altogether softer and more relaxed tonight than Kristina had ever seen her.

  ‘Shall we order?’ asked Laurence.

  Before anyone could reply he’d clicked his fingers and immediately, despite the fact that the restaurant was full and the waiters rushed off their feet, one appeared at their table, pencil poised over his pad.

  Kristina felt totally thrown off balance. Not only was William missing, Jacqueline didn’t seem the same and this man Laurence clearly thought himself in charge, despite the fact that neither she nor Ben had ever met him before.

  ‘I think the melon for the first course, and then the salmon,’ he said decisively.

  ‘And the young lady?’ asked the waiter, his eyes lingering appreciatively on Jacqueline.

  ‘She’ll have the same,’ said Laurence smoothly.

  Kristina glanced at him in open astonishment. William would never have ordered for Jackie without consulting her first, but amazingly Jackie was still smiling happily and didn’t seem to think Laurence had done anything unusual.

  ‘I’d like vegetable soup and then the beef stroganoff,’ said Kristina after a short pause. ‘What about you, Ben?’ Ben also chose soup followed by trout in almonds and the waiter left them to study the wine list.

  ‘Any preferences?’ Laurence asked Ben. Ben shrugged. ‘Not really. Nothing too sweet.’

  ‘I’d like a Chardonnay,’ said Kristina crisply.

  Laurence’s light blue eyes flicked to her face. ‘Then a Chardonnay you must have, Kristina! Jackie and I will share a Sauvignon.’

  Kristina felt like laughing aloud. Now he’d really put his foot in it. Jacqueline loved Chardonnay, in fact she could put away an entire bottle without any trouble at all. She always claimed it was her favourite food as well as her favourite drink.

  ‘Do you hear that, Jackie?’ asked Kristina. ‘Laurence thinks you’d like a Sauvignon.’

  ‘That sounds perfect,’ agreed Jacqueline, and Laurence put a hand over hers on the table top, his fingers closing around her hand in a grip that seemed both restraining and possessive. Kristina’s stomach lurched and she wondered what on earth was going on between the couple opposite her. Clearly they were lovers, but how had they met and what kind of a relationship did they have?

  With William, Jackie had been very much the dominant partner, and like Kristina this was the way she’d always run her romantic life. Could she really have changed so radically, or was this just some wild aberration on her part, or even a joke? Perhaps she was going out with Laurence to amuse herself, as a contrast to the reliable, dependable William. Yet somehow, watching the way Laurence kept touching her friend and resting his arm along the back of her chair she didn’t feel that this was the answer.

  ‘He won’t last long,’ muttered Ben as their first courses were brought to the table. ‘Far too much of a chauvinist for Jackie. Is he something to do with her paper do you think?’ Kristina shrugged. She had no more idea than he did, but she intended to find out as soon as possible.

  ‘Are you in journalism too, Laurence?’ she asked him.

  He glanced across the table at her, his expression surprised. ‘Of course not. Whatever gave you that idea?’

  Kristina shrugged. ‘I suppose that since Jackie’s a journalist it seemed a reasonable assumption.’

  ‘Not to me. After all, what is it that you do? Something connected with books I seem to remember Jacqueline saying. Is that right?’

  ‘Yes,’ replied Kristina shortly. ‘I’m a literary agent.’

  ‘And is Ben a novelist? Or a publisher perhaps?’

  ‘No, he’s in advertising.’

  ‘There you are then,’ said Laurence with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. ‘You don’t go out exclusively with people in your line of work, and neither does Jacqueline.’

  Kristina looked at her friend to see how she was taking all this, bu
t to her surprise Jacqueline didn’t appear to be listening. She was gazing at Laurence with an expression of pure physical lust. She had an extraordinary look of yearning in her eyes that made Kristina’s mouth go unexpectedly dry.

  ‘Then what do you do?’ she persisted, suddenly determined to make this handsome but distinctly impolite man answer her question.

  ‘I deal in diamonds,’ he said curtly.

  ‘Lucky you, Jackie!’ laughed Ben. ‘Wearing any tonight?’

  Jackie shook her head. ‘I don’t like diamonds, sapphires are my favourite stone.’

  ‘I think diamonds are very useful,’ said Kristina. ‘They can always be sold for a good price after you’ve changed the man in your life!’

  ‘Or the man in your life’s moved on!’ said Laurence with a laugh.

  Kristina was beginning to dislike him intensely. ‘I suppose it does sometimes happen that way round,’ she conceded, looking to Jackie for support. Jackie though was clearly useless tonight. She refused to back up Kristina’s remark and simply smiled apologetically at Laurence, who didn’t smile back but instead lifted a hand and with one finger carefully traced the outline of her mouth. Jacqueline’s lips parted and her breathing grew visibly more rapid, but then he removed his hand and the brief, sensual moment passed.

  Kristina was beginning to feel very uncomfortable. This wasn’t the Jackie she’d known for years, the control freak who ran her life like a military operation, and used to schedule sex with William around her assignments, days in advance.

  ‘Are diamonds doing well at the moment?’ asked Ben cheerfully.

  ‘Yes,’ replied Laurence shortly, stopping that line of conversation dead in its tracks.

  Ben blinked in surprise. ‘Oh, well good for you. Of course it isn’t the same in advertising. I mean, you’re not relying on how much people want a particular product at a given moment. You’re the one trying to persuade them that they can’t do without it!’

  ‘Quite,’ agreed Laurence, finishing his main course and putting his knife and fork together tidily on the side of his plate. ‘Jacqueline, your mascara’s smudged. Perhaps you’d like to repair the damage before we have dessert?’

  Kristina’s mouth opened in shock. She couldn’t believe that she was hearing right, that anyone would be so rude as to talk to their date as if she were a child of six who had to be told when to wash and tidy up. She waited for Jackie’s explosion, but she waited in vain.

  Jackie stared at Laurence in amazement, but then after opening her mouth to reply she seemed to think better of it and checked herself. She took a few deep breaths and smiled at him. ‘What a good idea. Excuse me a moment everyone, please.’ With that she rose from her chair and walked across the restaurant to the ladies’ room.

  ‘I think I’ll join her,’ said Kristina quickly, and without even looking at Laurence she hurried after her friend.

  She found her sitting on a stool gazing into the tiled mirror, carefully examining her make-up for flaws.

  ‘There’s nothing wrong with your mascara,’ said Kristina. ‘I think he’s mad! Where did you find him? And what’s happened to William?’

  ‘William? Oh, William’s gone. I decided he wasn’t right for me.’

  ‘But you made the perfect couple. I remember you saying that you’d never find anyone who suited you better. He never minded when your job took you away, he was romantic and …’

  ‘I got bored,’ said Jackie shortly.

  ‘Bored?’

  ‘You know how it is, or perhaps you don’t, but I realised that I always knew exactly what he was going to do, or say. And as for sex … Well, he might as well have made love to me by numbers. Nothing was ever changed; he knew what I liked so that’s what he did.’

  ‘Well, you wouldn’t have wanted him doing things you didn’t like!’ retorted Kristina.

  Jackie laughed. ‘No, of course I wouldn’t, but there are other things you can do, new things to try and William wasn’t the kind of man to want to experiment.’

  ‘Laurence seems the kind of man who wants nothing but an obedient doll,’ said Kristina sharply. ‘I mean, what are you thinking of? He’s everything you hate in men. He even chose what you ate and drank tonight! As for this business of make-up, it’s pure rubbish.’

  Jacqueline shook her head. ‘No, he was right. I did have a smudge. I’ve put it right now. And as for the meal, it makes a change to have someone make a decision for me, especially after the day I’ve had.’

  ‘You look well,’ conceded Kristina. ‘There must be something good about him. You’re definitely glowing!’

  ‘That’s thanks to Laurence. You must agree that he’s good looking, Kristina.’

  ‘I suppose he is, in a rather hard way though. He’s got the strangest eyes, they seem to see right through you.’

  Jacqueline didn’t answer. Instead she sprayed herself with some perfume and then slid from the stool. ‘Time to rejoin the men I think. Laurence will wonder what we’ve been up to!’

  ‘Let him wonder. Since when did what a man thought worry you?’

  ‘Perhaps I just don’t want to be away from him for too long,’ laughed Jackie.

  ‘Are you living together?’ enquired Kristina with interest.

  Her friend shook her head. ‘No, nothing like that. We meet up once or twice a week I suppose. He’s a very private person, and now that William’s gone I’m rather relishing my own privacy too.’

  ‘What’s he like in bed?’ asked Kristina.

  To her surprise Jacqueline bent her head and began to rummage in her handbag, clearly determined not to let Kristina see the expression on her face. ‘Fantastic,’ she muttered. ‘Where did I put my lipstick? I can’t seem to find it anywhere.’

  ‘Just fantastic? No details?’ persisted Kristina.

  At last Jackie lifted her head again. ‘That’s right, no details. Come on, we must get back.’

  As she stood up she brushed her blonde hair back off her forehead and dangling from her left wrist Kristina saw a fine gold chain with a tiny letter ‘B’ suspended from it.

  ‘That’s rather beautiful,’ she commented.

  ‘What?’ asked Jacqueline.

  ‘Your bracelet. Let me look closer. Yes, I thought it was a letter ‘B’. Why ‘B’? Your name’s Jacqueline.’

  ‘It’s a shape, not a letter,’ said Jacqueline, blushing furiously. ‘And it was a present from Laurence. Come on, he and Ben will think we’ve run off and left them.’

  Intrigued, Kristina followed her friend back to their table. She knew Jackie wasn’t telling the truth. It was a letter ‘B’ and clearly the bracelet was of some significance. It was unusual for Jackie to blush about anything, let alone a piece of jewellery.

  During the remainder of the meal Kristina studied Laurence and Jacqueline carefully. Once or twice she thought that Laurence was aware of her scrutiny, but Jacqueline remained oblivious mainly because all of her attention was centred on her new, blond-haired boyfriend.

  Laurence was surprisingly tactile. He touched Jacqueline a lot, brushing his hand down her arm, stroking the nape of her neck and once or twice Kristina was convinced he was touching her more intimately beneath the table but never once did Jacqueline touch him. She merely responded to each touch by blossoming in front of Kristina’s eyes as the evening progressed.

  When they all parted company, Jacqueline’s eyes were glowing and her face was alight with happiness. As Laurence slipped her coat over her shoulders she smiled up at him with a look of such adoration that Kristina wondered if the man was a hypnotist of some kind. He’d certainly changed her friend.

  ‘I’ll ring you,’ Kristina said to Jackie as they parted company, but Laurence was already leading her away towards where his car was parked and Jackie either didn’t hear or didn’t choose to reply.

  ‘What did you make of that?’ Kristina asked Ben as they drove home.

  ‘A bit of a boring evening really. He doesn’t say much does he? Not the life and soul of the part
y. Did you find out where William was?’

  ‘He’s been given the elbow,’ said Kristina. ‘It seems …’ She stopped. She’d been about to say that it seemed he’d bored Jackie, but then she decided not to. It might lead the conversation into tricky waters, because she knew that the same thing was happening to her with Ben, and now was definitely not the moment to bring that up. ‘They decided to split,’ she said quickly. ‘Grown too used to each other or something.’

  ‘Pity, he was a good chap,’ said Ben.

  That night, after they’d made love and Ben was sleeping, Kristina re-ran the evening in her mind and was surprised at how much impact Laurence had made on her. Not only that, it was clear that there was something very special going on between him and Jacqueline, something that Jacqueline wasn’t prepared to discuss even with her best friend.

  Before she too fell asleep, Kristina vowed to find out as soon as possible what exactly it was that had both totally changed her friend’s attitude and at the same time given her the glow of a woman who was having the time of her life in bed.

  Chapter Two

  KRISTINA PUT DOWN the telephone in her office and buzzed for Sue to come through. ‘We’ll have to write a suitably grovelling email to Peter Hitchens’ publishers,’ she said ruefully. ‘The wretched man still hasn’t finished the first draft of his manuscript and we’d promised delivery two months ago.’

  ‘What shall we plead? Illness? Family problems?’ asked Sue.

  ‘I feel like telling them the truth; that he’s got far too big for his boots since he won that literary prize! No, I’m joking. We’ll say he isn’t satisfied and doesn’t want to send them anything that’s not up to standard. It’s true up to a point; he can hardly be satisfied with a book he hasn’t written yet!’

  ‘At least Lucretia’s still writing happily. You haven’t heard from her for at least two weeks,’ commented Sue as she jotted down what Kristina was telling her.

  ‘Is it two weeks?’ asked Kristina in surprise.