Grace was mortified. How could Jenna expose her like that, what on earth did she have to gain?
“Did you really?” Ben asked, looking at Grace carefully.
Grace wished the ground would just swallow her up. She briefly closed her eyes then nodded. “I was worried about you.”
“Because of the play?” Ben asked cautiously.
Grace considered saying yes. She might have made a fool of herself but she could still bluff it out.
“No,” she said after a long pause, “not because of the play.”
“Because she has feelings for you!” Jenna was triumphant in her revelation. “Come on, Gracie, time to fess up, you do, don’t you?”
Grace considered just walking off, leaving them to their amusement at her feelings. Except that Ben didn’t look amused; he looked anxious. Perhaps all this was as uncomfortable for him as it was for her.
“So what if I do?” she said at last. “Is that what you want to hear, Jenna? Well, go ahead and have a good laugh, I for one have had enough of your silly games, and I thought better of you!” She turned on Ben; tears of humiliation stung her eyes.
“Told you it would work,” Jenna smiled smugly at Ben. “Nothing like a bit of healthy competition to get a girl to admit to herself how she feels.”
“What?” Grace was confused. She looked from Jenna to Ben, sure that she was missing something.
“Sit down, Grace, I’m getting a crick in my neck looking up at you.” Jenna’s voice was firm. “Don’t be mad at Ben, he didn’t want to go along with it, it was all my idea.”
Grace didn’t sit. She still wasn’t sure what was going on, but she couldn’t walk away until she knew. She paced up and down a couple of times, trying to understand what Jenna was saying.
“Please sit down,” Ben reached out and patted the bench next to him. “I really can’t get up just yet, but please don’t leave until we’ve explained.” His voice was nervous. She sat down.
“Let me,” Jenna put her hand over Ben’s. “The thing is, Grace, Ben likes you. More than likes you. He thought you might like him but you clearly weren’t going to do anything about it.”
“Because of Rose,” Ben clarified.
“You knew I liked you?” Grace put her face in her hands with embarrassment.
“I hoped you did. You seemed to go out of your way to see me sometimes.” Ben sounded equally embarrassed.
So much for being subtle in her stalking, Grace inwardly groaned.
“But you asked me if Rose and Leo were serious,” Grace ventured, “I could see how much you still cared for her.”
“Not like that. I was asking because I’m fond of Rose, I couldn’t ask out her best friend if she hadn’t really moved on. She already told me she had, but you still didn’t give me any sign of being interested. You just told me to move on.” Ben sounded almost accusing. “I wasn’t sure if you liked me that much or not.”
“That’s where I came in,” Jenna interjected, “I’d had a row with my boyfriend and was feeling angry. I decided to go and flirt with Ben to boost my self-esteem.”
Grace gave Jenna a nasty look, still not sure that Jenna wasn’t the villain of the piece.
Jenna laughed. “When I found Ben he was all depressed about you. You clearly weren’t ready to admit your feelings, so I thought I might help things along a bit. I explained to Ben that seeing him with someone else might stir you up and get a reaction.”
“Are you saying it was all a, a charade, for my benefit?” Grace couldn’t quite comprehend it. “What about the time I walked into the costume fitting and you were all over each other?”
“We heard you coming,” Jenna confirmed.
“I think I underestimated your acting skills,” Grace said, still feeling very unfriendly.
“It was no hardship, believe me.” Jenna gave Ben a warm look.
“You are quite some player,” Grace folded her arms defensively.
Jenna shrugged, “You could see it that way, but I’ve been with Nick for over two years. We’re still happily together, by the way. There’s not many who can make it work that long, so I don’t think I’m a player.”
“Well, you made a good game out of me.” Grace got angrily to her feet.
“Oh. sit down,” Jenna flapped her hand, unconcerned. “It was my idea. Ben would have done anything to get you to go out with him, and you have to admit it worked; you were like a cat on a hot tin roof and now the two of you have admitted how you both feel you can get on with your relationship.”
Grace conceded that maybe Jenna had a point, if she hadn’t gotten so upset by their flirting then she wouldn’t have shared everything with Rose and got her blessing. Her reservations had always been about Rose. Ben’s too, by the sound of it. What idiots they had been. Grace still wasn’t sure she forgave Jenna just yet, but her anger dissipated and she sat back down.
“Let me get this straight,” she addressed Ben, “you like me, so you flirted with Jenna to try to make me jealous?”
“Um, yes.” Ben smiled weakly, “I thought it was a stupid plan, but Jenna said it would work. Sorry, Jenna,” he added after making her the scapegoat.
Jenna smiled. “I don’t mind, it was quite fun. Though I do owe you an apology, Grace, I’m not really a nasty person, I just thought it would help things along if I goaded you a little.”
Grace blinked a few times, unsure how to take her words.
“Well, I suppose it did help in a roundabout way,” she conceded.
Grace and Ben looked at each other with shy smiles.
Jenna got to her feet. “Well, I’m pretty sure this is my cue to leave.” She started for the door. “And for god’s sake, kiss her before she changes her mind!” she threw over her shoulder to Ben.
Chapter Fourteen
“No one but a women can help a man when he is in trouble of the heart...”
Bram Stoker, Dracula
Gabriel returned home for the Easter holidays reluctantly. He would usually be going skiing with Nate, but Easter was so late this year that there would be no decent snow. He had suggested they do something else but, to his disgust, Nate was sticking around at home to go to some party with Ellie. Gabriel might previously have broken up the visit home by going away for part of it to see Vanessa, but that was no longer an option. She had tried to call him once or twice that last week, but he was still too angry to speak to her. She’d made her choice. Part of him wondered if it was good to live with so much anger inside him all the time, but hell, he was used to it; sometimes he felt he wore it like a coat that kept out the cold cruel world.
The atmosphere at home was strained by his return, he could tell. He tried not to be constantly bad-tempered but it was hard work. He buried himself in studying plays and practicing acting techniques, but in truth he felt lonely.
He put in some time with his younger brother Michael. The two of them had always been so close, especially after their mother died, but they had naturally grown away from each other these last few years, with Gabriel at boarding school.
Michael was growing up, Gabriel realised. He still thought of his brother as a kid, but he was nearly sixteen. Gabriel felt envious of how well-adjusted Michael seemed. But at least it must mean that Francesca, his stepmother, was still making an effort to care for him. Gabriel felt guilty all the time that he wasn’t around more for his brother, but it had been Michael’s choice to stay at home and so Gabriel tried to use the holidays to cement the bond between them a bit more. Together they went to the cinema, and riding, and played laser tag in the nearest town at least three times. Laser tag was something Gabriel pretended was completely immature and a total drag, but secretly rather enjoyed. In the evenings when Gabriel wasn’t locked in his room, they spent ages killing each other on the PlayStation, Michael, in particular, being a crack shot Sniper.
All the while, Gabriel was steeling himself for another interview with his father. He tried to be polite to Francesca, mainly because he wanted his father to okay his
application to the London Acting Academy.
After a week of being on the best behaviour he could manage, he asked his father for a private chat.
Together they went into his father’s study. Gabriel loved the study.
Though his father had given up cigars a long time ago, Gabriel could still pick up the slight scent of old cigar smoke that permeated the books. The study was book-lined from floor to ceiling, and an ancient walnut desk dominated the small room. Countless ancestors, through the years, had used the desk, and one day it would probably be his. What he didn’t like was being on the wrong side of that desk. As his father sat down in a massive brown leather desk chair, Gabriel was forced to take the seat opposite, an uncomfortable green Queen Anne armchair with a broken spring which stuck in to his behind. Sitting on the armchair somehow always made him feel like a naughty schoolboy about to be told off. He sighed, thinking that it wasn’t massively far from the truth.
His father poured himself a brandy from the decanter on the small drinks table, and Gabriel wished he could do the same, but felt his father wouldn’t allow it.
“Brandy?” His father held up a small-bowled glass.
Gabriel nodded, trying not to let his surprise show. Perhaps his father was finally seeing him as an adult.
Gabriel held his drink up to the light, admiring its amber depths. He sniffed it appreciatively; his father always kept excellent brandy in. He swilled it around the glass, imitating his father’s movements, and then promptly ruined the effect by taking a large sip and choking.
His father smiled at him almost fondly. Feeling emboldened, Gabriel went straight in with his request.
“The thing is, Dad, I want to go to stage school. I’m sure you’ve realised by now how serious I am. I’m applying to the LAA, and if they accept me then I’d like to start in September.”
His father puffed his cheeks. “We’ve discussed this before, Gabriel. You know how I feel. I just can’t support it until you’ve got your A levels under your belt. Do that and then we can talk again.”
“And then you would say yes?” Gabriel felt his irritation rising and tried to clamp it down.
“Then we will talk again.” His father emphasised the point.
“That’s not good enough for me.” Gabriel’s grip on his emotions began to give way. “I want to go now!”
“Stop acting like a teenager!” His father raised his voice.
“I am a teenager!” Gabriel levelled his voice but it was still thick with anger. “The thing is, Dad, I’m going to be eighteen on the second of September, and I’ll get the inheritance Mum left me. It’s more than enough to fund my studies, so I don’t actually need your financial support. It would be nice, of course, but what I want is your approval! Clearly I’m going to just have to manage without it!” His voice cracked slightly as he felt their relationship fray a bit further.
“Go to your room!” His father stood up and pointed at the door.
Gabriel swilled back the last of his brandy, then stormed out of the study – tripping over Michael, who was right outside the door.
“Why can’t you mind your own business?” he shouted at Michael. “Don’t you have anything better to do than eavesdrop on me?”
Gabriel felt awful as hurt filled Michaels eyes; he didn’t want to push away the one person he had left in the world who loved him unconditionally. He would have to apologise later, but right now he was too angry.
“I wasn’t eavesdropping,” Michael declared hotly. “I was just coming to say there’s someone here to see you!”
“Here? To see me?” Gabriel was momentarily taken aback. Wentworth Hall was pretty remote, people rarely “dropped in” except their nearest neighbours, and Michael knew all of them.
“Yes, a girl. A very pretty girl.”
Gabriel stilled, thoughts of Flora going through his head. Surely she wasn’t so stupid as to turn up at his home? He thought he had dealt with her silly crush. Or Vanessa? No, she wouldn’t come uninvited to his father’s house, she knew better. His father had never liked the sound of her and so Gabriel had never let them meet.
Coming into the hall, he was brought to a standstill by the beauty in front of him. A very pretty girl just didn’t cut it.
Vanessa stood in the late afternoon light in a white sundress and sandals, large white sunglasses perched on her head. At her feet were six matching white suitcases. He forcibly restrained himself from smiling at the sight of her. After all, she was a model, she was good at accessorising.
“What are you doing here?” he asked coldly.
Francesca came through the front door from the drawing room. “I invited her,” she said. She smiled worriedly at Gabriel. “You seemed so unhappy.”
Vanessa shrugged, “You wouldn’t answer my calls. And if Mohammed won’t go to the mountain…” She broke off, daunted by Gabriel’s expression.
“Then the mountain must come to Mohammed.” Francesca finished the quote. “And a very stylish and slim mountain at that.” Francesca stepped forward and air-kissed Vanessa. Looking her up and down she queried: “Versace?”
“Yes,” Vanessa looked thrilled and gave Francesca’s dress the same once-over. “You too?”
Gabriel groaned theatrically. Clearly these two women were kindred spirits, and now they would gang up on him together.
“Well, this is all very heart-warming, but I didn’t invite you! If I wanted you here I would have said so.” He deliberately turned his back on Vanessa and pointed a finger at Francesca. “ And you, how dare you interfere in my life? Mind your own bloody business! Now if you’ll all excuse me…” He gave a last angry glance at his father, who had come out behind him to see what was going on, “I believe I’ve been sent to my room!” With that he stomped up the main staircase, round the gallery, and then banged his bedroom door behind him.
“Don’t mind him, dear, he’s been like that since the two of you broke up,” Francesca said calmly. “I’ve put you in the Blue Room, it’s next door to Gabriel’s, and I’m sure the two of you will work things out. Michael darling, could you give us a hand with the luggage?”
Gabriel sat silently through dinner glowering at the table. Everyone seemed to be ignoring his feelings. What he didn’t understand was why his father and Francesca were making such an effort to be nice to Vanessa. Surely they disapproved of her? But no, they were all laughing together like old friends. Too little, too late, he thought, morosely eating his meal.
He went to bed early, leaving them all downstairs playing card games. He heard Vanessa come up about an hour later. He glared at the connecting door, hating the fact he could hear her on the other side of it but couldn’t see her. He lay there filled with frustration. He was so angry with her. They had never resolved their row about her spending Valentine’s Day with her male “friend” Francis. But that didn’t stop him from wishing she was in the room.
As if sensing his thoughts, the connecting door opened. Damn Francesca, he thought, she must have unlocked it.
Vanessa leaned against the doorframe, wearing only her underwear. It was white as well, with little pink bows on, which seemed ridiculously childlike for her. But while her stance was provocative, the expression on her face was uncertain.
Gabriel surrendered instantly. How could he resist that mixture of sweetness and seduction?
“Oh bloody hell. Come here.” He held out his arms and she slid triumphantly into bed beside him.
Chapter Fifteen
“Men cannot be trusted unless they are watched”
Bram Stoker, Dracula
Jack looked round the tree house in his parent’s garden with satisfaction. It was the perfect seduction spot for Sophie, and he had put a lot of effort into making it just so. Battery-powered fairy lights twinkled all round the ceiling, a bottle of Prosecco stood in a bucket of melting ice, and cushions covered the floor. The music from the party should also add ambiance. It was an amazing tree house, right at the back of the garden; it was totally sheltered and privat
e. It was also pretty unreachable once the ladder was pulled up. As long as Jack could get her up here, he was convinced she would fall into his arms.
He made his way back into the house wondering if she had arrived yet. Rose had said that Sophie and a few others were due at seven, and it was nearly seven now.
He found Rose in the kitchen. “Are your friends here yet?” He aimed for a casual tone.
Rose wasn’t fooled for a second, but she gave a vague wave in the direction of the living room. “Grace and Diana are in there,” she confirmed, “and Sophie is outside on the phone to her boyfriend giving him directions.” She took no small amount of satisfaction at the look on his face as she dropped the bombshell.
Rose knew that Jack had treated Sophie badly in the past and though she was fond of her cousin, her loyalties lay firmly with her friend.
Jack had hurt Sophie by sleeping with her and not calling her, and Rose was very pleased he wouldn’t get another chance to do the same again.
Sophie barrelled into the kitchen as fast as her very high heels could take her. “He’ll be here in an hour.” She glowed. “Oh, hi.” She came to an abrupt halt.
Jack was slow to collect his wits. She looked gorgeous and her legs seemed to go on forever in those heels. But she had a boyfriend now. He should stop grinning like an idiot just at the mere sight of her. He changed his features into a cool smile.
It had never occurred to him that she might meet someone else. But now he wondered how he could have been so dumb as not to think of it. Of course she would! He should have moved in much faster. He should have driven to Compass Court every weekend until she was his.
The silence stretched out as Jack and Sophie stared at each other. Rose coughed loudly and they both looked startled.
Sophie dragged her eyes back to Rose. “Yes, right, anything I can do?”
“You can take these glasses out to the terrace,” Rose handed a tray to Sophie, “and Jack, perhaps you could give Alex a hand with the music system, I don’t think it’s his forte.”
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