Flirting Games Trilogy Edition: Books 1 - 3

by Wilkinson, Stella

  “You were fantastic! I knew you would be but seriously…fantastic!” She gave him a long hot kiss, and for the first time in months he felt in her gesture the love that had seemed so lacking between the two of them of late. In a perfect world he would have liked to shut the door and make love to her in the tiny dressing room; but everyone would be expecting him to show up any minute, and they also appeared to have an audience. Lounging against the doorframe was a young man in his early twenties.

  Vanessa moved out of his embrace and gestured toward him. “Gabriel, this is Francis, and vice versa.”

  Gabriel felt his previous animosity toward the unknown Francis drop away like a stone. The man in front of him was without a doubt not interested in Vanessa sexually. Everything from his diamond earrings, pink shirt, tight trousers, down to his pointed black shoes, all shouted “camp”. Despite the fact that they were indoors, Francis was also wearing sunglasses. He pushed them down his nose and gave Gabriel a rather blatant once-over. “Well, hello, tall dark and handsome!”

  Gabriel grinned back, unfazed by the obvious interest. It wouldn’t be the first time a man had flirted with him, not by a long shot.

  Francis continued, “When you said he was gorgeous, Vee, you didn’t say he was film star gorgeous.”

  Vanessa cuddled into Gabriel’s side gleefully. “I’m pretty sure I did actually.”

  Gabriel gave her an affectionate squeeze before moving forward to shake hands with Francis. “She deliberately didn’t tell me that you’re quite the looker yourself,” he complimented back.

  Francis fanned himself with his hand. “Whoa, Vanessa, this one’s a keeper. Looks and charm.” He paused, eyeing Gabriel. “But I thought you said he was blond?”

  “He is normally.” Vanessa reached up and tweaked the wig he wore. “But let’s keep this on a little longer, Dracula,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows at Gabriel suggestively. Then she propelled them both towards the door. “Come on, darling, I want you meet Francis’ dad.” Gabriel allowed himself to be manoeuvred through the door, but he was bemused by her comment. Why on earth had she brought Francis’ father? That must be who the third ticket was for, but it made no sense. Unless the old man was visiting the area, and for some reason they thought it would be entertaining to take him to see some amateur school play? He hardly thought so.

  Vanessa looked round as they emerged into the backstage party. “He must still be outside on the phone. I can’t wait for you to meet him.”

  Gabriel nodded along; he wanted to keep Vanessa as happy as he could, but he had been spotted by his friends and his attention was now focussed on the big smiles on the faces of Nate, Owen and Jerry as they made their way over. Owen was dragging a flushed Beatrice along behind him. Gabriel introduced Francis to everyone and then introduced Vanessa to Owen and Jerry, who had never met her before. She shook their hands warmly, as they became rather stuttering at the sight of her and Francis bringing some serious glamour to the group.

  Vanessa then turned her attention to Beatrice. “It’s so nice to meet you too, Beatrice, though I had to be physically restrained in my seat as you and Gabriel did your love scene at the end.” Vanessa laughed but Beatrice turned quite white.

  “I’m so sorry.” She faltered, “You really have nothing to worry about from me…”

  Vanessa gave her a warm hug. “I didn’t mean it, silly! After all, you’re the lady of the hour now, I’m sure you’ll have boys queuing round the door to ask you out. And you’re so pretty too, my grumpy Gabriel wouldn’t stand a chance.”

  Beatrice gave a disbelieving laugh, “Well, it’s very nice of you to say so but I hardly think…” She stopped as two Year Seven boys pushed their way into the group and stopped in front of her.

  “Beatrice you were wonderful” the first enthused.

  “Do you have a date for the dance tonight?” the other butted in.

  “Because I was wondering if you wanted to go with me?” said the first.

  “Or me,” said the second, elbowing the first in the stomach.

  Behind their backs Vanessa winked at her and grinned. Beatrice opened and shut her mouth in shock.

  Owen put a proprietorial hand on her arm. “Actually Beatrice is already going with me,” he said, glaring at the boys.

  “Oh, OK. You were wonderful, Beatrice,” the first boy repeated as they melted away back into the party.

  Gabriel laughed at the comically surprised look on Beatrice’s face. He wondered how long it would take to dawn on her that she wasn’t unknown and unattractive anymore. That she had blossomed into a swan.

  “Actually,” Beatrice said, prizing Owen’s hand off her arm, “I’m going with Jerry. If the offer still stands?” she asked Jerry nervously.

  “Really?” Jerry’s face suffused with pleasure. “Are you sure?”

  Beatrice smiled and nodded, “If you are?”

  Jerry beamed and swept into a chivalrous bow in front of her. “It would be an honour, m’lady.”

  Beatrice laughed and kissed his cheek. He blushed and said, “Shall I get you a glass of lemonade?”

  “That would be lovely, thank you.” This time she kissed him on the mouth. Jerry blushed again, right to the roots of his red hair, and left grinning broadly.

  Gabriel suppressed his amusement at the shock on Owen’s face; there would be plenty of time to tease him later. Instead he nodded at Beatrice approvingly. “Good choice.”

  Owen stormed away muttering about finding Pam instead. Gabriel decided not to comment that over Owen’s head he could already see Pam on the far side of the room getting on very friendly terms with Bradley Delacroi.

  Owen’s place was taken by a handsome man in his early fifties. Francis moved forward. “Gabriel, this is my father, Randall Reynolds.”

  Gabriel reached out to shake his hand, wondering why the name sounded familiar. As he smiled into a pair of steel-grey eyes the penny dropped in his brain and he reeled slightly.

  “Sir! I’m very pleased to meet you.” He really wished he had known in advance he would be performing in front of the Managing Director of the London Acting Academy! He would have somehow given the play even more. He shot Vanessa a fuming look, but she clapped her hands together like an excited child.

  “Oh, Gabriel, don’t look at me like that. I wouldn’t have missed this moment for the world.”

  “I can see you’ve realised who I am.” Mr Reynolds smiled. “I must admit I was sceptical when Francis bullied me down here. But I’m glad I came now. That was quite some performance, young man. You too, my dear,” he turned and greeted Beatrice, who still stood by. She had tried to slip away but Vanessa had kept a firm grip on her sleeve. “You made a very convincing Mina,” he finished.

  Gabriel felt he had a huge frog in his throat almost preventing him from speaking.

  “You liked the play, sir?” He asked, his voice filled with trepidation. At last here was a chance to get some validation on his acting from someone whose opinion he respected. Perhaps he could convince the man to write him some kind of recommendation. He now wished he had been nicer about Francis in the past, much much nicer!

  “I thought the play was average,” Mr Reynolds said honestly, and Gabriel felt his heart plummet. “But you and Miss Greene here,” Mr Randall continued, “were anything but average.”

  Gabriel and Beatrice beamed at each other in relief.

  Mr Reynolds’s brow furrowed. He addressed Gabriel again, “Gabriel Brenner. Your name sounds familiar to me.”

  Gabriel nodded, “Yes, sir. I’m due to audition in front of your panel in September.

  “Ah yes, that’s it. Well, you don’t need to now. This can count as your audition. I’ve already been on the phone to my board; I emailed them a clip of the play and we’d be delighted to offer a place next term. You too, young lady, if you want it.”

  Beatrice just nodded, looking shell-shocked. Gabriel too felt utterly speechless – this was beyond his wildest dreams.

  He suddenly felt the
wind go out of his sails. “I shall have to discuss it with my father, sir. I’ve sort of made a promise that I would finish my A-levels first.”

  “Oh, that’s no problem.” Mr Reynolds smiled, “We do all the A-levels at the LLA, you can take whichever ones you need as evening classes.”

  “That would be wonderful!” Gabriel’s face cleared. “My father should be happy with that.”

  Suddenly guilt overrode him. His father, stepmother and his brother would be waiting for him outside. He hadn’t bothered to invite them to the backstage party. But now he wanted his father there to share the moment. For the first time in years he really wanted to know if his father was proud of him.

  “There he is!” He spotted his father standing uncertainly in the doorway of the rehearsal room, the rest of his family just behind him.

  Nate was there too, ushering them in. He had obviously gone to collect them when he realised what was going on. Gabriel gave a look of gratitude to Nate; he was so lucky to have such a good best mate, he thought. Nate had read the situation perfectly and realised that Gabriel would want his family there, before he had even realised it himself. He made a mental note to buy Nate a massive bottle of brandy when all this was over.

  Vanessa started to wave madly at Francesca, who waved back delightedly. “Shall we go and introduce Mr Reynolds?”

  “Just a second,” Gabriel put his had on her arm, “I have a couple of things I wanted to say to Beatrice first.”

  “Why don’t I introduce myself?” Mr Reynolds said cheerfully. “I’ll go and soften him up a bit for you. If he’s got any doubts at all about your talent then I shall convince him otherwise.”

  Gabriel smiled his gratitude and nodded; they watched as Mr Reynolds walked over to shake hands with his father, taking Francis with him.

  Now it was just himself, Vanessa and Beatrice. Gabriel turned to Beatrice and cleared his throat awkwardly. “Um, Bea. I just wanted to say thank you. I really couldn’t have done it without you. You were an amazing actress to work with and an incredibly lovely person too. I’m really sorry if I’ve ever been hurtful or dismissive towards you.” Gabriel wasn’t very good at apologising, but he felt that this one was very important.

  Beatrice smiled, “Why, Gabriel, you should be careful, your halo is showing!” She thought again how heartbreakingly beautiful he looked when he was happy. She continued, “I shall be the one thanking you eternally for everything you’ve taught me, and both you and Vanessa for the amazing opportunity with Mr Reynolds. All insults are forgiven and forgotten. And,” she added tentatively, “perhaps we could work together again some time if we are both going to the Academy?”

  “I couldn’t think of anyone I’d rather work with.” Gabriel said, spontaneously hugging her, taking them both by surprise. “About the Academy,” he lowered his voice, “it’s pretty expensive to attend, fees and so on, if you need a loan…?”

  He expected an awkward moment but Beatrice went into a peal of laughter. “You’re kind, thank you. But money is the one thing I really don’t have to worry about. Not ever.” She barely hinted at the size of her fortune. She would be inheriting the bulk of it in a matter of weeks, and would be lucky if she managed to escape some serious press attention.

  “Well, well. Aren’t you full of surprises!” Gabriel said.

  “You have no idea,” Beatrice twinkled back at him. “Now, if you’ll both excuse me, Jerry has been a very long time with that lemonade and I think I had better go and check that some other girl hasn’t already made off with him.”

  “She’ll go a long way if she can manage to stay that sweet,” Vanessa commented as Beatrice disappeared into the throng.

  Gabriel turned to her with a stern look on his face. “How could you, Vee? How could you invite Randall Reynolds and not tell me? You’ve never even seen me act. You had absolutely no idea if I’d be any good or not! That was quite some risk you took.”

  Vanessa reached up and touched his face. “I know you. There was no risk at all as far as I was concerned. I never doubted for a single moment that you wouldn’t be good.”

  He looked down at her with a full heart, “No, you didn’t, did you?”

  He took her hand. “We’d better go and rescue Mr Reynolds from my family. I can see Francesca in full flow, and my dad’s got that puffed-up look he gets when he’s pleased.”

  As they made their way over, Gabriel could almost feel his usual cold demeanour actually melting away, and hopefully leaving him for good.

  Chapter Twenty

  “She is one of God's women fashioned by His own hand to show us men that there is a heaven where we can enter.”

  Bram Stoker, Dracula

  Flora was so excited at the thought of the dance that she was ready with over an hour to spare. She came out of the bathroom thrilled with her appearance and did a twirl for Ellie. “Tah dah!” she said with a smile.

  But Ellie, instead of telling her how marvellous she looked, shrieked, “No, no way. You are not going anywhere in blue eye shadow!”

  Flora frowned, going over to the mirror on her chest of drawers. “What’s wrong with it? It’s called ‘Peacock Feather Fantastique’. I thought it brought out my eyes.”

  “It doesn’t,” said Ellie flatly, “it’s a colour young teenage girls wear, because they think it makes them look older. Instead it just emphasises the fact that they know nothing about makeup.”

  Flora thought this was a bit much considering she was only fourteen and Ellie had only just turned fifteen. She put her hands on her hips defensively. “And which magazine claimed that this week, miss know-it-all?”

  Ellie laughed, clearly not taking offence. “Actually it was what Jack said to me the first time I wore blue eye shadow. I have to admit he was right, though. Where on earth did you get such a lurid colour?”

  “I bought it in the pharmacy in Oakworth last weekend. You were with me!” Flora said accusingly.

  “I would never have let you buy that!” Ellie grimaced.

  Flora’s shoulders slumped. “It matches my dress.”

  “It does. But not in a good way. Come here.” Ellie plopped Flora down into the chair at her desk and pulled up her own chair opposite. With two sweeps of makeup remover she undid the work of at least half an hour, and Flora was left with her plain boring eyes again. Ellie unzipped her own makeup case and set to work.

  “There,” she said proudly a few minutes later, turning the mirror back towards Flora.

  Flora looked at her reflection, stunned at the difference. Ellie had lined her eyes with a soft brown pencil and redone her mascara in a brown-black rather than the heavy midnight-black Flora had used. She had put a dark gold across her eyelids that faded to a glimmering pale gold at the corners.

  “Wow,” breathed Flora. “I look at least sixteen.”

  Ellie grinned, “And now, the secret ingredient.” She unsnapped a compact of bronzing powder. “It’s got a gold ‘shimmer’ in it. You can’t see it in this light, but in the candlelight of the dance you will be all glowing.” She applied it to Flora’s face, highlighting her cheekbones; then, taking out a larger brush, she dusted it across Flora’s bare shoulders too.

  “And not forgetting the pièce de résistance.” She brushed it liberally into Flora’s small cleavage. “That will draw his attention,” she smiled with a wicked twinkle in her eye.

  “Are you going to tell me who ‘he’ is yet?” Flora asked, feeling excited and nervous all at the same time.

  “Not yet, but I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.” Ellie hugged herself in anticipation.

  Flora’s phone began to beep. She looked at Ellie questioningly, wondering if it was something to do with her unknown date, but Ellie shook her head, indicating it was nothing to do with her.

  “Oh heck.” Flora panicked. “It’s my mom, she’s downstairs!”

  “Tell her to come up.”

  Flora began to text, worried her mother would have a fit when she saw her and force her to scrub off all her
gorgeous makeup.

  Minutes later there was a knock at the door. “Are you decent? I’ve got Travis with me.” Her mother’s voice announced herself and Flora’s new stepfather.

  Ellie squeaked, not having yet put her dress on, and dived into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.

  Flora opened the door to their dorm room. “Hi, Mommy. Hi, Travis.”

  “Oh, my darling.” Her mother embraced her. “You look so grown-up!”

  “I thought you weren’t picking me up until tomorrow morning?” Flora was suddenly scared that she wouldn’t be able to attend the dance.

  “We’re not, we caught an earlier flight. I wanted to get a photo of you before your very first prom.”

  “It’s not a prom, Mom, they don’t have those in England. It’s just a school dance, but with prom dresses.”

  “You look like a princess anyway,” her mother said proudly, “Doesn’t she, Travis?”

  “You look beautiful, honey,” Travis confirmed. “Just like your mother.”

  “Thanks.” Flora smiled shyly.

  “We won’t stop for long. Let me get a picture of you, then we’d better go and check into our hotel. We thought we might as well stay the night in the village since we have to collect you in the morning anyway.”

  Travis snapped a few photos, including ones of Flora and her mother together. Flora put her arms around her mom. “I missed you so much, but I love it here. I wish we didn’t have to go back home.”

  “Oh, sweetie, do you mean that?” Her mother exchanged glances with Travis. “We were going to discuss it with you tomorrow, but Travis has been offered an amazing job right here in England. A brand new vineyard in the Severn Valley, it’s only about thirty miles away. We wondered how you felt about going to a day school there, or maybe staying here – if you’d like to?” She paused at the look of shock on Flora’s face. “We haven’t said yes yet. We would like to, but I realise it’s a long way from home and from Daddy and your old friends. It’s up to you, honey.”