Charlotte Lamb

by Charlotte Lamb

  Nadine had wearily told them not to bother, she didn't need the money, and, anyway, in the first year of her marriage she had invested in the film company a considerable part of the very large income she made from modelling. At the time Sean had been desperately looking for capital, and she had just signed up with a cosmetics firm to front a big media campaign. It had seemed providential to them both.

  She had lent him most of her huge advance from the cosmetics firm without hesitating, and Sean had made over to her some shares in the company, although she had forgotten all about that until they split up.

  Even during the divorce proceedings, in spite of the bitter wasteland which lay between her and Sean, she hadn't wanted his money; but her lawyers had taken a very different view.

  They had worn her down with arguments, their faces incredulous at her folly. 'You helped him set the company up! You're entitled to a share in it now, even if your marriage is over!' they had insisted, and Nadine had been too miserable to go on arguing; she had let them go ahead with the claim they'd wanted to make against Sean. They had won. Sean hadn't really even contested it, she remem- bered; indeed, he had agreed that she had been a great help to him during the early years of his company, and the divorce court had ordered him to make over to her another block of shares, or the equivalent sum in money.

  'He had to buy your shares back, remember?' Larry muttered, glowering at her. 'And he borrowed from the bank to do it and has had to pay a horrific amount of interest ever since.'

  'I didn't ask him to buy the shares!' she protested, flushing angrily. 'He insisted!'

  'What choice did he have? You might have sold them without telling him, and he couldn't risk having some outsider buy ten per cent of the shareholding. He could have found himself being forced out of control.'

  'I wouldn't have done that!'

  'He couldn't be certain you wouldn't, and while they were in your hands they were a permanent threat; he had to get them back, and it was borrowing that money that started all his troubles. While he owed the bank a million he couldn't persuade them to lend him any money when he ran into difficulties over the mini-series. He had to borrow elsewhere, at a much higher interest, and money started bleeding out of us. If the series had been a success we could have weathered the problem, recouped our money from sales. But...' Larry broke off, groaning. 'I shouldn't be talking about all this; Sean would kill me if he knew.'

  Nadine was sure he was right about that. If Sean was in financial difficulty he wouldn't want anyone knowing about it. But something else was on her mind, and she had to know the answer to a question burning in her brain.

  'Why did you think he might be here?' Why should Larry think Sean would come to her when he was in trouble? Her heart beat thick and fast and she was breathless as she watched Larry's frowning face and waited for him to answer.

  'I told him to come,' Larry muttered reluctantly, and her hazel eyes opened wide in bewilderment.

  'But... why...?'

  Furiously Larry broke out, 'I said he was a fool not to ask you to hand that money back. On paper he may be worth a hundred million, but that's all it is—numbers on paper. He couldn't raise a hundred million, or a fraction of that, even if he sold the whole damn company! But he paid you in real money. Cash. It was a stupid gesture, and he's paying for it. So I told him to ask you to let him have it back, even if it was only as a loan until he could get out of this!'

  'Oh,' Nadine said. 'Oh, I see. Well, he didn't— come here. Ask me.' The words came out dis- jointedly, her mouth stiff and cold.

  She might have known. Had she really been stupid enough to hope that Sean might come to her when he was in trouble, that he might need her? Had she forgotten that Sean Carmichael didn't need anybody, never admitted a weakness, never apologised, never forgave?

  Larry shot her an eager look. 'Would you? If he asked?'

  Nadine coldly said, 'If he did, I'd discuss it with him,' and Larry, snubbed, flushed and gave her an even more hostile look.

  'I see. Maybe Sean was right not to come. I couldn't believe you'd be that vindictive, but Sean has always been smarter at reading people than I am.'

  Nadine stiffened at the insult, hardly believed Larry had said such a thing, it was so out of character.

  Red-faced, he turned on his heel, almost knocking her over, and she followed him to the front door, biting her lip.

  She was angry with him for talking to her like that, but her curiosity was stronger than her anger.

  'What did you mean, you were afraid he might do something crazy?' she asked as Larry opened the door.

  He stopped, turned, staring at her with an angry frown as if trying to decide whether or not to answer, but at last he did, hurling the words at her as if he wished they were rocks and could hurt her.

  'Sean has to pay a very large sum to the bank before the end of the month. If he doesn't, we're in real trouble; the company may fold. Sean's so worried, I'm afraid he may...' He broke off, sighing heavily. 'Oh, I don't know, don't take any notice of me, I don't know what I'm saying any more.'

  Nadine looked at him fixedly and was sure he did know. Larry wasn't the type to talk wildly; if he did so now it was because he had some serious cause for worry. From what he said, Sean must be desperate, and her chest constricted at the thought of Sean in that state of mind.

  Larry bleakly said, 'He could have paid the bank this month, but only if he didn't pay the salaries, so he paid the staff and it may be their last pay- packet, which some of them probably guess. Another of Sean's typically quixotic gestures. Sometimes I could hit him. If he would only think with his head, not his heart, we'd be much better off!'

  'But you wouldn't like him so much!' Nadine said drily, and Larry gave a rough bark of laughter.

  'No. Probably not.'

  She thought soberly, frowning. 'What about the mini-series? That's finished; can't you raise money with it?'

  Larry grimaced. 'Greg Erroll has pulled out of the deal we had set up with him. He had an option to take the mini-series but all this bad publicity about it has made him change his mind. So we won't be getting the fresh injection of money Sean thought we'd be getting from him, and that's what he was relying on to pay the bank.'

  Nadine drew a shaken breath. So she had been right! Greg had intended to buy the series. But he had pulled out, presumably after hearing what Juno Harper had to say. That woman! Nadine thought bleakly.

  Larry said flatly, 'We've both been everywhere we can think of, trying to find the money we need, but all we got were polite smiles. The word's out that the series is a mess and Sean's in trouble, and all the hyenas are out for his blood.'

  'It's that serious?' she whispered, horrified.

  Larry nodded grimly. 'Sean built that company up from nothing, and now some scavenger, some vulture, will come along and snatch it away from him, and all because of a couple of women! You and Fenella Nash! I could kill both of you! She started the landslide by talking to the Press and bad- mouthing the mini-series, and Sean has never been the same since you left, anyway.'

  Her heart seemed to stop. He might just be talking wildly, but Larry had known Sean even longer than she had. She wanted to ask him what he meant, what made him think Sean had never been the same, but she couldn't. When he calmed down later Larry was going to regret half the things he had said to her today. It indicated how worried he was that he had been so indiscreet. Larry was a loyal, devoted friend: he kept saying that it was Sean who had built the company up but she knew that Larry had had a great deal to do with it too. It had been his financial expertise which had helped Sean get the company off the ground. In the beginning, when they were running Carmichael Films on a shoe-string, while Nadine was putting her modelling salary into the company to keep it afloat, and Sean was paying himself in peanuts, Larry had taken a tiny salary too, just enough to pay his rent and keep him fed.

  By the time he'd married the company was doing better, but even so his wife, Virginia, who was an accountant too, with a financial in
stitution in the City of London, had earned far more than Larry did, at first.

  Just after Sean and Nadine split up, Virginia had stopped work to have her first baby, which was a little girl whom she had called Nadia. She had asked Nadine to be the baby's godmother, but although Nadine had wanted to accept she hadn't wanted to keep Sean away from the baby's christening party, and wasn't ready to face him again yet, so she had reluctantly backed out. Sean had been godfather, and no doubt he had been delighted to be asked. Sean loved children. He had badly wanted some of his own.

  'And now he's disappeared,' Larry muttered then, and Nadine looked sharply at him, her skin icy cold.

  'Disappeared?'

  Larry nodded, his face tense. 'I haven't seen him for two days. I can't find him, and I've looked everywhere, believe me. It isn't like Sean to go off suddenly without leaving word where he was going. You know that. But that's what he's done. He just walked out of the office on Wednesday at lunchtime, and nobody has seen him since.'

  Her lips white, Nadine said, 'He could have gone to the States, to see Fenella.'

  Larry shook his head, looking irritable. 'Naturally I thought of that! I rang her; she hadn't seen him or heard from him. I didn't really think he would go to her; it's over between them.'

  'It didn't last long, did it?' Nadine bitterly said. 'He left me for her just eighteen months ago, and now it's all over.'

  Larry looked taken aback. 'Left you for her? Sean didn't leave you for Fenella Nash. You left him for Jamie Colbert!'

  Nadine was furious; she gave Larry a bitter, antagonistic stare. 'You know better than that, Larry! You've always known what Sean was doing! He doesn't keep secrets from you!'

  He didn't deny it, but protested, 'He told me your marriage broke up over Jamie Colbert!'

  'Well, he lied. It isn't true. Sean walked out on me! He was making that first film with Fenella. Dangerous Lady. I never saw him, he was away on location for months, and when he did come home he was different, distant, not interested in me, I barely got a word out of him for weeks on end. Then the gossip about him and Fenella started; there were a few odd hints in gossip columns at first and then open comments, and when I faced him with it, asked him outright if he was having an affair with her, he didn't deny it.'

  Larry was frowning, his face uncertain. 'And you weren't having an affair with Jamie Colbert before that?'

  'No, I wasn't! Jamie was just the excuse Sean thought up for his affair with Fenella!'

  'But I could have sworn ' Larry broke off as

  her doorbell rang loudly.

  'My taxi.' Nadine bit her lip, her mind in chaos. 'I'm off to the West Indies today, on holiday,' she told him again.

  The doorbell rang again and she groaned, hurrying to open the door. The driver gave her a grin. 'Sorry if I'm a bit late—traffic was terrible. You ready, miss?' He looked past her at the cases standing in the corridor. 'Can I take your luggage down for you?'

  She nodded distractedly. 'Thanks. I... I won't be a minute...'

  'Just want to check everything's turned off and nailed down?' he said cheerfully, picking up her cases. 'Don't take too long—will you?—or you'll miss your plane, and you don't want to do that.'

  As he left, Nadine turned back to Larry, her face confused. 'Larry, have you tried his mother in the States?'

  Larry grimaced. 'Well, I did, although I was sure Sean wouldn't have gone to her, as they've never been very close. She said she hadn't seen him for years.'

  'No, we never saw much of her,' Nadine agreed, sighing. She had no family of her own, as both her parents were dead, and she had hoped to make friends with her mother-in-law, but Sean's mother lived in the States and was too busy to have time for her son. Sean's father had been dead for years and Sean had no other close family.

  Nadine gave Larry an uncertain look. 'Sean isn't the type to lose his head. I expect he's gone off to see someone he hopes will lend him the money and was in such a hurry that he forgot to let anyone know where he was.' She looked round, picked up a glossy brochure from a table. 'Look, this is where I'll be. Ring me if you get any news.' She gave Larry a pleading look. 'You won't forget, will you?'

  He shook his head. He looked so dispirited, so pale, that Nadine impulsively gave him a hug.

  'Don't look so gloomy, Larry. Sean will think of something; he always does, doesn't he?'

  His face lifted a little and he gave a faint smile. 'He always has, in the past,' he agreed.

  'He will this time!' She heard the taxi hooting outside and sighed. 'I really must go, I'm sorry, Larry.' Quickly, she checked that she had everything she needed, and then Larry walked her out to the waiting taxi.

  'Thought you'd changed your mind!' the driver grumbled, and, although it was a joke he was closer than he knew, because she was in two minds whether to go or not, but what could she do if she stayed? No doubt Sean would reappear some time today, but she wouldn't get her holiday, and she wouldn't get back the money she had already paid the travel agent.

  'Sorry,' she said, then turned to hug Larry again. 'Have faith in Sean,' she whispered, and Larry kissed her.

  'I will. You're right, I'm panicking too soon. Sean could be solving all our problems. Have a good holiday, Nadine.'

  She waved as the taxi drove off, and thought he looked slightly less depressed than he had when he first arrived. She had cheered him up a little, but he had disturbed her. It had been easy to hate Sean when she'd thought he was making millions and riding the whirlwind of success. Now her emotions were in turmoil: she was anxious for him, concerned about the company, and guilty because her divorce settlement had put a strain on his finances. If she had known the true state of affairs she would never have let her lawyers ask for such a big settlement; she would have refused to sell her shares to Sean when he asked her. But he had never let a hint drop that he might be having money troubles; there had been no suspicion in her mind at all.

  While she waited for her plane she swung in mood like a weather-vane: one minute deciding not to go, terrified that something might, after all, have happened to Sean, admitting that she wanted to be here, in case he needed her—and the next impatiently telling herself that nothing would have happened to him, Larry had been over-reacting, Sean was probably engrossed in fixing up a new deal to get himself through his current troubles, and if he had ever needed her he had a funny way of showing it.

  Her flight was called and she sat there, staring at nothing, still undecided.

  Oh, this was stupid! she thought, getting up, then stood there, dithering for a moment, before she finally made up her mind.

  The journey was long and tiring, and before she finally reached her destination she had changed her mind back and forth a hundred times. By the time she was checking into her hotel she was in no state to think of anything other than that she was deeply relieved to have at last stopped travelling. She signed the register and stumbled along a corridor behind the porter carrying her bags. It was still daylight here; she had been reminded to turn back her watch just before her plane landed but in her head she was still in another time-zone. It felt like the middle of the night, but the sun still shone. Nadine was too disorientated to take in much about her surroundings, but she did realise that the single-storey hotel was larger than she had expected.

  Her room was simply but elegantly furnished, that much she took in at a glance while she was tipping the porter. When he had gone, Nadine left her cases undisturbed but unpacked her small overnight bag, which held night things. Within ten minutes she was in bed, the shutters closed, the room dark, and she fell asleep immediately.

  When she woke up she had a headache that was like being assaulted by pneumatic drills. Fumbling for the bedside lamp switch, she sat up, wincing with pain. She felt terrible. Jet-lag? she wondered as she groped for her watch and looked at the time. Four o'clock? Confused, she couldn't work out whether it was morning or afternoon, then realised it was four in the morning, and she had slept for eight hours.

  Nadine groaned. F
our in the morning. Everyone else would be asleep. She might as well try to go back to sleep herself. But first she needed to go to the bathroom. She slid out of bed, realised she was sweating, her body not yet accustomed to the different temperature here.

  Her en-suite bathroom was all blue and white: the marble floor blue, bright Caribbean blue, with an inset mosaic in front of the bath, a large white dolphin splashing its tail in the blue sea. She was tempted to have a shower, but decided to take some aspirin first and try to get back to sleep.

  She lay between sleep and waking for an hour or so, fretting over Sean, then put on the light again and looked around the room, yawning. Her headache had more or less gone, but she still felt distinctly jet-lagged.

  She liked the decor of her room: it probably looked even better in sunlight. The marble floors were white, the modern furniture white with gold trimming, a wall-to-wall fitted wardrobe with louvre doors giving plenty of space for her clothes. There were large white stoneware lamps around the room, which was dominated by a kingsize bed, and a vase of vividly coloured flowers she couldn't name stood on a chest of drawers.

  It was half-past five now. She got out of bed and tiptoed around, unpacking her clothes and putting them away. When she had finished, she had a refreshing shower, and put on a white towelling robe before opening the shutters on the full-length sliding glass door which made up the wall facing the wardrobe.

  A large private balcony ran outside: Nadine opened the door and wandered, barefoot, out into the most beautiful sunrise she had ever seen. It took her breath away. The tender blue sky was streaked with flame and gold, the air was cool, birds were calling in the hotel gardens, their wings flicking as they flew from tree to tree, landing on bougainvillaea bushes, snapping up insects on the vivid flowers. There were smooth green lawns stretching down to a silvery white beach. A sprinkler system was already in operation, spraying the turf with whirling jets of water. Through the trees she glimpsed tennis courts, the blue water of a large, tiled pool in which someone was already swimming.