Last Resort (18 page)

"OK, you win -"

she laughed

"- the basic amoral principle stands, but if you think you're getting away with Dante's Commedia as being the first serious literature ever to make you laugh, then'

"I didn't say it was the first."

He grinned.

"What I said was that these days it generally comes to mind first. But if you want to go right back, I have to confess to having had a murky pubescent passion for Henry Miller."

"Show me a schoolboy who hasn't,"

Penny cornmented wryly.

"And I thought we were discussing first laughs, not first erections."

"Ah,"

he said.

"Well, it might surprise you to learn that my first erection had nothing to do with Miller and everything to do with'

"No, no, spare me!"

Penny laughed.

"I know you're going to say something outrageous like Beatrix Potter or'

"You too?"

he cried incredulously.

"It was that damned

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Peter Rabbit - got me every time. I thought I was gay until I worked out he was an animal; then I knew I was really in trouble."

Laughing and shaking her head, Penny looked at him across the table and felt oddly as if she'd known him for a very long time. There was such an easiness between them now, sitting there in the soft, flickering light with the gentle heat of the Aga warming them. Sylvia was right again: he was a hard man to alienate and even harder to stay mad at. Come to think of it, she couldn't quite remember why she was mad at him, but no doubt it would come back to her in the fullness of time. As would the moments when she had got up to light the candles and open the second bottle of wine.

"Well, I guess it's time I was on my way,"

he said, gazing deep into her eyes.

When he made no attempt to move, Penny's eyes dropped to his hands, which were resting on the table between them. Her heartbeat was quickening as the heady effect of the wine swirled through her senses and she looked at his fingers.

They were long and powerful, and so very close to her own. A warm burn of desire drew itself slowly through her body and, lifting her eyes back to his, she was already taking breath to ask him to stay, when the madness of the situation suddenly reached her and she stopped.

But it was too late ... He had obviously read her mind, had sensed the extent of his power over her, and his eyes were gently mocking her.

Penny got to her feet, appalled that she had allowed herself to be so taken in by his charm. Even worse was the feeling that if she had asked him to stay he'd have turned her down, for why would he want to spend the night with someone like her when there was Marielle, who was very likely warming his bed even now.

Not trusting herself to speak, Penny led the way to the door. Her head was perfectly clear now and her anger at

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the way she had almost humiliated herself was directed solely at him. He had known what he was doing, had set out to seduce her to the point he had, and she could only thank God that she had had the self-control to pull back when she did. At least the words had not passed her lips, even if her eyes had betrayed her.

"By the way/ he said as they reached the front door,

"I , meant to say this before; if you find yourself being approached by any dubious characters asking dubious questions, put them on to me, OK? I'll deal with it."

A quick fury sparked in Penny's eyes.

"Would you like to be a little more explicit about that?"

she said tightly.

He frowned, thought about it for a moment, then said,

"No, I reckon you can work it out/ and tossing his keys in the air, he caught them, and tripped lightly down the steps to kick-start his moped.

Penny was on the point of closing the door, when something brushed against her leg and, looking down, she saw that the puppy from next door was back.

Scooping him up in her arms she cuddled him against her face and watching David ride out through the gates, she whispered,

"Well, I might not have any problem in the future resisting him, but I think I might well have one with you, you silly little thing."

In reply the puppy licked her cheek and peed on her shoulder.

After changing her sweater, Penny put on her coat and carried him back down the drive and along the few yards of lane to the secluded villa next door.

There was no sound coming from within the house, but two Mercedes were parked in the car port and slivers of light were showing through the cracks in the shutters.

Placing the puppy gingerly on the grass with its siblings Penny crept quietly back into the lane. So far she had managed to avoid actually meeting Colonel Blimp's wife, even though the woman had phoned three or four times to invite Sammy and her for dinner or drinks. It

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wasn't that Penny wanted to offend them, but the idea of exchanging her London social life for canapes and double gins with the expatriate haw-haw brigade most certainly did not appeal. Especially having met Wally Delaney, who was as much of a bore as he was an anachronistic joke and who had irritated her beyond words by trying to arouse her interest in him with cryptic allusions to his antique shop not being quite what it appeared to be.

Still, she thought, as she walked back into the house, she'd have to go over there sooner or later, if for no other reason than she was running out of excuses not to. And maybe it was worth looking into that antique shop of his, for if he was using it as some kind of cover for something there was a chance she might get a story out of it.

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Chapter 7

YesV Penny cheered, springing up from the chair in triumph.

"You cheated!"

David cried.

"Rubbish! Did I cheat?"

she demanded, looking around at the rest of the team who were grouped round the cornputer with them.

"He's just a bad loser/ Paul Smith, the freelancer, grinned at David.

"You're going to have to face it, David,"

Penny told him, her cheeks flushed with laughter:

"I'm better at these games than you are. That's the third time I've won ..."

"Because you cheated!"

he declared.

"How did I cheat?"

"I don't know, but I'll work it out."

"Poor David!"

Babette laughed, walking back to her desk. Tou bring in all these CD-Rom things and never yet have you beaten her."

"Come on, Smithy,"

David challenged,

"sit down here and get yourself thrashed."

p

"Penny, Agence Mediterranee on the line for you,'

Brigitte called out.

"Great!"

Penny cried.

"I'll take it in my office. Kill him, Smithy,"

she shot back over her shoulder as he and David started to battle it out.

Still chuckling to herself, Penny flopped down in her 134

chair and picked up the phone to speak to the advertising agency David had recently signed up to handle the launch.

It was hard to believe that more than a month had sped by since she'd moved into the villa and taken over the reins of the magazine. She had worked harder in that time than she ever had in her life, but the kick she was getting out of seeing it all starting to come together was worth all the missed lunches and dinners, the frustrations of dealing with Marielle and even the sleepless nights courtesy of David whose appearances in the office were proving even more disruptive than they were erratic, for no one ever seemed to get any work done while he was there, including her.

She was over the embarrassment of the evening he had spent at the villa now, but all the same she was constantly on the alert to make sure that nothing like it ever happened again. It was only during the crazy hours when he'd turn up with some new computer game or other and challenge her to battle it out with him, while whoever happened to be in the office at the time yelled and cheered them on, that she let down the barriers. When they were alone together she was careful that they never discussed anything other than the magazine, and though she longed to ask him where he went when he wasn't there she never did. She didn't want to mislead him into thinking that her interest in him was anything other than professional. The teasing and banter and extravagant practical jokes - of which she was every bit as guilty as he - were just something they did and since it was helping to form a strong and loyal bond throughout the team she was happy to go along with it. The only person who ever showed any reluctance to join in the fun was Marielle, though she did deign, on the odd occasion, to join them all over at Legends, the Mexican cafe/wine bar across the road, when they all reached a point of such tiredness that things started getting even sillier than 135

usual. Marielle's relationship with David was still very much on, but since it didn't appear to be affecting his judgement in any way Penny could find no reason to

object to it.

Now the lighter nights were upon them and the heavy rains had passed, Penny was discovering a very real affection for the C6te d'Azur and its people. So many doors were thrown open to her, so much help and advice was forthcoming, that she was beginning to think that the horror of French bureaucracy was just a myth. She raced around in her five-year-old Peugeot convertible, employing tactics worthy of the most heroic French driver in order to get to a lunch in Eze, or a vernissage in Menton, or over to Monte Carlo for a show or a charity gala or, on one splendid occasion, to win 3,000 francs at the Casino. The International TV Festival in Cannes was now over, the mayor of Cannes himself had issued her with a pass, and she had been one of his honoured guests at a dinner he'd hosted for a couple of the French networks. The Film Festival was coming up and, to Penny's amazement and delight, the organizers had invited her to the ceremony for the awarding of the Palme d'Or and she was currently debating whether or not to ask David to escort her. It could be that he wouldn't deem her glamorous enough to be seen with at such a star-studded event, but if that was the case he knew what he could do with himself!

In fact, despite the fun they had together and the so far indisputable success of their working relationship, David was the only real black spot on the horizon. It wasn't that the occasional erotic dream she had abcy t him bothered her particularly, for the truth of her fantasies had nothing to do with David and everything to do with the fact that until now she'd always had a fairly active sex life. However, other than that momentary lapse with David, she'd had very little time to concentrate on affairs of the heart, though something she was

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managing to find time for was a growing curiosity about David's frequent disappearances and his unerring ability to make things happen whether he was there or not. Of course, there was no question that Pierre was a prodigious deputy, but it was undoubtedly David's influence that got things moving and David's business prowess that was responsible for the unbelievable advances they had made without so much as a hiccup. It wasn't that Penny wanted things to go wrong, it was simply that the total absence of banana skins and the astonishing readiness of all concerned to take on the impossible was making her slightly uneasy. It was patently obvious to her by now that there was a great deal more to David than met the eye, but if he was hiding something shady, which she strongly suspected he was, then the question she had to ask herself was whether she really wanted to know what it was. Well, actually the answer to that was easy, of course she wanted to know, but she was damned if she was going to give him the pleasure of being asked when he knew that he had her curiosity aroused and was so obviously enjoying it that she could have quite happily hit him.

However, at the end of the following week, during most of which David had been absent, Penny decided to call Sylvia. All she wanted to know was something about David's past, something that would perhaps shed a little light on whether or not she was imagining some kind of hidden agenda or whether she was correct in at least one of her suspicions.

As she waited to be connected she shifted the fan around a little to cool herself off, then glanced through the pile of paperwork in front of her that Pierre had just sent in. Seeing what it was, she gave a sigh of exasperation.

Marielle, who appeared to regard her position as David's mistress as being far superior to that of being David's partner, was becoming excessively trying with her constant referrals to Pierre on matters that should have been 137

coming to Penny.

At last Sylvia's voice came down the line and Penny turned in her chair towards the open window.

"Penny, cherie,"

Sylvia cried,

"I've been meaning to call, but time has just run away with me. So, tell me, how are you getting along over there?"

"Just fine/ Penny answered, thinking that that was another thing she found somewhat peculiar, that Sylvia hadn't been in touch over these past six weeks.

"Marielle Descourts continues to be a pain in the neck,"

she said, grimacing,

"but one I'm having to live with. Needless to say, David is the main cause of the friction between us."

"Oh?"

"I'm sure you know what I'm talking about,"

Penny

told her.

Sylvia was laughing.

"I think so,"

she answered.

"David always did have an eye for the ladies - it's what's causing the problems in his marriage."

Penny's smile collapsed.

"Marriage?"

she said.

"He didn't tell you he was married? Well, no, I don't suppose he would. They broke up a year or so ago. He only sees her now when he sees the children."

"Children?"

Penny echoed.

"He has two boys. They're, let me see, they must be four and six by now.

Little monsters, the pair of them, but quite adorable."

"Where are they?"

Penny asked, aware that she was starting to lose focus.

"In Florida, with their mother."

"Oh, I see,"

Penny said distantly. Then, quickly pulling herself together, she said,

"Well, good for him or whriever I'm supposed to say to that. Anyway, it's about him that I'm calling."