Last Resort (64 page)

While he showered she lay where she was, staring out at the pale oppressiveness of the sky and feeling, irrationally, that if she didn't move then maybe the day wouldn't have to begin.

"Would you like some breakfast before you leave?"

she said when he came back into the room, a towel draped around his waist as he rubbed his hair with another. It was the first time he had shown any modesty in front of her and just this small display of it twisted her heart with

unease.

That'd be nice,"

he answered.

Finding her robe she went downstairs to the kitchen. It was cold and everything was so still, so encased in silence, that it was as though any sound at all might cause the very air to splinter like glass. She searched the cupboards but there was no milk, no bread, not even any coffee. Then, having found a packet of jasmine tea, she put the kettle on to boil. As she poured the water into the pot she heard him come in behind her. Taking a breath, she turned to face him, and when she saw him the breath was expelled on a current of laughter.

"You look terrible,"

she told him.

"Don't you have any other clothes here?"

He shook his head forlornly. "Then take them off and I'll press them for you,"

she

said.

"It's OK, I can do it,"

he said with a laugh, unbuttoning the wrinkled shirt that Pierre had brought over from his

500

apartment the day before.

Til do it/ she said.

Grinning, he tossed it to her. Tou could be starring something for yourself here/ he warned.

"Don't count on it/ she responded archly, going into the laundry room to set up the iron.

She wanted to scream, to cry out in fury at the sheer madness of what they were facing. The not knowing was unbearable, but to know, to find out what was going to happen, maybe that would be even worse. She looked down at the stark whiteness of his shirt and as she smoothed the hot iron over the front it was as though she was spreading the heat of foreboding in her heart. Hearing him coming towards her, she looked up and, as he lifted a hand to sweep the hair from her face, she flinched.

"Hey/ he said, half frowning, half laughing.

"What is this? Did you think I was going to hit you?"

She smiled; then, handing him his shirt, she planted a kiss on his mouth.

That's better/ he murmured, holding her chin in his hand and pulling her back to him.

As he kissed her again she could feel herself starting to shake, but, forcing a laugh, she said,

"I'm sorry there's no breakfast. Just tea."

Tea's fine/ he told her, laying his trousers on the ironing board and putting both arms around her.

"It's going to be all right/ he said gently.

"I promise you."

Holding back what she really wanted to say, she forced another smile and nodded.

"I know/ she said.

"But I'll be glad when today's over."

That makes two of us/ he grimaced. Then, taking a deep breath, he turned back to the kitchen.

"So where's this tea?"

he said in a poor attempt at enthusiasm.

The sound of the buzzer announcing Pierre's arrival at the gates came too soon for them both. They were sitting facing each other across the table and as he got up to

501

go and get his coat Penny dropped her head in her hands, twisting her fingers brutally through her hair in a vain attempt to stop herself crying. Hearing him coming back down the stairs, she quickly wiped away the tears and lifted her head.

"Oh God, David!"

she laughed and sobbed as he stood there in his pink, yellow and green anorak.

"You can't wear that."

"I can't?"

he said, looking down at it in surprise. Then, bringing his eyes back to hers, he gave her such a roguish grin that she just broke down and cried.

That bad, huh?"

he said, making her laugh. "I guess I'd better take it off, then."

She walked with him to the door, then, turning in his arms, looked up into his eyes.

"I'll call you later/ he said softly, touching his lips lightly to hers.

She nodded; then, letting him go, she stood back as he opened the door. Pierre was waiting in the Saab. David got into the driver's seat, circled the car round and drove off towards the gates. When he got there he hooted the horn and Penny, realizing he must have forgotten the remote control, leaned back inside the front door to push the release button.

As his car disappeared from view tears were spilling from her eyes. It was as though her whole body was straining to run after him. She didn't want to voice it, she didn't even want to think it, but she had a horrible, terrible premonition that this was the last time she would ever see him.

Closing the door she sat down on the bottom stair and burying her face in her knees she sobbed as though her heart would break. Panic was welling up inside her, as though to drown her in the terrible truth that he wouldn't be coming back. She tried to calm herself with reminders of how she was always plagued by morbid thoughts and paranoia after a long flight, but it didn't 502

work. She just couldn't get it out of her mind that this Was all they were going to have together, that the kiss he pad just given her would be the last.

Dizziness and fatigue coasted sluggishly through her as she pulled herself to her feet. She knew she should go back to bed, but she just couldn't face it.

So she stood where she was, her whole body racked with sobs as she stared down at the ridiculous anorak he had left on the stairs.

At last, in the faint hope of distracting herself, she walked into the kitchen. She saw the two empty cups on the table and the open door of the laundry room and, covering her face with her hands, she sank to her knees and wept uncontrollably. How was she ever going to keep things going without David when the mere thought of him not being there was making her fall apart like this?

Then suddenly she tensed and, lifting her head, she turned to look at the front door. Someone was calling her name.

"David?"

she whispered hoarsely. She leapt to her feet, ran to the door and tore it open.

"David!"

she cried.

You weren't expecting anyone else, were you?"

he said drolly. Then his eyes softened with concern as he saw her distress.

T'm sorry/ she said, dashing a hand across her cheeks. T know I'm being foolish, but I suppose everything's just catching up with me."

She looked past him to the forecourt.

"Where's your car?"

"At the gates. I came back to bring you this,"

he said, pulling a greasy paper bag from behind his back.

"Oh God, I think I'm going to cry again,"

she choked when she saw the croissant.

"How did you get in?"

T climbed the gates,"

he told her, lifting her face up to his.

"Now, are you going to open them for me so I can get out again?"

503

She shook her head.

"I want to watch you climb."

He laughed.

"Out of luck/ he said, reaching behind her to press the button.

"Now, you go get yourself some sleep and I'll call you later. OK?"

When he'd gone, Penny carried the croissant into the kitchen and sat down.

What an idiot she had made of herself! To think she was never going to see him again and in a matter of minutes he had already come back.

At the other end of the drive, as he got back into his car, David looked at Pierre.

"She hadn't had any breakfast,"

he said.

"I couldn't leave her without any breakfast."

Pierre smiled weakly.

"She'll survive, David,"

he said.

"It's time to start thinking about yourself now."

"I know,"

he said bleakly, staring down at the wheel. He sighed, then put the key back in the ignition and started up the engine.

Two and a half hours later they arrived at the Sophitel just outside Marseille airport. After giving their names at the front desk they took the lift to the second floor and walked down the long, featureless corridor to the conference room they had been allocated. The door was already ajar.

Pushing it open David walked in, Pierre right behind him. Sitting around the table were Stirling, three darksuited lawyers, who had flown in the night before, and, as he'd known she would be, Gabriella.

Gabriella's obsidian black eyes were glittering with triumph as she watched her husband sit down on the edge of the bed. They were alone in her room, having just left the meeting that had gone on all day, the meeting that had so ruthlessly hammered home to David the impossibility of his situation. But it wasn't over yet, they still had a long way to go, and with all the trump cards in her hand Gabriella knew she couldn't fail to get what she wanted. She knew, too, precisely how she was going to play each card.

504

1

David's exhaustion showed in the paleness of vr and the deepening lines around his eyes. He sat with his head in his hands, staring down at the floor. He had never felt so impotent in his life.

"Would you like some food?"

Gabriella offered, curling her long legs under her as she leaned back against the pillows. Her raven hair fell in an exquisite sweep over the side of her face; her full, red mouth shimmered in the glow of the bedside lamp.

David shook his head, then, getting up from the bed, he slid his hands into his pockets and went to gaze out at the night. He wondered what Penny was doing now and felt his heart sink. She'd be worrying about him, of course, and the fact that he hadn't called.

Gabriella waited, watching him, her eyes branded with malice and with a pain that had long ago been poisoned by the bitterness that now consumed her.

"Would you like me to spell it out for you?"

she said sweetly.

"No,"

he answered.

But she did anyway, using words and a tone that lacked any kind of finesse or sensitivity.

"Your pathetic little romance with Penny Moon is finished,"

she said. There'll be no more jetting off across the world playing the big hero, no more shacking up in desert-island hotels or Riviera villas. She's history for you, David. You make a single attempt to contact her again, you've got my word on it: all deals are off. Do you hear what I'm saying? You want my help, then you do things my way. And that goes for Pierre too, so you can forget any ideas you might have of getting him to contact her for you, because, you'd better believe me when I tell you, I have ways of finding out that you haven't even dreamt of. And if I find out that either of you has as much as picked up a phone you can kiss goodbye to your freedom - and your children."

She smiled as he flinched; then she continued.

"Oh, Penny Moon can carry on with that pitiful little magazine you've got going over there in Cannes,

505

vw

we'll need someone to run it for us, but the minute I say she's out, she's out! Have you got that?"

When he didn't answer she went on, savouring every moment of the power she had over him.

"I've waited a long time for this, David,"

she said, tmt it's been worth all the agony I've put myself through just to see you suffering the way you made me suffer, you bastard."

Her voice was now thick with hatred and spite; her dark eyes were flashing with the corroding fire of resentment she had raging inside her.

"You never were able to keep that dick of yours under control, were you?"

she sneered.

"You had them all, didn't you, David? You screwed the whole god-damned lot of

"em - my friends, my enemies, anybody's wife, girlfriend, mother, daughter -

you just didn't know when to stop. You never cared about me or the way you were humiliating me; all you ever cared about was yourself and which of the whores you could stick it into next. Well, you're paying for it now and, let me tell you, you'll be taking a vow of fucking celibacy by the time I've finished with you should you ever even speak to Penny Moon again. So, get it into your head now, David, your screwing days are over. You've had your fun.

Now it's my turn. But just so you don't think I'm completely without feeling, let me tell you this: I intend to be there for you. I'm going to see you through this and if you keep your freedom I'll take you back into the bosom of your family. You see, I still want you, David. You've still got me panting for you even after all this time. I'd lie right here and let you screw me now if that was what you wanted, but you don't, do you? Well, maybe you'd like to reconsider that, because I'm getting horny just thinking about what all this is doing to you."

At last David turned to look at her.

"Tell me about the boys,"

he said quietly.

"How are they? Has Jack started his new school?"

"You want to know about the boys,"

she said, sneer-

506

ingly/

"you'd better ask nicely. So why don't you come over here and sit down?"

"Gabriella, you're demeaning us both doing this/ he said, staying where he was.

"Hah!"

she cried, tossing her head back. Tou think I care about demeaning you after what you did to me?"

Frowning, he closed his eyes and pushed his fingers into the sockets.

"You've got to stop doing this, Gabriella/ he said wearily.

"Can't you see, it's hurting you every bit as much as it's hurting me."

"All I can see/ she said, savouring the malice,

"is a man on his way to jail unless he gets himself over here right now."

He waited, watching her, as she began slowly peeling off her clothes. She was still a stunningly beautiful woman with a body that could tempt a saint from chastity.

When she was naked she lay back on the bed and, spreading her legs, looked up at him.

"You want me, David, don't you?"

she said thickly. Then, laughing, she cupped her breasts in her hands. Tou can pretend all you like/ she said,

"but I know you, David. You can't resist me. Even after all I've put you through, you still can't resist me. So why don't you just forget about Penny Moon? Come over here and remind yourself what it's like to make love with a real woman."