Strangers (33 page)

“I want to take you all over the world and I can’t even take you for a meal without someone bothering us.
And what the fuck’s that banging?”

“A reporter at the door.”

“Don’t open it.”

Kate looked through the spy hole.

“Oh, it’s okay.
It’s Dan.
Be good, Charlie.
I’ll see you Wednesday.
You want to meet me at the gallery?
You remember where it is?”

“Yep.
Bellingham.
Holland Park.
See you then.” He paused.
“Kate?”

“Yes?”

“Thanks for yesterday with Mum and Dad, for…well, you know.”

“You’re welcome.
Bye, Charlie.”

She opened the door and let Dan in.

He offered Kate a handful of paper.
“Messages.
They’ve been stuffing them in everyone’s mailbox trying to get in touch with you.
I’ve got rid of the guy outside your door.
Threatened him with the police.
We’ve escaped to the roof.”

“Oh God, sorry.”

“You better come up.
I should warn you, Rachel and Lucy are a bit pissed off.
Well, a lot pissed off.
They’re beside themselves that you didn’t tell them you were going out with Charlie Storm and furious with me because they think I should have known after that incident at Crispies.”

“Ah.” Kate’s shoulders slumped.

“Nice bum, though.” Dan grinned.

“Whose?”

“Yours of course, but don’t tell Rachel.
Not that there’s anything wrong with hers,” he added.

“Right.” Kate laughed at his mortified expression.
“Dan, can I ask you a favor?”

“You can ask.”

Kate took the photograph of Michael Storm out of her bag.
“This is Charlie’s brother.”

“He died, didn’t he?
It was in the papers.”

“If you’re not too busy, do you think you could paint him and Charlie sort of tussling together?
I don’t have a photo of Charlie, but I expect there’s one in the paper you can use.
Only put clothes on him.”

Dan laughed.

“I’ll have to pay you in installments.”

“You don’t need to pay me at all, Kate.
I’ll do it as a gift.
If you hadn’t said something last week, I’d still be staring hopelessly at Rachel.”

“I take it things have moved on?”

Dan grinned.

Kate sent Dan back to the roof.
She changed into her bikini, relieved to see it covered the bite mark on her breast, and slipped on a long t-shirt.
Charlie was more upset about what happened than her.
She knew he’d never do it again.
Kate sighed.
That sounded a little too familiar.

When she walked onto the flat roof she came to an abrupt halt.
Lucy, Dan and Rachel stood leaning against the parapet wall looking down at the street.
Next to Lucy stood a bare-chested Nick, in low-slung jeans, his hand squeezing Lucy’s backside.

Kate stared into the distance.
To the right she could just see the golden supports of the Millennium Dome, to the left, the building block skyscrapers of Canary Wharf rose into a hazy sky.
Kate walked across and slipped in next to Dan.

“Hey, are you mad?
Don’t let them see you,” he said and ushered her back.
“Here, have a glass of wine.”

He picked up the bottle from the table and poured her a glass.
Lucy and Rachel stepped in front of her.
Lucy wore the tiniest bikini Kate had ever seen.
Three silver triangles the size of cheese crackers.

“Charlie Storm,” Rachel said.
“You’re going out with a celebrity and you don’t tell us?
I thought we were your friends?”

“You are,” Kate said and glanced at Nick.
Three of them were
.
“The reason I didn’t tell you is down there on the street.”

Nick sat on a chair and pulled Lucy onto his lap.
“Nice photos.
Want to give me an exclusive on what it’s like to go out with bad-boy Storm?”

“No.”

“Do you know what you’re doing, Kate?” Lucy asked.
“I mean—Charlie Storm?
He’s going to chew you up and spit you out.
He has to be using you.”

An iron band tightened around Kate’s heart.
She sat down on a concrete ledge with her wine.

“How did you meet him?” Rachel asked.
“Was it really at the seaside?”

Kate nodded.

“He’s going to dump you,” Lucy said.
“He has a terrible reputation.”

Kate’s fingers tightened around the stem of the glass.

“You could make some money out of this,” Nick said.
“Why don’t you give me your side of the story?
I could get you on tomorrow’s show.”

Kate regretted having come up to the roof.
She swallowed a mouthful of warm white wine.

“We’ll pay good money, Kate,” Nick said.
“After all, you’re a friend.” His hand cupped Lucy’s breast.

Kate opened her mouth and then shut it again.

“Has he taken you anywhere nice?” Rachel asked.
“What’s he like?
Have you been to his house?
Have you met anyone famous?
And most important, will he come to the opening on Wednesday?”

“Hey.” Dan put his hand on her arm.
“Kate came up here to escape the questions.”

“Just one, then,” Rachel pleaded.
“Will he come to the opening?”

Kate tossed the answer around in her head before she spoke.
“I asked him, but I don’t know if he’ll come.” She wondered what she was going to do about Nick.
He sat watching her and underneath his serpent smile, Kate knew he was wondering if she’d say anything to Lucy.

“Could he get some other celebs to come too?” Rachel asked.
“Who does he know?”

“I’ve no idea.” Kate turned her face to the sun, wishing the questions would stop.
Maybe she should warn Charlie not to come.

“Nick told me what happened at Armageddon,” Lucy said.

Kate opened her eyes and turned in her direction.
“Did he?”

Nick draped his arms over Lucy’s shoulders, his fingers teasing the triangles covering her nipples.

“Sorry, Kate,” he apologized.
“I know I landed you in it with Charlie.
I was panicking because of Gemma.
I didn’t want her to know I’d been buying a couple of wraps of coke for me and Lucy, so I made up a lie about a woman in a pink top coming on to me.
I hadn’t even seen, let alone known you were wearing a pink top.
Next thing I know, Gemma’s chucked her drink in your face.
Of course, now she’s read the papers about you and Charlie Storm, she knows you wouldn’t be interested in a sad tosser like me.
She’s desperate to come and apologize, particularly if Charlie’s around.”

“You’re not a sad tosser.” Lucy turned to kiss him on the lips.

Yes, you are
, Kate thought,
you’re married and stringing Lucy along and fucking women in toilets when you get the chance.

“I’ll send Gemma round.
Dan’s going to be painting her portrait, so I’ll be bringing her over for sittings.” Nick nibbled Lucy’s collarbone.
“And the longer he takes, the better.”

* * * * *

Charlie had just settled into seat 1A and stretched out his long legs, when Natalie Glass appeared.
She bent her head and kissed him on the cheek.
The musky scent she wore was so overpowering, Charlie only just suppressed the urge to sneeze.
He wondered about buying perfume for Kate and realized she never wore any.
But was that because she didn’t like it or couldn’t afford it?
Something else he didn’t know about her.

“Charlie!
You’re looking well.”

“Hi, Natalie.
Want to sit next to the window?”

“No, I’m okay on the aisle.
I’m a bit of a nervous flyer.”

It hadn’t crossed his mind that Natalie would come to the meeting.
It made sense, though he did wonder why Ethan hadn’t told him.

“I’m really looking forward to working with you.” Natalie beamed.
“We’re going to have such fun.” She raised trim little eyebrows one after the other and winked.

The wink made it clear to Charlie the sort of fun she had in mind and he wasn’t interested.
She was gorgeous.
Huge, dark eyes with thick black lashes.
A smile that dazzled.
Perfect teeth.
Long, sleek dark hair.
Pneumatic breasts.
And he didn’t want her.

He smiled.

He didn’t even want a one-night stand with her.
His smile broadened.
If he hadn’t realized it was because of Kate, he might have thought he was ill.
Charlie leaned back in his seat and thought about the slight twist on one of Kate’s bottom teeth, her spiky, tousled hair with the just-out-of-bed look, her breasts that fit snugly in his palms.
And her eyes.
Oh God, he loved her eyes, the way they changed with her moods.
He even loved them when she was cross with him.

The plane taxied to the runway and Natalie squirmed.

“Will you hold my hand?” she whispered.

Charlie took hold of her fingers and Natalie smiled her thanks.

“Saw you in the papers today,” she said.
“Nice butt.”

“Yeah, she has, hasn’t she?” Charlie was pleased to see the smile drop from Natalie’s face, but didn’t manage to deflect her.

“I have a feeling I’m going to be a headline next week.
Some prick from
24/7
persuaded my ex to reveal intimate details about our sex life.” She pouted.
“It wasn’t me that wanted to go to the bloody club in the first place.”

Charlie wanted to sit next to Kate the first time she went up in a plane, wanted to see the look on her face when she saw the clouds.

Natalie bent her mouth to Charlie’s ear.
“Rascal’s.
Have you been?
Anything goes and I mean, anything.
Ethan’s trying to stop them publishing, but he’s not hopeful.”

“I thought the latest edition of
Hello!
was full of photos of your house and garden.” Charlie extracted his hand now they were airborne.

“Did you read it?
They were so nice.
They kept asking for my opinion on the best place to take the photographs.
They supplied flowers and clothes and they let me have copies of every picture after I’d agreed which ones they could use.
And they paid.
That’s the sort of press I like.”

“I’m not sure you can have it both ways.
We choose to put ourselves in the public eye and have to take what comes with it.
We’re happy enough with the good publicity and the money.
We only get upset when we think they’re being unfair.
We can’t dictate the attention we want.”

That was very philosophical for him.
Charlie wondered if he sounded as though he meant it.
He
did
mean it.

“Not just us that gets hurt though, is it?” Natalie said.

“No.
Sometimes they go too far.
Today being a case in point and the apology they’ll no doubt end up issuing doesn’t make up for the damage they’ve caused, but the press will never change.”

* * * * *

By the time the plane landed in Dublin, Charlie was certain of two things—Natalie Glass desperately wanted to get into his pants and he desperately wanted to keep her out of them.
It wasn’t that he didn’t fancy her.
Any guy would.
Well, any normal guy.
Nothing wrong in fancying, but he wouldn’t go further.
Charlie was determined to prove he could be faithful.
Kate trusted him and he wouldn’t let her down.
But as Natalie pressed her body against his in the taxi on the way to their hotel, Charlie recognized it was going to be a difficult couple of days.

Sure enough, a request to meet up in her room at seven so they could go down together for dinner, had led to him finding her still wet from the shower.
The skimpy towel that stood between him and her naked body accidentally dropped to the carpet as she walked back to the bathroom.
Of course, she bent to pick it up, giving him a spectacular view of her backside.
She left the bathroom door open.
Charlie clenched his jaw.

“Pour me a drink, Charlie,” she called.

He opened the mini bar, noting the seal was already broken.
“What would you like?”

“Vodka and orange.”

He found two little bottles in the bin.
He had the feeling that after a couple more vodkas, Natalie’s bra would mysteriously unhook itself.
Then again, she probably wasn’t going to wear a bra.

“Hook my dress up, sweetie.”

Yep, he was right.
The dress was open all the way down the back.
He pulled up the zip and Natalie turned and launched herself toward him.
Charlie intercepted with his cheek.
He bit his lip so he didn’t laugh.
Her blue silk dress was cut low at the front, with two shadows in the silk where her nipples pointed toward him like gun barrels.
He stepped back, reaching for the glass and pushed it into her hand.

“Don’t you want one?” she purred and licked her lips.

“Detoxing,” he said.

He needed all his wits about him to keep his newly acquired integrity intact.

By the time they got to the last course, Natalie was drunk and Charlie very sober.
He’d tried to regulate the amount of alcohol she consumed, but she ate so little, it must have raced through her bloodstream faster than a striking snake.
The other thing she did was eat slowly, chewing every mouthful forever.
Just for something to do, Charlie began to count.
Sixty-five seconds for each morsel she put between her lips.
The meal had to be stone-cold by the time she’d finished.
He’d never been so bored in his life.

Natalie tried to force him into having dessert, but he knew damned well he’d be the only one eating it.
He refused coffee.
Charlie wanted to go to bed and ring Kate.
When Natalie stood up, she wobbled.

“Oops,” she giggled and caught hold of Charlie’s arm.

Charlie didn’t like the knowing looks they trawled as they left the restaurant and made their way to the lift.
Natalie hung on him like an octopus.

“It’s your fault I’m drunk.
I had to have your share of the wine as well.”

“Sorry.” Charlie wasn’t sorry at all.
In fact, he hoped she passed out the moment he got her back into her room.

“Where’s your key?” he asked.

After a struggle, Natalie managed to produce it from her purse.

“I don’t feel well,” she muttered.

He wasn’t surprised.
Charlie manhandled her through the door and Natalie lurched toward the bathroom.
The fall looked genuine and he went to help.

“I’m going to be sick,” she gasped.

She was.
All over the bathroom floor and all over Charlie.
In a way, he was grateful because now there was no temptation at all.