An Affair to Forget (6 page)

She
wouldn’t have blamed him if he had stormed at her, slammed his way out of the apartment, but he just shrugged and said, “Okay. It’s time I was going, anyway.”

At
the door he tipped her face up towards his. “I don’t want to hear any more nonsense about you staying in London while I’m in Tenerife. Right?”

“
Right.” That one, she knew, she wouldn’t win.

“
Kiss me,” Sam ordered unexpectedly. She felt herself growing tense, but as she stared up at him he repeated, his voice sharpening, “Kiss me!”

At
first his mouth held hers lightly, then almost at once the kiss deepened, his tongue teasing her lips apart, his arms tightening about her. She responded, and when he released her she was aware of a faint sense of loss.

Sam
said huskily, “That fire… whoever he was… must have burned your fingers really badly.” His grey eyes probed hers. “Is he likely to come back into your life?”

She
longed to tell him the truth, to make it clear to him that he and he alone had the power to see that that did not happen. But it was too late to speak out. Sam trusted her and she had already deceived him with her silence. So she shook her head and said, “No. I wouldn’t let that happen… not ever.”

His
eyes cleared and he gave her his youthful grin. “Good. In that case I’ll wait. I’ve got all the time in the world… all you’re going to need,” he said.

When
he had gone she took a shower and went to bed, staring at the pattern made on her ceiling by outside lights. Perhaps she wouldn’t be able to get a seat for Gareth on the plane. Perhaps Alison would talk him out of going to Tenerife. Slim, leggy Alison would look marvellous on the ski slopes, she thought drowsily. So would Gareth.

As
she was drifting into sleep she realised that something had been teasing at the back of her mind ever since Sam had first kissed her. He was an attractive man, a man she liked very much, but those few moments she had spent in Gareth’s arms had made Sam’s love-making seem bland. There was none of the passion she had once tasted. A passion that was more of a torment than a pleasure.

A
passion that had been re-ignited easily, far more easily than she would have imagined, in that single shocked moment when she came face to face with Gareth in the foyer of the theatre. A passion and a yearning that still craved fulfilment.

A
year after she had resolutely decided to put it behind her, it was all starting again.

*

“A Mr Sinclair phoned,” Deborah said as soon as Morrin went into the office on the following morning.

“
What did he want?” She was not in the mood for contact with Gareth.

“
To know if you’d booked his plane seat.”

Morrin
’s heart sank. So he still intended to go to Tenerife.

“
I told him you and Sam always come in late on the morning after a premiere,” Deborah chattered on. “He said that when you did arrive he’d like you to take his airline ticket and all necessary information to his hotel before twelve thirty. He said you’d know where to find him.”

“
He did, did he?” Sam had another appointment and wouldn’t be back until after lunch, so there was no hope of fobbing Gareth off on to him. Morrin toyed with the idea of pretending, until it was too late to do anything about it, that she hadn’t been able to get a third seat on the Tenerife flight, then she sighed and reached for the directory. Better get it over with. Besides, if by any remote chance the flight was fully booked she’d like to start enjoying the relief as soon as possible.

There
were plenty of seats available. Morrin put the phone down and scowled at it until Deborah said blithely, “I wonder if it’s true that your face sticks if the wind changes?”

“
Ha ha, very funny. Deborah, would you do something for me?”

“
Sure.” Deborah was a year younger than Morrin, a bright, bouncy girl who held the post of general secretary, and therefore shared an office with Morrin. The other two members of Sam’s staff were based in the outer office.

“
Go and collect our flight tickets. And then take one to this hotel.” She fished the card Gareth had given her out of her bag and tossed it over to Deborah. “Give it to Gareth Sinclair. Make sure he knows when and where to meet Sam and I on Tuesday morning. OK?”

Deborah
was already pulling her coat on. “The man who phoned? The one with the dark velvet voice? I’d be delighted! But he did ask if you’d take the ticket over in person.”

“
I’m quite sure you can manage admirably,” Morrin said crisply. “And I have a lot to do today.”

Deborah
winked at her. “I’ll do my best,” she said, and went out.

When
she returned two hours later her eyes were glowing. “Wow!” she announced as soon as she appeared in the doorway.

Morrin
sighed. “I take it that you got to the hotel in time to meet Mr Sinclair?”

“
Meet him? We had coffee together. You might have told me he was an author,” Deborah lamented. “I felt like a lemon when I found out. I hadn’t read a single one of his books!”

“
You can’t be expected to read every book that’s published.”

“
That’s what he said when I confessed. He was really nice about it. But I’m going to read all of them as soon as I can. He’s absolutely…” Deborah was lost for words, but not for long. “You don’t know what you missed, Morrin… morning coffee with a real live author who looks like a film star!” She sighed, lost in rapturous memories. “And he’s not even married, did you know that?”

“
No, I didn’t. So you had a chat about his love life?”

“
Not exactly. He just happened to mention that he lived alone, fancy free. He likes it that way.”

It
had been clear from Alison’s presence that he hadn’t married Cass after all. Or had he? Had the marriage split up already? Questions danced on the tip of Morrin’s tongue but she wouldn’t allow herself to ask them.

Deborah
smiled to herself over her keyboard for some time, then she said casually, “That Mr Sinclair… he seemed quite interested in you.”

Morrin
felt her face redden. “Me?”

“
Mmm. He wanted to know long you’d worked for Mr Kennedy and where you came from… things like that.”

“
I hope you didn’t gossip.”

“
As if I would. And even if I was a gossip I couldn’t have told him much, could I? Not when I’ve only been here for six months.”

So
Gareth hadn’t told Deborah that he’d known Morrin before. She felt a wave of relief, then the tension began to build up again. What was he planning? She thought of phoning him in Yorkshire, giving him some sort of explanation about the way she had suddenly left his employment. Then she decided that he might be waiting, expecting her to call, planning the next step.

Finally
she made up her mind that it would be safer to do nothing at all. But with every minute that passed their inevitable meeting at the airport loomed larger in her mind.

Six

On Tuesday Morrin and Sam arrived at the airport early, but Gareth still hadn’t arrived when they were called into the departure lounge.

“
Perhaps he had trouble getting down from Yorkshire in this bad weather,” Sam fretted as he brought a drink for himself and a tomato juice for Morrin to the table where she sat. She herself had begun to hope against hope that Gareth wouldn’t arrive in time for the flight, but she couldn’t let herself relax until the plane was actually off the ground and she knew for sure that he had been left behind.

“
There’s nothing we can do about it,” she said casually. “If he’s too late, then he’s too…” The final word died on her lips as Sam, looking at the door behind her, broke into a broad grin. Turning, she saw a tall figure in blue denim jacket and trousers striding towards them.

“
Weather problems?” Sam wanted to know as Gareth arrived.

“
Woman problems.” Gareth tossed a travel bag on the floor and sank into a spare seat. “Not that I was in a hurry; I hate waiting around at airports.” The words reminded Morrin vividly of the times when she and Mrs Plover had had to urge him on if he was travelling anywhere. Gareth always waited until the last moment, and he had never to her knowledge missed a plane or a train.

As
Sam went to the bar to get a third drink Morrin picked up her bag. “I’ll just go and – ”

“
No you won’t,” Gareth said pleasantly. “You’ll just stay right here, honey-chile, and tell me what the hell you think you’re playing at.” He smiled at her as though she had just said something amusing.

“
We can’t talk here. Sam will be back in a moment!” she shot a glance at the bar, terrified in case Sam turned round and saw his assistant arguing with his precious author.

“
Good, then he’ll be in time to join in the laughter. Uh-oh… don’t tell me you haven’t let him in on your little joke? Your childish pretence that you and I have never met before?”

“
Gareth, please don’t say anything to him about that.”

“
So that’s it. You’re ashamed of me now that you’ve climbed up the ladder of success.”

“
Up was the only way to go!” she snapped back through a tight smile. A swift glance at the bar showed that Sam was looking away from them.

Gareth
tutted under his breath. “Nasty. And unkind. Being part of the theatrical world has warped your sweet nature, Morrin.” He leaned across the table towards her. “Now, about me being your shameful secret… it isn’t as though anything terrible happened to make you decide to blank out the whole thing. No mad wives in the attic that I can remember. So what can it be?” Then, his eyes widening with feigned astonishment, “It can’t be… surely it has nothing to do with that night we spent together?”

“
We did not spend a night together!”

“
Exactly, so why feel ashamed of it? To be honest, I’m a bit disappointed about that,” he went on thoughtfully. “Given that you left forever two days later it would have been nice for us both to have had something to remember. Although now that we’re flying off to an exotic island together it could still happen. What do you think?”

Sam
had picked up the drink and now he was turning from the bar, coming towards them. “Gareth, I’ll explain everything to you as soon as I can, I promise you that. In the meantime, please don’t say a word to Sam. Please?” She hated having to beg a favour from this man but she had no choice.

He
sat back, surveying her through cool, shuttered eyes, then said at last, “Very well, I’ll try not to blurt anything out at the wrong moment.”

“
What do you mean, you’ll try?”

His
mouth curved in a lazy smile, but his eyes were chips of ice. “I mean that you’re just going to have to trust me, aren’t you? You’ve cut your hair.”

“
What?” Startled by the abrupt change of subject she put a hand to her head.

“
It was a lot longer when we were… together.”

Sam
had almost reached them. “It was too long to manage properly,” she said briskly, sitting upright and trying to get as far away from Gareth as possible without actually shifting to another seat. His nearness bothered her. His body sent out waves of masculinity that seemed to ripple over her skin.

“
I preferred it long,” he murmured, then looked up with a bland smile as Sam arrived.

When
they boarded the plane Sam led Morrin to the middle seat of a row of three and took the aisle seat beside her. Gareth was seated across the aisle, beside two girls, young and pretty and obviously setting out on holiday together. They gaped when they looked up to see him towering above them.

“
It looks as though you’re going to be stuck with me for the entire journey,” Morrin heard him drawl before he slid into his place beside the delighted girls.

By
the time the plane had reached its cruising height, the area where Gareth sat had taken on a party atmosphere. His companions erupted in a crescendo of giggles almost every time he spoke to them, and the people in the seats before and behind him had become involved. Even the flight attendants made a point of lingering in his vicinity whenever they could.

Morrin
read, talked to Sam and tried to remain aloof from the merriment across the aisle. Occasionally, when she happened to glance over, she encountered an amused green sidelong look. Once he raised his glass to her in a mocking toast and she felt colour warm her face. She didn’t know how she was going to get through the next few days.

When
Sam left her side just before the plane began its descent to Tenerife, Gareth immediately excused himself to his besotted companions and moved to sit beside Morrin. “Enjoying the trip?”

She
turned a page of her magazine. “Yes, thank you. I don’t have to ask you the same question.”

“
Nice girls. It’s their first holiday abroad. They’re spending a week in Puerto de la Cruz.”

“
They certainly seem to have made up for your skiing friend’s absence.”

“
Well, you know what they say.” He turned in his seat to study her. “Any port in a storm.”

She
was wearing a perfectly respectable dark brown velvet skirt and matching jacket over a white vee-necked blouse and yet as his eyes travelled over her she found herself putting down her magazine so that she could pull the jacket shut over her breasts. Annoyed with herself, she moved her hands to her lap.

“
I didn’t think Alison – that was her name, wasn’t it? – would have allowed you to come to Tenerife.”

“
She didn’t have any say in the matter. Besides, I’ll be back in time for Austria. And I’ve promised her a week in Paris over Easter if we miss out on the skiing trip.” He slid a sidelong glance at her. “She’s well worth waiting for.”

I
’ll just bet she is, Morrin thought savagely. Aloud, she asked, “Gareth, why are you coming to Tenerife? Why did you change your mind?”

His
eyebrows rose. The green eyes beneath them were wide, innocent. “Because your… your boss” – he deliberately hesitated over the word – “made me a good offer. Because I’m curious to find out if
Charlotte
Dreaming
would really adapt into a play. Because I want to know what happened to make you run away from Yorkshire.”

“
Not here. Not when Sam might come back at any minute.”

“
Very well, we’ll have plenty of chances to be alone together in Tenerife. For now, you can tell me about Vicki Queen. What’s she like as an actress, as a person… as a woman?”

“
The last two are the same thing, surely.”

“
Not to a man,” Gareth drawled with maddening chauvinism. She opened her mouth to argue hotly as Sam appeared in the aisle. He glanced swiftly at Gareth, who had fastened the seat belt when he sat down, then shrugged, winked at Morrin – a wink that said clearly, ‘Humour this man, we want him on our team’ – and went to join the two girls Gareth had deserted.

Gareth
hadn’t turned towards the aisle, though he must have seen Morrin’s gaze moving above his head when Sam arrived. Now the seat-belt sign flickered on and the plane’s nose began to tilt earthwards. Whether she liked it or not Morrin was stuck with Gareth for the rest of the trip.

“
Vicki Queen,” he reminded her patiently.

“
I’ve never met her. She and Sam were students together and he says she’s extremely talented. She gave up the stage when she married, and now that she’s divorced he thinks a new play would kick-start her career. Why don’t you ask him that question, since he knows more about her than I do?”

The
plane gave a sudden sharp lurch, then recovered itself. “Because Sam may be a businessman but he sees Vicki as a woman rather than an actress, and that clouds his vision.”

“
I doubt it.”

“
When he talked to me about her he was definitely a man talking about a woman. I’d say he reckons that she can play any part from Cleopatra to Mary Poppins and back again without having to stop for breath.”

“
Were you always as cynical as you are now?”

“
I don’t know – was I, when you knew me?” he challenged, then, when she said nothing, “I’m only cynical where my work is concerned. Otherwise I’m as weak and impressionable as the next man. Do you think I should do what your Sam wants, and write the stage play of my book?”

“
He is not my Sam, he is my employer… though I don’t suppose for a moment that you’ll believe that.”

The
plane lurched again and his shoulder came up hard against hers. As she turned, startled, she realised that his mouth was no more than an inch from hers.

“
Dear Morrin,” he said gently. “You’re quite right… I don’t believe a word of it.” Then, again, “Do you think I should write a stage play for him?”

“
I expect you’ll do what you think best,” she said at last, feebly.

“
But I want your opinion, Morrin. You know Sam Kennedy and you know me, probably more than most people do.”

“
Surely Alison knows you better than I ever could.”

“
Don’t be coy, dear,” he reprimanded. “Alison knows what I allow her to know, whereas you’ve worked with me. You’ve seen me in all my moods, you were there when things went wrong and when things went right. So answer my question, please.”

He
was right, she did know him well, and yet, like Alison and, she suspected, everyone else, she had never been allowed to know everything about him.

“
Sam knows his job very well, and when he says the book would adapt very well to the stage I believe him.”

“
That was Morrin the personal assistant talking. What does the real Morrin think?”

“
I think you should do what you want. It’s your book.”

He
laughed. “So you’re determined to stay on the fence. The thing is, could Vicki Queen play Charlotte? Even more important, could she
be
Charlotte?”

“
Gareth, I know nothing about Vicki Queen, and I’ve only glanced through the book.”

Her
attempt to snub him failed. “Now that you’ve done so well for yourself in the theatrical world,” he said mildly, “I can appreciate that my type of work is too lowbrow for you.”

She
looked at him sharply but he gazed back at her with innocent eyes. The plane seemed to lift for a second before slamming back down again, and she gasped and caught at the arms of her seat.

“
It’s going to be a bumpy landing,” Gareth said happily. “Look at the cloud out there.”

As
they descended through layer upon layer of thick white cloud the plane seemed to Morrin to be plunging too steeply, bumping and jolting as it went. The other passengers had fallen into a tense silence and Morrin’s fingers had begun to ache with the intensity of her grip on the padded arms.

“
It’s just like a bobsleigh run,” she heard Gareth say in her ear, “only we can’t see ahead. Once when I was the front man in a bobsleigh team the sleigh was taking the bends like a bird, and – ”

Morrin
dragged her gaze from the window and tried to fix it on something that wasn’t moving about. “Gareth, do you mind?” she said through gritted teeth.

“
What’s worrying you?” A warm hand covered hers, held it firmly. “Relax, you’re with me and I’m not going to let anything bad happen to either of us. It’s just a bit of cloud, that’s all. Nice white fluffy cloud.”

Concrete
cloud, Morrin thought. She wanted to jump to her feet and announce at the top of her voice that she had had enough and she was getting off now, thank you. But there was nowhere to go to. Without fully realising what she was doing she turned her hand beneath Gareth’s so that her fingers curled round his. Then her free hand inched across her lap towards him and he took hold of it, his grip steadying her and drawing her back from the verge of panic.