The Affair (19 page)

Amanda took his hand and placed it around another glass. Round, clean, light. A touch of grapefruit. The current vintage semillon by Wilde Wines.

Amanda had tied the blindfold securely and no light seeped through to James’s world. He found himself straining to follow her movements, listening to the bottles being uncorked, the wine poured and anticipating her touch. They moved down the row, James savouring generous amounts of each of the six wines before finishing the glass. Amanda made notes of each selection.

Next, it was Amanda’s turn. James untied the blindfold and moved behind her, tying the scarf securely. She made her selections as James recorded them on a pad.

They finished the whites, emptying each glass into their mouths and then moved onto the reds. By the fourth glass, James was laughing and dribbling so much Amanda had to help him find his mouth, placing the glass against his lips and pouring. They both started to giggle uncontrollably. Wine dripped down James’s chin. Groping around for a cloth he struck Amanda in the chest and knocked the wine out of her hand, spilling its contents all over his shirt.

Laughing and half falling off the chair, Amanda pulled the shirt over his head, flinging it across the counter. James finished the row of reds. His motor coordination started to falter and he fumbled clumsily as he attempted to retie the blindfold behind her head.

Amanda waited in darkness for James to pour the first red. He was giggling so much he kept missing the glass. Then, ignoring her hands, he put the glass straight to her lips. Amanda was renowned
for her love of a good red. She swilled the wine around in her mouth, enjoying every texture and sensation. She groaned with appreciation.

‘You started with the 1986 Shiraz, my favourite.’ She rolled her tongue slowly over her lips, savouring every last drop.

It was the most incredibly erotic thing James thought he had ever seen. Soon Amanda complained of being hot and peeled off her skimpy T-shirt, tossing it aside. She sat in just her shorts and lacey white bra.

‘Where are you, I can’t see you,’ she called out.

James poked her in the ribs and jumped aside as she tried to grab his hand. Sweat gave her tanned skin a sheen. She was laughing so much she dribbled the next glass down her cleavage. James couldn’t take his eyes off her breasts as the red wine dribbled across the white lace, spreading like a stain and falling into the deep cleft. It seemed incredibly lewd to James to be able to sit and stare all he wanted at Amanda’s breasts. He watched them move as she breathed, jiggling in time with her giggling.

James found this notion highly amusing – jiggling from the giggling. Amanda wanted to know why he was laughing. As she spoke they jiggled more. James was laughing so hard he couldn’t speak. Amanda reached out to him in the darkness and her hand brushed his bare chest. It was wet with wine and sweat. At her touch James abruptly stopped laughing.

Amanda started to move both her hands over him, feeling him like a blind man would. Her fingers
caressed his bare waist. James held his breath. He enjoyed the sensations, closing his eyes and focussing on the feel of her cool fingers running over his hot, naked torso. Amanda climbed onto James’s lap and finding his mouth, started to kiss him.

They fell over each other lustily. Sweaty, wine soaked, hot and panting. James tore off what was left of his own and Amanda’s clothes then hoisted her onto the counter. Amanda pushed her feet against an upturned barrel and they thrust against each other. Hard and urgent.

It was all over in a matter of minutes.

They dressed clumsily, still laughing.

James went into the back room and put his head under the tap, splashing cold water over his neck and face. Amanda came in and stood behind him, running her hands over his buttocks, spooning herself around his bent body. They swayed like that for a moment but the heat of the back room quickly became oppressive.

James started to sober up and went inside the house and up to his room to fetch a clean T-shirt. He had forgotten what he was looking for when he got there and lay for a moment on the bed. He didn’t mean to leave Amanda with the mess to clean up but he fell asleep for some hours and when he woke up everything was in darkness. Amanda was nowhere to be seen.

The next day James went to see Felix in town and tell him he couldn’t become a Lloyd’s name. A week later he was on a plane with him to London. Three months after that he received a letter in
Whistler from his mother, telling him Mark was getting married, to that nice girl Amanda who he might remember. She worked on door sales.

James didn’t bother going home for the wedding but sent a telegram wishing the happy couple a successful future.

He hadn’t seen Amanda again until four years later, when he stood in the family lounge room introducing his bride Nina to his brother and sister-in-law.

Leo noticed a mark on his shoulder. It was an ugly blue bruise with a tinge of yellow around the edge. It didn’t look so new. Leo wondered when he had hurt himself. His body was a mass of scars and bumps from sailing mishaps. He thought of his last race. He couldn’t remember falling over or being hit by anything. Then it came to him. Nina biting him, playfully at first, then, no longer aware what she was doing, she had sunk her teeth in and hung on. Leo smiled to think of it. They had a date this Saturday. He wanted it to be special. He looked about his bachelor penthouse. It didn’t look right. He needed to go shopping.

Felix was already chatting with Frederick on the verandah when Nina and James returned from the hospital.

James had been expecting him but still he was nervous at the sight of his friend standing beside his father. He knew he was in for a long and uncomfortable discussion about what had happened with Lloyd’s. There were some issues that would only be discussed away from Felix, personal issues including why James had gone against his father’s express wishes and gambled with the family’s financial future. That was a conversation James knew they would have privately.

As far as Frederick was concerned, Felix was here to talk about Lloyd’s, not become involved in Wilde family business. Nina placed a bottle of wine and three glasses on the outdoor table, then with a little smile of reassurance to James, discreetly withdrew.

‘Tell me about Lloyd’s.’ Frederick directed the remark to Felix.

Felix cleared his throat and began. First, he explained about the unprecedented losses, the syndicates that were being called in and where James fitted into the scenario. When Felix got to the part about James agreeing to unlimited liability, Frederick shot his son a withering glance, but said nothing. Frederick sat very still, allowing Felix to paint the full picture without interruption. James also remained quiet, watching and listening and finding it impossible to know what his father was thinking. Felix outlined the settlement they had
been offered by Lloyd’s lawyers, whereby they could quarantine their loss. If they could pay that sum, that would be the end of it. If not, they would come after the winery.

Frederick closed his eyes for a moment and scratched his head. ‘It is that bad then,’ he said quietly. He looked out across his vineyard, the rows and rows of neatly planted vines that stretched as far as the eye could see in the east and across to the waterwheel in the west.

‘When Patty and I first saw this place it was an old dairy farm. We knew it would be a lot of work but we were young and determined. We used to stand over where the Jacob Leesing vine is planted and plan where we would put everything. We wanted the house to overlook the vines so we could watch them grow. One thousand acres. That’s 400 hectares planted with world-class grape-producing vines.’ He stopped and sighed, his eyes watery. He suddenly looked very old. ‘I know every single grain of this soil, every leaf on these vines. What you are telling me is … it’s … I …’ His voice trailed off.

James felt the saddest he had ever felt in his life. There was nothing he could say.

‘We’re finished,’ said Frederick Wilde at last. ‘What do I tell her? What do I tell Patty?’

James put his hand out to his father and touched him gingerly on the knee. ‘Dad, I …’

Frederick recoiled. ‘Don’t say a word. Nothing.’ His voice was harsh and James winced as if struck.

Felix spoke again. ‘I think you may have two other alternatives.’

Frederick continued to stare out at the vineyards. ‘Go on.’

‘You could refuse to pay. You could join the groups that are fighting Lloyd’s. There is a chance they may win. I don’t know. I have my doubts. But even if you lost, it could take years before they were in a position to make you pay. That may give you breathing space to come up with the money to pay James’s debt, without it hurting the business.’

‘Mmmmm …’ said Frederick.

‘Or there is another possibility.’ Felix hesitated. ‘I may have a client who is interested in investing in Wilde Wines. He has a few spare million. He could pay out Lloyd’s, plus any other loans you may have – and I assume you probably have a few. I’m sure you would also have ideas on how best to utilise an injection of cash, which could also be a possibility.

‘In effect he would become a silent partner in your business. He has no interest in running a vineyard himself and not the faintest idea about how the business operates. He is an old schoolmate who has also been caught up in the Lloyd’s fiasco and would be most sympathetic to your predicament. I think I can see a way to rearrange some of his finances and make investing in your vineyard work for him too. He has money to spend and I look out for business opportunities for him. Like many financial analysts, I happen to believe that the Australian wine industry is worth investing in.’

Frederick looked through narrowed eyes at Felix. He was surprised by the suggestion and more than a little bemused. ‘Without seeing our books, this client of yours would like to invest millions in my business?’

Frederick didn’t miss a trick. He was surprised that Felix seemed to know so much about his business. He shot another scornful glance at James. He shook his head, then turned back to Felix. ‘My son, who is obviously as indiscreet as he is stupid, has informed you of all our business affairs and, knowing all that, this client of yours would like to take over the business and I could work for him. Is that it?’

‘No, sir. We would put in place a company structure that protected his investment while maintaining your authority and autonomy. You would be partners but on paper only. His only job, if you like, would be to supply the finance. Of course, he would want a return on that finance but he does recognise that this would be a long-term investment with limited short-term returns.

‘As I said, he has no interest in becoming involved in your business. He would want a representative, namely myself, who would be involved in all financial decisions. If you needed to buy new equipment, try new varieties, whatever, that would of course be up to you. If you wanted to pursue a course that involved major outlay of capital, say marketing overseas, new production facilities or extra land, then I would need to be involved on his behalf.’

Frederick looked like a man at war with himself.
His brow was furrowed. His eyes darted around the verandah, not taking anything in. He was thinking quickly, weighing up his options. Finally he sighed. ‘Keep talking, boy.’

Felix stayed on for dinner. It was a subdued meal, but for the first time since Patty had taken ill Frederick dined with them in the kitchen rather than in his office. He spoke only to Felix, remembering as an afterthought to thank Nina for preparing dinner. He avoided James completely. As soon as dinner was over he drove back to the hospital.

James and Felix sat out on the verandah. The tension of the past few hours, plus the alcohol, left James feeling light-headed. His relief was enormous. Frederick hadn’t committed himself to anything but both Felix and James knew he was interested. For the first time in weeks James allowed himself a glimmer of hope.

‘God, Felix, I hope this works out. I can’t believe you managed to set this up.’

‘No big deal. It’s what I do. I manage rich people’s money. People who need venture capital to start up a company come to me and if, after looking into their business, I think it sounds promising, I put them in touch with a client who has money to invest. Such investments obviously carry a great deal of risk but the returns are also much greater. Your business, though you may not realise it, is actually a very good opportunity for the right investor.’

‘You are a man of many talents, Felix.’

Nina appeared with two mugs of coffee. ‘You look much happier, both of you. I take it that the meeting with Frederick went well.’

James wrapped his arms around Nina’s waist. ‘How could he help but be relaxed after that superb meal.’

He tickled her waist and Nina laughed with surprise. James hadn’t been this amiable for so long.

‘Felix has a client who may be interested in buying out all our debt.’

‘Really? That’s wonderful. Well done, Felix.’

Nina felt instinctively that everything was going to be all right. Patty would recover. Felix would find a way to save the winery. And she and James would work it out.

She leaned down and kissed James on the forehead. ‘Everything is going to be okay then,’ she said softly.

He smiled into her eyes. ‘Yeah.’

Nina extricated herself from James and disappeared into the kitchen for the milk.

The earth seemed still but was filled with the sounds of the night. Cicadas and crickets beat out their shrill song. James drank in the familiar sounds. He felt the calmness spread down through his limbs.

‘Whose dumb idea was it to become a Lloyd’s name anyway?’ he said.

‘Beats me,’ said Felix. ‘Must have been that Count Mauro de March.’

At mention of the name, both James and Felix burst out laughing.

Nina, standing on the other side of the flyscreen door, froze.

The two men chuckled to each other.

‘It’s a long time since I have heard that name.’

‘The evil Count Mauro de March,’ said Felix. He sounded out the name, rolling it around in a pseudo-Italian accent, which for Nina was shockingly familiar.

She felt sick to her stomach. Her hand on the door dropped away and she was suddenly very faint. She crouched down behind the door, out of view, till the feeling passed. He knows. He must know. How the hell does he know? What could he know?

Nina was suddenly back in a steamy taxi on a wet Friday night hearing that name for the first time. What had Leo said? He was Count Mauro de March, heir to an Italian coffee empire. He had been joking. So how did James and Felix know about Count Mauro de March? This made no sense.

The optimism Nina had felt vanished in an instant. Instead she felt a terrible foreboding. Had she thought she would get away with what she had done? She would pay. You always had to pay. It was the natural order of things.

‘Were you ever the count?’ asked James.

‘Yeah, a couple of times. It never worked for me. What about you?’

‘I tried it but no, it never worked for me either,’ laughed James.

‘It worked for Flat Freddy, you know,’ said Felix.

‘Yeah?’

‘Yeah. He and his mates were at a pub in Adelaide after the Grand Prix. He reckoned he was an Italian racing car driver.’

‘Yeah?’

‘Well, that’s the story. Flat Freddy kept ordering lots of campari for some local signorina and bingo, she thought she was going home to see mama.’

Nina listened to the ribald laughter that ensued. What the hell were they talking about? She walked hesitantly onto the verandah.

James changed the subject as soon as she appeared and they talked of other things. He seemed as warm towards her as before but Nina was sure she hadn’t imagined the sudden switch in the conversation at her appearance. The feeling of foreboding persisted. It cast a pall over the rest of the evening for Nina. She found it impossible to join in with the laughter and jokes. Eventually her face ached from the effort of pretending to be jolly when she didn’t feel it. She felt as if her world was about to come tumbling down. Her treachery and deceit were about to be uncovered and her flyblown heart laid bare in all its putridity for the rest of the world to see. She felt shamed. She wondered if, unbeknown to her, the exposure had already begun.

Frederick came home. He looked happier than he had in days.

‘She’s looking good,’ he said with a grin. ‘She’s getting back to her old self. She told me off for not
bringing you in to visit her, Felix. And asked after your parents. Perhaps tomorrow, after we’ve looked at the books, you may like to pop your head in before you head back to town.’

‘I’d like that, sir, if Mrs Wilde is up to it.’

‘Good. Well, I’ll turn in. That was a good dinner you cooked, Nina. Thank you. Patty was pleased to know you were looking after me.’

Frederick inclined his head towards James, without looking him in the eye, then turned to go back inside.

‘Goodnight, sir,’ said James quietly.

‘Yes, well, goodnight all,’ said Frederick, throwing his words over his shoulder.

James looked crestfallen.

‘Give it time,’ said Felix when Frederick was out of earshot.

‘Yeah, sure,’ said James. ‘It’s not like I crashed the family car. It’s a bit worse than that.’

Frederick’s appearance dampened the boys’ high spirits and they agreed to call it a night.

Once they were alone in their room Nina was edgy and unable to relax. While James prepared for bed she roamed around the room, looking at things on the shelf, peering at the faces of the schoolboys on the wall. One photo showed James sitting next to a boy who looked remarkably like Leo. He had that same lopsided grin and big baggy shorts. Nina was imagining him everywhere. She had to shake herself out of this.

‘Who is Count Mauro de March?’ she suddenly blurted.

James looked sheepish.

‘Oh, you heard that? Whoops.’ He hesitated.

Nina braced herself.

‘It’s the name we used to impress girls when we were at school. We made him up. The exotic rich European count who could be anyone you wanted him to be – a racing car driver, European royalty, French movie star. It was just harmless fun when we were trying to impress the girls to get them into bed.’

Nina’s mind worked furiously. What
was
he talking about?

‘It never worked for me,’ said James.

Nina continued to stare blankly at him. Her mind, awash with incriminating pictures a minute ago, was having trouble making sense of what he was telling her.

‘So who would use the name Count whatsisname?’

‘Well, anyone could. We didn’t designate who could use it before we went out. It just sort of happened.’

‘Who’s we?’

‘The guys at school.’

‘They all had access to this name?’

James laughed. ‘Well, it wasn’t like that. No-one had copyright on it or anything. I don’t remember who originally came up with the name. I wonder if Felix would remember. But why do you ask?’