Gold Diggers (46 page)

‘We need to talk about it, Adam. When better?’

‘Look,’ he said finally. ‘And this has nothing to do with my respect for you or the hopes I have for our marriage, but I have got to safeguard my position. I’ve seen too many men screwed over, companies ruined.’

‘Don’t talk about companies ruined, Adam, bearing in mind your little conversation earlier with Jonathan. If someone blew the whistle to the FSA about what you’ve been up to, I think you’d be in serious trouble.’

Adam shrugged. He had faced far more ruthless negotiators than Karin and come off the victor. ‘You have no proof whatsoever,’ he said.

‘Oh, the FSA can be very thorough in their investigations. Haven’t you just put a call in to your broker to buy twenty-seven thousand shares in Ginsui. That will leave a trail.’

Adam raised his eyebrows and nodded. ‘Look, when we get back home I will call my lawyer in New York. I will talk to Marcus and we can work something out, Karin. I want a pre-nup. I need a pre-nup, but that doesn’t mean I want to shaft you over either. They can work two ways, and I will be more than accommodating.’

‘I don’t want a pre-nup.’

‘So what do you want?’ he said, lifting an eyebrow.

‘I want a share in the company.’

‘I don’t own all the shares in the company.’

‘So? Adam, transfer some of your shares over to me. You have enough of them, for heaven’s sake. I need to safeguard
my position. Particularly as what I know puts me in a very uncomfortable position.’

‘Are you trying to blackmail me?’

Karin put her hands on her hips, her robe falling open. ‘Adam. This is not blackmail, it’s self-preservation. You would do the same. But don’t forget …’ She slipped her robe off completely and stood at the end of the bed, unhooking her bra and peeling off her panties slowly.

‘Don’t forget what?’ said Adam, unable to tear his eyes away from her body.

‘That so long as we’re together and happy, we are on the same side,’ she whispered, crawling onto the bed, naked except for her heels, ready to finish what she’d started earlier.

At eight in the morning, when all of the guests were still asleep in their Baroque fantasy bedrooms, Summer was up, dressed, packed, and ready to go, dressed in a pair of jeans, a white T-shirt and some Tod’s loafers she always wore for travelling. The kitchen had sent blueberry pancakes up to her bedroom and, twenty minutes later, Federico, Adam’s kindly Italian butler, tapped on her door to tell her that her car had arrived to take her to Milan.

She had a room booked for that night at the 3 Rooms, the tiny boutique hotel favoured by the fashion crowd, and had already called ahead to see if she could have an early check-in. She wasn’t due in Milan until that evening, but Summer couldn’t have left the palazzo soon enough. She hadn’t been able to sleep all night. Every time she had closed her eyes she had seen a vision of Adam in the Rose Garden, dismissing her pregnancy as if he was talking about yesterday’s news. After writing a note to Molly, she stuffed it quickly under her bedroom door and waited impatiently on the front steps of the palazzo while the driver put her case into the boot of the car. She was just about to climb into the back seat of the Mercedes when she heard the
sound of footsteps in the entrance hall. With a sinking feeling in her stomach, she turned round. She could see Karin standing behind her, her arms folded across her chest, cream silk dressing gown tightly wrapped around her.

‘What are you doing, sneaking away at the crack of dawn?’ she smiled, a little crease of suspicion between her eyebrows.

Summer could feel herself blush and cursed inwardly. ‘I have a job in Milan. Thought I’d better set off before the party gets going again and I don’t want to leave.’

Karin didn’t reply; she seemed to be staring straight past Summer. Summer reached up and fingered the delicate chain of the necklace that Adam had given her nervously. Suddenly she had the strange thought that the pendant was what Karin was staring at. But that was just paranoid, wasn’t it? There was no way she could know the little teardrop was from Adam, was there?

Karin flashed her a big smile, but Summer could see that her eyes looked dead. As she moved to embrace her goodbye, Summer could feel Karin’s thin fingers press hard into her shoulders.

‘It was such a pleasure to see you,’ said Karin. ‘I really appreciate you making the effort to come, especially when you hardly know Adam.’

They locked eyes and Summer had to look away, such was the intensity of Karin’s stare. Summer clambered into the Mercedes and stared straight ahead as she ordered the driver south to Milan.

‘I can’t believe Summer has left already,’ grumbled Molly, sitting on her balcony and reading the message her daughter had pushed under her door. Marcus looked up from his newspaper and took the glass of fresh, sweet orange juice off his breakfast tray.

‘I thought she had a job in Milan?’

‘Not until tomorrow. I can’t imagine why she wouldn’t want to hang around the house’.

Marcus lifted an eyebrow at the casual way Molly had said ‘house,’ as if she was talking about a three-bedroom semi in London, not a magnificent, twenty-bedroom palazzo.

‘She’s a big girl,’ smiled Marcus, wondering why his girlfriend seemed so agitated. ‘Anyway, there’s not much happening today. I think there’s a boat going over to Bellagio, if you fancy it.’

Molly pulled her sunglasses down over her eyes dramatically. ‘It was a big night yesterday, baby, I’m not sure I can face bobbing on any water today. I might just hang about the pool.’

The truth was, Molly wanted time alone to fume. How dare Summer just swan off and leave the party? Hadn’t she warned her that this was her last opportunity to close the deal with Adam? After this weekend, Karin’s claws would be well and truly into him. She had already heard her boasting about how she was moving into Adam’s home as soon as they got back to London. Molly refused to believe that Adam was off the market until he was walking down the aisle but, with Karin Cavendish shacked up in his Knightsbridge duplex, any manoeuvres were going to be far more difficult. She knew she should have gone after Adam herself rather than hand him to Summer on a plate. Summer lacked the killer instinct required to land a man like Adam Gold.
She, on the other hand …

Karin lay back on the sun-lounger by the pool and accepted a copy of Italian
Vogue
from Christina, who had grown weary of looking at the pictures and instead was now peering through a pair of opera glasses at the villa’s Riva boat putting across the lake.

‘Diana is so antisocial sometimes,’ said Christina, squinting
at the bright sun glinting off the water. ‘Why on earth did she want to go on that Bellagio trip instead of making wedding plans with us?’

She rolled over to look at Karin. ‘I mean, there’s so much to discuss. Who’s going to do your wedding dress? And I insist you have a trousseau. I suggest maybe ten or twelve couture pieces by Lacroix.’

‘I don’t think Diana’s in the mood to talk about weddings,’ said Karin, flicking through the magazine to see if she could see any Karenza credits. ‘I asked why Martin wasn’t here this weekend and she burst into tears and said she hadn’t invited him.’

‘Well, at least she finally showed some backbone,’ said Karin.

‘Although that has to mean the marriage is in trouble.’

Christina shrugged. ‘Maybe so, but she can’t go leaving him now. Twelve months of marriage? She’ll get next to nothing in a settlement. She has to hang in there at least three years, or have a baby.’

‘But that’s the problem,’ said Karin, sipping her peach iced tea.

‘Anyway, back to the happy day,’ said Christina, tiring of Diana’s problems. ‘May I ask if you’ve discussed a pre-nup? If he’s insisting on one, I have a great lawyer that can make it work for you.’

Karin smiled. ‘We discussed it briefly, yesterday. And it’s sent him into a sulk.’

She and Adam had hardly spoken all day. They had had incredible sex the night before – one of Karin’s heels had gone though a Lalique bedside lamp when things were getting particularly frisky, but in the cold light of day, she could tell that he was brooding about her demands for a share in the company. She felt he was being ridiculous. They only had to look at Diana and Christina to know how precarious the
institution of marriage could be. Surely he could understand her wanting to safeguard her position, especially given his cavalier attitude to fidelity.

Karin squeezed her nails into her palm.
Summer Sinclair
. Ever since she’d discovered that
she
was the one Adam had been messing around with, Karin had taken it on the chin, vowing to deal with it as soon as the celebrations were over and she was back in London. But what had unsettled her the most was not that Adam was obvious enough to pick someone as flagrantly beautiful as Summer, but that he was arrogant enough to think he would not be found out.

She pulled her sunglasses over her face and shut her eyes, wanting to think. There was a right way to handle this situation, to manipulate Adam into getting exactly what she wanted; she just had to think about what it was. And when she did, Adam would regret the moment he had laid eyes on Summer Sinclair.

Molly was drunk. And high. Coke in the afternoon never agreed with her, but, she needed a little pick-me-up to get through the day.

Marcus had gone into Bellagio with about ten others. There were masseurs on call by the pool who were pummelling guests and, as the sun sank in the sky, sunbathing became a bit redundant. Molly was a little bored and restless. She’d flicked through a Jackie Collins novel and painted her nails hot pink, lost in thought. She decided to take a walk in the grounds, and pulled a short, sheer kaftan over her bikini top before she set off to explore, wondering how she could get Marcus to invest in a property of this size.

The grounds were vast, and it took Molly over half an hour to walk round the perimeter. In a far corner of the grounds, looking down over the palazzo, was a small marble temple almost obscured by a line of cypress trees.
She was alone out here; somehow the birds seemed louder, the air more sweetly fragrant with the scent of frangipani and lilies. She was about to turn to leave when she saw a solitary figure sitting on the little marble bench reading a book. It was Adam, dressed in a pair of shorts, a thin cashmere sweater and some deck shoes. There was a bottle of red wine beside him that Molly noticed was almost empty. She almost shuddered at the perfect serendipity of the moment.

‘So you’ve found my little hiding place.’ He put down his book and poured what was left of the bottle into a goblet that was sitting on the floor.

‘I didn’t think I’d find anyone out here.’

‘Well, if you don’t mind sharing a glass, this is an excellent wine.’ Molly read the label. Petrus.

‘Ooh, my favourite,’ she smiled, taking the glass from him and sitting down on the bench opposite him, the cold pinching the back of her thighs.

‘Feeling antisocial?’ she asked, raising the glass to her lips. He shrugged.

‘I know how you feel,’ added Molly.

‘I thought you never felt antisocial,’ said Adam, knocking back the contents of his goblet.

‘You’d be surprised,’ said Molly coquettishly.

Molly noted with excitement that Adam was drunk, and his mouth had a little downward turn as if he was anxious.

‘Weekend parties always seem like a good idea at the time …’ he said slowly.

‘But by Sunday afternoon you just want to tell everyone to bugger off?’ laughed Molly.

The temple was small and confined. They were only three feet apart, but the enclosed space made it seem even closer. When they didn’t speak, she could hear the sound of their breathing.

Adam shrugged, not sharing the smile, and drowned the last of his wine.

‘Shouldn’t you be with Marcus?’

‘We’re not joined at the hip,’ she said.

For the first time she saw him approach something resembling a smile. He held up his glass as if he was examining it. ‘Do you know what I like about you, Molly? You think like a man.’

‘Is that supposed to be a compliment?’

Adam nodded. ‘What you see is what you get. Me and you are similar creatures. We’re straightforward. Maybe even selfish, but at least we’re honest. What I can’t stand is women who pretend to be one thing and then try to fuck you over.’ His mouth was in a tight line, his voice aggressive, eyes staring forward, cold and hard.

Molly felt a smile pulling at her lips.
He has obviously had a fight with Karin.
She felt dizzy with glee. She knew now was her moment to strike.

‘Maybe you’re just choosing the wrong women.’

He lowered his voice so she could hardly hear him. ‘Maybe.’

She moved across the marble bench so she was sitting right next to him. She pulled the empty glass from his hand, finger by finger, and ever so slightly ran the tip of her tongue over her lips.

‘Come on. Let’s get back to the party,’ she whispered. She could tell by the way he was looking at her that he had no intention of going. ‘Not unless you want to stay here,’ she added softly, resting her fingers on the line of his shorts. She ran her other hand down the stubble of his cheek and he caught it and pulled her fingertips into his mouth.

‘Adam, don’t,’ she whispered, willing him with every bone in her body to continue.

He pulled her towards him and her foot knocked the
bottle to the floor with a hollow clatter. They stood up together and began pulling at each other’s clothes, urgently. Molly’s kaftan came over her head in one swift movement, and he unclasped her bikini top with one hand, so her small, brown nipples jumped out in his face. He pinned her against the temple walls, her arms over her head, her skin smarting as it hit the ice-cold marble, while the fingers on his other hand pushed her bikini briefs to one side. She moved her feet apart to widen her legs, moaning as his fingers slid into her. Adam’s lips slid down her neck to take a hard nipple in his mouth. They didn’t speak, just grunts and gasps. He fumbled to pull down his boxer shorts and pulled at the strings of Molly’s bikini briefs so they fell to the floor.

His cock was hard. His fingers pushed roughly back into her, feeling her wetness, while his hand guided his cock inside her. His body pressed against her, pushing her harder against the marble wall. It didn’t feel so cold now. Molly clasped behind him, digging her nails into his buttocks until he cried out.

He thrust into her with such force that her head banged on the marble. She glanced at his face and saw his eyes closed, his teeth biting into his lip. It was raw, urgent and, for Molly, disappointingly quick. He withdrew his cock just before he came, his hot juice spilling onto her thigh.

‘Fuck,’ he grimaced through clenched teeth. No emotion. It wasn’t sex with a new lover; the start of something, a promise. It was hard and cruel, a fuck against women. It was a beginning and an end.

He raked his hand through his hair and looked up at her, his eyes glassy, and reached for his sweater. ‘We probably should both keep that quiet,’ he mumbled.

Molly nodded, her stomach churning with disappointment.

They gathered up their clothes and got dressed in silence, but outside, Karin Cavendish had heard everything.

Karin sped away from the temple in a hot fury. An affair with Summer Sinclair was one thing; if Adam was going to be unfaithful, then at least silly impressionable models were never going to be a long-term threat. But to have sex with Molly
at their engagement party
? It beggared belief. Putting aside the complete lack of respect on Adam’s part – it was Molly!
Molly Sinclair!
And Molly was a far more dangerous prospect because she knew how to play the game. Molly was not a pretty lovesick puppy like Summer, who would dote on Adam’s every word, gaining his affection but not his respect. Molly was an operator. Karin had witnessed first hand over the last six months how Molly was able to manipulate men. But could Adam see that? Men were notoriously blind to the obvious flaws that a woman could see. Did Adam see a tramp who’d be up for a quick shag in the bushes in the desperate hope that he would fall in love? Or did he see a former top model, about his own age, with a steely, independent core that Karin knew he found attractive? Well, she wasn’t going to take any chances. It was time to fight back.