Lost Innocence (17 page)

Sensing herself being outmanoeuvred, and not liking it too much, Alicia said, ‘Actually, it’s in the phone I’m speaking on, so I’ll have to ring off and call you back.’

‘That’s cool,’ Annabelle chirped. ‘I’ll wait to hear from you. Oh, and by the way, I think what you’re doing in the shop is fantastic. It’s just what Holly Wood needs, something upscale and arty. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.’

After thanking her smoothly Alicia rang off, sensing the offer was more about irritating her mother than about actually lending a hand, which was fine just as long as Alicia herself didn’t get dragged into the fray.

It wasn’t until she reached the end of the street that the blindingly obvious way to put Annabelle off finally occurred to her, and with a smile that would have made Nat laugh if he’d seen it, she took out her mobile again.

At her end Annabelle was sprawled out on Georgie’s bed in a skimpy vest and boy boxers, admiring her legs as Georgie prattled on about whether she should ask for a membership for the Cowshed gym at Babington for her seventeenth birthday, when it came round next March.

‘This’ll be her,’ Annabelle interrupted, clicking on her phone as it bleeped with a text.

Her smile was smug and sleepy until she read Alicia’s message:
Have passed your number to Nat so he can call you. Ax

Annabelle’s eyes sparked with frustration as her pretty mouth tightened. ‘Shit!’ she muttered.

‘What?’ Georgie prompted.

‘She’s only getting him to call me, and we both know the ginger’s bound to stop him.’

Georgie smirked. ‘It’s really bugging you, isn’t it, that he didn’t seem interested?’

‘You are so wrong about that, because I know he is. I’ve told you about the things we used to do when our parents thought we were playing draughts in the bedroom. He was practically my first.’

‘Yeah right, when you were eleven.’

‘Twelve and fourteen, actually. We felt each other up and snogged and I even went down on him a couple of times.’

‘Yeah, really. In your dreams.’

‘No, not in my dreams. And he’s definitely interested, he just didn’t want to let it show in front of the ginge – and if you ask me, his stupid mother’s trying to keep us apart because of her feud with the she-devil.’

‘Yeah, what’s that all about?’ Georgie asked, holding up her nails for inspection.

Annabelle’s eyes narrowed as she recalled what she’d overheard on Saturday morning. Wild. However, she didn’t want to get into it now, so she simply said, ‘Who knows? Who cares? I’m only interested in getting Nat to Theo’s party on Saturday night.’

Georgie yawned and rolled on to her front as Annabelle went to open a window. ‘Are you going to tell him what kind of party it is?’ she asked. ‘I mean, if you ever get to speak to him.’

Annabelle shrugged and stood looking down the morning-misted valley in the direction of Holly Wood. ‘Dunno. I’ll decide that when I put plan B into action.’

‘What’s plan B?’

When Annabelle turned round she had the kind of danger in her eyes that invariably made Georgie’s heart trip with excitement. ‘You’ll find out soon enough,’ Annabelle murmured, and returning to the bed she flopped
down on her back, revelling in the thought of what was to come.

Alicia was so engrossed in scraping and washing down walls ready for Nat to paint that she didn’t hear anyone entering the shop. She only knew Robert was there when she turned to go and refill her bucket and found him in the doorway, gazing around the old place.

‘Gosh, you made me jump,’ she scolded. ‘How long have you been there?’

‘A minute or less.’

As she watched him taking in the cracked and bubbled paint, bare light bulbs, dusty counter and empty racks, she knew what he was thinking even before he said, ‘God, this place takes me back.’ He was shaking his head in wonder. ‘Funny how it makes me think of us as kids, even though Mum was still running it right up to the time she fell ill.’

Alicia smiled. ‘I like to think she’s still here,’ she said, hoping he wouldn’t be embarrassed by the fancifulness.

He was still drifting in nostalgia. ‘It certainly feels as though she is,’ he stated. ‘She used to love this place, all the comings and goings, bags piled up so you could hardly move, waiting to be emptied, the treasures we used to find.’

‘Until we were teenagers when we wouldn’t be caught dead in the stuff,’ Alicia laughed.

He smiled, and for several minutes they wandered off down memory lane, recalling the games they used to invent with their friends, who were always invited around when a new donation came in. They’d played cowboys and Indians with moth-eaten headdresses and dented bowlers; devils and ghosts thanks to old black jackets and voluminous white shirts, or big fat people when huge knickers and underpants turned up. Once in a while something magical would fallout of a pocket, or reveal itself at the bottom of a handbag, like a chipped crystal necklace or a fob watch with no hands which Robert had used to power a very realistic toy rat, providing endless hours of fun. Or, on one dazzling occasion, a real diamond ring, which their mother had returned to the owner, who’d been so relieved to find it after believing it lost for so many years that
she’d donated fifty pounds to the shop, and given a ten-shilling note each to Robert and Alicia.

‘I’d forgotten that,’ Alicia laughed, ‘and Mum was too polite to explain that the notes weren’t in use any more.’

‘So Dad gave us fifty pence to make up for it.’

As they sighed and smiled, Alicia went to give him a hug. ‘So what are you doing here?’ she asked, carrying her bucket through to the sink. ‘Aren’t you off to Finland today?’

‘I’m leaving in half an hour, so I thought I’d pop over to find out how you’re doing. I’ve just left the Coach House, actually, where I had a little chat with Nat and his girlfriend.’

‘Really?’ she said, pleased. ‘So you found them up.’

‘Only just, by the look of them.’

‘How did he seem to you?’

‘Fine, but it wasn’t a good time to try to draw him out on anything. I’ve suggested we get together when I’m back, maybe go for a hike, or over to the county ground for the day. He seemed up for it.’

‘He would be if cricket’s involved.’

He smiled and watched her wringing out a sponge to start again. ‘Mum would be pleased to know you’re opening the place up,’ he told her.

Her eyes came to his. ‘Thank you for that,’ she said softly.

‘My offer still stands, if there’s anything I can do…I know, you don’t want to cause any problems, but if you find yourself running into difficulties…’

‘I’ll be sure to let you know,’ she said, certain she wouldn’t. Then, starting to rub down a wall she’d already scraped, ‘So, does Sabrina know you’re here?’

‘I told her I was going to drop in before I left,’ he replied. ‘Her magazine goes to print today, so she left the house about an hour ago.’

Surprised, Alicia said, ‘What magazine?’

‘Actually, it’s more of a newsletter, but you didn’t hear that from me. She and June Downey-Marsh started it up a year or so ago to serve the local communities. You know the kind of thing, updates from council meetings; neighbours in the news; what’s on; who’s doing what to whom. They get a bit of advertising from local businesses to help cover their costs. Sometimes they even make a profit.’

Alicia rinsed out her sponge. ‘How wonderful that she’s found an outlet for her journalistic talents,’ she muttered, trying not to sound sarcastic, and failing.

Robert slanted her a look.

She smiled sweetly. They both knew how Sabrina had always exaggerated the short time she’d spent working at the
Daily Mail
at least two decades ago, when, to hear her tell it, she’d been a star reporter about to be given her own column until she’d made the grandiose mistake of getting married. In reality she’d been a glorified secretary working for the sub-editors, and as far as anyone knew had never actually had anything in print, or certainly not under her own name. ‘So, remind me again how long you’re going to be away,’ she said, deciding to get off the subject of his wife.

‘Ten days, and I’d like your promise that war won’t have broken out by the time I get back.’

‘Ah,’ she said knowingly, ‘so that’s why you’re here.’

‘Only in part. I’m genuinely interested in what you’re doing with the shop, and I wanted to make contact with Nat before I left. How long do you think before you’re ready for business?’

‘I’m hoping it’ll be soon so I can try to entice in some summer traffic, but I’m probably being a tad ambitious.’

He didn’t disagree. ‘Once again, if you need any money…’

‘Once again, thank you.’

He regarded her closely, raising his eyebrows as though waiting for more.

Reading his mind, she said, ‘Ah, the promise – no war for the next ten days.’

‘I’d rather there was no war, full stop.’

‘Well, we’re on the same page there, so if it’ll give you peace of mind while you’re away, I promise that if anything happens, I won’t be the one to start it.’

A wry smile crept across his lips. ‘That’s more or less what Sabrina said,’ he told her, ‘so I’m going to hope that you both keep to your word and remember there’s absolutely nothing to be gained from carrying on this vendetta.’

* * *

Craig was standing with his back against the hotel-room door, his arms folded as he gazed at Sabrina. There was a look of amusement, coupled with naked desire, shining in his inky dark eyes. She was stripping like a professional, peeling away her dress, her stockings, then her black lacy bra, rotating her hips, peeking at him over one shoulder, and wrapping herself around the bedpost, as abandoned and provocative as any genuine pole dancer.

When finally the music on the iPod –
Voulez-vous coucher avec moi
– came to an end, she turned to blow him a playful Monroe sort of kiss, then gazed wantonly into his eyes.

‘I’ve never met anyone like you,’ he told her as the final beats died.

She smiled. ‘I told you I had a surprise for you,’ she said, sauntering towards him. ‘Did you like it?’ She put a hand between his legs. ‘Mm, yes, you liked it,’ she murmured, and pressing her mouth to his she pushed her tongue deep inside.

Catching her around the waist, he brought her hard up against him, then bending her back he showered her breasts with urgent, hungry kisses. His hands moved to her buttocks, splaying over the silky flesh, but as he made to lower her panties she stopped him.

‘Surprise number two,’ she whispered, and returning to the bed she lay down on her back and opened her legs wide. The panties were crotchless.

‘Oh Jesus,’ he murmured, and quickly undressing he went to lie over her, plunging straight into the throbbing heat of her.

They made love wildly, and cruelly, as she urged him to spank and bite her. He wouldn’t allow her to do the same to him, but the way she responded to the slaps on her breasts and buttocks sent him soaring all too quickly to the point of climax, and beyond.

She needed to orgasm too, and because he knew it turned her on so much, he stood her in front of the window where any new arrivals at the hotel might see her. Then he dropped to his knees and used his tongue and fingers to take her, gasping and sobbing, to the throes of a magnificent release.

Later, as they lay together on the bed, still naked and drinking champagne, she gazed adoringly into his eyes as
she said, ‘Did I ever tell you that sex with you is the best I’ve ever had?’

He smiled and touched his lips to hers. ‘Once or twice,’ he replied.

‘Is it the same for you?’ she prompted.

He swallowed some champagne and turned to put his glass down. ‘I can’t get enough of you,’ he told her, gathering her into his arms. ‘I keep thinking it has to end, but then you call, and as soon as I hear your voice I know I have to see you.’

Happy with the answer, she snuggled more tightly against him. ‘Do you love me?’ she murmured, after a while.

‘Yes,’ he said.

‘More than her?’

‘Don’t ask that. This time is for us, so let’s not spoil it.’

Raising her head she pressed a kiss to his lips. ‘How long is the trial likely to last?’ she asked, referring to the arson case he was defending at Bristol Crown Court.

‘A couple of days.’

She smiled. ‘So does that mean you’re staying here for a couple of nights?’

He nodded and laughed as she gave a growl of joy. ‘I take it that means you’ll be staying with me,’ he teased.

Rolling on to her back she gazed up at the silvery silk canopy overhead, and moaned softly as he began stroking her legs. ‘Of all the hotels we’ve stayed at, I think this is my favourite,’ she decided. ‘I love everything about it, from the deer park as you drive in, to the lovely courtyard where we had cocktails the first time we came, do you remember?’

‘Of course,’ he answered, watching her nipples pucker and harden as he touched them.

‘To the stuffy old dining room, to this wonderful suite, because this is where we were when you first told me you loved me. Did you know that?’

He nodded, and brushed a hand over her cheek into her hair.

‘Don’t you wish we could be together for ever?’ she said, pressing her lips to his palm.

‘In another life it might be possible,’ he replied, trailing his fingers back to the join of her legs.

Opening herself up to him, she said, ‘We can always make another life. You, me and the children. Wouldn’t you like that?’

‘Sounds idyllic,’ he murmured.

They made love again, more languorously and tenderly than before, then after dinner they walked in the grounds, wrapped up against the cold, and beckoned to the deer who watched them with unblinking eyes from the twilit woods at the edge of the park. These stolen, precious moments, when the rest of the world seemed so far away, would always stay with her.

As they wandered back along the drive they stopped to look up at the window of their room.

‘Are you thinking of me standing there, naked?’ she asked.

‘Yes,’ he replied, tightening his arm around her. ‘I think of you all the time,’ he said, and tilting her mouth to his, he kissed her with a tenderness that seared straight to her heart.