The Art of Deception (Choc Lit) (9 page)

Chapter Nine

Jenny
stared in satisfaction at the collection of traditional and contemporary watercolours arranged around the perimeters of the terrace. She felt totally shattered, and very relieved that she’d decided to display the work of well-known watercolour artists and not the work they’d done in Assisi that day.

Showing
them work done by others was going to be so much easier than critiquing each other’s efforts, which was anything but relaxing for the group and downright exhausting for her. The only person who probably wouldn’t be worn out that evening was Max, who’d stayed at home. The rest of them had spent most of the day walking around Assisi, and what they needed was a peaceful evening in which to recharge their batteries.

‘
Aha, here you are,’ Nick said cheerfully, coming out on to the terrace. He stopped and stared at the paintings. ‘So this is the exhibition for Wednesday, is it? The standard’s slightly higher than the other nights, isn’t it? Forget that. It’s much higher than the last few evenings.’

S
ummoning up every ounce of energy that she could, she turned to Nick and gave him a broad smile. ‘Hello, Nick. It’s unlike you to be the first here.’

He grinned at her.
‘I like to be unpredictable. It keeps ’em guessing.’

She laughed.
‘I see. It’s all part of your allure, is it?’

‘
I used to think so.’ He gave her a rueful grin. ‘But something tells me that my allure has faded a bit.’

‘
I won’t pretend that I don’t know what you’re talking about. Cue for alcohol, I’m inclined to think. Why don’t I pour us a drink and you can tell me about it? If you want to, that is.’

‘
You sit down; I’ll do the pouring.’ He went across to the side table, took a bottle of Prosecco from the bed of ice and started to open it. ‘I bet Stephen would hate it if he caught me making the drinks – he seems to have adopted the role of bartender for the week.’ He filled two glasses, handed one to her, and they sat down at the end of the dinner table, which had been set up under the awning. ‘I guess it’s pretty obvious that the bartender’s job isn’t the only thing that I’d like to take from him.’

‘
I did notice that he and Clare disappeared as soon as we got to Assisi. It’s a shame for you, Nick, but I’m afraid that one of you had to lose out, if not both. After all, there was no guarantee that Clare would feel anything for either of you.’

‘
I know that. But to concede defeat to someone younger than I am, who’s still at university – it’s pathetic. Mind you, he’s got a load of dosh behind him. He’s not exactly a student struggling on a pittance.’

‘
You don’t think that Clare …’

‘
No. It sounded as if I do, but I don’t; not at all. Clare’s not like that. I’m just enjoying piling on the agony. It’s the masochist in me.’

‘
It’s a pity there isn’t a second unattached female on the course,’ she said sympathetically.

‘
You can say that again. Although, come to think of it, there is.’ He grinned at her. ‘There’s you, Jenny.’ She started in surprise. ‘I know you’re a year or two older than I am, but that’d suit me just fine – I’ve always fancied being a toyboy. And you’re very pretty – all big blue eyes and blonde hair. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think you’d be ideal for me. Just imagine it – I could have private art lessons every day.’

She laughed awkwardly.
‘Slow down, Nick. I’m glad to see that your heart isn’t irredeemably broken, but I’m not looking for a man at the moment. I need to find a job first, decide where to live, all that sort of thing. I’m just here to teach – I’ve no hidden agenda.’

But she
did
have a hidden agenda. Her guilt at having to lie to Nick prickled, and she took a hasty sip of her drink.

‘
But I’d fail there, too, wouldn’t I?’ he said, carrying on as if she hadn’t spoken.

She looked up
from her drink, startled. ‘What do you mean by that?’

‘
You and Max. If you’re not an item now, you soon will be. I’ve seen the way he looks at you when you don’t know it. I bet you’re the only reason he’s picked up a paint brush this week.’

Her heart gave a sudden thud.
‘You’re completely wrong about that. He’s friendly and he likes talking about art, but it’s no more than that.’

‘
And every instinct tells me that you fancy him like mad. You’re as bad as he is, always watching him when he’s not aware of it.’

‘
Really, Nick. You’ve got it totally wrong; it’s not like that at all.’ She felt a sudden anxiety, and bit her lip.

‘
Maybe, but I don’t think so.’ He stared morosely into his glass, and sighed. ‘And I definitely haven’t got it wrong about Clare really liking Stephen. I wish I could hate him for it, but I can’t. He’s a pretty cool guy.’

‘
But getting a girl this week would have been no more than a bonus, wouldn’t it? That wasn’t the reason you came on the course – or at least, I’d be very surprised if it were. You weren’t to know that you’d meet someone like Clare. If you wanted to find yourself a girlfriend, internet dating would have been a much safer bet, and probably a lot less expensive.’

He smiled at her.
‘You’re right. I didn’t come looking for love.’

‘
So why
did
you decide to do the course, Nick? If you don’t mind me saying so, you’re not the sort of person I would have expected to choose to spend his holiday learning how to use watercolour.’

‘
I don’t mind you saying so at all – in fact, I consider it a compliment.’ He grinned at her. ‘Sorry and all that, but it is. First of all, it’s not my proper holiday – I’m going with my mates to Cyprus in August. This week’s just an extra. I had some holiday to use up, saw the ad for the classes, and signed up on a whim.’

‘
Do you have a secret longing to be an artist, then?’

‘
It’s even cornier than that. You know my surname’s Williams. Well, my mum’s nuts about the watercolours done by that Welsh chap, Kyffin Williams. No relation. Mum’s going to be fifty soon, so I thought I’d do her a watercolour as a birthday present. It’ll be a watercolour from a different Williams.’

‘
That’s a really lovely idea, Nick.’

He
exaggerated an affronted expression. ‘You don’t have to sound so surprised.’

She laughed.
‘I’m sorry. And have you enjoyed the week so far, apart from the Clare bit? You can be honest. Every bit of feedback is helpful.’

‘
Funnily enough, I have enjoyed it on the whole. But I wouldn’t go on another course like this again – it’s not really me. By the end of the week, though, I’ll have a present for Mum, and I’ll have done something different. Yeah, I guess it’s been all right.’ The sound of approaching voices came from within the house. ‘Don’t tell anyone why I came on the course, will you?’ he added quickly. ‘I’d lose all credibility.’

‘
Of course, I won’t. Your terrible secret’s safe with me,’ she said, glancing towards the patio doors. ‘We’re about to be joined by the honeymoon couple, I suspect.’

‘
Now they’re something else,’ he said. ‘I can’t see how Howard can put up with that ghastly woman. She always seems to be playing a part, and what’s more, playing it badly. I don’t know about love being blind, but it’s certainly deaf in Howard’s case.’

‘
Shush, Nick.’ She smiled up at Paula and Howard as they came up to the table. ‘Hello, you two.’

Nick
stood up. ‘I’m on drinks duty this evening. Take a seat and I’ll get you your poison.’

‘
Ooh, thank you, Nick; that’s very sweet of you.’ Paula sat down next to Jenny. ‘Wasn’t it a simply lovely day today?’

‘
I’m glad you enjoyed it.’

‘Oh, I did.’

‘We both did,’ Howard called as he strolled over to the display of watercolours and began to look at them.

A few minutes later,
Nick returned with the drinks. He gave one to Paula, took the other over to Howard, and then sat down opposite Jenny and Paula. ‘So what did you get up to in Assisi, Paula? I didn’t see you and Howard at all today, and it’s not that big a town.’

‘
We’ve been to Assisi once before,’ Howard said, leaving the paintings and coming to sit next to Paula. He put his arm around her. ‘We’d just got engaged the last time. We weren’t there for long, but it was long enough to do all the touristy things, like see the Church of St Francis. So today we did the not-so-touristy things.’

‘
Such as?’ Nick asked.

‘
Mainly wandering through the narrow medieval streets at the top end of town. There aren’t as many tourists up there. We photographed all the places we thought would make good pictures, pottered around for a bit, and finally ended up in the main
piazza
and had coffee. Oh, and Paula bought one or two things.’

‘
I didn’t realise you’d been to Umbria before,’ Jenny said in surprise. ‘How long were you here?’

‘
Not long; less than a week,’ Paula replied. ‘We were on a whirlwind coach tour of the highlights of Tuscany and Umbria. It was only a short tour, but it was absolutely wonderful.’

Howard nodded his agreement.
‘We liked what we saw of Assisi – they did a brilliant job of restoring it after the earthquake. In fact, we thought the whole area beautiful, and marked it down as a place worth spending some time in. And then we saw the art course advertised, and Bob’s your uncle.’

‘
It’s certainly an unusual sort of honeymoon – not coming to Umbria, but going on a course like this.’ Nick fetched another bottle of Prosecco from the side table and topped up all of their glasses.

‘
We like being active, don’t we, Howie? It’s boring doing nothing. We’ve got friends who’ve honeymooned in places like the Bahamas, but that’s not for us. This is much more fun, and when we get back to England, we’ll be able to show our friends not only the photos we took, but also the watercolours we’ve done.’

‘
Riveting stuff,’ Nick muttered under his breath. Jenny sent him a warning frown. He winked at her and returned the bottle of wine to the ice.

‘
Are you flying back to England at the end of the week or are you going on to somewhere else first?’ Jenny asked, turning back to Paula and Howard.

‘
We’ve got a flight booked for a week on Saturday,’ Howard told her. ‘We’re going to hire a car for a week and drive from here to the area around Arezzo. When we come across an interesting-looking place, we’ll find an
agritourismo
and stay the night.’

‘
Which is why we’re travelling light,’ Paula said. ‘Mind you, it was difficult getting everything into one case. Howie was very strict with me,’ she added with a giggle. ‘But we need to be able to fit everything into the boot of the car so we don’t leave anything on show. Not that I need any more than that – not when I have my Howie with me.’ She gazed adoringly at her husband.

‘
So that’s why you were talking to the car hire man, the one from the place next to the internet café,’ Nick said.

Howard’s hand slipped from Paula’s shoulder. He
straightened up. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘
Clare saw you talking to him when we were in Montefalco on Sunday.’

Paula
leaned closer to Howard and nestled up to him. ‘Yes,’ she trilled. ‘But he charges too much. We’re making other arrangements. That’s one of the reasons why we’d like to use the internet.’

‘
How come you were able to understand the man?’ Nick asked. ‘I didn’t think he spoke English.’

‘
Don’t you believe it. Most people in a business like that speak a bit of English,’ Howard said with a laugh, ‘but some like to pretend they don’t. They get sick of tourists coming to Italy and expecting everyone to speak their language; and I don’t blame them, to be honest. I know that Paula and I are among the worst offenders, but we’re definitely going to make a start on learning Italian before we come again.’ He looked towards the house. ‘The others are taking their time. I suppose we could …’

‘
Here we are,’ Clare called cheerfully, appearing round the side of the house with Stephen at her side.

‘
Where did you come from?’ Howard asked.

‘
Stephen wanted me to see Max’s house.’ Clare beamed. ‘We had a cup of tea with Max on the
loggia
, and then Stephen and I went for a short walk around the garden. It’s really lovely there.’

Howard and Paula exchanged glances.

‘Your uncle said we could use the internet, Stephen,’ Howard began. ‘He said that at dinner the other evening.’

‘
And that we could take a peek at his paintings at the same time. Not the ones he did himself,’ Paula giggled, ‘but the ones he’s got on his walls. Do you think it’d be all right if we popped across now?’ She glanced at her watch. ‘There’s still plenty of time before dinner. We wouldn’t be long.’