The Party Girl's Invitation (8 page)

“Surely you know more than that?” Maisie prompted, “What with you and he being so close and all,” she added, with a sideways glance. She was treading on thin ice here, and she knew it.

Crystal decided not to give her any more ammunition. “What gives you that impression then?” she asked.

Maisie backed off. “Well, I did see him kissing you in that posh car of his, and word is that you were up at the factory late, after work the other night.”She clapped a hand over her mouth, Bernard would kill her for letting that one out. He’d only told her down at the ‘Dog and Duck’ in strictest confidence. Eyes like saucers, she attempted to correct her mistake, “I don’t think he saw anything really, maybe it was just local hear-say.”

Crystal knew very well what the local grapevine was like. She wondered what else he’d told her. Then there was Jazz’s girlfriend, what would she say on the matter? Perhaps she was used to his infidelities, he really was no better than the rest of them, she should keep that thought in mind. She didn’t need to explain her actions to Maisie, or anyone else for that matter, she was over twenty-one and could do as she liked, but on the other hand she needed to stop these rumours fast. Given a couple of days and a bit more embroidery and she’d be barefoot and pregnant and a fallen woman. At least the photocopying incident had not made the rounds yet, or had it? Maisie looked awfully smug.

“Considering the problems you suffered yourself, when everyone thought you’d stolen the bingo money, I would have thought that you more than anyone would know the dangers of idle gossip,” she countered.

Maisie looked uncomfortable.

“So what, if I’ve had a kiss or two with Jazz, he’s mighty good-looking, don’t you think? And I’m a single woman. So there’s no story to tell.”She shrugged her shoulders, “The real problem is, I have a new boyfriend now, his name is Brad, and he’s taking me to the Hunt Ball. So I’d appreciate it if you could help me to stop these rumours fast, before any damage is done. I don’t want him thinking that I’m two-timing him, because I’m not. You can meet Brad at the dance if you like, I’ll introduce you myself.”There, that should give the nosey old bat something to think about.

Maisie was suitably chastised. Just like her mother, Crystal was. She’d torn her off a strip, many a time for gossiping had Crystal’s mum, there was no malice in it on her part though. As to herself, how else was she to find out what was going on around here, if she didn’t listen to a bit of gossip here and there? She looked at her watch, eager to rush off with the latest piece of information and spread it around. Crystal had told her about her boyfriend herself, so she couldn’t mind her passing that information on, now could she.

“Yes, Miss Crystal, and I’m sure I would love to meet this young man of yours. Now, I can’t stand here indulging in idle chit-chat, Gordon will be ready for his tea. If you want to step on through the front door, I’ll lock up behind you. No harm done, I’m sure.”

“Bye Maisie, and remember what I said?”Crystal called as a parting shot. She’d stopped that one dead in its tracks, or at least, she thought she had. Bernard should learn to keep his mouth shut.

Chapter 5

Planning and Parking

Crystal was surfing the internet; she knew that she should be working whilst she had the chance, but she just couldn’t summon the enthusiasm.

Reluctantly, she dragged her attention away from the high street retailers and consulted her list again. Farmer Brown and his tractor had still not been replaced. Local knowledge would supply the answer to that one, she hoped, as would the provision of the marquee at such short notice. Menus and table decorations would come from one of her preferred suppliers and could easily be organised last minute online or by telephone. She had a raft of contacts who knew what she liked and could be relied upon to do the job properly. Even so, there was still an inordinate amount of work as yet untouched.

There was only one tick on the list so far, and that was the banking of the cash, she’d taken the contents of the shoe box into her local bank herself. She’d appropriated all of the ‘egg box’ money; if aunt Vera couldn’t be trusted to keep the money separately, then that was her look out. Considering the mess she and Lolly had made of things this far, it was a small price to pay for their inadequacies. She’d decided that the chickens wouldn’t mind donating their produce to such a worthwhile cause. Either way, looking at these figures, they were still thousands of pounds short. They needed a bit of glitzy glamour to draw in the last-minute crowds.

Take-up on the tickets had been slow this year, and they couldn’t rely on the regulars to bail them out of this one. She’d seen some of the letters written in complaint after last year’s ‘do’ and they had an uphill struggle on their hands with little time to make things happen.

One absolute ‘godsend’ was the band. They had not re-booked after Lolly had presumptuously dispensed with their services. When they realised that Crystal was back in the driving seat they’d been happy to re-instate the previous arrangement and had even offered to help spread the word that there were still tickets available.

Crystal looked out of the car window trying to see out into the pitch black, as the headlights from another vehicle crossed her windscreen. Who was this, out here, at this time of night? She quickly closed the laptop and removed it from sight, reaching for her paperback.

Jazz stamped across the frozen car park and rapped on her window.

Uh-oh, she was in trouble now. He’d only gone back to London this morning, why was he back here already?

She put the book face down onto her lap and wound the window down an inch or two. Her heart jumped and adrenaline fizzed through her veins as she plastered a big welcoming smile all over her face. “Hi, problem at the works?”she asked, trying to sound relaxed.

He scowled. “No, problem with freeloaders. Come on, out of the car, what have you been up to? What are you doing in there?”

The laptop winked one solitary green light from the floor of the passenger seat, where she’d hastily deposited it. She nudged her elbow and dropped her cardi over it, simultaneously picking up her book and waving it at him through the glass. “Reading. I’m doing the night watch. Counting rabbits.”

“Counting rabbits?”He was momentarily flummoxed. What for? She looked guilty as hell. It was freezing cold and ten o’clock at night, only an idiot would sit out here in their car and count rabbits. More specifically, he wasn’t standing here in these temperatures, having this conversation with Crystal now.

“Move over a bit, no, open up the passenger door, I’m coming in, it’s too cold here to stand around talking nonsense.”He strode around to the other side of the car.

Crystal blanched. If he got in that side of the car he’d stand on the laptop and then he’d work out what she was up to, to say nothing of his size ten’s all over her prize possession, she couldn’t afford to replace it and this was her only ‘hot spot’ for miles around.

He rattled the door handle. He wasn’t about to be put off.

In desperation, she turned off the engine and got out of her side of the car, high heels sliding on the frozen ground. She walked unsteadily around to the passenger side of the car. When he looked like he might dispute the point, she held up her hand. “I’m not letting you into my car at this time of night, thank-you. The last time I got in a car with you I got seriously mauled,” she stated quite bluntly, using her best bossy ‘event organizer’ voice.

His eyebrows hit his hair line. “You got mauled?”He grinned, his teeth shining up brightly in the dim light from the reception area, over to his left. He put his hand on his hips, stance wide legged, “It was actually the other way around madam, as I recall,” he drawled.

Now why had she brought that up again? That was the last thing that she wanted to discuss with him right now. She rubbed her bare hands over her forearms in an attempt to dispel the icy air which was finding its way straight through her close-fit mohair jumper. “Oh, you know what I mean,” she dismissed airily.

He narrowed his eyes. “So, what’s with the rabbits then?” he wanted to know.

He peered in through the side window of her car, shielding his gaze with one hand, trying to reduce the glare on the window from his car headlights, parked up opposite. “Have you got a computer in there?” he asked.

“No.”She lied, a little too quickly. Technically it was a laptop, semantics, but it wasn’t an outright direct lie, anyway.

He tapped his boot clad foot. “So, I’m waiting.”

Rabbits, what did she know about rabbits? Her mind went blank. It wasn’t much of a cover, but she’d only reckoned on being questioned by old Bernard, or one of the other night watchmen. She hadn’t counted on Jazz turning up here at this time of night. What did he do, sleep at the place? She needed a distraction.

It was appalling, but she went for the only one that she knew. She tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder and stuck both thumbs into the back pockets of her jeans. The jumper stretched very nicely across her breasts, bringing her favourite feature into sharp relief.

His eyes flickered.

Crystal gave her best ‘come hither’ stare.

“Quit stalling Crystal.”He took a step nearer. Almost without volition his hand snaked out and captured the hair at the back of her neck. His breath was warm on her cheek as he brought his face in closer, close enough for her to see the expression in those clear blue-grey eyes.“I know you’re up to no good, you’re as guilty as hell.”His eyes fixed on her mouth. “So, come on, tell me about it.”Two could play at that game, he thought, trailing an icy finger down the warmth of her cheek and racking up the tension another notch. Trouble was, it was debatable which one of them would get burned first.

What was the question again? Crystal had no idea. She just stared up at him, mute. She nibbled at her bottom lip as she tried to collect her thoughts. Good job she hadn’t invited him into the car, she thought hysterically. She’d have played out that fantasy of removing his clothes by now. This train of thought was not helping the situation at all.

“Small furry creatures, you know. Beatrix Potter, that kind of thing,” she improvised.

“We have all seen Watership Down, if that’s your next ploy.”He joined in the game. “So why here, and now? What have you got plugged into the lighter connection in the car then?”

Bugger. She’d forgotten about that. There hadn’t been enough time to disconnect the power supply. Trust him to notice that. She wrinkled her nose. “Hair curlers?” she asked, knowing full well that he’d not believe that in a million years.

“Little girls should not tell lies,” he stated.“You’ll get blisters on your tongue. Have you been telling lies Crystal?”he asked, his voice husky and intimate.

He was playing with her. She knew it. And she’d started it herself. There was no-one else to blame. This would only end badly. He already held her in a stranglehold. Her hair was wrapped like a coil around his fist, gleaming brightly against the darkness of his skin, only just visible in the combined light from the moon and the factory building.

The urge to stick out her tongue like a child was overwhelming, but she held the impulse in check. If he wanted to play kissing games with her tonight he’d have to make the decision himself, she wasn’t helping him. He’d already called her bluff, in spades.

A frisson zizzed down her spine. The anticipation was more than compensation for the cold. She wondered if he’d follow through with the implied threat, or if her behaviour the other night had truly warned him off.

Jazz wondered why she reduced him to the level of schoolboy every time he came within a hundred yards of her presence. Ten seconds ago he’d had no intention of touching her, and now here he was with a fist full of her hair, tempting fate. She was obviously using a computer here, but she was hardly likely to be hacking into her own company, there was no point. If she wanted financial information she could just walk on into the office and get it for herself. No questions asked. So what was she really up to? Right now, he didn’t care. He really did have her just where he wanted her, but was it wise to mix business and pleasure? Especially with Hetty’s granddaughter, his conscience prompted.

Crystal watched the play of emotions across his face. So was he going to get down and dirty with her, or what? She’d never known a man less forthcoming. She’d played out a line and he was still wondering whether to bite. He’d not let her go though, and the suspense was driving her nuts.

As if he could read her thoughts, he muttered, “It’s too cold for what you have in mind here tonight, and I’m not taking you home. My place is out of bounds. So we are both going to have to wait. I have feeling that there’s a security camera around here somewhere, trained on this area of the car park, so let’s not give Bernard too much to talk about, eh?”

Just as she thought she was off the hook, he spun her around on the slippery ground and flattened her up against the side of the car. Pushing home his advantage, with the weight of his body he finally put them both out of their misery.

One kiss, that’s all it was, and then he was gone. Sauntering off into the night whistling as if he owned the place, which technically speaking, he probably did.

Crystal stood rooted to the spot, hot and then cold, all at the same time. Before she’d even moved a muscle, he called back over his shoulder, “Oh, and next time you need some office space and a link up to our broadband, just use your office. I had Verity clear out your mother’s old room for you to use while you’re here. It’s better than freezing to death out here in the car park.”