‘That will be up to you, my darling,’ replied Max, before kissing her again. When he released her, she turned and climbed up the steps and onto the deck, quickly disappearing out of sight.
Once she was back on The Scottish Belle, she tried to erase the memory of the last two hours, but when Angus reappeared later that evening with the boys, she realised that forgetting Max wasn’t going to be quite that easy.
When she emerged on the deck the following morning, Sea Urchin was nowhere to be seen.
‘Were you looking for anything in particular?’ Angus asked when he joined her.
She turned and smiled at him. ‘No. It’s just that I can’t wait to get back to Jersey,’ she replied.
It must have been about a month later that she picked up the phone and found Max on the other end of the line. She felt the same breathless feeling she had experienced the first time they had made love.
‘I’m coming over to Jersey tomorrow, to look at a piece of property for a client. Any chance of seeing you?’
‘Why don’t you join us for dinner?’ Ruth heard herself saying.
‘Why don’t you join me at my hotel?’ he replied. ‘And don’t let’s bother with dinner.’
‘No, I think it might be wiser if you came over for dinner. On Jersey, even the letterboxes chatter.’
‘If that’s the only way I’m going to be able to see you, then I’ll settle for dinner.’
‘Eight o’clock?’
‘Eight o’clock will be just fine,’ he said, and put the phone down.
When Ruth heard the phone click she realised that she hadn’t given him their address, and she couldn’t phone him back, because she didn’t know his number.
When she warned Angus that they would have a guest for dinner the next night, he seemed pleased. ‘Couldn’t be better timing,’ he said. ‘There’s something I need Max to advise me on.’
Ruth spent the following morning shopping in St Helier, selecting only the finest cuts of meat, the freshest vegetables, and a bottle of claret that she knew Angus would have considered highly extravagant.
She spent the afternoon in the kitchen, explaining to the cook exactly how she wanted the meal prepared, and even longer that evening in the bedroom, choosing and then rejecting what she might wear that night. She was still naked when the doorbell rang a few minutes after eight.
Ruth opened the bedroom door and listened from the top of the stairs as her husband welcomed Max. How old Angus sounded, she thought, as she listened to the two men chatting. She still hadn’t discovered what he wanted to speak to Max about, as she didn’t wish to appear too interested.
She returned to the bedroom and settled on a dress that a friend had once described as seductive. ‘Then it will be wasted on this island,’ she remembered replying.
The two men rose from their places when Ruth walked into the drawing room, and Max stepped forward and kissed her on both cheeks in the same way Gerald Prescott always did.
‘I’ve been telling Max about our cottage in the Ardennes,’ said Angus, even before they had sat down again, ‘and our plans to sell it, now that the twins will be going away to university.’
How typical of Angus, thought Ruth. Get the business out of the way before you even offer your guest a drink. She went over to the sideboard and poured Max a gin and tonic without thinking what she was doing.
‘I’ve asked Max if he would be kind enough to visit the cottage, value it, and advise when would be the best time to put it on the market.’
‘That sounds sensible enough,’ said Ruth. She avoided looking directly at Max, for fear that Angus might realise how she felt about their guest.
‘I could travel on to France tomorrow,’ said Max, ‘if you’d like me to. I’ve nothing else planned for the weekend,’ he added. ‘I could report back to you on Monday.’
‘That sounds good to me,’ Angus responded. He paused and sipped the malt whisky his wife had handed him. ‘I was thinking, my dear, it might expedite matters if you went along as well.’
‘No, I’m sure Max can handle …’
‘Oh no,’ said Angus. ‘It was he who suggested the idea. After all, you could show him round the place, and he wouldn’t have to keep calling back if he had any queries.’
‘Well, I’m rather busy at the moment, what with …’
‘The bridge society, the health club and … No, I think they’ll all somehow manage to survive without you for a few days,’ said Angus with a smile.