Infatuation

Julie stared, her thumb going into her mouth. Ruth pulled it out. Julie went on staring and didn't say anything. Ruth lifted the little boy down but could not persuade him to relinquish his net which he trailed thoughtfully across Judith's feet, leaving a fragment of green weed on her shoe. 'Little beast,' Ruth congratulated him. 'They do talk, although you might not beliee it. In a couple of hours you'll wish they didn't!'

'That sun's quite hot, isn't it?' observed Baba, unzipping her jeans. Judith watched in surprise as Baba pulled off her clothes, under which, it turned out, she was wearing a skimpy bikini. Her skin had the perfect lustre of polished gold. She lay down gracefully on one of the loungers and closed her eyes. Stevie went over to stare at her.

'Come and help me get the lunch,' Ruth said to Judith. 'Salad, I thought; okay?'

'Fine,' said Judith, watching Stevie as he dipped his net in the pool and then delicately sprinkled Baba with water. Without opening her eyes, Baba said: 'Don't do that, Stevie, there's a good boy.'

'If you can't behave yourself with those nets I'll have to lock them away,' Ruth told her offspring, who retreated to the far side of the pool and started fishing for lily pads again.

Judith followed Ruth back into the house. Ruth had put on weight, she was rounder and more curvy than she had been, and she had cut her hair short without persuading it to uncurl so that her head was covered with tight, fat little coils of goldy brown.

'Marriage appears to agree with you—how's David?' Judith asked her.

Ruth smiled. 'He's fine; still very busy at the agency.' David ran an estate agent's office in Hampstead and was very successful at it, judging by the elegant little house he had acquired for his family. He was nearly ten years older than Ruth, a quiet, thoughtful man with a thin, wiry figure and dark brown hair.

'Did Baba tell you her news?' asked Ruth as she got a large bowl of prepared salad out of the fridge.

'About the possible film? Yes, she was just telling me…'

'Oh, not that,' said Ruth. 'Her engagement.' Judith had begun making the dressing for the salad; she stopped, mid-whisk, to stare. 'Engagement? She never breathed a word—when did this happen? Who is he? '

Ruth laughed. 'Don't let that curdle, will you?'

'Sorry,' said Judith, smiling back and concentrated on her whisking. Ruth was working at her elbow, slicing hard-boiled eggs and dicing cheese, her movements swift and efficient, but talking quickly as she worked.

'It isn't official yet, they haven't bought the ring, they're going to do that this afternoon and it will be announced in The Times tomorrow.'

'The lucky man has money, I gather,' Judith said drily, and Ruth gave her a sideways look.

'That must be the understatement of the year! Guess who she's marrying; you may well know him—I bet you know him, his name has got to be familiar to you, of all people.'

Judith's fine dark brows lifted. 'How intriguing—I don't know that many rich men except clients in New York . . .' Her voice broke off as Ruth smiled. 'He's American?'

'Uh-huh.'

'Heavens! Even so, that still leaves the field wide open—you're going to have to tell me, we could go on playing guessing games all night.'

'Spoilsport,' Ruth laughed, then paused. 'Luke Doulton!' Her voice held a ring of what was undoubtedly triumph and glee in what she expected Judith's reaction to be—and she was not disappointed. Judith looked at her in stunned amazement.

'The Luke Doulton?'

'Is there more than one?'

'You mean the Luke Doulton who runs Doulton-Klein International?' Judith couldn't believe her ears. She had long ago given up hope that Baba would do am thing to surprise her, anything had always seemed possible with someone as lucky and beautiful as Baba, but now, at last, Baba had succeeded. The last man in the world Judith would ever have imagined falling for Baba was Luke Doulton. It didn't surprise, of course, that he had entered Baba's life; he had entered the lives of a great many beautiful girls, if rumour was to be believed, and exited again with only a very brief stop in between. Baba was a well-known international model who liked jet-set life; sooner or later she had been bound to run into Luke Doulton, and with his reputation it must have been on the cards that he would date her for a while—but that he might actually ask her to marry him was a possibility on which no sane bookmaker interested in staying in business would have taken a bet.

'Shut your mouth, love, you look daft,' said Ruth, laughing.

'I'm stunned!'

'You look it. Do you know him? I wondered if you might have met him in New York. Baba said she mentioned you to him but he didn't know your name.'

'No, he wouldn't,' Judith said drily. He might have done if he had allowed John to finish introducing her, but she had been beneath the level at which he noticed people. 'Men like Luke Doulton don't hobnob with ordinary bank staff,' she told Ruth. 'How did Baba meet him?'

'At a party in Hawaii, of all places. Baba was modelling over there and someone introduced them. Apparently it was love at first sight; isn't it romantic? It was a whirlwind romance; he followed her to New York and proposed. They've only known each other a month.' Ruth laughed excitedly, washing her hands at the sink as she talked. 'I can hardly believe it myself, but Baba's taking it very calmly. He's terribly rich, you know.'

'Yes.' said Judith. 'That's a very slippery fish Baba has caught; hundreds of others have tried to net him and failed.’ How odd that Baba hadn't mentioned her engagement, she thought. She had burst out with the news about the possible film but hadn't breathed a word about Luke Doulton—but then perhaps she thought Judith already knew about it?

Ruth looked worried as she started loading a tray with the food. 'You don't think he isn't serious? Oh, dear. Baba would be so upset. When we were kids I ones used to wish she would do something nasty—just to prove she was human, you know. I'd pull her hair or pinch her. I thought she'd run and tell tales, but she never did—she used to go and cry in a corner and make me ashamed of myself. It was maddening!'