The Yacht Party (Lara Stone)

‘I’ll think about it,’ she said. ‘Tomorrow.’

‘Tomorrow?’ said Stefan. ‘But Lara, this is happening right now. If you’re in danger…’

Lara squeezed his hand back.

‘Tomorrow,’ she whispered. ‘Right now I don’t want to think about anything else except this. Can we go?’

Stefan searched her face, then nodded and raised his hand to waitress, urgently pulling his credit card out.

‘Why don’t you get this one?’ said Lara, smiling as she stood up. She held her hand out to him. ‘And I’ll get breakfast at The Pengelly.’

Chapter 31

Lara lay on her back, one leg hooked lazily over Stefan’s. What a night. She hoped that Ian Fox’s security friend wasn’t too rigorous in his surveillance; any CCTV footage covering the approach to Lara’s suite when they had arrived back after the restaurant would need an ‘X’ certificate, she thought to herself with a smile. She felt herself glow at the memory and for the first time since Sandrine’s death, Lara felt happy. No, it was more than that. Lying naked, barely covered by a crumpled white sheet, she felt alive. It felt so good.

Stefan stirred, turning towards her.

‘You’re awake,’ he said, his voice still thick with sleep.

He leaned across and kissed the curve of her shoulder.

‘How do you feel about a late check-out?’

Lara laughed with pleasure.

‘Very tempting indeed,’ she said. ‘But remember I have to go my Aunt’s? Olivia wants to “talk”.’ She said the last word in imitation of a disapproving school-mistress, which pretty much summed up their relationship.

‘What’s so important?’ he asked. Lara could hardly blame Stefan for his disappointment. After all, he had come straight from the airport to see her the evening before and she was rewarding him by kicking him out of bed.

‘My cousin Charlie – Olivia’s son – is having an affair,’ she sighed, not wanting to go into too much detail. ‘I kind of put the cat amongst the pigeons. It doesn’t sound very pressing, I know, but there’s a lot of family politics involved.’

Lara turned on her side, propping herself up with her elbow. She hated to ruin the mood, but something had been nagging at her and she had to ask.

‘Listen, can I ask you something personal?’

He laughed, circling her nipple with his fingertip. ‘I think you probably qualify for that.’

‘Well… I saw Alex on Friday and he’d heard you were seeking investment for a news project. Is that true?’

She didn’t add that Alex had thrown it at her in the middle of a prickly argument with the clear implication that Stefan was not trustworthy.

‘He’s right, yes. But it was a while ago. I had an idea for a digital news and events business and took a few meetings to see if I could raise some capital, but it didn’t come to anything.’

Lara almost sighed with relief. She didn’t know why it had become such a big thing in her head, perhaps because Alex had seemed so certain that Stefan was up to something underhand. At the same time, Lara was intrigued.

‘Does Eduardo know? I mean, was it something you were doing together?’

‘Yes and no. Yes, he knew and no, he wasn’t involved.’

He smiled as he saw Lara was keen for a more detailed explanation.

‘Look, I love the work we do at the collective and I love Eduardo like a brother, but he’s not the easiest man to deal with and as he finances Le Caché personally, it puts him in a powerful position as far as decisions are concerned. A lot of the time it doesn’t feel much like a collective.’

‘So what happened to your idea, the one you were trying to get funding for?’

Stefan shrugged a shoulder.

‘I wasn’t having much luck raising the money and then Eduardo decided to open the Shoreditch office, so I put my news empire on hold. I’ve always wanted to live in London so I see it as a win-win.’ He gently pushed a lock of hair away from her face. ‘Especially now.’