Deal With the Devil--3 Book Box Set

‘Want to bet?’ Silas asked her.

He was just leaning over her when the telephone started to ring. Immediately Julia stiffened. Was it Aimee ringing him again?

Silas released her and reached for the room telephone at the same moment as she recognised that it was not his mobile ringing.

‘That was the reception desk, wanting to know if we’d booked a car. I told them they’d got the wrong room. Now, where were we?’ Silas asked softly.

No way was she going to let Aimee spoil what she was enjoying with Silas, Julia assured herself as he took her back in his arms. She closed her eyes tightly, willing herself not to think of anything or anyone other than the two of them and what they were sharing, and gave herself over completely to the physical delight of his hands on her body.

An hour later, after the final ripples of their shared climax had died away and Silas had gathered her into his arms to draw her close to him, Julia decided blissfully that there could be no greater happiness than this, and that she had been silly to worry about that earlier phone call.

She was almost on the verge of falling asleep when she remembered something very important.

‘Silas!’ she gasped urgently.

‘What?’

‘We didn’t use a condom.’

‘No, we didn’t, did we?’

If Silas wasn’t concerned that they might be risking her conceiving his child, then he couldn’t possibly be involved with another woman could he? She had been silly to worry, Julia reassured herself.

CHAPTER EIGHT

MARBELLA in September: the month of summer when the tiresome tourist crowds had gone, along with their noisy children, and the only visitors were those who were rich enough or A-list enough to know that this was the time to be here. Or at least that was what most of the guests invited to Dorland’s party were likely to believe, Julia thought cynically, as the chauffeur-driven limo swept them up to the main entrance of Marbella’s luxe de luxe home from home for the celebrity set—the world famous Alfonso Club, Golf Resort and Spa—or the Alfonso, as most of those in the know referred to the hotel a European prince had created from what had originally been merely a family finca, or rural property.

Supposedly, sooner or later everyone who was anyone stayed at the Alfonso. Her smile deepened as she reflected on how very different this fashionable celebrity watering hole was from the hotel they had stayed at in Rome.

Marbella, like St Tropez, St Moritz and a handful of other places worldwide, had held on to its exalted status through many decades. Julia suspected that nowhere else in the world, apart from possibly Palm Springs, was home to quite so many nipped and tucked seventy-something women pretending to be thirty-something. They came here in the summer to bask in the sunshine, like so many stick-thin locusts, bronzing their leathery bodies before retreating to some discreet Swiss clinic to be pampered and prepared for another summer.

Marbella was like nowhere else, being a place where it was almost de rigueur to sport a tan, a proper hairdo, diamanté-studded sunglasses and gold leather Gucci-style loafers.

Not that Marbella didn’t attract the younger celebrity crowd—it did, and in droves, a fact which Dorland had recognised when he elected to throw his end-of-summer bash here.

Silas had booked them into one of the club’s private villas, and as they were shown to it Julia decided she would have to do something about extending her wardrobe. She had seen how sad her small case looked in contrast to the mounds of Louis Vuitton being removed from limousine boots. Already she had spotted at least three famous film stars, plus an all girl-group and their entourage, all of whom she knew had been invited to Dorland’s party.

To Julia’s delight their villa not only had its own private garden, it also had its own private swimming pool.

‘Oh, Silas, this is just too blissful,’ she exclaimed happily as she stood looking out of the villa’s patio doors towards the pool.

‘I thought you’d like it,’ Silas agreed, making her both laugh and blush at the same time.

‘Just because I happened to say that I’d love to swim naked with you and then have sex outside, in the open air, that doesn’t mean you had to find a way to make it possible,’ she told him.

‘Meaning that now that I have, you’ve changed your mind?’

‘No way,’ Julia assured him vehemently. ‘Though I’ll have to go and find Dorland later.’ She gave a small shudder. ‘I don’t want any more traumas or mistakes of the kind we had in Positano. I still can’t believe that actually happened. What is it?’ she demanded, when she saw the way Silas was looking at her.

‘I’ve had an e-mail from the person I asked to make some discreet enquiries into both Blayne and Prêt a Party.’

‘And?’

‘Let’s get settled in first. You must be hungry. I’ll order something from Room Service, shall I?’

‘Silas, it’s bad, isn’t it?’ Julia guessed.

‘Let’s get sorted out first.’

Julia reached out and touched his arm, sensing that he was trying to distract her.

‘No, please tell me now.’ She could see from his face that Silas was beginning to wish he hadn’t said anything. ‘I know you only want to protect me, but I’m not a little girl any more,’ she told him gently. ‘And Lucy is my friend.’

‘All right. But at least let’s sit down.’

Her mouth had gone dry, Julia realised as Silas sat in one of the comfortable easy chairs and she perched on the arm of it next to him.

‘From what my source has discovered—and I’ve no reason to doubt him; I’ve used him in the past to investigate sensitive issues for me—it looks very much as though Prêt a Party has some very serious financial problems.’

‘Oh, Silas.’ Julia placed her fingertips to her mouth, her eyes shadowing with distress.

‘There’s worse, I’m afraid. It seems that there is every likelihood that Blayne has been defrauding

the business—and Lucy herself as well.’

‘Oh, no! Poor Lucy—but how can that have happened? Lucy is always complaining that her trustee won’t let her touch her trust fund without his say-so.’

‘Maybe not, but he has allowed her to guarantee Prêt a Party’s overdraft facilities. And that means that the bank has been able to call upon her to clear it via her trust fund. From what my source has discovered, it seems that large amounts of money have been withdrawn from the business by Blayne, which have caused an overdraft that Lucy has had to make good. It seems that there is no real business reason why he should have withdrawn such large amounts, and my source suspects they have gone straight into his own pocket—if Lucy isn’t aware of what he’s doing.’

‘She can’t be.’ Julia defended her friend immediately. ‘Lucy is scrupulously honest, Silas.’

‘Maybe she was. But she loves Blayne, and if he has been pressuring her…’

‘No.’ Julia shook her head vigorously. ‘No matter how much Lucy loves Nick, she would never agree to anything underhand. She just isn’t like that. Oh, Silas. Poor, poor Lucy.’

Tears shimmered in Julia’s eyes. ‘This is just so awful. Imagine loving someone who would do that to you. And Nick…how could he do such a thing?’ She bit her bottom lip and then looked unhappily at Silas.

‘It’s going to be so dreadful for Lucy when she finds out what Nick’s been doing.’

‘Yes, but you can’t interfere,’ Silas warned her.

‘Silas, she’s one of my two closest friends,’ Julia protested. ‘Lucy, Carly and I have been like sisters. I can’t just stand by and let Nick destroy her.’

‘What I’ve told you is merely, at this stage, the informed opinion of my source. What do you think will happen if you do tell Lucy and she refuses to believe you? Blayne is her husband. She’s besotted with him.’

‘But we must be able to do something.’

‘Maybe I could sound out her trustee discreetly.’

‘Marcus, you mean? Lucy hates him.’