‘But surely that means they will be very expensive...’
‘Maybe...maybe not,’ the woman replied mysteriously. ‘It all depends on the size of the order, no? I shall bring some for you to see,’ she announced, closing the book. ‘If you will be here at this time tomorrow evening I shall show you what a good bargain we can make...’
Half an hour later, as she hurried back to the hotel, Beth asked herself what she had to lose by returning to the stall tomorrow evening.
Nothing...
After all, she hadn’t made any kind of commitment to buy anything. She was simply going to look, that was all.
Caught up in her excitement, she suddenly realised that she had lost her way a little, and that she was now in a part of the city that was unfamiliar to her. There was an imposing building in front of her which she was sure must feature in her guidebook. All she had to do was to check the name of the square she was now in and redirect herself to her hotel.
As she delved into her bag for her guidebook a large crowd of people suddenly started to emerge from the building she had been studying, all of them dressed in evening clothes. Idly watching them, Beth suddenly froze as she recognised Alex Andrews amongst them. If he had looked toughly masculine earlier in the day, dressed in jeans and a polo shirt, that was nothing to the way he looked now, wearing a dinner suit. Taller than most of the other men in the crowd, he would have stood out even without his strikingly handsome good looks, simply on account of the way he held himself, Beth recognised.
As Beth watched him she suddenly realised that not only was he not alone but that the woman who was with him was the same soignée, elegant older woman she had seen him talking with in the hotel foyer the previous day.
Alex was patently oblivious to her presence, and as Beth observed them from the shadows she saw him put a very protective arm around the older woman whilst she, in turn, moved closer to him, lifting her face towards his with such a luminous look of love in her expression that Beth felt her throat start to close up and she was swamped by a mixture of contempt and anger. So much for his comments to her. It was quite plain that his companion believed that she had a very special and intimate relationship with him. Beth only had to witness the way he lifted her hand to his face, gently touching his cheek, to see that.
Her stomach churned with nauseating disgust. Not for the older woman, who plainly believed that Alex returned the feelings Beth could see so clearly revealed on her face, but for Alex, who quite obviously had no compunction whatsoever about what he was doing.
So much for the family gathering he had told her he was attending. But why was she so shocked—and so upset? Surely what she had just witnessed only confirmed what she already knew—that, quite simply, he was not to be trusted. Instead of feeling this helpless, anguished sense of loss and betrayal, she ought to be feeling pleased that her suspicions were vindicated.
She was pleased that they had been vindicated, Beth assured herself doggedly. She was more than pleased—she was delighted. Delighted.
* * *
‘Have you seen the Charles Bridge yet?’
Beth shook her head, not wanting to allow Alex to engage her in any unnecessary conversation. After what she had seen last night she had made herself a vow that she would make it plain to him that there was no way she was going to fall for his cynical manipulation of her feelings.
In fact just as soon as she had had her breakfast she had approached the hotel manager to ask if there was any chance that another interpreter might now be free, but once again she had met with the same response. The conventions taking place in the city meant that it was impossible for them to provide her with this service.
Tempted though Beth had been to tell Alex that she simply no longer required his help, common sense had forced her to acknowledge that this would be cutting off her nose to spite her face. Although it was true that most Czechs could either speak or understand English, Beth needed to be very sure of exactly what was being said if she should decide to give any of the factories an order, and she also needed someone to help her negotiate the best possible price she could for whatever she might decide to order, and that meant having someone with her who had a proper grasp of the Czech language.
However, there was one thing she could do, and that was make sure that she spent as little time as possible with Alex Andrews, and to that end Beth had decided that today, instead of only visiting two factories, she would insist that they manage to visit three, which meant that would leave her with only another half a dozen on her list.
‘No? Then I shall take you to see it,’ Alex was announcing, ignoring Beth’s steely silence. ‘I expect you already know that it was the first permanent bridge to be built in Northern Europe and—’
‘Yes, I have read the guidebooks,’ Beth interrupted him shortly. ‘But as for seeing it...’ She shook her head and told him briskly, ‘I’m here on business, and that has to take priority over everything else...’
As she spoke she coul
dn’t resist looking towards the gift shop. The lustres were still there, tantalisingly.
She gave a sigh.
‘I have been thinking,’ Alex told her quietly. ‘If good-quality reproduction Venetian baroque crystal is what you are looking for then my cousins’ factory is most definitely somewhere you should visit. If you should wish to visit I’m sure I could arrange something.’
‘Yes, I’m sure you could,’ Beth agreed sarcastically. Just how stupid did he think she was?
‘Is your cousins’ factory mentioned on my list?’ she asked him, already knowing what the answer would be.
As she had known he would, Alex shook his head as she held her list out to him.
‘These factories were originally state-owned, and though they are now back in private hands they do not... My cousins’ factory is not like them. It does not cater to the mass market. Until the Revolution they mainly supplied the Russian hierarchy.’
‘Fascinating though the history of your family undoubtedly is—to you,’ she told him coolly, ‘I’m afraid that I simply don’t have time to listen to it.’ She glanced at her watch. ‘There are three factories I want to see today, so I suggest that we make a start...’
She could see that Alex was starting to frown.