Helen frowned. ‘Shouldn’t he be in Portugal filming?’
Max nodded. ‘He should be. But he isn’t doing the film.’
‘You mean he broke his contract?’ Helen was horrified.
‘Not exactly. They’ve given him a couple of months to sort himself out.’
‘Sort himself out?’
Max frowned, obviously undecided about talking of his employer. ‘Mr Masters has a problem,’ he finally admitted to her. ‘A drink problem.’
Helen paled even more. She had done this to Leon, she knew it even without being told. And now she owed it to him to help him. He had been determined to help her, and now she owed him the same consideration.
‘He’s in his flat now?’ She came to her decision.
‘Yes, madam.’ Max looked relieved. ‘Are you going to see him?’
She took a deep breath. ‘Yes.’
‘Thank you, madam.’
Helen was shaken by his humility, her smile not quite steady as she took her leave of him. She was so nervous when she arrived outside the flat that her hand shook as she rang the bell.
The Leon who answered the door was nothing like the immaculate Leon she was accustomed to seeing; his hair was badly in need of cutting, lines of dissipation were grooved deeply beside his nose and mouth. The navy shirt and trousers looked as if he had slept in them, they were so badly creased. And she could see what Max meant by ‘a drink problem’. Leon had a tumblerful of whisky in his hand, and by the look of him it was far from being his first.
‘What the hell do you want?’ he demanded insultingly.
‘To come in?’ Helen suggested timidly.
He threw open the door. ‘Oh, come in by all means,’ Leon said nastily, turning to re-enter the lounge. ‘What have you come here for, another lesson?’
‘No,’ she denied instantly.
‘Then what do you want?’ he sneered. ‘To see how the mighty have fallen?
‘No!’
‘Because I have fallen, Helen,’ he said bitterly, his eyes tortured as he looked at her. ‘God, how I still want you!
‘You do?’ she asked breathlessly, hopefully.
‘Yes! But you look as bad as I feel.’
‘And I feel as bad as I look.’
‘So do I,’ he admitted with a groan. ‘God, we’re destroying each other!’
‘Yes,’ she agreed.
Leon took a deep breath. ‘So why are you here?’
‘I saw Max downstairs. He asked me to come up and see you.’
‘Would you have bothered if he hadn’t?’ he snapped.
Helen shook her head. ‘I thought you were in Portugal.’
‘And instead I’m here roaring drunk. So where do we go from here?’