Brand of Possession

‘God, that’s crueller than knowing nothing at all!’

‘Oh, I don’t know. At least I had someone, most of the children there had no one.’

‘Yes, but to know you had a mother who couldn’t even take you home!’

‘And didn’t want to, not if it meant losing what she had,’ she told him dully. ‘Do you have any children?’

‘Me? No.’ He appeared shaken by her question.

‘Well, don’t look so surprised. You have been married.’

‘There are no children,’ Jake said harshly.

‘There’s no need to bite my head off. It could have been a possibility.’

‘I’ll tell you about my marriage some time,’ he said.

She wished he would tell her about it now. She wanted to know all about this woman he had loved enough to marry, wanted to know what she had to make him want her for his wife. ‘I’d like that,’ she told him huskily.

‘And in the meantime you’ll stay on here?’

‘I wasn’t angling when I said I couldn’t afford to stay,’ she snapped.

He sighed. ‘I know that. Will you stay?’

‘No. If I did that I would become what everyone already thinks I am.’

‘And that is?’

‘Your mistress,’ she supplied. ‘Your kept woman.’

‘But you’ll know you aren’t.’

‘I’ll know and you’ll know, but I don’t see why I should add to gossip by giving anyone the satisfaction of knowing I’m being kept by you. I couldn’t do it anyway. Much as I like this hotel, I would simply be here to amuse you, your plaything. I don’t like being under obligation to anyone.’

‘Too much independence,’ he said impatiently.

‘I’ve learnt over the years only to depend on myself, you stand less chance of being let down that way.’

‘I think I’d better get you in to lunch,’ said Jake, ‘you’re getting maudlin. After we’ve eaten I have to return to the location site. I’ve taken enough time off for one day. But we can meet for dinner later. Perhaps you’d like to go somewhere different to eat, away from all the curious eyes.’

And Paul Forbes! She would welcome that. ‘That would be nice,’ she agreed eagerly.

They parted after lunch, Stacy going up to her room and Jake back to work. She found a letter from Juliet, propped up on the dressing-table informing her that she was by the pool.

Stacy was undecided about joining her. Matthew was bound to be with her and she wasn’t sure of his reaction to seeing her again. After the brief attraction they had had for each other Matthew had become the nearest thing to a brother she had ever had, and he would not be very pleased with her for making him sit up half the night on her account.

But he had to be faced, and by the pool was perhaps the best place for that. He would be relaxed and not so likely to make a scene.

Her two friends were on loungers beside the blue water when she came down, the remains of a buffet lunch on the table between them. She sat down on a third lounger, looking at Matthew uncertainly.

‘You were right about the four pairs of hands,’ she told him lightly, rubbing oil on to her bikini-clad body.

‘So I gathered,’ he said distantly.

‘Matthew?’ She looked at him pleadingly.

‘What do you want me to say?’ He sat up angrily. ‘You look a mess, your face, your arms—just a complete mess. And all because you wouldn’t listen to reason.’