The Boss's Virgin

Watching him from behind lowered lashes, Pippa caught the frowning look he threw across the room at his wife and wished she knew precisely what was going on inside his head. Clearly it had thrown him to see Renata here—but just what sort of shock had it been? There was a streak of dark red across his strong cheekbones, a little tic under one eye. Randal was trying to seem calm and in control, but obviously he was nothing of the kind.

The waiter came and took their order. She had melon, too, with fruit and the raspberry sorbet, followed by halibut in a light orange sauce.

Johnny talked excitedly about an adventure trip he had been taken on by the school the previous week. ‘We camped in the woods and did canoeing and climbed trees—I climbed to the top of one, and I didn’t fall out, but Jamie fell and broke his wrist so he can’t do games or swim and can only write one-handed. And we ran races. I got a blister as big as this…’ He measured an improbable size with his fingers. ‘It burst and pink stuff came out…’

‘Thank you, very interesting, but no medical details while we’re eating,’ his father said. ‘I’m glad you had a great time. But be careful climbing trees. You don’t want to break your wrist, do you?’

‘No. Jamie screamed,’ Johnny said thoughtfully. ‘Screamed and screamed. And now he’s got plaster on his wrist and can’t do anything. We all wrote our names on the plaster and drew cartoons.’

As they were drinking their coffee Renata and the blond Australian came past and paused. She gave a dazzling smile to Randal and purred, ‘We’d like to take Johnny for a drive to have tea somewhere—would that be okay? It’s ages since I saw him. Please, Randal?’

Randal considered her dispassionately, his grey eyes remote, then looked at his son. ‘Up to you, Johnny. Do you want to go for a drive with Mummy and Alex?’

Pippa read his uneasy hesitation, the uncertainty in his eyes. He sneaked a look at the blond golf champion. Was Alex a hero to him? wondered Pippa as he slowly said, ‘Well, okay, then, if you don’t mind, Dad.’

‘Whatever you want to do is okay with me, Johnny,’ Randal reassured firmly, and the boy’s face lightened.

‘Come on,’ Renata said, offering her hand, and he got up from the table and went with her. Over her shoulder she said to Randal, ‘See you at dinner.’

When they had gone Randal let out a long, rough sigh. ‘There wasn’t any choice, was there? I couldn’t refuse to let him go while he was there, listening. I don’t want him blaming me because he never sees her.’

‘I’m sure he wouldn’t. You seem to have a great relationship, the two of you.’

He smiled at her. ‘Do you think so? Well, I hope so. It isn’t that I want to stop her seeing him—I wish she visited him more often—but Renata is given to arbitrary fits of spite. She might suddenly decide to take off with him, not bring him back—only to get bored with the game after a day or two and dump him, and Johnny could get hurt.’

Dryly, Pippa said, ‘I don’t think she’ll run off with him. I think she’s looking forward to playing a very different game tonight, at dinner.’

He gave her a shrewd, sharp look. ‘What are you talking about?’

Pippa lifted a shoulder in a shrug. ‘She may enjoy having a succession of men, but I got the impression she was still interested in you. Maybe she’s the type to want to keep any man she’s owned once on a leash, and she resents the fact that you got away.’

‘Do you think so?’ he asked, finishing his coffee.

Pippa did not add that she also suspected that his ex-wife had not been pleased to see him with another woman, especially one who was a good ten years younger.

‘If you’re ready, shall we check out our rooms and unpack?’ he suggested, rising, and she agreed, following him out to the reception area. They collected their keys and took the lift upstairs to the first floor.

Pippa let herself into her own room; Randal stood at the door, staring round, frowning. The room was small but comfortable, with a single bed. On a luggage rack against the wall stood Johnny’s overnight bag.

‘They obviously thought Johnny was going to be using this room,’ Pippa said, seeing a connecting door open, leading into another room.

Randal walked over there and went through into what turned out to be a sitting room. Pippa followed him across that into a third room, a spacious double bedroom with twin beds covered in blue silk brocade that matched the floor-length curtains. It was a charming room, with elegant eighteenth-century furniture. On the luggage rack were her suitcase and Randal’s side by side.

She turned on him. ‘You can’t have made it clear that this room was for you and Johnny! They obviously thought you and I would be sharing this room, while the smaller room was for the child.’

‘I didn’t discuss the sleeping arrangements with the booking staff!’ he said irritably. ‘I just asked for a double suite and one single room. I’ll ring down now and get you a better room.’

‘No, don’t bother—that room is fine.’ She picked up her own case. ‘I’ll unpack. Would you collect Johnny’s case and unpack for him?’

He took her case from her. ‘Look, I’m sorry, Pippa. I didn’t realise they would give you such a tiny room.’

‘It doesn’t matter; it’s only for a couple of days.’

‘You can use the sitting room as much as you like!’ he offered in placation, carrying her case into her small bedroom.

She deliberately checked that there was a bolt on the inside of her bedroom door. ‘Thank you.’

‘Will you mind having dinner with Renata and Alex tonight?’ he asked, removing Johnny’s case from the luggage rack.