‘I have no intention of giving them a free show,’ he told her with a smile, keeping his voice low and only for her ears.
Suzanne saw that the hotel porter was also watching them and she felt rather resentful at their intrusion into her perfect evening. But of course it hadn’t been perfect! Hadn’t the Conte Cesare Martino seen to that? Oh well, the latter part had more than made up for it. ‘Goodnight, Vidal,’ she said huskily. ‘I’ll look forward to hearing from you.’
The intimate glow in his eyes was his only indication that he would have liked to do more than politely kiss the back of her hand. Blushing prettily, she gave him one last glowing smile before pressing the button to close the lift doors. She hugged herself tightly. Wasn’t he wonderful, perfect, all that she had ever wanted in a man! And yet still the nagging doubt remained. No flashing lights and sounds of thunder. She dismissed this as unimportant, it had to be. Celeste must be right, because this had to be love she felt. It had to be!
She walked dreamily into her room, discarding her evening bag and her shoes before looking at her reflection in the mirror. She didn’t look any different, a little starry-eyed perhaps, but that was all. Shouldn’t there be something more than that to show how gloriously happy she felt, something more tangible than this bubbling feeling inside?
The door flew open without warning and Celeste marched purposefully into the room, interrupting and breaking into Suzanne’s dream world. ‘What a liar you are, Suzanne!’ she spat out with a sneer. She looked about the room as if she were surprised to see Suzanne alone. ‘Where is he, then? Skulking in the bathroom?’
‘Where is who?’ Suzanne’s eyes were bewildered. ‘What are you talking about, Celeste? Who could possibly be in my room at this time of night?’
Celeste gave a harsh laugh. ‘Don’t act the innocent with me, Suzanne. Not any more. I saw you—I saw you, I tell you! Out there in the garden!’
Suzanne began to look apprehensive. ‘You—You saw me?’ Oh, God, no! Celeste would never forgive her.
Celeste walked about the hotel room, a mocking smile marring her beauty. ‘Mmm. Mooning about the garden with your gigolo.’
‘Gigolo?’
‘Yes, gigolo. He could hardly be anything else, he thinks you’re rich, remember? I was right, wasn’t I? It was Carlo. How could you do it, Suzanne!’ She sat down on the bed. ‘You know my position here. You know how important it is that we retain an air of respectability. The Martino family won’t stand for any scandal. If it’s known that my stepdaughter keeps company with the waiters then the respectable appearance we’ve built up here will become non-existent. How could you do it, Suzanne? How could you!’
Suzanne felt a glimmer of hope. Celeste didn’t realise that her companion in the garden had been Vidal Martino, and she certainly wasn’t going to tell her. ‘You believe I was with Carlo?’
Her stepmother shrugged. ‘What does it matter which one of the waiters it was? You may go out with anyone you choose when at home in Manchester, but not here. I won’t allow it. If Vidal Martino gets to hear of this affair you’ll ruin my chances.’
‘V-Vidal Martino?’ Suzanne echoed hollowly. How could he not hear of it when it had been him all the time?
‘Yes, Vidal Martino!’ Celeste stood up angrily. ‘So this little flirtation must stop. Do you understand?’
‘Celeste, you can’t—–’
‘I can, Suzanne! This affair stops or you’ll return to that hovel you call home immediately. I mean it, Suzanne,’ she walked to the door. ‘So you’d better tell your little friend that it’s over.’
Suzanne stared at the closed door. Well! Just who did Celeste think she was? How dared she walk in here and proceed to order her life? The fact that Celeste considered her to have been meeting a waiter and not Vidal made no difference. She had no right to come in here and issue orders concerning Suzanne’s conduct. No right at all.
She walked restlessly about the room. Celeste must have seen her from the window of her own hotel room, they both had that view from their window. Obviously the darkness had prevented her from recognising Vidal, but her own golden hair must have shown up very clearly in the moonlight. Thank God she hadn’t actually seen the person who was with her; there was no telling what she would have done if she had known that.
Suzanne was late down to breakfast the next morning. She had tossed and turned most of the night. She was feeling so indignantly angry that she had great trouble getting to sleep at all. Celeste’s reprimand had stayed in her thoughts late into the night until finally she fell into a restless sleep.
Celeste was just finishing her coffee when Suzanne arrived at their table. She looked at her stepdaughter critically. ‘That’s a pretty dress,’ she remarked coolly.
Suzanne sat down reluctantly; she had hoped Celeste would already have breakfasted. ‘You’ve seen it before. You paid for it.’
‘There’s no need to be bitchy, Suzanne. I only said what I did last night for your own good. My marriage will benefit you as much as it does me.’
‘Why?’ Suzanne asked sharply. ‘Because I’ll get you out of my life once more? You don’t know how much I wish for that, Celeste. If I’d realised just how obnoxious you were going to be I wouldn’t have agreed to come here at all. I’ve managed without you so far and I’ll do so again.’ She poured herself a cup of coffee. ‘I can’t wait for the day.’
‘No one forced you to come here, Suzanne. Luxury appealed to you, didn’t it?’
‘Yes, it did, I don’t mind admitting it. But I wish now that I hadn’t bothered—I can’t stand being here with you.’
‘Now that’s a shame, because I quite like you. You’re like your father in many ways.’
‘Will you leave my father out of this!’ Suzanne’s cup clattered down into the saucer. ‘I couldn’t give a damn what you do with your life, but leave my father out of it.’
‘All right, Suzanne, I will. We never liked each other, did we? Perhaps you were right and I shouldn’t have shut you out of our life together. We would maybe have been friends then. Well, it’s too late now,’ she crumpled her napkin and stood up. ‘I’ll be seeing Vidal this morning, so you please yourself what you do.’
‘Thanks.’ Suzanne obstinately kept her eyes downwards, helping herself to a piece of toast and concentrating on spreading it with butter. ‘I was going to anyway.’
Celeste laughed, looking beautiful and vital in a black and white spotted sun-dress. ‘That’s what I thought. I may be out all day, so it’s up to you what you do. As long as you don’t meet that waiter,’ she added darkly.
‘I’ll meet who I please, when I please,’ Suzanne looked at her defiantly. Celeste’s casual mentioning, of her expected meeting with Vidal only made her feel more angry and contemptuous. How could Vidal help but find the attractive and sophisticated Celeste more beautiful than she?
‘Not on my money you won’t,’ was Celeste’s parting shot.
Suzanne suddenly wasn’t hungry. Her appetite hadn’t been too great to start with, but now it was non-existent. She left the dining-room to collect her bathing things and then went to the pool, intending to spend the morning lazing beside the pool and bathing in the soothing water.
Carlo, the waiter, brought her out a long cool lime juice at her request, placing it on the low table beside her. ‘Miss Hammond,’ he began nervously. ‘Someone is asking for you in reception, someone of importance,’ he indicated her bikini. ‘It would not be proper to meet him dressed so.’
Suzanne’s eyes opened wide at Carlo’s tone of rebuke. It wasn’t usual for the staff at this expensive hotel