Bianca couldn’t argue with him in front of them. She got up from the couch. ‘I’ll go and change, then.’
‘Don’t be long or I’ll come and look for you,’ Gil said without caring what her children thought.
She gave him a furious look and hurried out. Upstairs she chose a dress he hadn’t seen, and was about to slip into it when there was a tap on her door.
‘Yes?’ she called warily.
‘It’s me,’ said Vicky.
‘Oh...’ Bianca sighed. She had hoped to avoid a discussion with her daughter until she got back later tonight, but obviously Vicky had no intention of waiting. ‘Come in,’ she added.
Vicky came in, closing the door behind her. She looked oddly younger suddenly, a little helpless, her mouth faintly prim, her hazel eyes accusing, as if her mother had behaved badly.
‘Who is he? You didn’t tell us you’d got involved with some Spaniard, and I bet I know why you kept him so quiet. Do you know anything about him? I mean, he probably thinks you’re a rich widow; he looks like a guy on the make to me!’
‘Vicky!’ Bianca laughed with impatience. ‘You couldn’t be more wrong! He has far more money than me and—’
‘Oh, you’re so naive,’ Vicky said crossly. ‘These men haunt holiday resorts just to pick up women like you. I mean, just look at him... all that tanned skin, that solid gold Carrier watch, and those clothes—you should know they’re high fashion. His suit’s
Armani, Mum! It will have cost an arm and a leg. And he’s too good-looking to be real; he has to be a phoney.’
‘He can afford Armani—he owned the hotel I was staying at!’ Bianca told her, and Vicky’s mouth dropped open.
‘You’re kidding!’
‘No, and it was one of the best luxury hotels in Marbella—there were about six swimming-pools in the garden complex, and it had its own private beach.’
‘And... he owns it?’ Vicky still wasn’t convinced.
‘Not only that, he’s building another one, down the coast, a luxury sports centre-cum-hotel. So forget any idea of him chasing me for your father’s insurance money or my shop. I’m not in the same league.’ Bianca looked at her watch. ‘Now, I want to get changed—out you go, Vicky.’
Vicky was staring at her fixedly, mouth open. ‘What on earth does he see in you, then?’
‘Go, Vicky,’ Bianca said, furious and laughing at the same time, and took her by the Shoulders and pushed her out of the room, locking the door behind her.
She took ten minutes to get ready and then stood in front of the dressing-table mirror in an agony of uncertainty, staring at her reflection.
Vicky was right, after all. What on earth did Gil see in her? What could he want with a forty-year-old mother of two who wasn’t sophisticated or witty or beautiful or rich?
Her blue eyes were as dark as the evening sky as she thought about it without coming up with any answer.
What did she want from Gil, come to that?
It was a mystery. She took a deep breath and turned away from the mirror. She wanted him, that was all she knew. Maybe that was all Gil knew too?
She went slowly down the stairs and he stood at the bottom of them, watching her come, with an expression that made her shake with fever. Desire had its own reasons that the mind could not explain.
From the sitting-room her two children watched her and Gil, their faces baffled, disapproving, worried. Vicky and Tom loved her and were afraid she might get hurt, she thought, understanding. She was afraid of that too, but sometimes you had to take a leap into the dark.
‘I’m ready,’ she said huskily, and took the hand Gil held out to her. They went out into the spring evening together. Bianca felt her heart lift at the scent of hyacinths and the soft fall of the dusk. Life was mysterious and unpredictable...