‘He only took you to bed because he feels sorry for you,’ Suzi continued. ‘He told me himself that you’d been coming on to him, that you were gagging for it,’ she added crudely.
Gagging for it! Polly actually felt as though she might be sick. The thought of Marcus even discussing her with someone else, never mind in such crude and cruel terms, tore at her sensitivities as sharply as though her flesh had been raked over by a leopard’s claws and each tiny wound was drawing blood, her self-esteem mortally poisoned.
Even so, no matter what her feelings were, she had at least to try to defend herself, and she did so by taking a deep breath and telling Suzi quietly, ‘Only a few minutes ago you told me that he only took me to bed because you weren’t available. Now you say it was because he felt sorry for me. Perhaps you’d better make your mind up exactly what it is that did motivate him!’
‘I know what motivated him,’ Suzi assured her sharply, ‘and if you hadn’t made it pathetically obvious that you were available to him he would never…It’s no wonder Marcus has got such a low opinion of you.’
Polly bit down hard on her bottom lip to stop herself from crying out in pain. She had no idea how the other woman knew about last night, although logically she knew there was only one way she could know. Marcus himself must have told her.
Polly could feel herself writhing inwardly in self-loathing. Was that why he had left ahead of his early-morning call? Because he had been overwhelmed with remorse and longing for the woman he really loved, because he had wanted to make a clean breast of what had happened to Suzi before he left for China, to beg her forgiveness and—?
‘You might think you’ve been clever,’ Suzi went on venomously, ‘but you haven’t. What you’ve actually been is incredibly stupid. Men aren’t like us. Sex is just a game to them, a challenge and sex with a woman like you…’ She gave another dismissive shrug. ‘Like I’ve told you, I’m the one he loves. The one he’s going to marry.’
Polly could feel her head starting to swim. She felt dizzy and nauseous and emotionally battered by the insults and rebukes Suzi had flung at her, as though she had actually physically abused her. The other woman’s aggression, whilst it might be understandable in view of her relationship with Marcus, was so alien to Polly’s own behaviour that Polly felt completely unable to deal with it.
She had on occasion had to deal with unpleasant guests, but there had never, ever been anything, anyone in her life before like this. Perhaps she was weak and naive, she acknowledged; perhaps her life had been too confined and sheltered; but alongside her own deep shame at what she had done and the way she had succumbed to her love for Marcus ran an equally deep seam of distaste and, yes, even revulsion against Suzi. But Suzi was the woman Marcus loved.
‘I appreciate what you’re saying,’ Polly told her quietly, with as much dignity as she could muster, ‘but really, don’t you think it’s a subject you might be better off discussing with Marcus—?’
‘My, my, aren’t we the ladylike one?’ Suzi cut across what Polly was trying to say caustically. ‘Ladylike in bed with him as well, were you? All simpering “Yes, please” and “No thank you”?’
‘Well, let me give you a piece of advice. In future keep away from him. He’s mine, and unless you want me to make what you’ve done public…I’m sure that Briony would love Chris’s family to hear about the way her mother behaves and the kind of moral values she has, for instance,’ she threatened.
The mild ache in Polly’s temples had become a full, throbbing tension-induced headache of mega proportions, the pain so intense that Polly could barely see straight, never mind think straight, but from somewhere she managed to find the presence of mind to tell Suzi simply, ‘I know that I ought to be feeling rather sorry for myself, but somehow you’re the one I feel sorry for, Suzi…’
And then, without giving the other woman a chance to retaliate, she stepped quickly past her and headed for the hotel exit, her head held high, her body under rigid control as she fought to conceal her trembling legs.
Once outside Suzi’s eyesight, though, she couldn’t maintain the pretence. Her stomach was churning, her whole body shaking, her face so paper-white that a female passer-by actually stopped to ask her anxiously if she was feeling all right.
‘Yes…just a headache…’ Polly fibbed before hailing a passing taxi.
She still had to check out of the hotel and collect her overnight case. The room, much to her consternation, actually held a faint, agonising echo of Marcus’s scent.