Lynne Pemberton – Platinum Coast (страница 18)
Christina sighed and thought about the wonderful time they had shared in London four weeks previously. Stephen was a very different man this weekend. She was dozing in front of an old black and white movie when Stephen and Victoria returned home by taxi two hours later. Christina could tell that Stephen had been drinking as he bounded into the living-room. She noticed two scarlet spots of colour standing out on his cheeks as he sat down next to her.
‘How’s the lovely injured Christina?’
‘All the better for seeing you.’ She touched his hot cheek and leaned forward to kiss him. He jumped up as if he had been stung as Victoria bounced into the room, cheeks ablaze with excited colour and eyes sparkling.
Christina groaned inwardly. Victoria did not look in the least bit tired.
‘How about a game of Monopoly?’ She began to rummage in an old oak chest, pulling out an assortment of board games.
Stephen looked at the Victorian carriage clock on the carved mantelpiece and said, not firmly enough in Christina’s opinion, ‘I think it’s bedtime.’
Victoria pouted, it’s only ten o’clock. I don’t usually go to bed until eleven on weekends.’
She held the Monopoly box in front of Stephen’s face. ‘One quick game, please.’
‘Monopoly is not quick, Vicky, it takes hours,’ he sighed.
‘I don’t have to get up for school in the morning, Daddy. Please.’
Her big eyes pleaded with him.
‘Would you like to play, Christina?’ Stephen looked at her, his eyes imploring.
‘It’s best if we play at the big table in the dining-room. Christina would be uncomfortable there,’ Victoria announced, pulling on his sleeve. ‘Come on. Daddy. I can’t wait to buy up all the Mayfair properties.’
Stephen gently extracted his arm. ‘I think Christina should play. It’s more fun with three.’
A defiant look entered Victoria’s face, and Christina suspected she was about to throw a tantrum. She doubted she could stand it, so took the easy option, yawning deliberately and then stretching.
‘I’m very tired, Stephen, so I think I will leave Monopoly this time. I was never very good anyway.’
She saw the look of delight in Victoria’s eyes.
‘Can you help me, Stephen?’
‘Of course.’ He leaned down and put one strong arm around her back and another under her legs, lifting her into his arms.
‘You set up the board; I’ll be down in a few minutes, Vicky,’ he called.
‘Okay, will do, but don’t be too long,’ she replied, not saying goodnight to Christina, who held onto Stephen’s neck very tightly.
He helped her upstairs and lifted her onto the bed. ‘I’ll be fine now, Stephen. You go and play with Victoria.’
Christina tried to keep the resentment out of her voice, but he detected it.
‘She is my only child, Christina, and I don’t see as much of her as I’d like.’
Christina sighed. Victoria was just a little girl, and one who had lost her mother in tragic circumstances. What sort of man would Stephen be if he didn’t put his daughter first, at least some of the time? ‘I’m sorry. It’s just I would have liked a little time with you alone. I’d been looking forward to this weekend so much.’
‘I feel the same way, but it’s difficult for me to refuse her anything. I’m over-compensating for the loss of her mother.’
He sat on the edge of the bed and held both her hands.
‘Don’t take any notice of me, I’m just feeling sorry for myself,’ she said.
‘I’ll make it up to you later, as soon as I get Victoria to bed. You’ll forget all about your foot, I promise.’
‘And I promise to make you forget everything.’ She touched the front of his trousers.
‘I wish,’ he said, and kissed her full on the mouth, his hand seeking her breast and gently tweaking her nipple between thumb and forefinger.
Christina was immediately aroused and wrapped her arms around his neck.
‘Daddy, Daddy, the Monopoly’s all set up. Do you want a cup of cocoa or a brandy?’
‘I’d better go.’ Stephen lifted his head and Christina nodded, letting her arms fall by her sides.
‘See you later,’ he said as he left the room.
‘I may be asleep.’
‘Don’t worry, I’ll wake you up!’
She undressed slowly and hopped into the bathroom where she brushed her teeth, combed her hair, and doused herself in perfume. Not wearing her customary bedshirt or pyjamas, she limped across the room and, holding onto one of the bedposts, hoisted herself into bed.
She lay awake for a long time anticipating Stephen’s lovemaking, and eventually fell asleep, trusting he would wake her up.
Raindrops pattering on the bedroom window and an excruciating pain in her ankle woke her at dawn the following morning.
She struggled to sit up and squinted at her wristwatch. It was ten past six and she was alone.
Christina got up and found the bottle of pain-killers the doctor had given her. She took two in a tumbler of icy-cold water and staggered back to bed, sleeping fitfully for the next three hours until Stephen came to her room with a breakfast tray.
‘The top of the morning to you,’ he said, mimicking an Irish accent, and set the tray on the bed.
‘What happened to you last night?’ she snapped, and pulled herself into a sitting position, rubbing her eyes. ‘I stayed awake for ages waiting for you to come.’
‘I played Monopoly for almost an hour like a good, dutiful father, then I tucked my daughter up in bed and tiptoed down here, intending to be a good, dutiful lover. But you …’ – he pinched Christina’s leg – ‘… were in sweet dreams.’
‘I wouldn’t have minded if you’d woken me up!’
‘You looked so peaceful,’ he grinned. ‘Sorry.’
‘Don’t be.’ She slid her legs out of bed. ‘It’s your loss as much as mine.’
‘Come on, Christina, don’t be like that. I’ll make it up to you tonight.’ His voice was flippant.
‘Don’t make promises you may not be able to keep, Stephen.’ She began to limp to the bathroom, ‘I must do my teeth before I can eat breakfast.’
He ran round the bed to help her. She refused his arm, saying, ‘I can manage, Stephen. My foot’s a lot better this morning.’
He watched her shapely naked bottom disappearing into the bathroom and thought she had been right when she had said it was his loss.
‘That’s great. So do you think you’ll be able to make the gymkhana?’ he called after her.
‘I’m sure I shall,’ Christina shouted from the bathroom. I’ll get to that bloody gymkhana if it kills me! she thought.
The gymkhana was crowded, cold and very, very wet.
Stephen tramped around the muddy field for hours under a vast umbrella, arm in arm with Victoria, whilst Christina, hating every moment, sat in the car becoming more and more morose.
Victoria won a rosette for second place and talked non-stop about horses for the hour-long journey back to Purley Hall. It was almost six o’clock when the car pulled into the drive, and Christina had a splitting headache. She took a further two pain-killers and excused herself to lie down.
Hobbling downstairs an hour later she found Stephen and Victoria curled up in front of a log fire watching a video. He looked up briefly. ‘I’ll be with you in a moment, Christina; this is a really exciting bit.’
Victoria’s eyes did not leave the television screen.
She left them and walked towards the kitchen, where Dorothy was preparing a roast-beef dinner.
‘We usually have Sunday lunch, but Mr Reece-Carlton has to go abroad tomorrow so we’re having it tonight instead,’ she informed Christina, who looked surprised.
Stephen had not told her he was going away – but then, she was slowly learning, there were lots of things Stephen did not tell her.