Love Me

Episode 19

Hi there,’ Nichol began genially, but before David could say anything his

telephone began to ring.

‘Excuse me a moment, will you?’ he said apologetically, leaving the three of

them together as he hurried into the library to answer the phone.

‘I don’t think we’ve met,’ Nick began coyly, ignoring Kelly to smile

provocatively at Nichol.

Nichol, Nick .’ Kelly introduced them mechanically. Nichol is my

boss and—’

‘So you work for the Trust as well, do you?’ Nick commented.

Nichol is the Trust,’ Kelly told her, thoroughly exasperated by the other

woman’s manner.

‘Oh...how very interesting,’ she responded softly, immediately crossing the

hall to Nichol’s side, turning her back on Kelly. ‘You must tell me more...’

Quite how Nick managed to invite herself to join them when they went to

City wasn’t quite sure, but invite herself she most certainly had.

Nichol obviously didn’t share her own dislike of her, she recognised as she saw

the bemused male appreciation with which he was regarding the older woman.

By the time David rejoined them Nick was purring seductively to Nichol.

‘So you’re staying at the Bella. I’ve heard it’s the last word in luxury...’

‘It sure is,’ Nichol agreed enthusiastically. ‘My suite is really something else isn’t it, Kelly?’

‘Yes, it is,’ Kelly agreed colourlessly. Out of the corner of her eye she could

see David switching his concentration from Nichol and Nick to her, frowning as

he did so.

It wasn’t her fault that his lady-friend, his lover, was showing an interest in

Nichol... Kelly had seen women expressing such an interest before, of course;

Nichol was an extremely wealthy man and a very, very charming one. In the past

he had often made a joke of their pursuit of him, warning Kelly that it was part

of her job to keep them at bay. For his age he was extremely fit and physically

he looked attractive. He still had a full head of silver hair and his eyes held a

warm twinkle, but to prefer him to David... Or was it perhaps his bank balance that

was attracting the other woman? Kelly wondered unkindly.

In the end, all four of them drove over to City Hall in David’s Rolls Royce,

with Nick pulling a small face as she coaxed Nichol to sit in the back with her.

‘This really is the most uncomfortable old thing, David,’ she complained,

adding to Nichol in a sugary sweet voice, ‘I keep telling him he should buy

himself a decent four-wheel drive. In all the years I’ve known David, he’s never

owned a decent car. You Australian make such wonderful ones...so luxurious

and comfortable...’

‘Well, I guess we have the country for them,’ Nichol agreed with a smile. ‘You

and David are old friends then?’

Nick pouted.

‘Well, we certainly go back a long way—although I only moved to

Sydney a short time ago and, by coincidence, I discovered that David was one

of my new neighbours and we were able to renew old acquaintances.’

Some coincidence, Kelly reflected ironically, irritated by Nick’s behaviour.

What on earth did David see in her? Surely he could see what type of woman she

was—how unworthy of him she was?

When they arrived at City Hall, Nick made a big performance of

climbing out of the Rolls Royce, thanking Nichol effusively for helping her,

leaning heavily on his arm as she complained about the uneven gravel on the

forecourt.

‘You should have worn flat shoes like Kelly,’ David told her.

‘Flat shoes...? Ugh, no, never.’ She shuddered. ‘I always wear high heels,’ she

confided to Nichol. ‘I think they’re so much more feminine.’ Lifting her foot, she

held out one slim, elegant ankle for his inspection.

‘Very pretty,’ Nichol approved, ‘but you’d better hang onto me. We don’t want you to hurt yourself.’

As they toured the house, Kelly’s irritation with Nick grew. Every time she

made a comment, Nick had to chip in, diverting Nichol’s attention from the

house to herself, accompanying each successful attempt to do so with a look of

acid triumph in Kelly’s direction. Really, the woman was totally impossible.

They weren’t in competition for his approval...his affections, for goodness’ sake.

She was simply trying to do her job. If David’s lover wanted to flirt with Nichol,

that was totally her business and David’s. All that Kelly wished was that she had

chosen another time to do so.

‘The Bella sounds the most fabulous hotel. I’d love to see it... I’ve been

planning to go to Europe for some time... I need some new clothes and there’s

nowhere .’ Nick gave a small, fastidious shudder as they finally

headed back to the Rolls Royce.

‘You were? Say, why don’t you come back with me, then? Kelly’s going to

drive me to airport and—’Nichol began politely.

‘Come to Europe and stay at the Bella as your guest...?’ Nick pounced

immediately. ‘Oh, how wonderful and how kind of you. I’d love to...’ she

breathed huskily.

Kelly, who guessed that Nichol had simply been suggesting that they travel

together, could only marvel at the other woman’s sang-froid and her cheek. She

would never have dared to behave as Nick had just done. But Nichol, far from

looking displeased, was almost beaming from ear to ear.

Kelly waited until they were back at the Rectory and Nick had disappeared

to ‘tidy herself up’ before taking Nichol to one side, out of David’s earshot, to warn

him discreetly, Nichol, Nick is David’s girlfriend and I don’t think—’

‘So far as I am concerned, Nick is a free agent. If she wants to go to Europe

with Nichol then that’s up to her.’ Kelly bit her lip as David interrupted her. He

had been on the other side of the hallway, but then his hearing had always been

extremely sharp. It went with his job.

‘I’m afraid I’m going to have to go home and collect a few things,’ Nick

apologised gushingly to Nichol as she came back downstairs. ‘I don’t want to

keep you waiting.’

Grimly Kelly watched as she batted heavily mascaraed eyelashes in Nichol’s

direction.

‘No problem,’ he assured her. ‘There are a few things Kelly and I need to

discuss and I guess David too. You take all the time you need, my dear.’

‘I expect the Bella is very dressy,’Nick murmured appreciatively.

‘Charming woman,’ Nichol commented warmly after she had gone. ‘Yes, she is,’ David agreed.

‘About as charming as a piranha,’ Kelly muttered between clenched teeth

behind their backs before reminding Nichol curtly, ‘I’ve got preliminary

estimates for some of the work here if you want to see them. I have faxed copies

off to Sydney, but...’

Kelly, you’re so efficient,’ Nichol told her, smiling benignly at her. ‘I keep

telling her,David, that she needs to relax a bit more...have fun... When was the last

time you spent a day shopping for yourself?’ he challenged her before she could

say anything.

‘I shopped in Paris,’ she told him dismissively.

‘Yes, I know. I was there, remember...? I took her to ’ he told David.

‘And what did she do? She told me that the clothes were far too expensive. What

do you do with a woman like that?’

‘They were too expensive,’ Kelly told him defensively. Too expensive for

her at any rate, and although she knew that Nichol would happily have offered to

buy an outfit for her he was still her employer and she had no intention of taking

advantage of his generosity. Even so, it hurt to know that he was comparing her

to Nick and perhaps finding her less feminine, less womanly, and in

front of David. It was plain what both of them were thinking: that somehow she

was less fun than the other woman—less of a woman. Well, let them think what

they liked, she decided angrily. She was there to do a job, not to...to flirt and bat

her eyelashes.

‘She’s a wonderful girl,’ she heard Nichol telling David as she went to get the

papers she wanted him to see. ‘But she works too hard, takes life too seriously.’

After she had dropped Nichol and Nick off at the airport, her head aching from

listening to the other woman’s flirtatious comments, instead of heading back to

Sydne, Kelly drove on impulse to Europe itself and parked the

Discovery outside the boutique that a kindly taxi driver had

directed her to.

A pretty, girl who could have been European but wasn’t brought her

the trouser suit she had seen in the window.

The diffusion range might be cheaper than the designer originals but it was

still expensive. Even so... As she turned and twisted in front of the mirror,

studying her reflection in the flatteringly cut suit, Kelly admitted that she

couldn’t resist it. Neither could she resist the matching shirt that went with couldn’t resist it. Neither could she resist the matching shirt that went with it.

So, she was dull and boring and unfeminine, was she? Well, she might not

wear three-inch heels, and she certainly didn’t flutter her eyelashes, but she was

still a woman...very much a woman...more than woman enough to ache with

longing for David. Oh, yes, she was more than woman enough for that! ‘YOU’VE been a long time. What happened?’

Guiltily Kelly spun round, dropping her carrier bag as she did so. She

had arrived back at the Rectory five minutes ago and had decided to go straight

to her room, but she had just reached the top of the stairs when David emerged

from his room, his curt comment coupled with her own guilt startling her.

‘You’ve been shopping,’ he said sharply in disbelief, answering his own

question as he saw the bag she had just dropped and the contents spilled out

from it onto the carpet.

‘What if I have?’ Kelly retorted defensively, bending down to gather up her

purchases but not fast enough to match David who had bent and got there before

her, scooping up the soft, expensive cloth and then, pausing, shocking her by

removing it completely from the carrier. He studied what she had bought and

then lifted his gaze to her flushed face.

‘New clothes. Now, then, I wonder what motivated you to do that?’ he asked

her softly.

‘What I choose to do with my time and my money is no business of yours,’

Kelly snapped sharply at him.

But he ignored her, taunting her softly, ‘What exactly are you trying to do,

Kelly? Compete with Nick? You can’t. You don’t have the right type

of...assets.’

Furious with him, and with herself because his taunting remarks weren’t just

making her angry, they were hurting her badly as well, Kelly exploded into

angry self-defence.

‘If by “the right type of assets” you mean I don’t use my womanhood, my

sexuality, as some kind of...of cheap means of attracting men, then I’m glad to

say that I don’t,’ she agreed.

‘Really? Then why go and buy this? David challenged her softly, indicating the

trouser suit.