Oriental Hotel Page 34

  He sat back, swirling brandy in its balloon and looking at her with his head on one side.

  ‘Do you know, you can be very persuasive?’

  She smiled faintly. For the moment it seemed that she had averted disaster. But for how long? Tomorrow when the meeting with the accountants was over, he might think of Hugh again and pick up the telephone. And what would Hugh say? ‘ I saw your wife at the Peninsula, old man. She was in one of the bedrooms with that fellow Brittain. Taking him a message from you, was she? Thought so! Knew a woman like Elise couldn’t be up to anything.’ And all the time those grey eyes would be watching, assimilating, calculating …

  I shall have to get to him first, Elise decided. It was the first coherent thought she had had. I shall either have to make up some story and hope he believes me, or just throw myself on his mercy. He’s always liked me, I think. And he seemed really concerned about me when we were on the Lively. Perhaps he will help me.

  Her mind made up, she felt better; tight-strung still, but not so helpless. She devoted all her energies towards making the evening with Gordon a success. It was at her request, after all, that he was here, sorting through their neglected records and hoping, perhaps, that his efforts might lead to a better relationship between them. Her own guilt and the knowledge of his vulnerability struck her afresh and a strange tenderness filled her. Crossing the room, she sat down beside him, tucking her head onto his shoulder and winding her arms around his waist. He looked down at her as though surprised, then put down his drink and slid his arm about her.

  ‘Elise … Elise …’

  Unexpected tears, the product of highly charged emotion, pricked at her eyes. ‘Please forgive me, Gordon!’

  His fingers slid under her hair, stroking the lines of her neck. ‘My dear, there is nothing to forgive.’

  ‘There is – there is!’ She had to say it, but he had no idea what she meant.

  ‘You worry too much. I’m not a young blood; as long as you’re here, Elise, that’s all I ask.’

  A tear spilled out and rolled down her nose. He was so good to her; he loved her. How could she deceive him in this way?

  Because, God forgive me, I can’t help myself …

  He seemed not to notice the tear and with an effort she swallowed back others which threatened to follow, turning her face into his shoulder.

  At once his lips touched her hair and she knew that he had misinterpreted her action, but she did not have the heart to tell him so.

  ‘Darling …’ He released her, then got up and crossed to the radiogram, lifting the needle in mid-record and setting down the heavy wooden lid. Then he came back to the sofa where she sat, holding out his hand.

  ‘Come to bed.’

  Her heart constricted. She looked up at him, at his gentle face and light blue eyes; at his hand stretched out to her in love; and she knew she had no choice.

  Forgive me, forgive me, I’m betraying them both …

  But there was no other way. Slowly she rose to her feet; Gordon’s arm went around her, urging her gently towards him, and she let him lead her up the stairs.

  Next morning, as soon as Gordon had left for his office, Elise bathed and dressed and then took the ferry to Hong Kong Island.

  Normally she rode on the First Class deck, looking out over the harbour and enjoying the cooling breeze. This morning, anxious to be as unobtrusive as possible, she took the other part of the pier leading down to the Second Class in the bowels of the boat. Sitting between an ancient Chinese and a pert young office worker, her back to the engine, she tried not to breathe in deeply, but still the fumes nauseated her. She tried to concentrate her thoughts on what she had to do. It was terrifying to have to see Hugh about such a sensitive matter, knowing that so much depended on his reaction.

  Lying sleepless the previous evening aftet Gordon had made love to her, she had wondered whether it might be best to ring Hugh first and make sure he would be at his office. But she had decided against this. Far better to take him slightly unawares, she concluded. Hugh would never be totally off guard, of course – his lightning brain was armour against that. But at least he would not have had time to concoct any of the clever-clever exchanges she thought she might expect from him if he had prior warning. Some of the advantage would be with her.

  Hugh’s family company was housed in one of the three-storey blocks on Kings Road. As she walked towards it the heat had already begun bouncing off the pavements and she knew it was going to be a hot day although it was still early in the year.

  Hugh’s receptionist looked slightly surprised as she went into the office, a quick, curious gleam of reaction that was hidden behind a businesslike manner almost as soon as it appeared.

  ‘Good morning, Mrs Sanderson.’

  ‘Good morning. Is Mr de Gama in?’

  ‘Yes. He has someone with him at the moment, though.’

  ‘It’s all right. I will wait.’ Elise sat down in one of the low comfortable chairs that furnished the outer office, crossing one slim brown leg over the other and settling her bag in her lap. Better not to ask if Hugh could see her and give this rather intimidating girl the chance to turn her away. Better to assume with apparent confidence that he would do so. But inwardly she was shaking; she found it impossible to recall any of the things she had intended to say to Hugh. Even now, but for the knowledge that it would only make the situation even worse, she would have liked to run headlong away from this embarrassing interview.

  For endless minutes she sat, while both her nervousness and her impatience increased, trying to hear what the girl said each time she lifted the telephone in case she was speaking to Hugh. But her voice was low enough to be intelligible and it came as almost a shock when she eventually stood up and came towards Elise.

  ‘Mr de Gama can see you now. If you would care to come this way …’

  Elise knew her own way along the narrow, rather dark corridor to Hugh’s office. She had been there several times with Gordon. But she followed the receptionist dutifully until the girl threw open a door and stood aside for her to go in.

  ‘Mrs Sanderson is here, Mr de Gama.’

  ‘Elise.’ Hugh rose from behind his desk and came around it to greet her. But his expression was grave and the kiss he planted on her cheek perfunctory.

  ‘Thank you for seeing me, Hugh,’ she said.

  The door closed after the receptionist and Hugh indicated the two easy chairs which faced one another in the window bay.

  ‘We’ll sit here, Elise. We don’t want to be formal, do we? Would you like something to drink – coffee, perhaps?’

  ‘No, it’s all right, thank you.’ She did not want to be here any longer than was absolutely necessary. ‘I just wanted to see you for a few minutes. To explain.’

  ‘Yes?’ Hugh pressed his fingertips together, his grey eyes moving swiftly across her face, gleaning everything, giving nothing away.

  ‘It isn’t the way it appears …’

  ‘No?’

  ‘No – it’s …’ Oh, this was even worse than she had anticipated. What was there to say when it came to the point?

  ‘Do you often go to the Peninsula to while away an afternoon?’ Hugh asked mildly.

  ‘No, I …’

  ‘Only when Gerald Brittain is in Hong Kong!’

  So he did know it all. She felt sick.

  ‘Are you going to tell Gordon?’ she asked. It wasn’t what she had meant to say, but she couldn’t bear to beat about the bush any longer.

  For a moment Hugh did not answer, then he got up and crossed to the window, looking out across the bay to Kowloon as if it was a sight he had never seen before. Then he took out his cigarettes, lit one and blew the smoke towards the brown-tinted ceiling of his office.

  ‘That depends.’

  Her heart was in her mouth. ‘Depends on what?’

  Hugh turned, leaning back against the window ledge.

  ‘I should tell Gordon, you must know that! But I don’t want to cause him distress.�
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  She leaned forward in her chair, premature relief beginning to make her tremble.

  ‘Oh Hugh, neither do I.’

  ‘Then there’s no reason why we should, is there? Provided, of course, that you agree to my conditions.’

  ‘Conditions?’

  ‘Oh yes, Elise. I can’t just forget what I saw, much as I would like to do so.’

  His eyes on her face were speculative, unreadable and she thought: He’s going to blackmail me into some sort of compromise with him! Oh, not that – not that!

  ‘And what did you see, Hugh?’ she asked, grasping at straws.

  ‘You know as well as I do. There is no need for me to go into details. That would only be embarrassing for both of us.’

  ‘You saw me in the Peninsula, nothing more. I was alone at the time.’

  Hugh drew on his cigarette and the self-same action that she found attractive in Brit repelled her now.

  ‘Let’s not be childish about this, Elise. We both know you were in that corridor for one reason and one reason only. I dare say enquiries would reveal that Gerald Brittain has a suite on that floor. But I doubt whether Gordon would ask for such concrete proof. It would only increase the chance of scandal, something I know he would prefer to avoid. No, there is a better way out of all this.’

  He laid a hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him furiously. ‘I hope you are not going to suggest what I think you are. Because if so, you’ve made a grave mistake, Hugh. You know perfectly well that I’m here to ask you not to tell Gordon. But I am not willing to make bargains that I might find distasteful. Do I make myself clear?’

  ‘Oh Elise, just what do you expect my terms to be?’ Hugh’s eyes were amused now, and beneath their gaze she felt herself flushing. ‘I’m very fond of you both. I simply want a satisfactory solution to what could be a very serious business. Anything else is purely incidental, naturally.’

  ‘Naturally!’

  I should have known better, she thought, than to imagine that Hugh would be so unsubtle. Maybe I’m even wrong in thinking he wants me physically. Hugh is not a very physical man – much more of an intellectual. Perhaps that is the dominance he wants to exert over me: just knowing that he knows, being a little afraid of him all the time – more afraid than I already am …

  ‘No, I have only one condition as the price of my silence.’ Hugh crossed the office, stubbing out his half-smoked cigarette in the cut-glass ashtray on his desk, then turning to look at her gravely. ‘Gordon is a close friend of mine, Elise. I could not be a party to deceiving him unless I was quite certain that this clandestine folly was at an end.’

  Her hands tightened on her bag, but for a moment she could not speak.

  ‘I would require your word that you will not be visiting Gerald Brittain again, either at the Peninsula or anywhere else,’ Hugh went on. ‘That, Elise, is the condition on which I will keep silent about what I know.’

  ‘I see.’ Her lashes had dropped on to her cheeks; she sat very still.

  Hugh took out another cigarette and lit it, the only indication that he might be excited by the encounter.

  ‘Well?’ he said after a moment. ‘Have I your word?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ Slowly she raised her eyes to his. ‘Are you saying, Hugh, that if I don’t promise you certainly will tell Gordon?’

  ‘I am saying that if you see him again, I shall be forced to put your husband – my friend – in the picture. I think that’s only reasonable, Elise. I don’t honestly think you can expect me to act any differently.’

  And you’re enjoying every moment of it, she thought. Acting out the part of the trusted friend and all the while planning – what?

  She stood up; on a level with him, their eyes met and she tried to imbue hers with some of the dislike she was feeling.

  ‘You give me no choice, Hugh.’

  ‘No. I’m sorry, Elise.’ Again his hand touched her arm, making her cringe for no obvious reason. ‘I wouldn’t like to think this had spoiled our friendship.’

  Her mouth tightened. Horrible hypocrite, how I hate you! she thought.

  ‘Don’t worry, it hasn’t,’ she flared sarcastically. ‘Thank you for seeing me, Hugh.’

  ‘Always a pleasure, Elise.’

  In the street the sun was still bright, but it seemed that she walked in a dark fog. Where did she go from here? She had come to see Hugh, but things had not worked out as she had hoped. It had been foolish of her to even think for one second that they might. From the moment he had seen them, she had known in her heart that it was disaster. Hugh would never simply turn a blind eye: he enjoyed power and manipulation too much. And perhaps he had a point. What would she have done if she had seen the husband of one of her own friends in a similar situation? What would anyone do?

  I must see Brit, she thought – talk to him, tell him.

  Once, in another life it seemed, she had decided that what was between them must end – and she had reached that decision alone. Now she was past thinking for herself. There was a need in her that was no longer physical – a need for the counsel and guidance of this man who had possessed her, an aching longing to let him take responsibility for the decisions.

  I want to see him now! she thought, but knew that she could not. She must wait until this afternoon. This afternoon at the Peninsula – one more time …

  You have decided after all, then, she thought; and it was like a weight inside her. If only she had known that day in Cairo when she walked into her room and found him sitting there that it would come to this! But she couldn’t regret any of it, not even now.

  We will talk it over this afternoon, she promised herself. And Brit will think of something.

  Brit’s suite at the Peninsula was the height of luxury – one of the best in Hong Kong’s premier hotel. The curtains throughout were midnight blue, the carpets and the velvet chaise silver in colour, while the walls – even paler – provided a perfect setting for the valuable art works that were hung there.

  Usually Elise noticed none of this, so wrapped up was she in her love for Brit. But today she found herself sharply, poignantly aware of every detail, storing it away amongst the memories that she wanted to keep down all the years head.

  This was the last time she would come here, she thought dully. However she might kick against it, as she had said to Hugh, when it came to the point she had no choice.

  Tears stung her eyes, blurring her vision, and when Brit kissed her she clung to him, burying her face in his neck.

  ‘Elise?’ He held her away slightly. ‘What is it? What’s wrong, sweetheart?’

  For a moment she could not speak, then she braced herself to tell him.

  ‘Something rather terrible has happened.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘When I left yesterday afternoon – when you called after me – Hugh de Gama was in the corridor. He saw us.’

  ‘Oh.’ He was silent briefly. ‘Well, that’s it, then. At last it will be out in the open, thank God.’

  Her head came up. ‘Oh, Brit, how can you say that? Don’t you realise what it will mean if he tells Gordon? And he is going to, unless I promise him I will not see you again. He says he is Gordon’s friend and he cannot stand by and be a party to deceiving him.’

  ‘How noble of him!’ The corner of Brit’s mouth lifted sarcastically. ‘I should like to see how fast he would forget his loyalties if he were the man you were deceiving Gordon with. But I still say he’s doing us a favour, Elise. I have never liked the idea of hole-and-corner affairs, you know that. I would never have engaged in all this skulduggery at all if it hadn’t been the only way to get you. And I fought against that hard enough, God knows!’

  ‘But Brit …’ She swung away, crossed to the velvet chaise and sat down on it. ‘What is Gordon going to do when he finds out?’

  He followed her to the chaise and perched on the arm. ‘Who cares? Leave him, Elise, then he can do what he likes.’

  ‘Leave him?’

 
; ‘Why not? Don’t sound so surprised. It must have occurred to you, too?’

  Her heart was pounding, her palms were damp. Oh, if it were only that easy!

  ‘I am his wife, Brit.’

  ‘There is such a thing as divorce.’

  ‘I know, but …’ She broke off, biting at her lips. ‘I don’t know if I could do it. That would be the selfish way out, wouldn’t it, in order to get what I want. He would be so hurt, Brit. Oh, I know you will tell me I’m stupid to worry about that. Things are simple to you, aren’t they – clear-cut, black and white. If you don’t want to do something, you don’t do it. If you want something, you take it and to hell with the consequences. But I’m not like that; I worry about all sorts of things. I’ve been married to Gordon for six years and I can’t just dismiss him. It’s funny, but sometimes I almost feel responsible for him, even though he’s more than twenty years older than I am. He’s been good to me, you see – put me on a pedestal, almost. And I’m sure he has never been unfaithful to me. It makes me feel so guilty, deceiving him, and as for leaving him … Oh, I just don’t know …’

  Brit shifted impatiently. ‘If you feel like that, what are you doing here?’

  ‘I’m here because I can’t help myself! I love you, Brit, but it doesn’t stop me from feeling terrible about hurting and deceiving Gordon.’

  He leaned towards her. ‘So where does that leave me?’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘While you’re busy feeling guilty on Gordon’s behalf, how about sparing a little thought for me? Do you think it is a great joy to me to know that when you leave this room you go home to him?’

  She went pale. His arm slid up from her shoulders and tightened around her neck.

  ‘Does he make love to you?’ She tried to twist away, unwilling to answer, but he held her there. ‘Does he?’

  ‘Most of the time he’s working late,’ she hedged.

  ‘And when he isn’t working late?’ There was a savage edge to his voice and his arm was so tight that she felt a twinge of panic.