The Couple in the Dream Suite Read Free Page B

what you’re thinking. I use Dexter to cover up the fact that I’m a complete femme fatale. So don’t flatter yourself, Mr Yorke, I’m not particularly discriminating. Any man will do.’
    She turned to go, but he caught her arm, just under the Egyptian-style gold bangle which she wore. ‘Where the hell did that come from?’
    ‘Don’t tell me I was wrong, I could see it written on your face.’
    ‘Then you misread me, I assure you.’
    ‘You’re hurting me.’
    Swearing, Justin let her go. There were finger-marks on her skin. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t realise – God, I’m sorry.’
    She could have walked way then, but she didn’t. He looked genuinely horrified. Vera told herself it would be cruel to leave him then. ‘I bruise very easily,’ she said.
    ‘So do I, it seems,’ Justin said.
    He ran his hand through his hair. It fell over his forehead. It looked endearing. She refused to be endeared, and said nothing.
    He was frowning. ‘I really wasn’t thinking what you thought.’
    Vera shrugged. ‘What most men think, when they look at me.’
    ‘Ah.’
    ‘Ah, what?’
    He smiled. ‘Ah, hence Dex. Because it’s not that you do far too much, it’s that you don’t at all. Is that it?’
    ‘It might be.’ He was making her uneasy. She was having to work quite hard not to return his smile. She was having to work very hard not to want to kiss him again. She wasn’t used to having either problem. ‘You shouldn’t have kissed me,’ Vera said.
    ‘No.’
    ‘Did you do it because it’s what Dexter wanted?’
    ‘No!’ He looked aghast. ‘No, I bloody well did not.’
    Vera allowed herself just a fraction of a smile. ‘Did you do it because I provoked you?’
    ‘So you admit you did?’’
    Vera managed a shrug. ‘I might have.’
    ‘I’m glad you did, but even if you hadn’t, I think I’d have found an excuse. I kissed you because I wanted to kiss you.’
    She surrendered, laughing. ‘Then I am glad to have given you a reason, Mr Yorke. It’s as well Dexter isn’t around, or he’d be congratulating himself on his little ploy working, and much as I love him, he is quite insufferable when he is right. Not that I think he was,’ she added hastily, ‘and even if he was, I’m not in the least bit interested.’
    ‘No,’ Justin said. ‘Obviously not. Nor am I.’
    ‘Good,’ Vera said, telling herself that it was.
    ‘Though I suppose it wouldn’t do any harm for us to indulge him, just to ease his mind. It’s not as if either of us are under any illusions.’
    She considered this. She pretended to consider it a great deal more than she actually did. ‘But we
are
both under an – an obligation,’ she said. ‘I certainly owe Dexter something.’
    ‘A dance?’
    Justin smiled at her. He really did have a very tempting smile. Vera took his arm. ‘A dance to make Dexter happy,’ she said, ‘why not.’

Reflections
    He led her through to the Mirror Ballroom. He ought to mingle with the crowd. He ought to be asking questions. Observing, not judging, that’s what he’d come here for. He told himself he had another duty to perform now, to Dex. He knew he was kidding himself, and decided, for once, not to care but simply to do what
he
wanted to do.
    The ballroom was long, the windows at the far end draped with thick velvet curtains. The walls were panelled, all the way from the white and gold ceiling to the polished floor, in pale oak. It would have been dark without the mirrors. There were six of them, three on each wall, huge things reflecting each other and the room to eternity. Light from another massive crystal chandelier bounced off them, giving the effect of sunlight through clouds.
    The band played on a dais at the opposite end from the windows. The floor was crowded. Dex had probably already left, and Justin couldn’t remember the last time he’d danced, but he took Vera into his arms and onto the floor. It was a crush, so he pulled her closer. The scent she wore was