Lucky (56 page)

‘He’s a widower,’ Anna volunteered, packing up her tape machine. ‘But I think I should warn you that he’s living with a woman.’

Carrie was longing to ask who the woman was, but she didn’t pursue it. How embarrassing if Anna thought she desired her boss. Quickly she began to talk about something else.

Lucky had no idea how she got through dinner. She tried to avoid looking at Lennie, and she knew he was attempting to do the same with her, but it was impossible. Their eyes met constantly and when they did the electricity they generated seemed to ignite the entire room.

Over the course of dinner they both found out a few things.

Lucky – who rarely read anything other than
Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, Blues & Soul
and books, and
never
watched television, learned – mostly from Alice – who couldn’t seem to stop talking, that Lennie had hit the big time, and was now a big personality and television star.

‘Didn’t you read about our wedding?’ Olympia asked belligerently. ‘We made world-wide headlines.’

‘No. I didn’t see it,’ Lucky replied politely, causing Olympia to pout.

‘What about my Lennie on the cover of
People.
Surely you saw that?’ scolded Alice.

‘Sorry,’ apologized Lucky.

‘He
should have been sorry,’ remarked Alice darkly. ‘He left me out. But they’ll be writing a piece about me soon. Probably not a cover, but you can’t have everything in this life, can you, darling?’

Lennie learned just exactly who Lucky was. Not only was she married to Olympia’s father, but she was Lucky Santangelo –
the
Lucky Santangelo who had canned his ass two years before at the Magiriano Hotel.

Suddenly everything fell into place. Now he knew why he had been fired so abruptly and run out of town like bad eggs.

She had wanted to get laid.

He hadn’t obliged.

Get rid of the sonofabitch.
He could just imagine her giving Matt his orders.

With good reason he was furious.

‘Are you the same Lennie Golden who just headlined at my hotel?’ Gino asked.

‘Yeah,’ Lennie replied. What was this? Family week? Lucky with her father. Alice sitting at the table – the original proud parent. Christ! He felt like he was in the middle of a bad dream.

‘You broke house records,’ Gino said. ‘I told Matt I want you back whenever you can make it. In fact I asked him to work out a deal with your agent – like you do a week for us every couple of months. Exclusive.’

Lucky had not realized Gino still kept an eye on things, she had thought he collected the money and that was it.

Lennie Golden headlined
her
hotel and she hadn’t even known. She felt like a fool.

It’s not your hotel any more
, an inner voice reminded her.
You sold out, ran out. Why should you have known? Why should you even care?

Yes, goddammit. Why should she care? Who was Lennie Golden in her life anyway? So she had balled him – big deal. Sex was sex, and it was unfortunate that she had ever set eyes on him again.

Oh yeh?

Yeh.

*   *   *

After dinner several of the guests wished to go ashore nightclubbing.

‘I want to go,’ Olympia announced to Lennie. She was nicely coked up and ready to fly all night.

He, on the other hand, was beginning to feel the effects of non-stop travelling, not to mention the tension of sitting through dinner with Lucky just across the table. ‘I’m gonna check out,’ he said.

‘Like hell you are,’ Olympia replied crossly. ‘You’ve been checked out all day while
I’ve
been stuck here. We are going nightclubbing, so jump to it.’

‘Don’t talk to me like that,’ he said angrily.

‘I’ll talk to you any way I like,’ she sneered.

He stared at the woman he had married. She had small blue eyes in a puffy pink face. Her painted lips curled derisively, and her blonde curls were drooping. Yes. Jess was definitely right. Insanity had struck.

‘Listen,’ he said, his voice low and even. ‘Talk to who the fuck you want that way – but don’t
ever
talk to me like shit. You got it?’

She refused to be intimidated. She tossed her hair back. ‘I take it you don’t wish to come,’ she said haughtily. ‘Well,
I’m
going, with or without you.’

‘Have a wonderful time.’

‘Don’t think I won’t,’ she said, flouncing off.

Across the other side of the room, Lucky pleaded a headache to Dimitri, who was only too delighted.

Francesca, of course, was ready, willing and able. She did not consult Horace on his preference. ‘You’ll stay here,’ she informed him. ‘You know how you hate nightclubs.’

Since no one was inviting Alice, she put on a brave front. ‘I’ll look after Horace,’ she volunteered.

Francesca ignored her. Francesca had a habit of ignoring most people with the exception of Dimitri.

Jenkins and Fluff Wilder elected to go. So did Saud and his Contessa. Susan said yes. Gino said no. She was tempted to take off without him, but he didn’t suggest it, so she stayed – reluctantly. The Contessa was such an interesting woman, she couldn’t wait to find out more about her.

As soon as the nightclubbers departed, Gino said goodnight, and he and Susan retired. Lucky felt her eyes drawn toward Lennie. He returned her gaze. Alice was regaling Horace with stories of Las Vegas. She was in her element with a captive audience of one and limitless supplies of Grand Marnier – her favourite tipple. Lennie gestured imperceptibly toward the door.

Lucky nodded her agreement. ‘Goodnight, all,’ she said quietly, and was gone.

Lennie waited a beat of ten, then he too rose.

‘Oh, dear!’ exclaimed Alice, with a girlish giggle. ‘Are you leaving us alone? I’m not sure I can be responsible for my actions if I’m left alone with such an
attractive
man!’

Lennie did not know which he hated most. The cloying mother or the flirtatious ingenue.

Out on deck he looked for Lucky. She was leaning against the rail smoking a cigarette, her eyes dark and watchful as he approached.

‘It’s a smaller world than we think,’ she said in a low voice. ‘We should have left it the way it was in Vegas. Less complicated.’

He had plenty to say to her – like why did you have me fired, for starters. But words were elusive. He just wanted to hold her.

She dragged deeply on her cigarette, then flicked it over the edge. Without another word, as if by mutual agreement, they fell into each other’s arms like it was the most natural thing in the world. He was ready for her at once, all thoughts of tiredness and tension gone forever.

She kissed him with her lips, her tongue, her hands caressing his face, then moving down his body with indecent haste.

He returned her kisses, slipped his hands beneath her white tuxedo, and freed her breasts from the confines of the scant silk top. ‘I want you,’ he muttered. ‘All the time, everywhere. I want you.’

Weakly she tried to push him away. She had no desire to tell him to get lost. He awakened feelings in her long dormant. Sexually he turned her on to a degree she had forgotten existed. He was a dangerous ride, and she couldn’t seem to stop herself from taking it.

Silently they kissed and caressed until it was his turn to push her away. His voice was strangled. ‘What are we playing here, cocktease?’

‘I never tease,’ she said, unzipping his pants and sinking to her knees. ‘Never.’ And her mouth was on him, taking him to heaven and back and swallowing the evidence.

‘Oh, Jesus!’ he exclaimed. He had experienced good sex, bad sex, mediocre sex. He had
never
experienced sex as erotic and exciting as Lucky Santangelo.

‘I thought about doing that to you all through dinner.’ Her eyes gleamed. ‘Sort of like a farewell present.’

‘Hey, lady – if that was goodbye, I can’t wait to see the way you say hello!’

She didn’t laugh. ‘It
was
goodbye. Neither of us is looking for trouble. Today was a dream . . . a fantasy . . . Now we go back to real life.’

‘Are you kidding?’ He gripped her by the arms. ‘Do you love the old guy you’re married to, or did you marry him for his money?’

‘That’s not your concern,’ she said sharply. ‘And while we’re asking questions, why did
you
do the deed with Olympia? Was it her sunny personality that hooked you? Or her astronomical bank balance?’

He grabbed her urgently, bending her backwards while bringing his head down to her breasts.

‘No!’ she commanded.

‘Yes,’ he insisted. ‘Oh, yes.’

She lost herself in his arms. Something was happening. A passion she hadn’t felt since Marco. And Marco had been dead five years . . .

She was strangely frightened and yet exhilarated at the same time. All reason deserted her as he crushed her to him. And she wanted him again.

Captain Pratt, crouched on all fours on an upper deck, nearly fell over the edge. The rich! They were no different from anyone else. He wondered what Mr Stanislopoulos would have to say about this little lark?

What
could
he say? That very afternoon Dimitri Stanislopoulos had taken the ugly Fern woman to his study and stayed in there for over an hour with the shades pulled down and a DO NOT DISTURB sign on the door. No wonder his wife was randy, she probably never got anything from the old Greek – he was too busy giving it all to his girlfriend.

Captain Pratt stood up and brushed himself off. He wondered how much he could sell his story for. The English newspapers loved scandal and gossip – especially about the super rich. The
News of the World
or the
Sunday Mirror
would pay a fortune for some of his stories. Not to mention the
Enquirer
or the
Star.

Yes. Captain Pratt reckoned that when
he
was ready to retire he had his nest egg waiting.

*   *   *

‘We’re crazy,’ Lucky said, finding her abandoned clothes and struggling into them. ‘Absolutely crazy. Anyone could have stumbled across us. This yacht is crawling with servants. We’re
crazy.
I mean it.’

‘You don’t have to keep on saying it. I’m convinced.’

She turned to face Lennie defiantly. ‘This is sex, just sex. You
do
know that, don’t you?’

He returned her gaze. ‘I don’t know about you, but my marriage was over before it began. I married Olympia one wild night in Vegas at the Wee Wedding Chapel of Love and Honour – can you believe it?’

She nodded. ‘I know it well. It’s the place chorus girls drag out of town mustangs who’ve scored more than a hundred grand on the crap tables.’

‘You
could
say that I scored, but for all the wrong reasons. I was stoned out of my head, recovering from bitch of the century, and anxious to destroy myself. You get the picture?’

‘I’m beginning to.’

‘You – are probably the woman I’ve been looking for all my life. Only I got sidetracked by a million blondes.’

‘Great sex does not a relationship make,’ she observed wisely.

‘But it sure beats the hell out of lousy sex.’

‘True.’

‘I only speak the truth.’

‘When it suits you.’

‘What do you mean by that?’

‘C’mon, Lennie. You’re a lady-killer, a hotshot lover-boy. You’re not even my type.’

‘And what makes you think you’re mine?’

They both burst out laughing.

She touched his cheek lightly and couldn’t stop herself from saying, ‘Lennie Golden, I don’t know what’s going on here, but I think something’s happening.’

‘Like a thunderbolt,’ he responded.

‘A flash of lightning.’

‘Not just sex.’

‘Nope.’

‘More.’

‘Right.’

‘Much much more.’

‘You said it.’

‘And we don’t even know each other.’

She stared at him. So many feelings all at once.

Before she could think of what to do or say next, Alice and Horace stumbled upon them.

‘Oh!’ exclaimed a startled Alice, adding a delicate hiccough. ‘What are you two doing out here?’

Horace shuffled uncomfortably.

‘Playing tennis,’ Lennie said dryly.

Alice giggled. ‘Saint Troopo is a lovely place,’ she trilled, and hiccoughed again. ‘So very . . . tropical.’

‘St Tropez,’ murmured Lucky.

‘Horace is showing me the boat,’ Alice offered, staggering slightly, and clutching the railing for support.

‘How nice,’ said Lennie sarcastically.

‘Come along, Horace,’ flirted Alice. ‘I want to see the lifeboats. I can’t swim y’know, so I must make sure everything is shipshape and ready for action.’ Shrieking with laughter, she dragged a reluctant Horace off.