Never Too Late (59 page)

of those painted women.’

Ecstatic with pleasure, she slid her arm around his waist,

marvelling at his words. He preferred her to the other

glammed-up women in their designer clothes and designer

hairdos, he really did. And she believed him. She didn’t

bother sucking in her stomach so her waist would feel

skinnier. She didn’t need any of that pretence with Max.

As they arrived in picturesque Orange Square, the sun

was filtering through the fruit trees, gilding some of the

tables under the trees with sunlight, leaving others in

blissful shade. Max and Evie sat in the shade with glasses of

cool white wine and gorged themselves on mussels with

soft bread to soak up the juices.

‘I feel a bit guilty for leaving Rosie on her own,’ Evie

confessed. ‘I probably should be with her today. This

holiday is so special for her.’

‘Your first grownup holiday is always special,’ Max

remarked, ‘and it’s obvious how close you two are. But she’d

probably kill for the opportunity to swank around on her

own, without anyone apart from Cara, I imagine. Cara looks

enough like her sister for the pair of them to be a couple of

Club 1 8-30 girls, completely devoid of parental guidance, on

the lookout for talent. I daresay that would be Rosie’s dream.’

Evie thought about what he’d said. He was right, she

admitted grudgingly. Rosie would love to be able to

socialise without her mother and grandfather. It was just

difficult to let her daughter go.

‘It’s not easy,’ she explained. ‘I want her to be independent,

to be her own woman. That’s what I taught her. But …’

‘… letting go isn’t easy,’ Max said softly. ‘I guess there’s a happy medium. We should let Cara take her out one

evening, just to see how it goes. And I’ll take you.’

‘They’ll talk about us,’ Evie warned.

‘No, they won’t.’ Max stroked her cheek lovingly. ‘I’ll tell

Mother and Andrew to go for a romantic evening by

themselves and then we’ll slope off on our own for our romantic evening.’

‘It’s a deal!’

They were both silent as they drove along the road from

Marbella to Puerto Banus. To keep her mind off the truly

important matter, Evie was thinking that she hadn’t actually

bought anything, despite telling her father they’d been

shopping. Hopefully, nobody would notice. Nobody

appeared to. In the villa, everyone was slumped around the

television watching an old Chevy Chase video.

‘Cara insisted on getting it out of the video shop,’ said

Rosie by way of explanation as her mother sat down beside

her.

‘Shush!’ hissed Cara.

‘You must be feeling better,’ Rosie whispered to Evie.

‘You look great. I thought you’d still be in bed when we

got back.’

‘I slept a bit and then Max offered to take me for a drive

this afternoon when you lot weren’t back,’ Evie said. ‘I was

a bit bored without you.’

‘You were bored!’ giggled Rosie. ‘Try spending four hours

in the car with Grandpops and Vida alternating between

squabbling over the map, and then kissing and making up.

If Grandpops said “you should never let the sun set on

your anger” one more time, I’d have got out of the car and

hitchhiked. I thought we’d never get home!’

‘It is one of his favourite expressions,’ her mother

answered- ‘Although I think his ail-time favourite is “Oh,

Evie, you do fuss over me”!’ They both got a fit of the

giggles this time.

A fierce glare from Cara, who’d had a huge crush on

Chevy Chase in her teens, silenced them.

While everyone else enjoyed the movie, Evie sat quietly,

eyes on the screen but her mind a million miles away. Max

rarely spoke to her the rest of the evening, he was as coolly

formal as he’d been the day before. Polite but distant.

Well, she thought, he understood that she didn’t want

anybody else to know about their new relationship. But his

distant demeanour after their wonderful day made her feel

subdued, as if she’d imagined it.

It was only when she was going to bed that he got a

chance to speak to her privately. She’d gone into the

kitchen to get some water when Max pulled her gently on

to the verandah where they couldn’t be seen.

‘I’ve wanted to do this all evening,’ he said, his eyes

warm. ‘I’ve been going mad pretending nothing’s going on

when I want to sit beside you and hold your hand like

some besotted lover’

Relief washed over her.

‘You were barely looking at me,’ she said, insecurity

making her painfully honest. ‘I wasn’t sure what to think.’

‘Evie,’ he said, taking her face in his hands and gazing

adoringly at her, ‘I’m doing that for you. I’m free, I’m here

for you, but you’re engaged to be married and it’s up to

you to decide what to tell your family and when to tell

them. I don’t have the right to do that and,’ he grinned, ‘I daresay you’d murder me if I did.’

She nodded ruefully. ‘You’re right, it’s just that I thought

I’d imagined it all, that you hadn’t really spent this

wonderful day with me …’ She stared gloomily at her

feet, pink-painted toes peeking out of the cork sandals.

‘This,’ he whispered, lifting her face up, ‘is what I’ve

wanted to do all day.’

His mouth came down on hers, softly at first, lips gently

brushing against hers. Then his kiss deepened, his mouth

crushed hers and they clung together, tongues entwining

joyfully, clutching each other’s bodies as if their lives

depended on it.

For the first time, Evie felt herself melt into a kiss; she

gave herself completely up to Max and felt him give

himself to her. Perfect, sexy, delicious. Her legs felt weak at the strength of the body crushed against hers.

His mouth and hers melted together and she knew she

wanted more from him; she wanted to feel his body naked

against hers, spend hours getting to know every rib, every

silken inch of skin, every sinew …

‘Mom, are you out here?’

Jumping apart as if they’d been scalded, Evie threw

herself on to a lounger and Max rushed over to the

verandah wall. He was sitting, idly staring out at the pool,

when Rosie poked her head round the door.

‘Oh, hi. I thought you’d gone to bed,’ she said.

‘Really?’ Evie replied calmly. ‘I just thought I’d cool off

before going upstairs. Max had the same idea.’

‘No, I doubt if these flowers would grow in Ireland,’ he

said, as if he’d been interrupted discussing the Andalucian

flora at great length, instead of having his tongue down

Evie’s throat and his hands roaming seductively under her

T-shirt. ‘What sort of soil do you have in your garden,

Evie?’

She stifled an urge to snigger and replied: ‘Acidic. Great for rhododendrons.’

‘Honestly!’ Sighing with exasperation, Rosie hauled herself

on to the verandah wall, stretching out her long,

fake-tanned legs and admiring the leather mules she’d

bought in the mountains that afternoon after some thoroughly

satisfying bargaining. ‘Here we are in the most

romantic spot in the world and we’re all drearily stuck at

home instead of being out in some great club sampling the

real Spanish nightlife, with you lot talking about flowers!’

She snorted with frustration. ‘I hope we’re not going to be

doing this every night. I want to have some fun!’

Evie didn’t dare look at Max or she’d have broken into

hysterical laughter.

‘You and Cara should go out together some night,’ she

said. ‘On your own.’

‘Really?’ The surprise on Rosie’s sun-kissed face was

palpable. Bouncing over to her mother, Rosie hugged her

fervently. ‘You won’t regret it, Mum. I’ll be ever so well

behaved. I just need to get out, you know what I mean.’

‘I know,’ Evie said gravely. ‘Just be careful, that’s all.’

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

It was three o’clock, when all native Iberians were resting

and the sun was very hot. Evie knew she’d have to get into

the pool soon to cool down or risk turning lobster red, in

spite of all the sun protection cream she’d been assiduously

rubbing into herself.

‘Evie, is there any left in that bottle?’ asked Cara lazily

from her position on the lounger on the other side of

Rosie’s.

Without upsetting either her perfectly positioned sun

hat or the book balanced on her knees, Evie delicately

lobbed the blue plastic bottle of factor twelve over to her

sister. The bottle fell short and landed between them on

Rosie’s flat stomach, which was turning a coffee colour

after five days of intensive tanning.

‘Ouch!’ she yelped, waking up. ‘What do you want this

much protection for?’ she demanded, squinting at the

bottle. ‘I’m using factor four,’ she added with the pride of

the young and unwrinkled.

This time Evie did dislodge her hat and book as she sat up

in shock.’ Factor four!’ she gasped. ‘You’ll get skin cancer, you stupid girl. Put something stronger on immediately.’

‘Oh, Mom,’ groaned Rosie, lying down again. ‘Stop

panicking. I’m darker skinned than you. Like Max. He just

has to sit out for five minutes and he’s black.’

Evie was momentarily distracted by the thought of Max.

The only time she’d seen him sunbathe had been for an

hour the day before, his oiled body disturbing in its

half-naked glory. Compared to Simon, whose body was

angular and a little thin, Max was like an athlete: strong,

wide shoulders tapering down to a lean waist, and long,

muscular legs.

‘Where’d you get that scar?’ Rosie had asked, spotting a

jagged raised weal that ran from his left thigh down to just

above his ankle. Evie had wanted to ask but didn’t dare.

‘Mountaineering,’ he said, rubbing the scar idly. ‘It’s too

dangerous for me these days, I wrecked my knee and can’t

put that sort of pressure on it anymore. I’m supposed to

rest it a lot, although I still can’t cope with the idea of

lounging around all day resting, even in the sun,’ he joked.

He liked to sit on the verandah reading scripts and

drinking strong Spanish coffee, letting the sun tan him

naturally instead of baking himself beside a tan-obsessed

Rosie. Max preferred driving Evie around the coast to lying

in the sun.

Two days ago, they’d driven into the mountains to

Ronda, where the others had been the first day. They

hadn’t dared stay out for dinner this time and had come

home by four, to find everyone else splayed out by the

pool soaking up the sun. Yesterday, they’d left separately

for a walk and had met at the bottom of the hill near the

bull ring, spending several hours meandering along the

port and having coffee, talking as if they’d only just

discovered how to and were desperate to practise.

‘Your legs must be worn out,’ Andrew had commented

when Evie arrived back at the villa, purposely alone, with

Max killing time until he could waltz in.

‘I love to walk,’ she’d said breezily. ‘Did I tell you I’m

going in for the mini-marathon?’ she lied.

Today, Max had left the villa early to meet a friend who

lived locally and still hadn’t come back. Vida and Andrew

were having a siesta, or ‘bonk-esta’ as Rosie giggled when

the pair of them had sloped off to their room at half-two.

There was just Cara, Rosie and Evie by the pool,

luxuriating in the silence and the sun. And Rosie had no

intention of moving just when she’d got herself into the

most comfortable position possible, not even to fling the

sun lotion over to her aunt. ‘Come and get it,’ she said

sleepily.

‘You lazy thing,’ Cara muttered. She clambered off her

lounger and walked delicately on the hot terracotta tiles

towards Rosie.

‘She’s not actually burning,’ Cara reported back to Evie,

standing over her niece’s brown body which was just about

decently covered in a tiny pink gingham bikini.

‘See, Mum, I’m fine,’ muttered Rosie, eyes closed as she

lay in sybaritic bliss, adoring the sensation of the heat on

her flesh.

‘Maybe I’ll cool her down a little bit, though,’ added

Cara wickedly. Scooping up water from the pool, she

sprinkled it all over Rosie’s belly.

‘Ouch, you bitch!’ shrieked Rosie, leaping to her feet.

‘I’ll get you …’ The pair of them danced around in their

bare feet, flicking icy water from the pool at each other,

laughing and squealing as the drops hit their heated skin.

Evie grinned and retreated back to her book. She felt

utterly, gloriously happy. Lounging by this azure pool, the

people she loved most in the world with her and clear

blue skies over her head, she couldn’t ask for anything

more. Well … she could but you couldn’t have everything

in life, could you? She wanted Max. He’d never be

hers, but for these few wonderful days she could imagine

he was.

When they got too hot, the three girls pulled on clothes

over their bikinis, slipped on espadrilles, and wandered

down the road to the supermarket where they bought

mineral water and some of the juicy watermelon Rosie