The Secret Heiress (9 page)

Suddenly the air was rent with the blasts of trumpets.

As the music stopped, a large gilt platform, a canopied
lit,
held aloft by young muscle-bound men dressed in tiny gold thongs, appeared on the terrace at the far end of the pool. The trumpets blared again, as if announcing the arrival of a reigning queen. The crowd began applauding loudly and shouting the monarch’s name:

“Niki! Niki! Niki!”

Surrounded by votive lights, Niki was draped atop the gilt platform on golden cushions. Her face was heavily made up, and she wore a small, secretive smile, as if she alone held the keys to a kingdom. The trumpets sounded again, and the young men began to walk down the steps that led to the terrace surrounding the pool. Niki threw an arm aloft as if bestowing a blessing upon her loyal subjects. The crowd roared with approval, their shouts and claps growing more gleeful. Her bearers began slowly carrying her around the pool in order for all of her friends to get a close glimpse of her. Her diaphanous gold gown wafted in the breeze, and the diamonds that she wore in her hair, around her neck, and on her ears and wrists and fingers sparkled in the candlelight.

“My God,” Honor murmured, gazing at Niki’s outfit. Fluttery silk “fish scales” of gold clustered strategically at her crotch and nipples, but otherwise the diaphanous fabric left nothing to the imagination. “She’s practically naked.”

“But not quite,” Adrian said, humoring her.

“She’s dazzling,” Yves Carre said appreciatively. “Absolutely dazzling.”

“She’s scandalous,” Angelo Coveri muttered under his breath.

“Get over it, Angelo,” Sugar said. “She’s a beautiful young woman with a perfect body. Why not show it off? Besides, about ninety percent of this crowd sunbathes in the nude, so what’s the big deal? She’s wearing more now than most of the men and women here have worn all day on the beach.”

From her perch above the crowd, Niki’s smile widened from time to time when she passed a particularly close friend. She elegantly lowered one hand to allow a few of the more aggressive men to kiss it as the procession made its way around the pool. Suddenly she noticed Bianca Coveri and a man just ahead in the crowd. He must be her date, Niki reasoned, because one of his lean muscular arms was draped across her shoulders. Bianca, she knew, was not the type to get that cozy with someone she’d just met at a party. As her
lit
drew alongside Bianca and Frans, Niki stared at him openly.

My, my,
she thought.
That long blond hair and those intense baby blues. And the body!
They’d obviously had a workout on the dance floor, because he’d stripped off his shirt and his muscular chest with its perfect pecs glistened with sweat. Her eyes traveled down to his outstanding abs and on down, beneath his navel, where she saw that he wore tight white pants that held promise.

Why, Bianca!
she thought.
You’ve brought me the perfect birthday present.

“You look ravishing, Niki,” Bianca shouted above the noise of the crowd.

Niki’s gaze shifted to Bianca, and she smiled widely. “Thank you, darling,” she said, forming a kiss with her puckered red lips.

The
lit
moved on, and Bianca squeezed Frans’s hand in hers. “That’s the birthday girl,” she said. “My boss.”

“
She’s
your boss?” Frans said with surprise.

“Yes. Stunning, isn’t she?”

Frans hugged her to him. “Not half as beautiful as you are, Bianca.”

Bianca felt that familiar frisson of excitement that these words caused, but before she could respond, a voice interrupted them.

“Bianca. How are you?” Adrian asked.

“Oh, hi,” she said. “I saw you at a distance, but never got close enough to say hello.”

Adrian’s gaze shifted from her to Frans and back again. “I take it this is your date?”

Bianca nodded. “Adrian, I’d like you to meet Frans. Frans, Adrian Single. He’s one of my bosses at PPHL.”

Adrian and Frans shook hands. “I hope you’re having a good time, Frans,” he said.

“Oh, yes,” Frans replied, casting Bianca an adoring glance. “I always have a good time with her.”

“I see,” Adrian said with a smile.

“Can you keep a secret?” Bianca asked him.

“You know I can,” Adrian replied.

“Frans and I are engaged,” she said.

“That’s wonderful news, sweetheart,” he said. He kissed her cheek, then clapped Frans on the back. “You’re a lucky man.”

“I know,” Frans said, all smiles.

“I’m so happy for you both,” Adrian said.

“I haven’t told my father yet,” Bianca said, “so please don’t say anything, Adrian.”

“You know I wouldn’t do that. I’m sworn to secrecy, so I won’t tell a soul. But I’ll tell you what.”

“What?” she asked.

He chuckled. “The way you two are acting, everybody’s going to know, so you’d better tell him soon.”

“Is it that obvious?” she said with a laugh.

Adrian nodded. “You can hardly keep your hands off each other.”

Frans and Bianca laughed. “It’s true,” Frans said. “We’re hopelessly in love.”

“That’s wonderful,” Adrian said. He took a sip of his drink. “I’d better mingle, so I’ll see you later.”

Bianca hadn’t planned on springing her news to her father tonight, but she felt emboldened by Adrian’s reaction. He’d been genuinely pleased, she thought, and hadn’t acted surprised at their difference in age. It hadn’t seemed to matter at all.

“Why don’t we go see my father?” Bianca said, turning to Frans. “I want to introduce you.”

“Okay,” Frans replied.

Bianca led the way through the crowd, twisting this way and that to where she’d last seen her father talking with Sugar. When they finally reached him, Angelo was sitting at a table, nursing a drink. At the sight of his daughter, he rose to his feet.

“Bianca,
cara,
” he said, kissing each of her cheeks. “I wondered where you were.”

“Dad,” she said, “I want you to meet someone.” She made the introductions and noticed the assessment her father’s eagle eyes made of Frans. He was appalled by the young man’s lack of a shirt, his sweat-drenched chest, low-rise pants, tribal tattoos, and long hair. She was thankful that Frans had a firm handshake, despite his casual, devil-may-care posture.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Frans said enthusiastically.

“A pleasure to meet you, too,” Angelo Coveri replied tightly.

“Frans, do you mind if I have a few words alone with my father?” Bianca asked.

“No, of course not,” he said, grinning. “I’ll take a stroll. See you at the bar inside?”

“Great,” Bianca said.

When Frans was out of earshot, Angelo Coveri tapped the table with a demanding finger. “Who is he? Some of the Eurotrash Niki hangs around with?”

“No, no,” Bianca said.
Oh, God,
she thought.
This is not going to be easy.
“Frans is one of the top models in New York. He’s in a campaign the PPHL fashion division’s launching.”

“The same thing if you ask me,” Angelo Coveri said. “Where’s he from?”

“Germany.”

“Eurotrash, just like I thought.”

“Dad!” she exclaimed. “You don’t even know him.”

“I know enough already,” he said harshly. “He’s a
model,
for God’s sake. No job for a man.” He looked at her with hooded eyes. “And don’t think I didn’t see the way you were throwing yourself all over him.”

“Father,” Bianca said, stomping a stiletto heel on the stone terrace. “Will you give me a chance to say what I wanted to say?”

“Fire away,” he said.

“Well . . . ,” Bianca began, looking down at her elegant Manolo Blahnik shoes as if they could inspire her. Now she wondered how she could possibly tell her father what their plans were. His initial reaction to Frans was so negative that she doubted that she could accomplish anything, much less convince her father that she was taking a wise course of action.
I have to be honest with him,
she thought.
He knows me well enough to know when I’m holding back.

Taking a deep breath, she gazed up into her father’s eyes. “I’m in love with Frans,” she said, “and we’re engaged.”

Bianca watched as he struggled to restrain himself from shouting at her. His face flushed, and he gritted his teeth. After a few moments he said too quietly, “If you like the sex, fine. Screw your brains out. But marry somebody like that? He’s half your age, Bianca. It’s absurd that you’re even considering such a thing.”

“Do I need to remind you that my mother was half your age when you married her?” Bianca retorted. “And she was still half your age when you got divorced.”

“No,” he said. “You don’t have to remind me of a damn thing.” He paused and took a sip of his drink. “I just don’t want to see you make the same mistake. We’re the only real family we have left, Bianca, you and I, and I hate to see you do something that’s going to be a catastrophe.”

Tears suddenly sprang into her eyes.

Angelo Coveri stared at his daughter for a moment. “Wipe your tears away,” he said, “and go find your young German. We’ll talk about this later. This is neither the time nor the place.”

“Okay,” she replied. She kissed his cheek and turned to go. “We’ll talk about this later.” She paused, then added, “But I’ve made up my mind.”

He heaved a sigh. “So go. Find your horny Kraut.”

 

When Niki saw Frans walking alone on the beach, she slipped off her shoes and danced down to the water’s edge, where he was idly kicking at the incoming waves. Hearing her approach, he turned and smiled.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hello,” she said, returning his smile. “What’s your name?”

“Frans,” he replied, his attention back on the water.

“I’m Niki,” she said.

“I know,” he said with a laugh. “It’s your birthday, and you are Bianca’s boss.”

“Yes,” Niki replied, “I am.” She slipped out of the diaphanous gown she was wearing and dropped it onto the sand. The gold fish scales that covered her nipples and crotch were intact, serving as the briefest of bikinis. “Why don’t we take a swim?” she asked. “There’s something I’d like to discuss with you.”

If he found her costume alluring, he didn’t let on. “Talk? About what?”

Niki picked up an air mattress that someone had left on the beach and shoved it out into the water, then followed it, walking in up to her waist. “Come on,” she said. “We can swim out to look at the barge.” She pointed to the long barge that would be used for the fireworks display, anchored fifty feet or so offshore. It was decorated with ten-foot scallop shells, behind which the fireworks crew hid.

“I don’t have a bathing suit,” Frans replied as an excuse. He swam in the nude all the time, but he didn’t relish the idea of swimming naked with Bianca’s boss.

“Oh, for God’s sake,” Niki said. “Who needs a bathing suit? Besides, aren’t you wearing underpants?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

“Then take off your trousers and swim in your underwear,” Niki said. “I think you’ll be glad you did.”

“Why?” Frans asked.

“Because of the proposition I have for you,” Niki said.

Frans didn’t like the sound of that, but he realized that she was Bianca’s boss, and he didn’t want to make her angry. Finally, he said, “Okay, but I should get back to Bianca soon.”

“This won’t take long,” Niki assured him. “Here, get on the air mattress, and I’ll swim alongside.”

Frans took off his trousers and left them on the beach, waded out to where she held the air mattress, then scooted up onto it and spread out lengthwise, staring up at the starlit sky.

“Perfect,” Niki said, beginning to paddle with her feet. “You can relax while I tell you what I have in mind.”

 

On the beach Adrian Single watched them from the sandy spot where he’d come and sat down with his drink. He had been taking a break from the party, but now he was intrigued with the scene being enacted before him. He could hear much of what Niki was saying and was certain that he knew what she was doing.
Poor Bianca,
he thought.
She’s finally found someone she really loves, and Niki decides she wants him for herself.

 

“Frans,” Niki said, “I think you could do something better than modeling.” After seeing him with Bianca, she had wasted no time in finding out who he was and what he did.

“Why do you say that?” he asked.

“It’s a dead-end career,” she replied. “No future after a certain age.”

“I know that,” he said, “but I’ll get into something else.”

“You could come to work for PPHL,” Niki said, paddling with her feet as she held on to the air mattress. “We’re always looking for men like you.”

Frans grunted noncommittally.

“Just think,” Niki enthused. “With salary and stock options, I could make you a millionaire within a year. Why, you’d never have to fly commercial again.”

Frans laughed. “That’s hard to believe.”

“Believe me,” Niki said, “I can make it possible.” She stopped paddling and gave him a penetrating look. “Plus,” she added, “you’d have
me.
”

Her directness both startled him and put him off, but he laughed lightly again. How to respond to this egomaniac without insulting her? He had met plenty of beautiful, rich women like Niki who thought they could simply buy him. They thought everyone had a price. If Bianca weren’t involved, he would tell Niki how boring her proposal was.

“I could even finance a major movie deal for you,” Niki gushed. “With your looks you could be a real film star.”

“I don’t think I can act,” Frans replied.

“Oh, that’s not important,” Niki assured him.

 

Onshore, Adrian looked at his watch. It was still over an hour and a half until the fireworks were due to go off, but he made a snap decision. Unclipping the cell phone on his belt, he pressed in the number for the crew foreman on the barge.
“Estrellas!”
he said in a low but firm voice, giving the signal for the fireworks to begin.