The Temptress (25 page)

‘Please,’ he scoffed. ‘Walk in the park.’

‘If that’s the case I could do with you getting
me home, then taking me to The Domville and collecting me later, somehow
getting my car back to my house at some stage in the evening too. Would that be
ok? It would mean a lot of hanging about waiting.’

‘Not a problem, though I’ll need assistance
with your car.’

‘I can help,’ offered Henry, ‘as long as no
evasive tactics are required.’

‘Then if Mike can drive my car home and you meet
him there in the van to bring him back here, so he can come and pick me up in
the Merc from the hotel when I’m done.’

‘Damn it,’ Henry muttered. ‘Why do I get the
crappy van and he gets the sports car?’

‘Because I don’t drive like a granny in a three
wheeler,’ Mike chuckled. ‘You stick to your expertise, I’ll stick to mine.’

‘I’ll be ready in half an hour Mike, see you
down there,’ I nodded with a smile.

‘Ok,’ he confirmed as he left.

‘So, I take it you have more for me to do?’
Henry asked.

‘I’ll need that key card, I’ll be going in to
remove all of our equipment, but I have a feeling that his wife is more crafty
than I thought. I think she may have surveillance of her own in there. I’ll
need a scanner to check the room for audio or visual devices myself, but I
can’t afford to be seen, even if I’m disguised. Do you have anything that will
interfere with signals to prevent me being shown up on anyone else’s too until
I dismantle them?’

‘I do,’ he nodded. ‘I’d better check with Hilda
that wearing a hat will go with what she has planned.’

‘I don’t think a hat will cut it, Henry,’ I
frowned.

‘Trust me, one with this gadgetry in the brim
will, it will cast a light over your face, invisible to the naked eye, but one
that will be blinding on camera, all they’ll see is your body and a bright
whiteness where your face should be.’

‘Impressive,’ I nodded.

‘I know, wish I’d invented it,’ he sighed.
‘Just make sure you don’t lose the hat it’s an expensive piece of kit.’

‘I have Ian checking Luc’s phone and laptop as
well, to see if we’re the only ones with backdoor access.’

‘You’re dropping the case then?’

‘I am,’ I nodded firmly. ‘She’s confessed he’s
been faithful and given my … connection to him, I won’t be the one to bring him
down. He’s expecting to meet me in the bar at seven-thirty. I can’t afford to
approach him in case she has someone watching him there. She knows he won’t
leave with anyone else and I can’t ring him to tell him in case she has his
phone bugged.’

‘Ring the barman, tell him to pass on a
message.’

‘Too risky involving someone else, this woman
has deep pockets, I don’t know who she’s paid off in the hotel.’

‘I can hack into their switchboard and ring him
direct, saying it’s housekeeping?’ he offered.

‘Ok,’ I nodded. ‘Tell him it’s … Mabelle and
that she’s making up his room and she’s concerned that she’s damaged his
laptop, that should have him return.’

‘I don’t think I’ll pass for a Mabelle, I may
not have the deepest manly voice, but Mabelle?’ he uttered, as he looked at me
mortified. ‘Can’t I be a male housekeeper?’

‘Please, male stewards may be common on cruise
ships, but in hotels, it’s usually always a maid. Have you seen any men going
in to do the evening tidy and turn down service while he’s been staying there?’

‘No,’ he sighed.

‘So what time is she in and out by?’

‘She goes in as soon as he heads down to the
bar at seven twenty five and she’s usually out by quarter to eight. I’ll watch
from here and give you the heads up when it’s safe to go in, but you’ll have to
come clean with him about what we did last week. The lifts are key operated
remember, you’d have no genuine reason to have access to his floor, let alone
be waiting for him in his room.’

‘I know,’ I sighed. ‘But he already knows I was
there to lure him for money, I think proving that I’m not going ahead with
that, showing him that I’ve taken down our equipment may help show that I have
his best interests at heart.’

‘Are you going to tell him about Tristan?’

‘No,’ I shot back. ‘It’s too soon. I don’t know
him all that well, Henry, but I know him well enough to know that if he finds
out and wants to meet him, I’m not going to be able to stop him. I need time,
time to build some kind of platonic relationship with him, to make sure he’s
the kind of man that I want in my son’s life before I even think about telling
him, let alone introducing them.’

‘Platonic relationship?!’ Henry chortled.
‘Please! You had a child from your first meeting, sucked face on your second,
he’s sending you bouquets every day, turning up to confront you and you’re
refusing a seriously large payment to entrap him because you don’t want to hurt
him. This is no platonic relationship, Lulu.’

‘He’s married,’ I protested. ‘I’m not having a
relationship, other than a platonic one, with a married man.’

‘Not even one that’s getting divorced?’ he
offered, with a dip of his head as he looked into my eyes. I blushed, thinking of
what I’d already done with Luc that was so wrong.

‘Her divorcing him for whatever sick and
twisted reason is one thing, I’m not going to be the woman he has an affair
with, because he’s too invested in their financial relationship to take that
step for himself,’ I muttered stubbornly.

‘So, if I happened to know that on Saturday
he’d been to see Ben Harding of Harding & Gains, the foremost divorce
attorneys in London, that wouldn’t factor into your thought process?’

‘He what?’ I gasped, as I felt my heart beat a
little faster. ‘No, no, no!’

‘This is good news, he’s obviously never had
reason to leave her before, five days after seeing you again and he’s seeking
legal advice? He’s got it bad for you, you have nothing to feel guilty about.
He wants out and he’s not waiting until you’re an item again before doing it.’

‘When did you find this out?’ I demanded.

‘Saturday morning, why?’

‘Because if his phone’s tapped she’ll get that
information as well, which means she’ll probably push her timetable up, for her
plan to work she needs to divorce him. That means I may have even less time to
try and get myself out of this mess.’

‘He didn’t call or email them, he turned up at
Ben Harding’s house unannounced and spent two hours in his study.’

‘How do you know this?’ I asked, feeling
confused.

‘Because Ben’s my brother in law and I happened
to be visiting my sister Amy at the time, imagine my shock when I saw Luc
standing in the hall,’ he chuckled. ‘Trust me, Ben didn’t disclose any
confidences, I asked after Luc left who he was. Ben just said that he was a
wealthy client with a lot to lose if news of him seeking divorce counsel came
to light.’

‘Does he usually accept people turning up on
his doorstep?’

‘No, of course not, but he said this man was
very persuasive and offered him a fee that he couldn’t turn down, though he has
no idea how he got his home address in the first place.’

‘People with money can buy pretty much anything
it seems,’ I nodded, letting a tense breath leave my body as I relaxed a
little.

‘I’ll go and sort your kit out and speak to
Hilda, you don’t have much time.’

‘Thanks, Henry, I really appreciate this.’

‘No problem,’ he grinned as he headed out.

I threw myself back in the sofa and covered my
face with my hands. This was so not how I ever envisioned meeting Luc again. I
had some romantic notion that we’d bump into each other, he’d still be single
too, we’d spend ages getting to know each other, then I’d introduce him to
Tristan who’d fall in love with him and we’d ride off into the sunset as a
happy family. It had been a stupid pipe dream. Except it wasn’t a dream
anymore, Luc was in my life again, with all of these extra complications.
Granted it seemed he was doing the honourable thing and had started divorce
proceedings before pursuing me, but I couldn’t let him in Tristan’s life until
I was sure I wanted him in mine. Yes, the chemistry between us was undeniable,
but relationships couldn’t just be physical, they needed more depth and that
depth was going to take time to explore, to test. I needed to get to know him
properly, to see if I could fall in love with him and him with me, before I
even thought about letting him into our son’s life. I didn’t want to lie to
him, but if he knew about Tristan I couldn’t imagine him not wanting to meet
him straight away and how would I explain that to Tristan? Luc wasn’t patient,
he wanted, he took, but would he forgive me for hiding the truth from him,
while I decided if he was a good enough father for the current love of my life?
And what if Luc and I weren’t meant to be? Would he fight for custody? Would he
take Tristan away from me to France? I stifled a sob at the thought of losing
my precious boy for even a night a week, let alone weekends or weeks at a time.

I quickly stood and shook myself down, I
couldn’t control everything, for now I had to focus on one problem at a time
and tonight was the first.

Mike dropped me at home, confirming that we had
a tail, who he’d managed to shake. He offered to wait in a coffee shop around
the corner while I headed in.

‘Mummy,’ came Tristan’s voice as I stepped
through the door.

‘Darling,’ I beamed as I crouched and wrapped
him up in my arms as he ran to me. ‘I’ve missed you today. What have you been
doing?’ I asked as I lifted him up and carried him into the lounge, smiling at
Claire.

‘Finger painting,’ he replied and held his
stained fingers up.

‘I’ve no idea what paint they use at that school,
but we’ve been scrubbing and scrubbing and it won’t come off,’ Claire advised,
with an apologetic smile.

‘That doesn’t matter, I’m sure it will
eventually,’ I reassured her. ‘So what did you paint?’

‘Elephants,’ he giggled.

‘No!’ I replied with a mock gasp, as I kissed
his head.

‘Yes, Mummy. A family of elephants.’

‘Did you bring them home for me to see?’

‘Yes, I did it for you.’

‘Why don’t you go and get it to show me then?’
I suggested, as I set him down and watched him run for the stairs, using his
hands and feet to clamber up them. ‘How are you?’ I asked Claire.

‘Just great thanks, he’s so excited you were
coming home to cook.’

‘Are you sure you don’t mind staying over
tonight? I shouldn’t be really late, but I can always ask Mum.’

‘Of course I don’t mind, I miss him now you’re
spending more time at home. Honestly, if you need me to do more nights I will.’

‘Are you struggling, financially?’

‘No,’ she laughed. ‘You pay me well above the
going rate for what I do, he’s just a lovely little boy. I have fun looking
after him and seeing him growing up.’

‘Why do you think I want to spend more time at
home,’ I smiled. We both laughed as we heard him thudding down the stairs and
he appeared clutching his painting in his hands and proudly handed it over to
me. ‘Tristan!’ I exclaimed as I looked at the three elephants he’d painstaking
created in pink, purple and blue. It had “To Mummy. I love you. Tristan xx” in
shaky letters of varying sizes in a slant along the bottom, which someone had
obviously helped him with. I felt my eyes fill with tears as I looked at it,
then down at his little expectant face as he looked up, waiting for my verdict.

‘I love it, it’s the most beautiful picture
you’ve ever done for me. Can I have it framed and put it in my bedroom?’

‘Ok,’ he beamed. ‘The pretty pink one is you,
the mummy elephant, the little purple one is me, because I’m the baby elephant
and that really big blue one is my daddy,’ he nodded proudly.

‘Your daddy?’ I asked, a lump forming in my
throat.

‘Yes. I know he’s lost but I wanted him in my
picture. Bryce had his mummy and daddy in his picture.’

‘Then I’m glad you put him in yours,’ I smiled,
choking back some tears as I put it down on the coffee table and grabbed him,
spinning him around as I plastered his face in kisses while he giggled. How
would he feel if he knew I’d been with his daddy this afternoon, that I was
keeping them apart? I felt awful. I squeezed him tightly as I tried to pull
myself together, with Claire giving me a sympathetic smile.

‘So, how do you and Claire fancy my special
macaroni cheese soufflé for dinner?’ I asked when I was a little more composed,
knowing it was one of his favourites.

‘Yummy,’ he replied and he lifted his head from
the crook of my neck to grin at me.

‘Well, why don’t you play with Claire while I
get it ready?’

‘I want to help,’ he pouted. ‘Claire too.’

‘Really? Have you asked poor Claire before
volunteering her to help?’

‘No,’ he replied, with a frown that made me
catch my breath. God he looked so like his father had when he frowned at me
this afternoon. ‘Claire, please will you come and cook with me and Mummy?’

‘Of course I will,’ she smiled.

‘Good boy for asking so nicely,’ I said proudly,
as I kissed his forehead. ‘Why don’t you and Claire go and set the table, while
I run up and get changed, then we can all cook together, ok?’ I suggested and
he nodded. I set him down and watched them walk hand in hand over to the
kitchen and sighed. It really was obvious to him that the two of us weren’t a
normal family, but now I knew exactly where his daddy was I was too scared to
introduce them. What if he liked Luc and got attached, then Luc decided he
didn’t want to be a part of his life? It would kill me to see him disappointed.
I picked up my picture and headed up to the bedroom to change into my jeans and
a t-shirt, feeling overloaded with varying emotions.

‘I’ll be back as soon as I can, but you know
you’re welcome to stay the night,’ I advised Claire as I found her watching TV
in the lounge.