Lovers' Lies. Daphne Clair

I hate you. She wanted to shout it at him, right here in public, and walk away. Gripping the sun-heated railing, she looked away from him so that he wouldn’t see that her eyes were hot with rage. He remembered nothing of that long-ago summer. Nothing about her, anyway. He couldn’t, surely, have totally forgotten Genevieve?

      ‘You watch me all the time when you think I’m not looking,’ he said. ‘The same way I watch you.’ He paused. ‘If you say so I’ll walk away and not bother you again. But if you’re going to do that I wish you’d tell me what it is you’re afraid of.’

      ‘I’m not afraid!’ Her denial was instant and vehement.

      ‘Well... that’s a start.’

      ‘I’m not afraid,’ she reiterated, more to herself than to him.

      She could tell him, get it all out in the open, watch his face when she revealed to him who she was. See him realise why she despised him.

      Remember Genevieve? she’d say to him. Remember her little stepsister? The one who carried messages between you all summer? Remember me?

      CHAPTER THREE

      “THEN what is it?

Joshua was saying. ’Do you have some deep, dark secret in your past?

      He was smiling; it was a joke. No, she could have said, but you do.

      She wondered how many other Genevieves had crossed his path, how many of them he’d loved and left. Now he was bored with women who fell at his feet too easily and was after more challenging game. Trying to avoid contact with him, Felicia had unwittingly piqued his jaded interest.

      At least she’d have the petty triumph of turning him down flat. A small revenge for Genevieve.

      Even as she opened her mouth to do it, the thought expanded, flowered in all its poisonous beauty.

      Why settle for a small revenge? Why not play Joshua Tagget at his own game? String him along for a while and then dump him.

      One part of her was appalled, but the idea was seductively simple. Her heartbeat increased, adrenaline fizzing under her skin.

      In the extravagance of teenage grief she’d wanted to kill Joshua Tagget. Felicia knew now she was no murderer, but a more subtle vengeance was at hand. Didn’t she owe it to Genevieve to reach out and take it?

      ‘Felicia?’ Joshua smiled, the same dazzling, irresistible smile she’d seen him direct at Genevieve all those years ago.

      Surely she could make a pretence at liking him, at returning his interest, for a couple of weeks. For Genevieve’s sake.

      She smiled back at him, slow and mysterious. ‘Of course I have secrets. Don’t you?’

      ‘None that matter.’

      She kept the smile on her lips even as her blood simmered. None that mattered.

      He deserved everything she intended to do to him. Everything. ‘No wife tucked away in New Zealand?’ she asked him.

      ‘No wife, no ties.’

      Leading a man on was dangerous, cruel and downright despicable. Usually. But this was different. This was for Genevieve, a belated reparation...

      ‘What about Suzette?’ she demurred with a twinge of compunction. The other woman had not exactly hidden her penchant for Joshua’s company.

      ‘I’m certainly not married to Suzette,’ he said dryly. Momentarily he pursed his lips, as though searching for the right words. ‘We found each other the night before the tour began, and had a couple of drinks together. She’s very... friendly, and I try to be polite. I’ve never kissed her in the elevator—or anywhere else.’

      ‘I see.’ The relief she felt was absurd, and certainly inappropriate. For a moment her resolve wavered. What was she getting into here?

      But she could handle it. She knew enough about him and was mature enough not to be misled again by shallow, facile charm and surface good looks. Deliberately, she flashed him a smile, and turned to walk on, tacitly inviting him to accompany her.

      They strolled to the end of the promenade, and through a small park to a covered pavilion where they sat for a while enjoying the sea breeze, then retraced their steps back into the city.

      Taking a different route to the hotel, they found themselves in the fish market near the old abandoned Catholic church. The smell was overpowering, but there was no doubt about the freshness of the produce. A good deal of it was still alive, including tanks full of hand-sized turtles or dark green frogs, and even a basin piled with soya bean worms.

      ‘I expect they’re delicious.’ Felicia pulled out her camera and bent over to snap the fat, wriggling things.

      ‘I’ll buy you some if you like,’ Joshua offered, digging a hand into his pocket.

      ‘Thanks so much, but I wouldn’t be able to cook them,’ Felicia said regretfully. ‘There are rules about that sort of thing in the hotel. Didn’t you read the list of instructions from the Public Security Bureau?’

      ‘Yes, I did. All guests should come back to the hotel by 11 p.m.’

      ‘Be courteous and civilised and keep the room c/ean,’ Felicia quoted, stopping to peer into a tank containing an enormous spotted sea snake. ‘I think it’s charming.’

      ‘What, that fellow?’ Joshua bent to examine the sluggish, sinuously coiled beast.

      ‘The rules for guests.’

      ‘Mmm, I’ve been in a few hotels around the world where I’d have liked someone to remind the guests about being courteous and civilised,’ Joshua agreed. ‘I was particularly taken with the one that says, Hotel guests should live in the designated rooms and beds.’ Straightening, he walked on a little further. ‘What on earth are those?’

      ‘Crabs,’ Felicia decided as she moved closer to the deep containers. Each crab was tied with something that looked like twists of flax or rough twine, she supposed to stop them crawling away. ‘Poor things.’

      ‘You could say that about any creature destined for the pot. Do you like prawns?’ Joshua gestured to a basket full of large pink crustaceans.

      ‘I love them,’ Felicia admitted. ‘You’re more of a white fish man, aren’t you?’

      ‘How do you know that?’

      Her mind went blank, totally. She couldn’t even recall how she knew, but the knowledge went back to the time when everything about him had seemed fascinating to her. She said, ‘I... I remember you tucking into the fish at dinner the other night.’

      ‘You do?’ He looked surprised, then a smile tugged at his mouth. He thought she’d been watching him that closely.

      ‘Yes. Oh, look—there’s a shark. A small one.’

      ‘It might be small, but I wouldn’t care to encounter it in the water. Those are pretty impressive teeth!’

      She’d been saved by his own conviction that she was attracted to him, Felicia thought. But she would have to be more careful.

      Eventually they found their way back to the hotel, to find most of their party in the bar. Joshua got chairs for Felicia and himself and ordered drinks, casually throwing an arm over the back of her chair as they talked with the Australian couple and some other people. Suzette was at another table where some of the younger contingent had gathered. Felicia saw her direct a searching glance towards Joshua and note the position of his arm before turning away to talk to someone else.

      You’re better off without him, believe me, she mentally told the other girl. You don’t know what bad news Joshua