Forgotten Lover

‘It’s enough to put you off your breakfast,’ Velvet teased.

‘It sure is,’ Greg grinned. ‘So about this afternoon …’

‘Come with us, if you like,’ Paul invited.

‘I’d like to, but I don’t really have the time to go that far. I have to be back on duty at six,’ Greg explained regretfully.

‘How far are the Everglades?’ Paul groaned.

‘About an hour’s journey either way, and then there’s the two-hour trip round. You won’t see anything if you don’t take the tour.’

‘Oh God,’ Paul moaned. ‘I hate organised tours.’

‘Then cycle round,’ Greg suggested. ‘It’s only fifteen miles, and you can hire a cycle there.’

‘Cycle!’ Carly burst out laughing at Paul’s stunned expression. ‘When did you last ride a bicycle, darling?’ she mocked.

‘When did you?’ he scowled.

‘About six months ago, for an advert I was working on.’

‘As I recall you sat on it, you didn’t ride it,’ he scorned. ‘I think we’ll skip the bicycle ride,’ he told Greg, ‘and take the tour after all.’

Greg nodded. ‘It’s worth it. I guarantee you’ll enjoy it. But don’t expect the Everglades to be like the Hollywood producers would have you believe in the films they make about it. It’s basically flat, no tall trees, with occasional small tree islands.’

‘Oh.’ Carly sounded disappointed.

‘Parts of it are like they show in the movies,’ Greg consoled her. ‘I’m just warning you that the majority of it isn’t.’

‘Still want to go?’ Paul asked her.

‘I’m not sure …’

‘I didn’t mean to put you off,’ Greg sighed.

‘You haven’t,’ Carly gave him a bright smile. ‘We’ll go,’ she told Paul. ‘Maybe I’ll feed you to an alligator.’

‘Sharks, and now alligators! I’m beginning to think you don’t love me any more,’ he mocked.

She gave him a sweet saccharine smile. ‘Maybe I don’t.’

‘Liar!’ he laughed.

Greg grinned, ‘You two are really something!’

‘Aren’t they?’ Velvet laughed.

‘Where shall we go this afternoon?’ Greg asked her.

‘How about Ocean World?’

He grinned. ‘Why is it that all the girls I date want to go to Ocean World?’

She couldn’t help smiling. ‘How many times have you been?’

‘About fifty—this year!’

Paul spluttered with laughter. ‘You poor devil! Was it worth it?’

The other man smiled. ‘Most times, yes.’

‘I think they’re getting personal,’ Carly told Velvet in a stage whisper.

Velvet knew they were. She liked Greg very much, but she had no intention of sleeping with him. ‘Are we going to get any work done today?’ she asked in a stilted voice.

Paul pushed away his empty coffee cup. ‘I’m ready.’

‘And me.’ Carly gulped down the last of her coffee, then stood up. ‘See you outside, Velvet,’ and she pulled Paul away.

‘That remark wasn’t meant for you, Velvet,’ Greg told her anxiously, having noticed her withdrawal, as had the other couple.

‘Wasn’t it?’ she said tautly. ‘I don’t know what you’ve heard about models, Greg, but I can assure you that most of us are very hardworking, and have husbands or steady boy-friends.’

‘Do you have a steady boy-friend?’

‘No. I’m the exception.’

‘Well, I may not be a boy, being thirty and ancient, but I would like to be your friend,’ he said seriously. ‘I like you, Velvet. I just want to spend some time with you.’

She gave him a searching look. ‘Is that all?’

‘Scout’s honour.’

‘Were you ever a Boy Scout?’

‘No,’ he grinned.

Velvet shook her head. ‘I thought not. Look, I think I should warn you that you’re wasting your time if you want anything more than friendship from me. I have a young son in England that I would like to be able to look straight in the eye when I get home. I don’t sleep around.’ But she had once slept with Jerard Daniels, according to him. And she had the feeling it was the truth; the sure way he had found the sensitive areas of her body had seemed to indicate previous knowledge of her in particular. She blushed as she remembered the way he had caressed her back, seeming to know exactly the right places to touch.

‘I understand that, Velvet,’ Greg told her softly. ‘And I’m not denying that I wish it could be different. But I knew straight away what sort of girl you are. And I still want to take you to Ocean World.’ She laughed. ‘For the fifty-first time—this year?’

‘It could be the hundredth and I’d still want to take you.’

‘Okay,’ she stood up. ‘What time shall I meet you?’

‘Two o’clock in reception?’

‘Fine,’ she nodded. ‘And now I really do have to get to work.’

‘So do I.’ He held up his hand in a casual wave.

Carly and Paul were waiting outside in the van, Paul obviously not pleased at this further delay, and Carly agog with the existence of Greg.

‘I’m beginning to wonder about you, Velvet,’ she teased. ‘You have men appearing from everywhere!’

‘I met Greg yesterday, and——’

‘You don’t have to explain yourself to us,’ Carly cut in. ‘You’re free, over twenty-one. It’s just that I’ve never seen you with any man before, and two in two days comes as something of a shock.’

‘Mr Daniels doesn’t count. He——’

‘He looked as if he counted to me,’ Paul scoffed. ‘The man’s mad about you.’

Velvet flushed. ‘He isn’t! He——’

‘You really don’t have to explain to us, Velvet,’ he said gently. ‘We’re just glad to see you coming alive again. You’re too young and beautiful to be alone for ever.’

‘Tony needs me,’ she defended.

‘And what do you need?’ Paul quirked an eyebrow at her.

Her blush deepened. ‘Not that, that’s for sure,’ she snapped, the memory of her reaction to Jerard Daniels still too vivid for comfort.

Paul’s mouth twisted. ‘Believe me, Velvet, everyone needs “that”. It’s just that some people are able to suppress the feelings.’

‘Then I must be one of them!’

He shook his head. ‘You have to be kidding!’

‘Paul——’

‘He’s only teasing, Velvet——’

‘No, I’m not Carly,’ he said firmly. ‘I think we’ve known Velvet long enough to be able to talk bluntly.’

‘Not that bluntly,’ Carly warned.

‘Velvet?’

She sighed. ‘It isn’t that I don’t appreciate what you’re saying, it’s just that at the moment Tony comes first in my life.’

‘That doesn’t mean there isn’t room for a man too.’

‘Well, neither Jerard Daniels or Greg fits the bill.’

‘Okay,’ Paul shruggingly accepted her reluctance to discuss it.

The heat seemed even more unbearable today, so much so that she finally couldn’t stand it another moment longer, and ran into the refreshing blue sea. It was beautiful, cool and clean, and she swam for ten minutes or more before rejoining Carly and Paul on the sand, where Paul was just packing his camera equipment away for the day.

His gaze ran over her appreciatively. ‘You’re right about these costumes, Velvet, they’re useless for actually swiming in. It didn’t fall apart,’ he grinned, ‘but it did become transparent!’

Consternation washed over her face and she grabbed a wrap to pull on over the bikini that now showed every curve of her body as if she were naked.

‘I should have known!’ she said angrily, her embarrassment very acute.

Paul still smiled. ‘I’m not complaining.’

Carly punched him on the arm. ‘I am. Keep your eyes off!’

‘Spoilsport!’ he moaned, holding his bruised arm.

‘I’m going to get dressed,’ and Velvet marched off to the van.

Carly followed her, chuckling at her furious expression. ‘It wasn’t that bad,’ she teased.

‘It was awful!’ Velvet’s face was still bright red. ‘Jerard Daniels shouldn’t be allowed to sell these!’ She threw the bikini down in disgust.

Carly changed too. ‘The price he’s asking for them I doubt they would normally get wet.’

Velvet didn’t know how she was going to face Paul again, never having gone in for any of the semi-nude modelling that some of her friends had.

But she needn’t have worried. He had forgotten all about it by the time she and Carly returned to the beach, more concerned with the fact that he got sand in his camera.

‘I’ll have to clean this out,’ he muttered. ‘I’m sorry, Carly, but the Everglades are out for this afternoon. Why the hell Daniels insisted we come out here to take the photographs, instead of in a studio like we usually do with beachwear, I just don’t know. Florida is all wrong for this type of work. The light is all wrong, the wind is too strong, it’s too damned hot, and worst of all, it’s playing havoc with my camera equipment.’ He scowled heavily.

Velvet had a feeling she knew exactly why Jerard Daniels had wanted them to come out to Florida. He had wanted her here, and this had been his way of doing it.

‘Would you like to come with Greg and me this afternoon?’ she asked Carly.

‘No, I’ll stay and keep Paul company.’

‘Sure?’ She was now regretting her decision to accompany Greg, and having Carly with them would take away the impression of a twosome.

‘Sure,’ Carly nodded.

Greg proved to be an entertaining companion, standing patiently beside her as they watched the keepers getting into the pool to feed the sharks, saw the sea-lion show, and watched the dolphins perform their endearing tricks. Velvet loved the lazy dolphin most of all, because she appeared to do everything wrong but in reality performed some quite amazing antics.

As they came down the steps from the top of the dolphin pool the woman in front of Velvet suddenly seemed to falter, lose her step and fall down the last three stairs to the ground. She let out a cry as she landed awkwardly on her ankle, and the little girl at her side bent down anxiously.

‘It’s all right, Vicki,’ the woman instantly assured her, her pretty face creased up in pain. ‘I’m all right.’

Velvet and Greg reached the bottom of the stairs in seconds, going down on their haunches beside the woman, a small pretty brown-haired woman of perhaps thirty, her distressed brown eyes and white face evidence of the pain she was trying to hide from her little girl.

The little girl was perhaps six or seven years in age, dressed in denims and a tee-shirt that showed the thinness of her body, her dark hair long and straight, her eyes a deep, deep blue. She was a pretty child, and she looked more than a little upset by her mother’s accident.

‘Your ankle?’ Greg took charge with the minimum of fuss.

‘Yes,’ the woman groaned, obviously in agony.

‘I’ll get you to the hospital,’ Greg said grimly.

The little girl seemed to recoil, and moved back against the wall, her eyes wide with fear.

‘It’s all right, Vicki,’ the woman struggled to sit up, her voice distinctly English. ‘Vicki!’ She held out her hand to the little girl.

‘No,’ the girl shook her head, ‘I won’t go to hospital. I won’t!’

Velvet instantly went to her side. ‘It’s all right, darling. No one will hurt you at the hospital,’ she soothed.

The girl huddled into her side. ‘They kill people there,’ she shuddered.

Velvet was taken aback by this statement, and looked frowningly at the injured woman.

‘Could you possibly take Vicki back to the hotel?’ the woman requested.

‘Well, I——’

‘That’s a good idea, Velvet,’ Greg interrupted. ‘You take care of Vicki and I’ll get this lady to hospital.’

Velvet took one look at the frightened little girl and knew that it was the wisest course of action; Vicki was likely to become hysterical if subjected to a visit to the hospital she so dreaded.

‘How about an ice-cream before we go home, Vicki?’ she coaxed the little girl.

‘I—I’m not sure,’ she looked up warily, the lashes surrounding her deep blue eyes ridiculously long. ‘Faye?’ she looked at the woman for the answer.

‘Go with—Velvet?—Go with Velvet, Vicki. Mr Boyd will take me to get my ankle seen to.’

Velvet frowned. Did Greg actually know this couple? And it didn’t sound as if the woman and the little girl were mother and daughter after all, maybe they were sisters instead.

‘They’re staying at the hotel, Velvet,’ Greg explained, helping Faye to her feet. ‘Take Vicki back there and wait for us.’

‘No ice-cream?’ Vicki pouted.

‘Yes, you can have an ice-cream,’ Greg grinned at her, swinging Faye up into his arms. ‘But don’t be too long getting back to the hotel,’ he warned Velvet. ‘I doubt we’ll be late.’ He strode off.

‘But I——’ He’d gone! She looked down at Vicki, grinning to reassure her. ‘Banana split?’

She licked her lips in anticipation. ‘Lovely!’

The little girl’s fright seemed to be forgotten as she ploughed her way through the huge banana split Velvet ordered for her in the ice-cream parlour they found. Velvet settled for a chocolate milk shake, not the watery type you usually got served in England; the straw stood up in this one, which was so thick she could hardly suck it up the straw.

Vicki sat back once she had finished her ice-cream. ‘Could you tell me the time, please?’

Velvet had to stop herself smiling, the little girl’s manner was so grown-up. ‘It’s ten past five.’

‘Then we should be getting back.’ Vicki got down off her stool, looking up at Velvet expectantly. ‘My father will be back now. He’ll be getting worried about me.’

Velvet raised her eyebrows, taking Vicki’s hand as they went out to get in the taxi she had ordered. ‘You’re here with your father?’

‘Oh yes,’ Vicki nodded. ‘My mother d-died, and—and Faye takes care of me.’

‘I’m sorry, darling,’ Velvet squeezed the hand that had trustingly stayed in hers. ‘But Faye is nice, isn’t she?’

‘I don’t know. She hasn’t been my—my friend very long, just a few months, only since Mummy died really.’

The loss was obviously a recent one, and by Vicki’s age she would guess her mother couldn’t have been very old. It was also natural to assume that she had died in a hospital, hence the child’s aversion to them. It must have been very rough on a little girl of this age, old enough to understand what was happening, but not old enough to understand why.

‘Are you going to be my friend?’ Vicki asked her shyly.

‘Of course I am,’ Velvet smiled, as the two of them got out of the taxi as they reached the hotel. ‘I can always do with an extra friend, Vicki.’ She led the way into the hotel, already feeling a bond developing between them.

Vicki let out a squeal of delight, letting go of Velvet’s hand to run over to the man pacing up and down the reception area. ‘Daddy!’ she cried before launching herself into his arms.

Velvet swallowed hard, keeping to the background. The man now holding Vicki in his arms was none other than Jerard Daniels, which meant that Vicki must be the eight-year-old daughter he had spoken of.

He turned and saw her, his eyes narrowing to icy slits, his face harsh. His long strides brought him quickly to her side. ‘Do I take it you’re the young woman that stupid idiot entrusted my daughter to?’ he rasped.

She gulped. There could be no doubt about his fury, he was absolutely white with it, although his voice was controlled enough, probably for Vicki’s sake.

She had thought he had left the hotel, gone back to England. ‘You’re still here,’ she said dazedly.

‘Of course I’m still here,’ he snapped. ‘Where the hell else would I be?’

‘But I—You went to the airport.’

He nodded grimly. ‘To collect Vicki, and that idiotic woman who will leave my employment as soon as she’s well enough to walk.’

She blinked. ‘Faye?’

‘Yes.’

‘How is she?’

‘She has a broken ankle,’ his mouth twisted. ‘She’s lucky she doesn’t have a broken neck to go with it!’

Velvet shook her head. ‘Sorry?’

‘So will she be when she’s well enough to listen to what I think of her, just dumping my daughter on a perfect stranger!’

She gasped. ‘She didn’t dump Vicki on me. She was in pain, her ankle obviously needed expert attention, and Greg——’

‘Who the hell is Greg?’ he cut in furiously.

‘The assistant manager here.’

Jerard Daniels gave a deeply impatient sigh. ‘And where does he fit into all this?’

‘You mean you don’t know?’

‘Would I be asking if I did?’ he asked with veiled violence, Vicki still held firmly in his arms.

‘No, I suppose not.’ He had intended making her feel foolish—and he had succeeded. ‘Greg and I were at Ocean World when Faye fell. Greg took her to the hospital. I thought he must have called you.’

‘No, Miss Rogers did that,’ he said grimly. ‘Babbling on about leaving Vicki with some woman who just happened to be there.’

‘Velvet, Daddy,’ Vicki put in. ‘She’s nice,’ she told him conspiratorially.

Velvet felt grateful for the support of one of the Daniels family; she obviously wasn’t going to get any support from Jerard Daniels. He was treating her almost like a criminal.

‘Faye—Miss Rogers didn’t just leave Vicki with a stranger,’ she told him coldly. ‘Greg recognised her, and she recognised him. She probably thought I worked at the hotel too——’

‘Instead of which you’re his girl-friend,’ he scoffed.

‘I’m a friend,’ she said firmly.

‘She’s my friend too, Daddy,’ Vicki put in innocently.

‘How nice!’ he scorned.

‘I bet she’d be your friend too, Daddy, if you asked her.’

He looked up at his daughter, his face softening into a smile. ‘I already did ask her, poppet,’ he said huskily. ‘She said no.’

Vicki thought for a moment, frowning. ‘Maybe you didn’t ask her properly,’ she said slowly. ‘If you pulled a face at her you probably frightened her.’

‘Pulled a face?’ he queried softly.

‘Yes, you know, like this.’ She did a good impression of his furious expression of a few minutes ago. ‘Like that, Daddy,’ she told him seriously.

Velvet had to once again stop herself from smiling, but the impulse quickly died as Jerard Daniels scowled at her.

‘Yes, just like that, Daddy,’ Vicki cried excitedly.

It really was too much for Velvet, she couldn’t contain her amusement any longer, chuckling softly.

‘I’m glad you find it amusing, Mrs Dale,’ Jerard Daniels rapped out. ‘But I didn’t find it in the least amusing as I waited here for the return of my daughter—if she did return. Say goodnight to Mrs Dale, Vicki,’ he ordered tautly. ‘We have to go now.’

Consternation washed over Velvet. ‘Mr Daniels——’

‘Say goodnight, Vicki.’ He was unrelenting.

"Night, Velvet.’ The little girl yawned tiredly, her head dropping down on to her father’s shoulder; her long flight had obviously tired her as much as anything. ‘Will I see you tomorrow?’

‘I——’ Velvet looked at Jerard Daniels’ haughty expression. ‘You might,’ she compromised.

‘I hope so,’ she murmured, already half asleep.

Her father’s expression as he walked off with her in his arms left Velvet in no doubt as to his opinion of her seeing his daughter again tomorrow or any other time.

Long after she reached her room she remembered what Vicki had said about her mother dying recently. If she had died recently, then that meant Jerard Daniels had been married at the time he claimed they had been lovers!

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