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'Do I discern a lovers' tiff so soon?'
'No lover and no tiff.'
'Don't tell me you've blown it, Jacy. You only had to keep in with Leo until next Tuesday and the netsuke was yours.'
'As I have no intention of ever seeing Leo Kozakis again, tell me when you want me to baby-sit.' And for the first time in her long friendship with Liz she lied. 'Sorry, Liz, someone at the door, I must go. Bye.'
CHAPTER EIGHT
Jacy had only delayed the inevitable as at four in the afternoon a knock on the door heralded the arrival of Liz.
'You sounded funny earlier and I was coming up to town to meet Tom, so I've told him to pick me up here. I thought I'd call and see how you are. The speed Leo carried you off yesterday was unbelievable. He was eating you with his eyes. So come on, what went wrong?'
'Nothing. We returned here. Leo had coffee. We talked and he left.' Jacy did not tell lies easily, but even for Liz, her best friend, she could not bare her soul. It still hurt too much...
'Washed-out complexion, red-rimmed eyes, and you're not going to tell me, hmm?' Liz queried, sitting down in the wing-backed chair, her pixie face full of compassion. 'It might help to talk, and I'm a great listener.'
A wry smile brightened Jacy's face for a second. 'You never give up, Liz, but this time I'm afraid you'll have to. Suffice it to say you were perfectly correct when you warned me about Leo after Tom's birthday party. He is too much the cynical sophisticate for me. So now can we change the subject? Please...'
Liz regarded her candidly. 'Are you going to be OK?' she queried. 'Or shall I get Tom to punch Leo out for you...? No, perhaps that's not such a good idea. Tom is hoping to clinch Leo's considerable business for the bank and end up chairman. Breaking the bloke's nose might not enhance his prospects.'
Jacy laughed at that, and until Tom arrived the conversation carefully avoided any mention of Leo.
It was only after they had left and the silence of her home began to press in on her that Jacy realised sadly just how much subconsciously she had been hoping this time with Leo would be different. The house had never seemed so empty before, and she had never felt so alone. Much to her own self-disgust she found herself praying for the telephone to ring.
Rubbish, pull yourself together, girl! There was life after Leo before, and there would be again, she told herself firmly, and of course this time she didn't love Leo! That had ended years ago. She could not deny the physical attraction between them. Last night it had reached breaking-point. A temporary madness, she assured herself, but as she ascended the stairs to her changed bedroom she could not help recalling how only a few hours ago she had been carried tenderly up the same stairs in the arms of her lover.
She shuddered, her blood turning to iced water in her veins. It had been hard enough admitting her mistake the first time, but at least she had the excuse of extreme youth and naïveté. This time it was a much greater humiliation. She was a mature woman and the blow to her own self-respect, self-image, doubly hard to endure.
Almost three weeks later Jacy sat curled up on the sofa in her 'Save the Whale' night-shirt, a plate of raw mushrooms and a huge strawberry cream cake on the table in front of her, with a pot of tea, and the daily paper open at 'What's on TV'.
Yes, she congratulated herself quietly, the hurt was easing. Leo hadn't called, but then she hadn't expected him to. He hadn't lied to her; he had suggested a brief affair, and that was all it had been. She couldn't really blame Leo. Anger at Barbara's treatment had encouraged her to make the stupid bet. How could she expect a proud man like Leo Kozakis to react when he found out other than to take delight in turning the tables on her? He had told her himself he always won. Now she knew it was true... Leo had shown himself in his true light. His relationships with women were, and always would be, shallow. He had made love to Jacy because he wanted to teach her a lesson, while she had secretly nursed the hope that their relationship might develop into something more. In her business life she was a tough go-getter, but she could never handle the kind of meaningless, sophisticated relationships Leo Kozakis indulged in. How she had fooled herself otherwise on the strength of a few telephone calls she couldn't bear to contemplate.
Instead she had immersed herself in her work, and she was not without friends. Next weekend was Easter and she was spending it looking after the twins, while Liz and Tom went to Paris. More immediate, she loved opera, and tomorrow, Friday, Simon was taking her to Covent Garden to hear Placido Domingo in Tosca.
She picked up a mushroom and popped it into her mouth before turning her attention to the paper. She was trying to decide between Roseanne
and the ten o'clock news when the telephone rang. Damn! Who could it be at this time of night? she wondered and, strolling into the hall, unsuspecting, picked up the receiver.
The breath wooshed out of her body in one long gasp of amazement. Leo...
'I'm back in London for a while; I saw Tom yesterday and he tells me you're still free. Sorry I couldn't get in touch sooner. I don't usually kiss and run, but business... You know how it is.'
The cool cheek of the man took her breath away. But with remarkable self-control she managed to respond with biting sarcasm, 'Think nothing of it. I haven't...'
And read what you like into that, she muttered under her breath.
'Good, I knew you would understand. So how about coming to Covent Garden tomorrow evening, the opera, with-?'
Jacy cut in, 'Placido Domingo. I know, I have a ticket; I'm going with Simon.' Nothing in her life had ever given her so much satisfaction, she thought elatedly, delighted at the coincidence that had enabled her to turn Leo down flat.
'The red-headed guy at the party.' The dark voice cracked like broken glass.
'Yes. But thank you for thinking of me.' In a voice sickly sweet, leaving him in no doubt that she was sure the opposite was true, she added, 'I hope you enjoy it; I'm sure I shall.'
'No doubt I will; he's a marvellous singer,' Leo responded smoothly, sounding not in the least put out by her refusal. But the deep, rich sound of his voice reawakened all the hurt and longing Jacy had been so desperately trying to suppress, and when he ended with, 'Goodbye, I'll see you around,' she had to bite her tongue to stop herself asking when.
She ate the plate of mushrooms and the cake, washing it down with cold tea. She had saved her pride by turning him down, but a tiny devil whispered in her head that Leo hadn't been very insistent. He could have asked her out another night... Why did he have to ring now? Damn him! Just when she had begun to get her life back on an even keel. Because he was a sadist; he got his kicks out of stringing women along. The answer was obvious, she thought morosely.
