AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Thank you,” Zoe said. “This is lovely.”
Hannah sat down, clearly angry. “The bloody man,” she hissed the minute the maître d’ left. “He’s always rude when I’m around, but ever since the car accident last year, he’s forever keeping tabs on me. It’s driving me insane!”
“Really?” Zoe asked. “I didn’t know that. Why…”
Hannah grabbed a menu. “Like I said, I don’t know.”
“Well, it’s nice that they want to pay for dinner,” Zoe said soothingly. “After all, we are family.”
“It’s okay for you. You’re working for them. But I pay my own way while I’m here. At least until the shoot begins. Then obviously the client will pay.
“But my staying here doesn’t have anything to do with Darryn. He makes me so mad. Ever since the accident—” she began but shook her head.
“What really happened?” Zoe asked. “We’ve never talked about it. I was in London at the time and only heard that you were in hospital after the fact.”
“It’s nothing. Darryn made such a huge thing out of it, but I was fine.”
“Do you think that’s the reason why he wants us to be escorted around?”
Hannah sighed. “Darryn and I—” She shrugged and smiled. “I don’t want to talk about him anymore. Let’s pretend our evening has just started.”
Zoe looked at Hannah a moment longer. There was something her sister was not telling her. Hannah had always been the more private one and didn’t share as easily as she and Caitlin did. If something was wrong though, or if something bothered her enough, she’d talk about it in her own time.
“Fine by me. Let’s start with a nice bottle of bubbly, agreed?” She smiled and signaled for a waiter.
Hannah nodded and her eyes twinkled. “And if they want to pay for our meal, let them pay. We can’t help it if we have expensive tastes, can we?” she said and ordered one of the more expensive bottles of champagne on the menu.
“Hannah, no.” Zoe giggled. “We can’t.”
“Oh, yes. We can,” Hannah said. “That will hopefully teach him not to have us followed around and not to insist on paying for everything.”
“It’s just a pity that we can’t go out in the evenings. I’d have loved to see more of the island at night.” Zoe sighed.
“Who says we can’t go out?” Hannah asked and lifted an eyebrow. “Told you the night is young. We’ll have a meal, wait until no one is looking and then go out to enjoy the nightlife.” She smiled. “There’s a bar in this same Beau Vallon part of Mahé and it’s open tonight. Just give the protectors Darryn has appointed a chance to relax.” She glanced in the direction of the two security guards. “We say good night, tell them we’re having an early night and when their backs are turned, we slip out.”
Zoe giggled. “You think it can work? Won’t they be at the front doors?”
Hannah grinned. “There are other doors. For instance, if you go through the kitchen…”
“Sounds as if you’ve done it before?”
Hannah sobered. “I always make sure about all the exits.” She didn’t elaborate but immediately changed the subject.
Something was going on in Hannah’s life that she didn’t want to talk about. From past experience, Zoe knew it wouldn’t help to keep asking Hannah. When she was ready, she’d tell them what was bothering her.
*
“You’re sure you’renot twins?” the one guy asked for the umpteenth time.
Zoe laughed and shook her head. “No, we’re sisters.”
She and Hannah had managed to give the security guards the slip by pretending to go back to their rooms. But they stopped the lift on the second floor, took the stairs down and slipped out through the kitchen from where they walked to the nearby bar.
The two cameramen had joined them a while ago. Apparently, Hannah knew them well. Both were charming and attentive. Really nice. But, even though she’d really tried, there was absolutely no spark. Only one man could turn her on.
Smiling, she tilted her head to wink at Hannah because she was sure her sister was thinking the same thing. But Hannah’s head was turned away and she was looking over her shoulder.
When Hannah looked to the front again, her smile was gone. She jumped up. “Thanks guys, but we have to go,” she said and tried a nervous smile.
