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Bella was staring at him with open admiration as he sat up and pushed back his battered straw hat.
‘I hope I’m not intruding,’ she said.
‘Not at all,’ he answered. ‘As you can see, your sister and I were just catching the last of the afternoon sun. Would you like some coffee? A drink, perhaps?’
‘Ooh, a drink would be wonderful. I’ve been doing the most horrendous shoot all day and I’m knackered. The photographer has practically had his lens up my bum all day.’ She licked her lips. ‘I don’t suppose you’ve got any champagne?’
‘I think we might be able to find some.’ He glanced up at his French housekeeper. ‘Simone—I wonder if you’d mind...?’
‘Oui, monsieur,’ said Simone briskly. ‘D’accord.’
‘Here, let me get you a chair,’ said Luis, and he stood up, a movement which seemed to completely captivate Bella, before walking across to the far side of the terrace towards a small cluster of sunbeds and chairs which stood there.
He was barely out of earshot before Bella turned to Carly, her mouth hanging open in amazement. ‘What have you been doing to yourself?’ she demanded. ‘I hardly recognised you! My God—that bikini!’
Carly automatically tugged at the frilly bikini bottoms. ‘You don’t like it?’
‘I’m not sure. I don’t know if it’s really you. It certainly looks expensive. What the hell is going on, Carly? How come you’re lying out here with Mr Hunky and looking like you were born to it?’
‘I’ve been... I’ve been helping with Luis’s rehabilitation.’
‘Is that what you call it? Looked pretty cosy when I arrived, I must say.’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘You’re not...’
On her face was an expression which Carly had never seen before. Yes, there was amazement and disbelief, but surely that wasn’t jealousy she could read there?
Bella flicked a strand of platinum hair over her shoulder. ‘You’re not...involved with Luis Martinez, are you?’
Carly looked her straight in the eye. ‘Oh, come on, Bella, can you really see someone like Luis bothering with someone like me?’
‘No,’ said Bella slowly. ‘I suppose when you put it like that.’
Carly was relieved when Luis arrived back with a chair, though less pleased when Bella removed her high-heeled sandals and proceeded to glug down a glass of the pink champagne, which Simone had just delivered on a tray.
She had forgotten just how glamorous her sister was. How a similar composition of genes could have ended up making someone who looked so different from her. They both had the same amber-coloured eyes, but that was where all similarities ended. Bella’s were fringed with heavy dark mascara, which made her look like some kind of startled young deer. And her figure was amazing—nobody could deny that. She had always exercised to within an inch of her life and never ate carbs after six and it showed. Oh, yes. It showed. She could see Luis looking at her, his black eyes narrowed with interest, and Carly felt her heart beginning to sink with the inevitability of it all. Of course he would find Bella attractive. Any man would.
She found herself accepting a glass of champagne, even though it was only five in the afternoon, and the bubbles shot straight to her head as she sipped it.
‘Carly tells me you’re a model, Bella,’ said Luis.
‘Yes, that’s right. Though I still haven’t made it quite as big as I’d like. At least, not yet.’ Bella smiled at him from behind her curtain of white-blonde hair. ‘I suppose you must know plenty of people in the industry?’
‘Some.’
‘Perhaps you could introduce me sometime?’
‘Perhaps,’ he said, non-committally.
Carly sat listening in horrified fascination as Bella ladled out abundant amounts of charm. Was Luis enjoying talking to her sister as much as he appeared to be? She watched him smile as Bella told him a story about the elastic snapping on a pair of bikini bottoms as the photographer homed in for a close-up.
‘But about three men dashed over to the rescue with their beach towels!’ she said.
‘I’ll bet they did,’ observed Luis.
Carly tried to smile but her mouth seemed stuck in some kind of awful rictus. The alcohol was making her feel disassociated...as if she was a spectator in all this and not a participant. She saw Bella glance down surreptitiously at her watch.
‘What are you guys doing tonight?’ she asked casually. ‘You’re not free for dinner, by any chance?’
‘Sorry.’ Luis gave her a quick smile. ‘But Carly and I have an engagement which we can’t get out of,’ he said, without missing a beat.
