FORGOTTEN LOVER, Carole Mortimer [chrysanthemum read aloud TXT] 📗

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