Faith - Lesley Pearse [120]
When she was in Fife, Jackie had given her a beautiful cream wool mid-calf-length dress and short fitted jacket that she felt was too dressy for her. It was too warm to wear for work at the Maybury, but perfect for a lunchtime date somewhere smart, and Laura had been dying for an opportunity to wear it because she knew it really suited her.
Jack Huggins on the ground floor was tinkering with his bike as she came out of the house and he whistled appreciatively at her which made her smile.
She’d told Stuart she was meeting one of the girls from work to help her choose her wedding dress and that they would probably go somewhere in the Old Town for lunch. She was excited by the thought of Robbie flirting with her over a boozy lunch, she needed his compliments and the way he always made her laugh, and she reconciled any guilty feelings she had by telling herself that she would be home in time to make tea for Stuart and he’d be none the wiser.
Robbie was waiting for her in the reception area of the hotel. He looked entirely at one with the opulent surroundings, wearing a light grey suit and a dark blue striped tie.
‘You look a million dollars,’ he said as he kissed her cheek and led her into the bar for an aperitif. ‘I’m feeling like a kid on his first date, butterflies in my stomach and all that.’
Over lunch, he talked about a photographic business he had a share in. ‘I’m not a photographer myself,’ he said, reaching out for her hand over the table. ‘I’m more on the administration side. But I know enough about it to recognize that you’d make a great model.’
Many people had suggested she should do modelling, Stuart had even insisted she could be a beauty queen, though she’d never taken it seriously before. But the intensity in Robbie’s eyes made her believe it could be true.
By the time Laura was on her third glass of wine she had put all thoughts of Barney and Stuart aside, and was just enjoying the thrill of being somewhere so elegant, with such an attentive man.
She wasn’t so gullible that she imagined Robbie could make her a fashion model. With her thirtieth birthday only a few days away, she knew she was too old for that. And it was plain to her, though Robbie didn’t actually say so, that the kind of photography he was involved in was the glamour kind, for men’s magazines. She didn’t approve or disapprove, it was all just a fuzzy kind of maybe, not real somehow.
It was only when he signed the restaurant bill to his room that she realized he was staying at the hotel. He suggested they went to his room for a brandy and coffee.
‘I’m not trying to lure you into anything,’ he said, kissing the tips of her fingers. ‘It’s just that I’ve got some magazines I’d like to show you, and we can’t stay here in the dining room all afternoon.’
It was bitterly cold outside, the sky like lead, and she had no wish to rush away from this warm, seductive place just yet. She had the night off too, so she didn’t even have to think of getting ready for the club either.
Robbie’s room was on the third floor, and was far more luxurious than any other hotel room she’d ever been in, with a vast bed with a dark red velvety quilt, a highly polished desk, two club armchairs before the window and soft, intimate lighting. The adjoining bathroom was a marble palace, the bath easily big enough for two, with gold taps and thick fluffy towels on the heated rail.
It was already dark outside, and the view of the flood-lit Castle from the window was pure enchantment. She forgot the cool, woman-of-the-world stance she’d tried to maintain throughout lunch and squealed with pure delight.
Robbie laughed. ‘It’s pretty good, isn’t it? I love hotels, the luxury, having someone else tidy up for you, the mini bar, the warm towels. You can be anyone you want to be, there’s no reminder of home to bring