The City Affair Read online

  Exasperated, she jumped out onto the pavement in front of the hotel and gave him twenty-pounds for his trouble. As she moved her hands upwards to smooth down her hair, which had started to curl even more than it usually did in the rain, a warm firm masculine hand took hers and turned her around to face him.

  “Tish,” Cameron McKenna said as they faced one another once again. “I am so delighted you could make it. Shall we?”

  “Oh, sure,” Tish replied, surprised that Cameron was where he said he would be. “It’s so good to see you again. Be gentle with me, I’m feeling quite delicate. It’s the first time I’ve been out properly in weeks.”

  “Of course,” Cameron said, oozing an affected charm and confidence. “Leave everything to me, I won’t betray you or hurt you, if that’s what you mean?”

  As Cameron led Tish into the hotel, she winced at his use of the word betrayal and felt unsettled as he linked his arms through hers, guiding her through the foyer and into the bar.

  His proximity made her heart pound and he seemed oddly attentive. Trendy couples sipping exotic cocktails with cherries and olives looked up as they walked past, but Cameron remained unfazed at being recognised and simply walked on with his eyes and attentions firmly on her.

  “The others should be somewhere over here,” Cameron whispered to Tish. “Or they were when I left them a few minutes ago to come out to meet you. I didn’t want you to have to come in here on your own, and I wanted to be with my on-screen wife once again.”

  “Oh, that’s really sweet of you darling, to say such wonderful things. But where’s your violin playing mistress tonight?” Tish teased.

  “Cut,” Cameron laughed as he led her past a busy bar. “And on a more serious note, I hope it doesn’t feel too strange being out on the town after being holed up in your flat alone for a week and more.”

  “It does feel just a little bit weird coming out to somewhere like this after the few weeks I’ve just had. It is all a bit unreal to be honest,” Tish said, beginning to feel slightly claustrophobic by the lights, the noise of the bar and Cameron’s closeness.

  “How’s your mum holding up?” Cameron asked, slightly distractedly. It wasn’t the most authentic question.

  “Fine, er really fine,” Tish replied unconvincingly, taken aback that he might actually care. But she stopped it there, afraid of what she might say. All that Cameron knew was that her father had died. She’d told no-one else apart from Simon about the mistress and half-sibling in New York. How the hell could she even start talking about these things with people she hardly knew? And she certainly could not trust Cameron McKenna.

  As they approached a VIP area, she started to spot cast and crew. It was good to see them, but what the hell was she going to say to the questions she knew she’d be asked? The ones along the lines of ‘How are you?’ ‘Hope things are starting to feel a bit better?’ These were the questions she had started to resent the most. She wanted to answer, “I’m totally fucked up, and you?” But she’d refrained from saying any of those things so far – in public at least.

  As they got to the far end of the bar, the noise of the party-goers helped enormously, removing the need for detailed words or explanations.

  Ginny Braithwaite – her on-screen love adversary – was the first to spot her and came bounding over to say hello. “Tish darling,” she said as she ran her fingers through her glossy blond hair. “It’s sooo good to see you. You’ve had such had a torrid time, hun. Here, have a glass of champers to put some fizz back into you. How are things?”

  “Thanks,” Tish said, trying not to grimace as she took a sip of champagne. “It‘s been a difficult few weeks for sure, but I suddenly decided that I couldn’t stay in my flat alone for ever like some kind of Bridget Jones character. So here I am. I was so pleased to hear the movie is getting such a lot of positive vibes.”

  “Yeah,” Ginny said. “It’s getting a bit too exciting actually. I mean when I saw the script I wasn’t sure. You know, I thought it could be a bit corny. But I think the chemistry worked between the main characters, and the film was shot in such a moody way. Somehow all the elements came together in the right way in the end.”

  “Well, I thought the script was pretty amazing when I read it,” Tish replied, managing to laugh for the first time in weeks. “But to be fair it was mainly because I’d never been offered one to read before! Have you had a chance to see the whole film from beginning to end yet?”

  “No, I’ve just seen snatches,” Ginny replied, giggling at Tish’s naivety. “But it’s been enough to know that it’s all worked out pretty cool. And from what I hear, the top guys are very pleased, and that’s the only thing that matters in this business. I’ve heard they’re secretly hoping to make quite a decent return on it, and even talking about possibly a sequel.”

  Tish looked at Ginny and tried to smile, although she found the prospect of a sequel alarming. Talking about things being pretty amazing, Ginny was herself quite a spectacle to behold. Perfect hair, teeth and make-up with long tanned legs from a couple of weeks’ holiday obviously spent somewhere pretty exotic.

  Ginny wore an air of mystique and seduction which just came naturally and, despite her name, she clearly had oriental blood. In the film she’d played the role of the mentally tormented mistress to perfection and got to make mad passionate love to Cameron in the film more times that Tish dared to count. Why wasn’t she the one on his arm tonight? Tish thought as she compared herself to Ginny.

  “Well, here’s to a box office smash then,” Tish smiled dryly as she raised her glass.

  “Come on,” Ginny said, pulling Tish over to another corner of the bar. “The others are so looking forward to seeing you again. They’re such a good bunch. We’re bound to have a wild night tonight if we stick close to them.”

  As the champagne flowed, the conversations and laughter got louder and louder. Everyone had been sweet, but, not surprisingly, they hadn’t wanted to talk about death for too long.

  The cast and the crew of Double Lives increasingly made the most of the VIP area. And, as it had started to fill up with all sorts of different people Tish didn‘t recognise, she found a convenient gap in one of numerous inane conversations and slipped out of bar and headed for the ladies.

  A full length mirror met her as soon as she walked into the opulent rest room. As Tish got closer to her reflection, she put a hand up to her face and gasped. Despite her best attempts to do her make-up, dark hallowed eyes stared out of a white gaunt complexion.

  Her slight laughter lines had become worry lines, and her once full red lips seemed much thinner and paler than she’d ever seen them. Tish wanted to go home and hibernate. This was not the person she was used to looking at in the mirror. It was someone totally different.

  Picking up her sequinned black evening bag, Tish draped her faux fur stole around her shoulders, and moved over to the washbasins. Taking one of the small white towels from a neat pile next to the hand crème and complimentary perfume, she ran it under cold water and pressed it onto her forehead.

  Tish didn’t feel particularly hot or cold, just strange, like she was living in a glass bubble which she could see out of but which no-one else could see into. As she pressed the towel against her head, she steadied herself against the washbasin as a wave of nausea flowed through her, making her feel light-headed.

  It was at that moment that she decided to leave and, rather than going back into the party, she left the bathroom quietly hoping she wouldn’t meet anyone she knew, and particularly not Cameron.

  As she got to revolving doors at the hotel exit, despite her wish not to be seen, Cameron appeared from nowhere and said. “Where do you think you are going Tish Thorpe? I do hope you’re not running away from me. I warned you about tonight and that fact that it was to be our night all night.”

  “I think it’s best if I go home,” Tish replied, annoyed that he had spotted her and surprised that he cared enough to ask. “I’ve enjoyed coming out but I’m not sure I�
��m that great company at the moment to be honest.”

  “Don’t say things like that,” Cameron interjected. “I think you’re excellent company and I fully intend to spend more than just a few minutes with you tonight. Come on, if you don’t want to stay here let’s go. I’ve got a car waiting outside. I don’t want you to go home, not just yet anyway.”

  “Where do you want to take me?” Tish laughed as she realised that she was being seduced.

  “Let’s get into the limo, go to my club for dinner and get to know each other a bit before we make those kind of life changing decisions,” Cameron volunteered in a low gravelly voice. “I’ve only ever known you as my down-trodden on-screen wife, and I’m sure you’ve got more fire in you than that.”

  Before Tish could say anything further, she found herself being skilfully guided into the back of a long white limousine with a driver who had already been briefed and knew exactly where to go next without any further instructions of any kind.

  As the car glided away from the wet pavement, Cameron opened a drinks cabinet in front of them and took out a small bottle of exclusive champagne and two glasses.

  “I thought we should travel in style,” Cameron smiled as he poured. Passing a full glass to Tish, he then administered the same for himself and raised his flute and proposed a toast. “Sorry for betraying you so much during our marriage, darling. You didn’t deserve any of it, and this is my little way of apologising.”

  At first Tish had no idea how to respond. All she could think of was whether her father had ever apologised to her mother in the same way Cameron was apologising to her now.

  She knew that a lot of what her father had bought her mother must have been because of the guilt he had felt for the things he did behind her back, the Hermes scarves, the Tiffany jewellery, the Chanel No 5 perfume and the very expensive handbags. Finally she found the words she was looking for.

  “Thank you for your remorse,” Tish said. “But unfortunately for you, champagne isn’t going to make me forgive you and your indiscretions. I minded very much that you had an affair with someone in our apartment block. I didn‘t appreciate the way you took her to our flat, to our bed, and I particularly objected to the way you screwed her in the lift.”

  “Ah yes, that small indiscretion,” Cameron laughed, not realising that Tish actually meant every word she spoke. “I’d kind of hoped you hadn’t found out about that particular escapade. Slightly undignified, I admit, that one, but I do hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me now?”

  “No,” Tish said, knocking a second glass of champagne back in one. “I bloody well can’t. I can never ever forgive you for doing any of that stuff behind my back. How the hell did you even begin to think that was ok?”

  “Because I am a very, very naughty boy I’m afraid, Tish Thorpe, but that can work for both of us if we use it for our mutual advantage,” Cameron said, chuckling as he nuzzled into her neck.

  And then suddenly without much further warning she turned his taut body fully towards her. Pulling his beautiful masculine face towards her she started to kiss him. At first tenderly and then much more roughly.

  After only a couple of seconds he responded and started to take a bit more control. As his hands moved all over her body, all she could think of was that she wanted it to be Simon, and yet the knowledge of who he was forced her to continue kissing Cameron McKenna, the big screen character who so many women idolised.

  As the alcohol worked on her brain, fiction started to mingle dangerously with real life and now it was her turn to take what was hers and extract revenge. All thoughts of Simon went from her head as she pushed Cameron down into the long leather seat.

  She wanted Cameron McKenna to pay a price for what he’d done to her and she wanted him to pay for it right here right now.

  She did not want to be his subservient bloody wife any more who forgave him everything just because he was beautiful and perfect and had oodles of charisma.

  She wanted to use him, and that was exactly how she proceeded. She didn’t care who saw them and she certainly didn’t care what he wanted. Shocked by her behaviour, Cameron did not protest, even though this was most certainly not how things normally happened.

  Tish had certainly never done this kind of thing before, especially with a driver only a matter of feet away, and she was left in little doubt that she probably never would again. The whole thing was over almost before it had started.

  As the limousine drove up beside a Mayfair private members club, they smoothed themselves down, got out of the rear door and walked in for dinner in silence.

  And yet something had happened between them that made them want to find out more about each other – a shared exhilaration almost that life could throw such a surprise encounter. Both of them needed an explanation of how something so strange could have happened.

  They had dinner and talked about her, before moving onto him and talking about his estranged wife, his children and about the guilt he felt when he went with other women, which was often. He pondered why he did it but couldn’t come up with an answer, other than he was addicted to life, to love, to the allure of women.

  And then, after their conversation had come to a close at almost midnight, Cameron had led them both out of his club, back into the limousine which had waited patiently for them to finish. They kissed each other again as the car pulled away, but this time the kiss was more one of friendship and understanding.

  Out of politeness, Tish invited Cameron in for coffee but he seemed keen to leave, telling her that the last thing she would want the next morning would be a pack of paparazzi on her doorstep.

  As she watched him drive off into the night to his other life, she felt empty and worse than she had ever felt in her life. She missed Simon and wanted to be with him, but could not imagine what she would say to him at this hour of night even if she could reach him by phone.

  And yet, despite what had happened that evening, she had the most extraordinary dream, and neither Cameron McKenna nor Simon appeared in any of it.

  Chapter 15 - Getting In Touch

  Tish arrived in New York at the end of February on a British Airways flight, paid for courtesy of the legacy of her late father.

  Despite the bombshell revelation of the trust fund for her half-brother with no known name and the money her father had left the child’s mother, there had been more than enough assets left to enable them to pay for the up-keep of their sprawling family home in Levenhurst and the two London flats, one of which Tish lived in.

  The night after her liaison with Cameron, she had dreamt about her father, a set of keys and her half-sibling. In the morning, she had intuitively known what she needed to do.

  She had risen early and driven home to Kent, ringing her mother on the way to tell her that she wanted permission to sit in her father’s office on her own.

  Pamela had not protested, but had sounded surprised by the request and at first did not ask too many questions. “Of course you can darling. I just didn’t expect to hear from you so early on this morning. You said you were going to the party last night, so I expected you’d be out late.”

  “Um, well I did go, but it just wasn’t such a good idea in the end.” Tish yawned. “I was in bed just after midnight and now I wish I hadn’t gone at all.”

  “Well, you can tell me all about it when you get here,” Pamela replied, sounding concerned. “Drive carefully, I hope you’ve had enough sleep and you’re not feeling too tired?”

  “I slept on and off last night,” Tish answered cautiously, unsure whether to tell her mother the real reason for driving down. “I had a dream about Dad, and I’m still trying to make sense of it to be honest. But I actually dreamt I was in his office and he came to me and helped me understand things.”

  She’d left the phone conversation there and assured her mother she’d explain more. After arriving home about an hour later, Tish wolfed down scrambled eggs on toast, whilst her mother asked her questions about the party and str
angely avoided any mention of the dream. “Did many people turn up last night?”

  “Yes, I guess quite a few,” Tish replied as she tried to simultaneously swallow her breakfast. “It was the usual cast and crew, but just felt too soon after Dad died to really be going out and trying to have a good time.”

  “That’s a shame darling, but at least you made the effort,” Pamela said, looking at her daughter with deep affection. “It’s been so strange not having you here these last few days. I’ve been worried about you.”

  “I knew you would worry even though you promised not to,” Tish scolded as she picked up her mug of coffee and kissed her mother, telling her she wouldn’t be long and letting herself out of the back door that led her down the garden into her father’s home office.

  On opening the door, she immediately went to sit down on a large leather chair that her father had bought at great expense in a January sale several years earlier.

  Picking up his silver pen, which was in its usual place on top of the desk, Tish immediately felt Richard Thorpe’s presence very strongly, just as she had done earlier that morning on waking. Then, almost as if someone was guiding her, she placed her hand inside the one and only vase standing on the leather-topped executive desk and fished out a small set of keys.

  After a few moments of trial and error, she finally found a key that fitted the lock of an almost impossibly small drawer at the bottom right of the desk. Once again feeling that her hands were being guided, she felt around the back of the drawer until she found an envelope which she took out and opened.

  Inside was a set of photos. A couple of them were of her at around the age of five with her corkscrew curls and a wide smile. There was also a much more recent one taken in the garden the summer she had left drama school.

  As Tish continued to shift through the photos, she found a stunning black and white picture of Pamela on her wedding day looking beautiful and ecstatically happy.