Beyond Compare. Penny Jordan

reminder of what they had once shared, while Howard…

      They drove through the village and out again along the road off which Rosamund’s father had built his house. The last time Holly had visited it had been for Rosamund’s eighteenth birthday. That had been one May, with a marquee on the lawn and every other fashionable expense Rosamund’s mother could think of.

      Tonight there was no marquee, but the line-up of cars down the long drive was evidence of the new social sphere in which Rosamund and her parents moved—Porsche, Jaguar, Mercedes and Rolls—and a tiny tremor of fear quaked through Holly.

      Drew found a parking spot half-way down the drive, parking the Range Rover with commendable expertise.

      Someone was walking down the drive toward them; a couple, to judge from the light female voice and its deeper male counterpart.

      The footsteps stopped as they drew level with the Range Rover, and a voice Holly vaguely recognised demanded, ‘Drew, is that you?’

      ‘Hello, Jane—and Guy. How are you?’

      ‘Oh, we’re fine.’

      Of course, Jane Phillips; Holly remembered her now. She had been quite a few years ahead of her in school. In the same class as Drew, come to think of it.

      ‘Good heavens!’ she exclaimed as Holly stepped forward. ‘It’s Holly Witchell, isn’t it? Well, now, how long have you two been together? Guy and I have just come back from the States. Guy’s been working over there for six months. Is this a new thing, or…?’

      ‘Stop gossiping, woman, I’m freezing,’ her husband interrupted.

      When Drew would have fallen into step beside him Holly tugged on his arm and fibbed, ‘Drew, I’ve left my handbag in the Range Rover.’

      While Drew patiently unlocked the door, Holly waited until the other couple were out of sight and then hissed, ‘It’s all right, Drew. I’ve got my handbag here, but I’ve just had the most marvellous idea! Well, it was Jane who gave it to me, really.’ She took a deep breath and then demanded, ‘Why don’t we pretend that we’re in love?’

      Drew went so still and silent that Holly wondered if she ought to have broken the idea to him more gently.

      ‘With each other, I presume you mean?’ he said cautiously at last.

      ‘Yes, that’s exactly what I mean,’ Holly agreed, trying to control her impatience. Really, men could be so slow at times! Why on earth hadn’t she thought of it before? It was the ideal way for both of them to reconjure their ex-partners’ interest.

      ‘But I thought you were in love with Howard?’

      ‘I am,’ Holly agreed. ‘But can’t you see, the moment he starts to think I’ve fallen in love with you, he’s going to be so jealous… and of course, it will work the same way for you with Rosamund,’ she added hastily, just in case he should accuse her of being selfish.

      ‘Let me get this right,’ Drew said slowly. ‘You want us to pretend that we’re in love?’ He paused and then said slowly, ‘How much in love, Holly? What I mean to say is, are we newly in love, or are we to be—er—established lovers?’

      ‘Oh, newly in love, definitely,’ Holly told him. ‘You see, Howard is bound to guess what’s going on otherwise. He only told me about Rosamund a couple of weeks ago.’

      ‘Yes. Well, I can see that does rather complicate things. So, the impression we want to create is one of having taken one look at each other and fallen into one another’s arms with cries of rapture.’

      ‘Yes,’ Holly agreed doubtfully, suddenly unable to imagine how on earth they were going to achieve such an implausible deception. ‘You think it’s a silly idea, don’t you?’ she said quietly. ‘And I suppose you’re right.’

      ‘No, not silly,’ he surprised her by saying unsteadily, ‘but maybe a trifle ambitious.’

      In the light of the pseudo-Victorian streetlamps that illuminated the entire length of the drive in a fashion more suited to a motorway service station, Holly saw the smile he struggled to control. Strangely, she was not offended by it.

      ‘I think we could perhaps carry it off, though, if we amended your plan slightly.’

      Holly frowned and looked at him. ‘How?’

      ‘Well, let us suppose that we allow everyone to believe that one of us—me, for instance—has been secretly, madly in love with you for years. You, having bumped into me, have suddenly realised how very fanciable I am, and here we are.’

      ‘Well, yes,’ Holly agreed doubtfully, ‘but who’s going to believe you’ve been secretly in love with me, when everyone knows you’ve been going out with Rosamund?’

      ‘Well, it won’t be easy. But think of the effect it will have on the happy couple. Rosamund is a very jealous woman. Once she hears that I’ve really been in love with you all these years… well, she won’t like it.’

      ‘No, I don’t suppose she will,’ Holly agreed faintly. She was beginning to feel almost jealous of Drew’s inventiveness, wishing that she had been the one to get the role of the secretly pining lover.

      ‘You know, it’s a pity you have to rush back to London so soon,’ Drew told her casually. ‘I think if you could have managed to stick around for a while, the sight of us together would be almost bound to get results.’

      ‘Yes,’ Holly agreed regretfully. ‘It’s true what they say about propinquity.’

      Drew muttered something under his breath, and she looked questioningly at him.

      ‘Er—nothing. Is it agreed, then? When we arrive in the Jensens’ drawing-room, we arrive as a couple?’

      Holly took a deep breath and confirmed, ‘Yes.’

      And then, before she could change her mind, she took a deep breath and added, ‘And I could stay on if you really think it might work, Drew. I’ve got over a month’s worth of holiday owing to me. That’s if you really think…’

      ‘Oh, yes, I’m sure it will work,’ he told her confidently. ‘You could decorate the kitchen for me. I’d pay you, of course.’

      ‘Oh, no!’ Holly was horrified. ‘Well, not unless you let me pay my board and food. Of course, I’ll have to check with Jan, she’s my boss, but I’m sure she won’t mind. Things are relatively slack at the moment.’

      ‘So it’s settled. Right, then, are you ready to face your audience, Holly Witchell?’

      ‘Yes… Yes, I think so.’

      ‘Come on, then, let’s go.’