Part 14 (1/2)

'This is where I've been all the time.' I confessed. 'I didn't want you to see it.'

He laughed. 'I'm not surprised.' He looked around. 'Whoever broke in has certainly made a mess of the place.'

'Do you mind? I've tidied up since then. You should have seen it when I got back,' I told him.

'And you haven't notified the police?'

I shook my head. 'Nothing's been taken and I can do without the ha.s.sle.'

He sighed. 'Just as well we'll be out of here first thing Sunday morning. Are you packed?'

I pointed to the two suitcases standing by the door. 'You bet. I can't wait.'

Mark looked round. 'And you say they didn't get anything?'

I shook my head. 'There wasn't anything worth taking. Certainly no cash.' I looked at him. 'I can't help thinking I know who's behind this.'

'Really who?'

'Just before I went away, I had a phone call from a guy who said he's my half-brother. He wanted us to meet. I didn't like the sound of him so I said no.'

'That's a bit of a long shot, isn't it? Presumably he doesn't even know where you live.'

I vaguely remembered giving Mum the name of the road. It wouldn't have been that difficult for him to find me. 'He might have found out,' I said.

Mark looked doubtful. 'Why did he want to meet anyway?'

'Said he wanted us to get to know one another.'

'So is that bad?'

I shook my head. 'What would we have in common? I've never set eyes on the bloke. It seems my mother married again and had another child. His father was a violent man and she divorced him while he was in prison.' I looked at Mark. 'To tell you the truth, I'm beginning to wish I'd never set out to find her.'

He nodded. 'I got the feeling you were less than happy with the meeting.'

'That's not all. She borrowed money from me before we parted,' I told him.

'How much?'

'A couple of hundred.'

He whistled. 'Pheew! Maybe you told her too much about yourself. I have to agree that it doesn't augur well for re-forging your relations.h.i.+p with her.'

'Or him,' I reminded him. 'My so-called half-brother.'

He put his arms round me and gave me a hug 'Poor old sausage. Never mind, once we're out of here you'll have nothing to worry about.' He held me at arm's length and looked at me. 'Would you like to come back and spend the night at the flat?'

I shook my head. 'No. I'll be OK here. After all, it's only for one more night.'

'Well, let's go out for the day, then, spend our last day in London by celebrating.'

I laughed. 'Celebrating what my burglary?'

'No, the start of our record-breaking success, of course.'

'You hope.'

'I don't hope I know! I've got a really good feeling about Oh Elizabeth. We'll start with the London Eye, then lunch at a little place I know in Soho. How does that sound?'

We spent a lovely day in the West End and I felt much better when Mark dropped me off but for some unknown reason I had the nightmare again that night. I hadn't had it for ages but this time it was different; this time I was the mother and the one doing the walking out. I couldn't make head or tail of it when I woke but it gave me a dark, disturbed feeling that lasted for ages. It was only when I came to enough to remember that this was the day we were travelling down to Bournemouth, one step nearer to my success as an actress, that I was able to clear my mind and set about getting ready.

Mark picked me up at eight o'clock in the Ferrari. I'd asked him to come early because I didn't want to encounter my landlord again. I'd paid the rent and the man in the room upstairs had fixed the door for me (after a fas.h.i.+on) but I hadn't given him the formal month's notice, and I didn't want an argument on my hands over the extra rent he was bound to demand.

We stopped off for lunch at a nice restaurant in Farnborough and arrived in Bournemouth late that afternoon. Mark did a tour of the town to get our bearings, then parked the car in a multi-storey car park and turned to look at me.

'Right, shall we go and find ourselves somewhere to stay?'

I nodded. 'Got any ideas? I don't know Bournemouth.'

His eyes twinkled. 'How about booking a room at the Royal Bath for a couple of nights? My treat,' he added. 'We can look around for somewhere cheaper once we begin rehearsals and get our bearings.'

We'd pa.s.sed the Royal Bath on our tour and I'd been well impressed. My heart gave a leap. 'Oh, Mark, that sounds wonderful.'

We took our bags and checked in. A porter took our bags upstairs and ushered us into a wonderful room with a sea view. Once the man had gone, I turned to Mark.

'This is a real treat,' I said. 'I hope it's just a taste of things to come once we're famous.'

We went down to dinner and Mark ordered a bottle of bubbly to celebrate. He held his gla.s.s aloft.

'Here's to us,' he toasted. 'Us, the play, full houses and fame and fortune for my favourite leading lady.'

I sipped my champagne with relish. The future sparkled even more than the bubbles in my gla.s.s.

We hardly slept that night; partly because we were high on champagne and antic.i.p.ation of the day to come and partly because our enthusiastic lovemaking kept us busy. Mark was so skilful and practiced that I was swept away on a cloud of sensual pleasure again and again. As I lay in his arms, my head on his chest, I asked him how he came to know so much about how to please a woman. He looked down at me.

'There's no secret,' he said. 'When you're as much in love as I am with you, it comes naturally.'

I didn't really believe him. It was always difficult to know when to take Mark seriously, but I didn't really care. After all, we were staying in the kind of luxurious hotel I'd always seen myself staying in and the future couldn't look brighter. He deserved my appreciation at the very least.

'Do you think you could ever love me back?' he whispered. 'Just a little bit?'

I snuggled closer. 'You are a silly old romantic, Mark Naylor,' I said. 'Stop getting carried away.'

'You make love as though you mean it,' he said softly.

'Of course I mean it,' I told him. 'You're so d.a.m.ned good at it I'd have to be made of stone not to.' I glanced at the bedside clock. 'Have you any idea what the time is? It's actually getting light. If we don't get some sleep we'll be good for nothing in the morning.'

We were due at the Pavilion Theatre at 10.30 so after a wonderful full English breakfast, Mark and I strolled across the road to the Pavilion. I stood in the forecourt looking up at it.

'Wow! It's so big.'