Tasmina Perry 3-Book Collection: Daddy’s Girls, Gold Diggers, Original Sin. Tasmina Perry

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СКАЧАТЬ of the Duomo and she couldn’t stop a smile spreading across her face.

      ‘Although I wouldn’t mind changing out of the career-bitch power-clothes,’ she added, looking down at her slate-grey Helmut Lang trouser suit.

      ‘OK, come on,’ said Nick, throwing a fifty-euro note into the small silver ashtray. ‘Back to the hotel.’

      They were staying at the sumptuous Bulgari. The hotel was well over their budget, but it was a suitably impressive address to give to the various fashion PRs. ‘A lot of money just to dish out a posh fax number,’ Nick had grumbled. Still. There was no denying it was gorgeous. The lobby was a riot of black marble and elegant styling. In the rooms, crisp linens lay on huge squashy beds, while the marble bathrooms were laden with white fluffy towels and expensive toiletries.

      As she wasn’t due down at the bar until half past seven, Cate took a swim in the gold mosaic swimming pool before returning to her suite. She ran a frothy bubble bath and, for the first time in weeks, allowed herself a long, luxurious wallow. She wiggled her big toe in the balloon-shaped tap, letting the hot water spurt out around her skin and the bubbles rise up her back until she was lying neck-deep in the suds.

      God, she felt good. She’d never felt so proud and satisfied with herself, even when she’d got her first internship at New Yorker magazine, or when she’d won the prestigious PPA New Editor of the Year award, or even when Class magazine had first outsold Vogue on the news-stand. Doing it for yourself, under your own steam, was something else – especially when it all seemed to be coming off. She smiled to herself and wondered what Nick was doing in the adjacent bedroom. Hopefully getting ready, she thought with an eye on the time. She imagined him getting into the shower and running his soapsudsy hands over that cute crop of brown hair. She felt herself blush.

      What was she thinking? She couldn’t start having sexy fantasies about Nick Douglas! Annoyed with herself she climbed out of the bath, damp hair dripping down her neck, and started vigorously towelling herself down to distract herself. She padded over to the walk-in closet to choose an outfit for dinner, selecting a rust and bottle green Missoni dress with a deep scoop neck that clung to every curve. Inspecting herself in the mirror she was pleased. The colours brought out the russet strands in her thick, wavy hair, and the sky-high beige Manolo Blahnik slingbacks made her long, curvy legs look sensational. Rubbing a musky Donna Karan body cream onto her legs and clipping a sheaf of hair to one side with an antique diamanté clip, she threw her hotel key card into her clutch bag and she was ready. She paused, slightly puzzled – but ready for what?

      The Bagutta restaurant was humming. Famous for its enormous Tuscan steaks, it attracted a glamorous crowd that wasn’t afraid to eat.

      ‘What do you fancy?’ asked Nick, running a finger down the wine menu. ‘I reckon today calls for champagne.’

      ‘Pink champagne,’ agreed Cate. ‘To go with an enormous chunk of meat.’

      She looked at Nick. If she wasn’t very much mistaken, he had made as much effort as she had for the evening out. Instead of his usual jeans and a sweatshirt, he looked suspiciously as if he was out to impress with his tailored grey trousers and black cashmere jumper. He smiled back, his big hazel eyes crinkling at the sides.

      ‘To us,’ he said, lifting up a flute to clink against hers.

      ‘And to our magazine,’ she replied, suddenly nervous of the intimacy between them.

      Nick looked at her, a twinkle in his eye.

      ‘Glad you turned the Harper’s Bazaar job down, then?’ he asked.

      Cate sat up in her chair. ‘How do you know about that?’ she gasped.

      ‘Serena told me at her party. She said she was very upset you weren’t joining her in New York.’ He sipped his champagne slowly. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

      Cate dipped a piece of bread in some olive oil and swirled it around on her plate. ‘I didn’t think it mattered enough to tell you. Didn’t want you to think I wasn’t committed.’

      ‘I would never think that about you.’

      They looked at each other. She felt uncomfortable. It was the sort of look that lovers might share.

      ‘I’ll be honest, I might have considered the job if we hadn’t got the money that day,’ she continued slowly. ‘But I’ve lived and worked in New York before. It doesn’t hold that mythical appeal it does for some people. And it’s not like I even particularly wanted to go the first time.’

      ‘So why did you go?’

      She looked at Nick and felt for the first time she could really trust him. They had been through so much over the last few weeks, spent so much time together, she felt a desire to be honest rush over her.

      ‘I went to get away from my father.’

      Nick said nothing. He just looked at her reassuringly, encouraging her to talk.

      ‘I guess he’s always made me feel so inadequate, and when you’re old enough to get away from it, you do.’

      ‘Why, what did he do?’ He touched her hand lightly. ‘You have to talk about it, Cate, or you will never get it out of your system.’

      She paused and took a deep breath that seemed to go on for ever. But the champagne, her good mood and their growing close friendship made it easier to discuss.

      ‘You want to know when it started? When my mother died.’ Cate began to play with the ring on her middle finger. ‘My mother was wonderful. Kind, beautiful,’ she said quietly. ‘She was a Dior model in the sixties. She just had this way of making everything seem OK even when it wasn’t, like she’d read me The Wizard of Oz every time I was ill and couldn’t get to sleep.’ She smiled softly, then paused, noticing that his gaze was directly meeting hers.

      ‘Anyway, when I was seven, she took Camilla and me to see a musical in London. Venetia was at Pony Club camp. Serena was still a baby and at Huntsford with our nanny. We went to see Oliver!’ She giggled at the memory of it, then the smile faded and her face clouded over.

      ‘I remember my dad was supposed to come with us but he was busy. He was always busy. Some meeting in London – I don’t know what the excuse was at the time. Anyway, we went to the theatre and then came back to our house in Chelsea where we were staying that night. I remember it was a really hot evening. I was running around in the garden in my sundress while my mum was watering the flowerbeds.’

      Nick noticed her voice had started cracking, but she carried on.

      ‘Then she collapsed right there in the garden. I just didn’t know what to do. I was only seven, Nick.’ Cate looked up pleadingly at him, as if she was trying to persuade him to see her side.

      ‘I couldn’t get hold of my dad. I found an address book in a drawer with all these numbers in and I tried them all, but I couldn’t reach him. I called the ambulance and a neighbour who I didn’t know came to stay with Camilla and me.’

      She took a large gulp of wine and brushed something away from her cheek.

      ‘The next thing I knew, it was the middle of the night. My dad came to the house and told us mum was dead – it was a clot on the brain. He said I hadn’t been quick enough.’ Cate looked at Nick. ‘He СКАЧАТЬ