‘Who is this?’ she asked, thrown off guard.
‘It’s me, Red. Have I caught you at a bad time? Or is it always a bad time for you?’
Romily inwardly groaned. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, ‘I thought you were somebody else.’
‘Whoever it was, I wish him luck when he does call you. Do you give all the men in your life a hard time?’
‘Why do you think I was expecting a man to be at the other end of the line?’
‘Just a wild guess on my part. So, do you?’
‘Do I what precisely?’
‘Give the men in your life a hard time?’
‘Only the ones who go the extra mile to annoy me.’
‘In that case, how am I doing?’
Recalling Gabe’s request for her to be nice, she said, ‘Barely registering.’
‘Gee, I’m hurt.’
‘Did you ring for something specific, or was this just a social call?’
‘I was wondering if you’d reached a decision about our working together.’
‘I’d like to sleep on it,’ she said. Another prevaricating lie. Why didn’t she just get it over with and flatly refuse to consider the project any further?
‘Look, I know I’m as pushy as hell and as subtle as a typhoon, but I have to tell you, I have a good feeling about a collaboration between us.’
She suddenly thought of his words at lunchtime –If in doubt, do it.It was exactly the kind of thing she would normally say. And hadn’t she always enjoyed the challenge of deliberately flouting convention and doing something for the sheer hell of it?
Just as she couldn’t recall the last occasion when she’d truly laughed and had disgraceful fun, she tried to remember when she had done anything for the sheerdevil-may-care hell of it. Drawing a blank, she recoiled at the awful conclusion that somewhere along the line she had become an anathema to herself – boringly conventional. Where had her spirit of adventure gone?
‘Red,’ she said on impulse, ‘do you have plans for the rest of the evening?’
‘A whole ton of nothing. Why?’
‘I’d like to experience the desert at night while I’m here.’
‘With me?’
‘Yes. If it wouldn’t be too much trouble.’
‘No trouble at all. I can’t think of anything I’d like better: you, me and the desert stars.’
Chapter Twelve
Palm Springs
October 1962
Red
It was a hell of thing. This being with a woman who intrigued him the way she did.
To his bemusement Red hadn’t felt like this in a heck of a time. He could not have felt himself more precariously placed had he been carrying a large tray of glasses while walking a tightrope in a gusting wind. He suspected a lot of men had experienced the same reaction on meeting RomilyDevereux-Temple for the first time.
