Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks Read Free Book Online Page B

Such people relied on good intelligence. It was irritating, but it wasn’t fatal to his undertaking.
    ‘And your sister knew I was coming to Paris?’
    ‘Yes. She rang this morning.’
    ‘And she knew which hotel?’
    ‘No. I waited at the airport, then followed you in a taxi. I’m sorry. As for getting into the room . . . Hotel staff in Paris are used to unescorted women going up in the lift. Provided you look smart. I asked for your room number, then I gave a room-service boy in the corridor some money to open the door. I said I’d lost my key. It was all ridiculously easy.’
    ‘So Moneypenny booked me into an hoˆtel de passe . I must have a word.’
    Scarlett flushed. ‘I’m sorry this has all been so underhand. But I had to see you again and I couldn’t take the chance you’d freeze me out. I knew if I just
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    telephoned that you’d refuse to see me. Of course, what I meant to do was grab you in the morning in Rome and make a clean breast of it. But I was a bit put out by your . . . coldness. Then the desk told me you’d left at the crack of dawn.’
    ‘And now you have a second chance. I’m officially engaged to follow a man you wanted me to meet for your own private ends.’
    Scarlett smiled. ‘Do you believe in destiny?’
    Bond said nothing. He kicked off his black loafers and propped himself up on the bed. He put his gun down beside the telephone and thought for a long time. He was amused. Lonely housewife, busy banker, lady of the night . . . Scarlett was undeniably intriguing. Her composure, as she sat there, her red lips half-parted in a self-deprecating smile, was remarkable. And the husband, Mr Rossi, in insurance . . . What an improbable figure he now seemed. But he had to hand it to her, she’d managed it brilliantly in Rome, that air of frustrated-housewife boredom. Presumably she’d thought it unsafe to talk about her sister in the restaurant and was waiting till she got him up to her room. Or had she had another, more personal, motive?
    It didn’t matter. At such moments he relied on instinct and experience. Whatever the complications
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    of her story, the signals that the girl gave off were good. Dangerous, perhaps, but interesting.
    ‘All right, Scarlett,’ he said, ‘this is what we’ll do. Today is Thursday. Tomorrow I shall meet up with an old friend. Just the two of us, in case you were thinking of dropping in. Depending on what he says, I will then go with you to the tennis club on Saturday morning. I’ll call you on this number at six o’clock tomorrow.’ He held up her card. ‘ Then you can make the introductions and – ’
    ‘No, I can’t make the introductions. Gorner mustn’t see me. It would put Poppy in danger. I’ll point him out to you.’
    ‘All right. But you must stay at the club. I want you there. Until the moment I leave.’
    ‘As your security?’
    ‘Securities are what you deal in, aren’t they?’ Bond eyed her sardonically. ‘Is it a deal?’
    ‘Yes. It’s a deal.’ Scarlett held out her hand. Bond took it. ‘Larissa kissed me on the cheek,’
    he said.
    ‘ Autres temps ,’ said Scarlett, with a low laugh, ‘ autres mœurs .’
    He watched her walk down the corridor to the lift, the skirt holding its elegant line along the length of her thighs.
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    This time there was no wave from the lift, but as the doors were closing, she called out, ‘How’s your tennis? I hope it’s good!’
    Rene´ Mathis seemed anxious to meet early in the day. ‘Friday evenings, James,’ he said, ‘always so many loose ends to tidy up in the office. I’ll buy you lunch. Come to Chez Andre´ in the rue du Cherche Midi. Not my normal quartier at all. So much the better.’
    Bond arrived five minutes early, as was his custom, and took a seat, away from the window, from which he could survey the room. He was pleased to see Mathis arrive, a little out of breath, complaining of the traffic.
    ‘Just a little bistro, James. Nothing special.