Page 129 of Gold Diggers

ything for her. I’m quite envious of their relationship. In fact, I’m quite envious of Molly full stop. Wonderful daughter, fabulous boyfriend.’

Adam stared at Karin from the other side of the pool with undisguised fury. What was she doing? He excused himself from Claudia Falcon and stalked over.

Marcus looked up. ‘Just going to get a drink,’ he said. ‘Fancy one?’

Adam grunted and sat down on his vacant pouf.

‘What are you doing?’ he asked Karin immediately Marcus was out of earshot.

‘What do you mean?’ asked Karin innocently, playing with her lariat.

‘Hanging off fucking Marcus with your tits out, that’s what I mean.’

‘Hardly,’ sniffed Karin, delighted that she had provoked such an immediate reaction. ‘Anyway, I didn’t have you down as the jealous sort.’

‘I’m not,’ said Adam coldly, snuffing out a dying tea-light with his finger-tip.

‘Well, don’t behave like it, then. It’s only Marcus, what’s your problem?’

‘My problem,’ growled Adam, watching Marcus coming back towards them balancing three cocktails, ‘is that you are flirting with him and Molly is just over there making a phone call.’

‘Of course,’ replied Karin. ‘It’s all about Molly.’

Her eyes locked with Adam, and for a second she thought she saw a fleeting moment of panic in his expression. That would do for now, she thought.

‘I think there’s more mint than rum in these things,’ said Marcus putting the glasses on the low table. ‘Probably just as well with the amount I’ve drunk this weekend.’

‘A bad workman blames his mojitos,’ laughed Karin, standing to leave the table.

‘Going somewhere?’ asked Adam tartly.

‘Looks like Molly is off the phone,’ she smiled sweetly, pointing over to the gazebo, where Molly was snapping shut a mobile phone and putting it in her clutch bag.

‘I’m going to leave you gentlemen and go and have a girly gossip.’

She looked at Adam, who was nervously running a finger around the sugary rim of the glass, and smiled broadly at Marcus. ‘I’ll see you later.’

The gazebo was away from the main throng of the party and much quieter. Karin could just hear the strains of a clarinet floating on the air, and the low murmur of background chatter. Molly was walking back to the pool and having trouble with her kitten heels in the grass. ‘You should have used the phone in the house,’ said Karin, looking her up and down. She did look good, she thought begrudgingly. Molly’s blousy leopard-print dress was so short it barely covered her thighs; her tawny hair hung loose on her shoulders, and even her low heels gave her a statuesque appearance.

‘It’s fine,’ smiled Molly. ‘I can get reception out here.’

‘So, how’s Summer? I’m surprised she took off so early this morning.’

‘She’s okay,’ said Molly, trying to dodge around Karin to continue back to the pool.

‘What did she have to say?’

‘How did you know that was Summer?’

Karin shrugged and took a sip of drink. She made the silence hang in the air to unnerve Molly. For a second they could hear the crickets in the trees and the quiet splash of waves lapping on the shore.

‘She really did miss all the action this afternoon, didn’t she?’ said Karin casually. ‘I think she’d have found it quite interesting if she’d hung around.’

Molly flicked her hair behind her shoulder and pushed her clutch bag under her arm, gripping it with white fingertips. ‘Well, we’ve both been to Bellagio before, and you can only do so much lounging around a swimming pool,’ smiled Molly lightly, even though the expression looked troubled.

‘That’s right, isn’t it?’ Karin pressed on. ‘I saw you getting a bit bored of sunbathing earlier, although frankly I didn’t think that was in your nature.’

They were only thirty or so feet away from the main action. Marcus lifted a hand in the air to wave. Molly’s face looked frozen, as if she’d had a Botox overload.