Page 39 of Gold Diggers

A few people had milled out further along the sands, where the beach blurred into blackness, and Karin walked towards them. After a few minutes of walking across the cold sand, she saw a couple ahead of her by the edge of the water. It was silent out here now. All she could see of the party was the orange furry glow of the bonfire.

An icy chill shivered down her spine as she marched over. She could make out Adam from a hundred metres, recognizing the navy shirt he had changed into. But the other woman. It was hard to identify her as she was naked except for a pair of briefs. She stood like a statue at a distance, watching the woman splashing in the surf, tempting Adam to join her.

Forcing herself to move closer, her hands curled into a tight fist. The long brown mane of the girl’s hair swished away from her face so Karin could make out who it was.

Tessa.

Karin was twenty metres away when they saw her approach. Tessa ran over to a little pile of clothes sitting on the sand, her breasts like two round tanned tennis balls bouncing in the air as she fled to grab her T-shirt.

Adam turned round and looked straight-faced.

‘We were just going swimming. Are you coming in?’

Karin felt a lump in her throat. She quashed every urge to stop a scream coming out of her mouth, but took a deep breath and smiled thinly.

‘I wouldn’t want to spoil your fun,’ she said tartly.

‘Karin, wait,’ said Tessa still pulling her T-shirt on.

‘Get out of my sight, you little tart,’ snapped Karin. ‘You’re fired.’

Tessa grabbed her shorts and sandals and ran off along the beach.

Karin exhaled and waited a moment before she said anything.

‘It wasn’t how it looked,’ said Adam, running his hand through his hair.

‘Of course it wasn’t,’ said Karin sarcastically.

‘She just wanted to go skinny dipping.’

‘You’ve humiliated me, Adam,’ she said coolly. ‘I hope she was worth it.’

‘Nothing happened,’ he said, moving towards her. ‘I had all my clothes on.’

Karin snorted. ‘I bet that’s what Bill Clinton told Hilary.’

Adam was shaking his head. ‘I came to Anguilla to have a good time. With you.’

‘That’s not how it looked two minutes ago.’ She could feel an aggressive wobble in her voice and suddenly Adam’s expression went from sympathetic to defensive.

‘Can we let this go?’ he snapped, his eyes looking moody. ‘It’s not even as if we’re exclusive.’

The comment was like a slap across a sore cheek.

‘Exclusive?’ She had never dated an American before. Did exclusivity have to be spelled out? Written in blood in a contract? ‘Forgive me for getting the wrong end of the stick, but flying out halfway across the world to be with someone sounds pretty exclusive to me.’

She looked out to the inky-black sea, feeling a tear pricking at the back of her eye. She bit her lip to stop it escaping and turned to him shaking her head. ‘Do you know what? Forget it. If that’s how you feel, then I shouldn’t care about what’s happened as much as I do.’

Adam stretched out a hand towards her. ‘Kay. I’m sorry. Let’s talk about this. I do care about you.’

‘Clearly not enough,’ she said steadily and began to walk back to the hotel, determined to keep her pride.

17

Working for the Midas Corporation had taken over Erin’s life. In an average day she might take a helicopter to a development site, set up meetings in Miami, Kazakhstan and LA or spend hours locating a specific type of vintage wine or rare sculpture – all at Adam’s whim. She had become on first name terms with the PA of every business giant and, after Adam had insisted on giving her a clothing allowance – he had politely suggested that she smarten up her image – she was starting to feel completely at home in the high heels and designer suits she now wore to the office. Erin’s life had changed beyond all recognition, and she was beginning to really enjoy herself. It was true she simply didn’t have time for a social life, but then who needed to be sitting in a loud, smoky pub when you travelled private?

As usual, Erin was exhausted by the time she reached the front door of her new apartment block. At least it was still early, she thought, glancing at her watch: 8.30. It had been a hard day; a hard week, in fact. Adam had returned from Anguilla a couple of days early with a sexy hazelnut tan and a very bad temper, and he had been making her life a misery ever since, picking at every detail. He had gone ballistic at the finish on the limestone flooring in the Chelsea Marina development and had demanded that the whole thing be redone. Erin had barely been off the phone for six hours straight.