Read Bella for Free Online Page B

past her door.’
    ‘But it’s not that way,’ said Rupert mutinously.
    ‘I’d like you to wait for another call from Sordid Arabia,’ said Lazlo. ‘You know the background.’
    Wow! thought Bella, he’s really pulling rank. And she willed Rupert to stand up to him. But Rupert opened his mouth, shut it again, and sulkily agreed.
    As she left, Charles kissed her on both cheeks. ‘We’ll see you at the wedding next month, if not before,’ he said.
    Everyone stiffened. ‘Have you sent Bella an invitation yet, Constance?’ he added.
    ‘We’ve run out,’ said Constance coldly.
    ‘Nonsense. There are at least a dozen left in your desk. We need a bit of glamour on our side of the church.’
    When they were nearing Bella’s flat, Lazlo said, ‘I want to talk to you. Shall we go to your flat or mine?’
    ‘I’m very tired,’ snapped Bella. ‘Can’t we talk here?’
    ‘No,’ he said. ‘It’s important.’
    ‘All right. We’d better use mine.’
    Her flat was in chaos, clothes all over the drawing-room, unwashed breakfast things lying around. Bella kicked a bra under the sofa and went into the bedroom to take off her coat. In the mirror her eyes glittered with drink. Really, that blouse was too indecent for words. Perhaps Lazlo was going to make a pass at her. When she came back she found him sprawled in an armchair playing with the solitaire board.
    He’s got the face of a riverboat gambler, she thought, tough, cool, measuring up all the options.
    ‘Did Rupert give you this?’ he said.
    Bella nodded.
    ‘He’s a nice boy,’ said Lazlo.
    ‘ I think so,’ said Bella. ‘Do you want a drink?’
    Lazlo shook his head. ‘Rupert hasn’t had an easy life,’ he went on. ‘Lots of spoiling but not much love. Constance has always been too tied up with her charities; Charles much too preoccupied with Old Masters and young mistresses. Rupert’s pretty unstable as a result. He needs someone who can’t only handle him, but who also loves him very much.’
    ‘My,’ said Bella with a nervous laugh, ‘I didn’t know you were that romantic.’
    Lazlo didn’t smile back. ‘I’m not. I just hate waste.’
    Bella took a deep breath. ‘You don’t want me to marry him, do you?’
    ‘No, I don’t.’
    ‘Because I don’t come out of the top drawer?’
    ‘I don’t care if you come out of the coal-hole! I just want Rupert to land up with someone who loves him.’
    ‘Like your sister Chrissie, I suppose? Then you’d keep all your millions in the family.’
    ‘Leave Chrissie out of it.’
    ‘Why should I? What makes you think she loves Rupert more than I do?’
    ‘She wouldn’t have arrived an hour late to meet her future mother-in-law.’
    ‘I told you I couldn’t get away. I was stuck at the audition.’
    ‘And not bothered to dress.’
    ‘I didn’t have time to change.’
    ‘Or arrived three parts cut.’
    ‘I was not. Americans just pour very strong drinks.’
    ‘Or been rude to Aunt Constance on every possible occasion.’
    ‘She was insufferable,’ said Bella in a choked voice.
    ‘I agree,’ he said evenly. ‘She’s an uphill battleaxe. But if you loved Rupert you’d have put up with it.’
    ‘What’s it got to do with you, anyway?’ Bella said furiously.
    He had only a few marbles left now in the centre of the solitaire board. She watched his long fingers, mesmerized.
    ‘All I’m saying,’ he said softly, ‘is that if you loved Rupert, you’d have arrived on time, sober, properly dressed, instead of swilling whisky in the Hilton Bar with one of your lovers.’
    Bella turned green. ‘W . . . what are you talking about?’ she whispered. ‘I was having an audition.’
    ‘Maybe you were earlier in the evening, baby. But when I saw you, you were so engrossed with your handsome desperado, you didn’t even notice I was sitting only a few tables away.’
    Confusion and horror swept over her. Lazlo had seen her with Steve. How much had he heard of their