Read The Love Resort for Free Online Page B

she was told.
    ‘What now?’ she asked. She was more than a little uncomfortable with the situation. She was with her boss, the wife of her lover, and the world’s scariest woman. It was far from ideal, although looking through the entries was actually quite fun. Especially as Anne-Marie always served the best champagne, and it was certainly flowing.
    ‘Right, now I want to discard any couple who is unattractive.’ Anne-Marie paused and regarded the other two women. ‘I’m sure you can tell, but if in doubt, ask me.’ She began trawling through the photographs. ‘Yuk, look at this couple,’ waving a photograph. ‘I can’t believe that they could be in love. Ugly people and love don’t work. No, not at all.’ She took a long drink.
    Lily felt she ought to be shocked by her boss’s outburst but she wasn’t really surprised. Instead she picked up the bottle and refilled the glasses again.
    ‘In my books I have rules that I follow, don’t I, Abigail?’ Anne-Marie was warming to her theme.
    Lily looked at Abigail, who nodded.
    ‘Her characters are always good-looking unless they are the baddies,’ Abigail stated.
    ‘Yes, because baddies can be ugly but they never find love,’ Anne-Marie added.
    ‘And women don’t get drunk, and they never swear,’ Abigail said, taking another drink.
    Lily didn’t know how she was supposed to react to this information so she refilled the glasses again.
    ‘No, they never fucking swear,’ Anne-Marie said without irony. ‘And they rarely wear trousers and always look their best for their men.’ Anne-Marie pushed her hair, which had come loose from its neat plait, off her face.
    ‘Men are always tall, impeccably dressed and strong,’ Abigail continued. ‘And they can drink, but not to the point of alcoholism, and they rarely swear. Or if they do they say “blast”, and words like that. Old-fashioned heroes, that’s what they are.’
    Lily finally spoke. ‘Well, that’s just great.’
    ‘That’s not all,’ Abigail informed her.
    ‘It isn’t?’
    ‘No, her books never contain one-night stands, any kinky sex, or graphic sex, for that matter. Men always call when they say they will; women always laugh in the right places. Isn’t that right, Anne-Marie?’
    ‘Abigail knows. She knows my books as well as I do.’
    ‘That’s great. Another drink, anyone?’ Lily emptied the bottle.
    *
    ‘Right, well, I’m done.’ Abigail downed what was left in her glass and presented her pile.
    ‘Me too.’ Lily, already tipsy, followed suit.
    ‘What do we have left?’ Anne-Marie looked at her empty glass. ‘Lily, be a dear and fetch another bottle.’
    Lily stood up, wondering how much she’d drunk already, and went to get the champagne.
    ‘We still have quite a few candidates. Right, Lily, let’s see what you have.’
    ‘OK.’ Lily put a serious expression on her face. She hated to admit it but she was almost enjoying herself. ‘I have twenty couples. All young, good-looking and with the right profiles.’
    ‘Hmm. Abigail?’
    ‘I might have been more brutal. I have only ten.’ Lily could believe that.
    ‘Well, I’ve got nineteen. That’s nearly fifty left, and we only need three. Gosh, this is harder than I thought.’ Anne-Marie took another drink. ‘Any suggestions?’
    ‘I know, how about hair colour?’ Lily suggested. Was she drunk? She wasn’t sure.
    ‘Fantastic idea. If we have couples with the same coloured hair then great, but if not then let’s go with women. Put them into piles, redheads, brunettes and blondes. Anything else discard. I’m not having anyone with bright green hair at my resort.’
    As Lily worked and saw her two companions doing the same, she thought that they were getting somewhere.
    ‘There are quite a few cute couples,’ Lily said.
    ‘We need something special, for the book,’ Abigail reminded them.
    ‘Yes, we want that bit extra,’ agreed Anne-Marie. ‘I know, we’ll all give them marks out of ten and the highest