looked at her narrowly, thoughts idly playing through his head. She seemed to know everyone and she was popular. He could tell from the way the older passengers laughed in her company, totally at ease. He was sure that she would be equally popular amongst the staff.
Who was worth keeping on? Who would get the sack immediately? He wouldn’t need any of the teachers on board, but the crew would be familiar with the liner, would probably have proved themselves over a number of years and might be an asset to him. It would certainly save him having to recruit from scratch and then face the prospect of some of them not being up to the task. When it came to pleasing the wealthy there could be no room for error.
Would she be able to help him with the information he needed? Naturally he wouldn’t be able to tell her why...
Not for a second did Daniel see this as any form of deception. As far as he was concerned he would merely be making the most of a possible opportunity, no harm done.
He rose as she finally approached him.
‘You came,’ he said with a slashing smile, indicating the chair next to him. ‘I wasn’t sure whether you would. You seemed a little reluctant to take me up on my offer.’
‘I don’t normally fraternise with the passengers,’ Delilah said stiffly as she sat down.
‘You seemed familiar enough with them just then...’
‘Yes, but...’
‘What can I get you to drink?’
His eyes roved over her colt-like frame. He watched the way her fingers nervously played with the tip of her ponytail and the way her eyes dipped to avoid his. If he had had the slightest suspicion that she knew who he was he might have wondered whether her shyness was some kind of act to stir his interest—because women, in his company, were usually anything but coy.
‘Just some juice, please.’ Delilah was flustered by the way he looked at her—as though he could see straight into her head.
Juice in hand, and with a refill of whisky for him, he returned to settle into the chair and looked at her.
‘So, you wanted to know about the course...’
Delilah launched into chatter. She found that she was drawn to look at him, even though she didn’t want to. It wasn’t just that he was a passenger—something about him sent disturbing little chills racing up and down her spine and sent her alarm bells into overdrive.
‘I’ve brought some brochures for you to have a look at...’
She rummaged in her capacious bag and extracted a few photocopied bits of paper, which she self-consciously thrust at him. Several had samples of her work printed inside, and these he inspected, glancing between her face and the paintings she had done at college.
‘Impressive,’ he mused.
‘Have you seen any other courses that interest you? Aside...’ She allowed herself a polite smile. ‘Aside from the palmistry?’
‘I’m tempted by astronomy... When it comes to stars, I feel I could become something of an expert...’ Daniel murmured. His last girlfriend had been an actress. Did that count? ‘But, no...’ He sat back briskly, angling his chair so that he could stretch his legs to one side. ‘I’m only here for a week. Probably just to take in a couple of stops. I think I’ll go for yours...’
A week? Delilah felt an inexplicable surge of disappointment, but she pinned a smile on her face and kept it there as she sipped some of the orange juice.
‘Well, I can’t guarantee I can turn you into Picasso at the end of a week... I mean, most of the other passengers are here for the full month, and then we have more joining us when we dock at Naples...’
‘Seems a bit haphazard,’ Daniel said. ‘Put it this way—I managed to get a place at the last minute, and for whatever duration I chose...’
‘It’s...it’s a little more informal than most cruises, I guess,’ Delilah conceded. ‘But that’s because it’s a family-run business. Gerry and Christine like the fact that people can dip in and out...’
‘Gerry and Christine?’
Ockley. He knew their names, knew how far into debt they were. Little wonder people could dip in and out of the cruise at whim. Any business was good business when it came to making ends meet.
‘They run the cruise ship. Actually, it’s theirs, and they’re great.’
She felt herself relax, because he was so clearly interested in what she was saying. He was just another keen passenger, and if his looks made her a bit jittery then that was her problem and, after the debacle with Michael, it was one she could easily deal with.
‘Are they? In what way?’
‘Just very interested in all the passengers—and the crew have been with them for ages.’
‘Is that a fact...? And I guess you know all the crew...?’
‘They’re wonderful. Devoted to their jobs. They all love the fact that they’re pretty much allowed free rein with what they do... Of course they all follow the rules, but for instance the chef is allowed to do as he likes and so is the head of entertainment. I’ve been very lucky to get this job...’ She guiltily thought of her sister, but she would be back home soon and all would be fine.
Daniel saw the shadow cross her face and for a few seconds was intrigued enough to want to find out more about the woman sitting in front of him. But there was no time in his busy, compacted schedule for curiosity about a random stranger, however strangely attractive he might find her. He had to cut to the chase.
‘So...’ He carried the conversation along briskly. ‘Tomorrow...what time do we start...?’
‘NOW HAVE A look at the jug. George...see how it forms the centre of the arrangement? With the other two pieces in the background? So that the whole forms a geometric shape...? If you could just make the jug a teeny bit smaller, then I think we’re getting there!’
For the umpteenth time Delilah’s eyes skittered towards the door, waiting for it to be pushed open by Daniel.
Her calm, peaceful enjoyment of her brief window of freedom appeared to have disappeared the moment she had met the man. She had been knocked sideways by his looks, but more than that he had a certain watchfulness about him that she found weirdly compelling...
She was seeing him through the eyes of an artist, she had told herself, over and over again. The arrangement of his features, the peculiar aura of authority and power he emanated was quite unlike anything she had ever seen before in anyone.
She had laughingly told herself that she was reading far too much into someone who was probably a drifter, working his way through the continent. Someone who had managed to accumulate sufficient money to buy himself a few days on the liner so that he could pursue a hobby. Most of the passengers were in their fifties or sixties, on the cruise for the whole time, but there were a number who, like him, were on the cruise for a limited period of time, taking advantage of one or other
