didn’t emerge until lunchtime and she was icy with Zack when she did. The alligator bag was back in its box by then, and she handed it to him at the lunch table. It had been the tip-off as to what he was doing in London, and why he was five days late when he joined them.
“What’s that?” He looked surprised when she handed the orange box to him.
“Don’t try to buy me off, Zack. It’s not worthy of you. And it gives you away every time.” It had a familiar ring to it and dredged up memories she had tried to forget.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He looked innocent and hurt but she knew better.
“You know what it means and so do I. What were you doing in London for five days while my grandmother and I cooled our heels waiting for you?”
“I told you. I was stuck in meetings all week. I would have come sooner if I could. I’m sorry you don’t like the bag.”
“I love the bag, but I know what it means when you give me presents like that.” He had finally sold the Rolls after she had refused to drive it again. He got the point. She didn’t say anything to him after that all through lunch, with the crew serving them, and they got to Saint Tropez late that afternoon. There was no room for them in the port, because the boat was so big, so they anchored just outside, and she went into the port with the tender, and walked around town, wondering if she had been unfair to him and overreacted. But she didn’t believe his excuses about London and his five-day delay. Whatever he’d been doing, he’d been a fool to do it then, while she and her grandmother waited for him on the boat. He had a knack for getting caught in his infidelities, almost as though he couldn’t stop himself, and there was something compulsive about it, even if it meant getting found out. Somewhere in him there was an insatiable need for affection, a void he could never fill because he’d been abandoned by his mother as a child, no matter how much Ruby loved him. He needed more, and in his position, it was easy to find.
When she got back to the boat, they had to dress for dinner. She was trying not to act on her suspicions about him. They were meeting a group of people whom Zack knew and she didn’t. It had sounded like fun when he’d suggested it and organized it for them. But she wasn’t in the mood for it that night. They were meeting at a popular restaurant, and all she knew was that there would be eight or ten people who were planning to be in Saint Tropez at the same time, and all knew each other, and he had insisted she’d enjoy them.
They went back into the port with the tender, and were the last to arrive at the restaurant. She could see immediately that they were a fashionable group. They all looked very chic and the women were wearing good jewelry. Ruby had dressed very simply and felt instantly out of place when they arrived. Zack hadn’t warned her that they were a jet-set crowd. When he introduced her, she realized that about half of the group were British and the others were French, and most of them had houses in the area. The conversation at the table was lively, and Ruby was seated between two Englishmen who were interesting to talk to and very funny. She relaxed as the evening wore on. The others were all couples, except two people who were houseguests of the others. One was a gay man, and the other was a very attractive single British woman named Marlene. She somehow wound up seated next to Zack, and in a lull in the conversation, Ruby heard her say to Zack, “It was fun in London, darling, wasn’t it?” He nodded and smiled and said something to her, and didn’t realize Ruby was watching them. The woman spotted it immediately. Ruby saw her end the exchange abruptly, and turn to talk to the man on her other side. But several times during dinner, Ruby saw Zack and Marlene exchange glances. Her antennae were up and her instincts alert and she knew instantly that her suspicions had been correct, and obviously the whole evening had been orchestrated so he could see Marlene again.