‘What if I bring it up? What if I tell him he can’t go careering to the furthest corners of the globe any more, or to every party he’s invited to? What if he chooses his old life? What if he chooses not to change? What if he doesn’t choose me?’
‘Then at least you’ll know,’ replied Victoria bluntly. ‘And at least you can decide if that’s an arrangement you are prepared to accept.’
Ros was glad her sunglasses were hiding her tears.
‘Darling, don’t get upset. You’re a strong woman who won’t be walked all over. Let him know that.’
Victoria held out her hand and pulled Ros to her feet. They walked back in silence. Ros had a lot to think about, and she didn’t even glance at the view – the wooded hillside that fell steeply down to the cliffs, and beyond that, the bay sparkling silver and blue.
The men were back by the time they reached Les Cyprès. Dominic was still discussing the Ferrari and wanted to share his excitement with Ros. Although she did not care for cars, she tried to get involved, listening with manufactured enthusiasm to the history of the car and how it had won the race at Le Mans.
They went to change and Ros delighted in their bedroom. It was decorated in shades of cream and pale blue that reminded her of hydrangeas; French windows trimmed with wisteria led out on to a small balcony.
Dom was in a particularly good mood and seemed to relax even more when Bellinis were served on the terrace. Victoria had also changed for dinner and looked ravishing in a salmon-coloured knee-length gown that showed off her waist and her tan. Ros discreetly observed her boyfriend’s reaction, but if she was expecting him to cast lascivious glances in Victoria’s direction, she did not see any.
They ate dinner outside, on a round table underneath a citrus tree.
‘Just the four of us tonight, Vee?’ asked Dominic as he dug into cold avocado mousse.
‘Aren’t you glad? I thought you’d had enough polite conversation in Monaco.’
Ros laughed, thinking about the countless drinks receptions they’d had to attend both before and after the Grand Prix.
‘You know what I’m saying, don’t you, Ros? Free parties? They come at a price.’
‘Dom did spend half the time drumming up business for the Capital ad team, but still, I was happy to people-watch.’
‘Well now is the time for close friends,’ said Victoria, and Ros gave her a grateful glance, remembering the last time she had met Dominic’s friends en masse.
Victoria and Tony were happy to talk about politics and the issues of the day, but not in the confrontational way they had been discussed at Jonathon Soames’s house. Victoria conveyed her distress that a bus carrying civil activist Freedom Fighters had been fire-bombed in Alabama, and Dominic predicted that this would lead to race riots.
‘Dom tells me you run your own pressure group,’ said Tony as the starter was cleared away.
‘I’ve scaled it back a little recently,’ replied Ros.
‘How so?’ asked Victoria with interest.
‘We didn’t seem to be pressurising anyone into doing anything.’ She meant it as a joke, but Tony and Victoria looked at her seriously.
‘What was your cause?’ asked Tony, lighting a cigar.
‘Lots of things. Anything we cared about.’
‘Perhaps that’s your problem,’ said Victoria.
‘That we lacked focus? You might have a point.’
‘Never spread your interests too thinly,’ nodded Tony. ‘Always worked for me in business.’
He looked at Dominic.
‘You need to promote Ros to editor of Capital.’
‘Capital has an editor, Robert Webb.’
‘He’s a decent guy, but the two of you heading up that magazine would be dynamite.’
‘I don’t think it’s a good idea to mix business with pleasure too much, Tony,’ said Victoria.