Heart On Fire Part 4

"Well, goodnight, then. Sleep well and don't dream, will you? But I'm sure you won't."

Claudia bit back the angry retort she wanted to throw at his departing figure. He thought he was so funny! Well, she didn't. She heard the suite door close and sat down in front 'of the table. He hadn't ordered her a salad at all. He had chosen a very different meal for her, and she explored the various dishes eagerly.

To begin with, black pearls of caviare on crushed ice, served in a silver goblet, and garnished with chopped boiled egg and chopped raw onion and parsley. To follow that, thinly sliced breast of chicken with a delicate mushroom sauce, mange tout peas, a tomato and has'd salad, and spears of asparagus which must have been flown from the other side of the world, The sweet was a peach and mango sorbet, and was delicious.

It was too good to hurry, and afterwards while she drank her coffee she watched television, a very funny play by Alan Ayckbourn, which she had missed when it was on in London the previous year. It was half-past ten before she was actually in bed, but by then she was so relaxed that she fell asleep at once.

The phone woke her abruptly. For a moment she lay dazedly listening to it, then realising that n.o.body else was going to answer it, she did, sleepily, stifling a yawn.

"Yes? h.e.l.lo?"

There was a silence, then an icy voice said, "Who is that?"

Claudia was sure she knew the voice and stupidly dithered.

"Er--I'm she mumbled.

The caller snapped, "Oh, never mind, I know who you are! I never forget a voice or a face. Tell him I want to talk to him!" Her tone was ominous.

Claudia knew who she was, too. She had recognised Estelle's voice almost at once, and got a certain kick out of saying politely, "I'm sorry, Mr. Lefevre isn't available at the moment."

"I suppose the pair of you are in bed!" Estelle accused furiously.

"Did he tell you to get rid of whoever was on the phone? Never mind, don't bother to lie. I'll talk to him tomorrow, I don't want to talk to him now, not if he's with you. Oh, I knew you had your eye on him, the minute I set eyes on you. I wasn't born yesterday; I've seen your sort before. Little two-bit secretaries with an eye on the boss ... but you don't worry me. I know him. He'll get bored with you once he's had you. He always does. He has a very low boredom threshold. So don't get ambitious, because you haven't got a hope.

You're just a one-night stand; enjoy it while it lasts. " The slam of the phone made Claudia almost deaf for several minutes.

She hung up, too, flushed and furious, hearing the insults, repeating over and over again in her head, like a gramophone record that had stuck in one groove. She wished she had managed to say something, tell the other woman what she thought of her, but she had been too aghast.

Now she lay awake in the dark, obsessively going over what Estelle had said.

The woman had a poisonous mind--but she had been telling the truth in what she said about Ellis. That pa.s.s he had made earlier made that obvious.

Estelle had been wrong in guessing that Claudia was in bed with him, but if Claudia hadn't turned him down she might so easily have been dead accurate.

It made Claudia shudder to imagine what could have been happening when Estelle rang.

Where was he now, anyway? With some more available woman? Claudia rolled over and looked at the clock. Midnight. Well, he wasn't talking business at this hour, surely? Estelle made late phone calls.

But then, maybe she was often with Ellis Lefevre at this hour.

Presumably when he wasn't chasing someone new she was his bedfellow.

How could she stand a relations.h.i.+p like that? Claudia grimaced in distaste.

She wouldn't put up with a man who treated her that way; it must be so humiliating and painful. She might not like Estelle, but she felt sorry for her.

Turning over again, she made herself stop thinking about the whole messy situation, and fell asleep again soon afterwards. Ellis still hadn't returned by then, and yet when Claudia emerged from her bedroom next morning, freshly showered but still wearing her grey suit, she found Ellis in the sitting-room, reading the pink pages of the Financial Times while he ate his breakfast at a table by the window, the sunlight giving his smooth skin a golden gleam.

She eyed him coldly, thinking that he had no right to look that eye-catching after a night on the tiles. Or was that what gave his hair the glossy look, put the gleam in his eye?

He looked up and nodded to her.

"The coffee is in a vacuum jug, so it is still hot, and the croissants are delicious. If you want a cooked breakfast, ring down for one."

"I am quite happy with croissants," Claudia said offhandedly, and he gave her a dry look.

"I see you slept well and have got up in your usual cheerful mood."

She sat down and poured herself some coffee, ignoring that. He watched her, his mouth hostile, then swallowed the last of his coffee, folded his newspaper, and got to his feet.

"I shall be making my speech at eleven," so you may leave the suite any time after that, but please stay in here until then, and take any calls. " "Yes, sir," she said in the same r~mote voice, spreading black cherry jam on a croissant without even looking at him.

"Oh, to h.e.l.l with you, I'm not hanging around here playing the 2 tanic to your iceberg," Ellis bit out, and left, banging the door of the suite as he left, and she slackened, looking at her croissant without real interest. She drank some coffee and then abandoned the idea of breakfast. It must be shortage of sleep that made her feel low in spirits.

She took a string of calls for Ellis over the next couple of hours, and made copious notes for him, which she left on the desk. Just after eleven she rang down to the secretarial office and Judy Smith cheerfully told her that several of the girls had come back from sick leave.

"You've been on duty for twenty-four hours now, so you had better take a day off and I'll replace you with Marianne Edwards. She's very experienced."

"She'll need to be," Claudia said bitterly.

"I'm locked in here, though. Ellis Lefevre has the key."

"No, he left one with me so that I could let you out," Judy said complacently.

"I'll send it up with Marianne, then you can go home, 1ovie."

A few minutes later, Marianne arrived and Claudia handed over to her, leaving the boxed lingerie and nightwear in Ellis Lefevre's room. She took with her the ones she had used. She had earned them, in her opinion. Would he pay her that bonus? she wondered. Or would he conveniently forget his promise?

Next day she found out. Judy Smith rang her, sounding embarra.s.sed and apologetic.

"Darling, I'm really very sorry about this, I hate doing it, but I'm not being given the option, I have to do it..."

"Do what?" Claudia asked, frowning.

"I've been told to fire you," said Judy.

CHAPTER THREE.

"THEY can't do that!" Annette said i~dignantly, her deft hands busy chopping carrots while she talked. "Not these days. If you fire anyone without a good reason you're in trouble. You can take them to court, get compensation, you know!"

Claudia was sorting through a basket of mushrooms which had just arrived from the market.

"I wasn't on the permanent staff, Annette. I was just a part-time worker; I wanted to be free to work as and when I pleased, but that means I can't complain if they tell me they don~t want me any more."

"I don't see why, unless they have a good reason. What exactly did Judy say?"

"Just that she had been told to get rid 'of me." Claudia washed and dried her hands and began to wash the cabbages before preparing them.

"Who by? Didn't she say?" Annette had piled a mountain of sliced carrots up on her board and now she pushed them all into a great bowl of iced water.

"The hotel manager gave the order, but Judy says it was Ellis Lefevre who wanted me fired." Claudia's eyes glittered with temper.

"I didn't have a very high opinion of the man, but I must say I didn't think even he would stoop this low--making sure I lost my job just because. She broke off and her sister turned to stare, her face curious.

"Just because...?" Her eyes searched Claudia's flushed face and then she began to laugh.

"Oh, no! He didn't make a pa.s.s? That rich Swiss you were working for? " Claudia didn't smile back, and Annette stopped laughing and looked angry.

"You're serious. What is all this? Was that why...?

Claudia! Was that why you stayed at the hotel overnight? What has been going on at that pla~? Were you forced to stay?

thought you sounded odd when you rang up--was this guy Le. whatever his name is. was he with you? Did he make you. What did he do to you, Claudia? " Annette dried her hands and put both arms around her sister, hugging her.

"Tell ~the, you can tell me... I'm on your side, you know that. Whatever happened, we'll deal with it."

Claudia was appalled; her sister had gone too fast and too far, and she was crimson to her hairline.

"No, it wasn't like that," she muttered, wis.h.i.+ng she hadn't told Annette why she was leaving the hotel. The very idea that her sister believed she had spent last night in bed with Ellis Lefevre made her want to hide somewhere.

"He didn't... I mean, nothing happened... Not what you mean, anyway. Well, not really."

Her incoherence and look of horror made Annette even more sympathetic.

"You poor girl," she said. "Don't be embarra.s.sed, n.o.body is going to blame you. Men like that make me sick. Who does he think he is? It's the money, you know--makes them think they own the earth, can do just as they like.

Well, he's going to learn he can't!"

"Annette, stop it!" Claudia burst out, pus.h.i.+ng her away and shaking her head at her.

"You don't understand. I didn't spend the night with him, just in his suite, because I'd typed this confidential speech--I told you... It was just that... Oh, he made a pa.s.s, but nothing serious--he was only trying it on, and I slapped him down, that's all. He didn't like it, but he left, in a temper, and " So he got you fired! " Annette was fiercely incredulous, getting as upset about it as if it had happened to her.

"How utterly typical.

That's s.e.xual hara.s.sment, and you can defiuite~ly get him on that. I tell you what, you remember that guy in the really old, dirty jeans who comes in here on a Sat.u.r.day uight and leers at you over his coq ou vin? " Claudia stared, completely lost now.

"What? Well, yes, I suppose so... What on earth has he got to do with this?"

"He's a lawyer, he'll tell you how to get compensation," Annette triumphantly concluded, and Claudia's jaw dropped.

"A lawyer? Him? But he never even shaves."

"He shaves on weekdays," Annette a.s.sured her.

"He came in here the other day at lunchtime with one of his clients, wearing a suit. A good one, too, really well cut. He looked totally different, and I overheard enough to realise he was a lawyer. He paid and I asked him outright, and he admitted it. He said he takes the weekends off for bad behaviour."

Claudia had to laugh at that, then she sobered.

"All the same, I can't ask him for free advice--it isn't fair. You wouldn't like it if he asked for a free meal, would you?"

"We could do a swap, though," suggested Annette. "A few free dinners for an hour's consultation?"

Laughing again, Claudia shook her head.

"No, thanks. I'm going in tomorrow to see Judy about any money I'm owed; I'll tell her Fm thinking of suing the hotel and see where that gets me.

They may offer me compensation. I'll talk to the agency this afternoon and ask their advice.. If I am ent.i.tled to any money from the hotel, they'll know."

~) "Yes, that's true," agreed Annette and that afternoon Claudia took the bus up to Oxford Street to see the manageress of. the employment agency who had got her the hotel job.

"They have to give you a reason for firing you," she was told. ,I'llring and ask them. Hang on. " She dialled the hotel's number andasked for Judy Smith.

"h.e.l.lo, Jenny Newton here mI gather you have let Claudia Thorburn go.Can you tell me why? I thought you were quite satisfied with herwork." She listened, frowning, doing doodles on a pad in front ofher.

Claudia waited tensely, wis.h.i.+ng she could hear what Judy was saying.

"That doesn't sound like her," Jenny said slowly. "What did he mean,insolent? Sure she didn't have provocation? Oh, come on, Judy, youknow what I mean very well. Some men think a temp is a soft target andif she turns them down they can get very nasty." She listened, again,chewing her lower lip.

"Yes, hard to prove either way. How long is he staying for? Couldn't you give her a week off and then take her back once he has gone?"

There was a brief silence again, then she grimaced. "I see--themanagement won't take her back? Well, we'll have to reserve ourposition, but I feel bound to say I think she is ent.i.tled tocompensation. I'll talk to you later after I've con suited myclient."

Jenny put the phone down and looked across the desk at Claudia.

"Sorry, they..."

"I heard. Thanks for trying. What do you think my chances are of getting compensation?"

"Fair, but it won't be much because you were just a casual worker.