Page 27 of The Naughty One
PartThree
Chapter12
Stuart Eames lookedup as his soon-to-be-ex-wife approached the table. He stood, dutifully kissing her on the cheek, and pulled out her chair for her. Hilary Eames smiled and satdown.
“Always thegentleman.”
Stuart tried not to roll his eyes. Hilary was obviously in one of her seductive moods. “You look well,Hilary.”
She smiled. “You too. Magda Sasse is obviously looking after you … and I hear her daughter is looking after the Italian,too.”
Stuart sighed. “His name is Blue as you well know, Hilary, and yes, he and Romy are seeing eachother.”
“Keeping it in thefamily.”
He grimaced in disgust. “I didn’t come here to talk about Blue’s love life, Hilary. We agreed to meet to finalize the divorce, so shall we stick to thattopic?”
Hilary smirked. Stuart studied her. Hilary had once been considered a beautiful woman, but now she was stick-thin, gaunt, brittle. Her dark hair, once her crowning glory, was now coiffed to hide the hairpieces she used to create the illusion of lustrousness, her blue eyes ringed with kohl, hard lines. Her full lips—enhanced by fillers—made her look slightly ridiculous. Her cheekbones were jutting out and even the amount of make-up she wore couldn’t conceal the greyness of her skin, the pinched look from denying herselffood.
Being rich and thin was the overriding reason Hilary lived—that and to cause misery to those she felt envious of. Stuart wondered how he could ever have loved this woman; she was Magda’santithesis.
“So, you dropping your claim to the financial settlement has me wondering—what are you up to,Hilary?”
Hilary hid a smile behind her water glass. “I thought you’d behappy.”
“Who is he? I know there must be a ‘he’ because otherwise there isn’t a chance in hell you’d relinquish my money unless you had someone else linedup.”
“You think so little ofme?”
Stuart stayed silent rather than lie. Hilary shrugged. “Not that it’s any of your business, Stuart, but Gilesis…”
“Giles?” Suddenly Stuart started to laugh. “You mean Giles St. Clement?LordGiles St. Clement? Oh, Hilly, you really are sotransparent.”
Hilary’s face contorted in anger. “If you must know, Giles and I are in love, and as soon as the divorce comes through, we are to bemarried.”
“And you’re moving to London? I can see it now. High tea with the prime minister as you peddle your faux-manitarian causes. Blow jobs abound and suddenly, Lady St. Clement, you’re receiving titles of your own. Honorary damehoods,perhaps?”
Stuart hadn’t meant to be so cutting—it wasn’t his style, and this meeting was, after all, to make sure Hilary did sign the divorce papers—and now he realized he had gone too far. Hilary’s eyes glittered withspite.
“What’s it to you who I marry, or who I ‘blow,’ as you so crudely put it? This is what I want, Stuart, just like your pathetic little hippie is who you want. Aren’t you glad I’ll be out of your life forgood?”
Stuart shrugged. “Sure … I just hope Giles knows what he’s let himself infor.”
“Fuck you, Stuart. I never loved you; I was stupid to think Idid.”
Stuart’s smile faded. “You think I don’t know that? And you made Bianca’s life a miserytoo.”
“She spawned your precious lovechild, the saint-like Blue. If you only knew, Stuart, about your bastardson.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Stuart was irked now but Hilary justsmiled.
“You have two sons, Stuart. Isn’t it about time you concentrated on your firstborn? Gaius tells me he feels shut out of your newfamily.”
“That’s not even close to true, Hilary. Gaius just tells you what you want to hear, because it suits him to feel like the redheaded stepchild. Magda has made great efforts to include him. Far more efforts than you made withBlue.”
“You’re just surrounded by saint-like people, aren’tyou?”
Stuart gritted his teeth. This was more like the Hilary he knew—spiteful, resentful, vindictive. “I really think we should stick to signing these papers. Do you want lunch,Hilary?”
