The Runaway Heart

by Barbara Cartland

  “In – evening dress?” Karina asked.

  “Yes,” Garland replied.

  He walked to his desk and picked up one of the papers that were in front of him.

  “That will be all,” he said.

  Karina, knowing that she was dismissed, went back into the outer office. Miss Weston was back from lunch.

  “Mr. Holt is early,” she said. “Did he want you to do something for him?”

  “Only to put off the engagement I had made for this evening,” Karina answered. “Do you know Mr. Jim Holt’s telephone number?”

  “No, not his new one,” Miss Weston replied. “Did Mr. Holt know who you were dining with?”

  “Yes, I told him.”

  “Oh dear!” Miss Weston exclaimed. “He didn’t like it, I suppose? He does not approve of Mr. Jim’s goings-on and makes no secret of it.”

  “He certainly does not,” Karina agreed. “May I look up the number of Wedbury and Kent in the directory and ring Mr. Jim now?”

  “You can,” Miss Weston said. “But as a general rule it is best to make your private calls outside in the lunch hour.”

  “Yes, of course, I understand,” Karina nodded.

  She dialled the number, but was told that Jim was not there. She left a message for him to ring her back and had just started to type again the letters that Miss Weston had given her when the telephone on her desk rang.

  She picked it up.

  “May I speak to Miss Burke?” a voice asked, but before she answered she realised that it was not Jim, whom she expected, but Felix who was calling her.

  “Is that you, Cousin Felix?” she asked.

  “Yes,” he replied. “How are you getting on?”

  “All right, I hope,” Karina said, feeling that Felix would not at all have approved of what had happened to her.

  “Good,” Felix said. “You will not find it too difficult when you get into it. Come along to dinner tonight and you can tell me all about it.”

  “I cannot,” Karina said.

  “Why not?”

  “Mr. Holt wants me to go out with him.”

  “The devil he does!”

  “I am sorry, Cousin Felix, but he says it’s business.”

  “Keeping you late at the office?”

  “No, that’s the whole trouble. He says that he may be dining with some other people at The Savoy. Cousin Felix, I don’t think I have the right dress to wear.”

  “The Savoy, eh? Well, I will see what I can do. Don’t worry, Karina. I have a friend who has a shop. I will tell her to send something along to Carter’s house. If it’s too big, Mrs. Carter can sew you into it.”

  “Oh, but, Cousin Felix – ” Karina began to expostulate, but he had already rung off.

  How extraordinary he was, she thought. One moment making a fuss of her, the next minute seeming extremely glad that she was going out with Garland Holt. He was quite unfathomable. At the same time she had to admit that he had exquisite taste and that if he did produce a dress for her it was certain to be something suitable and pretty.

  She found the dress when she arrived back to the Carters’ house. It was in a dress-box with quite a well-known name on it and, when she opened the box, she gasped with excitement.

  Never had she seen such a lovely dress and with it there was a velvet wrap lined with swansdown to wear round her shoulders and a small velvet bag to match.

  “Carter says Mr. Mainwaring has been telephoning all the afternoon to get that for you,” Mrs. Carter remarked.

  “It is so kind of him,” Karina said. “I have never seen such a wonderful dress before.”

  “I expect it cost a bit,” Mrs. Carter said admiringly. “You cannot buy a dress like that on the cheap.”

  “I must thank him,” Karina said. “Do you think he is at home now?”

  “No,” Mrs. Carter replied. “My husband says he has gone out and won’t be back for dinner.”

  “I will write him a note,” Karina said, “and perhaps your husband can take it round first thing in the morning so that Mr. Mainwaring can have it on his breakfast tray.”

  She tried the dress on and Mrs. Carter found that with just taking it in an inch round the waist it fitted beautifully.

  “It’s always better to have things a little bit too big than too small,” Mrs. Carter said. “Now, if we’d had to let it out, that would have been difficult.”

  “Mr. Mainwaring was so clever to guess my measurements so exactly!” Karina exclaimed.

  “He’s ever so fussy about his own clothes,” Mrs. Carter said. “But then he’s fussy about everythin’ that isn’t quite perfect. Many’s the time I have felt myself getting’ real exasperated with him when he’s complained because there’s an ornament out of place or the merest speck of dust you can hardly see on the windowsill. But then, as Carter always says, if you’re employed by somebody like Mr. Mainwaring, it makes you take a real pride in your work.”

  “I wonder he has never married,” Karina said.

  “Never seemed to care for women,” Mrs. Carter remarked. “Oh, there be plenty of them that he has for friends, but I’ve never known him in love. A good thing, if you ask me. Carter wouldn’t stay if there was a Mistress in the flat. He don’t hold with workin’ for women.”

  “I am sure that Mr. Mainwaring would be miserable if Carter left him,” Karina said. “He speaks so very highly of him.”

  “Carter’s got himself dug into that job,” Mrs. Carter said, “and it’s not surprisin’. Mr. Mainwaring’s a real gentleman, I’ll say that for him.”

  Karina could not help smiling at the phrase. She had heard it so often before.

  “Your uncle’s a real gentleman!” the gardeners and grooms at Letchfield Park used to say.

  It usually meant that Uncle Simon had congratulated them on something they had done or given them an extra bonus for Christmas.

  They had never said anything like that about Aunt Margaret because she was usually the one who found fault.

  “Mrs. Carter, would you mind if I used the telephone?” Karina asked.

  “No, dear. You’ll find a box to put the threepence in if it’s a local call and a pad to write it down on if it’s a trunk. You pays for them when the bill comes in.”

  Karina went to the telephone. For the sixth time that day she tried to get hold of Jim but now there was no reply from the showrooms and instead she rang his Club, the name of which Miss Weston had given her before she left the office.

  “Mr. Jim Holt is not in,” the porter told her.

  Karina left her number and an urgent message for him to telephone her. It was so awful, after all his kindness, that not only was she letting him down but that she was unable to tell him that she could not come.

  Time crept on, but the telephone did not ring.

  Much too early she started to change her clothes, principally because she longed to see herself in the blue and silver dress.

  And now, gazing into the mirror, she was amazed at the transformation it made. Always before she had worn plain, simple, little-girl dresses. It was not exactly a question of choice, it was because she was too small to wear anything else.

  If she went shopping with Aunt Margaret, they were forced to go to the Junior Miss Department and the only alternative was to have things made by the village dressmaker who was incapable of doing anything more elaborate than a dress with a plain bodice and a full skirt.

  This dress made her look grown up and to be in keeping with its cleverly draped bodice and tiny waist, Karina brushed her hair high on her head, adding several inches to her height.

  “It be a lovely dress, there’s no mistake about that,” Mrs. Carter said, as she helped Karina into it. “You look real pretty, miss. I’m sorry Carter has gone out. I should have liked him to see you.”

  “It’s a wonderful dress, isn’t it, Mrs. Carter?” Karina cried. “I cannot thank Mr. Mainwaring enough for giving me anything so wonderful!”

  “I expect he had his reasons, miss,”
Mrs. Carter remarked in a slightly dry tone.

  Karina stood still for a moment. It was true, she thought. Cousin Felix would not have done anything without a reason. What could his reason be? Why should he be so anxious for her to look nice tonight when she was going out with Garland Holt and not with him?

  She wished that she understood her cousin better. She wished, at the same time, that she liked him more. There was something about him, something she shrank instinctively away from.

  ‘Stop! Stop!’ she told herself. ‘You are being disloyal. You are being horrid about a man who has shown you only the greatest kindness and consideration.’

  With her dress billowing out around her she sat down at the table and wrote Felix a little note,

  “Thank you a thousand times,” she ended. “You have been so wonderful to me about everything. I can never be sufficiently grateful.

  Yours,

  Karina.”

  As she put it in an envelope ready for Carter to take round to the flat the next morning, she heard the front door bell ring. She looked at the clock over the mantelpiece. It was only five minutes to eight.

  “That will be Mr. Jim,” she said to Mrs. Carter. “Mr. Garland Holt said he wouldn’t be here until a quarter-past.”

  “You can have a word with him in the front room, miss,” Mrs. Carter said. “There’s not a fire there, but it won’t be cold if you put your wrap round you.”

  Karina picked up her wrap and ran down the stairs. Mrs. Carter opened the door and Jim came in. He was not in evening clothes and his eyes widened when he saw Karina.

  “What a fool I am!” he exclaimed. “I did not say that we were going dancing and I thought that you would not have changed.”

  “I am so sorry,” Karina said, “but everything has gone wrong. I cannot come out with you tonight.”

  “Not come out with me?” Jim enquired. “Then why are you dressed like that? Who is taking you out?”

  “Mr. Holt,” Karina answered.

  Jim shut the door behind him and, throwing his hat and stick down on a chair, exploded,

  “Blast Garland! I know what he is up to. I suppose he thinks he is being clever. Did he give you that dress?”

  “No, of course not,” Karina answered. “Do you think that I would take a present of that sort from him? Cousin Felix gave it to me.”

  “When?” Jim enquired.

  “This afternoon. He also asked me out to dinner. I have been quite popular today. When I told him that I was going out on a business evening with Mr. Holt and had nothing to wear, he sent me round this dress.”

  “So that is Felix’s little game, is it?”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Never mind,” Jim answered. “It’s Garland who concerns me. Did he ask you to dinner because he knew that I was taking you out?”

  Karina nodded.

  “He hates me,” Jim said briefly. “Always has done, if it comes to that. I really believe it’s jealousy. He does nothing but work and I have all the fun. Besides, once I took a girlfriend away from him. He is just like an elephant. He neither forgives nor forgets.”

  “I am very sorry,” Karina said again, “but there was nothing I could do, was there? He said he wanted me because it was business.”

  “Oh, it will be business all right,” Jim said. “Garland never thinks of anything else. But it would also be good business for him if, where a woman is concerned, he could spite me and put a spoke in my wheel. He is all right in every other way, gets me jobs and lends me money, but he disapproves of my success with girls. Did you see him glaring at us at lunch today?”

  “It all seems rather silly to me,” Karina said with what she hoped was dignity. “After all we had only met today for the first time.”

  “It would not have mattered if it had been the fifty-fifth time,” Jim said. “Garland would have tried to save you from my evil influence. He really believes I am a modern Don Juan-cum-Casanova. Pathetic, isn’t it?”

  “And aren’t you?” Karina asked with a little smile.

  Jim smiled back.

  “I hope I am where you are concerned,” he replied. “Dine with me tomorrow night? But don’t tell Garland, otherwise he will trump up another excuse to keep you at his side.”

  “It does seem rather silly,” Karina said. “Perhaps he really wants me.”

  “Don’t kid yourself,” Jim answered. “Where I am concerned, Garland behaves like a cross between a Policeman and a Calvinistic Minister. He cannot help it and he has his virtues as well as his faults.”

  “I tried to reach you all the afternoon on the telephone to warn you,” Karina said.

  “I have been busy,” Jim replied briefly. “As a matter of fact I have sold another car to an old chum of mine and we were sitting in The Ritz cracking a bottle over the deal. And that, I may tell you, is the sort of way that Garland thinks business should not be done.”

  “I am glad you sold another car,” Karina murmured.

  Jim smiled at her.

  “And I am glad that you are the loveliest thing that has come into my life for years. You look so adorable in that dress that I have a very good mind to elope with you right away and then let Garland see what he can do about it.”

  “I have made a resolution not to run away from anything anymore!” Karina laughed.

  “I am asking you to run with me,” Jim answered.

  “No running,” Karina said firmly.

  “Very well, we will do it all in the sedate and traditional manner. I will call for you tomorrow night and you must come out with me in that dress and I will tell you from eight o’clock until at least two in the morning that I adore you.”

  “And I shall try not to believe a word of it,” Karina said.

  “I will make you,” he replied. “Shall I show you how?”

  He stepped towards her, but Karina was too quick for him. She put a chair between them and, laughing at him over the top, said,

  “This is not at all the sedate or traditional manner.”

  “Karina, you drive me mad!” Jim exclaimed, suddenly dropping his bantering tone. “I have been thinking about you the whole afternoon.”

  “Even while you were selling the car?” she teased him.

  “Of course, why else do you think I want the money?” he said. “I want to spend it on you.”

  A clock somewhere in the house made a little chiming sound. Karina gave a sudden cry.

  “You must go away at once,” she said. “I cannot think what I am doing letting you stay here. Mr. Holt is coming at a quarter-past eight. He will be furious if he finds you here.”

  “I don’t care what Garland thinks one way or another,” Jim retorted.

  “Yes you do,” Karina said quickly. “He is your cousin and he is kind to you. You have no money and he is very rich. You must not quarrel with him, of course you must not. Also he is my employer. Go away, please go away at once.”

  Jim seemed suddenly to see sense.

  “All right. I will be glad to, but only until tomorrow night.”

  He picked up his hat and then suddenly turned towards Karina and before she realised what he was doing he had reached her side and pulled her into his arms.

  “You are utterly and completely fascinating,” he said. “I shall be able to think of nothing else all night.”

  Before she could move, before she could evade him, he had kissed her.

  His lips were warm and passionate on hers. His arms tightened around her shoulders and she felt as if he squeezed the breath out of her body.

  For a moment she was unable to move. She was hypnotised by him, held by some inertia that she could not explain even to herself.

  And then, as suddenly as he had taken her in his arms, she was free.

  “I love you!” he breathed, his voice deep and moved.

  Before she could say anything or even realise what had happened he had gone from the room, closing the door behind him.

  She heard him open the front door
and heard it slam.

  Very slowly she put her hand up to her lips.

  She had been kissed – her first kiss – by a man she had only met at lunchtime.

  And yet she told herself that she felt as if she had known Jim all her life. There was something so gay and so irresponsible about him.

  She had known that her lips, even if they had not responded to his, had not repulsed him.

  So that was what kissing was like, she thought to herself. That sudden moment of breathlessness, that inexplicable closeness in which her mouth had been utterly captive to his.

  She could hear again his voice saying in a tone that was low and deep and very unlike his usual laughing voice,

  “I love you!”

  Was this really love at first sight?

  Did she love him?

  What did she feel about him? She did not know.

  She only knew that she felt a little uncertain and bewildered by everything that had happened.

  She could still feel Jim’s lips on hers and could still feel the strength of his arms around her shoulders.

  There was a peal of the electric bell. Garland Holt must have arrived and now, in a sudden panic, she felt that she could not meet him. She must have time to think, a moment to breathe.

  It was too late! Mrs. Carter had answered the door. Karina heard her voice and then Garland Holt’s.

  The door of the sitting room opened.

  “Mr. Holt, miss!” Mrs. Carter announced.

  Karina felt as if she was caught. She wanted to run away, she wanted to avoid seeing him. Why, she did not know. But already he was in the room.

  “Good evening, Karina!”

  His voice was grave and yet there was a sudden light in his eyes.

  She wondered why.

  With a great effort she forced her thoughts away from Jim and towards him.

  She saw him staring at her and then, with what was almost a shock of surprise, she realised that it was admiration she saw in his face and that, quite spontaneously, he was admiring her in her new dress.