The dark head inclined as its owner enquired humourously, 'Beach at Cannes not big enough?'
'Oh, it's not that.' Barry attacked the food on his plate jerkily. 'It's just that… well, you know how it is, the crowd's different at Juan.' He grinned, gulped down a mouthful of wine, then turned to enter into a quick conversation with his grandmother about a loose hinge on his bathroom door. He talked through all the courses to the table generally and then leapt up almost before the last one was finished to tug at Tessa's chair.
'Come on, we're wasting time. We've got to get to the beach.' He hung over her impatiently and then as she started to rise he urged, 'Nip up and get your swim-suit and I'll start the car.'
'I haven't got one.' Tessa turned to stare at him, suddenly realising that she had never had time to think about one in the wild rush to pack.
'Okay, so I'll buy you one on the way,' he shrugged, curling an arm about her waist, and smiling his goodbyes around the table.
As he led her out Tessa wished she didn't have the feeling that a green gaze was boring into her back.
Shooting away in the car a few minutes later, she knew a slight feeling of regret at having to leave the villa and its surrounding countryside. Somehow she felt a clinging desire to spend all her time here. When they were skimming over the roads towards the coast, a comment of Barry's added disappointment to her mood.
Watching the scenery flash by, she happened to ask lightly, 'Is it far to this Juan place?'
'Far enough,' he smiled to himself, then gripping the wheel and leaning back he added expansively, 'It's all arranged. We meet the gang on the beach.'
'Oh, Barry!' Tessa's heart dropped.
'What's the matter? You like them, don't you?' he asked, whistling away with gay unconcern.
'Well, yes, but…'
'So get ready to have a good time.' He looked at her and then he thrust a hand into his pocket and tossed a roll of franc notes on her knee to say inducingly, 'Look, you can nip off and buy yourself something to sunbathe in when we get there.'
Tessa shrank from the money as though it was a live thing in her lap. She might be practically engaged to him, but somehow it didn't feel right having his wealth tossed at her like that. She wanted to give it back as quickly as she could, but daren't do anything that would necessitate him taking his hand off the wheel again at this speed. Because it looked as though it was going to separate in the breeze and blow away, she picked it up and put it in her handbag for safe keeping.
Juan-les-Pins, she found out when they arrived, was thronging with colourful people. Everybody was decked out in vivid beach clothes, and everybody looked incredibly brown. It was hard to believe that back in England, people would just be getting rid of the pallor of winter. Cafes spread their gaily coloured chairs out almost to the edge of the pavement, and long rich-looking cars slid along between.
Barry made straight for the beach. Here Tessa saw striped mattress sun-beds lined up on the white sand and gay umbrellas posted for shade. Long gondola-type boats waited at the water's edge for would-be trippers, and across the bay, beyond skimming yacht sails, the hills were dotted with white villas.
She was so busy taking in the scene after leaving the car, she didn't realise that Barry had shot off ahead. Luckily she saw at once where he was making for. There was no mistaking the figures lounging on the cluster of sun-beds and chairs set back from the water's edge. They looked exactly as they had done last night sprawled around the tables in the cellar club. The only difference now was that beach wear took the place of the off-beat casual clothes, and soft drinks the place of wine.
They hailed Barry languidly and spared a nod for Tessa, then went back to the beat of a muted transistor. The fair- haired older member of the group was stretched out delect- ably on a towel a little way off, faintly smiling lips turned up to the sun, eyes closed or half-closed behind heavy sunglasses. Her slender figure looked perfect in the pure white swim-suit.
Barry hurried off to change and Tessa sat down to wait.
She thought when he returned they might go for a walk along the beach, or take a couple of sun-beds off on their own somewhere, but emerging later in pale blue swim- shorts, he went to drop down alongside the white swim- suited figure, and struck up a low laughing conversation.
So it was going to be all in together again, Tessa sighed, accepting a tall iced drink that was thrust at her. Sipping it slowly, she resigned herself to looking at the view. There was enough of it to keep her occupied for a while, and then the French music drifting from the transistor was pleasant to listen to. But she wasn't all that much used to leisure that she could spend it sitting around like this, and somehow just gazing into space wasn't for her.
When a slight upheaval occurred among the draped bodies, for someone to go and order more drinks, she slipped away and went in search of the shops.
Brightly set out boutiques and dress shops were wedged in among restaurants and hotels. Eventually she found one that specialised in beach wear. After searching through endless dreamy creations packed on the hangers inside, she settled for a two-piece swim-suit in a pretty pink floral material and a pair of brief pink shorts. The price, she was horrified to learn, was all of her savings but for a few pence. Well, this was France, wasn't it, and the items she had chosen were adorable. She paid smilingly with Barry's franc notes and then folded all her own English money back into the roll.
The changing cubicles down on the beach were called cabines, she learned. She paid with the few francs she had been given in change and slipped into her new swim-suit. Strolling back to the group, she felt quite something in it. In firm weave, it fitted snugly everywhere and made her legs look long and slim, her small bosom neatly rounded.
It must have been more than an hour since she had left for the shops, but gazing where the towel lay crumpled on the sand, then to the two figures laughing together at the water's edge, she realised that Barry hadn't even missed her.
When he returned from his swim he gave her a big smile, but he didn't see her new swim-suit. Instead of sitting down by the side of her he trudged on to flop down by the towel.
Tessa didn't complain when he finally decided that it was time to leave and they were racing back to Grasse. And then to add to her afternoon he told her happily that after dinner they would be meeting his friends again at the cellar club.
That was Tessa's first day at the villa, and it turned out to be the pattern for the ones ahead. She grew accustomed to spending her afternoons languishing on the Juan-les-Pins beach along with the others, and doing much the same in the evenings at the Cannes cellar club.
Barry obviously enjoyed the get-togethers, for he could never wait to set off, and he was always reluctant to go back. He talked and laughed his way through the hours, though it was only laughter she heard at a distance, for that was where he always seemed to be. She tried to tell herself that she was having an absolutely fantastic time too, but somehow she couldn't seem to get as much fun out of the meetings as Barry seemed to do.
Her own laughter was more likely to bubble up in the mornings when she was free to soak up the view from her windows and listen to the chatter of the birds in the gardens below. Cool in cotton dress, she would wander down to the flower fields and find herself unable to resist helping with the picking or the loading. Neil Stanton would invariably be there putting his theories for speedier workmanship into practice.
Spiky as ever at the breakfast table, he was somehow more tolerant of her out of doors. She became used to him watching her occasionally from a distance and sometimes he would stroll over to make a suggestion. Once, on a vividly hot morning, it was a lazy 'You'd better get yourself a hat if you intend doing much of this.' Another time he showed her how to make the blossoms more compact in her basket.
She never saw Barry until lunch time, but she didn't think he slept all the time in his room, because once or twice she had heard him talking on the phone when she passed. She could always be sure, though, when he did emerge, that
they would spend their time together' with his friends, and she began to wonder if there were any other places in the world besides the beach at Juan and the cellar club.
And then one evening about two weeks after her arrival at the Villa Valrose, the routine changed.
It was Saturday night and Tessa had spent a lot of time bathing and dressing for the evening. She and Barry were going straight out without waiting dinner, and she wanted to look her best in case she could pluck up enough courage to suggest to him that perhaps they might go off on their own for once.
The effects of her efforts were reasonably pleasing. Her hair, newly shampooed, was springy and shining, and her skin, turning a deep gold in the Mediterranean sunshine, seemed to be enhanced by the dress she had chosen. One, slightly more ambitious than the others, that she had made herself, was of Paisley-patterned silk in soft grey. Sleeveless, with the halter neckline high at the throat and dipping low at the back, it was quite eveningish really, she thought, and she hoped that Barry would like it. Not possessing a stole or anything remotely like one, she put on a white summer coat that had kept rather well, and liked the effect. A last look at her lightly made up features to see that the touch of pale coral lipstick hadn't smudged, a critical gaze over her nyloned legs and slim-heeled shoes, and she felt ready to show herself off to Barry.
He was waiting for her as impatient as ever out in the car. The engine was throbbing in readiness for being opened up on the roads to Cannes, and she noticed thankfully that the top was up tonight. Perhaps Barry didn't want a hair blown out of place either. He certainly looked out of this world in powder blue suit, and deep cream shirt and tie. Though her eyes roamed over him appreciatively, he hardly glanced at her as she stepped in. She gathered, smiling, that she would have to wait for his approval of her until they got to the other end.
He usually sang off key, or whistled when he was driving, but tonight he was silent; though the same old eager light was there in the blue eyes fixed on the road. The first sign that Tessa had that things were going to be different was when the car turned away from its usual route through the old town and cruised instead along the gaily lit promenade, the fabulous Croisette with its white wedding cake hotels, expensive shops and crowded bars and cafes.
She viewed her new surroundings with shining eyes. It looked as though she wasn't going to have to say anything after all about them spending an evening on their own.
They moved slower past the palms and the beaches, a velvet grey in the artificial light, then Barry stopped the car and climbed out. He didn't say anything, but Tessa gathered from his look that he wanted her to follow. She was there by his side in a few quick movements, waiting eagerly to see what he had in store for her. Perhaps she was a little too eager, she didn't know, but Barry stood over her, watching her for a second, then he swung away and started to pace.
Tessa was bewildered. It was some moments before she found herself trying to follow his erratic steps and then he startled her by swinging on her suddenly and saying after a quick intake of breath, 'Look, Tess, I'm sick of spending every night with the crowd.'
Tessa felt herself relaxing slowly, blissfully, 'That makes two of us,' she smiled.
'Yes, well…' He looked away again, colouring slightly, and then turned back to her to rush, 'What I'm trying to say is that I and… er… a couple of the boys… we thought we'd have a night out on our own.'
'Just the three of you, you mean?'
As Tessa's smile faded he asked quickly, 'You don't mind, do you?'
'Well, no,' she shrugged lightly, 'but I wish you'd told me before. I could have stayed at the villa.'
'That's just it.' Barry took hold of her with an intense look. 'I don't see why we should let Neil know all our affairs. I thought you could go and see a flick or something and catch the last bus back. Everything will be in darkness at the villa at that time, so nobody will know that we didn't
" come back together.'
While Tessa was pondering on this dubiously he took her arm and dragged her with him, urging enthusiastically, 'There's a cinema just over the road from here. Come on, I'll buy you a ticket.'
Hardly before she knew it she was at the cinema, the ticket in her hand, and dazedly making her way through a colourfully lit foyer to a dark doorway. She looked back to see Barry hurrying off. His grin was wider than it had been for some time. He lifted a hand and called, 'See you, Tess! Enjoy yourself,' then disappeared.
Sitting alone in the darkness it took her a full ten minutes to grasp the fact that he had gone off without her and as long again to get over her disappointment; then it occurred to her through her tumbling thoughts that she couldn't understand a word of what was going on on the screen. Barry had been in such a hurry to get her off his hands that he had forgotten to find her a film with English dialogue.
She tried to derive some entertainment from just watching the action, but it was meaningless without dialogue she couldn't understand. After half an hour wrestling with her conscience about wasting a highly expensive seat she slipped on her coat and crept out. It was true she didn't feel all that sure of herself exploring the town on her own, but it was, she decided, a better idea than watching something she didn't understand on the screen.
A few minutes later she was having second thoughts.
An unescorted girl on a Saturday night in Cannes was apparently unheard-of. As she strolled in with the crowds gazing wide-eyed at the blazing shops and night life, flamboyantly dressed young men kept coming alongside her to talk in low laughing French and smile over her as though she were a long-lost friend. She tried to discourage them as pleasantly as she could, since what they said was lost on her anyway, but some were mischievously persistent and would walk a whole block with her before darting off to some new interest.
It was while she was having a smiling battle with two of these new-found companions, who were waiting to see if she would cross the road at the corner of a narrow boulevard or carry straight on, that the blurred shape of an amber- coloured car caught her eye. It was level with her almost before she knew it and Neil Stanton was at the wheel.
Neil Stanton ! The sudden realisation that it really was him brought her out in a blush of panic. Barry hadn't wanted him to know that they had split up for the evening, and now he had found her here on her own.
Immense in white dinner jacket and dark trousers, he leaned over to ask mildly, 'Where's Barry?'
'He… went to get some cigarettes,' Tessa lied, and then looking about her and trying to sound convincing, 'I think I must have lost him.'
The big figure nodded and opened the door for her. 'Get in. We'll cruise around and take a look,' he said deeply.
Her two companions lost to the night now, Tessa stepped meekly into the car and sat back as he pulled the door closed across her. He drove slowly up and down the boulevard and around the block and then gazing at the thronging pedestrians he remarked drily, 'We'll never find him in this lot. Where did he park the carp'
'Er… I don't know.' Tessa swung round to look at Barry's guardian wildly and then seeing the green gaze on her turn thoughtful she stammered, 'I… I've forgotten.'
'That's reasonable enough,' he drawled, watching her closely now. He drove on for a few more seconds and then swung the car abruptly up a quiet side street and brought it to a stop. When the engine had finally died he draped back to ask in the same dry tones, 'I suppose Barry did go for cigarettes?'
'No.' Tessa looked down at her hands clasped in her lap, glad to be rid of the lie. 'He's gone off with some friends of his. We parted company as soon as we arrived.'
She looked up now that she had confessed and turned to the man at the wheel. He was still watching her lazily. There was something like mild satisfaction playing around the tight smile as he mused aloud, 'Preferred a night out with the boys, did he?'
'He bought me a ticket to the cinema,' she said in a small voice, 'but I couldn't understand the French, so I came out.'
Neil Stanton nodded and after a while
went back to lean over the wheel. As he started the engine Tessa said, turning to the door, 'Well, I'd better let you get on your way.'
'You can't go wandering around on your own,' he said curtly, 'and I don't intend driving back to the villa for some time. You'll have to come with me.'
'Oh, but I couldn't do that! I don't want to be a nuisance,' Tessa gulped. The mere thought of accompanying the big impeccably dressed figure anywhere left her particularly weak. 'Really,' she insisted, 'I can manage perfectly well on my own.'
'You didn't seem to be making too good a job of it when I saw you just now.' He looked at her.
She thought for a moment and smiled, 'Oh, that!' knowing he meant her light-hearted followers. 'That doesn't bother me.'
'Well, it should,' he clipped, turning back to the wheel. 'You're not a five-year-old.'
As he took the car forward in one swift movement Tessa was thrown back a little roughly in her seat.
From the noise and colour of the small area that she had managed to cover on foot, the car cruised on, passed the harbour with its luxury yachts and sleek parked cars, and on to roads lined with art galleries and tall modish flats. Realising that there was absolutely no chance now of her being able to sneak off on her own, Tessa asked shyly, 'Where are we going?'
Neil Stanton, relaxed at the wheel now, slanted her a faintly ironic smile to drawl, 'Well, seeing that you're my guest for the evening, we'd better make it somewhere where you'll feel at home.'
She didn't know what he meant by that, and later when he pulled into the grounds of an opulent floodlit building, with beautifully carved statues set in the wall and huge heavy polished wood doors, things were no clearer to her.
From the lines of parked cars she was led inside to a scarlet and gold foyer where an attendant was waiting to take her coat. When it had been checked in, the man beside her led her forward over velvet-soft carpets and through more huge doors. And then she knew where she was, and what that obscure remark in the car had been all about.
Roumelia Lane - The Scented Hills Page 6
