Gentle Tyrant

by Lucy Gillen

  CHAPTER FOUR

  IT was a dull, threatening sort of day and Laurie was beginning to wonder if she was wise to have come quite so far when those dark grey, heavy-looking clouds sat so gloweringly on the hills. But the threat of thunder made her feel restless, and as it was Saturday and she was free all day, she had decided to go for a ride and try to rid herself of the feelling. ;' Brownie seemed to sense the atmosphere of threat in [the air too, and her ears were pricked for the first distant rumblings of thunder, her sensitive nose quivering as she picked her way daintily across the soft springy rturf towards the loch, her hooves clicking flintily on the half-hidden stones. The water in the loch itself too, had a more leaden grey look, and appeared deeper and somehow more ominous. ; Chiding herself for being fanciful, Laurie urged the mare on to a faster pace, anxious to create a more cooling breeze, and Brownie responded willingly enough. They galloped on as far as the loch and there Laurie dismounted to give her mount a moment to rest, trailing the reins and walking along the edge of the water. She began idly tossing pebbles on to the still surface, shattering the placid mirror of it into a thousand I, 67 ripples, her mind straying in a dozen different directions at once. Ever since the other morning when she had caught that brief glimpse of Rose McAdam, she had found the question of Russ's wife intriguing. She had seen nothing of her since and did not even know if she was still at Clach Aros or not, although she knew Colin, her son, was because she had seen him and spoken to him. Rod apparently disliked his sister-in-law intensely and avoided her whenever he could, although he got on well with his nephew and indeed had introduced him to Laurie. The boy was about twelve years old and very much Like his father and his two uncles, but much more shy and introverted than any of them, probably due to his mother's nature. What Quin's feelings were in the matter, she hqd no idea and would not dare to venture a guess, for Quin was quite the most unpredictable of the three brothers. He had aaid nothing about his ex-sister-inlaw to Laurie, and her grandfather had been anroyingly non-committal when she asked him if he had heard anything. So deep in her thoughts was she that she was aware of nothing until Brownie whinnied softly and drew her attention, then she brorght herself h"snly back to earth and turned her head curiously. There was another rider coming in their direction, someone riding Red's beautiful black Arab, but it wasn't Rod, she knew, because he was aw?y for the whole day. Also, she could see now, the rider was unmistakably a woman, and it took no great effort on her p"rt to identify her as Rose McAdam. There was a haughty 68 lilt to her head, with its light brown hair cut short and {a blue scarf tied round it. She wore conventional riding Igarb of breeches and boots with a rather masculinellooking cream shirt, although there was nothing un-Ifeminine about her. She was tall and well proportioned .and the word that came instantly into Laurie's mind I was formidable. When she got to the spot where Laurie had left Brownie she reined in the Arab and looked across at Laurie, silent for a few seconds while her shrewd blue eyes studied her and made up her mind about her. ; Then she walked the Arab across the few intervening yards and reined him in again, looking down at Laurie with no hint of a smile. 'Good morning.' Laurie was determined to make an attempt at friendliness, no matter if she had very little ' encouragement. The greeting was not returned, nor did she smile, but looked down her nose at her with those shrewd, : hard eyes. 'You're the secretary, aren't you?' she asked, her opinion of the lower orders plain in her voice. Laurie was very tempted to make some acid retort', but she did not really want to start off on the wrong foot with the woman, even if Quin had done his best to ensure just that. 'I work for Mr. Russ McAdam,' I she told her quietly, admiring her own restraint. 'I'm Mrs. McAdam,' she was informed, with the l.obvious expectation that she would be impressed. Laurie was uncertain whether or not to admit to knowing her identity, but she thought it was probably better if she did not. 'I'm Laurie Blair,' she said quietly jmstead. 'How do you do, Mrs. McAdam?' I 69 Again there was no response to the friendly overtures, but ths hard eyes glanced at B'-wnie, wiling . pdiently. 'Is that your own anrasi?' she asked, and Laurie nodded, then hastily amended it. 'No, not now,' she admitted. 'She belongs to to the McAdams.' She was unsure which of the brothers sho'.-ld be attributed with ownership. 'I see. Do they k"ow you've taken it?' Laurie flushed. T yes, of course they do! At least they know I do take her out. They allow me to ride whenever I like.' Elegant brows expressed surprise at such democracy. 'Really?' A faint sneer curled the long upper lip and she swept her with a hostile look that made Laurie's blood rise angrily. 'They would,' she said. 'They understand, and they've been very kind to me,' Laurie told her, realising with a start that for the first time she was really appreciating the fact. 'No doubt that's why you take advantage of it,' Rose McAdam snapped. 'Take advantage of it?' 'I was referring to your behaviour the other morning, with Mr. Quinton McAdam.' Laurie's never very docile nature was rebelling more every minute, and she wished she could find some really crushing reply for this determinedly unfriendly woman. Her deep blue eyes glowed with anger and it showed too in her pink cheeks as she looked up at her. It was a definite disadvantage being on foot, she realised, since- it automatically gave the other woman a psychological advantage. 'It was more Quin's behaviour than mine, Mrs. 70 McAdam,' she told her, deliberately using the abbreviation of his name. 'I was as much surprised as you were.' 'Indeed?' 'Yes, indeed,' Laurie retorted. 'I can hardly be held responsible if Quin suddenly takes it into his head to kiss me.' She realised as she said it that she actually enjoyed making the jibe, and she saw Rose McAdam's gauntly good-looking face flush angrily. 'That's a lie!' she declared vehemently. 'It's the truth,' Laurie argued, heaping on the coals. 'He simply grabbed me and kissed me without warning.' 'I don't believe you,' Rose McAdam said, her eyes biasing, and hard as stone. 'Quin wouldn't have kissed you without some encouragement.' 'Well, he did,' Laurie insisted, unconsciously provocative as she stuck her chin in the air, and dared the other woman to argue further. Rose McAdam took a deep breath and for a second Laurie wondered what she would do. It was obvious that Quin, and anything to do with him, was an explosive subject as far as she was concerned, and she looked in danger of losing control of her temper. After a few mo-nents, however, she seemed to realise what was happening and she regained control of her emotions. A smsil, tight smile showed at the comers of her mouth and she looked down her nose again at Laurie, quite plainly aware that she was much more impressive up there on horseback than Laurie could hope to be on foot. 'I'd advise you to be very careful,' she said, in a 71 voice dangerously soft. 'You're getting out of your depth. I believe Rod finds you attractive at the moment, doesn't he?' Laurie nodded vaguely, uncertain where this was leading. 'I believe so,' she agreed, 'but I don't see ' Rose McAdam narrowed her eyes. 'Then be satisfied with thaty Miss Blair,' she told her, 'and stay out of Quin's way, or you may find you've bitten off very much more than you can chew.' 'You have no right to speak to me like that,' Laurie protested angrily. 'No right at all!' 'I have every right,' Rose McAdam insisted. 'And every reason too, since your protestations speak for themselves.' 'You have no reason either,' Laurie denied. 'I see Quin in the course of my work, as I do Russ no more.' 'No more!' her antagonist sneered. 'When I catch him kissing you?' 'You didn't catch us,' Laurie retorted swiftly. 'You were already there in the doorway when Quin kissed me, and it didn't seem to worry him that you were!' The gaunt, fine-boned face flushed again, and there was an almost fanatical light in her eyes as she held on to the reins so tightly that her knuckles showed white. Any moment now, Laurie thought wildly, she's going to lash out at me, and she felt a moment of chilling panic in the pit of her stomach at the thought of it. 'You slut!' The words were spat at her venomously and Laurie was left speechless by the malice aimed at her, as she stood there wondering if she could just 72 walk away and take Brownie, without having to hear any more insults. Before she could act, however. Rose McAdam was speaking again, that thin, malicious smile in evidence. 'I think it's time someone put you firmly in your place, Miss Secretary,' she said. 'That mare you'
re riding belongs to my husband, you said.' Laurie stared at her, unable to believe that such a thing could happen to her twice within a couple of weeks. 'I'll take her back with me,' her tormentor went on, confirming her suspicions. 'You can walk.' 'No!' Laurie objected, made more angry by the knowledge that since she no longer owned Brownie she had little ground for argument, but the rain was coming nearer every minute and it was unLikely that there would be any second thoughts or qualms of conscience this time as there had been when Quin had put her afoot a couple of weeks ago. Rose McAdam looked across at the gathering clouds, the first thunder already rumbling ominously down into the valley, as if she followed her thoughts. 'It's going to rain before very long,' she said with malicious satisfaction. 'Then you can't leave me here with no means of getting home,' Laurie protested, in vain she knew. 'I most certainly can,' she was informed. 'You have a pair of feet, you can walk back, and if you get caught in the rain well, perhaps a good soaking will bring you down to your right size.' , 'But you can't!' Laurie insisted, and started hastily [across towards Brownie with the intention of mounting before the other woman could do anything about it. It was unLikely, she thought, that she would be prepared 73 to go to the extent of dragging her bodily fromi Brownie's back, once she was there. But a swift pres-; sure of heels sent the Arab across the same distance in a fraction of the time and Rose McAdam had the reins in her hand before she could get there. Laurie watched helplessly when she rode off with both horses, calling back over her shoulder as she went. 'Maybe this will make more impression on you than just warning you to stay where you belong,' she called. 'Walk back, and I hope you get soaked to the skin!' Laurie had gone no more than half a mile when the storm broke in earnest and in no time at all she was facing the worst downpour she ever remembered. The thunder rolied and cracked overhead, and the rain came down so hard that she could see almost nothing in front of her. There was no shelter of any sort on the open moor where she was caught and the soft turf grew increasingly waterlogged, making it even harder going as her booted feet squelched and sank in the soft ground. It was only after she was thoroughly wet through that she reached less open ground and the sanctuary of some trees, although it was far from ideal shelter in the circumstances with lightning crackling ominously above the tall firs. Rose McAdam's wish that she should be soaked to the skin had certainly been granted, she thought ruefully, and shivered as she tried to pull the colar of her dripping wet shirt closer round her neck. The shirt clung to her Like a second skin, and her trousers too 74 were so wet through that they looked several shades darker than their original cream colour. Her hair clung wetly to her head and dripped down her back as she tossed it back impatiently from her face. It was debatable which emotion was most responsible for her feeling so horribly tearful anger or the sheer misery of feeling so wet and uncomfortable. Crouched there in the shelter of the tall trees, she hugged herself tightly and wished that both Rose McAdam and her brother-in-law were feeling half as uncomfortable, vowing vengeance on them both at the earliest opportunity. It was almost startlingly unexpected, therefore, when only a few minutes later she recognised the rider that came galloping through the downpour on Quin's familiar grey. He was headed for the loch and she realised a moment later, when she could see better, that he was also leading Brownie. : 'Quin!' She stepped out of the shelter of the trees and called ; to him, wondering, if her cry had been heard above the ; sound and fury of the storm until she saw him turn his E head, and breathed a sigh of relief. Both the grey and I Brownie were urged across to where she stood just at : the edge of the trees. Quin looked almost as wet as she did herself. His fair hair looked much darker than usual and it clung tightly to his head as her own did, making a shower of glisten ing drops when he tossed it back impatiently from his .forehead. He was wearing a short waterproof jacket and looked -even bigger than usual in its bulk, his tanned face I 75 streaming with water and looking somehow primitive in its darkness. Both the horses were dripping wet and breathed steamily, as if they had come the whole way from Clach Aros at a full gallop, as they probably had. He slid from the saddle as he reached her and held both animals with one hand, while the other reached out to take one of hers, holding it so tightly that her fingers were crushed and the wan-nth of him tingled through her. Then he drew her back further under the trees, out of the worst of the rain, looking down at hersteadily for a moment before he spoke. 'Are you all right?' he asked then, and she nodded. 'Yes yes, thank you.' Her teeth were chattering and she felt she had been put into a bath of cold water, but it was amazing how much better she felt now that she had someone else with her. He reached under his own bulky waterproof jacket and pulled out another one, smiling as he opened it out. 'I grabbed this from the stable on my way out,' he told her as he held it for her to put on. 'It isn't likely to fit you, but at least it's warmer than nothing.' Laurie shrugged into it thankfully, uncaring that the sleeves came almost down to her elbows, or that it smelled rather of horses and liniment. It felt wonderfully warm and dry, even on top of the wet shirt. 'Ooh, that's lovely,' she told him gratefully. 'Thank you.' He put a hand on her wet head and frowned. 'You're soaked,' he said. 'You'll be lucky if you don't get pneumonia.' He hugged her up close to his side, his arm 76 I almost completely encircling her. 'We'll both be lucky if we don't get pneumonia,' he added. 'Maybe that was the idea, at least as far as I'm con: cerned; Laurie said shortly, and he cocked a brow at her. 'What's that supposed to imply?' he demanded, and she wondered just how much criticism he would hear -against Rose McAdam. 'It implies that I was deliberately left to walk back in this storm,' she told him. 'You think so, do you?' he asked, and Laurie nodded firmly. 'I know so.' She felt horribly tearful again, and realised now that it was self-pity that made her feel like crying, although she was still furiously angry when she thought of the way Rose McAdam had deliberately left her without a horse when she knew quite well what would happen to her. After a brief frown Quin grinned at her, and there was something oddly reassuring about that grin, although it angered her. 'So you caught the rough edge j of Rose's temper, did you?'-he asked. 'She's quite for midable, isn't she?' That was exactly the word Laurie had thought of, but she glared at him reproachfully. Her lashes were thick and wet from her soaking and they fringed her . darkly blue eyes that glistened with anger for his tak ing it so lightly. With her hair limp and hanging round I her face in curly tails, she had a childishly appealing I look that even her anger did not dispel, and there was a strange kind of wild beauty about her. 1. 77 'I don't think it's funny,' she told him reprovingly. 'I was meant to get soaked through like this. Mrs. Mc-Adam said she hoped I would before she went off with Brownie. It was supposed to cut me down to size, so she said.' 'Oh, I see.' 'I've no doubt you do,' Laurie retorted. 'It was your fault in the first place.' 'My fault?' He looked at her unbelievingly. 'How my fault?' 'Oh, you know it was,' Laurie told him crossly. 'You waited until you saw Mrs. McAdam standing in the doorway the other morning, then you you kissed me.' The ice-grey eyes glowed wickedly at her, then he smiled again, slowly. 'You think so, do you?' 'Oh, stop saying that!' Laurie said, seeing any hope of getting the upper hand rapidly slipping away. It seemed quite idiotic to be standing here under the trees with his arm round her, quarrelling with him but at the same time very glad of the warm nearness of him to keep the shivering chills at bay. 'I want to go home,' she said plaintively. 'I'm soaked through to the skin and wretchedly miserable.' 'Oh, you're that all right,' he told her, looking down at her with a grin. 'Well, so would you be,' she complained, 'if you were in my state!' 'I am in your state, you little misery,' he told her. 'Now for heaven's sake stop complaining and be grateful for small mercies. You haven't even said a nice thank-you yet, you ungrateful little wretch. I shall be wishing I'd left you to your own devices soon.' 78 'It might have been better if you had in the circumstances,' Laurie told him mournfully. 'Your coming for me won't endear me any more to your your ' 'Ex-sister-in-law?' he suggested softly. Laurie stuck out hei chin, her eyes suggesting other possibilities. 'Whatever she i
s,' she said, and he still smiled, although there was a warning glint in his gaze. 'My ex-sister-in-law,' he insisted. 'No matter what other tale Rod may have dreamed up and passed on to ; you. Right?' 'Right,' she agreed. 'Now can we please go?' 'I should think so,' he told her. 'But the horses needed a short breather before we started back. I pushed them a bit coming out here.' She pulled the collar of the jacket up round her ears and hunched her shoulders into it, shivering again. 'Of course,' she said. 'Give them a few minutes longer. I'm all right.' 'You're sure?' She nodded and his arm pulled her even closer, so that she felt a little less cold. They neither of them said anything for several seconds, then Quin caught her eye and smiled, and she hastily lowered her own gaze because something oddly disturbing was happening to her pulse and she felt suddently rather excited and lightheaded". 'We'd better get you home,' he told her then. 'I don't want you laid low with pneumonia, espedally when it's my fault in the first place.' Laurie had quite forgotten her earlier accusation and she looked at him curiously. 'Your fault?' He grinned. 'So you said don't you remember? 79 You said all this happened because I kissed you when Rose was watching.' She remembered then and looked at him reproachfully. 'You don't have to be sarcastic about it,' she told him. 'That was why you did it Rod said so.' He flicked one brow up into the wet thatch over his forehead. 'Oh, I see,' he said. 'And Rod's word is gospel, is it?' 'Not necessarily,' she denied. 'I'd already come to the same condusion myself; 'You had?' He laughed softly, his arm tightening momentarily round her shoulders. 'Now if you'd asked me, I'd have said that you were too tizzied at the time to decide anything.' 'Well, I wasn't,': Laurie denied hotly. Tt was all too obvious that you just kissed me because you wanted your sister-in-law to see it.' He said nothing for a moment, then he released his hold on the horses and turned to face her, one hand sliding round her, under that loose jacket, pulling her to him, with a small, tight smile on his face and his eyes glittering wickedly. 'Rose isn't watching now,' he said softly, and sought her mouth with his own, forcing her head back against the fingers of his other hand, his hold tightening until she felt she could not breathe. 'Quin!' She gazed at him for a moment breathlessly, her eyes wide and uncertain, then she pushed at him with both hands. 'Oh, you !' He was laughing, and she felt Like nothing so much as hitting him, mostly, she admitted, because she felt small and vulnerable, and she had been affected by his action much more than he had apparently. I will take 80 that as payment in kind for fetching you,' he told her. 'Since you haven't said thank you yet.' 'Quin ' He laughed again, softly, as if at some private joke and turned back to the horses, bringing Brownie round in front of the Arab. Then he put his hands round Laurie's waist again and lifted her off the ground in to the saddle. 'Up you go,' he said, not waiting to hear what she had to say. 'Then it's bed and a hot drink for you, my child, before you develop something diabollical.' She took the reins from him and glared, sitting stiff and upright and resenting that 'my child' bitterly. The rain had eased as they rode out from under the trees, although it was still coming down quite heavily and the ; horses flattened their ears against it. ; Laurie refused even to look at him as they moved off, the chill of her wet clothes even more uncomfortable without the warmth of Quin's arm round her to coun-I teract the coldness. 'Put your heels to her,', he in-I structed, slapping Brownie sharply with his hand. 'The I sooner you're home and dry the better.' F 'I couldn't agree more,' Laurie said shortly, and sent the mare into a gallop, bending low against the beating rain that was still bad enough to make visibility very -poor. I It was an ignominious ending to her ride, being res-Icued by Quin. Coming home soaking wet and humiliated by Rose McAdam's malicious jealousy, when he had been the cause of it in the first place. If he had . taken it the least bit seriously it would not have been [. so bad, but his obvious amusement at the idea of there . 81 being any reason for. Rose McAdam to be jealous of her made her feel very small indeed. Heaven knew what' her grandfather would make of the incident, especially when he knew its cause. 82