by Kay Thorpe
At seven-thirty the local group arrived, and began lending colour to the occasion right away with an enthusiastic rendering of one of the foot-tapping Greek dance tunes down in the courtyard. Nicky looked dispassionately at her reflection in the mirror before leaving her room, thought about changing her mind and settling for Alice in Wonderland after all, then shrugged and left things as they were. The idea mightn't be original, but it suited her mood.
Lee was the first person she saw when she went downstairs. He was standing by the desk writing something on the scribbling pad kept there for all to use, and didn't even notice her until she gave a discreet little cough. For a long moment he gazed at the silky trousers caught in at the ankle above embroidered slippers, at the brief top which left her midriff bare while covering her arms to the wrists, and at the filmy veil floating from its jewelled headband, then he started to laugh.
'You a slave girl ! That's rich !'
`I'm making a real effort tonight,' she said, and jangled her dozen or so bracelets at him. cut it out of a pair of lounging pyjamas. Don't you like it?'
'Like it?' He studied her again, his mouth still smiling, though not in quite the same way. 'Oh yes, I like it all right. Show me a man who wouldn't. Shouldn't you have a yashmak?'
I have.' She put it on. 'Better?'
`Intriguing. Only mind who you flutter your eyelashes at or you might take some would-be Sultan's fancy too far. You're about the first down. Do you fancy a drink before things start happening?'
`I wouldn't mind.' Nicky wandered across to the doors and looked out to where the musicians were still strumining away under the tree which shaded her room. The sky was brilliant overhead, but towards the south-east the stars were blotted out and an eerie green light kept playing across the heavens. Faintly there came the sound of thunder in the air. 'It looks as though there's a storm going on in the mountains,' she observed. 'Do you think it will come this way?'
`It's always possible.' Lee had moved to her side, his arm brushing hers comfortably. 'If it does it will be a big one. Are you afraid of storms?'
`No, I rather like them. There's something magnificent about thunder and lightning, and it's always fresher after rain. At home I used to like walking in it.' Her voice was reminiscent. 'I'd put on Dad's oilskin coat and a pair of gumboots and go tramping all over the place just for the fun of it. I must have looked a sight.'
`A fetching one, I'll bet.' He said it lightly. 'Would you consider yourself too old to do that sort of thing nowadays?'
`Not necessarily.' She made a small impatient movement. 'Where on earth is everybody.'
`They'll be here. There's nowhere else for them to go.' Lee turned back into the vestibule. 'Come and have that drink before they do start coming down.'
By eight most people had managed to put in an appearance, to the accompaniment of squeals and
laughter and ribald comment, depending on the nature of their costume. There was the usual quota of Arab sheiks, Indians and pirates among the men, with most of the real ingenuity originating from the women in the party. Without a doubt, however, the hit of the evening was the small boy dressed just like the urchin on the front of the gravy powder packet, with bunches of orange wool pushed under his huge nebbed cap, who kept pausing every now and then in his passage about the room to sniff ecstatically and say `Ah, Bisto !' in tones which brought the house down.
With small variations, the evening followed much the same pattern as before, Stamatis taking it upon himself once again to lead the company in the simpler of the Greek dances. Watching him bound about the mom like a man only half his age, Nicky wondered where he could possibly find so much energy after a long hard day on his feet. It was almost as if he stored it up especially for these occasions, and then let it all go in one grand slam which would keep him happy for days on the memory.
She was dancing with Lee when she saw the small commotion over by the vestibule doors.
'Something is happening over there,' she said. 'Do you think we might have some gatecrashers?'
'More likely to be the boss arriving,' he came back easily, and she looked at him sharply.
'Did he say he would be coming?'
`He said he might look in.' Lee stopped, took her hand and drew her to one side. His face was quite serious for once. `Nicky, I can appreciate that you don't like him, but do you think you could put up with him just for this one evening? He does have
a right to be here.'
She could not deny that much, thought Nicky wryly. `Don't worry,' she said, 'I'll behave. Shall I come with you now and help lay out the red carpet?'
`It wouldn't be a bad thing to do.' Still holding her hand, he threaded a way through the people between them and the door, releasing her as the other man came through it. 'Glad you could make it, Nikos. Is there anything I can get you?'
`Perhaps a cognac. I doubt that I shall be here for long.' The dark eyes went beyond him to Nicky, swept her briefly from head to foot and took on a definite gleam of derision. 'I came only to satisfy a curiosity, as some might say. Kalispera, Miss Brent.'
Walispera,' she returned evenly. 'Would you like to sit down, kyrie? There are plenty of spare chairs.'
`Not at the moment.' He looked towards the people gyrating slowly about the floor, and back to her face. `Perhaps you will do me the honour of dancing with me?'
`Now?' She blinked at him. 'But.. .'
`You think me incapable of following the English style of dancing?' with a pointed glance at a couple just going past. 'It does not look very difficult. Come . . and he took a firm grip on her elbow... 'we will try.'
Somehow Nicky found herself out on the floor and held close in his arms. If he were copying the young couple he had indicated he was doing it almost to the letter, she thought quaveringly, feeling the warmth of his hands at her back, his breath ruffling her hair. What was he trying to prove? That no woman could hope to remain immune to him at this distance?
`Mightn't your cousin have enjoyed coming with
you tonight?' she asked, and saw him smile.
'Marguerite is a dutiful child. She stays to keep my mother company. You would have done the same?'
'It would depend on whether there was any other choice offered.' Over his shoulder she saw Lee emerge from the bar with a tray, added swiftly, 'Your cognac is here.'
'But the dance has only just begun,' was the smooth reply. 'Why are you so reluctant to be in my arms?'
'I'm not. I mean . . She broke off, annoyed with herself for flushing beneath his gaze. 'You said you didn't have long,' she finished lamely.
'Long enough for you to say all that you have been gathering inside yourself this last week.' His eyes held hers. 'You have missed Dino?'
She stiffened.. 'Isn't that what you intended?'
'No. Only for you to forget him.' There was a slight pause. `He has gone to Athens to make his acquaintance with the other half of the family. It will be another week before his return.'
I shall still be here,' she pointed out, thinking that if plain speaking was what he wanted it was what he was going to get. 'What are you going to do then — lock him. in his room?'
'It will not be necessary for me to do anything,' he returned with perfect equanimity. We have come to an understanding, Dino and I, after all these years.'
'I'm very glad to hear it.' Nicky restrained her curiosity with an effort. 'Now you'll be happy, kyrie.'
'You were to call me Nikos,' he said. 'When you say kyrie it is with your teeth closed.' His voice was taunting, as it had been that afternoon in the olive grove. 'If you would stop resenting the differences between us we
might yet be friends. Would that not be pleasanter than this constant battling?'
Friends with Nikos ! Nicky closed her eyes against the invading images. She didn't want his friendship, she told herself fiercely. She didn't want anything but to be left alone.
`I don't think it matters all that much how I feel about things,' she said, 'providing you get your own way. You
just don't like to see independence in any female.'
Swift impatience clouded his expression, and his fingers dug suddenly into the bare skin at her waist. 'No matter which way I approach you, always you insist upon this attitude,' he clipped. 'Is it beyond you to bend just a little from your ideals?'
`Why should I?' she demanded. 'You don't bend from yours.'
`You think not?' His voice was quiet but compelling. `As you have not at any time made the attempt to understand me, you cannot possibly say that with certainty.'
`And I suppose you have made the attempt to understand me!' she came back heedlessly. 'You think you know what's best for everyone. Well, you may have stopped Dino from coming here, but you can't keep me away from Lee !'
The music stopped. Tautly, Nikos took her arm and steered her back across the room to where Lee waited with the drinks, saw her seated with unfailing if unsmiling courtesy, and waved aside the cognac.
`I have already stayed longer than I intended,' he said brusquely. `You will forgive me if I take my leave now. No . ..' as Lee made a move to accompany him
'stay where you are. I will see myself out.' His eyes rested glitteringly on Nicky's averted face. 'Miss Brent would not appreciate being left alone.'
He was gone, leaving Nicky to meet Lee's questioning gaze and wish desperately that she could teach herself to think before she spoke.
'Well?' he asked after a long moment. 'What was all that about?'
'Nothing,' she said. 'At least, nothing unusual.' She had no intention of telling him what had really been said. It's no use, Lee, he rubs me up the wrong way every time. Don't waste that cognac. I'll have it.'
'You,' he retorted, 'don't deserve it. I have it myself.' He drained the glass in one swallow, put it down and held out his hand. 'Come on, let's dance before I wring your neck.'
Out on the floor she said tentatively, don't want to fight with you. Can't we agree to differ where Nikos is concerned?'
He looked down at her with raised brows. 'Since when has it been Nikos?'
'It hasn't,' she said hastily. 'But Kyrios Alexandros is such a mouthful. Can we talk about something else?' 'Such as?'
`Oh, anything. Stop being difficult.' She smiled at him with forced cheerfulness. 'Tell me about hotel management. How much coffee does the average guest consume in a year?'
Lee started to laugh. `It's a waste of time getting mad with you. It just rolls off. Are you ever serious about anything?'
'Sometimes. I've been known to attack a chocolate sundae in deadly earnest.' She gave a muffled yelp as
.
he nipped her fingers. 'Brute ! That hurt ! I'll bet you didn't treat your French girl that way.'
`My French girl,' he said, 'didn't ask for it like you do. Come on out on the terrace and I'll show you how I treated her.'
`Not before next week,' she returned lightly, and he gave her a considering look.
`I was forgetting. Oh well, maybe six is my lucky number. You did say the sixth?'
`Yes.' She caught Margery Tolman's eye over his shoulder, and flicked her a smile. 'Don't look now, but we're being watched.'
`There's a lot of it about.' He met her glance, and smiled dryly. 'Frustration, sweetheart. Me and him both.'
The sudden clap of thunder almost directly overhead drowned out her reply. The storm had been coming steadily closer for the last hour or so, without anyone paying a great deal of attention to it. Now it was impossible not to take notice.
The rain came, sweeping down from the mountains in a solid sheet of water which had everyone abandoning the dancing in order to crowd to the windows and exclaim in wonder at the sheer force and volume. More thunder rolled, and lightning flashed overhead.
`Hope somebody had the foresight to build an ark,' remarked one wit after fifteen minutes of unremitting downpour. 'Much more of this and the whole place will be floating.'
`In which case we'll punt you all round to the airport in the morning and save a lot of trouble,' said Lee, coming up in time to hear the last. `Nicky, you're needed.'
One look at his expression, and she wasted no time in questions. Out in the vestibule the mother of the Bisto boy stood looking distraught.
'He was there when I went up to check on -him before the storm started,' she was saying to the small crowd of sympathetic people about her. 'He only has his pyjamas on. If he's gone outside in this . .
'I've got several people, including the father, searching the building now,' said Lee in an undertone. 'Although there aren't that many places where he could be. Can you talk with the mother and find out where they usually go in the daytime while I have a look round my place.'
It was difficult getting the woman to make any real sense in her condition, but eventually Nicky managed to ascertain that the family had been accustomed to bathing each morning from a point about half a mile along the bay where the sea was shallower. By this time the child's father and other searchers had returned to report nil results.
Lee's decision was swift. 'We'll split up,' he said. 'One party take the village, the other the bay. He can't have gone the other way; it's too steep.' He gave an order in Greek, smiled reassuringly at the worried parents and added in English, 'Don't worry too much. The rain won't do him any real harm, fierce as it looks. And if he's gone knocking on any doors they'll have taken him in '
One of the staff men came back with an assorted collection of rainwear, and proceeded to allocate them to those who were going out to continue the search. Lee loaned his own to the boy's father, and struggled into one of the patched ones, glanced round at the group
and nodded. 'Right, let's get started. Myself, Georgio and Stamatis will take the beach, the rest of you go with Yannis and work through the village. You'll not need to say anything If he's there, they'll know what you're after.'
Nicky stood with the other woman watching the men vanish into the curtain of rain and wishing she was with them. All these people were her responsibility; she wanted to be doing something constructive. And waiting, she admitted, was always the worst part.
`They'll find him,' she said. 'He can't have gone far before this started, and even a five-year-old would have the sense to make for some kind of shelter.'
`There are a couple of cottages near to where we bathe,' recalled the other hopefully. 'Perhaps he'll have gone there. The people have been very friendly.'
`Even if he hasn't, he can only get a drenching.' Nicky spoke with more conviction than she was feeling with the thought of the sea uppermost in her mind. `Look, it's beginning to ease off a bit,' she added. 'It might stop altogether soon and . . .' She paused, her eyes on the far side of the courtyard, straining to make out the small dark shape lying there. It was far too small for a child, yet . . . 'Wait here a minute,' she said, and darted out heedlessly into the wet, to reach and pick up the saturated teddy bear. It was right on the far edge of the concrete. Beyond the sand stretched out into the streaming darkness, fiat for several hundred yards before it gave way to rock and the steep winding path which led out on to the cliff top. Nicky herself had not been beyond the beach at that point, and doubted that a child would have attempted to tackle the path on its own, but the presence of the
teddy bear at this side of the courtyard and not the other appeared to indicate that he had certainly started out this way.
The child's mother snatched feverishly at the toy when she got back to the doorway.
'That's Russell's!' she said. `He always drops everything after the first few minutes. We'll have to fetch them back ! They're looking in the wrong direction.'
'It would take too long to catch up with them,' decided Nicky. She yanked off the veil and gave it to her companion. 'You stay here and wait for them to come back from the village. I'll probably be back myself, with Russell, before they are.'
She didn't wait to hear any comment, but dived out again and splashed across the courtyard on to the sand. Within seconds she had to stop and removed her slippers before she lost them altogether. Carrying them i
n her hand, she went on towards the cliffs, calling the child's name in between the tremendous rolls- of thunder. The lightning might have been a help, except that it was impossible to see more than a few yards ahead through the blinding torrent. Lessening the rain might be, but it was still heavy enough to beat her down and making even the simple act of running tantamount to a marathon attempt. At least it was warm, and the lack of clothing a help rather than a hindrance.
The cliff rose abruptly ' in front of her, and she stopped for a moment to look among the rocks at its foot before proceeding to climb. So far there was no sign at all of anyone having passed this way in the last few hours, but then the rain would have washed away any footprints. By the time she reached the top she was panting, and infinitely glad that she had retained her
slippers as the path was rough. Up here it was quite a bit cooler. Ignoring the growing discomfort, Nicky began following the path through the coarse grass, still calling Russell's name frequently, though with the suspicion already forming that she was wasting her time. Apart from the teddy bear, there was nothing at all to indicate that he had even set off in this direction.
A fork in the path momentarily disconcerted her. She could see no further than a few yards in either direction, and wondered if this was the moment to give up and turn back. Even as she pondered, her eye fell on the bit of material caught on one of the low shrubs. It was a ribbon, narrow and dark-coloured. A child's ribbon . . . or a teddy bear's neck bow?
Nicky hesitated no longer. The ribbon could have been there for days, but she dared not take the risk. Aware that the cliff edge must be fairly close, she moved cautiously along the right-hand path, prodding the long grass to either side as she went. When the shape loomed up out of the teeming darkness ahead of her, her heart leaped in fright, until she realized that it was only a stake with a large square board fastened to it — a notice board of some kind.
