'But you're not going to stay,' he instructed. 'You're coming home with me.'
She could hardly believe he was saying these things. 'For heaven's sake,' she burst out, 'I'm twenty-two years old! When are you going to admit I'm grown-up? Stop trying to run my life for me?'
Until now, Randolph Gregory had been pacing around the hall, as if he were too wound-up to keep still. Now, though, he turned and looked at her fully for the first time. His eyes darkened as he stared at her, and his mouth twisted into a strange line.
'What's he done to you?' he almost whispered. 'Did he force you into this?'
Cassandra stared back at him uncomprehendingly. Seeing that she didn't know what he was talking about, he suddenly seized hold of one of her arms and marched her over to the ornate mirror that hung at the far end of the hall.
'Look at yourself,' he said in a choked voice. 'My little girl. And look what he's turned you into!'
She gazed at her own reflection, and was a little astounded at the girl who looked back at her. Her pale blonde hair was tangled and tousled, her violet eyes were absolutely huge, and a hectic touch of colour flared across her normally fair skin. She didn't quite recognise herself, which was a slightly unnerving sensation.
'Tell me, Cassie,' demanded her father. 'He did force you, didn't he?'
Before she had a chance to answer him, a cool voice spoke from the foot of the stairs.
'No one could ever force Cassandra into anything. She has a mind of her own, and she's certainly quite capable of using it.'
Neither of them had heard Jared come silently down the stairs.
Randolph Gregory turned and stared at him with a blaze of pure hatred. 'You must have got a great deal of satisfaction out of this. I took your company—so you decided to retaliate by taking away my daughter!'
In contrast to the older man's furious bluster, Jared seemed perfectly relaxed. Cassandra could see the suppressed glint in his eyes, though, and knew that the coolness was no more than a facade. Underneath, Jared was only just managing to hold on to his own fierce temper.
'Why do you keep talking about Cassandra as if she were some kind of possession?' Jared asked steadily. 'She's a fully grown adult, and intelligent enough to run her own affairs.'
'And I suppose we all know the kind of "affairs" that you're referring to,' sneered her father.
'That is enough!' Cassandra said furiously, rounding on her father. 'This isn't your house, and you weren't invited here. Why don't you just go, and leave me alone?'
'With a man like him?' Her father gestured contemptuously at Jared. 'Someone who's got nothing left in the world except this tumbledown old ruin?'
'Glenveil is not a ruin!' Cassandra retorted. 'OK, so it isn't some fashionable townhouse, but I happen to like it exactly the way it is.'
She caught Jared's eye at that moment, and flushed brightly as she remembered all the disparaging remarks she had made about Glenveil, and all the times she had complained about the cold, the lack of modern conveniences, the downright bleakness of the place. She hadn't been lying, though. There were days when she could appreciate its romantic qualities, and she understood why Jared didn't want to change it in any way.
'How did you know where to find Cassandra?' Jared asked quietly.
Her father swung round and glared at him. 'I didn't, not for a long time. All I knew was that she seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth. I went nearly frantic with worry. Then I remembered all those odd questions she'd asked about Glenveil Toys. It was the only lead I had, so I had a private enquiry agent look into it. He finally came up with the interesting piece of information that there was an actual house called Glenveil—and that it belonged to Jared Sinclair.' His face darkened. 'I couldn't believe Cassie would be here, not with you. I didn't know where else to look, though, so I came straight up here—and found the two of you together.'
'Don't make it sound like some Victorian melodrama,' Cassandra said irritably. 'This is the twentieth century, and I'm well over the age of consent.'
'I don't give a damn about that,' her father said, his voice becoming blustering again. 'You're my daughter, and I'm taking you back with me. Get your things—right now!'
Jared took a couple of steps forward, so that he was standing just in front of Cassandra. 'She isn't going anywhere—not unless she wants to.' He turned to Cassandra. 'Do you want to go with your father?'
'No,' she said firmly.
Jared turned back to Randolph Gregory. 'Then I suggest you leave my house.'
For a few moments, Cassandra thought there was going to be a very ugly scene, and she dreaded it. Yet, although Jared hadn't even raised his voice, there was something about him that would have tempted very few men to cross him at that moment.
Her father's colour deepened, and he muttered vehemently under his breath. To Cassandra's astonishment, though, he backed away slightly. He stopped for an instant and threw another black look at Jared, who simply stood there, looking calmly back at him, his silver eyes very steady and very cool. Then her father began to retreat again, heading unwillingly towards the door.
When he reached it, he paused briefly and glared at the two of them. 'I'm going—for now. But don't think I'm going to let it go at this,' he threatened. Then he strode out, slamming the door savagely behind him.
There was a chair near to Cassandra, and she rather abruptly sat down in it as her legs trembled with reaction.
'I should have known he'd come after me,' she said shakily. 'He's never going to let me go. You don't know what it's been like these past few years. It's as if he can hardly bear to let me out of his sight. He's always checking up on me—who I'm with, what I'm doing. When I came here, to Glenveil, I thought I was getting away from him. Only, now he's followed me here!'
Jared gave a faint frown. 'Your father's a very unstable man. And also, I think, an increasingly unbalanced one.'
'I'm sorry he came here,' she muttered. 'I know how you must feel about him. You can't have enjoyed it too much, meeting him face to face like that.'
'No, I didn't enjoy it,' agreed Jared. 'But it didn't actually bother me.' As she lifted her head, he gave a brief smile. 'Yes, I know. It surprised me, as well.'
She slid her fingers into her tangled hair, pushing it back from her forehead. 'I'd better go and get packed,' she said, rather defeatedly. 'He might come back, and I don't want to go through any more scenes like that.'
'Where were you planning on going?' Jared asked, his voice suddenly sounding a little harsh.
'Back to London, I suppose.'
'Where your father can take over your life again?'
She gazed at him angrily. 'I don't see that I've got very much choice! My flat's there, it's where I live and work.' Her flare of defiance died away as quickly as it had sprung up, and she flopped back dejectedly in the chair. 'It's one hell of a mess, isn't it?' she said, with a twisted smile. 'My father wants me too much, and you don't want me at all. I just don't seem able to strike a happy balance.'
Jared's own face altered. 'I didn't say I didn't want you,' he growled.
'Didn't you?' she challenged. 'It certainly seemed like it to me!'
He suddenly looked as tired as she felt. 'You caught me at a bad moment.'
'That's not hard!' she retorted. 'You don't seem to have many good ones!'
'I didn't have any at all until you came barging into my life.'
A cautious expression crept into her eyes. 'What's that meant to mean?'
'I don't know,' he admitted. 'Right at this moment, the only thing I seem to be perfectly sure of is my own name.' He prowled away from her, as if being too close to her only confused him even further. 'Going back to London would be about the craziest thing you could do right now,' he muttered. 'Why not stay here for a while longer?'
'Just to make you feel better?' she challenged bluntly. 'So you won't suffer from a guilty conscience because you threw me out?'
He rounded on her fiercely. 'Don't push me for my reasons. I
can't give you any—I don't even know what they are. All I'm saying is that the invitation's there. Stay if you want to.'
But Cassandra wouldn't let it go at that. 'Is that what you want?' she persisted.
'My God, you're a pushy, irritating woman!' He shot another furious glance at her. 'All right,' he got out at last. 'Yes, damn it! That's what I want. Satisfied?'
Cassandra's face relaxed into her first smile of the day. 'Yes,' she said happily.
And, suddenly, life didn't seem so bad, after all.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Despite what Jared had said, though, his attitude towards her remained rather distant over the next couple of days. And he seemed to deliberately shy away from further intimacy. Cassandra wasn't too worried. He couldn't keep it up for ever, she told herself with some certainty. Cracks were already appearing in that wall he had built around himself. One day—and perhaps soon—it would just need a push, and the whole thing would come crumbling down.
At the end of the week, she was clearing away the lunch things when Jared rather restlessly wandered into the kitchen.
'I'm going out for a couple of hours,' he told her.
'For a walk?' Cassandra brightened up. 'Can I come?'
'I'll probably be going quite some way,' he warned. 'You might find it hard to keep up.'
She wasn't put off by his obvious lack of enthusiasm, though. 'You won't lose me,' she assured him.
'I was rather afraid of that,' Jared replied drily. 'All right. Be ready in ten minutes.'
Outside, the weather couldn't quite make up its mind if it were mid-autumn or early winter. One minute, the sun would shine brilliantly through a gap in the clouds, tinging everything with a clear golden light. Then it would disappear again behind a heavy wedge of cloud, the air would suddenly feel chilly, and all the bright colours would fade to much more sombre hues.
Jared didn't keep to the road, but instead headed down towards the loch. Cassandra scrambled rather breathlessly after him, stumbling a little over the uneven ground, and occasionally slipping on the damp grass or tripping over a clump of heather.
When they finally reached the shore of the loch, they both stopped for a few moments and stood there, gazing at the scene. The water was very calm, and reflected the mottled blue and grey of the sky. On the far side, the mountains rose smoothly upwards, patterned with the muted greens of the grass, golden bracken, and the smoky hues of the heather. On the lower slopes, there were darker patches where clumps of Scots pine withstood the worst that the weather could throw against them. The upper slopes were much bleaker, with outcrops of bare rock breaking through to add their own distinctive stripes of colour.
Cassandra wandered right down to the water's edge. It was so clear that she could see the coloured pebbles on the bottom, and, on impulse, she bent down and dipped in her fingers.
'It's freezing!' she gasped a moment later, quickly yanking her hand out again.
'What did you expect?' enquired Jared, a little caustically. 'Hot spa water?'
She scowled at him, but before she had time to think of a suitably acid reply he had set off again, walking so fast that she practically had to run in order to catch up.
He kept going for what seemed like ages, following the shoreline of the loch. After a while, Cassandra heartily began to regret her decision to come with him. She should have realised that he didn't want company today. She would have turned round and gone back to the house if she hadn't been afraid of getting hopelessly lost.
When he finally stopped again, she gave a sigh of relief. 'Are we going back now?' she asked hopefully.
'I don't particularly want to, but I don't think we've got much choice,' he replied. 'The weather's beginning to change.'
She had been so preoccupied watching where she was putting her feet, trying not to fall over loose stones or tangled tussocks of grass, that it was some time since she had had a good look around her. Raising her head, she saw that the blue had completely disappeared from the sky, and heavy swirls of cloud were obscuring the tops of the mountains.
'Is it going to rain?' she asked.
'It looks like it. But probably not for a while.'
'Good,' she said with relief. 'That means I can sit down for five minutes before we head back.'
She collapsed on to a low outcrop of rock, and then stretched out her aching legs.
'I warned you I was going quite some distance,' Jared reminded her.
'I know. Next time you say something like that, make sure I take notice of you.'
He sat down beside her, although she noticed he was careful not to get too close.
'Have you made any plans for the future yet?' he asked, after a rather long silence.
Cassandra glanced at him warily. 'What sort of plans?'
He shrugged. 'I don't really know. But I don't see that we can go on like this indefinitely.'
'What do you want me to do?'
Again, he gave that infuriatingly non-committal shrug. 'That's rather up to you.'
'Oh, you are a maddening man!' she said in annoyance. 'I don't usually go for the macho type, but sometimes I wish you'd pick me up, sling me over your shoulder, and just tell me the way things are going to be!'
Jared's eyes gleamed unexpectedly. 'I could probably manage that, if it's what you really want. But are you sure you'd want to give up your independence that easily? One of the reasons you ran away from your father was so you could begin to live your own life. What's the point in fighting for your freedom if you just go and surrender it to another man?'
She had to admit he had a point there. She wouldn't like it if he simply stepped in and began ordering her life around.
'Oh, it's so complicated,' she said rather crossly, at last. 'What I want and don't want—sometimes I think it's quite impossible to sort it all out.'
'And am I complicating things even further?'
'Of course you are. But only because you can't seem to make up your mind what you want, either.'
Jared's expression abruptly altered, but before he had a chance to speak, several large spots of rain hit them.
'I thought you said it wasn't going to rain yet,' Cassandra reminded him.
'Which goes to show that I'm not infallible,' he replied wryly. 'Come on, let's get back to the house.'
The shower eased off fairly quickly, and the sky lightened again for a while. Then another black cloud began to roll down from the mountains, the far end of the loch became obscured by a thick mist as the weather closed in, and a light drizzle began to sweep over them, quickly increasing to a heavy downpour.
'There's nothing quite as wet as Scottish rain!' Cassandra grumbled breathlessly, as she tried to keep up with Jared's fast pace. Then, a couple of minutes later, she gasped out, 'Jared, will you please slow down? Rushing along like this isn't going to make the slightest bit of difference. I'm already totally soaked. Getting back to the house a few minutes earlier isn't going to make things any better.'
To her relief, he eased up a little. She could keep pace with him quite easily now. Miserably, she squelched along, feeling the rain running down the back of her neck, soaking through her anorak and jeans, and getting right inside her shoes, making them rub uncomfortably.
Jared, on the other hand, didn't seem in the least bothered by the weather. In fact, he almost seemed to be enjoying it. He lifted his face up to the rain, and Cassandra was amazed to see that he was actually smiling.
'What are you looking so happy about?' she asked curiously.
'Nothing in particular. I just feel good.'
She shook her head in amazement. 'You're drenched to the skin and freezing cold—and you feel good?'
He grinned cheerfully. 'It doesn't make a lot of sense, does it?'
'Oh, I don't know. It probably just goes to prove what I've known all along. You're a very contrary man!'
'You mean, I want what I shouldn't have? And turn away from what's good for me?' His tone was still unexpectedly light. 'I dare say you're right. But even the
most contrary men sometimes suddenly see sense.'
'Jared, I don't have the slightest idea what you're waffling on about,' she said a little impatiently. 'In fact, right now I don't want to know. I'm too wet and cold and completely fed up.'
'You're the one who wanted to come.'
'If you remind me of that one more time, I might hit you,' she threatened. 'How much further have we got to go?'
'About half a mile.' When she groaned, he added, 'Do you want me to chuck you over my shoulder and carry you for the rest of the way, or do you want to make it on your own two independent legs?'
'I'll walk,' she said with some dignity. 'As long as you go at a reasonable speed.'
When Glenveil at last came into view, looming out of the driving rain like a great grey shadow, she let out a huge sigh of relief. Once inside, she shook herself like a wet puppy. Then she stood there, dripping water on to the stone floor.
'I'll make up the fire in the drawing-room,' Jared said. 'You go and find some towels. We need to get dry.'
'I'll be all right, but what about you?' she asked, suddenly looking rather worried. 'Last time you went out in the rain, you ended up in bed with a roaring fever.'
'I'll be all right.' He gave her a gentle push. 'Go and get the towels. And fetch me some dry jeans, if you can find them.'
By the time she trailed back to the drawing-room, clutching an armful of towels and some dry clothes, fresh logs were crackling in the fireplace, sending out an ever-growing circle of heat.
'It would be much more practical to have a hot bath,' Cassandra told him, dumping everything on the floor.
'A nice idea,' agreed Jared. 'Especially if we shared it,' he added with a slightly wicked grin which made her eyebrows shoot up a trifle nervously. 'The only trouble is, there isn't any hot water. I haven't had time to light the boiler today.'
She gave a rather exaggerated sigh. 'Well, if you will go tramping round the countryside, instead of getting on with the important things—'
'Don't nag,' he said comfortably. 'And toss me over a towel.'
Wild Justice Page 13
