by Anne Hampson
'Nothing, really…' She lifted her beautiful eyes to his. 'You wouldn't consent to—?' Again she shook her head, frowning heavily.
'A full disclosure of the truth? No, my dear Jane, I wouldn't.' So implacable the tone and firm the jaw. 'At present it doesn't serve my purpose to have the truth disclosed.'
'Serve your purpose?' she echoed, recalling her previous impression that she had been led into a trap. 'As things are,' she continued slowly and perceptively, 'you have a hold over me.' It was a statement and for a moment he made no comment. But at last he said,
'I do possess a certain power over you.' His blue eyes regarded her intently, and glimmered with satisfaction on noting her fluctuating colour. 'I haven't altogether abandoned the idea of you and me finding pleasure together. And should I decide that we shall be lovers then this power I have over you will render your own protestations somewhat weak… should you make any protestations, that is,' he added with a strange inflection in his voice.
Her pulse fluttered alongside a tug of anger. Had he guessed how she felt about him?—and become confident of her surrender because of that guess?
'I should most certainly protest!' she flashed. 'And even the hold you have over me wouldn't influence me to throw away my ideals!'
'Ideals?' he sneered. 'They're as old-fashioned as, marriage.'
Jane's lip quivered in spite of herself. If only he knew how such cynicism hurt—piercing as the cruellest thorn. But he wouldn't care, she decided unhappily. The time when he cared for her feelings was long since past—as far from reach as the man she had then known.
'Is isn't clever to be so cynical, Scott,' she told him at last. 'There are still many good people in the world.'
'By people I assume you're really referring to women?'
'You appear to regard all women as—as easy.' It took a little effort to voice the final word, but she managed it, even holding his gaze as she did so.
'All women are easy.'
'Perhaps I should go and get on with my work,' she returned dully. 'This conversation's taking a very different direction from what I intended.'
The blue eyes smiled faintly.
'You wanted to talk about this Gwen and your brother?'
'I wish I could find some way of helping them.'
'Them? You appear to have received no indication that your brother is in any way interested in the girl.'
'He seemed rather distressed at the idea of her leaving.'
'I expect that's because she's a good employee. One likes to keep that kind if one possibly can.'
'I'm sure it was more than that.'
'I doubt it. In any case, there's nothing to stop your brother having an affair with the girl. Haven't I already said that marriage is old-fashioned?'
'Les wouldn't dream of having an affair!' retorted Jane indignantly, ignoring his question about marriage. 'Besides, you forget, he's supposed to be married. Gwen's leaving because she believes him to be married.'
To her surprise a laugh escaped Scott and the blue eyes lighted with humour in that most attractive way which brought back with deep nostalgia so many memories which Jane had believed to be dead. It was strange, she thought, that she had ever been able to resist this and other numerous attractions which the old Scott possessed. But she had been so concerned by having a husband with more than ordinary strength of character that his other, more important qualities had registered only vaguely at the time. Yet now they drifted 'back to her and she realized that in some deep recess of her unconscious they had found themselves a permanent place. This, she believed on pondering it, had been the reason why no other man had ever appealed to her during the whole of those four years. She looked up into his mocking eyes… and wished with all her heart she could tell him what was in her mind.
'I can't agree that your brother would not have an affair,' Scott was saying with a hint of satire. 'Any man would have an affair if the chance came his way.'
'And Gwen?' she countered angrily. 'You believe she would agree to an affair—with a married man whose wife she knew?'
Again Scott laughed.
'You and your brother have got yourselves into a mess, haven't you?'
Jane flushed guiltily.
'You perhaps won't believe it, but I hated the deceit.'
'You did?' drily and with a trace of scepticism.
'I'm here only because Les would have been so disappointed at losing the post. He had a girl and we believed she was serious about marrying him. That was why he applied for the post in the first place—' She stopped and glanced apologetically at him. 'I've told you this before, haven't I?'
He nodded.
'Soon after I'd disclosed the fact of my knowledge about your being the sister and not the wife of the manager of Coral Gables.' He paused a moment and a frown settled on his forehead. 'So had he been able to bring this girl with him as his wife you'd never have come?'
'Of course I wouldn't.'
He looked intently at her.
'Are you sorry you came?' he asked, a strange note in his voice.
She averted her head, unwilling for him to see her expression. For she knew not whether she was sorry. True, much heartache would have been avoided, but somehow she could not truthfully say that she regretted having met Scott again—this in spite of the enormous changes that had taken place in his personality. He was speaking, softly yet insistently, and when she still refused either to answer or to raise her head she felt his finger under her chin.
'So you're not sorry,' he murmured, and in the triumph of the moment he took her in his arms and kissed her. 'We shall become lovers,' he told her exultantly, crushing her protesting body to him again. 'You won't be able to help yourself—'
'I shall!' she cried, endeavouring to pull away from him but failing. 'I'll never consent to anything so wrong!'
'Wrong?' he laughed. 'How can it be wrong when it's natural?' Jane could not speak for the pain and disgust within her, and Scott continued, 'You will consent, eventually.'
'Then wait and see!'
'I'm thinking I'll not wait long,' he murmured, forcing his lips to hers. The kiss was long and ardent, and persuasive in a way that spelled experience. 'You're too desirable. I even believe I prefer you to Alma, and that's flattery indeed. Why, my dear Jane, how delectably you blush. Is anger the reason, or have I embarrassed you? Or it could be my flattery—'
'I hate you,' she whispered fiercely. 'I think you're the most detestable man I've ever met!'
'You do?' Imperturbably he held her from him, his cool blue eyes questioning, yet mocking too, and bright with humour. 'You really hate me? Now, tell me why you so suddenly hate me?'
'Because of the change, if you must know!'
'Ah…' Strangely, he appeared to be inordinately satisfied by her answer. 'So you don't like the change?' She could only shake her head dumbly, aware that her eyes were far too bright because of the tears behind them caused by the deep distress within her. 'I had hoped the change would be for the better,' he was saying, and she was more than a little suspicious that he was suppressing laughter. 'If you remember, my dear Jane, you had no patience with an inexperienced man—oh, you didn't say this outright. You were in fact nicely subtle in the way you worded your complaints as to my character. Nevertheless, it was quite obvious that you despised the type of man I was, and it would seem that your ideal not only had to be a tyrant who would reduce you to vassalage but also a man who had been around—a rake, in fact.' Humour faded as he spoke until, at the end, his eyes were glinting with anger. Jane shook her head bewilderedly, astonished that he should be speaking like this to her. What did it matter what she had said in the past? It should by rights have been forgotten long ago by Scott who, she recalled, had actually thanked her for turning him down. He was grateful to have escaped the marriage net, he implied, having gone on to say that a man could enjoy all the advantages without taking upon himself the burden which wag the normal lot of the married man.
He still held her close; she made
a sharp twist with the intention of drawing from his embrace, but his arms instantly tightened, masterfully and causing her real physical pain. She winced, but his hold remained firm.
'Let me go,' she cried. 'I came here to work, not to—to—' She stopped, vague about what she had meant to say.
'—make love,' finished Scott on a quizzical note. 'It is a little early in the morning, I admit, but you're so very tempting, especially in this mood of non-compliance. Mind you,' he went on still allowing her to feel his strength as she made another attempt to free herself, 'I rather enjoy a struggle. I believe women do too, since they often act as you're acting now. Is your resistance genuine—or designed to lead me on?' He was laughing at her, enjoying her helplessness as she attempted to escape from his hold. He bent his head and kissed her. 'It's rather enjoyable to have a hold over you, Jane,' he said when she made no answer to his question. 'You can be sure that I'll use to the full the power it affords me.'
CHAPTER SEVEN
During the next few days Jane had a dread of any further demonstrations by Scott, whose threat, at the time, had seemed not to be lightly made. However, the days passed uneventfully until Thursday afternoon when Scott told Jane she could have the following day off as he was going to St. Vincent.
He brought Alma back with him on his return and they dined at the hotel on the Monday evening. As Alma's other man friend was not present Scott danced with her the whole time—until half past ten, that was, when Jane saw them strolling away to one of the darkest and loneliest parts of the grounds.
On the Tuesday Jane asked if she could leave half an hour early as she was seeing a man who had a car for sale. He was bringing it to Coral Gables and Jane hoped it would suit her requirements.
'I said I'd vet a car for you,' Scott reminded her. 'Had you forgotten?'
'No—' She hesitated. 'I thought perhaps you'd changed your mind after—after the way you were the other day.'
A laugh lit his eyes.
'That?' he said carelessly. 'It was merely a diversion. You looked particularly attractive and I was tempted to hold you in my arms and kiss you. It has nothing to do with more practical and important things like buying a car. Of course I shall look it over for you. It's being brought to Coral Gables this afternoon, you say?'
'Yes; the man can't bring it any other time,' she added apologetically.
'That's all right. We can be there.' He glanced at his wrist watch as he spoke.
'You're giving me a lift home?'
'If I'm going to Coral Gables then obviously I shall give you a lift.'
Sitting beside him in the car a short while later, Jane dwelt on what he had said about that memorable scene's merely being a diversion. That he was playing with her was more than ever apparent, and so piqued did she become that she found herself searching for some means of retaliating. The method by which she could achieve this retaliation was vague in the extreme, but was to take more concrete form when, the following week, she met the young and handsome Hal Charlton at the Yacht Club, the island's most important social club.
The occasion of the meeting was a Yacht Club dance and Jane had been invited through David who, with Susan, had attended many such dances. Looking her superb best in a long white dress with sequin trimmings that glittered in the soft muted light, Jane was introduced to Hal very soon after her arrival.
'I told you you'd meet some presentable young men at the Yacht Club,' teased Susan, and went on to add that Jane must make sure she didn't fall—as she was married.'
Well, she wouldn't fall, thought Jane, but Hal was certainly attractive and it was flattering to know that he was interested in her. He seemed unable to take his eyes off her when David made the introductions, and his murmured 'How do you do,' seemed a purely automatic response.
He was soon asking her to dance, and as his steps and Jane's were in complete harmony Jane thoroughly enjoyed every dance. She tried not to think about Scott and Alma, who were also present, dancing together for most of the time, but inevitably she found them in her line of vision at times and then a wave of dejection would flood over her.
'I must take you out to dine,' Hal was saying when together he and Jane sat eating their refreshments. 'I'm so glad I met you.' His enthusiasm and spontaneity were refreshing after the cynicism and mockery invariably displayed by Scott whenever he was with her. Jane found herself agreeing to go out with Hal and the date was made long before the evening came to an end.
Scott came over and invited her to dance; she slid into his arms and he whirled her away into the centre of the hall. He seemed in a temper, she thought, frowning inwardly. Had Alma been playing him up? Serve him right if she had! She was even now laughing up at her partner with that coquettish glance and smile which she so often used with Scott.
'Are you enjoying yourself?' inquired Scott at length.
'Very much.' And she added a trifle acidly, 'I expect you are too?'
Strangely, he made no answer, appearing to be preoccupied and still not in the most pleasant of moods. Something had gone wrong, obviously, something that had caused him considerable annoyance.
'Thank you,' he said brusquely as the music stopped and he turned to leave her. Hal was at her side instantly, and Jane could not be quite sure whether or not Scott had fleetingly turned his head as the young man spoke.
'I'm claiming you for all the rest, Jane.'
And he did. But later he asked Jane if she would like some fresh air, and on her ready agreement they strolled out into the gardens and beyond, through the very spacious grounds of the club. The dark calm sea of Carlisle Bay lapped gently at the pale sands, and above the sky was alive with stars. It was a typical Caribbean evening, with the air warm and heady and the music of a steel band drifting out from the club.
On their return they strolled past the tennis courts and crossed smooth wide lawns, stopping by the beautiful hedge of Pride of Barbados while Jane touched some of the bright orange-coloured flowers. Hal was looking at her appreciatively, she knew; he was not averse to a flirtation—she knew this too. During the evening he had put questions to her about her husband and she had been forced to tell several deliberate lies, and even more white ones. Didn't she mind having to come to a function like this without her husband? he had asked almost at the beginning, when they were having their very first dance together.
'No, I don't mind. He has to be on duty, so there's nothing we can do about it.'
Hal had looked strangely at her.
'You don't feel you should stay with him?' By the way he spoke Jane guessed that, somehow, he had been informed that she and Les had not been 'married' very long.
'We both need recreation. Les goes out when I'm on duty.' Which wasn't quite true since Jane no longer worked at the hotel, not since becoming Scott's secretary.
'I see. Oh, well, let's forget your husband and enjoy the evening.'
And now, standing by the hedge, he moved a little closer and slipped an arm around her shoulders. She was just about to twist away when she spotted Scott and Alma, coming towards the place where they stood; instead of repulsing Hal she turned her face up invitingly and, as she expected, he kissed her.
Scott and Alma passed within a few feet of them and it was impossible that they could have missed the little scene of intimacy.
That, decided Jane, would put Scott in his true place—that of her employer and nothing more, it being most unlikely that he would ever speak again of forcing her into an affair with him. He would brand her as flighty, perhaps, but on the other hand he might decide that she was genuinely attracted to Hal. Jane sincerely hoped it would be this latter.
However, she was not prepared for what he had to say to her the following morning when she arrived at Driftwood House in the little car which Scott had not hesitated in advising her to buy. She saw him standing on the verandah as she parked at the end of the long avenue of cabbage palms. He had been gazing abstractedly across the croquet lawn to a dazzling border where hibiscus and ol
eander and poinsettia bloomed beneath the slender casuarina trees and the sweetly-perfumed frangipanis.
But his head turned, slowly, as he watched the car being brought to a standstill. Jane offered a smile and a bright 'good morning', but received nothing more friendly than an abrupt nod in return.
For a breathless moment she stood at the foot of the verandah steps looking up at him, standing by one of the fluted coral pillars around which grew a beautiful bougainvillaea vine. She was deeply affected by his magnetism; and even his forbidding exterior was a vital stimulus which accentuated her yearning for him.
'I want to speak to you,' he said in a very soft tone which set her nerves tingling. Slowly she mounted the steps.
'You—d-do?' Instinctively she knew he was about to mention last night, and the kissing incident, and her colour fluctuated in consequence. The steely blue eyes narrowed, perceptively and with piercing intensity. How very overpowering he was—standing there, like a judge! Inevitably a back-switch of memory produced a picture of Scott at twenty-six, a man in every sense, it was true; but with Jane he had been a little unsure of himself, a trifle anxious in case she should turn down his offer of marriage. In consequence he had carefully refrained from exhibiting any sign of his innate strength of character which Jane now knew to her cost included all the mastery she could ever desire—and much more besides!
'Last night,' he continued in the same dangerously quiet accents. 'What sort of an exhibition was that? —allowing a complete stranger to make love to you?'
'He was not making love to me!' she cried, but her protestation was ignored.
'It would have been disgusting enough had people known you were single, but you're supposed to be married.' Accusation lay both in his voice and in the dark cold glance he directed at her. 'I do not allow any sort of scandal to attach to my employees,' he continued. 'If ever you act in so abandoned a way again I shall not hesitate to dispense both with your services and those of your brother.'
She caught her breath, dismay plucking at her senses. Nevertheless, she was not yet so subdued and afraid that she was unable to flash a retort.
