‘I’m divorced, if that’s any of your
*
‘Oh-h!’ Josey cooed. ‘I’d love to hear the details! Were you sexually incompatible? Did you quarrel? What about? How much did you receive in your divorce settlement?!
Thorne choked.
‘I suppose you think that’s funny!’ Eve snapped, glaring at Josey. ‘It’s not! It’s crude and considering your circumstances, a wee bit stupid!
Thorne has a perfect right to question you regarding your qualifications, whereas you …’
‘I have already satisfied myself regarding Josey’s qualifications, Eve,’
he interrupted in a hard voice. ‘You have been too busy on my behalf. I don’t need a spokeswoman, but if I should happen to need you, I will let you know. You won’t have to volunteer.’
Eve flushed dully and bit her lips. Thorne had never had to put her in her place before, and she realised that she had overstepped that invisible line that she had recognised from the beginning of their acquaintance.
Jealousy had made her insecure, and insecurity had made her forget her caution. She was determined to be on her best behaviour for the rest of the night if it killed her.
‘Hello, darlings! Have I kept you waiting?’
It was Maud, looking thoroughly pleased with herself. Dressed to the nines in a glittering blue georgette, she wafted into the room on three-inch heels, waving a cigarette holder. Maudie, who never smoked! She dazzled the eye, for she was hung with jewellery, including the bracelet she claimed had been given to her by the Aga Khan and a diamond and sapphire necklace that was supposedly the gift of a certain sheik.
They all stared but it was Eve who exclaimed, with a hint of a catch in her voice, ‘Miss Lorrimer! What gorgeous jewellery!’
Maud looked pleased, but Josey was uneasy. Maud Was in costume, of course—not even she could be that vulgar!—but what was she up to?
Thorne rose and escorted her to a chair. There was a ghost of laughter in his voice as he said blandly, ‘Late as ever, Maud, but worth every minute of it.’
‘Late?’ she purred. ‘I thought I was on time.’
‘No,’ he disagreed gravely. ‘Theodore has been waiting dinner.’
‘Well, he’ll just have to wait,’ Maud said airily. I don’t intend to start until you open a bottle of my champagne so I can propose a toast. Get us all a drink, won’t you, sweetie?’
Sweetie? Josey saw the light. Annie must have given Maud the information that enabled her to broadly caricature Eve. If Annie had also let her know that Eve was being insulting and offensive, Maud would react predictably.
Eve leaned forward to admire Maud’s jewellery.
‘It will all be Josey’s someday,’ Maud said graciously.
Eve’s smile faltered. ‘Don’t you think that’s a little—unfair to Thorne’s future wife?’
‘Oh, dear me, no! Besides, the two facts aren’t necessarily exclusive,’ she added blandly, evading Josey’s warning frown.
‘You’ll probably change your mind half a dozen times,’ Eve said brightly. ‘May I look at your bracelet?’
Maud extended her arm and began to give Eve a rundown on the love affair that had burned up three continents. She followed that with the saga of passion on the desert.
‘I’ve never heard that story told better,’ Thorne said admiringly.
‘I’m not sure if I should believe her.’ Eve laughed uneasily. ‘Should I, Thorne?’
His eyes met Josey’s in what was a perfect moment of amused camaraderie. ‘Believe her. It’s better than the truth any day.’
‘Speaking of stories,’ Maud went on blandly, ‘this champagne was sent to me by a man with whom I shared two perfect weeks in Paris, Then, we were parted. He had a wife, you see. That was twenty-five years ago, but every year, I receive a dozen bottles of his best vintage. Lest I forget.’ She took a sip, then added, briskly, ‘But enough of reminiscing about the past. It’s the future that counts.’ She lifted her glass. ‘To Josey and Thorne, whose futures are I irrevocably entwined.’
‘Indeed?’ murmured Eve frigidly. ‘You sound confident.’
‘Ah, you see, the stars have foretold it.’ ‘And who reads the stars, Miss Lorrimer?’ ‘Madam Zelda is my astrologer.’ Maud beamed at the enraged woman. ‘She sees a marriage in their future.’
‘Perhaps—but not necessarily to each other. I should fire her if I were you, Miss Lorrimer. She’s obviously incompetent.’
Josey looked at Thorne. He was frowning at Maud, his good humour gone. Damn Maud’s eyes, Josey thought furiously. She might be scoring one on Eve but she is embarrassing me.
‘I couldn’t agree with you more, Mrs Sanders,’ she said crisply.
; Eve threw her a look that would have shrivelled a rabbit at ten paces.
She was too angry and humiliated to recognise an ally when she saw one. ‘I don’t imagine we have far to look to find out who introduced you to your astrologer. Miss Lorrimer,’ she said significantly. ‘ ‘Eve,’ Thorne drawled boredly. ‘Don’t be absurd. Maud has been seeing Zelda for twenty years.
Which would make Josey’s influence begin at a rather precocious age, don’t you think?’ He rose abruptly and extended his hand to Maud. ‘Enough fun and games, Maud. Time for dinner. I’m hungry.’
He was also angry, Josey saw. Of course, Eve had behaved badly but Maud had played her like a trout on a line. And now, she was going to have to pay the piper with her nephew’s disapproval. She knew it, too, for she slid into her seat at the head of the table in subdued silence.
Dinner was in the formal dining room with the table set with lace mats and Maud’s delicate bone china, sterling silver and fragile stem crystal.
Candles and a low, rounded centrepiece of roses added a further elegant note to the table.
Eve murmured her appreciation, a complacent look on her face.
Obviously;, she accepted the exquisite table as a compliment to herself.
The candles flickered, creating dim shadows and carving harsh lines in Thorne’s face. Josey glanced at him once or twice, but for the most part, she kept her head down, her eyes on her plate. There was no place for her in this conversation. Eve had taken it over and with her social flair, it went just where she chose. Which meant that she centred it mostly on herself and Thorne, with an occasional remark to Maud about mutual acquaintances. Maud, mouse like, let her dominate the conversation—which was very unlike Maud. If Josey had been looking at her closely, she might have suspected something From Maud’s limpid blue eyes.
As soon as dinner was over, Josey excused herself, saying it had been a tiring day. No one said anything to deter her.
She had not been sleeping well since John’s death, but all her nights, placed end on end, could not equal this one. She tossed and turned, arid when she finally did sleep, her dreams were haunted, her sleep exhausting.
She awakened the next morning with a bad headache and dark circles under her eyes. It was a beautiful rain-washed day, one that would have ordinarily sent Josey joyously to the window, bursting to be outside. But she eyed the scudding clouds in the blue sky with a faintly jaundiced look and dragged herself into the bathroom to brush her teeth.
When she went to breakfast, Maud was alone.
‘Good morning, darling!’ she chirped breezily. ‘Sleep well?’ *
‘Well enough,’ Josey answered cautiously.
‘Well, what did you think of last night?’
Josey shook out her napkin. ‘Do you mind if I have my coffee first?’ she enquired ironically.
‘Not at all.’ Maud pushed the coffee pot towards her and popped bread in the toaster. ‘Now, tell me, what was your impression Of last night?’
‘Personally, I thought it was a disaster,’ Josey said drily. ‘It’s not every dinner where the hostess makes a fool of her guest.’
Maud smirked. ‘I had to do it, dear. For his sake. And I assure you, it worked! It was worth it to open his eyes to what a bitch that woman is.’
‘Oh, Josey, you should’ve been there last night! No, I guess not—it was your absence that triggered the whole thing.’
Josey stared. ‘What do you mean?’ ‘As soon as you left, she said in that cool way of hers that she was glad to see you knew your place and had enough tact to withdraw from the room.’ Josey’s eyes opened wide.
‘Lord-y!’ she breathed. ‘She is stupid!’
Maud grinned. ‘Thorne hit the roof. Of course, he was already angry with me …’
‘He’s on to you, Maud. He knows exactly what you’re up to.’
‘Naturally, he does,’ Maud said agreeably. ‘He isn’t stupid. I knew I couldn’t keep him from catching on. But you noticed I was on my best behaviour at the table? So he couldn’t blame me when Eve made her snobbish little remark.’ ‘What happened?’
‘He told her off in that cold, sarcastic way of his. She started crying then, but she couldn’t move him although she tried every manoeuvre known to woman, including sex.’ Maud’s eyes sparkled. ‘I’m afraid they forgot I was there, in the heat of the moment. I could have told her she was making a fatal mistake when she upstaged you in the beginning; Funny, too, she’s the soul of courtesy to Annie and Theodore, but I suppose this is the first time Thorne has seen her out of her own environment.’
‘She was jealous,’ Josey said dryly, ‘and you engineered the whole thing.’
‘And her own bad temper did the rest. Anyway, she’s gone. He took her back to Atlanta early this morning.’
‘He may not come back,’ Josey warned.
‘Nonsense!’ Maud said heartily, but Josey could see she was worried.
Josey was busy the rest of that week. She was terribly restless and she was glad Maud had work to keep her busy. She got jittery if she was idle.
Brian had a free afternoon Wednesday and called to ask her to go sailing with him. Maud insisted that she go. She knew Maud was beginning to worry about her, for she wasn’t sleeping well and it showed in her face.
The afternoon on the water was good for her. But when she looked at Brian’s pleasant, freckled face, she knew she could never use him as a panacea for whatever was ailing her. She wished desperately that he had the power to heat her blood, make her ache with passion, and her heart beat faster. She would have willingly let him make love to her if she thought he could work, some kind of magic formula and turn her thoughts around. But to have sex—and for the first time, too!—with one man merely to chase erotic images of another out of her mind was stupid and self-destructive.
Before they parted, Brian made a date for dinner that night, and she willingly accepted. They parted at the boat, for he still had to lower the sails and turn in his docking pass, and Josey walked home. , ,
When she saw the grey Mercedes parked in the driveway, she knew why she had been so restless. This was what she had been waiting for.
CHAPTER SIX
SHE dressed carefully for her date with Brian, a soft, ruffled amber dress with a swirling hem around her knees. She brushed her hair until it gleamed with highlights and carefully smoothed on a creamy eyeshadow and bronze lipstick. Suddenly, she realised she was dressing for Thorne—she wanted him to see her looking her best and able to attract another man besides him.
Downstairs, she met his eyes with a flare of antagonism. ‘Hello,’ she said coolly. ‘I thought you must be back.’
‘Going out?’
She nodded. ‘We’re trying out a new dance club that just opened on the beach. The Fifth Dimension.’
‘Have fun.’
At dinner, she was restless and unable to concentrate on what Brian was saying. When they weren’t dancing, her eyes shifted constantly, probing the room relentlessly. Suddenly, her attention was focused on a couple who had just entered and were being shown to a table near the dance floor. Thorne and a beautiful girl—another blonde. Where did he find them, she wondered viciously.
She turned to Brian, a feverish glitter in her eyes. ‘I-—can we go?’ she asked quickly. ‘I’m rather tired. I think I had too much sun today.’
He was very solicitous, and she couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
Her face was hot with embarrassed colour. She admitted it to herself, although it made her cringe to realise how vulnerable she was. She had told Thorne where she would be, hoping he would come. But she hadn’t been able to sit there tamely when she saw he was with another girl. She was ashamed when she realised that she had probably been very obvious to him.
The next morning, he asked her if she would like to accompany him to Charleston. When she hesitated, he added indifferently, ‘You’ll be on your own. I’ll be in a law office all morning.’
‘Do go, Josey,’ Maud broke in. ‘I ordered a dress by phone and need someone to pick it up.’
There was no trace of his former antagonism in Thorne’s casual invitation, so Josey cautiously agreed. Within thirty minutes, they were on their way. Thorne was a silent driver. The car radio kept them amused, tuned to a station that was broadcasting a revival of Porgy and Bess. When they were crossing the Ashley River, he asked, ‘Where did Maud say this shop was?’
She gave the number on Church Street.
‘Sounds like it’s near where I’ll be going on Broad. I’ll find a parking place on the street.’
He found one halfway between the shop and the law office. As he got out, he consulted his watch. ‘Shall we say I’ll meet you back here at noon?
That should give you time to get your errand done and look around a little.’
‘What about the parking meter?’
He shrugged. ‘I’ll pay the fine if I get a ticket.’
She watched him leave her, striding briskly along with his briefcase in his hand. She watched ironically as he drew abreast of a smiling woman, who turned to look back after he passed her. She had sensed it, too—that sexual charisma that made all women automatically aware of him. Hadn’t Eve told Maud that she was going to have him? She wondered how many other woman had started out with that premise and had to eventually settle for a passing affair?
Maud had called ahead so they were expecting her at the shop. She finished that errand in a matter of minutes, then looked around for herself. What she found was demure on the hanger but deliberately erotic on the wearer. Of ivory crepe, it was cut along Grecian lines, with one shoulder bare and no back to speak of. The fabric alternately clung and swayed, moulding a pointed breast or the shadowy cup between her thighs.
God knows what it does at the back, she thought nervously, but she couldn’t deny its potential effect.
She bought it on impulse without ever expecting to wear it, then returned to the car. Thorne had given her an extra set of keys, so she unlocked the boot and placed her packages inside, then fed the meter. She still had a lot of time, so she walked towards the Battery, noticing the uniquely different architecture of the old houses and their gardens; Some were hidden behind high brick walls, with only the fan leafs of the palmetto showing overhead. Those she could see were small and formal, some with brick courtyards, tubs of geraniums and azaleas and a small, well-pruned tree or two.
When she reached the Battery, she was at the farthest point in the Charleston harbour. From here, she could see the island of Fort Sumter and just beyond it, the Atlantic. There were sightseeing boats leaving from the dock but looking at her watch, she knew she hadn’t the time to take one.
He was waiting for her, leaning against the car, his eyes narrowed against the sunlight. Her heart started thumping heavily, and she recognised the mingled feelings of antagonism, fear and attraction she felt every time she saw him. He was not menacing. Since that night, he had been pleasant, but completely impersonal. It was possible she had blown the whole thing up in her mind. She approached him coolly and smiled politely. ‘I hope I haven’t held you up.’
‘Not at all,’ he said absentmindedly. His eyes were probing her face intently. ‘What about lunch?’
/>
‘I—Shouldn’t we be getting back?’
‘Maud would never forgive me if I brought you back without feeding you.
What is your pleasure? Seafood? Chinese? Italian?’
‘You make a choice,’ she said faintly.
‘Seafood, then.’
They found a restaurant across the bridge that looked promising.
Outside, a sign advertised that it featured She-crab soup. The building looked like a beached ship, with gangplank, railing and portholes. Inside, it was decorated with gimmicky nautical furnishings, such as telephones hidden in fog horns and ageing mast heads leaning out above the heads of the diners.
They slipped into their seats and Thorne looked around resignedly.
‘I’m afraid we’re in for it. This sort of place is usually short on good food.
Would you like to go somewhere flse?’
Josey didn’t answer. She was staring, wide-eyed, taking in all the sights. Suddenly, bells jangled and a lifesized wooden captain overhead went through a pantomime of blowing down a tube and turning a wheel.
‘We’ll stay, then,’ Thorne said indulgently.
Their dacquiris were too sweet, and Thorne seemed resigned to what would follow. Josey had ordered She-crab soup and Thorne a seafood cocktail, and both were excellent. Their seafood dinners were delicious, and Josey began to relax as Thorne’s attitude mellowed. Overhead, belis jangled and the lurching pantomime went on, but Josey didn’t notice. They explored each other’s likes and prejudices in music, the theatre, books, even Charleston. Josey was interested in the latter since what she had seen this morning had whetted her desire to see more. Thorne was a member of the National Trust, and he knew a great deal about what was being done to save some of the old buildings from destruction and restore them.
By the time they finished their lunch, Josey was completely relaxed. She hadn’t forgotten that he was her enemy but she was prepared to be realistic.
She was still basking in the glow of good intentions when he asked, ‘Would you like to see Dray ton Hall before we go home?’
Her eyes brightened. ‘Is it far?’
Lady With A Past Page 5
