‘I’ll see you soon. And, Josey, don’t try to run while I’m gone. If you give me the trouble of having to find you, you won’t like it, I promise you.’
But she thought about running. The next morning, she was considering it seriously when she went downstairs to find that Maud had been ill all night.
‘She wouldn’t let me tell Mr Thorne before he left,’ Annie told Josey.
‘She said he’d stay if I did, and she didn’t want that.’
The doctor came and pronounced it a virus, which would probably last twenty-four hours, and leave her weak and listless.
‘She isn’t a young woman,’ he warned Josey. ‘She’s in good general health, but an illness like this should be watched. I’m relieved you’re going to be here,’ he added. ‘That maid of hers will only do what Miss Lorrimer says.’
Which must mean he wanted a strong hand for Maud, so Josey made sure she remained in bed until the doctor said she could get up. On Maud’s first night downstairs, Josey decorated the tree, which Theodore had put up that day. Brian stopped by unexpectedly and she used his help in putting ornaments and lights on the top branches.
Before he left, he asked her to the Christmas dance to be given Saturday night at the club his parents belonged to. She agreed to go if Maud was well enough.
‘Then I guess I’ll have to stop by Wednesday and make sure Miss Lorrimer is better,’ he suggested smilingly.
‘Just how serious are you about that young man?’ Maud asked as they were eating their lunch on Saturday.
She had a right to wonder, for Brian had popped up nearly every day that week, usually with a small gift for her and a matching gift for Josey. She had watched him closely and saw he was falling in love. She wondered if Josey was aware of it.
‘I’m not serious at all,’ Josey smiled at her reassuringly, digging into her grapefruit which had been sprinkled with ginger. ‘We’re just friends—you know that. He is nice, though.’
‘Oh, nice’ Maud shrugged. ‘Nice is dull. What you need is a man who can make you realise your full potential as a warm, sensuous woman.’
Josey burst out laughing. ‘Is that a quote from one of your books?’
Maud tilted her small nose. ‘You need a love affair, Josey Smith! And not with Brian—even if he is love with you. You’ve maintained a hands-off policy so long with men that you’ve wrapped yourself in cast iron. Brian is a case in point. He’s safe, so you continue to see him, but do you think you’re being fair?’ Josey looked startled and Maud seized her opportunity. ‘You need to fall in love with someone exciting, romantic. Someone like Thorne for instance.’
‘Funny, I thought all you were interested in was getting rid of Eve Sanders,’ Josey said dryly.
‘Oh, that!’ Maud waved her hand airily. ‘I always intended for you and Thorne to fall in love. Not in the beginning. I wanted to keep you apart then. But, after John died, I knew it was the right time. I consulted Zelda, and she agreed that the stars, the time, the date are all propitious.’
‘I wish I’d never given you my birthday,’ mumbled Josey.
‘You can’t argue with Fate, my child,’ Maud said grandly. ‘And it is Fate! Why, I felt the intensity in the air when you met Thorne, and I was only a bystander. If you remember, you turned pale. Now, that was from a drop in your blood level…’
‘Maud, you have one heck of an imagination!’
Josey scoffed. ‘My blood level didn’t drop. I was pale because I’d just played a fast game of tennis. You’re no doctor, Maud, so stop trying to pretend you know what you’re talking about.’
‘The air between you crackled with awareness!’
‘It crackled with dislike—and that’s a direct quote from your latest book! And incidentally, everything your precious nephew has done so far has confirmed you were right to keep us apart!’
Maud smirked. ‘Hatred is the other side of the coin of love, my dear.
Your horoscope says you will go through a turbulent period before your stars join. You are an Aquarius, and he’s a Taurus, so naturally, the combination is volatile. There’s really nothing you can do to stop it, Josey.’
Josey leaned her chin in her palm and regarded Maud with exasperated affection. Maud, that crazy optimist, was never going to change, but there were times when she could be extremely aggravating. ‘Forget it, Maud!’ she said emphatically. ‘I’m not going to become Thorne Macallan’s mistress simply to satisfy you and Zelda Kaminsky.’
Maud’s eyes widened. ‘His mistress? Josey, dear, I’m talking about marriage!’
‘And that is the funniest thing I’ve heard yet. He told me he had no intention of ever marrying.’
‘Indeed?’ Maud looked thoughtful. ‘Then, you’ve already …’
‘I’ve already got the treatment,’ she said grimly. ‘Forget it, Maud.
I’m not a character in one of your books and I refuse to allow you to go stepping in and out of my life.’
‘But, Josey, when Thorne said that, he didn’t know…’
Josey leaned forward and patted the fragile little hand. ‘Look, love,’
she explained gently. ‘You know me. I’m the marrying kind of girl. I’ve never had a love affair—I’m even, Ood forbid, a virgin. When I was nineteen, I had a bad experience—a real bummer that put me off men forever. And Thorne is the last man I’d want to get involved with. You said yourself you thought it best to keep us apart. Nothing has changed.
We’re still the same people, and I couldn’t take the pain if I got hurt.’
‘Josey, you’ve got to be willing to take a chance in life.’
‘Darling, I despise the man.’
‘You’re fascinated by him.’
Josey started to deny it, then paused. ‘Yes. But he’s hard.’
‘You could soften him.’
‘Not that man. Drop it, Maud.’
‘No, I can’t do that, without trying to explain about Thorne. Perhaps, if you know him, you’ll understand. I blame myself for what happened, for not having more control over my younger sister. Our parents were dead, and I had always indulged her, spoiled her; then, as I saw the way she treated other people, I realised Dinah was a bitch, a greedy, amoral, selfish little wanton. God forbid me, I was relieved when she married Jordan Macallan. He had money—which Di craved—and he was older, and I thought capable of controlling her. Instead, the day of the wedding, she offered him a cold-blooded bargain. Her freedom and a generous settlement for a son.’ Josey gasped. ‘She left two weeks after Thorne was born and never saw him again, nor even tried to. Twenty years and three husbands later, she died in a car accident in France. She was with her latest lover. I was notified—none of her so-called friends knew she had a son.’
Josey pitied Thorne. She thought of her own mother, dying also in a car accident, but leaving behind a legacy of beautiful memories to comfort her grieving daughter.
‘Unfortunately, Jordan did not spare the boy. He grew up knowing exactly what his mother was—her bargain with his father. He wasn’t left with even a dream to cling to. Hating women as he did, Jordan would not have any but male servants in his house. Everyone told me what a cold household it was; what a lonely little boy Thorne was. When he was about fourteen, I met him through some—er—mutual friends, and after that, we saw what we could of each other.’
‘Did his father find out?’
‘Eventually,’ Maud said dryly, ‘but he allowed it when he saw I was harmless. You see, he really loved his son—he taught him what he did to keep him from being hurt, as he was. Unfortunately, he had loved Diana.’
Josey gave a sharp gasp.
‘Yes, that was the tragedy—and why he was so bitter. Thorne grew up to be a handsome devil. Jordan spoiled him, of course, and besides that, his looks got him any woman he wanted. It amused Jordan to watch his son become an accomplished heartbreaker. Fortunately Thorne had a good brain and a talent for hard work. When he graduated from law school, his father expected him to join his firm, but Thor
ne wanted to try it on his own. It was the first time he had ever crossed Jordan and he flew in a rage and threatened to disinherit him. There was a girl—-‘ Thorne’s latest—who took it seriously and being particularly mercenary, she dumped him. I don’t think Thorne cared a fig for her, but so far as he was concerned, it proved his father had been right all along. When the woman tried to get him back, later, after he and Jordan were reconciled, Thorne was brutal in his rejection. His public humiliation of her was rather cruel.’
Josey shivered. Yes, he would be cruel. In none of their encounters, had he ever been kind. He had begun by accusing her of fraud and a form of prostitution, then made love to her with contempt. She ached with compassion for him after hearing Maud’s story, but she knew she would be a fool if she let it make a difference. She couldn’t try to comfort him—it would be like snuggling up to a man-eating tiger. She would be savaged to death.
The truth was that Thorne had the power to make her scream with pain. She didn’t face the reason for it—it was enough to recognise the fact.
For the sake of her future contentment, she had to stay out of his way. If she could.
CHAPTER EIGHT
THAT night, as she dressed for the Christmas dance, Josey’s mind turned reluctantly to a subject it had been avoiding since her talk with Maud. Brian. Was Maud right? Was he falling in love with her? And was she subconsciously catering to his idealised picture of her without any real expectation of fulfilling his hopes? If so, she was wrong. She was using him as a buffer, and God knows, she knew what it felt like to be used. Brian was too nice to be hurt.
She looked at the dress she intended to wear. It was in a delicate shade of pink with tiny cap sleeves, a floating skirt and a modest neckline.
Exactly the kind of dress to make Brian start hearing wedding bells.
She hung it back in her closet and started pulling hangers rapidly until she found what she was looking for. This dress should put paid forever to Brian’s vision of her as his virgin bride. It was the one she had bought in Charleston.
Her tan was honey gold against the creamy white and her hair poured like molten copper down her back. She applied gold dust shadow to her lids and glossy copper to her lips, then stepped into a pair of high-heeled sandals. The dress slid over her head with a sinuous rustle. It was going to scare Brian to death, but it should open his eyes to her unsuitability. A woman wearing a dress like this looked like a woman available to a man with the right price—and that wasn’t Brian.
Maud’s eyes opened wide then lit with an inner amusement. ‘Beautiful dress, darling,’ she drawled. ‘It should separate the men from the boys.
Brian’s here,’ she added, raising her voice.
‘What about a drink, Brian?’ she asked solicitously, as she followed Josey into the living room.
He swallowed convulsively, his eyes mesmerised by Josey. ‘I don’t think we have time, Miss Lorrimer,’ he mumbled. ‘We’ve got to pick up Mom and Dad.’
‘Oh, are your parents going with you?’ Maud asked innocently.
‘Yes, they look forward to this Christmas dance. It’s one of the biggest nights of the year at the club. Old time band music, that sort of thing.’
‘How marvellous. I like a boy who does things with his parents. Don’t you, Josey?’ she asked blandly.
Josey threw her a warning glance and held out her silky shawl to Brian. Me this dress too— much—Brian?’ she asked gently. ‘I’ll change it if you like.’ She felt a surge of affection for the boyish young giant.
‘No, no, of course not!’ he said quickly, then added gallantly, ‘I’ll be the envy of all the men.’
‘Oh, I don’t think there’s any doubt of that,’ Maud twinkled.
He thew her a startled, half-scared look and Josey leaned forward and kissed the wrinkled cheek. ‘Behave yourself!’ she admonished under her breath. ‘I’m taking your advice.’
The dance was geared to the club’s senior citizens, who were well represented. The music was reminiscent of that played in the thirties and forties—golden oldies. Josey and Brian sat at the table with his parents and their other guests and Brian’s mother carefully avoided looking too often at Josey’s naked back and shoulders. Even so, she was friendly. But, she would not have got on with Maud, who would have thought her a bore.
When Josey got up to dance with Brian, he held her gingerly, avoiding touching her back. Josey scared him tonight. He was wary of the sensation she was making, the attention they were receiving from the older woman.
And their husbands, who all wanted to dance with Josey. The Marsden’s table was the most popular one in the room.
During one of the band breaks, she and Brian left their table and threaded their way through the crowd to the bar. They were in the doorway of a -small, intimately lighted room when they were stopped, by what was, to Josey, an all too familiar voice.
‘Hello, darling, miss me?’ A hand slid around her waist and Thorne pulled her to him with a warning jerk.
Her face mirrored her shock. She looked up and met the narrowed glitter of angry eyes. He was expecting her to protest and instinctively, she knew he was prepared to make a scene if she did. In fact, she suspected he would even enjoy a scene.
‘Hello, Thorne,’ she said calmly. ‘It’s nice to see you’re back. I wasn’t sure you would come back, but Maud will be glad, I know,’ she added politely.
Having firmly established the casual nature of their relationship, she waited with a feeling of impending doom as Thorne’s face hardened into a cold mask.
‘But surely you knew I’d come back for you, my sweet?’ His ironical drawl held a tinge of appreciation for her tactics. ‘I thought I settled all that the night before I left.’
Josey swallowed and darted a quick look at Brian. He was frozen with shock. By now, Thorne’s hand was explicitly caressing her bare back and sliding suggestively beneath the loose folds at her waist. Every nerve in her body was jangling, but she couldn’t shrug him off—his glittering eyes told her just what he would do if she tried it. So she was forced to pretend that she hadn’t noticed his movements or the lazy mockery of his smile.
‘I don’t believe you two have met.’ Josey was speaking between her teeth, meeting Thorne’s amused look with a bright defiance. She performed the introductions rigidly, screamingly aware of the hand sliding down her spine. And he knew, damn him! He knew the effect he was having on her senses.
Desperately, Josey turned to Thorne. ‘Did you bring a date? Brian, shall we ask them to join us?’
She saw at once that was a mistake. Thorne’s eyes flared and there was a savagery in the hands that tightened painfully on her waist.
‘You’re a little devil, aren’t you?’ he said gently, his warm breath fanning her face. ‘You know you’re my girl.’ He turned to Brian. ‘I hope she’s just trying to make me jealous, Marsden, because if I find out that anyone has been fooling around with my woman, I’ll grind him-right down to the ground.’ He sounded friendly but his eyes were warning the other man off.
‘I—I d-didn’t know anything about t-this …’ Brian stammered.
‘You big bully!’ Josey snapped furiously. ‘You’re a liar! How dare you imply we’re l-lovers? Don’t listen to him, Brian!’
Thorne turned to the other man, ‘If you’ll excuse us, Marsden, I’ll take Josey home now. She’s growing a little testy and her memory is failing. You noticed how she stammered over that word “lovers”? She always does that when she’s lying.’
Brian gaped at both of them helplessly.
‘I’ll show you who’s testy, you arrogant bully!’
‘Would you like to continue our discussion at home where we can have some privacy?’ Thorne asked smoothly, reminding her of where they were.
Josey looked around with a start. The bar was crowded and they had attracted a share of the attention, although their voices had been kept low. Brian was crimson with embarrassment.
Josey caved in. Thorne, she knew, was perfectly
willing to go on just as they were, but she knew she was only humiliating Brian, who was apparently not willing to do battle for her.
‘Brian, dear,’ she said sweetly. ‘Will you make my excuses to your parents? Apparently, Thorne has something he wishes to discuss with me in private.’
‘So long, Marsden,’ Thorne drawled. ‘I hope I won’t have to put you straight again about Josey.’
As they waited at the cloakroom for his coat and her shawl, he said admiringly, ‘I like that dress, beauty. But from now on, I don’t want you dressing like that for anyone but me. Understand?’
She glared at him. ‘You despicable coward!’ she blazed. ‘I will never dress for you!’
He grinned. ‘Does that mean you will undress for me? Oh, no, you don’t!’
He caught her wrist. ‘You’re not sneaking away to hide yourself in the powder room. Right now, you’re so furious I don’t trust you. You need your feathers smoothed.’ His amusement deepened. ‘Why the indignation? Surely you expected me tonight?’
‘Why should I?’ she demanded in a goaded voice as she stalked out of the club towards the car park.
He smiled slowly. ‘Good old Maud. She knows all about the element of surprise. According to her, you’ve been burning the candle at both ends with Brian Marsden while I’ve been gone.’
Josey blinked. Good old Maud, indeed! ‘Well, if I have, it’s no business of yours!’
‘Which is what we’ve got to get straightened out tonight.’
By this time, they had reached the car and he slid behind the wheel after seeing her in and carefully locking the door. ‘We’ll drive along the beach. There’s no privacy at Maud’s house and I have a lot to say to you.’
She shrugged. She was too hungry for him to be frightened. And hadn’t he said that he had no intention of making love to her anywhere but in a bed? ‘I can’t stop you,’ she said blandly, her anger already dissipating.
Lady With A Past Page 7
