A Question of Marriage

by Lindsay Armstrong

  ‘Enjoy the party on Friday? I’m really sorry I abandoned you,’ Neil Baker said to Aurora on Monday morning, when their shift ended.

  They were drinking tea. It was a cool, wet morning and Aurora wrapped her hands around her mug. ‘It certainly was a lively party,’ she commented neutrally, then grinned a little wickedly. ‘Did you and your girlfriend make up or did things get worse?’

  Neil sighed. ‘We are back together but I don’t know for how long. Mandy is…it’s a case of can’t live together, can’t live apart.’ He gazed at his mug. ‘Oh, well, we’ll see. What did you think of Luke?’

  Aurora shrugged. ‘Quite impressive and not what you’d expect. He doesn’t look particularly scholarly.’ She heard the dry note in her voice.

  But Neil appeared to miss it as he replied enthusiastically, ‘That’s the beauty of Luke. You’d expect him to be dry and desiccated, but he surely isn’t.’

  ‘So I gather. Tell me about this Leonie Murdoch? You mentioned you thought Friday night’s bash might have been an engagement party?’

  ‘Ah.’ Neil looked rueful. ‘I was a bit out of date there, apparently. Mandy knows Leonie and it would appear that they’ve broken up just when everyone thought they were getting engaged—two days before the party, in fact; the party was more Leonie’s idea than his, apparently, then it was too late to cancel. He needs his head read. Mandy sides with Leonie, of course—girls sticking together, kind of thing—and puts all the blame on Luke, but in this case I have to agree. Leonie Murdoch is a ten! If not to say an eleven or twelve!’

  Aurora blinked. ‘That gorgeous, et cetera, et cetera?’

  ‘In a word, yes. She’s also very bright and brainy, she’s a stockbroker.’

  ‘So,’ Aurora said slowly, ‘she’s upset about the break-up?’

  ‘Well, she’s putting on a brave face, but Mandy reckons she’s devastated underneath. Luke…’ Neil paused ‘…has always had women running after him. So the concept of monogamy could be a little foreign to him.’

  ‘You don’t say!’ Aurora’s expression was full of disdain.

  ‘Why—’ Neil focused intently on her suddenly ‘—do I get the feeling you didn’t like him?’

  ‘I…it’s a long story, but men who are God’s gift to women bore me silly.’

  ‘I don’t think he gets around like that!’ Neil protested.

  ‘You’re not a woman,’ Aurora pointed out. ‘And you’re the one who mentioned monogamy.’

  ‘Yes, but…’ he paused and frowned ‘…what exactly happened between you two?’

  ‘Nothing much,’ Aurora replied airily, then subsided. ‘But I’m having dinner with him on Wednesday and I’m not sure—I’m even less sure now that it’s a good idea.’

  Neil stared at her, then blinked twice, but appeared to be bereft of speech.

  ‘You’re comparing me with Leonie Murdoch and finding me wanting?’ Aurora suggested.

  ‘I…well, no…I mean—’

  ‘Don’t lie, Neil,’ Aurora said with a gurgle of laughter. ‘I could see the circles of your mind spinning in your eyes. She must be quite something because, although I’m not a stockbroker or a “ten”, I don’t have two heads or anything like that, do I?’

  ‘No, no. Of course not. No,’ he insisted. ‘In fact, you’re something else yourself, Aurora. Enough to make Mandy absolutely furious with jealousy, as it happened, but—’

  ‘Not quite in their league? The Luke Kirwans and Leonie Murdochs of this world?’ Aurora suggested, still smiling as she posed the question. ‘Well, we’ll see.’

  ‘Aurora,’ Neil said a shade apprehensively, ‘don’t let anything I said…I mean, I shouldn’t have…I was only theorizing…’ He stopped helplessly.

  ‘Don’t worry, Neil, I won’t,’ she promised, with her eyes very green and very bright—something that would have put the fear of God into Bunny and her father, and didn’t, as it happened, reassure Neil Baker much either.

  Luke Kirwan was early when he came to pick her up on Wednesday, but she wasn’t even changed when he knocked on the door of her town house.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she said as she opened the door, ‘but there’s been a bit of a kerfuffle at the Coastguard. A yacht stranded on a sand bank on the South Passage Bar. So my shift went overtime because the person due to take over from me went out on the rescue boat.’

  ‘Oh.’ He looked her up and down in her white boiler suit with the Coastguard logo and studied her thick plait. ‘Are they all right?’

  ‘Yep. They got them towed off safely, but there was a woman aboard having hysterics, which didn’t help.’

  He smiled. ‘You don’t approve, I gather?’

  She shrugged. ‘It was pretty scary stuff. But I just don’t think you should be out on boats if you don’t think you can cope with emergencies.’

  ‘Do you do any of the actual rescue work yourself?’ he asked.

  ‘No. I’m just a radio operator. Look, come in and help yourself to a drink.’ She led the way into the lounge and pointed to an open cocktail cabinet. ‘I promise you I’ll be fifteen minutes at the most!’

  ‘You don’t have to rush. If I can use the phone, I can ring the club and leave a message to say we’ll be a bit late.’

  ‘I like rushing,’ Aurora said. ‘With plenty of time to get dressed I can change my mind about what to wear at least half a dozen times and still end up unhappy with my choice.’

  ‘Oh.’ His lips twisted. ‘Then please do rush, Aurora. I wouldn’t like to see you unhappy.’

  It took her five minutes to shower, five minutes to dress and the last five to apply a minimum of make-up and brush out her hair. Despite all this activity, she reminded herself of how she’d decided to play this evening. Quite normal, friendly even, but definitely not susceptible to any satanic overtures from Luke Kirwan. She grabbed her bag, shoes and a scarf in passing.

  ‘There,’ she said to him as she arrived back in the lounge. ‘Is that a demonstration of power dressing, sheer masterful organization—or what?’ She slipped on her shoes and raised her hands to gather her hair and comb it with her fingers, preparatory to tying it back with the scarf.

  He was sitting in the winged armchair but he stood up and put his hands into the pockets of his fawn trousers, worn with a beautiful blue linen shirt. And he took in her emerald chiffon blouse with its stiff collar and cuffs, her sleek long black skirt with a slit up the thigh to reveal sheer black stockings, and high black heels. Her scarf matched the blouse and her bag was embroidered with black, gold and emerald beads.

  ‘Not only that, but I think the result is masterful too, although beautiful would be a better way to describe it,’ he said finally.

  Aurora lowered her arms, conscious suddenly of the way her breasts were outlined beneath the chiffon, and shrugged. ‘So long as I don’t disgrace you in front of your brother and his wife, not to mention RQ! Shall we go? Oh, didn’t you want a drink?’

  He paused and held her gaze in a way that made her aware that her slight confusion to do with the outline of her body being on parade beneath his dark eyes was all too apparent to him. And it wasn’t until she’d turned faintly pink that he said politely, ‘Thank you, but no. I thought I’d wait.’ He looked around. ‘I’ve been talking to your fish.’

  Aurora grinned. She had a small, colourfully embellished tank but only two goldfish so far in it. ‘One of the good things about Annie and Ralph is that they don’t talk back to you. I could swear from their expressions that they do listen, though.’

  ‘Their expressions actually change?’ he asked quizzically.

  ‘Once you get to know them, yes, certainly. I thought of getting a bird, but I really feel sorry for birds in cages, so fish seemed to be a good alternative.’ A glint of mischief lit her green eyes. ‘Better than talking to yourself, surely?’

  ‘What about your diaries?’

  ‘Well, now.’ She shrugged and wondered if this was his unsubtle way of reminding her about the hold he had over her. ‘I
’ve been a little circumspect there lately. Thanks to you. But I’m sure I’ll get back into it.’

  ‘I hope you do. I’d hate to be responsible for curtailing your creative genius.’ His lips twisted at her dark expression and he said then, obviously changing the subject, ‘Do you feel claustrophobic at all, living here after the house?’

  Aurora, still smarting from the fact that he’d had the nerve to mention her diaries but determined not to show it, launched into a random speech. ‘I haven’t really had the time for any claustrophobia to kick in. But as town houses go, it’s nice, isn’t it? I know it’s a bit cluttered at the moment—I’ve got all the treasures from the house that Dad couldn’t bear to part with. Of course, he had to part with a lot, which actually annoyed me somewhat but—’ She stopped and grimaced. ‘Don’t let me ramble on! Oh, by the way, since you brought the subject up, perhaps I should give you this.’

  This was a key that she picked up from the bureau. He took it and studied it as it lay in the palm of his hand. Then he raised his dark eyes to hers. ‘The spare laundry key, I take it?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I’d forgotten about it,’ he said with a faint smile and a teasing little look.

  She raised her eyebrows ironically. ‘I hadn’t.’

  ‘Thank you.’ He slipped it into his pocket. ‘So you have no further plans to burgle me, Aurora?’

  ‘Obviously not. And I certainly don’t plan to be a suspect because I have a key to the house in my possession should you ever really be burgled.’

  ‘I see,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘I gather I’m not forgiven, then?’

  She bit her lip. It hadn’t been part of her plan to let him know she wasn’t going to be a willing victim to his blackmail scheme, but she could see this might be easier said than done. If only he hadn’t mentioned her damn diaries on top of making her feel edgy in a very physical way! So how to regroup?

  She didn’t; she made things worse if anything, but couldn’t help herself. ‘If you didn’t…somehow keep making me feel as if you’d like to…’ She stopped frustratedly.

  ‘I’d like to go to bed with you?’ he suggested mildly.

  ‘Yes!’ Her green eyes were fierce and her fists clenched. ‘Believe me, I have no intention of allowing that to happen.’

  ‘Then should we go to dinner instead?’ He consulted his watch. ‘It is getting late now.’

  ‘Is that all you’ve got to say?’ she demanded.

  ‘You’ve used that line before,’ he reminded her.

  Aurora turned away, ground her teeth, then picked up her bag and marched to the door. He followed her, shrugging into his tweed jacket, and waited while she locked the door behind them. She dropped the keys into her bag but when she glanced at him through her lashes it was to disturb such a look of humorous appreciation in his eyes, she was flooded with all sorts of sensations. But the chief ones were to feel disconcerted instead of annoyed—and rather young.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  ‘I MIGHT have known,’ Aurora said as she slid into the front seat of his yellow, convertible Saab.

  Luke Kirwan glinted an unspoken question at her.

  ‘That your car would be in keeping with everything else that is so misleading about you,’ she elucidated. ‘Mind you, it’s very nice, trendy and yuppie, et cetera.’

  He said ruefully as he drove off, ‘Is that how you see me—trendy and yuppie?’

  Aurora shrugged. ‘Scholarly was the last thing that entered my mind when I saw you, as we both know.’

  ‘What about nice?’

  ‘No, nice didn’t occur to me at the time either,’ she conceded, ‘and, to be honest, neither did yuppie.’

  ‘So what did occur to you, Aurora?’ he queried as he turned into the RQ car park.

  She considered briefly. ‘I’d rather not say at the moment.’

  ‘Is this going to be a test like sweaty palms and treading on your toes?’

  She tilted her chin and favoured him with an enigmatic green gaze. ‘Perhaps.’

  He laughed softly, then said, ‘As a matter of fact, this car appeals to the engineer in me, that’s why I drive it.’

  ‘I might have believed that if you’d gone for a black one,’ she said gravely. ‘But yellow? Surely that has to be a statement of some kind?’

  ‘What colour car do you drive?’ he countered.

  ‘A sort of pearly watermelon pink,’ she said demurely. ‘But then I’m not a professor of anything.’ She shrugged. ‘I’m also a girl and expected to be colourful.’

  He pulled the yellow Saab up in a parking slot and switched off the engine. ‘So you are—colourful,’ he remarked. ‘OK, I fully intended to get a neutral colour only to find I couldn’t resist this one. I don’t know what hidden facets of my character this indicates, but it gives me a deep sense of satisfaction to be seen driving this car and this colour.’

  ‘See?’ Aurora smiled sunnily at him. ‘It’s quite easy to be honest when one really sets one’s mind to it. And I don’t hold the colour of your car against you at all, so long as you’re honest about it.’

  ‘I’ll store that piece of information away for future reference,’ he said a little dryly. ‘Nor is it the time and place to go into the fact that I haven’t been intentionally dishonest with you—’

  ‘It isn’t,’ Aurora broke in to agree. ‘We’re definitely late now, Mr Kirwan. Not only that, I’m starving!’

  But although he opened his door and the overhead light came on, it was a long moment before he got out. And it was a curiously heavy-lidded gaze he subjected her to that set her skin tingling just when she’d been congratulating herself that she’d got the reins back in her hands, so to speak. The reins of not falling for the dangerously attractive side of Luke Kirwan as well as playing her own game.

  He said nothing, however, then he did get out, leaving her feeling shaken and not at all sure—of anything.

  Barry Kirwan and his wife, Julia, were already seated and waiting for them.

  Barry was in his early thirties, as tall as his brother but sandy-haired and playful. And Julia Kirwan was one of those down-to-earth, straight-talking girls, although attractive with big blue eyes and a very short cap of fine, fair hair.

  But it was obvious they both felt slightly awkward at first, as if trying to assess how serious Leonie Murdoch’s replacement might be in Luke Kirwan’s scheme of things. When one of Aurora’s coastguard colleagues came over to the table and congratulated her on the way she’d handled the afternoon’s drama, the ice was broken immediately, though.

  ‘Was that you on the radio this afternoon?’ Barry said incredulously. ‘We were out on the bay at the time and we listened to it all—you were fantastic!’ he said enthusiastically. ‘Especially the way you calmed that poor woman down.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Aurora responded, and the evening perked up considerably as they talked boats and boating, and sheep stations—Barry managed two of the family properties—and Aurora’s career as a radio broadcaster.

  Then Julia suggested they visit the powder room and Aurora had been enjoying herself so much, she didn’t stop to think about what she might be letting herself in for…

  They were touching up their make-up side by side when Julia looked at her in the mirror and said straightly, ‘Do you know about Leonie, Aurora?’

  Aurora capped her lipstick and ran a finger around the outline of her mouth. ‘Yes, as a matter of fact, although I’ve never met her.’

  ‘We all thought Luke bought his new house because they were getting married.’

  ‘So I believe,’ Aurora murmured, not looking back at Julia in the mirror.

  ‘I just thought I ought to warn you,’ Julia went on, ‘that he could be in a…dangerous frame of mind.’

  Aurora’s lashes lifted and their gazes locked in the mirror. ‘In what way?’

  Julia shrugged. ‘In the way that if he still wants Leonie, but on his terms, say, then he might, well…use someone to make her jealous.’

&nbs
p; ‘What different kind of terms could he have in mind other than marrying her?’ Aurora asked.

  ‘Perhaps he wanted her to give up her career to fit in with his own. Look—’ Julia hesitated, then went on frustratedly ‘—it’s just that they were such a great couple, no one can believe this has happened. So I…perhaps I shouldn’t have but, anyway, I felt conscience-bound to say something.’

  ‘Thank you, Julia,’ Aurora said, although she was actually thinking that in different circumstances she might have found the other girl’s candour more like a natural talent for meddling. ‘But I’m not serious about Luke so you don’t need to worry.’

  Julia turned from the mirror for the first time and regarded Aurora directly. ‘It wouldn’t be hard to join a long line of women who thought the same,’ she observed.

  You, too, before you married his brother? it crossed Aurora’s mind to think from nowhere—but she was just on the verge of dismissing the thought as being uncharitable, if nothing else, when Julia turned away as a faint pink began to creep up her neck.

  Aurora blinked, then popped her lipstick into her bag at the same time as she thought, Glory be! Luke Kirwan had a lot to answer for. But all the better, really. All the more ammunition to add to her arsenal…

  The evening broke up not long after that.

  It was eleven-thirty and Aurora said ruefully, ‘Oh! I’ve got to get up at five tomorrow, I really should be getting home to bed!’

  Luke stood up. Of the four of them, he’d probably said the least, Aurora suddenly realized, yet he hadn’t looked bored or as if he hadn’t been enjoying himself.

  But when they’d parted from Barry and Julia, after Barry, at least, had enthusiastically expressed the hope that they’d meet again, and were walking to the car, Luke said, ‘That wasn’t so bad, was it?’