Candy wondered who had given him that dragon jacket. She turned it over and over in her hands. It would be a woman, of course. Men didn't give each other clothes, especially not those with embroidered heraldic beasts rioting across them. She wondered whether the woman was an old flame, whether her spark still burned.
Justin had said nothing about his other lovers. Other lovers! What was she thinking about? She was not his lover. He had not mentioned love, not once during this whole fraught, frank evening. She did not know what she would do if he did.
He watched the expressions chase themselves over her face and gave a little sigh. She was unaware of it. He came up to her and turned her towards him, mangled jacket and all.
`Don't look like that, Candy. I'll take care of everything.' He feathered a kiss across her eyebrow. 'I promise.'
But he hadn't managed to take care of the loneliness that assailed her in that big, cold bed. He had not even seen it. He had not seen the need in her clutching hands either, though to Candy it had been naked when he'd kissed her a chaste goodnight.
It was a long time before she slept. And when she did she dreamt of Justin and a beautiful Chinese girl running away from her hand in hand while she cried out after them to wait.
The morning was hell. Getting up and padding about his flat as if she were used to staying overnight in the homes of strange men was almost beyond her. Justin, whistling softly between his teeth, seemed completely unaware. Even when she brushed him with her bare arm, reaching past for the coffee-pot, and jumped like a startled cat, he did not notice.
He was in shirt-sleeves but it was clear that he would be his usual self in seconds, shrugging into the superbly cut waistcoat and jacket. Candy looked at him with all the loathing of a sleepless night and at the crumpled jeans that awaited her.
`Don't you ever look untidy?' she complained, taking black coffee to the far end of the breakfast bar.
Justin's eyes gleamed. 'Often. You'll find out when we're married.'
Candy swallowed hard and refused to blush. She gave him one of her better smiles—steady and ironic.
`I look forward to it,' she assured him.
Justin gave a shout of laughter. 'So do I.' He leaned forward as if he were going to kiss her, but did not. Candy, gazing deep into laughing brown eyes, found her breath oddly difficult to keep under control. He knew. She could see that.
Candy's temper rose with her embarrassment. How dared he sit there laughing at her? Just because this was the sort of situation that he was used to and she was not. She glared at him
`Hadn't you better be going? Won't you be late for work?'
`Very wifely,' he approved, amused. But I thought I'd run you home first. I like to see my dates safely to their own doorstep—even if it's the morning after.'
Candy's stomach felt suddenly hollow. Of course there would have been a lot of times when he'd taken a lady home after one of those nights that he had begun to offer her last night and she had rejected so fiercely.
What would it have felt like if she hadn't? Would he have held her this morning? Kissed her? Held her hand while they breakfasted—then taken her back to bed? Or would he have been cool and amused and already putting it behind him while he got ready for work?
I don't think I could bear that, Candy thought, surprised. She stood up sharply. 'No, thank you.'
There was no mistaking her sincerity in the crisp, almost hostile tone. Justin looked quizzical.
`And if I want to?'
`It would be pointless. I brought my own car last night.'
Justin grinned. 'Game, set and match,' he conceded. `I give in.'
He leaned forward again and this time he did kiss her, a brief, incredibly sensuous brush of his lips and tongue across her lower lip. Candy gasped as if she had been burned. Justin's eyes gleamed.
`You don't know what it's like,' he murmured. `Wh-what?' she faltered, feeling hot and cold at the same time—feeling a fool.
Justin's smile grew wicked. 'Driving home at this time of day,' he said blandly. He drew a proprietorial finger along her bottom lip and looked pleased when she shut her eyes. 'Hope you don't regret it.'
It was fairly clear that he didn't mean the morning traffic.
He was gone before she could answer. She heard him whistling, sounding disgustingly pleased with himself. Then she heard his light steps running down the stairs, heard him call goodbye as if he did it every morning, and the thump of the closing door.
It was a long time before she stopped shaking enough to scramble into her clothes and set off for home.
When she got to her parents' house it was to find them both in the kitchen while Maria tiptoed between them setting the breakfast table. So Sir Leslie had come back, at least temporarily. Her mother did not look happy about it, though. It was obvious that she had been crying. Candy tried not to think, again.
She squared her shoulders and went in.
Her father dropped his paper and glared at her. He was a big man with a fine head of dark hair, now greying, and brilliant eyes. They were now gleaming with an emotion that Candy had no difficulty in recognising. She swallowed hard, reminding herself that she was the only person she knew who wasn't afraid of him Or not really afraid.
`Where the hell have you been?' he asked without greeting.
Candy sat down at the table and poured herself a cup of coffee.
`Morning, Pops,' she said with a calm she was proud of.
`Don't call your father that,' Judith said automatically.
Neither Sir Leslie nor Candy paid any attention to that protest. He flung the paper away from him without making any attempt to fold it properly. Judith began to pick up sheets distractedly. He ignored that too.
`Well? Your mother's been ringing half the country. Seemed to think you'd been mugged.'
Candy was conscience-stricken. 'I'm sorry, Mother.'
`And it's not the first time,' he continued, banging his hand down on the table so that the toast-rack danced on its little spindle feet. 'What the hell are you up to, my girl?'
Candy surveyed him thoughtfully. She was not sure which of her two pieces of news would be the more unwelcome. But there was no point in putting it off any longer. Justin had shown her that.
`I've been helping out at the Homeless Centre. Doing the evening run.'
Sir Leslie stared. 'Homeless Centre? Sounds like some blasted soup kitchen.'
`Yup,' Candy agreed, amused. She picked up an apple and bit into it. 'I've been asked to go on to the staff full time. I want to.'
`Well, you can't,' he said promptly. 'If you want a job you can come into the office. I've told you that before—'
`No, Pops,' she interrupted gently. 'Not just a job. A job I believe in. Where I'm adding a bit to the sum of human happiness, not just making money.'
`You've never had to bother about money,' he said bitterly. She realised with a shock that he sounded exactly like Dave Tresilian. 'You wouldn't be able to play about with down-and-outs if it weren't for my money. What if I stop your allowance?'
Judith made a small, wordless protest.
`Shut up,' Sir Leslie said, not looking at her. 'Well?'
Candy shrugged. 'Then I'll have to find another away to live.'
Sir Leslie's eyes narrowed suddenly. 'What've you been up to? Where were you last night? I don't believe your soup kitchen is open till the morning.'
Candy's heart fluttered. 'No,' she agreed quietly. His voice sank. He was always at his most dangerous when he was quiet.
`Tramp!' It came out with shattering force. 'Don't think you can behave like that and live under my roof. You can get out and stay with whoever you were with last night.'
Candy paled.
Judith said, 'No. Leslie, be reasonable ...'
He rounded on her. `If you'd been a halfway decent mother instead of always whining and trailing off to health farms, she'd know right from wrong.'
Judith shrank back, white and shaking. Candy felt a cold, pure anger sweep over her.
Her father turned back to her. 'Where were you last night? I suppose it was some man?'
`Oh, yes,' confirmed Candy.
Judith moaned.
`Who?' shouted Sir Leslie.
Candy gave him a faint sweet smile, not unmixed with triumph. 'I spent the night with Justin Richmond,' she said, pleased to be telling the literal truth.
Her mother gave a little wail.
`It's all right, Mother.' Candy added ironically, 'He's going to make an honest woman of me.'
There was a shocked silence.
Then Sir Leslie said furiously, 'You stupid girl.'
Judith said, 'Oh, Candy! How could you? He's your father's greatest enemy. How could you let him seduce you?'
Candy shrugged. 'He didn't.'
They misunderstood her, as she'd intended them to. Judith closed her eyes.
Sir Leslie roared. 'It's just to get back at me,' he flung at her. 'He wouldn't care about a child like you.'
Candy flinched at that. But she shrugged again and said calmly, 'Marriage was his idea.'
`Then he's heard about your trust fund,' Sir Leslie concluded rapidly. 'He'd figure that if he could get his hands on those shares in Neilson's it would be a standoff and I'd back away from my bid for Richmonds.'
Candy shook her head. 'I don't think so.'
Judith opened her eyes and stared at her, astonished by the certainty in her tone.
`But darling, you can't be sure.'
`Yes, I can. If that's what it was he'd have told me,' Candy said. She took another bite of her apple. 'I trust him and I've given him my word,' she added swiftly. An irrepressible flicker of mirth invaded her eyes. 'So wish me luck and brace yourself to pay for the wedding.'
Justin rang within half an hour.
`You sound all right,' he said. 'How did it go?'
Candy said truthfully, 'My father hit the roof. He thinks you're after me for my shares in Neilson's.'
Justin made a non-committal noise. 'Will he forbid the banns, do you think?' he asked, seeming mildly interested.
For some reason this was more reassuring than any protestations. Candy gave a choke of laughter. 'Not after my mother made it plain I'd been out all night,' she said crisply.
`Ah.' He sounded pleased. 'Persuaded by our night of passion, was he? You must have laid it on a bit thick.' Candy said with dignity, 'I told the truth.'
`Yes, indeed.' Justin was appreciative. 'I've noticed that before. Do you always?'
Candy said soberly, 'Look, Justin, I don't want you to feel you can't back out, if you want. I know things got a bit heavy last night ...'
`Not unduly heavy,' he demurred. She could hear the amusement.
`I'm serious. I mean, you might think better of it in the light of day. People do. Once you start to work and your ordinary life takes over, I mean.'
Justin said lightly, 'Nothing could put you out of my mind.'
Candy gritted her teeth. 'I wasn't fishing for false compliments. I was trying to say—'
`Then don't,' Justin interrupted. 'Don't say a thing more. We've got a bargain and we'll both keep it. But it's probably best not discussed. I'll see you tonight.' And he rang off.
It was prophetic, she found. The next days were full of Justin kindly, courteously but quite implacably arranging her life. And refusing to talk.
She had the uneasy feeling that she had lost control of her life. She suspected she was in experienced, powerful hands that were all too used to controlling others.
Of the experience she was left in no doubt. There were plenty of people only too happy to fill in Justin's past for her. Even her mother said unhappily that Justin had known how to get his own way with women since he was a student.
But Lizbeth Lamont was something else. But then Lizbeth Lamont was beautiful and self-assured, and she wasn't talking about Justin's student days.
She sought Candy out at a cocktail party Sir Leslie insisted on the whole family attending. She was a small, dramatic brunette. Her heavily made-up eyes and lashes were tipped with gold.
Judith Neilson took one look at her, as she came bearing down on them, and fled, murmuring incoherent apologies to her daughter.
Lizbeth was wearing a scarlet dress that left her back and shoulders bare. Her fingernails matched her dress. She had a restless manner and a high, tinkling laugh that could be heard across several rooms. She clearly believed in making an impact.
She also believed in coming straight to the point.
`Candy Neilson,' she said thoughtfully, having introduced herself. 'You know, I always thought Leslie would get you in on the editorial side. I never thought he'd let you get into bed with the opposition.'
Candy blinked Lizbeth Lamont was clearly pleased with the effect of her remark. Impact indeed. It annoyed Candy intensely.
So she gave Lizbeth a wide, cat-like smile and said, `No, it would be out of character, wouldn't it? Maybe we didn't ask my father.'
Lizbeth's elegant plucked eyebrows snapped together. `Are you telling me he's serious about you? Justin?' That annoyed Candy even more.
`He seems to be,' she murmured.
`Don't be ridiculous. You're a child.'
And that was not new and altogether too near the bone. She gave Lizbeth Lamont a look of wide-eyed wonder and, carefully, told the truth.
`That's what Justin says.' She allowed her eyes to go dreamy as if she had memories of resonant passion to call on, instead of a series of brisk if kindly instructions. She even managed a blush. 'I suppose he's rediscovering things.'
Lizbeth Lamont looked as if she had rediscovered a caterpillar in her salad and was going to scream, Candy thought with satisfaction.
Behind them, in a voice full of amusement, Justin said, `I see you two have found each other.'
Lizbeth swung rapidly on her spiked heel and flung herself into his arms. Still clasping him, she turned her head against the shoulder of his impeccable grey suit and gave Candy a look that was pure challenge. She rubbed her cheek against the dark cloth like a cat that expected to be petted.
`Darling. I had to meet the girl who took you away from the rest of us,' she said prettily.
It could have been amusing. It wasn't.
Justin's eyebrows flew up. He put her away from him, as if she had surprised him, and smiled at Candy. It was that warm smile in his eyes which usually turned her bones to water. On this occasion it made her inordinately cross.
But all he said was, 'Well, now you have, I'm going to tear her away. I haven't talked to her myself for much too long.' He took her elbow in a firm grip and steered her away. 'See you around, Liz.'
As she crossed the crowded room on his arm, Candy was seething.
'I suppose you think you're very clever,' she hissed.
He looked down at her, smiling. 'Not very,' he said ruefully. 'Or you wouldn't have had time to meet Lizbeth until—'
`Until I was well and truly under your thumb?' she supplied in a harsh undertone.
Justin looked taken aback. 'That wasn't what I was going to say, no.'
`So what were you going to say?' she challenged mockingly. 'That you're dreadfully sorry and it should never have happened?'
Justin stopped dead. For a moment he looked truly astonished. Then his mouth began to twitch.
`Not at all,' he drawled.
Candy's hand clenched tight round the champagne glass she was still carrying. She had hardly touched it.
`And,' he added swiftly, `if you're thinking of throwing that thing at me, bear in mind that I arrived after you and mine is fuller. And I believe in retaliation.'
She stared at him 'You don't mind at all, do you?' she said at last, thinking of Lizbeth curled over him with those sharp little eyes on the fiancée who was no rival.
He watched her carefully. 'Mind what?'
Candy's eyes stung. Perhaps he was even more like her father than she had thought.
`Does it feed your sense of power to see two women spitting over you?' she muttered bitterly.
Justin was quite unruffled. 'Of course not.' He paused. `But you don't spit, and Lizbeth—though she's perfectly capable of it—has other fish to fry.'
Candy felt outgunned. She was sure there was more to it than that. She was sure. But when he looked so bland and open she could not see the holes in his argument.
She said sulkily, 'She was all over you.'
`I'm her employer and she's got a healthy interest in her career. Lizbeth's a woman who never lets slip an opportunity to flatter the influential.'
`And you like it.'
Justin met her eyes steadily. 'I can live without it. I can take your parents treating me as if I have horns and a tail. Though it would be nice if you showed some pleasure in being with me sometimes.' His eyes were suddenly not amused any more.
And Candy, blushing, was silenced.
CHAPTER FIVE
JUSTIN'S family were more welcoming than her own, to Candy's relief. He took her to meet his aunt in a comfortably untidy flat overlooking a Kensington garden square.
`I'm so glad,' Lady Richmond said, kissing her on both cheeks and giving her a hug.
Candy was startled. Her own family touched very little, she realised suddenly. Judith had never yet brought herself to kiss Justin on the cheek. She looked at him. He gave her a bland smile.
`About our engagement,' he said gently. 'That's what Aunt Rose means. She's glad for us.' The emphasis was very slight, but it echoed Candy's own thoughts. She blushed.
Lady Richmond waved a hand at him, the other arm still round Candy's waist.
`Justin, don't be provocative. If you will spring surprises on people you must expect some of them to take time to get used to it. Candy knows perfectly well what I mean.' She gave her a little tug. 'Come and sit down, dear, and and tell me—oh, tell me everything. When did you meet? How long have you known each other? Have you fixed a date for the wedding?'
Candy rolled her eyes wildly at Justin, looking for help.
`Er—' she said.
No Provocation Page 6
