Diamond Cut Diamond

by Jane Donnelly

  'Changes can be for the better.'

  'Promises, promises,' she said flippantly and gaily, and he sat back in the driving seat, and looked at her with eyes as black as pitch, and said softly, 'But I'm not promising you anything,' and a cold shiver ran down her spine and she thought, It's true all right, I am scared of him…

  They went into a hotel, ordered food, ate. The dining room was full and Charlotte chattered animatedly, trying to entertain. She felt she was cutting no ice with Saul, but then she didn't like him either, so it evened out, and her reflection in a mirror on the wall showed her a radiantly pretty girl, and she drank two glasses of sparkling wine and took comfort in the fact that there was only one more house to see. Then she could go home and phone Jeremy.

  'I have to make a phone call,' said Saul, checking his watch. 'Will you excuse me?'

  Indefinitely, Charlotte thought, don't you hurry back for me. 'Of course,' she said, and watched him go through the door and ate a little more of her rum baba, then decided this would be an opportune time to slip to the loo. The toilets were just beyond the phones. Saul had his back to her, they were the semi-open booths, and she could hear what he was saying.

  He was telling someone about the properties they had viewed this morning, and having passed him and rounded the corner she couldn't resist lingering. He might mention Dunscombes, and she was dying to know what was going on there, so she stood as near as she could remaining hidden, straining to hear, hoping that nobody would come along and catch her eavesdropping.

  He said a few more words about the penthouse flat, about the lease, then he laughed. 'Oh, she's beautiful all right,' he said, 'and dumb as they come. She must have an I.Q. in single figures,' and she choked.

  He was talking about her. Somebody was laughing with him, without a doubt, and she nearly marched right back and stopped them laughing. She did take a step before she checked herself. She shouldn't have heard that, Saul had named no names, what could she say? He might go on laughing, he might think this was hilarious.

  She dived into the Ladies' and glared at her reflection which had turned very white. Dumb as they come… I.Q. in single figures… I could murder him, she thought, who the hell is he telling that to? She was shaking with rage so that a woman, emerging from the loo, enquired anxiously if she was all right.

  'Yes, thank you,' Charlotte managed to croak.

  'It's the heat,' said the woman. 'I can't stand it myself. Why don't you sit down?'

  Charlotte sat down. What cheek, she kept thinking, what flaming cheek! Who does he think he is, Mastermind? 'Would you like an aspirin?' the woman offered, digging into her handbag and coming up with a strip of tablets. She tore off a couple and Charlotte thanked her, although it wasn't aspirins she needed. Now she could have used a cyanide pill, she could have dropped that in Saul Laurenson's coffee.

  She took a long deep breath to stop the shaking, and came out of the Ladies' still glittering with fury. She'd show him! What was his I.Q., she'd like to know?

  He was no longer at the phone but back at the table, and she took her place opposite and smiled at him with tight lips. Right, she thought, let's have some intelligent conversation; and she launched into a dissertation on party politics. It wasn't one of her favourite subjects, but local problems and local politics always got an airing in the local papers, and she had a retentive memory.

  Saul listened, asking the occasional question that she either answered or skirted, and then she went on to national and international news, quoting shamelessly from articles she had read, looking and sounding earnest and erudite.

  She gave quite a performance, until a sip of the sparkling rose wine went down the wrong way and started her choking. When she had finished spluttering she looked across at Saul, through streaming eyes, and he was grinning.

  'It doesn't take much to amuse you, does it?' she snapped.

  'Sorry,' his lips were still twitching, 'but I'll upgrade you into two figures, possibly even three.'

  'What?'

  'Your I.Q.'

  She nearly choked again. Instead she gulped and glared, 'You knew I heard that!' He must have seen her pass and guessed she would stop just round the corner and eavesdrop. He had been leading her on.

  'Haven't you heard that listeners never hear any good of themselves?' he said, eyes glinting with amusement, and Charlotte would have loved to empty the dregs of the wine bottle over his head.

  'Don't put me down, damn you!' she gritted, clenching her hands on the table so that her knuckles shone, and he shook a reprovingly head.

  'Temper, temper.' It was a long time since her temper had flared like this and she unclenched her fingers and tried to smile. She managed a half-hearted grin, 'At any rate, you said I was beautiful.'

  'Very beautiful. You must get told that often.'

  'Sometimes.' It would have been hypocrisy to pretend she wasn't used to flattery, but Saul Laurenson was no more moved by her face than by the aquamarine ring on her finger. They were both beautiful, but not rare enough in his world to impress him. She said, 'I'm not so dumb, you know.'

  'I never thought you were.'

  The admission made her smile naturally. 'All right,' she said, 'I shouldn't have hung around listening. I don't make a habit of eavesdropping, I promise you, but I am curious to hear just what you're planning for the family firm.'

  'Ask your father.'

  'Oh, I will,' she said, 'I will.' She might have tried to get a little information from Saul—although she was pretty sure he considered the subject closed—but just then she heard her name called.

  Jo-Ann Marley had known Charlotte ever since they were children. She had blonde bubble curls, a very pretty face and a hungry eye for the men. It was Charlotte's escort, rather than Charlotte herself, who brought Jo-Ann over. She was lunching with a couple of aunts, and bored with them, when she spotted Charlotte, and then Saul. 'Back in a minute,' she told the aunts. 'Charlotte!' she called, and her brilliant smile started with Charlotte but quickly switched to Saul, although she was speaking to Charlotte.

  'Hello, stranger,' she gurgled. 'Ages since I've seen you.'

  Not really, thought Charlotte. Not more than a few weeks. She said, 'Hello, this is Saul Laurenson; Saul, Jo-Ann Marley.'

  'We went to school together,' Jo-Ann gurgled.

  'Charlotte was the clever one. She still is, isn't she? I'm stuck with two old aunts and here she is with yet another feller. By the way, what are you doing after lunch?'

  She was asking Charlotte, but she meant Saul, who was sitting back and looking, Charlotte had to admit, the most impressive man in the room for anybody's money. 'Looking at a house,' said Charlotte.

  'Oho?' Jo-Ann's voice rose. 'You mean ?' She waggled her finger, linking them, and Charlotte said raggedly, 'Not for us, for heaven's sake,' and then bit her lip and felt herself flushing.

  Saul said, 'For me. Charlotte is giving me the benefit of a little friendly advice.'

  'That's nice,' said Jo-Ann. 'You're coming to live down here?'

  'Probably.'

  'Very nice,' said Jo-Ann, and turned to Charlotte to ask, 'How's Jeremy these days?'

  'Oh, just fine,' said Charlotte.

  'You're still seeing him?'

  'Of course.'

  'I wondered if you'd split.'

  'No danger,' said Charlotte, resisting the temptation to say, 'And no business of yours if we had.'

  'Well, goodbye for now, then,' said Jo-Ann. 'See you again some time.' She smiled at Saul, and managed to make that sound full of promise, and Saul said, 'I hope so.'

  When Jo-Ann was safely back at her table he asked, 'Do you have many friends like her?'

  'Not many.' Jo-Ann had never really been a friend, more of a rival even at school. It would have boosted her ego to take a man away from Charlotte, and if Charlotte had had any designs on Saul herself she would have been keeping an eye on Jo-Ann. She said tartly, 'I'm pretty sure you'll get an invitation to a dinner party in the next week or two.'

 
'Shall I?' said Saul, with the uninterest of a man who need never spend an evening alone. Then he grinned. 'Well, it's nice to know that some of the natives are friendly.'

  'I'm sure we all are,' said Charlotte, but she knew that he felt the hostility too. Even when they were smiling at each other it was just below the surface. Jo-Ann was a man-eater, but she would find this one too tough to handle, and Charlotte would feel almost sorry for her if she tried.

  She was still at her table when they left the dining room, and she waved vivaciously at them, and the two aunts in their summer straw hats craned their necks to see…

  Saul didn't tell Charlotte to put on her seat-belt this time, and having made an issue of refusal she couldn't very well change her mind. They went across country to the last house, saving several miles by cutting through the lanes. Charlotte directed, the wine making her feel relaxed even with Saul beside her. She watched his hands on the wheel and thought, He drives like an expert. I wonder if he can handle a horse. I wonder how he would handle a woman.

  Not, of course, that she was interested in his sensual expertise, but seeing Jo-Ann ogling him had made her realise that to some women he might seem a disturbingly sexy man. 'It's hot in here,' she said, running a finger round the neck of her shirt. 'Can I turn up the cold air?'

  The windows were open but she was hot, and the sun was bright on the windscreen so that she hardly saw the other car. It came straight across the crossroads, although this was the major road, and Saul had to slam on his brakes to avoid ploughing into it. At the same time he flung an arm across Charlotte or she would have gone headfirst through the windscreen. 'As it was, she hit the glass with her forehead with a force that knocked her unconscious.

  The terror only lasted a moment before the impact, but it was long enough for her to taste death, and her mouth seemed full of bitter acid when she opened her eyes and Saul's face swam over her. He had an arm around her. Behind him, through the open window, was a red face with shocked bulging eyes, topped by a checked cap.

  'It's all right,' said Saul, and miraculously it was. Her ears were ringing like a peal of discordant bells, and her head felt numb, as though it was stuffed with cotton wool. But she knew how narrow her escape had been and that he had saved her from being slashed to ribbons.

  The headache would come later, but right now all that mattered was that she was alive, she was all right, she was so lucky. She tried to lift her head, but everything went spinning and she heard Saul say, 'We're getting you to hospital…'

  'Yes, I remember,' she said, some fifteen minutes later. 'A car came out and we had to brake. I suppose the driver -was the man in the flat cap. He's a menace on the road.'

  'The roads are full of menaces,' sighed the emergency doctor, who saw the results of many of them. A nursing Sister checked Charlotte's blood pressure and pulse rate. The doctor had examined her eyes' reaction to light, and now he wanted to know whether there was any loss of memory leading up to her slamming her head against the windscreen. There wasn't, and that seemed to be a good sign, but even after the X-rays had shown no fracture it was no guarantee against bruising of the brain.

  Actually she wasn't told that. Saul was. The Sister was repeating the doctor's instructions, that Charlotte had had a nasty thump and should go to bed for twenty-four hours, and mustn't take anything stronger than a couple of Paracetemols because if the headache got really bad they would want to know. The doctor was talking to Saul, and Charlotte was listening to what he had to say, although she was nodding at the Sister.

  In the car she said, 'Bruising of the brain sounds terrible. What else did he say that I couldn't hear?'

  'Things to watch out for,' said Saul.

  'Such as?'

  'Severe vomiting. Disorientation.'

  'Fantastic,' she said. 'I'll look forward to that.' A bump of sizeable proportions throbbed on the hairline of her forehead and she wanted to get home to Aunt Lucy. It was a long time since she had run to Aunt Lucy with a cut knee or a bee sting, but right now it seemed like yesterday and she felt like a small girl again with a tear-stained face.

  In fact her cheeks were dry and she put on a brave face, and when the car drew up at home she opened the car door and waved across at old Tom, who was weeding, with a long-handled hoe because he couldn't manage the bending any more. But suddenly she wasn't sure that her legs would support her. Now she was home and safe the shock was telling, and she bit her lip and asked Saul, 'Would you fetch Aunt Lucy, please? I'm not disorientating, I'm just feeling slightly the worse for wear.'

  'Sure,' he said. He went into the house and Charlotte sat waiting. When he came out he was alone, and he went across to Tom and spoke to him, then came to Charlotte and said, 'Miss Snowe's not in at the moment.'

  'Where is she?'

  'Gone into Stratford.' And it wasn't Maudie's day, so there was nobody at home, and she would have to get herself to bed, so she had better get on her feet. 'Come on,' said Saul.

  'I can walk.' But the headache was starting. She prayed, please God, don't let it get too bad, and Saul said, 'Take it easy, they said,' and picked her up as though she was still a child.

  She didn't want that. She wouldn't have minded a helping hand, but she didn't want holding so that her cheek was pressed against his chest and her arms were round his neck. That seemed the only place for her arms to go, and she didn't have the strength to argue or struggle, although when he started to carry her upstairs she did say, 'I could lie down on the sofa.'

  'Not for the next twenty-four hours,' he said. 'You'll be better in bed. Which is your room?'

  'Second floor.' She reached to turn the knob, babbling, 'I'll wear a seat-belt after this. I don't feel bad at all really, but I think I'll have those two headache pills if you'd just get them for me from the bathroom cupboard. I'll just kick my shoes off and—'

  'You'll just shut up,' he said. He set her down on the edge of the bed, seated, and took off her sandals, and she thought it would have been nice if he had rubbed her bare feet for a while because her toes were twitching with nerves. But when she realised he was undoing the little buttons of her shirt she stiffened, protesting, 'I can manage.'

  'Good,' he grinned, and somehow it was a nice grin that took the tension out of her. 'But remember there isn't much of you that I haven't seen.'

  'There's enough,' she heard herself giggle weakly.

  'Then I'll find your pills.'

  While he was gone Charlotte got out of her clothes and into a nightdress and crawled between the sheets. She would take the pills and rest and know soon enough if there was any damage done. At the moment she couldn't be sure she was all right, the bump was throbbing away.

  She might feel better after resting or she might feel worse, and she wished Aunt Lucy were here to sit by her bed.

  Saul brought the pills and water and she swallowed, then lay back on the pillow, and he leaned over her and for a moment she thought he was going to kiss her. That would have been comforting. When he didn't she faltered, 'What is it?'

  'Not a thing,' he said. 'You're fine.' 'Then why were you looking at me like that?' 'Would you believe to check if your pupils match? They do, both the same size, and that means you're fine.'

  She looked up into his eyes and felt his breath on her parted lips like the lightest of kisses, and said, 'Will you stay until somebody comes?'

  'Of course,' he said, and Charlotte closed her eyes and let herself drift into sleep, and she wasn't afraid any more because Saul was staying with her and with him she was safe.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Charlotte woke at Aunt Lucy's touch and blinked at the fear in her big moon face. 'Oh, my poor lamb,' Aunt Lucy was whispering. 'What happened to you?'

  Then Charlotte remembered, and touched the bump on her forehead and winced. Her head was aching, but not unbearably, and she was feeling sick but not to the stage of severe vomiting. What was the other thing? Disorientation. Well, the room seemed to be steady enough, and so did dear old Aunt Lucy, who was such a picture of
misery that Charlotte said quickly, 'Nothing to what could have happened—I was very lucky.'

  'I wouldn't call this being lucky!' Reassured, Aunt Lucy was turning querulous. 'Not a scratch on Mr Laurenson, I notice. It's only you who nearly goes through the windscreen.'

  She sounded in a mood to accuse Saul of reckless driving at least, and Charlotte said, 'If it hadn't been for Saul I would have gone through the window. I wasn't wearing a seat-belt and he held me back, and the accident wasn't his fault, because this idiot cut straight out in front of us.'

  'Oh,' said Aunt Lucy. 'Well, in that case I'm sorry I was sharp with him.'

  She was still wearing her coat and hat and she must have just returned from her shopping. As soon as Saul broke the news that Charlotte was in bed, as the result of a car accident, Aunt Lucy would be up here as fast as her bulk would let her. Charlotte wondered what she had said to Saul, who had surely had enough trouble for one afternoon. Not, she thought, that Saul would be cut to the quick by Aunt Lucy.

  She was feeling better. Her face had been wiped clean at the hospital, but Aunt Lucy, with an inborn instinct for coddling, said, 'I'll just sponge your hands and face,' and brought a basin and a cloth and gently dabbed away, finishing with an eau-de-cologne soaked handkerchief tucked under Charlotte's pillow. 'Now,' she said, 'do you fancy a cup of tea?'

  That was welcome. Charlotte sat up and sipped, and explained that she didn't need any food because she had had an outsize lunch. It was nearly five o'clock now, and she must have slept for a good two hours, although she wouldn't have put it that long. Georgy had come into the room some time and was curled on his rug- viewing Aunt Lucy's comings and goings with some surprise, and after her cup of tea Charlotte said, 'I should think I could get up.'