Dangerous Alliance

by Jane Corrie

  She ate her sparse meal, but did not enjoy it; the bread seemed to stick to her throat in spite of the liberal amount of butter she spread on it. The tea refreshed her, though, and she started to unpack the sleeping bag, and numerous other small items she had brought with her.

  It was as if an inner compulsion kept her occupied; no longer could she sit gazing at the fire. Its bright promise now held only sadness, for she could not control the trend of her thoughts.

  Even as she worked they kept intruding. Was he now with Gail in the office, supposedly catching up on the outstanding work? She frowned; but Gail had gone home. She had been one of the first out of the office, she usually was. Would she go back later?

  Kent passed a hand over her forehead, brushing back the curly fronds of hair from her face. It was no use, she thought wearily; only sleep would release her from the torment she was putting herself through, and she was tired. The journey, and the search for firewood, not to mention the previous night when she had lain awake until dawn's early light, now took its toll.

  But that night she did sleep. She fell asleep gazing at the dying embers of the fire, too weary to let unhappiness invade her consciousness. She woke shortly after six the following morning, and lay for a second or so wondering where she was.

  The same compulsion that had prompted her before made her get up and make another fire. It must have been coldness that had awoken her in the first place, although she had been warm and snug in the bag during the night. Her foresight in getting in enough wood for the morning now paid off, and she felt better as she saw the fire take hold.

  While she waited until it was hot enough for her to boil some water on it, she planned what she would do that day. Later she would take a trip into Croydon, the nearest town of any size to the village, and would purchase a chair, something foldable that she could bring back with her, and maybe some books, in case it rained and she was forced to stay inside the cottage. She fervently hoped it would not rain, for one thing she had been looking forward to almost as much as an open fire was a ramble through

  the grounds—her grounds—and plan the garden she would have.

  It was precisely seven-thirty when she heard the squeal of brakes outside the cottage. Frowning, she wondered who could be calling at that unearthly hour. Uncle John, perhaps? Had he called her at the flat and on hearing Matt's voice, had known where she would have gone for the weekend?

  She sighed as she went to the front door. She knew he meant well, but she did wish he hadn't bothered.

  When she got to the door there was no one in sight, but a sleek Daimler stood beside her hired Ford, making it look ready for the scrap heap.

  Her puzzlement grew. It wasn't Uncle John's car, unless he had changed his allegiance from Citroens.

  She walked round to the back of the cottage. The unknown visitor must have come this way. Enlightenment came then—of course, it was probably someone who had seen an earlier advertisement of the cottage, and was making an inspection of the property. Well, she thought happily, they were just too late, it was hers.

  With indignation she noticed that the back door of the cottage was open; in other words, whoever it was was now making an inspection of the interior, and considering that she had left several provisions on the kitchen sill, they must realise someone was in occupation—what a nerve!

  Her annoyance grew as she stalked through the

  kitchen to the lounge, and was just in time to see the bent form of a man as he placed another log on the fire.

  Just what ...' she began, ending with a shocked gasp as Matt straightened up and turned to face her.

  Meeting those very blue eyes, Kent felt the familiar thumping of her heart. She had forgotten how tanned he was and handsome. For one awful moment she thought she was going to cry. Play it cool, her heart whispered urgently, don't let him know you care.

  Managing to break that compelling gaze of his, she got out, 'I didn't expect you.' It sounded lame, but she couldn't help it.

  'I gave you plenty of notice,' he said airily, and made her glance swiftly up at him as he added softly, 'Still afraid of me?'

  Kent swallowed. How was she expected to answer that? 'I ...' she began, then felt a surge of fury against him for what he was doing to her.

  `Why have you come?' she asked belligerently. 'Unfinished business. I require your signature,' he drawled.

  Her lips straightened. The annulment, of course. Did he have to arrive so early! Why, she might have still been asleep.

  'Couldn't it have waited?' she said wearily. 'I was coming back, you know, tomorrow night.'

  Matt shook his head firmly. `Nope,' was all he said.

  Kent's hands clenched by her side. Well, at least he was honest! 'Very well,' she said with an exaggerated sigh. 'Where is the paper? I might as well get it over with, and you can be on your way.'

  Giving her a hurt look, he commented, 'But I've only just come.'

  Kent decided not to reply to this provoking statement. She recognised the tactics; he was trying to rile her, and he mustn't succeed, she thought desperately. Her temper once unleashed would tell him the one thing she was trying so hard to keep from him.

  With a disappointed shrug at her refusal to rise to the bait, he sighed, and felt in his blazer pocket, producing a typescript, then gazed round the empty room as if expecting a table to materialise in front of him.

  'I haven't got round to the furniture yet,' Kent murmured dryly. 'I'll have to use the mantelpiece.'

  Accepting the document from him, she looked for her handbag which contained her pen, but he thoughtfully held his ready for her.

  'Thank you,' she said bitingly, thinking he had left nothing to chance.

  Preparing to sign her name, she was halted by a dry, 'Sure you know what you're doing?'

  Kent's composure almost snapped at that. She gripped the pen hard and ground out, 'Of course I do!'

  Then signing it hastily, she handed it back to him

  with a, 'There! It's finished—thank goodness!'

  He shot her a look that sent warning sparks along her spine. 'It's just beginning,' he said quietly.

  The redhead, of course, she thought miserably, and prayed he would soon leave her to pick up the pieces as best she could.

  'I'd sure appreciate a cup of tea, if the establishment can run to one,' he commented casually.

  Kent wanted to shout and rave at him, but clamped her lips together tightly. If it meant that he would leave afterwards, she would gladly make him some tea!

  In fascination he watched as she placed the once bright kettle, now streaked with black, on the logs. 'Reminds me of my camping out days when I was a kid,' he drawled.

  Kent escaped to the kitchen to collect the teapot. She had only one mug, and he would have to use that, but first she would have to rinse it with the water from the kettle. She had a nasty feeling he intended to make a long stay of it. He would, if he knew she wanted him to go.

  How on earth had he known where to find her? She voiced the question when she returned to the lounge.

  He grinned, and once again she noticed how white his teeth were against his tan. 'Lawn,' he said, as if that explained everything, and Kent supposed it did in a way, but Uncle John hadn't known for certain that she would be there.

  When he had finished his tea, he infuriated her by demanding a tour of the house. It was easier to comply with his demand than to refuse. She was getting to the end of her patience, and had to step warily. At least they would be moving about and not standing and looking at one another. Matt anyway, was looking, Kent was making a desperate effort not to.

  The downstairs he had seen, and there was only the upstairs to show him, as she went on ahead she felt acutely embarrassed, but she managed to keep up a flow of small talk to hide her feelings, such as, 'Did you notice how old the house is? I was so pleased they preserved those timber beams.'

  By now they had reached the landing, and Matt gazed at the faded wallpaper on the wall opposite him and commented,
'It wants redecorating.'

  Kent bristled. She knew that! It was obvious that the whole house Would have to be redecorated.

  'I've someone in mind,' she said stiffly, hoping to show him she could manage her own affairs. What she had said was the truth. Uncle John had told her of someone in the village who would make a good job of it.

  As she moved in front of Matt to open the small bedroom door, she saw that his casual air had been replaced by the grim one she knew so well. Now what ...? Then she had it! Meeting his eyes, she said quietly, 'Not by Jack.'

  His non-committal grunt told her the information pleased him, but he said nothing. He carefully inspected each of the bedrooms, ending with the small boxroom off the main bedroom. 'Nursery?' he inquired, grinning wickedly at Kent's bright flush.

  Kent simply refused to answer, and turned back to the door hurriedly. 'As you see,' she said as casually as she was able to, 'it has great possibilities. Have you time to have a look at the grounds?' she asked innocently, almost holding her breath for the answer, praying he would regretfully decline.

  All kinds of emotions were flowing through her. Did he realise what kind of mental torture he was putting her through? That question about children, for instance. She would never forget it; in time to come she would stand in that room and remember the way he had grinned at her as he twisted the knife in her heart.

  Completely ignoring her last question, Matt stood looking up at the old wooden beams of the ceiling. 'You know, I could live here myself,' he commented casually.

  Kent's heart started to beat uncomfortably fast. He was tormenting her again, she thought wildly. 'There's a stream on the edge of the woods,' she said distractedly. 'Shall we ... ?' and made another move to get out of the room.

  There was something about the way he looked at her as he said softly, 'Later. Right now I'm happy where I am.'

  Quite unable to meet his eyes, she concentrated on the bare boards she was standing on.

  'I think,' he said airily, 'before we go any further, you really ought to know just what you signed a while ago.'

  Kent did look at him then, a half-startled look, as she watched him take the document out of his pocket again and hand it to her with a dry, 'Read it.'

  As she did so, and read the first few lines of the drawn up document, Kent found it was not the annulment proceedings as she had thought, but the dissolution of the partnership.

  Matt had bought her out as she had requested, but the figure named was way beyond the amount Kent was entitled to.

  He was, she thought bitterly, having one last lunge at her, this time through her pride. He wanted to show her it was well worth the extra amount to get rid of her. She would have no claim on the firm after that.

  'I can't,' she said quietly, 'accept this. It's double to what I'm entitled to.'

  'But you have accepted it,' he said with a grin. 'Your signature's on it.'

  'That,' Kent said furiously, done with humouring him, 'is easily remedied,' and she prepared to tear the paper up.

  Matt's hand closed over hers in a vicelike grip, and the next minute he had her in his arms, and no

  amount of struggling would release her.

  'You never learn,' he said softly. 'This is the way, I want it done, and 'the way it's going to be done. The same with the annulment, and when you've calmed down a little we'll discuss that too.' Then his eyes roamed over her bright flushed face and stormy eyes. 'This,' he informed her dryly, 'should have taken place later—but ...' his lips crushed hers with an intensity that frightened her.

  It was like that other time, only this time the kiss was more purposeful and left Kent in no doubt of his feelings.

  'I've missed you, woman," he whispered against her lips: 'I've lain awake at nights wanting you, calling myself all kinds of a fool for not taking you that night and forcing you to stay with me.'

  Kent wondered if she were dreaming. It couldn't be happening—but the forceful pressure of his-lips on hers told her it was happening, as did the strong arms that held her so close to that hard body of his.

  She wanted to tell him she loved him. had for an eternity, but her lips said it for her. There was no need for words, which was just as well, as Matt wasn't giving her enough breathing space.

  Later, as they sat close together beside the blazing fire, Matt brought her up to date with the events at the site since her departure.

  'I guess.' he said slowly, 'we've Tony to thank for bringing things to a head. I sure took it out on him. He stood it for a while, then came back at me: Said

  I was acting like a lovesick calf—and why—as if I hadn't worked it out for myself ! '

  He was silent for a second or so, then said softly, 'He sure laid it on the line. It wasn't until he'd finished that I realised what he was trying to tell me, that you were as crazy over me as I was over you.' He pulled her closer and took a deep breath. 'I felt like a kid let loose in a candy store and told I could have whatever I wanted. In other words, honey, I was over the moon. I wanted to rush straight back here and take you in my arms.' He grinned ruefully at her. 'You see, I was having some difficulty in believing it was true, so I had to prove it.'

  Kent nestled closer and shyly laid her head on his powerful shoulder.

  Gently pulling her away from him so that he could see her face, he said gently, 'That's why I had to go through with the annulment. I made you go through with the marriage. I could have bought you out—or I could have sent you back to London. I guess at the time I wasn't too sure of my motives, but I wanted you even then.'

  His eyes rested on her lips. 'But I was kinda set on remaining a bachelor. I think maybe I tried to sell myself on the idea that if you were around long enough whatever the attraction was, it would soon fade out—only it didn't. It got worse.'

  Kent's heart lurched as his eyes met hers. She wanted to tell him he didn't have to explain anything, but as she began to speak he laid a finger on her lips.

  'I owe you this much, honey,' Matt said gently. 'Do you remember when you told me you loved me?' he asked softly.

  Kent nodded silently.

  'From that moment on,' continued Matt, 'I knew my bachelor days were numbered. Sure, I kicked over the traces. I didn't believe you, not because I didn't want to—it wasn't until you actually said those words that I realised just how much I'd been kidding myself about the reason why I made you marry me. I guess it shook me having it spelt out like that.' He caught her to him fiercely. 'When I think back to that time, it's a wonder you didn't start hating me for the way I treated you. I sure hated myself. It suddenly hit me why I kept on riling you, hoping ...'

  He did not finish the sentence, but Kent knew what he meant. It all seemed so clear now. She had instinctively sensed what he was trying to do, but she had thought it was his conscience that was pushing-him.

  Matt went on, 'When it finally came to the showdown, I found I couldn't go thrugh with it.' His lips touched her forehead. 'It was touch and go— you'll never know how much it cost me to push you out of my arms that night.' His jaw tightened. 'But I knew what I was doing was wrong. I wasn't giving you a chance, forcing you into a real marriage like

  that; especially after what you'd said earlier. No, sir—it had to be the real thing for you, too, or nothing.'

  Kent stirred in his arms, lifting her face so that she could see his eyes. 'Is that why you bought me out?' she queried with twinkling eyes.

  The look he gave her confirmed her thoughts, as he nodded slowly. 'I didn't want you to feel you had to marry me in order to ensure your future. You're a woman of substance now, you can please yourself,' he grinned wickedly at her. 'As I said before, things kinda got out of hand. The correct procedure should have been the annulment first, then a fat cheque to give you the confidence to tell me to go and jump in the lake ... er ... if you felt so inclined, that was.'

  He frowned as another thought struck him. 'It did have another purpose,' he added softly. 'If you didn't want me, then I wanted you out of my life. I couldn't have
stood having you around and later marrying someone else.'

  'Oh, my darling,' breathed Kent, 'what a pair of idiots we were, and to think we've wasted all this time!'

  During the next few minutes Matt made a valiant try to make up for that wasted time, leaving her breathless.

  'I've a special licence in my pocket,' he whispered against her hair. 'This time I want a woman standing by my side repeating her vows and meaning every word she says, not the half-stunned girl I made marry me a year ago. Now do you see why it had to be this way?' he demanded firmly, but lovingly.

  Kent's eyes misted over. Her heart was too full for words, and whatever she might have tried to say was stifled by Matt's possessive lips.