When she was ready she felt inexplicably shy, reluctant to face the curious eyes that would be upon her from the moment she left the cabin; but knowing Colin would come looking for her if she did not put in an appearance, she left her stateroom and went slowly up to the ballroom.
She stopped on the threshold, enjoying the colourful scene and amazed at the ingenuity of the costumes. Nurses danced with toy soldiers and a clown was clasping an ondine, who in turn was making eyes at a fearsome-looking teddy bear in a gold mohair coat! It was impossible to recognize anyone, and though she kept a lookout for a pirate it was not until Colin himself hailed her that she was able to recognize him.
He had spared no effort to look the part, but his costume showed no sign of improvisation and she guessed that the cocked hat and frilled silk shirt he wore had been brought along specifically for such a purpose. Indeed, now that she looked around she could see that many of the costumes were far too elaborate to have been invented at such short notice. Fancy dress was a part of every ship's cruise, and she was surprised that Janey had not prepared for it Not that she need have worried at her own appearance, for Colin's gaze was openly admiring.
'You should always wear a lot of make-up,' he said. 'You look devastating.'
He polled her on to the floor and guided her between the throng of dancers. All the while she kept searching for Stephen,but it was not until they had circled the floor twice and were nearing the entrance again that she saw him come in with Claire.'
The girl looked devastating beautiful in the costume of a Spanish dancer, the slit skirt showing black silk-clad legs, the tightly laced bodice pushing up the pointed breasts. But it was at Stephen that Jane stared the longest, her very bones seeming to melt, her heart racing so fast that she could hardly breathe.
He too was dressed as a pirates but whereas Colin looked debonair, Stephen looked a veritable buccaneer, his eyes glinting no less brightly than the ugly-looking dagger at his waist. Deeply tanned, he had not needed to darken his skin, and the one gold earring that he wore heightened his colour. A vivid red shirt, half undone, disclosed his bare chest, which seemed in the glow of electric light far more sensual than it did when he was lying by the pool in the sunlight.
'There's nothing original anywhere in the world,' Colin complained. Trust Stephen to pick the same as me!'
He waved, and Stephen nodded in their direction. Jane hoped they would be able to dance away from them, but she had reckoned without Claire, for the girl was determined to show off her capture, and she bailed them, making it impossible for them not to stop.
'How pretty you look, Janey,' she drawled. 'And you're wearing your jewellery after all.'
'Not without a lot of persuasion on my part,' Colin said. 'You're looking pretty nifty yourself, Claire.'
'I'd have been improved by a few of Janey's baubles. It's difficult to know what to wear with a Spanish dress.'
'Diamonds,' Colin said promptly. 'If you'd been nice to me, I'd have arranged it for you.'
The smile Claire gave him seemed false, and again Jane was concious of an undercurrent between them. Could Claire be Colin's Queen of Sheba? If so, it would account for his coming on the cruise. Yet it was obvious that Claire did not return his feelings, for though she had avowed her determination to find a husband, she did not include Colin in her calculations. 'But she's certainly included Stephen,' Jane thought as Claire moved her shoulder closer to the man at her side.
Throughout the conversation between Colin and Claire, Stephen had not once looked in Jane's direction, and it was only as the tempo of the music changed and Claire turned in his arms that he gave Jane a brief smile before turning his back to her.
With an effort she danced and joked and drank champagne, trying to pretend she did not care that Stephen was not with her. The music grew louder, the lights grew brighter and her head began to throb so that the quietness of her cabin and sleep became necessities she could no longer do without.
'I can't keep awake any longer, Colin,' she said finally. 'It's nearly two o'clock and I'm absolutely dead.'
'One more dance,' he said, 'and then I'll take you down.'
With a sigh she followed him on to the floor again, dismayed when the orchestra swung into a polka. Around the floor they whirled, jostling against other dancers, apologizing and whirling away again to bang into yet another couple. With a final crescendo the music ended and she stopped, the room revolving.
'That really was the last dance. I'm so tired I—'
The words died away and her eyes dilated. Beneath her fingers she felt the muscles of her throat contract, the skin damp to her touch.
'What's wrong, Janey? You're as white as a ghost.'
'My ruby necklace! It's gone.' She took her hand away and Colin stared at her.
'You must have dropped it.'
'I'd have heard it fall. It's far too heavy to drop unnoticed.'
'You wouldn't have heard it in all this noise. Hang on and I'll ask the orchestra leader to make an announcement.'
Jane remained where she was, trembling too much to move, while Colin walked over to the dais and whispered to the man standing on it. At once he announced the loss of the necklace over the microphone, and after a moment of heavy silence everyone stood up and began to look about them. Slowly the seconds passed, each one a heartbeat of fear for Jane, but as they ticked away into minutes the rubies were not found and her fear increased.
'It's got to be here somewhere,' she cried, and began to search the floor herself.
'Take it easy, Janey.' Colin was at her side. 'It can't be far away. Come over to the table and have a drink.'
'But I've got to find it. You don't understand, Colin. I've got to find it.'
His look was puzzled, but he caught her arm and led her over to the table. As she sank into her chair Stephen materialized in front of her, and though there was no warmth in his face the coldness had gone from it.
'The necklace must be in the ballroom,' he said quietly. 'Don't be so upset.'
'But it's worth a fortune,' she gasped.
'I'm sure it is. And I'm equally sure your father's insured it.'
With an effort she remembered who she was supposed to be and tried to muster her composure.
'If the necklace isn't recovered you've no idea how angry Dad'll be, insured or not.'
'I'm certain you'll find it.'
'But say it's been stolen!'
Her words had the effect of a bombshell and both men stared at her. Stephen's face paled and it was left to Colin to speak first.
'Don't let Dinky hear you say such a thing. He'd have a fit!'
She did not reply. Quite a few of the people on board would have a fit if they knew that one of their number was a much-sought-after thief!
'I think Jane needs a drink,' Stephen said.
Colin tried to attract the attention of a waiter, but the loss of the necklace had distracted everyone and he walked over to the bar himself.
'When did you last notice you were wearing it?' Stephen asked.
'I don't remember. It was only at the end of the waltz that I realized it had gone. I thought it had dropped off while I was whirling round.'
If it did then if's quite likely to have been flung some distance away. There's a chance some of the people went out to get a breath of air before the orchestra leader announced the loss of your necklace…'
Leaving his words unfinished, he strode to the nearest door and disappeared.
Left alone, Jane twisted her hands nervously, formulating in her mind what she would say to Janey and Cedric Belton if the rubies were not found. How awful if they suspected her!
'I wish to heaven I'd never let Colin persuade me to wear the beastly things. If I ever get the necklace back I'll never wear any of them again. I'll lock them up in the Purser's office and—'
Her thoughts stopped abruptly as Stephen came through the door, triumph in his face, in his hand a glittering coil of ruby fire.
'Where did you find it?' she ga
sped.
'Where I thought I would. It had been flung off while you were dancing and fell on to another woman's dress. I walked along the deck looking at all the passengers and saw some old dowager by the rails. She was wearing a bunched-up thing of net and I took a chance and asked her to turn round. Your necklace was half hidden in one of the folds of material.' He held it out to her. 'Lean forward and I'll put it on.'
She obeyed, and the necklace slithered around her neck. But she was not conscious of the cold touch of the jewels on her skin, but of the warmth of his fingers as they manoeuvred the clasp. He too was not unaware of her proximity, and she could have sworn that the tempo of his breathing changed. Yet when he stepped back and she looked into his face his expression was as inscrutable as ever.
'I'll tell the band leader to announce that you've recovered it,' he said, and walked away.
As he left, Colin returned with a couple of drinks, and Jane gulped hers down, intent on going to her cabin, taking off all the jewellery and giving it into the Purser's charge.
Colin accompanied her to the cabin and outside the door put his arm over her shoulder.
'You look so lovely, Janey. I'm sorry you had such a fright over the rubies. You're a silly girl to have got so upset. Even if the whole lot was pinched it's the insurance company that has to worry, not you.'
'I don't want anyone to worry,' she retorted. 'I'm giving the whole lot back to the Purser right now!'
'What's the point in having the stuff if you don't wear it?'
'It's my jewellery. I can do what I like with it.'
'I know that, old girl. It just seems a pity, that's all. Come on, then. If you're going to the Purser I might as well go with you. Otherwise you'll be afraid someone will make a grab at you while you're walking along the corridor!'
Since this was precisely what she had been thinking, she laughed nervously. 'Hang on a second while I get the rest of the stuff.'
She ran into her cabin and picked up the jewel-case from the dressing-table, taking off the jewellery she was wearing and placing it carefully inside. Holding the case in her hands as though it were a bomb, she went with Colin to the Purser's office, stopping in dismay as she saw that the wooden shutter was down and no light burned within.
Colin looked at his watch. 'It was stupid of me not to have realized. The poor chap's fast asleep. You'd better come back in the morning.'
'I can't. I won't be able to go to sleep unless I know they're safe.'
'For heaven's sake! No one's going to pinch them. You can't really be worried.'
'Is anything wrong?' a quiet voice asked, and Jane swung round to see Stephen at the foot of the stairs leading from the main deck.
'I wanted to give the Purser my jewel-case, but the office is closed.'
Stephen looked at her, and seeing her white face he walked over to a telephone placed in a niche on one of the walls and picked it up. She was too far away to hear what he said, but when he replaced the receiver he was smiling.
'The Purser will be here in a couple of moments,' he told her.
Soon footsteps were heard, and the Purser, clad in a flannel dressing-gown, his face flushed from sleep, came into sight. He took the case from her and beckoned her to come into his office, where he locked the case away in a wall safe and handed her the key.
'You'd better guard that too,' Colin grinned as she came out. 'Otherwise our famous thief will be pinching it from under the Purser's nose!'
It was a joke at which Jane could not laugh, and she put the key in her bag and held it tightly.
"You've all been very kind to me, but now if you'll excuse me, I must go to bed, I'm absolutely dead.'
Not waiting for a reply, she half ran down the corridor.
Outside her cabin she fumbled with the lock, her eyes filled with tears of relief and exhaustion.
Here, let me do it for you.'
Shock made her motionless and without a word she gave Stephen the key and watched him manipulate the lock and open the door.
'It's silly of me not to be able to do it,' she said huskily.
'It's bent, I think. Get the steward to have a look at it in the morning.'
'I will.'
He half moved towards her and then drew back. 'Poor Jane, you really do take things to heart,' he murmured.
'So would you in my position,' she blurted out.
There was a curious puzzlement in his eyes and his mouth moved as though he were going to speak. But he seemed to think better of it and instead touched her cheek. In the rosy light that filtered down the corridor he looked taller and darker than ever, his face in shadow, only his eyes glittering and the dagger that flashed at his waist.
'Goodnight, Stephen,' she said, and unable to bear his proximity any longer, closed the door behind her.
CHAPTER NINE
For the next few days the Cambrian sailed slowly down the western coast of Italy and then up the Adriatic towards Venice. The weather was perfect, blue skies, blazing sun and cool breezes, while the evenings were star-filled and meant for love.
But Jane, spending a great deal of her time with Colin, wished she were free to leave the ship and return to England. Indeed, had it not been for the promise the had made to her father, she would have made some excuse and asked Dinky to stop at one of the small ports lining the route.
She made a second attempt to have things out with Stephen, but he had refused to listen to her and pride forbade from trying again. If he could be so jealous over such a trivial incident, she told herself angrily, then he was not worth bothering about.
Unfortunately he was still the most likely suspect, and though she had dismissed the idea that he might have stolen the jewels for money, she was almost convinced he had stolen them for the pleasure of possession.
Her reasons for thinking this had crystallized the day after they had visited Monte Carlo. They had been sitting together by the swimming-pool, for Stephen was too sophisticated to let anyone guess at his change of attitude towards her, and still maintained a friendliness, albeit on the surface.
Everyone had been discussing the theft of five priceless paintings from a gallery in Paris, avidly agreeing that though it was a daring deed, it was also a stupid one, since the pictures were too well known ever to be sold.
'Maybe the thieves will hold the insurance company up to ransom,' Claire suggested.
'They'd only get chicken feed,' Colin answered. The whole thing's crazy.'
'I don't see why,' Stephen said. 'Firstly, what right do we have to assume that the paintings were stolen in order to be sold again and even to be returned? Maybe they're wanted by a collector who has a fancy for modern paintings.'
'Then he'd have to keep them hidden in his cellar,' Jane retorted. 'He'd never dare show them to a soul.'
'He mightn't want to, as long as he could see them himself. He probably gets more satisfaction out of gloating over them in private.'
'A pretty expensive price to pay for the pleasure of gloating!'
'Not if he has the money.'
Jane's mind kept returning to this conversation, and she would have given a great deal to have had free access to Stephen's home. Even if she did not learn anything else on the cruise, she was in duty bound to tell her father what little she knew and allow him to judge for himself what steps to take. Not that it would be easy to take any action against a man like Stephen. One needed more than suspicion before accusing a newspaper proprietor!
The leisurely days were enlivened by one further topic of conversation - the series of articles in the Morning Star disclosing the happenings on the Cambrian. Dinky Howard, obtaining sight of the first one when they had docked at Monte Carlo, had immediately asked Stephen if he knew anything about it, receiving the terse reply that he had had nothing to do with it whatever. But as the ship ploughed the blue waters of the Adriatic, Dinky's demeanour became more and more despondent, and it was not until one afternoon as they were all getting the last rays of the setting sun that he again talked to Stephen
about it.
'Five more articles have appeared, Mr. Drake. One every day this week.'
'I didn't know you'd been getting copies of the Morning Star' Stephen said to the American.
'My London office have been cabling me about it. It really is a most unfortunate coincidence that it happens to be your paper.'
'I don't run it. I leave that to my editor.'
'Yes, but policy—'
'Policy is something I settle at our annual meeting. These sort of articles are just day-to-day bread and butter.'
'And jam too,' Dinky answered. 'Nasty, slanderous, sticky jam!'
'They're not a bit slanderous,' Jane blurted out. 'I read the first one and found it great fun. I don't know why you object to them.'
'Because my passengers pay for privacy and they're not getting it.'
'Most of your passengers adore publicity. I'm sure none of them would mind appearing in any of these articles. Why don't you ask them?'
'I don't need to ask them, Miss Belton. I—'
'Well, ask me, then!' Jane grinned. 'After all, I'm one of the passengers. And I can tell you I'll be absolutely livid if this mysterious writer doesn't include me!'
It was a discomfited Dinky who walked away, and Stephen gave her a frosty smile.
'There was no need to rush to my defence.'
'I'm sorry. I just didn't see why he should blame you.'
He shrugged. 'It doesn't matter to me. I just think Frank Preston should have told me what he was up to.'
'You might have stopped him!'
'You're darned right, I would! I don't like being involved in my own schemes! 'He suddenly grinned. 'Perhaps Rupert's trying to earn an honest penny?'
'I doubt it,' Jane said hastily. 'The first one was written while he was still in Monte Carlo.'
Rachel Lindsay - Moonlight and Magic Page 12
