Second Best Wife

by Isobel Chace

  'Don't you want me to kiss you?' he asked, smoothing the curl away from her forehead. 'Don't you think you could try to kiss me too?'

  'I — ' She swallowed again as he bent his head bringing his lips within half an inch of her own. 'I can't!' she blurted out.

  'Why not?' he murmured, touching his mouth to hers. 'You like that well enough, my Georgie!'

  She liked it far too much!'It's lunchtime — '

  'I'd rather have you for lunch!'

  'No! Oh no!' She stepped back from him in a panic and found herself still held by her hair. 'William, we can't! Not now!'

  His lips twitched in ready amusement. 'I won't let you go until you kiss me, Georgie Porgie.' He wiped away a tear from her eye with a gentle finger. 'And this time there'll be no tears from either of us, huh?'

  She wriggled desperately, found she couldn't get free from him that way, and tried kicking his shins instead. It was a mistake. His fingers tightened in her hair and his other arm lifted her clear off the ground, placing her firmly on his knee as he collapsed into the chair she had only recently vacated.

  'Still determined to be the little thug we all know and love?' he taunted her. 'You ought to know by now it won't work with me, my Georgie! Now kiss me properly, my love, or take the consequences!'

  'I won't!' She glared at him, her heart beating so fast she thought she might faint and that she might even welcome such an escape at that moment.

  'You will if you want any lunch, my pet.' A smile flickered

  across his face and the unwelcome suspicion crossed her mind that he was enjoying himself. 'How will you explain your nonappearance at the village?' he added in the same, conversational tones. 'Young Stuart will be disappointed.'

  'He's not all that much younger than you are!' she declared.

  'You think not?' He turned the matter over in his mind.

  'He's young enough to let you make the running, but you're too feminine to put up with that for long! Aren't you, Georgie?'

  'I prefer it to being patronised!' she shot back at him.

  'Ah, but you are mine to treat with as I please,' he teased her, his eyes alight with laughter as he waited for the coming explosion.

  'Then you can't complain if I treat you just as I like!'

  'You can try!' He lifted an eyebrow in derision. 'You should listen more closely, sweetheart. I did say "treat with", but I daresay one way is as good as the other with you.'

  'I won't be browbeaten—'

  'My dear little Georgie, what's much more to the point is neither will I! Come, kiss me of your own free will and we'll cry a truce for the afternoon, if that will please my lady?'

  She brooded over his words, knowing herself to be caught in a cleft stick. Nor was she as reluctant as she pretended. She leaned away from him, gazing at him thoughtfully, liking her position far better than she would have him know.

  'And if I do kiss you? Will you be content with that?'

  'For now,' he drawled. He looked sleepy and not at all dangerous. 'One good kiss on the lips, Georgina!'

  Her eyes widened as her one line of retreat was cut off. She spread her hand across the opening of his shirt, giving herself a little more time to make up her mind what to do next. The hairs on his chest created a frisson of pleasure against her fingers.

  'You're easily pleased if that's all you want,' she said at last. 'Wouldn't you rather wait until I offer to kiss you without being forced?'

  He shut his eyes entirely. 'When will that be?'

  A cautious reconnoitre informed her that he was confident enough to have relinquished his hold over her. She patted his cheek gently, delighted with her own cleverness, and made to get off his knee, only to find herself caught more firmly than before.

  'Cheat!' he said mildly. His eyes opened and they were full of a lazy amusement that brought the colour to her face and a singing to her ears. 'Give in, Georgina,' he recommended her. 'You're not going to get your own way this time no matter how you twist and turn.' He smiled at her outraged expression. 'What's a little kiss between friends?'

  'We're not friends!'

  He gave her a quizzical look, but he said nothing, waiting for her to make the next move. And she would have to, she thought, for he plainly meant to go on sitting there until she did.

  'I think you're mean!' she informed him roundly. 'Why should you want me to kiss you?'

  'I wonder!' he mocked her.

  She tried another tack. 'I think you should woo me a little first,' she said.

  'My dear girl, what else have I been doing ever since we arrived in Sri Lanka!'

  Had he — ? Was it possible — ? His laughter demoralised her completely and she thumped him on the chest.

  'Oh, you!' she exclaimed. But she was half glad he had defeated her. Her body tensed as she put her mouth to his and she kissed him as a child might kiss an adult under protest. 'There!'

  'That was a kiss? You have a lot to learn, Georgie! Come back where you were and I'll show you what I mean by a kiss!'

  She relaxed into a delicious surrender that only wanted to please him and thereby herself. She felt his hands on her back and on the soft curve of her breast and dug her own fingers into the hair of his chest.

  'That's better!' William murmured. His voice sounded husky but the mockery was still very much in evidence. 'Who said you couldn't kiss if you tried?'

  'But it wasn't me kissing you!' she crowed in triumph.

  'No?' The flecks of gold in his eyes reminded her of fireworks. 'Then what were you doing?'

  She decided it was a rhetorical question undeserving of an answer. 'May I go now?' she countered on her own behalf.

  He raised his hands, freeing her from his embrace. 'If you want to.'

  It wasn't fair, but then he never did play fair. She could only hope that he didn't know how little she wanted to drag herself off his knee. She went over to the dressing table and seated herself in front of the looking-glass, running a comb through her hair without bothering to see what she was doing. There was no reason why she shouldn't kiss her own husband, she comforted herself, annoyed by the guilty excitement that had reduced her to an eager participant in the embrace. What was there in a kiss to make her want more and more of the same?

  William came up behind her and took the comb from her hand, finishing off the job for her, a half-smile curving his lips as he did so. His eyes looked her over with appreciation in the glass.

  'Did you mind so much?' he asked her, when he had finished and was putting the comb down on the table in front of her.

  She made a gesture to avoid answering, but as her eyes met his in the glass, she knew she was being less than generous. She turned away, fingering the ring on her finger with a nervous touch.

  'No,' she said at last and, jumping to her feet, she practically ran out of the room.

  Celine was waiting for her on the verandah. She looked up anxiously as Georgina hurtled through the french window, her cheeks flaming with a very becoming colour.

  'Georgina, may I speak to you now?' she begged. 'You do like me a little bit, don't you? I mean, you don't like anyone here better than me, do you?'

  Only William. 'No,' Georgina agreed vaguely.

  'That's good! I was afraid you liked Stuart.' Celine frowned. 'William thinks you do.'

  'I like him well enough,' Georgina admitted. 'I hardly know him.'

  'Oh dear,' said Celine, 'I was afraid of that. I think— I think he likes you too.'

  Georgina gave her an impatient look. 'What are you talking about?' she demanded.

  Celine's face crumpled. 'I thought you'd understand!' she wailed. 'But you're just like all the rest of them. You don't think I can feel anything, but I do!'

  'Oh, Celine, I'm so sorry,' Georgina said at once. 'I wasn't really listening. I was thinking about— something else. I didn't mean to be nasty, or to snub you or anything.' Celine smiled, the sunshine breaking through the threatened shower of rain. 'I was talking about Stuart. Georgina, have you ever been in love?'
>
  Georgina was on the point of saying no, but something in the other girl's face prevented her. 'Why?' she asked instead.

  'Well, you can't be in love with William. He'd know if you were because he's married to you. And he thinks you and Stuart might fall in love with each other. He said so! Only I couldn't bear it if you did!'

  Georgina's look was scandalised. 'How many men do you think

  I want?'

  But Celine was unamused. 'Oh, Celine, really! William was talking about something else. He knows as well as you do that I'm not going to fall in love with Stuart! And as for him, I hardly think my looks would appeal much when he has only to turn his head and look at you. You're the one who's beautiful, my pet, not me!' 'But you have something else —'

  'Me?' Georgina laughed at the very idea. 'You should ask my sister about that! She's the one who has the looks in our family and attracts all the attention, though even she would pale into insignificance beside you! I think you're the loveliest person I've ever seen.'

  Celine looked merely uncomfortable. 'It's nice of you to say so, Georgie, but I don't think you know much about things like that after all.' She looked up appealingly. 'You're welcome to William, but not to Stuart as well! I wasn't going to tell you — I wasn't going to tell anyone because they'll only laugh at me, but I love Stuart and I want him to love me.'

  'If you ask me, he hasn't far to go! Why don't you tell him how you feel, Celine?'

  'If it's true and your demon is the one I saw, I'll think about it. I won't otherwise. Stuart deserves the very best, not a retarded idiot —'

  Georgina put on a severe expression. 'I won't have you speak of yourself like that!' she cut in. 'Don't ever say such a thing again, Celine!'

  'Don't you believe it?' the other girl asked.

  'No, I don't! And Stuart won't either!'

  'Then you don't mind, Georgie? I know you only have to lift your little finger — ' She bit her lip. 'I expect it's always been the same for you!'

  Coming on to the verandah, William caught Celine's last plea. He put his arm round the girl's shoulders, smiling down at her. 'Surely you're not afraid of competition from Georgie?' he teased her. 'Jennifer never had any trouble from her.'

  'Then Georgie wasn't trying! I don't like the sound of Jennifer anyway. She sounds silly and spoilt, and Georgie isn't either of those things. I'll bet most people prefer her really!'

  'Do you?' William appeared to have lost interest. 'I shouldn't put my shirt on it, if I were you.'

  Celine flounced away from him indignantly. 'You're a fool, William!' she told him over her shoulder. 'You preferred her, didn't you? And so would Stuart if she wanted him!'

  William favoured her with a lazy smile. 'What makes you think

  I prefer her?' he asked.

  Celine looked him straight in the eye, ignoring Georgina's ineffectual protest. 'Because you married her,' she said with considerable violence, 'and because you're glad you did! You've been glad ever since!' The blank look came over her face like the ringing down of a curtain. 'Shall we go in to lunch?' she said.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Georgina had never stood back and compared William to any other man before, but she did so now, watching him and Stuart as they stood side by side, making desultory conversation while they waited for Celine and her to join them. To an objective observer, the slighter man had to be considered the more handsome, but she was far from being able to make such an objective judgment. It was William who tugged at her heartstrings and whose smile reduced her knees to jelly. Besides, she liked his largeness, both in mind and body. Indeed, she couldn't think of anything she didn't like about him! Bad luck to her, she thought, if she couldn't keep her emotions under better control. Under the very best of circumstances William would be a hard man to hold, and her circumstances could hardly be worse.

  Stuart had brought his jeep and they all piled in, the women sitting in the back to allow the men more leg room.

  'Are you all right back there?' William asked, smiling an ironical smile at his wife.

  'Would it matter if we were not?' she returned.

  'You could always sit on my knee!'

  She blushed. 'And what about Celine?'

  'I hardly think there would be room for both of you.'

  'Then I'll stay where I am!'

  Having got that settled, Stuart drove off through the close by tea gardens, some of them planted on such steep hills that Georgina wondered that the Tamil women could balance themselves to pick the precious leaves. In their brightly coloured saris they looked as pretty as butterflies, making their way up and down the long lines of bushes, picking with both hands as they went. They wore some specially made baskets on their backs which they filled up at lightning speed, untiring in their urgency to earn the extra bonuses that were paid to anyone who picked more than the minimum weight required.

  'Do they all come from South India?' she asked Stuart.

  'Originally. I daresay a high proportion of these were born here in Ceylon, but they still think of their home as being in India. It's hard to believe, but many of their relatives back home in the mother country are even poorer

  than the Tamils here. Many of them send a large proportion of their earnings back to India. That's part of the trouble, because Sri Lanka can't afford the drain on her resources and the Tamils get caught between the pressures on both sides of the argument. Someone will have to think of an answer soon, though. Many of them are worse than poor —the whole island is poor! — but some of the Tamils are actually starving.'

  ‘Why did they come?' Georgina asked.

  Stuart made a wry face. ‘We, the British, imported them to work the tea estates. They're much more amenable to long hours of repetitive, dull work than are the Sinhalese— especially the women. There's no doubt they've been let down somewhere along the line. Tea is very important to the Lankan economy and they ought to benefit accordingly. But when one tries to apportion the blame it becomes much more difficult. All kinds of political platforms are mounted by all kinds of people and they all make a great deal of noise. Meanwhile the Tamils fall further and further behind in the subsistence stakes.'

  ‘Can't we do something?'

  Stuart pooh-poohed the idea. ‘Our hands are hardly clean enough for anyone to want to listen! Until recently many of these estates were British owned and nothing was done then for them. It would be a case of the pot calling the kettle black with a vengeance!'

  Georgina sighed. ‘But on this estate —'

  ‘Things are pretty good here,' Stuart agreed. ‘The best tea is grown high up, and one can hardly get higher than here. We get the best prices and offer our workers the best conditions accordingly. Some of our tea is so highly thought of that if one were to buy it in London it would cost all of seven pounds a pound. Nobody will pay that, so it gets mixed in with other grades. When I take you over the factory you'll be able to try your hand at my job and find out how good your taste-buds are. I never drink alcohol or eat spicy food in case I lose my touch, but it has other rewards. Tea is a fascinating crop.'

  Celine leaned forward eagerly to catch the full import of his words. Her eyes were bright and alive with interest. It was a far cry from the apathetic, lacklustre child she sometimes appeared to be.

  ‘I didn't want to leave Australia, but I'm awfully glad now that William made me come. He doesn't usually want Miss Campbell and me around when he's working and we just stick at home. But I wouldn't have missed all this for anything!'

  'Miss Campbell might have been happier back home,' William said dryly.

  'Who cares? I love it here! She's cross because you only gave her a few hours to pack up all our things. She didn't want to come.'

  Georgina laughed. 'I'm glad she hasn't succeeded in putting you off Sri Lanka,' she said. 'It wouldn't be the same here without you.'

  Celine blinked with pleasurable disbelief. 'I didn't want to come because she didn't,' she blurted out. 'She doesn't like it when William comes the heavy guardian, you see
. She likes to be the only one to tell me what to do.'

  Georgina put a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. 'If William comes the heavy guardian too often you should send him about his business,' she advised. 'You're old enough to make your own decisions. Don't you agree, Stuart?'

  Stuart cast a quick look at the lovely, fair girl, giving nothing away. 'I like her the way she is,' he said.

  Celine giggled nervously. 'And how am I?'

  'Gentle and biddable,' he replied promptly. 'I can't abide pushy women!'

  'Like Georgina,' William put in at once.

  'Georgina?' Stuart exclaimed, almost running the jeep off the road. 'There's nothing wrong with Georgie.'

  Georgina cast her husband a look of malicious triumph. 'Thank you, Stuart,' she murmured meekly. 'It's nice to be appreciated for a change.'

  William uttered a snort of laughter. 'Oh, I appreciate you all right, Georgie Porgie, but not for any milk-and-water blood in your veins.'

  Georgina looked warningly in Celine's direction, but William paid no attention at all. His eyes slid over her, their meaning perfectly plain to any observer, and then he turned round in his seat again, saying something sotto voce to Stuart that Georgina couldn't quite catch.

  She was glad when they reached the Hindu temple and Rabahindre came running forward to meet them. He put the palms of his hands of his together and lifted them high in front of his face. 'We are all ready, madam,' he said to Georgina. 'Everyone is very pleased to have you visit us!'

  And sure enough, it seemed as though the whole village had turned out to mark their arrival. The children stood in neat lines on one side of the open space in front of the temple, watching eagerly as the visitors were divested of their shoes and led into the first of the chambers inside. There they were met by the local priest, a member of the lowest of the Hindu castes as were his flock, dressed in a white garment that was already stained with the mud of the evening before.

  Georgina's first discovery was that the concrete floor was as slippery as glass. The roof had leaked in places, allowing the rain to come flooding in, and they were up to their ankles in muddy water long before they had passed through the outer room into the inner sanctuary.