Impetuous Masquerade

by Anne Mather

  Nevertheless, she could not prevent the sense of anticipation she felt on Saturday morning, when she awakened to the awareness that Jared was probably already back in England. Making her morning tea and taking a cursory glance at the newspaper, she was overwhelmingly aware that she was waiting for his call, and when the phone rang, she practically leapt to answer it.

  It was Simon, and trying not to reveal her disappointment, Rhia endeavoured to concentrate on what he had to say:

  ‘As Frazer will probably be leaving in the morning, I thought we might drive over to Reading for the day,’ he suggested. ‘Mother would like to see Aunt Edna, and I thought, after lunch, you and I might spend the afternoon at Henley—what do you say?’

  The idea of Sunday lunch with Simon’s Aunt Edna was not particularly appealing. She was Mrs Travis’s sister, and like Simon’s mother she enjoyed nothing better than discussing her ailments. The two of them would happily spend the lunchtime period talking about their various operations, while Rhia would have the greatest difficulty in swallowing roast beef and Yorkshire pudding in company with glandular complaints and gallstones.

  ‘Oh, Simon,’ she said now, ‘could I think about that? I’m not sure when the Frazers are leaving, and I’d really like tomorrow free, to catch up on my housework. With going to the hospital every evening, I’ve done practically nothing, and I’ve a load of laundry waiting in the washer.’

  ‘I shouldn’t have thought one more day would make much difference,’ Simon replied crisply, and Rhia sighed.

  ‘But I’ll be back at work on Monday,’ she explained. ‘Weekends are the only time I’m really able to get on.’

  ‘That wasn’t what you said last weekend, when Frazer had you spending the whole day at the hospital.’

  ‘That was different,’ Rhia insisted resignedly. ‘Look, Simon, I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to leave it for now. I’ll see you this evening. We can discuss it then.’

  ‘We can’t. Aunt Edna will need to make provision, if the three of us are joining her and Sybil for lunch.’ He paused, and when she made no comment, he added: ‘Very well, then, Mother and I will go alone. I’m sorry, Rhia, but you can’t expect me to hang about on the offchance that you might be free.’

  Rhia felt mean for disappointing him, but unutterably relieved that she would not have to listen to another recital of Aunt Edna’s thyroid operation. ‘I’ll see you tonight, then,’ she said, feeling contrite, and with a curt word of agreement, Simon rang off.

  The phone rang again as she was getting dressed, and pulling her shirt over her shoulders, she hurried to answer it. This time it was Jared, and her stomach wobbled at the familiar drawl of his voice.

  ‘Hi,’ he greeted her lazily. ‘When can we meet? I wondered if you’d care to join me for lunch. You and—Travis, if he’s around.’

  ‘I’m not seeing Simon until this evening,’ confessed Rhia breathily, mentally going over the contents of her wardrobe. ‘But—lunch would be fine. When, and where?’

  ‘Do you know a restaurant called The Gondoliers?’

  Rhia’s lips parted. She had heard of it, of course. Who hadn’t? ‘Yes,’ she said, crossing her fingers, and Jared sounded relieved.

  ‘Okay. We’ll meet there at—let me see—one o’clock, right? We can visit Glyn afterwards. Then I’ll fetch you home.’

  ‘Fine.’ Rhia swallowed. ‘One o’clock.’

  ‘One o’clock,’ he agreed, and rang off before she could ask what kind of flight he had had.

  While she took off her clothes again and took a shower, Rhia wondered what kind of plane it was that took him back and forward across the Atlantic. Who flew it? Surely he didn’t fly it himself. It didn’t seem credible that he could fly over four thousand miles and still have the energy to take her out for lunch.

  Choosing something to wear presented a problem. She didn’t want to disgrace him, but equally, she didn’t want him to think that she was trying to attract his attention, and inevitably she came up with the realisation that that was exactly how she was behaving. It sobered her, that knowledge, and schooling her chaotic thoughts, she chose a plain black suit made of a fine mixture of polyester and wool, that she had bought to attend a conference with Mr Wyatt the previous November. It was neat and businesslike, and her only concession to fashion was a plain cream blouse, with a cascade of cream lace at the neckline.

  Her hair coiled into a smooth roll, and she allowed several errant strands to tumble by her ears, softening the severe style. She was aware that the black suit formed a startling contrast to her blonde colouring, but she was pleased with her appearance, and refused to reconsider the advisability of her choice.

  She took a taxi to the restaurant, primarily because she wasn’t absolutely sure where it was, and she was glad she had when the driver wove his way in and out among the streets surrounding Claridge’s. But eventually he deposited her on the pavement outside the rather ordinary-looking façade of The Gondoliers and Rhia hastily paid him before watching him drive away.

  She had expected Jared would be waiting outside for her. It was already ten minutes past one, the cab having become snarled up in the lunchtime traffic, and she looked about her doubtfully, before entering a green-shadowed lobby. A uniformed commissionaire came towards her, and taking a deep breath, Rhia asked him whether a Mr Jared Frazer had been there.

  ‘Yes, Mr Frazer’s here, miss,’ the man answered, not at all surprised by her enquiry. ‘You go on in and ask for his table. The maître d’hotel will see that you’re all right.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  Smiling her gratitude, Rhia passed through the door he held open for her into a moderately-sized restaurant, artificially lighted by a series of conically-shaped lamps. The tables were set well apart, and the lamplight glinted on fine napery and polished cutlery. Rhia found herself standing beside a desk, where the head waiter was idly scanning the list of bookings, but he turned at her appearance, and made himself polite.

  ‘Mr Frazer’s table,’ he said, his accent more cultivated than cultured, Rhia suspected, but then she saw a man threading his way through the tables towards her. It was Jared, even in the discreet lighting of the restaurant his tall frame and dark countenance were unmistakable, and Rhia’s fingers tightened round the bag she was clutching until her knuckles ached.

  ‘It’s okay, Luigi, the lady’s with me,’ he remarked, as he approached, and the man beside Rhia bowed his head in silent deference.

  ‘I’m sorry if I’ve kept you waiting,’ she began, not sure whether or not he expected to shake hands with her, and when he didn’t, hastening on: ‘The taxi got stuck in the traffic, and then when I got here, I thought you might have gone—’

  ‘I wouldn’t do that,’ Jared interrupted her dryly, and she realised she was babbling on like some excited teenager. ‘Come on, our table’s over here. We can have a drink before we decide what we’re going to eat.’

  Rhia managed an awkward smile, going ahead of him when he directed her, overwhelmingly aware of him behind her, watching her every move. Heavens, this was ridiculous, she thought impatiently, trying to still her tumultuous emotions, but seeing him again was disturbing, more disturbing than she had anticipated, and her eyes turned back to his lean face in helpless fascination.

  But he was not looking at her, he was looking beyond her, and when she was forced to pay attention to where she was going, she saw that someone else was sitting at the table they were making for. It was a woman, she saw with apprehension, a young woman, older than herself, but not that much older, perhaps in her late twenties or early thirties, a slim dark woman, with delicately pointed features.

  Rhia’s head spun round to look at Jared again, half prepared to believe that he had made a mistake, and that this really wasn’t their table, but this time his dark gaze met hers and she knew that he had apprehended her confusion.

  ‘Allow me to introduce you to my sister-in-law,’ he said, inclining his head politely. ‘Lisa, this is Valentina’s sister, R
hia.’

  Lisa Frazer’s skilfully defined lips revealed even white teeth. ‘I’m so pleased to meet you, Rhia,’ she declared with easy informality, holding out her hand. ‘Jared’s told me what you’ve done for my son, and I really am extremely grateful.’

  Rhia took the hand that was offered.

  ‘I—it’s nothing,’ she murmured, subsiding into the chair Jared held for her, hardly able to believe that this woman was Glyn’s mother. She didn’t look old enough, she didn’t even look old enough to be a widow, and with this thought came the uneasy realisation that Lisa was looking at Jared with a far from sisterly affection.

  ‘What will you have to drink, Rhia?’ Jared asked, taking his own seat again, and she sought about confusedly for her reply.

  ‘Oh—just a dry Martini,’ she answered, trying to instil her voice with some enthusiasm, and as he raised his hand for the waiter, she said: ‘Have you seen Glyn yet, Mrs Frazer?’

  ‘Yes.’ Lisa picked up her own glass and surveyed its contents thoughtfully. ‘We went straight to the hospital from the airport.’

  ‘And—how was he?’ Rhia felt obliged to ask, even though she had seen Glyn herself only the night before.

  ‘He was—morose, uncommunicative,’ declared Jared, before his sister-in-law could reply, and Lisa’s lips pouted prettily.

  ‘Don’t say that, darling,’ she exclaimed, patting his sleeve with expertly-lacquered nails. ‘Rhia will think Glyn wasn’t pleased to see me, and you know he was.’

  ‘Rhia’s not a fool, Lisa. She knows the the state Glyn’s in better than anyone,’ Jared retorted, thanking the waiter for delivering Rhia’s drink. ‘We might as well be honest about this: the prognosis is not optimistic.’

  ‘Oh, come now, Jared.’ Lisa’s fingers curved possessively round his sleeve. ‘Once Glyn’s back home, once he’s able to get on his horse, and feel the wind in his face—’

  ‘You’re not being realistic, Lisa.’ Jared’s tone was flat. ‘Who do we think we’re kidding? Glyn left Moose Falls because he wasn’t interested in the ranch or in farming in general—’

  ‘That’s not true.’ Lisa looked hurt, and Rhia began to wish that she had not accepted this invitation after all. ‘Jared, Glyn needed to get away for a while, that’s all. To spread his wings. You know as well as anyone how confining the ranch can be. Why, when Mac was alive, I remember you and he didn’t always see eye to eye.’

  ‘Maybe.’ Jared cast a brooding glance in Rhia’s direction. ‘But the fact remains, I stayed. I rode the rough patches and made it. I don’t know whether Glyn even wants to make it.’

  ‘He wants to please you,’ Lisa insisted, eyes of a peculiar light grey colour gazing into his. ‘Jared, be patient. Glyn will see sense. And once he’s home…’

  ‘Lisa, Glyn’s not going to see anything for the next few weeks, possibly even months,’ Jared exclaimed brutally, and Rhia bent her head to avoid looking at the other woman. ‘But I agree, we have no option but to take him back to the ranch. However, I also think we should consider his suggestion seriously.’

  ‘Oh, Jared!’ Lisa withdrew her hand abruptly, and Rhia wished herself miles from here as Jared turned to her.

  ‘It’s you,’ he said, and Rhia’s colour came and went beneath his steady gaze. ‘He wants you to come back with us,’ he explained, causing her breathing to become constricted, somewhere in the back of her throat. ‘I told him it was impossible, that you had a job of work to do. But he insists that you and he have discussed it, and you didn’t offer any objection.’

  ‘I—I—’ Rhia couldn’t answer him. It was true, Glyn had mentioned that she should visit the ranch, but they had hardly discussed it; and in any case the invitation was not to her, but to Val!

  ‘It’s obvious Rhia knows nothing about it,’ declared Lisa shortly, her sharp nails plucking impatiently at the handle of a piece of cutlery. ‘And in any case, the whole idea is ridiculous. Glyn needs a nurse, not a girl-friend!’

  ‘But you forget, Glyn thinks Rhia—or rather, Valentina—is a nurse,’ replied Jared tersely. ‘And it’s not such a crazy idea as it may seem. Okay, Glyn needs a rest, he needs to relax; but will he, with only you and me for company?’

  ‘There’s your father,’ Lisa protested, but at this point, Rhia had to intervene.

  ‘I—I don’t know what Glyn’s said to you, Mr Frazer—’

  ‘Jared!’ he said doggedly, and she flushed.

  ‘Jared, then. But—well, I couldn’t possibly accompany him to Canada. I—why, the idea’s ludicrous!’

  ‘Is it?’ Jared held her wavering gaze. ‘Even if it might make the difference between Glyn’s success or failure?’

  ‘Don’t be melodramatic, Jared.’ Lisa gave Rhia a vaguely impatient look. ‘What can she do that we can’t?’

  ‘Well, to begin with, she can bridge the gulf between his life here and the life he’ll be forced to lead in Moose Falls,’ essayed Jared crisply.

  ‘You forget—’ Rhia spread her hands, ‘I’m not Val.’

  ‘Glyn thinks you are. That’s what’s important.’

  Rhia shook her head, too bemused by this whole conversation to be able to think coherently. Jared couldn’t seriously believe she might be persuaded to give up her job and accompany them back to some unknown place in the Mid-West of Canada, could he? It wasn’t logical. And aside from everything else, she could imagine what Simon would say!

  ‘Listen to me, Rhia.’ Jared was speaking again, while his sister-in-law lay back in her chair, sipping her drink with evident dissatisfaction. ‘I’m not asking you to give up your life here, or anything dramatic like that. You have holidays, don’t you? All I’m asking is that you consider taking your holiday now—and with us.’ He paused. ‘I’d offer to pay you, if you weren’t so damn touchy, but if that offends you, at least believe you’d enjoy every comfort we could supply.’

  Rhia moistened her lips. ‘You don’t seem to understand. It’s not just—that. Glyn’s on his feet now, he can move around. Oh, at present, as you say, he’s too wrapped up in his own misery to pay too much attention to me. But—but if he was home, if he began to gain confidence, he—well, he’d soon discover I wasn’t who I said I was.’

  ‘How?’ Jared ignored his sister-in-law’s discontented face and gave Rhia his full attention, and she sighed.

  ‘Well—my hair, for one thing. Val—Val’s hair is short, and—and curly. But you know that. Mine—mine isn’t.’

  ‘You could always cut your hair,’ inserted Lisa shortly, stung by Jared’s continued rejection. She snorted. ‘If it weren’t all so ridiculous, I’ve no doubt a haircut and a perm would solve the problem.’

  ‘But I don’t want a haircut and a perm, Mrs Frazer,’ Rhia replied stiffly, her hand going protectively to her nape.

  ‘You could wear a wig,’ remarked Jared quietly. ‘And I’d try to see there weren’t that many occasions when wearing it was a necessity.’

  Rhia shook her head, and Lisa leant her elbows on thé table. ‘Can’t you see, she doesn’t want to do it, Jared, and I don’t blame her. I’m sure a girl as—attractive—as Rhia has friends—boy-friends of her own. You can’t expect her to give them up—’

  ‘I’m not asking her to give anything up,’ retorted Jared curtly, and then looked up impatiently when the waiter appeared silently at his side. ‘Oh—yes. Yes, we’ll have the menu now. We can continue this conversation after the meal.’

  Rhia knew the food was delicious, but she didn’t enjoy eating it. Smoked salmon served with prawns, a juicy fillet steak: she knew she had never been served anything nicer. But she was overwhelmingly aware of the atmosphere around the table, the conflicting emotions that gave their features expression; and although there was no dearth of conversation, what there was was stilted and strained.

  Refusing a dessert, Rhia accepted coffee, but no liqueur, the wine Jared had had served with the meal more than enough to make her feel heady. And she needed to keep her wits about her in this society, she thou
ght rather tensely, waiting with bated breath for Jared to pursue his argument.

  But he didn’t. Instead, while Lisa carried on an apathetic, if polite, discussion with Rhia over the relative attributes of various kinds of fabric, he sat and stared into his drink, responding in monosyllables every time his sister-in-law endeavoured to draw him into the conversation.

  It was nearly three when they left the restaurant, and explaining that he had left his car at the hospital, Jared summoned a cab to take them across London. In the cab, as in the restaurant, he said little, and it was left to Rhia and Lisa to bridge the awkward gap his silence created.

  ‘Darling, aren’t you being a little unkind?’ Lisa asked once, laying her hand familiarly on his knee. ‘I think Rhia’s done a wonderful job. But it’s natural that she should want to lead her own life.’

  Jared inclined his head, neither acknowledging nor negating her comments, but his dark gaze slid broodingly over Rhia, and she was made uncomfortably aware of his censure.

  Glyn was waiting for them, and Rhia was embarrassed when he insisted on kissing her in front of his mother and his uncle. ‘Isn’t she beautiful?’ he asked his mother proudly, keeping Rhia’s hand tight within his own. ‘I’m crazy about her, and she knows it. I don’t know what I’d have done without her this past week.’

  Lisa’s smile was a little frosty as she seated herself beside her son, and he was forced to relinquish Rhia’s fingers when his mother insisted on taking both his hands in hers.

  ‘You’re coming home with us,’ she told him huskily, holding on when he would have released himself. ‘Once you’re home, all this will seem like a bad dream. You’ll see. In no time at all, you’ll feel entirely different.’

  ‘Will I, Mom?’ Glyn did pull himself away from her now, getting up from his chair and walking unsteadily across the room. Rhia saw the trolley in his way, but she was too late to prevent him walking into it, and he grasped it for support before shoving it savagely out of the way.