Hostile engagement

by Jessica Steele

  `Don't cry, Lucy,' Jud said raggedly. 'If the ring means so much to you, then keep it—it's yours with no strings attached.'

  `Oh, Jud !' Lucy groaned, and lifted her head to gaze in wonder that the man she loved was nowhere near as cold and as hard as she had believed him to be. Then, sanity

  trying to assert itself, she wiped her face with the back of her hand, her tears still falling, and told him haltingly, 'I can't take it-wh-when I've gone, you'll think my tears were j-just gold-digging tactics—and ...'

  `Gold-digging tactics-you?' retorted Jud, taking his handkerchief from his pocket and gently smoothing away her tears. 'You wouldn't know where to begin,' and while Lucy could only stand and stare at him, he pulled her closely into his arms and tenderly kissed her.

  Quite when things began to get out of hand she wasn't sure, but suddenly the tenderness of Jud's kiss gave way to a stronger emotion and his mouth was gently seeking and parting her lips with his own while his strong arms held her firmly to him, leaving her with no clear idea of anything any more other than that this was where she wanted to be. Then as Jud broke the kiss and loosened his hold slightly to look down at her, she masked her gaze as the thought came crashing in from nowhere that she would only have to look at him for him to know the depths of her feeling for him—he had no respect for her now. To have him know she loved him would be the end.

  It wasn't easy to stiffen her body and drag herself out of his arms-she never afterwards knew from where she got the will-power to do it-but Jud made it easier by not insisting that she stayed where she was, and Lucy, knowing where all other pride had deserted her, that it would soon be all over the village that she and Rupert were hugely in debt, the pride of unreturned love gave her the strength to whip up a note of anger in her voice, when in truth she wanted to yield and melt against him.

  `You said there would be no strings attached,' she reminded him, glad to hear her voice sounding coldly angry. `What was that kiss supposed to indicate-an avowal of your honourable intent?' She saw Jud's lips firm in a hard line, and didn't at all like the look on his face now, but forced herself to go on. 'Well, let me tell you, Jud Hem-

  ming,' she said, while the inside of her was breaking up, `let me tell you I don't want any favours from you that you'll want payment for later—If you think ...'

  She got no further, for with an angry oath Jud made no apology for, she felt herself hauled up in his arms with savage anger as he turned with her and almost threw her down on to one of the deep and wide settees the drawing room held. Then before she had regained her winded breath, she found Jud's body lying over hers, and he was kissing her with a fierce fury such as she had never known.

  There was no tenderness in his kisses now, just the torrid heat of anger that was spurring him on as he claimed her mouth again and again. Uncaring of any protest, she managed to gasp when his mouth left hers to plunder kisses from her throat and chest, Jud let his anger take him on a pillaging sortie that had her dress unbuttoned, her shoulders bare and her breasts revealed to his darkened, furious view.

  `Let me up!' Lucy screamed, her face scarlet as she tried to cover herself from his livid gaze, while knowing she had brought this on herself for spurning what she rightly knew to be his offer of giving her her ring without any thought of payment in cash or in kind.

  Her protests were useless as Jud bent his head to devour the nectar from her breasts, his strong hands behind her hips pressing her body into him, making her aware for the first time of a man's body when passion had him aroused.

  Almost fainting with fear, she felt her lips claimed yet again and knew an awakening feeling within her that had no right to be there, because this wasn't the way she wanted him to love her. When his hands left her hips to hold in his warm palms the throbbing swell of her breasts, though still pressed hard beneath him, she took advantage that at least his hands were no longer anchoring her down, and moved her body as though to get nearer to him, though secretly thinking that would be an impossibility, and when Jud

  stilled for a moment as if undecided what her movement indicated, she gave a superhuman push, found herself free, and dived for the door, grabbing her bag as she flew. It didn't matter to her then what she looked like with her dress undone from top to hem, her lacy lingerie all anyhow; all that mattered was that she was away from him.

  But when Jud sat back on the settee, his legs crossed in an indolent position telling her he had no intention of coming after her, she made a fumbling attempt to do up one or two buttons while still watching him carefully.

  `Like I-said, Jud,' she said, nothing about her cool now as her words came out in gasping breaths, 'you can keep your favours.' And with that she turned blindly, yanked the door open, and raced to her car.

  * * *

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Lucy never expected to sleep that night. Her emotions were frayed ragged—thoughts about her brother's problems, the new side to him she had discovered were enough to keep her awake without the never-to-be-forgotten scene up at the Hall. She remembered hoping before that she would never be around when Jud let go his temper, how right she had been to be wary, she could have done without being on the receiving end of it.

  Hot colour surged through her cheeks as she lay in her bed willing sleep to come. She couldn't help but wonder if Jud's fury would have taken him on to what had seemed likely at the time. Supposing she hadn't been able to escape? Would Jud have let his passionate anger take him on to possess her?

  More tears came as she relived the scene. Thank God Rupert had been nowhere about when she had arrived home. It was the first time in an age she had been glad he was out—who he was with was of no concern to her as she had drawn her Mini up outside Brook House and let herself in. She had been shaken by the sight that had met her eyes in the hall mirror—her dress decidedly the worse for wear, the wide-eyed, tear-ravaged face so sad and unlike her own, she had hurried past the mirror and had gone straight to her room.

  She lay awake for what seemed like hours, but eventually sheer exhaustion sent her into a troubled sleep, and she awakened to find Rupert beside her a cup of tea in his hand.

  `This is the second time I've been up,' Rupert effected a

  * * *

  grumbling tone. 'I thought you were never going to wake up.

  `What time is it?'

  `You've been crying,' Rupert countered in return. 'Your eyelids are all swollen,' and then turning away believing he was the sole cause of his sister's tears, he sank down on the pink velvet-covered sewing chair. `I'm sorry, Lucy,' he muttered, his voice sounding so miserable, so low and dejected, Lucy wanted to go and put her arms around him and tell him everything was all right—but everything was nowhere near to being all right. 'God, I'm sorry.'

  `My tears weren't all on account of you.' Lucy couldn't help trying to ease his burden.

  `Jud Hemming give you a bad time?' Rupert was shrewder than she had given him credit for, Lucy realised, as her brother swivelled round to look at her.

  `He was very kind, actually.' Well, he had offered to give her the ring, hadn't he? Her mind refused to try and cope with what had happened afterwards. Then she explained the vest of her tears to Rupert, 'I came home feeling a bit sorry for myself after I'd handed the ring over.'

  `I've never known you feel sorry for yourself in my life,' Rupert said stoutly, while seeming to accept without a second's thought that Lucy had parted with her ring.

  `There's always a first time—now I'd better get up.' Rupert stood up to go, but Lucy called him back. 'I thought I'd go and stay with Aunt Dorothy for a few days, Rupe-I ...'

  `Wish I could come with you,' Rupert said as he left her room. Lucy knew he meant he wished it was as easy for him to escape from his problems—he couldn't know, because no one was going to know her secret, but she wouldn't be leaving the problem of loving Jud Hemming behind. She thought it would follow her wherever she went, and for evermore.

  When Lucy got up and washed, she saw the tell-tale

 
signs of her weeping reflected in the bathroom mirror, and bathed her eyes in cold water to find that that didn't do very much good. Ah well, she shrugged resignedly, she wasn't going anywhere today, and since her friends had stopped calling since she had refused invitation after invitation, there was little chance of anyone seeing her except Rupert.

  When she rang her aunt an hour later, her aunt was delighted to have her to stay. 'I haven't seen you since the funeral,' she said gently. 'When are you coming?'

  Lucy thought for a second or two; she would like to give the house a thorough clean before she went. Would Friday be all right?'

  Going in search of Rupert after she had put the phone down, she found him staring moodily out of the sitting room window. 'I've just rung Aunt Dorothy,' she told him. `She sends her love—I'm going on Friday.'

  Rupert accepted this piece of information without comment and continued to stare out of the window. Lucy wanted to ask him what he had been thinking about when she had come into the room, but realised her question was unnecessary; Rupert's thoughts were despairingly transparent.

  Then suddenly Rupert dropped his moody air. 'I'm going out,' he said, his face showing sudden resolve, and before Lucy could ask where he was going, he supplied, `I'm going to see Archie Proctor to see if he'll wait for his money.'

  Lucy watched his car roar away down the drive, knowing he had grown fed up with the inactivity of staring into space with his thoughts going over and over the same old problem. She couldn't see that going to see Archie Proctor would do very much good, instinct telling her Archie was much too sharp to let her brother promise to pay him at a later date when there was no likelihood of Rupert finding the money from anywhere.

  Dressed in shorts and a loose-fitting cotton top, Lucy set about the housework. She would give the downstairs rooms a good clean out today, she thought, and tackle upstairs tomorrow. For what was left of the morning she was busy in the sitting room, vacuuming, polishing, dusting, flinging the windows wide open to let the sun come streaming in. At lunch time she felt hot, dusty and tired, but a ten-minute sit-down with a cup of coffee and a piece of toast removed the tiredness, making her wish she could get rid of thoughts of Jud that perpetually crowded in so quickly. Trying not to think of him was useless, she found, for as soon as she had banished him from her thoughts, fixing her mind on something else, he would again come unbidden to her mind. Trying once more to eject him from her thoughts, she wondered how Rupert was faring—he had been gone a long time; perhaps he was having trouble in finding Archie Proctor.

  After rinsing the few things she had used for her light lunch break, Lucy looked round the kitchen and decided that was next on her list. Then having cleaned all the surfaces, she looked at the kitchen floor. More often than not she cleaned it over with the long-handled sponge mop, but today, more from the need to keep herself thoroughly occupied, she filled a bucket with hot soapy water and armed with a scrubbing brush and floor cloth, placed the movable furniture on top of the kitchen table and got down on her knees.

  It was a large area to scrub, as she knew from previous ex perience, and a hot June day was perhaps not the best time to do it, even with the windows open and the back door standing wide there was little breeze to cool her, but she carried on and had almost finished with just one more patch to do, .when she thought she heard the sound of a car round the front. Rupert, she thought, and knowing he couldn't have news other than bad, carried on with her

  scrubbing, thinking to make him a cup of tea when she'd finished.

  Her head down with beads of sweat clinging to her forehead making the hair around cling damply to her brow, Lucy was unaware that anyone had entered the kitchen until two hands came clenching hard at her waist and she was set bodily to her feet. Her yowk! of surprise was broken off, colour surging though her cheeks, as gaining her balance she swung round and saw Jud Hemming standing there looking angry enough to hit her, but before she could find her voice and ask him what he thought he was playing at, he was taking in the appearance of her long legs with knees grubby where she had missed the kneeling mat, seeing her eyes still showing evidence of last night's weeping, noticing the sweat of honest toil clinging to her, and was biting into her.

  `Surely to God there's no need for you to do that?' he snarled.

  Jud knew they were broke, what was the use in pretending? Lucy thought as the pink flush died from her cheeks and she tried not to be alarmed by his very obvious anger. `Who else would do it?' she snapped back, and as he took a step nearer found she wasn't as brave as she thought she was, and added, hating herself for backing down, 'A-anyway, I've finished the floor now.'

  `Then go and get cleaned up,' Jud bit at her. 'You look terrible.'

  `Thanks.' She knew she looked terrible without having him confirm it, and pleased to find her anger against him returning. 'I'll go and get cleaned up when I'm ready.'

  Jud looked at her steadily and she thought some of his anger was diminishing until he said with a dangerous quietness which told her he wasn't fooling, 'I'll come and put you in the bath myself if you're not out of here in one minute.

  `Damn you!' she exclaimed, knowing it was no idle

  threat, but she went just the same, and just to be contrary when she would have loved a bath, she stood under a refreshing lukewarm shower for ten minutes and pondered on the reason for Jud's visit.

  She had never thought to see him again-well, apart from perhaps bumping into him in the High Street. Perhaps he had come to apologise for his behaviour last night —no, he wouldn't do that—if she was honest they were both partly to blame; she had goaded him into doing what he had done by throwing his more than generous offer back in his face. She was drying herself off with a towel before donning fresh underwear and a pretty summer dress of lilac-coloured cotton when she wondered if his mother was ill. The thought upset her for a while until she reasoned that Jud wouldn't have come to tell her that anyway, and if his mother was ill he certainly wouldn't come storming to Brook House so violently angry-which gave rise to the thought, had he been angry before he had seen her on her hands and knees scrubbing the kitchen floor? She dismissed the thought; she could work herself to a grease spot and Jud Hemming wouldn't care.

  He was still in the kitchen where she had left him when she came down. The room had been put to rights, she noted, as she glanced cautiously at Jud, all the chairs were neatly pushed in against the table and her hastily abandoned bucket had been emptied and was standing on the floor near to the cooker.

  `Where's your brother?' he asked without preamble, as she stood uncertainly by the door, his eyes going over her, nothing of whether or not he approved of the change in her appearance showing in his face.

  `He's out,' she said shortly.

  `In that case I'll talk to you.'

  Briefly Lucy wondered if it was Rupert Jud had come to see, and felt angry that he should feel he would make do with her. She wanted to say a sarcastic 'I'm honoured', as

  she had done once before, but suggested instead that they moved to the sitting room, and as Jud followed her in she paused to wonder how she could think of being sarcastic when what she wanted to do was to fall at his feet and beg him to love her the way that she loved him.

  Jud waited until she was seated before taking the seat opposite her—she was struck again by his natural good manners and firmed her lips so none of the softness in her was apparent to him.

  `What plans have you made for the future?' Jud asked, coming directly to the point. Lucy had known it wasn't his way to shilly-shally around, but the question caught her off guard, and her eyes widened as it came to her that somehow or other Jud knew the extent of the trouble they were in.

  `I'm going to stay with an aunt of mine for a few days on Friday,' she said, looking away from him, playing desperately for time—she knew he didn't mean immediate future, her going away for a few days didn't concern him in the slightest, but since Rupert had settled nothing about the money he owed—even if Archie Proctor had agreed to wait, which
she doubted-she wasn't about to tell Jud anything.

  `Quit stalling,' Jud said sharply, letting her know she could disappear to the moon and never come back and it wouldn't bother him. 'I happen to know your brother is in debt way above his idiotic neck.'

  Lucy let his comment about her idiotic brother ride, though she was -sorely tempted to flare up at that even though in her own opinion Rupert's gambling had been more than idiotic. 'What makes you think my brother is in debt?' she asked instead with as much civility as she could manage, and thought Jud wasn't going to answer her, then with a look that said, All right, if you want it with no holds barred, here goes, he said :

  `I didn't think too much behind the reasons for your brother selling me a piece of jewellery. He had a jeweller's

  estimate of its value made out in his name, I naturally thought it belonged to him—if I thought about his reason for selling it at all I probably put it down to the fact that it was something he no longer had any use for; he had told me it had belonged to his dead mother. When you came to the Hall claiming the ring as yours I realised your brother had stolen it from you.' Lucy winced at the word 'stolen', and Jud paused briefly before going relentlessly on. 'It was then I knew he must be in very bad straits financially—especially as I could see how much the ring meant to you. Then when I came to see you I noticed there didn't seem to be any hired help about the place.' Lucy saw Jud's glance flick around the room, telling her he knew that as well as the absence of staff, some of the furniture was absent, too.

  Yes—well, perhaps we are a little hard pressed at the moment,' she agreed, though not seeing it as any business of Jud's.

  More than a little hard pressed, I would say,' Jud said coolly. 'I happen to know your brother owes at least seventeen thousand pounds.'