Heat engulfed her, rushing over her body and setting her limbs on fire. She did not seem able to control their shaking and had his own body not been supporting her, she would have sunk to the ground. The fire in her intensified; a flame of desire that made pretense impossible. No matter how much she despised him, his animal passion aroused her and her lips parted: the first step to a greater fulfillment, one that she desired with all her heart but that she knew could never take place between them.
Slowly he drew back and, as his face came into focus again, she saw the triumph that lay upon it. With something akin to desperation she knew she had to wipe it away.
"If kissing was an Olympic sport," she drawled, "I'd give you a gold medal. And you're so tender, too. As a lover I think you'd be almost a gentleman!"
His eyes went blank with shock, but as life returned to them, so did a ruddy color to his skin.
"Don't bank on it, Laura. When I get carried away, 1 can also be brutal."
"I daresay that's what appeals to Elaine. Debby types often seem to go for roughnecks!"
"I could make you go for me, too'" he said with soft menace and moved close again.
"Not for long," she said quickly. "Basically you repel
M
me.
Breath rasped in his throat and he stepped away from her. "You must have been a scorpion in your last life. But you don't need to worry about me any longer. From now on I wouldn't touch you even if you came to me gift- wrapped!"
Without another word he swung on his heel and strode from the room, brushing unseeingly past Beth as he did so.
"Not fighting again, were you?" Beth said humorously, then lost her bantering tone as she saw Laura's face." What's wrong between you two?"
"Nothing. Except that Jake thinks all women are pushovers for his sex appeal. I just made it clear that I wasn't, and he didn't like that."
"Elaine will like it. She regards you as her rival."
Laura put the kettle down with a bang. "That's rubbish!"
"You should be flattered. Until now, she's never considered any female beautiful enough to give her any competition."
"You can assure her from me she's got nothing to worry about. I loathe Jake Andrews."
Beth's candid brown eyes widened at the vehemence and Laura remembered the danger of protesting too much.
"He isn't my type," she added lamely. "I've already told you that."
"I can't think why. He's intelligent, good-looking and kind. All the girls who meet him think he's sensational."
Laura shrugged and once more busied herself with the kettle. "Isn't this discussion rather academic? After all, he has bigger fish to fry."
"I doubt that." Beth picked up a plate of sandwiches and set them on the trolley. "I'm not yet convinced that Jake wants Elaine."
"He gave a pretty good imitation of it at the Christmas party."
"You didn't do so badly with Robert! And you're not in love with him, are you? You said so yourself."
Hoist with her own petard, Laura changed to another line of argument. "I still think he'll marry your niece."
"Why?"
"Ambition."
"You must be daft if you think that. Besides he's no cause to leave Grantley's. He'll get to the top there."
"He'd get to the top more quickly if he was working for his father-in-law."
"That kind of success wouldn't suit Jake. I thought you knew him better than that. He's the sort who has to get success by his own sweat. And I don't mean the sweat of loving Elaine!"
Laura concentrated on filling a large silver teapot. "Then why does he see so much of her?"
Beth sighed. "You have a lot to learn about human nature. You know the background he comes from. If you had the same upbringing wouldn't you also find it flattering to have the richest girl in the county throwing herself at you? Be fair about it, lass. You may not like Elaine, but you have to admit she's good for a man's ego!"
Laura wanted to believe Beth, but Jake's own admission that he had come here tonight because he was at loose ends made her still have doubts. But doubts about what? About his feelings for herself? There was the crux of the matter, the very reason for her anger against him. She was furious that he spoke to her only in terms of desire and not love.
Yet what had she done to encourage love? Bleakly she remembered her past few meetings with him. When he had kissed her in the cave after saving her life, she had assumed he, too, felt the same revelation of feeling, and his subsequent departure with Elaine had hurt her profoundly, even though logic had told her he had had no choice other than to go.
But there had been no logical reason to prevent him telephoning her on the Sunday. And it was this that had hurt her and affected her subsequent behavior toward him.
Beth's belief that he did not love Elaine brought that whole weekend back into her mind. What if Elaine had followed him to Manchester on the Sunday without being asked? It would be in character for her to have done so. And if this was the case, then Jake's first chance of making peace with herself would not have been until he had come into the canteen on the Monday.
Laura busied herself with another teapot, keeping her face averted in case it disclosed the tumult of emotions inside her. Remembering his almost shy friendliness that lunchtime and his questions about her welfare, she writhed with shame as she recalled her rudeness. No wonder he had tried to pay her back in her own coin tonight!
In a dream she helped Beth serve the tea, all the time aware of Jake with such an instensity of feeling that she was frightened. She longed to tell him how sorry she was for all the wounding things she had said, but was held back by a fear of making a fool of herself. When next she spoke to him she had to be certain she was doing and saying the right thing.
Yet being near him and hiding her feelings was almost impossible, and realizing she would have no chance of speaking to him alone that night, she decided to go home early.
"I'll come back with you," her father said when she whispered to him that she was leaving.
"There's no need. The walk back will do me good."
With surprising docility her father gave in, and Laura collected. her coat and set off along the country lane. Although chilly, the air was invigorating, and reluctant to face the prospect of an empty house, she walked briskly in the direction of the town proper. The streets were deserted, but moonlight blanched the gray pavements and made the trees loom darker than they were. Denuded of leaves, their tortuous branches made grotesque shapes, though no less grotesque than her own fanciful imaginings about Jake.
For nearly two hours she walked and it was well past midnight when she returned home, physically exhausted but mentally uplifted by a strange peace of mind. Tomorrow she would have a showdown with Jake; regardless of pride she would tell him all the conflicting emotions he aroused in her. If Beth were right and Elaine really didn't mean anything to him, then he would have no reason for not admitting what his true emotions had been during that passionate interlude in the cave. If he was falling in love with her, she would give him every encouragement. If he wasn't———— But that was something she refused to consider.
Monday dawned bright and clear, as if in promise of a new start, and as Laura drove to the factory with her father she could barely restrain her impatience to see Jake.
Her wish was granted sooner than she had expected, for as she walked into her office her assistant informed her his secretary had telephoned and asked her to go and see him at once.
Perhaps he also wanted to clear the air, she thought, restraining the urge to run as she went briskly along to the main block.
Watching his face as he greeted her she knew her hopes were wrong. Whatever his reason for wanting to see her, it was not prompted by love.
"Come here," he said harshly, pointing to the broken lock on the center drawer of his desk. "I hope you managed to find what you were looking for?"
She stared at him. "I don't understand…"
"Don't give me that! You know bl
oody well what I mean! You broke into my desk last night and stole some drawings of equipment."
"I did what?"
Furiously he flung away from her. "Cut the act, Laura! Or do I have to repeat everything twice?" "I'm not sure you should even be saying it once," she said shakily. "I… I take it that you… you're accusing me of stealing something?''
"You're damned right I am!"
His fury told her he was deadly serious and her bewilderment gave way to incredulity. "Is this something you dreamed up because of last night?"
For a moment he did not understand her, and the uncertainty on his face gave her the answer. Whatever had prompted his crazy accusation, it had nothing to do with their encounter at Beth's.
"Do you think I enjoy knowing you're a thief?" he said quietly. "Don't you know it's the last thing in the world I wanted to believe?"
"Then don't believe it!"
He slumped down in his chair. "It's not that easy."
"But why me?"
"The night watchman saw you."
"He couldn't have. I was nowhere near the factory."
"He saw you," Jake repeated, his voice as heavy as the lines that had etched themselves alongside his mouth. "There's no point lying. He was coming down the corridor when you came out of my room. He called out and you half turned. That's when he recognized you."
" He's lying. I tell you I wasn't here!''
"It's your word against his," Jake said. "And I can tell you exactly what he said: 'There's no other lass in't factory wi' that curly red hair!' "
Laura groped her way to a chair and sank into it. How could the watchman have seen her here when she had been miles away? But why would he lie? She bit hard on her lip. Unless someone was paying him to do so. Someone who wanted to hurt her.
Someone like Elaine.
"He even told me what you were wearing," Jake went on. "Dark slacks and a bottle-green jacket. You've got one, haven't you?"
"You know I have. I wore it when I went potholing."
Laura found she was trembling. The scene was beginning to take on a nightmare quality that threatened her sanity. But she had to remain calm. It was the only way she could get to the bottom of this mystery.
"The watchman has made a mistake. Either that, or he's lying."
Jake lifted his head and stared directly into her face. His expression was unreadable and tension could be seen in the pale edges of his mouth.
"You left Beth's place early last night and your father stayed behind."
"Yes."
Laura debated whether or not to tell him why she had wanted to go home alone, and then decided that now was not the moment. Indeed, to do so might make him think she was trying to use emotion as a means of sidetracking him. Except that she had nothing to run away from.
"I had a headache," she continued, "and I thought… I felt some fresh air would do me good. So I went for a walk."
"Did anyone see you?"
"How do I know? I didn't meet anyone who could give me an alibi, if that's what you mean."
"That's exactly what I mean."
Her anger returned. "You'll have to take my word for it. I've no intention of giving you an alibi for something I didn't do! What's it all about, anyway? What plans am I supposed to have stolen?"
"You know very well what they are," he said wearily. "The night watchman isn't lying, so you can quit the act."
"I'm not acting." Her voice rose. "I tell you I didn't come near your office last night.''
"I suppose your father knows what time you arrived home?"
"No. He was already in bed."
"You must have gone for one hell of a walk!"
"Yes." Again she almost told him the truth, and again she decided against it. "I was… rather preoccupied and I didn't notice the time."
"What was troubling you?" he demanded. "The problem of how to get back at me for kissing you? Well, you certainly chose the right way. If you hadn't been unlucky in what you found, you could have…" Words failed him and he shook his head.
Laura wondered if she could be dreaming; if her sleepless night had given her hallucinations and if the scene would fade into oblivion when she forced herself to remain calm and relaxed. But nothing changed. The room was three dimensional, with sounds outside it indicating the world around. Jake was real, too, hard of eyes and expression as he watched her.
"If you could tell me exactly what I'm supposed to have taken and why it was important, perhaps we could find out-"
"It wasn't important," he cut in. "That's where you slipped up. You thought you were getting the plans of our new machine but you stole the old ones!"
Things started to fall into place, forming an ugly picture.
"You think I stole the plans in order to sell them?"
"Yes." His voice was slurred. "Maybe you weren't going to sell them—I'll give you the benefit of the doubt in that. Maybe you just did it to hurt me."
"To hurt you?"
"If the plans had been taken while they were in my care, it wouldn't have endeared me to the board." His eyes lost their dullness and glittered like chips of steel. "Luckily for me, the new plans are in my safe—where no one can get at them. So the whole thing was a waste of your time. However, if you took them to sell to one of our rivals, you'd do better to put them in the fire."
"Thanks for the advice."
"Is that all you can say?"
"What do you want? A confession?"
"If you did it to give me a scare, to make me sorry for what happened last night, I—"
"No!" Her retort was loud and sharp. "I've no intention of taking the easy way out. You can believe what you like." She moved to the door. "If you wish to call the police, I 'll be waiting in my office.''
"I'm not calling anyone. If you'd taken the real plans, I couldn't have hushed it up. But as it is…"
"You're going to protect me," she finished for him. "How kind of you!"
"I'm being kind to your father," he said harshly.
Mention of her father made Laura realize the appalling position she was in.
"What will you tell him?" she asked. "He'll want to know why I've left."
"I'll think of something." He rubbed his hand across his cheek in a gesture of tiredness. "But we'd better make sure we both tell the same story."
"Say I couldn't stand you any longer. He won't disbelieve that."
"I'm sorry it had to end this way. I never thought it would."
"Nor did I." Remembering the high hopes with which she had come into his office she could not disguise the bitterness in her voice and, afraid she would break down in front of him, she wrenched open the door.
"Laura?"
"Yes?" she said without turning.
"Is there nothing else you want to say?"
"No. Except that you'll regret this day long before I will."
"I regret it already," he said unexpectedly.
She half turned at this and saw he was looking at her with loathing. "Jake, I-"
"No more excuses," he said thickly. "Get out, Laura. You sicken me."
Silently she left him… and left behind all her hopes of a happy future with the man she loved.
CHAPTER EIGHT
It was early afternoon when Laura returned home. Never had the small rooms appeared less inviting, and she wandered from the kitchen to the living room and back again, unable to settle anywhere for long.
Jake's accusation rang in her ears like the beat of her heart. A thief! A thief!
Regardless of the antagonism that had existed between them in the months since she had come there, she found it incredible that he could believe her capable of such behavior. Yet he had stated his reasons and she had no way of disproving them.
"But the night watchman couldn't have seen me," she said aloud. "Not unless he was dreaming or telling lies."
Yet surely the first thing Jake would have done was to check the man's story. Besides, if the guard was lying, he could have found a more convincing victim than herself. But it
was the very fact that she was involved that had convinced Jake. He genuinely thought she disliked him so much that she would stop at nothing to harm him.
She was still digesting this unpalatable fact when her father came home, and his greeting in no way lessened her hurt.
"So you finally let your dislike of Jake force you into leaving a good job?"
"One has to be happy in one's work," she said in as cool a manner as possible. "And I couldn't stand his high-handedness any longer."
"That was no cause for leaving him in the lurch."
This accusation was more than she could tolerate. "I didn't leave him in the lurch. He asked me to go."
"You must have had some row then!"
"We did."
"What about?"
Laura moistened lips that were suddenly dry. Not knowing whether or not Jake had already given his own version of their supposed quarrel, she was afraid of saying the wrong thing.
"Jake was pretty cagey about it," her father went on. "Said you were the sort who wanted to feel she was helping the sick and needy, not feeding hordes of strapping men!"
"It was something like that," she said quickly. "And we didn't agree on my choice of menus."
"I wouldn't have thought it warranted your going. Perhaps you 'll both change your minds when your tempers have cooled off!"
"No. I'll never go back."
"Then your quarrel must have been more personal than you've admitted." John Winters put his hand on her shoulder. "Care to tell me?"
She shook her head and lowered her eyes, but not before he had seen the glint of her tears.
"So I was right," he murmured. "I had a feeling you cared for him. Well, if that's the way it is, you were wise to go."
Hiding her relief that her father had jumped to this conclusion, for it was far better than having him know the truth, she turned away into the kitchen.
"Supper will be ready soon. It's nothing fancy, I'm afraid. I wasn't in the mood."
Rachel Lindsay - Rough Diamond Lover Page 13
