Kirsty found it impossible to look at him, which was quite ridiculous. He meant absolutely nothing to her; there was no reason why she should feel the slightest bit of embarrassment, but she did. She felt both embarrassed and confused, without being able to understand why. The mere suggestion of them ‘living together’ had been enough to remind her of that night in his suite; of how it had felt to have his arms round her, the male warmth of his body covering hers.
‘Excellent though your suggestion sounds, somehow I can’t see Kirsty agreeing to it.’
Wretched man! Kirsty thought, disbelieving what she was hearing. Drew had managed to inject into his voice a nicely judged blend of regret and acceptance, and she could see that Cherry was completely taken in by it, even before she heard her laugh as she commented,
‘Wise girl! You keep him in his place, Kirsty—but you could have told us that this was in the wind, you know,’ she added. ‘Why didn’t you? Helen and Simon would have been delighted. They’ve been urging him to sample the delights of wedded bliss for years.’
‘I wanted to tell them all along,’ Drew announced, astounding Kirsty with another barefaced lie, ‘but Kirsty had the notion that if they did they’d be bound to take her on, whether they thought she was up to the part or not.’
‘While of course, merely having you recommend me to them wasn’t moral blackmail at all,’ Kirsty scoffed, letting a little of her anger show in her eyes as she turned to face him.
She had forgotten that Cherry was still there until the other girl chuckled, but as always Drew had a ready answer.
‘Not the way I look at it,’ he agreed. ‘I’d already told them I was going to spend part of the next six months up here with them—Simon needs a break, he’s earned it, and naturally I wanted you with me. I’ve got it both ways now,’ he added with a slow smile. ‘Simon tells me you signed the contract yesterday.’
The contract! Kirsty had forgotten about that. Trust Drew with his Machiavellian mind to guess that she had been planning to tell Simon she had changed her mind and to leave Ousebridge just as quickly as she could.
‘And you needn’t worry about Kirsty not being up to the part,’ he told Cherry, further confounding Kirsty. ‘If I’d had any doubts on that score, I’d never have recommended her to Simon, love of my life or not.’
It was obvious that Cherry was completely taken in by his pseudo-sincerity, and Kirsty ground her teeth in helpless resentment as the other girl beamed a smile of approval at him.
‘How did you two come to meet in the first place?’ she questioned. ‘I mean, Kirsty here has only just left drama school, and Drew.…’
‘Is a famed, not to say notorious drama critic, way, way above the likes of struggling unknowns,’ Kirsty supplied with saccharine sweetness. ‘Well.…’
‘We met when Kirsty was performing in the new Alan Forster play,’ Drew supplied. ‘She had the part of Myra—and played it abysmally, I might add,’ he went on without batting an eyelid. ‘It was the worst piece of miscasting I’ve ever had the misfortune to witness.’
‘No wonder he felt he had to tie you down with a contract!’ Cherry marvelled. ‘He doesn’t believe in pulling his punches, does he?’
Kirsty opened her mouth to speak, to tell Cherry the truth, but once again Drew forestalled her, laughter lurking in his eyes as he said suavely,
‘If you’d let me finish, I was going to add that the director in me couldn’t resist the challenge of finding her the right part—as it happens, two right parts, the future Mrs Chalmers and Hero—you see, I’m getting her well trained,’ he added teasingly. ‘Hero is perfect wife material, and I only hope Kirsty takes due note of that fact while she’s playing her!’
Cherry’s mirth left Kirsty with no alternative but to grind her teeth in silent and bitter fury, and that interlude set the tone for the entire evening. Wherever she went, whoever she talked to, Drew was at her side; the perfect fiancé, only Kirsty aware of how tight his grip of her arm actually was, of the menace behind the warm smile. What was he trying to do to her? Or was she simply a pawn he was using against Beverley Travers, deeming it a fitting revenge for the trick she had played on him, using her until he saw fit to discard her with another grating criticism that would leave her career in ruins.
The only time she managed to escape him, Helen found her, her face breaking into a delighted smile as she told her again how thrilled she was by the news of their engagement.
‘I can understand you wanting to keep quiet about it,’ she sympathised, ‘but you mustn’t think that Simon took you on because of Drew. Good friends and business partners though they are, Simon would never forsake his own standards simply to please Drew, and nor would Drew expect him too. I’m so glad he’s found someone like you,’ she added simply. ‘For a while I feared he was becoming too embittered and cynical—our life can affect you like that. I was dreading hearing that Beverley had managed to snare him. I wouldn’t have minded if I thought for a moment that she genuinely loved Drew, but I doubt that she’s capable of loving anyone apart from herself. She’s intrinsically cold and hostile. I sense it every time I go anywhere near her.’ She laughed mischievously, obviously suddenly struck by something. ‘I can’t wait to see the fireworks when you and Drew have to work together,’ she explained. ‘I haven’t forgotten what it was like when Simon first directed me—fight!’ She raised her eyebrows in mock despiar. ‘It was dreadful—worth it, though,’ she added with a grin, ‘when we made up afterwards.’ She laughed again when she saw Kirsty blush. ‘I’d forgotten how young you are,’ she said. ‘Eighteen—nineteen?’
‘Twenty,’ Kirsty corrected her, biting her lip when she realised how juvenile the claim sounded.
‘Umm, and Drew’s thirty—thirty-one soon,’ Helen amended with another grin. ‘Ten years between you—a nice age gap, I think. There’s eight between Simon and me; just enough to put us in different decades and add a little extra spice to life. I hope you’ll be very happy,’ she added on a more serious note. ‘Oh, and Drew tells me he’s taking you to York on Monday to get your ring. He explained that he hadn’t had time to talk to your parents yet, and that he’d originally intended not to announce anything until he’d done so. However, in the circumstances I’m sure they’ll forgive him. I hope you weren’t upset by Beverley’s bitchiness. Drew explained to us how she burst in on you, and immediately leapt to the wrong conclusion. He must have been thrilled when you arrived unexpectedly like that—especially when he admitted that he was the one to blame for your quarrel.’
What would Helen say if she were to tell her that everything her precious Drew had said was a pack of lies, and that he had a remarkably inventive imagination? Kirsty wondered bitterly. She was in a cleft stick and he knew it, damn him. As he had already reminded her, she was bound by a legal contract to the company now, and yet if she stayed she would be forced to play along with this ridiculous fictitious ‘engagement’ until he chose to end it. What did he intend to do? Make her humiliation complete by breaking off their engagement at the same time as he announced that she wasn’t capable of playing Hero? It all fitted together so logically, so demoniacally; and she had actually believed someone had recommended her for the part because they believed in her. Oh, if she’d been that sort of female she could have wept!
CHAPTER FOUR
THE evening seemed interminable. Kirsty was all too aware of the sidelong glances she was getting from other members of the cast, burningly conscious of the comments they must be making to one another, and this was borne out when Clive approached her towards the end of the evening, to add his best wishes to everyone else’s.
‘Quite the dark horse, aren’t you,’ he said lightly, ‘but don’t worry about it. At least no one could accuse you of getting the part by virtue of being an old man’s darling—the time-honoured way to stage fame—or at least it was, about fifty years ago. For one thing, Drew is far too much of a catch. There’ll be more than one pair of jealous green eyes turned in your direction when this becomes public.’
Public! That was something Kirsty hadn’t thought of. She must get in touch with her parents, she thought feverishly, and explain.… But explain what? She gnawed worriedly at her lip. Oh, why had Drew announced their ‘engagement’? He must have known there would be all manner of repercussions and problems. Why couldn’t he simply have announced that they were lovers if he had to say anything—it would have had an equally explosive effect and would have been far less messy. How could she explain to her parents? She tried to visualise telling them what had happened at Winton, and the consequent results. They would never understand, she acknowledged unhappily. Chelsea would, but this was one scrape her aunt couldn’t get her out of. This was something she had to face alone.