Tomorrow's Bride(19)

       
           



       

'There was something else...' He left her. She followed as far as the  hall but waited outside the bedroom, looking at him when he returned,  still suspicious. He had something concealed in one hand and this was  held out towards her; she found herself looking at the blue necklace she  had worn when she was out with Kyle.

'Yours, I think.' He was unsmiling, accusing enough to bring heat burning into her face.

'Yes, thank you. I realised I had lost it when I got back to the flat.'

'I found it beside your chair and recognised it.'

Oh, I see.' She slipped it into her pocket. 'It isn't worth anything but it's pretty, and I'm glad to have it back.'

'You don't mind going round with married men?' Now he was coldly stern  and judgmental. How she hated people who never allowed others the  benefit of the doubt.

'I'm sorry?' she frowned, halfway between anger and condescending amusement.

'I suggested-----' now emotions were beginning to show and he spoke with  force, through his teeth '-that you like to go about with married men.'

'And if I do?' Humiliation made her determined to strike back. 'Can you explain how it is any business of yours?'

'Only to the extent that I expected different standards from you.'

Seething now with barely controlled anger, she had to resist the  inclination to spit out the words. 'By sheer chance I had dinner with  Kyle Lessor, who just happens to be my boss. End of story. I suppose  even you have at some time been taken out to dinner by your employer  without attracting adverse comments?' Now she directed the anger towards  herself, irritated that she was choosing to explain...

'What in this case attracts comment is that Kyle, for all his laid-back  manner, has something of a reputation. From what I'm told he seems to be  working his way through every available female in the Palais.' 'How  dare you?'

He raised an eyebrow, clearly not following her train of thought.

'How dare you assume that I'm one of what you call "available" females  at the Palais? I notice you never refer to men in that way, or is  that-----' her brilliant eyes sparkled with passionate resentment  '-because men are always available?'

'Some undoubtedly are.' His anger was less apparent than hers, showing  only in the tightness of the jaw, the clenched teeth and the narrowed  eyes, though she had little doubt that it was equally intense.  'Everything I've heard about your employer inclines me to think of him  as a philanderer, and-----'

'I think you'll agree that I know him as well as anyone, with-----'

'That is exactly what I'm afraid of.'

'You,' she said coldly, 'have no right to be afraid. But what I was  going to say-----' the idea had just come to her, and she grasped it  eagerly '-was that I know him as well as anyone, with the possible  exception of your companion of the other night.' She smiled sourly.  'Perhaps you ought to be interrogating Inés.'

'What is that supposed to mean?'

'I mean that rumour has it that Kyle and Inés da Suva had something pretty exciting going for them at one time.'

'I'm surprised you listen to idle gossip.' His expression seemed disapproving.

'Oh, I don't know, it can be quite diverting, and besides, in a place  like Strasbourg it's rather difficult to avoid. And, from what you've  just been saying, you aren't exactly averse to listening yourself. But  then I expect her pillow-talk is careful to edit out any detail which  concerns herself.' She couldn't imagine what had brought that phrase to  her mind, much less what had brought the words to her lips. During the  seemingly endless pause she had time enough to wish the words unsaid;  they were so utterly tasteless, and, besides, if he should choose to  probe beneath the surface, so revealing. Moreover, she didn't really  think he was already embarked on an affair with In6s-did she?

'Being bitchy doesn't suit you, Leigh.'

'No?' If she had been in any other place, with any other company, she  would have broken down then; she would have wept with sheer misery and  frustration. But Patrick Cavour was the one man in the world who must  never learn of her weaknesses. In front of him she must maintain an air  of cool detachment and produce, if it was at all possible, a certain  amused condescension. 'It might not suit me but, strangely enough, I  find it most enjoyable.'

'I find that rather hard to believe, knowing you as I once did.'                       
       
           



       

At that she laughed, and remembered it later as a shrill and shaming  sound, cheap and degrading. 'That was in a different life, Patrick, and  maybe we've both changed-more than either of us would like to admit.'  'You're probably right.'

'Of course I'm right.' Again she felt close to tears, and felt she had  no choice but to attack. 'You shouldn't be naive enough to imagine that  others have changed, for the worse in my case-----' she flung that  charge at him '-while you have remained your old sweet self.  Unfortunately, not many of us do.'

'I don't think anyone who really knows me would ever describe me as  naive, and of course I accept what you say. But-----' his voice  mellowed, and there was a note of reflection which held her spellbound  '-I hope you don't get the impression that I consider all the changes in  you are for the worse.'

The wide violet eyes were watching carefully; she hardly dared to move.

'No, you have changed from a very pretty girl into a stunningly  beautiful woman, and I don't think there's a man living who wouldn't,  having seen you, want to make love to you...'

Aware of something happening to her, a softening which a few moments  earlier would have seemed impossible, she still stared, her eyes dark  and limpid.

'That's why it all seems...'

For a moment she was still too entranced by the first words to notice,  then the final ones told her where he was leading, and she was instantly  all sparky and defensive. 'Yes, it all seems... such a pity? Is that  what you were going to say? Or perhaps--' she made a great play of  serious consideration '-yes, sordid would have been a better choice,  wouldn't you agree?'

His face was blank with anger now, she could tell that, and it gave her a  fleeting moment of satisfaction. 'It looks as if you've made up your  own mind, doesn't it?'

'Yes,' she said and, turning, picked up her hat and bag from where she  had placed them earlier. 'Just as you have been doing. But now, if you  would be kind enough to call a cab for me, I shall wait downstairs for  it to arrive. She went to the door and opened it. He made no move to  stop her, allowing her to leave and walk out into the emotional  wilderness.





CHAPTER SEVEN



IT WAS a blessing that she'd had this short time with Holly, Leigh  decided as she sat back in the chair of the hotel lounge and stirred her  coffee. There was nothing like a few hours' window-shopping in Paris,  especially in the company of such a dedicated shopper as her friend, to  take the edge off one's nervous tension.

'Now-----' Holly drew her chair a little closer '-that's all about me  and mine, and bless you for listening, love. It's been wonderful  bringing you up to date on everything that's happened since I threw in  the towel in Strasbourg. If anyone had told me then... Well-----' she  shrugged and grinned '-I won't go into it all again, but finding Paul  was just the last thing I was hoping for. In fact, as you know, I was  quite off men, determined not to get involved again.'

'You've been lucky,' said Leigh, and she hurried to add, 'And so has Paul-very lucky.'

'Mmm.' There was a touch of complacency in the smile, but then Holly  looked more specula-lively towards her companion. 'But what about you,  Leigh? When I left I honestly didn't expect to see you in the same old  job and-----' she hesitated '-if you don't mind my saying so, you don't  seem your usual bright self.'

'I'm fine.' Leaning forward to help herself to more cream, Leigh turned  her face towards the window, watching a pair of swans gliding across the  surface of the small lake in the hotel grounds. 'Working hard.' Turning  back, she smiled ruefully, stirred thoughtfully at her coffee. 'A bit  tired, perhaps. There has been a bit of trouble in the office recently  with-----'

'Not Kyle again?' Holly spoke sharply. 'If he's being difficult then you really must do something ...'

'No, of course it's not Kyle.' For some reason Leigh felt herself  colouring up, doubtless giving all the wrong signals. 'He hasn't been a  problem since the early days; he isn't the kind to persist when he knows  there's no point.'

'Well...' Holly was not wholly convinced. 'I just remember what it was  like. We're all assumed to be fair game and no one knows better than I  do just how much misery can be caused...' 'Well, in this case, I declare  my boss to be entirely innocent.'