Flowers for My Love (2 page)

‘Probably a double-barrelled one. Yes, I gave it to your Nick—and don’t try to make anything out of it. It’s business.

You know we have to make as much profit as we can if we’re to provide for Darren and you in the future. I can always take care of myself. Now let’s eat.’

When Cheryl had gone to deliver the orders that afternoon Davina worked on the flower arrangement between serving customers in the shop. She closed her mind to thoughts of Nick deliberately, but found him creeping in subtly and equally determinedly to confuse her.

No man had ever affected her in this way before, much less a blond man. Davina had always pictured the love of her life to be someone dark and dynamic and dashing. Somehow she had never had much time for fair men; they were much too insipid. But one could not say that Nick was anywhere near to being insipid in appearance or in manner. He was too much man, one felt that instinctively. He was almost frightening.

Davina, my girl, she told herself darkly, you’ll have to go out more before you begin to shy away from men altogether. You know you want to marry just like any other normal girl, and if you’re clever enough you can make the shop pay and land a husband into the bargain.

‘The way to be really attractive is to use make-up sparingly. It has to be subtle enough to look natural, thus enhancing your looks instead of detracting from them. There, Cheryl. The blue of your eyes is echoed and intensified by the eggshell blue on your eyelids.’

Cheryl nodded and surveyed her pretty face reflected in the mirror.

‘I see what you mean,’ she agreed. ‘Your eyes look as clear and sparkling as green rock pools, the way you’ve discreetly made them up. And there I’ve been shovelling make-up on.’

She sighed. ‘I’ll never be as sophisticated as you, though. It’s something you’re born with.’

‘Don’t be silly. Sophistication doesn’t mean a thing. You know what counts every time? It’s sincerity which bubbles from a genuine warm nature. You have it, my pet. Like me, you love people and it shows.’

Cheryl giggled. ‘You’re beginning to sound like Mother.

I’ll always be grateful to her and Daddy for loving us so much.’ She sighed, adding soberly, ‘They were grand people.’

Davina nodded with misty eyes. ‘And we mustn’t let them down. We’re going to enjoy ourselves tonight. No quaking!’

All the same Davina’s heart was beating unevenly that evening when they entered the opulent flat at Belcourt Mansions.

Juleen Tabor was a well-known writer and broadcaster.

She had made it to the top via crime novels, plays and film scripts. She was tall and soignée, a blonde who looked younger than her forty-odd years. The innumerable cigarettes she smoked not only kept her slim but they had given her voice a certain sexy huskiness that she used to full advantage.

Davina liked her because she was a genuine person who had come into her shop several times to place an order for flowers. She had been living in Paris but had come to London to publicise her latest book.

She bore down on them with a delighted chuckle on seeing the delightful flower arrangement in Davina’s hands.

‘Marvellous!’ she cooed. ‘And such good timing. The guests haven’t arrived yet. Here’s the buffet table. I see you’ve brought your sister. You must both stay—I like to decorate my parties with pretty girls.’

Chatting on, she took the flower arrangement and placed it in the centre of the buffet table.

‘There,’ she exclaimed with immense satisfaction, stepping back to survey the effect. ‘Beautiful, isn’t it? You really are clever, Davina. I ...’

Juleen broke off as someone strode into the room. Nick, thought Davina weakly, was even more devastating in evening dress with his closely cropped curly hair catching the light of the cut glass chandelier overhead. The jacket of his suit was beautifully cut to fit to perfection the wide, square shoulders.

His eyes beneath fair brows were rapier-sharp.

In the shop that afternoon they had appeared to be grey.

Now they were much darker.

He said forcefully, ‘Where the devil have you been? Have you just arrived? I’ve been trying to get you on the telephone.

I happen to be giving a party myself this evening. Why didn’t you say you were giving one? Really, Juleen!’

Davina caught Cheryl’s arm. ‘Let’s find the cloakroom,’

she whispered urgently.

They were at the door when Juleen said, ‘Don’t go, girls.

This larger-than-life man is my brother-in-law, Nick Tabor.’

‘We’ve already met,’ he said crisply. ‘What about this party? I wish you’d let me know once in a while what you plan to do.’ Thrusting his hands into his pockets, he ranted on,

‘It puts me in such a damned awkward position!’

Outside the room Cheryl said with shining eyes, ‘Isn’t he marvellous? I’d love to run my fingers through those curls.’

‘Marvellous?’ Davina echoed the words in disgust. She looked at her sister in utter surprise. ‘I think the man is downright rude. He didn’t even acknowledge us.’

Cheryl laughed. ‘He was too mad. I think he’s a pet and I’m glad we have one friend here tonight. That looks like the cloakroom over there.’

They were discarding their wraps when the guests began to arrive. They were a motley crowd, most of whom were very well dressed. Davina noticed several celebrities when they entered the main salon and decided that the evening was going to be interesting.

A waiter bore down upon them with a tray filled with drinks and they were immediately surrounded by eager males jostling each other for their favours.

Davina saw her sister’s flushed face and smiled with relief.

It really was funny, after all. Cheryl had left a broken heart behind her in the flower shop that afternoon, and now she was being fought over—too ridiculous for words!

‘Come, I want to talk to you.’

Nick Tabor had taken her arm and was bearing her away before she realised what was happening. By sheer luck she kept her drink steady as he ushered her into Juleen’s writing room with book-lined walls and a typewriter on a desk.

‘Now let me look at you. First of all I couldn’t see you for flowers, now it’s people.’ He grinned whitely and pushed her down gently into a comfortable chair, then perched near to her on the corner of the desk. ‘You know what I’d like to do at this minute?’ he went on, leaning forward to bring his face tantalisingly near her own. ‘I’d like to carry you off to some lonely wood and ravish you. How dare you look so delicious?’

Davina felt her face burn with embarrassment. ‘Do you say this to all the girls you meet, or have you been drinking?’ she gasped.

His eyes darkened with devilment. ‘No to both questions.

Finish your drink, then we can talk.’ With the feeling that she had never needed anything more Davina drank and emptied her glass. ‘Sherry, was it? Like another?’

She shook her head, although the need for further stimulant was great. One needed something stronger than sherry when meeting Nick Tabor.

He took his time looking her over as he took the empty glass from her trembling hand, the slender figure in the wide-skirted dress, the brown hair curling slightly about her small head, her eyes very green as they gazed up at him.

As he watched her he saw the lovely eyes with their slight upward tilt widen, then deep pink stain her cheeks. She cast him a wrathful glance and his well cut mouth curved in amusement.

‘First the flower shop. Is it yours?’ he asked lazily.

‘Yes, it is—although I can’t see what business it is of yours. And I don’t know why you’ve brought me here. I’m not in the least interested in you except as a customer at the shop.’

He chuckled. ‘What a mercenary little thing you are,’ he mocked.

‘And you’re a wolf if ever I saw one,’ she snapped back.

‘But a nice wolf, wouldn’t you say?’

‘No, I would not. And now, if you don’t mind, I’ll go to see if my sister is having the same trouble.’

‘You can’t go at the moment when our conversation is becoming interesting.’

He bent towards her, and suddenly she was conscious of the frightening strength of his personality. It was easy to see that he was capable of being utterly ruthless when he had a mind to.

Breathing quickly, she said, ‘Mr. Tabor, I don’t know why you’ve sought me out, but I can assure you that the feeling is not mutual. I’m a working girl who couldn’t really interest you in any way. I have the responsibility of caring for a brother and sister who are without parents. Their future is my prime concern and you would find me very dull company indeed.’

His eyes twinkled devilishly. ‘On the contrary, I find you most refreshing. You and I, my dear Davina, are going to have a very interesting friendship.’

Davina’s eyes widened. ‘But—’

‘Wait. Don’t tell me that you have no interest in men or marriage. Not with a very kissable mouth such as the one I’m gazing on now. If you have heavy responsibilities then a little light entertainment with a man in tow is just what you need.’

Davina had listened to him, every scrap of colour draining from her face, though her eyes never left his.

‘Well, what about it?’ he demanded. ‘Aren’t I right? Don’t you think you’ve shut yourself away long enough? You can have all the flowers you want when you’re six feet under. Life is for living, my girl.’

‘But, Mr. Tabor,’ she said breathlessly, ‘I’ve told you I’m not your type of woman. You’d be bored with me in five minutes of our meeting. I ... I don’t even know ... what I think about you at the moment. I don’t even like you.’

Despite the break in her voice she looked right at him. He returned her regard unwaveringly, a little smile lifting the corners of his mouth as he appeared to be smiling at some secret thought.

‘You’re wasting your time if you think you’re going to change my mind. I never could resist a challenge,’ he said, shrugging those wide shoulders.

The colour came and went in Davina’s cheeks. Her clear eyes, a beautiful green, stared at him in horror. A small shiver ran down her spine. She was really frightened of the power he had to stir up some hidden chemical reaction to his nearness.

‘If you won’t believe me, I can’t make you,’ she told him with a quiet and, to him, unexpected dignity that did not fit in with the stricken look on her face. ‘Only I can’t see you making much headway with me against my wishes. I’m pretty strong-willed myself and once I’ve made a decision it stands.’

‘I’m afraid it isn’t your decision that matters,’ he said inexorably. ‘As I’ve already told you, I’ve made up my mind to educate you in the matter of men. They aren’t all baddies, and I couldn’t simply sit by and watch you hide away in your little corner taking care of your family and missing out on life yourself.’

Davina clenched her hands, hating him for speaking truths which she had consistently ignored—a life of her own, her own right to a husband and children.

He was smiling now. ‘Perhaps I ought to qualify my last remarks a little. This notion you have of preferring dark men to their fairer counterpart is the real gist of the matter. I’m going to show you that colouring is not important. A man’s a man for all that.’

His audacious grin rocked her frightened heart. He was a past master in the art of dealing with women, she thought angrily, only she was not just any woman. She longed to knock the grin off his face.

Looking back afterwards, Davina often wondered how she had managed to get through the rest of that evening. For years she had battled with an inner conflict that so often tortured her, namely the need to live her own life and the duty she owed to Cheryl and Darren.

She had suffered so much in trying to do the right thing for them and had never obtained much comfort from the thought that they would eventually find their own way in life without her aid.

Fortunately they had been blessed with wonderful parents who had loved and guided them in the right way through life—good grounding but vulnerable to the influence of the wrong kind. And young people were apt to be influenced by their companions.

Her heart beat unevenly as Nick Tabor stood up to tower above her.

He said, ‘I have to go now. I called in to offer my help, but I have a party of my own pending.’

A feeling of relief gave her courage. He could not go quickly enough for her.

‘So you did speak the truth about the flower arrangement being for use this evening?’

He coloured a little beneath his tan and his eyes narrowed.

‘One thing you’ll discover is that I’m not a liar. If I said that then it’s true. Incidentally, I’m going to Paris quite soon, so I would like you to meet me one day for lunch before I go.’

‘I’m sorry, but I shall be at work in my flower shop even sooner. I’m a working girl, Mr. Tabor, so I would be obliged if you would seek your feminine company elsewhere.’

He was not in the least put out by the deliberate snub.

Indeed it seemed to amuse him.

‘The name is Nick, Davina. I seem to recall that you and your pretty little sister show your names on your overalls at the shop, so I’m telling you mine.’

‘Thank you. I saw it on a card you sent to a lady named Kate,’ she told him frigidly.

‘Ah, Kate. Fortunately the lady doesn’t need taming. Your second name doesn’t happen to be Kate, does it?’ he asked sardonically.

‘No, it doesn’t, and don’t get any fancy ideas on that score,’ she retorted scathingly. ‘Regarding calling you by your first name, I really don’t think it will be necessary since you and I will see very little of each other. Now if you will excuse me I’ll join my sister.’