Sweet Sanctuary (20 page)

The roads were narrow, without pavements, hemmed in by hedges. Fields pressed up towards them. A few elms, dotted here and there, with the occasional coppice of hazel and birch, broke the flat level of the land.

Jimmy drove with an intent expression, engrossed in his thoughts. Kate lay back against the seat, dreaming. Nick's face swam up towards her, his mouth tender, his eyes gentle. Her lips parted on a sigh. She closed her eyes in melancholy pleasure.

Then suddenly light blared, music broke up her mood. They were back at the barbecue, having travelled in a circle. The paddock was ablaze with lamps. The amplifier throbbed to the bass drum. Guitars strummed. There was a steady twitter of voices above it all, and the clink of plates.

"Look at that," Jimmy said, climbing out of the driver's seat, and coming round to help her out. "They're eating all the food! We just got back in time!"

Kate was half reluctant to return to the noise of the party. The drive had been soothing, relaxing, and she wished it could have gone on for ever. She smiled at Jimmy, thanking him. "It was a wonderful drive!"

He was exultant. Leaning down, he kissed her on her mouth, his hands lightly holding her shoulders.

Then he released her and turned, almost falling over Nick. Jimmy looked startled, then grinned unashamedly. "Oh, hallo there, Nick! Fancy finding you in the middle of the lane!"

"Where the hell have you been?" Nick's voice was stretched taut with a rage that made him dangerous. Even in this light Kate could see the menace in his eyes and mouth.

"We went for a spin. Any reason why not?" Jimmy flung the challenge jauntily.

"Yes, Nick," a cold, icily contained voice drawled from the paddock gate, "let's all hear the reason!"

Nick stood very still for a second, then turned slowly on his heel and looked across the shadowy lane at Sylvia. She was leaning on the gate, sinuous and dazzling in the flare from the lamps behind her, her tight dress moulding her slender figure. Her lovely face was frozen with anger. Her eyes spat hostility. Her mouth was thinned and tightly held at the corners.

Beside her, lounging and watchful, Sir Rodney was a patient observer. His iron-grey hair was smooth above half-amused, half-eager eyes.

"Well, Nick?" Sylvia repeated. Nick was still silent. His hands were clenched at his sides. His shoulders were rigid with his attempt at self-control.

Jimmy laughed aloud and slid an arm round Kate's waist. "Nick was playing the heavy father again. Come on, sweetie, let's mingle with the crowd."

Nick watched them pass him without a movement, but a muscle jerked at the corner of his mouth, betraying him, and his very rigidity of posture was as clear as any action.

Sylvia walked slowly across to him. In a clear, hard voice she said, "I'm sorry, Nick. It would never have worked, would it? I'm not prepared to wait for your aunt to die, and she would never give in, either. We might as well call it quits."

He stared down at her, without moving or replying. She held out her engagement ring. It sparkled in the light, a cold, colourless stone. Nick gestured silently to her to keep it.

"I'm going to marry Rodney," Sylvia went on coolly. "He hasn't got any aunts."

She turned on her heel and walked towards Sir Rodney. He took her hand in both of his, raised it and kissed the knuckles, then slid a ring on to the third finger. The stone in it was enormous, a glittering sapphire. Sylvia looked at it, then raised her mouth to him briefly for a sealing kiss.

Jimmy and Kate had watched the incident from the gate. Jimmy bowed to Sylvia, mocking and amused. "Congratulations, Princess. A tug of my forelock to you." Then to Sir Rodney, in a quiet voice, "You'll be marrying the most beautiful girl this side of London, sir, but she needs a tight rein. I'm an expert on fillies. Take my advice."

"Damned insolence!" Sylvia flared furiously.

Sir Rodney gave Jimmy a long, curious look. "Could you be envious, young man? Would you like to be the one with the tight rein? Or am I misreading the situation?"

Jimmy flushed and moved away hurriedly. Sylvia laughed, her slanting eyes widening in triumphant amusement. She gave her new fiancé a stroke of the cheek, her fingers caressing. "Darling, you're so clever! Poor Jimmy!"

Kate watched them move away in total disbelief. That Sylvia should have cut the Gordian knot so decisively, of her own accord! She could hardly believe it!

But what about Nick? He had said nothing, done nothing. He still stood in the shadowy lane, where he had stood all this time, his face enigmatic. What was he thinking? Had Sylvia hurt him, after all? Kate had begun to believe that Nick was no longer in love with Sylvia. She had begun to think that… She broke off the thought in a shiver of anguish.

"Come here," Nick called in a soft, taunting voice.

She stared at him across the lane. Behind her the music throbbed, the lights blazed, the people danced and chattered. Nick stood in the darkness, his back to the hedge. It was hawthorn, breaking into fluttery white blossoms which showered down at every wind like fragile confetti, making the grass gay with summer.

A few white petals floated down now, some lingering on Nick's dark hair. Kate walked slowly towards him, giggling a little at the sight.

"What's funny?" He caught her wrists and drew her back, out of sight of the paddock, into the darkest corner of the lane.

"You have hawthorn flowers in your hair," she said huskily, wondering if he could hear the pounding of her heart.

"If I ever catch you with Jimmy Whitney again I'll punch his nose for him," Nick returned, ignoring her remark.

"Why shouldn't I be with Jimmy?"

His hands slid from her wrists to her shoulders. She looked up at him, melting and wide-eyed, her tangled hair brushing his fingers. Nick half glared at her, his jaw set.

"You know perfectly well why! You must never go out with anyone but me!" His face descended towards her. Hungrily their mouths met, her hands slipped up his chest, clung to him.

Kate did not know if she could bear the joy which consumed her. All pain and doubt fell away, as though it had never been, and she glowed in incandescent happiness.

Later, his mouth against her ear, he whispered, "From the first moment I knew you were dangerous, even in that dreadful shabby old coat. You had such a trusting, gentle face. It made me want to pick you up and .rush off with you. I was furious with myself, with you, with fate."

"I knew you were angry with me," she murmured. "You so often were!"

"What else could I do? You were so lovely, and I was already tied to Sylvia! I had no choice but to fight my feelings for you!"

She nodded. "I know! Sylvia had the right to expect that you would keep your word and marry her!"

He groaned. "Sylvia came along at the moment when I was just beginning to want to settle down. I wanted a home, a wife, and children. She was very beautiful and she obviously liked the idea of marrying me. I'd never been in love before—I mixed up love and desire. I wanted Sylvia because she was so beautiful and exciting. I thought it was love. Then you came along, shy and shabby and unbelievably adorable, and I was shaken alive. I realised then that I didn't, never had, loved Sylvia. I was in love with you…" He groaned again, brushing her neck with his lips. "If you knew how much!"

"Darling," she whispered joyfully, clinging to him.

"Once I knew how I felt I was in torment. I had no right to stop you dating Jimmy, yet I wanted to kill him for looking at you. I had no right to kiss you, but I couldn't stop myself. My only defence was to stay away from you, feed my anger. I tried to ignore you, I tried to forget my feelings, but it just made things worse. I was out of my mind just now, when Sylvia finally released me. Thank God she did! We would have led an intolerable life together."

"Sir Rodney will give her everything she wants," Kate said. She was sorry for Sylvia. She suspected she had felt far more for Nick than he had for her.

Nick led her towards his car. "Come on, let's go and tell Aunt Elaine. She'll be almost as happy as I am. She planned this from the very start…" Kate opened her lips, but he put a finger against them gently. "Don't protest, my darling, I know she did! She saw you as her ally against Sylvia at first, but very rapidly she guessed how much I was attracted to you, and she threw us together as much as she possibly could! She's a cunning, devious, unscrupulous woman—and I love her very much. I'll be grateful to her for the rest of my life."

"I hope you don't think I was a willing party to her plan?" Kate asked uneasily. "Once I realised what she was hoping for, I wanted to go. I would have gone had she not been ill!"

Nick gave her a sideways grin. "My darling Kate, you're far too transparent to be a successful conspirator. I read your thoughts pretty clearly."

"Oh, did you?" She was indignant.

He laughed in triumphant glee. "Ah, that stung, did it? Did you think I was unaware of your response when I kissed you that evening? That I was blind to the way you were beginning to feel? I knew I could make you love me. That was why I hated you to see Jimmy. You were so young and inexperienced. I wanted to be the one to awaken you to womanhood."

She gave him a cross, half piqued look. "Vanity! I'm not that easy to read!"

"Aren't you?" His eyes were mocking. "Well, perhaps I was being a little optimistic, but can you put your hand on your heart and tell me that you didn't have any idea of what it was between us?" His smile was arrogantly demanding. "Well? Tell me you didn't suspect I found you maddeningly attractive!"

She blushed and smiled, shaking her head in silence.

The grey eyes sparked. "You knew damned well how I felt—I gave myself away a thousand times. Why else did you go out with Jimmy, curse him? It was a deliberate tease for me!"

"No!" Her head came up, her colour high. "It was nothing of the kind! I admit, I did it partly because you were so set against the idea…"

He laughed cynically. "There you are!"

"I was defying you out of a sense of pride, not to make you jealous!" She gave him a long, serious look. "I resented being ordered not to see him! You had no right to do so, after all. I was your employee, but my private life was my own."

"And with any other girl it would have remained so," he agreed. "It must have seemed strange to you that I should be dead set against Jimmy! Of course I had no right to interfere in your private life. My specious arguments were just a cover. I had to hide the truth from you. But I think you guessed, all the same."

"No," she protested. "I thought you loved Sylvia…"

He bent his head and kissed her passionately. "Sylvia was a mirage—when the vision vanished I saw you, real and far more beautiful in your shabby coat, because you had the intelligence and sensitivity she lacks, and I could read your heart in those clear brown eyes of yours. You have such warm, loving eyes, Kate. They smile when your mouth smiles. It was only after I'd seen the miracle of your smile that I realised that Sylvia's eyes never smile. Her mouth moves, but her eyes remain icy."

They drove back to Sanctuary in a contented silence. Kate lay back against the seat, watching Nicholas's profile with half-closed eyes. She felt tired but happy, and achingly alive.

The moon swam over the roof of the old house, trailing a thin glitter of stars behind it across the purple sky. The trees stood in that pale light like black fingers reaching upwards to pull down the moon. Over the lake moonlight spilled in shimmering white pools, reflecting trees and house and stars. A white horse moved out of the shadows to stare at them, then dropped its head again incuriously.

They parked behind the house and walked through the garden to the kitchen door.

The lights were on. Nick grimaced. "Mrs. Pepper should have gone home by now—or is it Aunt Elaine disobeying doctor's orders to creep downstairs?"

When they entered the room they found Aunt Elaine, her white plaits hanging down in schoolgirl fashion, wrapped in a dressing-gown, nursing a lamb on her lap. She looked round at them half defiantly, half sheepishly. "His mother died," she mumbled. "I said we would rear him. Mrs. McTavish at Crumbles Farm has two others to rear, and hand-feeding takes so long. What else could I do?"

"What else, indeed?" Nicholas sounded grimly amused. "I think I shall definitely change the name of this house to Animal Farm!"

Then Aunt Elaine took in their linked hands. She looked at them in sharp question, hope dawning in her eyes.

Nick grinned at her. She gently put the lamb into the cardboard box she had prepared for it beside the fenced-in range, and came to them, holding out her thin, veined hands with the eagerness of an excited child.

"Oh, my dears! Nick… Kate… my prayers have come true…"

Nick kissed her cheek, shaking her gently by the shoulder as he looked down at her. "Prayers are one thing, Aunt Elaine—but interference is another! You didn't just pray, did you?"

"God helps those who help themselves," she said, her long nose and straight mouth full of pride and content.

"You wicked old woman," Nick scolded.

She hugged Kate, who smiled helplessly at her, brown eyes full of dreams. Aunt Elaine took Kate's hand and placed it back in Nick's grasp, patting the entwined hands with a smile of great self-congratulation. Then she looked from one to the other with curious eyes. "But what about Sylvia?"

"Sylvia told me tonight that she's going to marry Rodney Paton," Nick said cheerfully. "She very sensibly saved all of us from an impossible situation."

"Humph!" The vivid blue eyes flashed in irritation.

"Now, be fair," Nick shook his head. "I could hardly break the engagement, could I?"

"Old-fashioned attitude!" snorted Aunt Elaine. "Victorian principles!"

"Perhaps," he said coolly. "Nevertheless, I had asked her to marry me. It would have been humiliating for her if I broke the engagement, I had to let her do it."

"And if she hadn't?" Aunt Elaine demanded.

"I was pretty certain she would, eventually," he shrugged, "I was using you as my trump card. Sylvia would never have married me while you were at Sanctuary. Once she saw that you were going to be a permanent fixture here, she dropped me. As she so bluntly said, Sir Rodney has no aunts."