Act of Betrayal (16 page)

breath caught in her throat, then she transferred her gaze to

Alan, smiling at him brilliantly. She said, 'Don't be silly. Of

course I haven't been put off,' and leaned forward, kissing him

swiftly on the cheek. For a moment, he looked as dazed as if

she'd hit him with a brick it was the first time she'd

volunteered any kind of caress then his smile splintered into

equal parts of surprise and gratification. He said eagerly, 'Then

what about tonight? There's a good folk group playing at the Four

Winds. If I picked you up around seven?' 'It sounds marvellous,'

Laura said with no truth whatever. Jason said silkily, 'Good

morning. I hope I'm not interrupting an assignation.' Alan turned

to him. 'Oh hello^Look I have to apologise to you as well for

last night.' Jason shrugged. 'It happens.' He sounded faintly

bored. 'Next time don't mix your drinks.' T won't,' Alan agreed

rather mournfully. 'And I've got a parking ticket. I'm going to

remember last night for a long time.' Jason said softly, 'I'm

sure all of us will,' and despite anything she could do, Laura

felt dull colour rise in her face under his mocking glance. She

said swiftly, 'Alan, if you're going to pay that ticket, I ' l l

walk part of the way with you 'Must you?' Jason's hand descended

on her arm, detaining her. He smiled faintly down into her

outraged face. ' I was hoping perhaps you could spare me an hour

or two.' ' I fail to see why.' Laura shook herself free, glaring

at him. 'And I'm about to explain.' He was openly amused now, and

Alan was regarding them both with obvious bemusement. 'I'm house

hunting locally, and I need someone who knows the area to give me

some guidance.' Laura felt stunned. She said, 'House

hunting—you?' Her voice was frankly incredulous. 'You're coming

to live here?' He nodded. 'Part of the office complex we're about

to build will incorporate Tristans' new headquarters. We've been

thinking for some time that we need to move nearer to London, and

I can hardly expect my staff to move if I don't set the example

myself.' She didn't know what to say. Her brain was whirling.

From what seemed a great distance, she heard Alan say, 'That's

fantastic. Just what this place needs—new industry—new blood.

And it's a buyer's market in the property world just now. What

size of place were you considering?' Jason shrugged. ' I haven't

any firm ideas. As well as myself, I need accommodation for my

housekeeper and her two children—room for entertaining,

naturally, and space for guests, and my mother perhaps.' Alan

said rather blankly, 'You'll need a mansion. That's a pretty

formidable list.' 'But not, I hope, an impossible one,' Jason

said. He glanced at Laura who stood motionless, her pale face

concealing the welter of emotion inside her.

'What do you think?' She said in a colourless voice. 'I'm sure

any of the local agents will greet you with open arms. You really

don't need any assistance.' 'Oh, but I do,' he said softly. 'The

woman's touch.' She bit her lip. 'Your housekeeper could supply

that.' She paused abruptly, remembering the glimpse of Clare

Marshall earlier, looking in an estate agents' window. 'She'll be

consulted naturally before any final decision, but she has no

local knowledge.' Jason's tone was level. T don't want to find

that I'm living under the flightpath for some airfield, or

downwind of the piggeries.' 'Well, you couldn't find a better

guide than Laura,' Alan assured him heartily. 'She's lived here

all her life, after all, and that has to be a recommendation.' He

smiled at her. 'I'll leave you both to it.' He lowered his voice

almost conspiratorially. 'See you tonight.' She was aware of a

cowardly impulse to grab his sleeve and say, 'Don't go,' but

instead she stood and watched him walk away. Jason said softly,

'He's dull, Laura. Why do you tolerate him?' 'Because he's a

decent human being,' she said. 'Not that decency is a quality you

could be expected to appreciate.' His brows rose. 'You're very

waspish this morning, darling. Didn't you sleep last night?' She

said stonily, 'The storm woke me.' 'They always did,' he said,

'if you remember. But in those days I had an excellent remedy.'

There was sudden laughter in his voice, sensual reminiscence in

his eyes as he watched her, and this time she blushed hotly and

deeply as she remembered the times she had woken, frightened by

thunder, in his arms, and exactly how he had comforted her. She

said icily, 'Was that what you were doing for Celia?' 'Celia?' he

frowned questioningly. 'Oh, don't bother to lie.' The words

tumbled over themselves. 'I'm not the naive fool I was when you

married me. And it's no concern of mine anyway what you do, or

who you do it with. But I wouldn't let Uncle Martin find out. He

might forget that you're an important customer and remember all

the reasons he has not to like you.' T doubt it.' His mouth

curled. 'You may think you know your uncle, Laura, but I'm

telling you that to him money talks in fact I'd say it's probably

the only voice he hears.' She glared at him. 'That's a foul thing

to say.' 'It happens to be the truth. It was money that prompted

him to have me removed from your life. Surely you've realised

that by this time?' 'It was concern for me, and repugnance for

the kind of man you are,' Laura said fiercely. 'Or are you trying

to say that if Uncle Martin had realised you were the heir to

Tristan Construction, he would have concealed what he'd

discovered about your liaison.' 'No,' he said drily. 'He can be

acquitted of that. Although I daresay it might have given him

food for thought.' 'Well, you have no right to criticise him.'

She flung up her chin. 'Heaven knows you haven't changed. Except

that you've obviously been reconciled with your parents. Did I

hear you say your mother is to share your menage? She must be a

very broad-minded woman.' 'You think so?' he said. 'It's a lesson

you could profit from yourself, darling. Unless you propose to

throw in your lot with the boyfriend. Apart from a potential

drink problem, he shouldn't cause you too many anxious moments.'

She shrugged. T think I used up my quota while we were married.

I'm due for some peace.' 'Don't you mean boredom?' The grey eyes

held hers, glinting. 'Perhaps I do.' She took a deep breath. 'But

anything, Jason anything would be preferable to the kind of

misery you made me suffer. I hoped I'd never have to see you

again.' His eyes narrowed. 'Then you're going to be disappointed.

I'm here and I'm here to stay.' His voice deepened making the

words sound like a threat. Laura threw her head back. 'But why

here of all the places in the Home Counties?' ' I have my

reasons.' His face hardened. 'Devious ones, no doubt,' she said

bitterly. ' If I was my uncle, I wouldn't trust you one inch.'

'Shrewd of you, darling,' he said icily. 'You know, you're wasted

as a cook. You should be in the Caswell board room, dragging them

back from the brink.' 'Before you push them over?' she shot at

him, and saw him stiffen. 'Before they plunge into investment in

the new fibre which you profess to be so interested in? How deep

a hole do you want Caswells to dig for themselves, before you

pull out—tell them you've changed your mind and that the

contracts will go elsewhere?' There was a brief electric silence,

then he said softly, 'Just wait and see, darling. Wait audsee.'

She stood and watched him walk away from her, down Burngate, and

out of sight.

The folk club, held in the cellar of a large country inn, was

crowded, hot and smoky, and even before the first half of the

programme had come to an end, Laura had the beginnings of a

headache.

She had spent the afternoon walking, crossing fields and woodland

with none of her usual awareness of their beauty, trying

desperately to decide what to do for the best. Leaving her

uncle's house seemed a priority, but where was she to go? Not

even the bolthole suggested by Bethany could be considered as a

refuge any more. She needed to get right away. There were jobs,

she told herself over and over again. Good cooks were always in

demand. She could answer advertisements, go for interviews.

Something suitable would present itself. She'd returned home for

dinner to a distinctly querulous atmosphere. Uncle Martin had

come back from the works, annoyed because the instant decision

he'd been hoping for from Tristan Construction was clearly not

forthcoming. ' I 'phoned that fellow Leng, but he was simply

evasive,' he grumbled. 'Couldn't seem to give me any idea at all,

except that they had other firms to see.' He continued in a

similar vein for the whole of the meal, apparently oblivious to

the fact there was little response from either his daughter or

his niece. Celia, Laura thought almost pityingly, was clearly on

edge, listening for the sound of a car, or the telephone. When at

last the 'phone did ring, during the dessert course, her eyes

turned with painful eagerness to the door, and when Mrs Fraser

put her head round the door and announced, 'It's for you, Miss

Celia. Shall I tell him you're still having dinner?' Celia shot

to her feet. 'No, I ' l l take it.' She was back almost at once,

her face sulky as she resumed her chair. It had not been the call

she was waiting for. Oh Celia, Laura said under her breath, are

you so heavily involved already after only one night?

'Who was that, my dear?' Uncle Martin asked. Celia shrugged

petulantly. 'Only Peter Curzon wanting me to go out for a drink

tonight.' 'Nice boy, Peter.' Uncle Martin nodded paternal

approval. Celia's lip curled. 'Exactly, Daddy. Hopelessly

immature. I told him I was busy.' But she was still waiting

restlessly, when Laura came downstairs changed into a casual

shirtwaister dress, and carrying a light wool shawl over her arm.

'Where are you going?' It sounded like the start of an

inquisition, and Laura sighed soundlessly. 'Out with Alan,' she

returned briefly. 'You must be a glutton for punishment,

sweetie.' Celia gave her a malicious smile. 'I'd keep him off the

booze if I were you. There won't be anyone around tonight to come

to the rescue.' As soon as Laura heard the car, she went out to

meet Alan. She had no intention of exposing him to Celia's ideas

of hospitality again. But Alan showed no signs of wishing to

delay their departure. T should have arranged to pick you up

earlier,' he said starting the engine. 'It's the Wessex Revellers

tonight, and they're always popular. We'll be lucky to get a

decent table.' And if we're really lucky, Laura thought grimly as

they drove through the lanes, there'll be no tables left at all.

Alan was enthusiastic and knowledgeable about folk music, and at

any other time, Laurg. might have found an evening at the Four

Winds in his company an enjoyable event. But tonight she was far

too preoccupied with her problems to enter into the spirit of the

event, and she felt guiltily that she was being unfair to Alan.

It would have been more honest to do as Celia had done, and made

some excuse, she told herself. Alan came back from the bar with

two lagers. He handed her One, and lifted the other towards her

in a toast, with a self-conscious grimace. 'To us.' There is no

'us', she thought with a sudden great sadness. There never can

be, and I should tell you so before you say something or do

something to commit yourself any further. I ' l l tell him I'm

going away, she decided, welcoming the cool lager into her dry

throat. I ' l l make it sound very casual as if it's something

that's been on the cards for a long time, as if I never regarded

our relationship as any more than friendship. That's all I can

do, and I only hope it's enough to act as a face-saver for him.

And once she'd told him, she would have to do something, commit

herself to some positive course of action, instead of sitting

round like a helpless puppet letting fate deal some grotesque

jerk at her strings. Tomorrow, she thought. I ' l l start

tomorrow. She leaned back in her chair, feeling as if she'd won

some victory, and looked up to see, across the haze of the smoke-