Flowers for My Love (6 page)

In bed that night Davina lay waiting for Cheryl to come.

Although Nick had not put in an appearance again she felt his presence in the house as she felt it now at this moment. It was unsettling to say the least and every ounce of resistance she was capable of rose hotly inside her.

He was spoiling what otherwise would have been an enjoyable weekend. It came to her then in a blinding flash. She who had scorned the charms of blond men was hoist with her own petard. She was in love with a man whose type she had never really been interested in. If it was not so painful she could have laughed at the irony of it.

Shaken as she had never believed herself capable of being, Davina lay staring wide-eyed at the ceiling. She recalled his kisses and despised herself for her own response.

Cheryl came creeping in the room in the small hours.

‘Have a nice time?’ Davina asked as her sister undressed.

‘So-so. I’ve had a beastly toothache on and off and I’m just about to go mad with it.’

Davina was out of bed immediately, pushing her feet into bedroom mules and scanning Cheryl’s face anxiously.

‘You poor dear,’ she said sympathetically. ‘I’ll go and get you a warm drink. I have some tablets in my bag. Those should do the trick. Shan’t be long.’

Davina was going carefully downstairs in order to make the least noise when she met Lila coming up. Quietly she explained the situation. Lila sympathised and directed her to the kitchen.

‘The staff will have gone to bed, but I’m sure you can cope.

You’ll find plenty of milk in the fridge.’

The light was on in the kitchen when Davina pushed open the door and the air was warmly scented with freshly made coffee.

‘Come in, don’t stand there,’ invited Nick, lounging back in a chair which was balancing on its two back legs. He was demolishing a plate of sandwiches and a steaming cup of coffee.

Davina had never expected to meet anyone in the glaring lights of the kitchen, hence her fragile negligee. She stood poised in the doorway, aware of her figure leaving little to the imagination beneath the delicate covering.

She backed away. ‘Sorry to disturb you. I’ll come back later,’ she told him.

The chair beneath him righted itself with a crash as he rose to his feet.

‘For crying out loud!’ he snapped. ‘Tell me what you came for—or better still help yourself. I’m not pigging it. George got hold of me before I could eat.’

He leaned with the flat of his hand to steady himself on the kitchen table and glowered.

‘And don’t look at me as though I’d just crawled out from beneath the floor boards. Anyone who’s fool enough to drink on an empty stomach usually ends up being slightly inebriated.

So come in, my sweet, and let me be a lesson to you.’

With the thought of the suffering Cheryl in mind, Davina obeyed unwillingly.

She explained, "I’ve come for a hot drink for Cheryl. She has a toothache.’

Nick lifted a hand. ‘Say no more,’ he said, and dropped back into his seat.

Never had milk taken so long to heat up, Davina thought, as she watched the pan on the stove. It did eventually and she washed the pan and returned it to its place.

Nick had resumed his eating and drinking, eyeing her with narrow-eyed appraisal.

‘I wish you wouldn’t stare at me so much,’ she said. ‘I find it very embarrassing.’

He said crisply, ‘The next time you come down to the kitchen in the small hours put something more serviceable on, otherwise you’ll be giving people ideas.’

She lifted a militant chin. ‘And the next time you come down to the kitchen you might take the tray up to your room to eat it.’

He grinned. ‘What, the tray?’

‘You know what I mean!’

‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘Stay and have a cup of coffee with me.’

‘I don’t think that would be wise in my present attire, do you?’

He laughed and stretched out his long legs contentedly.

‘One of these days I’m going to take you in hand and show you what you’re missing. You’re much too serious for your age.’ He eyed her darkly. ‘I suppose I asked for that crack.

Take care, you should never provoke any slightly inebriated man. It’s asking for trouble.’

Davina eyed him resentfully. ‘From where I’m standing you spell trouble in any case. Goodnight, Nick.’

He was on his feet and opening the kitchen door for her.

‘It’s good morning, my sweet,’ he mocked. ‘Tell Cheryl I’m sorry to hear about the toothache. Sleep well.’

But Davina did not sleep well that night. She awoke early not much after seven to find Cheryl still sleeping. The pill and hot milk appeared to have done the trick for her toothache.

Padding softly to the window, she looked down below to gaze on the glass roof of the indoor swimming pool. Smiling to herself, she put on one of her new brief swimsuits, threw on a wrap and picking up a towel slipped quietly out of the room.

She met no one on her way to the pool where she dropped her wrap and towel and dived in. The water was warm and it was heaven to glide under the surface along the length of it.

It had been some time since she had done any swimming and it was fun to climb up to the top of the diving board and practise diving. She stood for seconds on the diving board to adjust her bathing cap. Then she made a graceful arc in the air and hit the water in a perfect dive.

‘Bravo!’ said a musical drawling voice, and she swam to the side of the pool to see Nick sitting there in his trunks, grinning.

Davina could only stare back at him, the colour draining from her face. Once again the old familiar pounding of her heart evoked by his presence deafened her to everything else.

Once again she felt the need to cover herself up against those keen intelligent grey eyes.

He had evidently been in the pool and had been watching her for some time.

‘Hi,’ she answered, and swam away from him.

She was more than half way along the length of the pool when he caught up.

‘Practising for the Olympics?’ he grinned. ‘Why must you always run away? Are you playing hard to get in order to keep me interested?’

Davina did not bother to turn her head to show her disgust at his king-sized ego.

Swimming strongly, she said, ‘Will you please go away. I was enjoying myself until you came.’

‘I was already here when you arrived, have been for some time,’ he answered, doing a slow powerful crawl beside her.

‘How is Cheryl?’

She said shortly, ‘Asleep when I came out, as I thought you would be. You certainly keep strange hours, Mr. Tabor.’

He spoke savagely. ‘The name is Nick—and there’s nothing strange about me going to bed at dawn and rising later with the lark, as the saying goes.’

Something in his tone ought to have warned her. The next moment he had grabbed her in his arms and she found herself fighting him with all her strength. Fighting with him was exciting despite her anger. But she knew the outcome of it long before it ended. However she kicked and hit out at him it was impossible to evade the brute strength of his arms.

‘Let me go, you big ape!’ she cried, all to no avail.

At last, spent and quivering, she was clamped hard against his hard body. She saw the flash of white teeth, the grin of the victor as he bent his head and took his reward.

Gradually her whole body became limp and she stopped treading water. Her heart was beating wildly and time stood still as she clung. Deeper and deeper went Nick’s kiss until Davina felt that he was taking away her very soul.

It came to an end suddenly when he stopped treading water too and they sank beneath the surface. The next moment she was free and making for the side of the pool. Within minutes she was picking up her wrap and towel and running off to the house.

Looking back on that weekend Davina could not say that it had been a success. Upon returning to her room she had found Cheryl awake with raging toothache, and it had only been after much telephoning around that they managed to contact a dentist who consented to see her.

Rex had driven them the twenty miles to the dentist and the offending tooth had been removed Then it had rained after lunch on their return and pleasures were restricted. There were no outdoor activities like tennis or walking, and the house seemed to have lost its magic to Davina because Nick had gone.

He left while they were on their way to the dentist, so they did not see him again. To cap it all Cheryl and Rex had a blazing row, the cause of which she refused to divulge to Davina.

Rather bitterly, Davina blamed the change in Cheryl and herself on Nick. She knew it was unfair to do so, but there it was. He haunted every waking moment of her life and Cheryl, withdrawn and quiet, was another problem which she had not the slightest idea how to cope with.

They stayed in most nights in their flat after work. Davina usually concerned herself with the affairs of the shop while Cheryl amused herself playing records or reading.

Nothing much happened in the days which followed until one day Rex swaggered into the shop. Cheryl was at the hairdressers. Davina had been to have her hair styled the previous day. The result was a shining cap of brown silky hair falling in soft natural waves around her face and giving it a kind of piquancy that was very becoming.

Cheryl had been loud in her praises. ‘It suits you, Davina.

You look beautiful. I must have mine done. Do you think it will suit me?’

‘Of course,’ Davina had told her confidently. ‘Like me, you have thick luxuriant hair, so you won’t get that boyish look with it shorter. Besides, I’m sure a change is good. Sometimes we tend to get into a rut, so why not be something different from our usual boring selves? What about going to the hairdressers tomorrow? I’m sure they’ll fit you in if you telephone them now.’

So Cheryl had done just that and so had missed Rex calling.

Davina had no idea how the situation was between them so she decided to be diplomatic.

‘Nice to see you,’ she said with a smile. ‘I’m afraid Cheryl is out at the moment.’

Rex looked his usual expensive self, expensive jeans, shirt and haircut. However, his usual jaunty air was dimmed. He almost seemed relieved to discover Cheryl was not there.

He said wryly, ‘Not exactly a success, our visit to Aunt Lila?’

‘I wouldn’t say that exactly. It was a change, and we did eat.’

They both laughed and Davina twinkled, ‘I was just about to make coffee—will you have a cup?’

‘About Cheryl,’ said Rex as she refilled his cup. ‘How does she feel about me?’

Davina handed him the plate of biscuits again and he helped himself.

‘I haven’t a clue. Why not ask her yourself? She’ll be in soon,’ she suggested.

He said ruminatively, ‘You know, you’re being awfully sweet to me. Why? I know you haven’t much time for me.’

Davina shrugged. ‘I’ve no right to be anything else, have I?

You’re Cheryl’s boy-friend, not mine. Everyone has a right to live their life as they choose, but I must confess that I would interfere a little with Cheryl’s or Darren’s if I thought they were heading for disaster.’

Rex munched this with his biscuit. ‘You think Cheryl is heading for disaster with me?’

‘No one bettering themselves is exactly heading for disaster, although they might not, at the same time, be heading for happiness. I think happiness is the essential quality in life whether you’re rich or poor.’

‘What do you suggest?’ he put in dryly. ‘That I should give away my money, and live a hand-to-mouth existence?’

Davina laughed. ‘Good heavens, no! Mind you, the experience might help you to mature, a quality that’s essential in a married man.’

‘Who said anything about marriage?’

Davina’s eyes widened innocently. ‘I hope that some day you intend to marry, but don’t fool yourself that Cheryl is eager to marry you. I’ve no idea how she feels towards you. In any case, she can almost pick and choose in the matrimonial stakes.

She’s pretty enough and intelligent too.’ She lifted her head as the door bell tinkled, and thrust her head between the beaded curtains separating the back room from the shop. ‘Here she is now followed by a customer, so I’ll leave you to it.’

Davina served several customers, and after looking at her watch realised that ft was lunch time. Cheryl and Rex were still conversing earnestly in the back room and she made a sudden decision to eat out.

She stayed long enough to praise Cheryl’s new hair-style and did not blame Rex for not being able to tear his eyes away from the sparkling blonde. Then she shed her overall, put on a short black velvet jacket and paused to alter the sign on the shop door from Open to Closed.

‘Sorry, closed for lunch,’ she informed the customer who bumped into her on her way out.

She smiled up past expensive soft leather shoes, long legs in immaculate trousers to wide shoulders and ... Nick.

‘Good. You can have lunch with me. Come on.’

Taking her arm possessively between determinedly strong fingers, he marched her off to his parked car.

On breath regained, pulses hammering, Davina decided to play it cool.

‘If you care to leave an order, sir, I’ll make a note of it and attend to it later,’ she gasped.

Darkly he said, ‘Into the car before I beat you.’

He pushed her almost roughly into the yielding, well-sprung leather seat, and lost no time slipping in beside her behind the wheel.