Merlyn's Magic (31 page)

She rested her head on the back of the seat, the effort of
dressing and walking exhausting her more than she had realised. But she
had to go to Rand, had to assure him that he had made the only decision
that he could, that he was still worthy of receiving love, that
she
loved him.

'Are you all right?' Christopher was looking at her
concernedly when she opened her eyes to turn to him.

'Fine.' She gave him a weak smile of reassurance. 'Just
tired.'

He nodded. 'Lie back and rest for a while,' he advised
huskily.

The idea did sound tempting, and she put her head back
with a sigh.

She hadn't meant to fall asleep, but as she came awake
with a start she realised she had done exactly that. Although it could
only have been for a matter of minutes; they were still driving.

She opened her eyes with effort, instantly dazzled by the
lights of oncoming traffic on the opposite side of the motorway. But
there was no motorway between the hospital and Rand's house!

She sat up awkwardly, turning to Christopher, his gaze
intent on the road ahead. 'Christopher—'

'Ah good, you're awake.' He glanced at her, his expression
gentle. 'Feel better?'

'Yes. But—'

'You've had a good sleep,' he said with satisfaction.

She didn't understand, it had still been daylight when
they left the hospital and yet now it was very dark away from the
lights of the motorway. They couldn't possibly have been driving to
Rand's house all this time.

'Christopher,' she voiced uncertainly. 'How long have I
been asleep?'

'Several hours,' he told her lightly. 'We should be there
soon.'

Several hours! 'Where are we now?' she demanded dazedly.

'Watford.'

'
Watford
! But why on
earth—! Christopher, you were supposed to be taking me to see
Rand, not back to London,' she protested.

'I don't want to talk about Brandon Carmichael,' he
snarled.

'I know you've never approved of my relationship with him,
but—'

'You don't need him!'

'I appreciate your concern, Christopher,' she began
slowly. 'But now I would like it if you would drive me back—'

'To Rand!' he finished harshly. 'I told you, you don't
need him now, you have me.'

Confusion darkened her eyes. 'We've become friends the
last—'

'Friends!' He repeated the description contemptuously, his
eyes glittering angrily. 'I never wanted just friendship from you, I
made that clear from the beginning.'

She shook her head. 'You flirted with me, yes, but it was
nothing more than that—'

'That's a lie,' he hissed harshly. 'I told you how I felt
the first time we worked together, but you just laughed it off by
telling me you were married, that you were in love with your husband.'

'But I'm not married, Christopher,' she said desperately.
'You know that.' She frowned at the furious contortion of his features.
'I want to go back to the Lake District, Christopher,' she declared
firmly.

'I told you last time I wouldn't let you go back to him.
You don't love him.' His voice softened. 'You don't love him, it's me
you love.'

Gone was the arrogant director she was used to, the
self-confident despot, and in his place was—She didn't know.
This was a Christopher she had never seen before. And he frightened her.

'Christopher, it is Rand I love,' she told him gently. 'I
wish I didn't sometimes, but it's a love I can't stop.'

'You aren't going to him this time,' he shouted furiously.
'Dismissing me like a naughty schoolboy come to confess his infatuation
while all the time intending to return to the man who hurt you. I
couldn't let you go back to him last time, and I won't let you go this
time either. I killed you last time rather than let him have you!'

Merlyn didn't feel as if she were breathing at all,
feeling her heart begin to pound as panic rose within her, the
realisation of what he was actually saying horrifying her.

She moistened her lips. 'But I'm not dead, Christopher,'
she pointed out breathlessly, her fingernails digging into her palms as
she fought to stay in control, even though hysteria threatened to
engulf her.

For a moment he looked very youthful as confusion washed
over him, and then he smiled, and it was unlike any other smile Merlyn
had ever seen, a mixture of childlike innocence—and evil
intent. 'Because you've come back to me,' he said happily. 'My Suzie
has come back to me!'

Christopher
had killed Suzie.

Merlyn didn't know how he had done it, but she knew he had
killed the other woman rather than let her return to Rand as she had
intended doing. For
that
had been the decision
Suzie came to that day, to go back to the man who loved her enough to
do anything to keep her alive, the man she loved in return.

But Christopher had stopped her from reaching Rand. And
now he intended doing it a second time, believing in his warped mind
that she was Suzie.

This sort of thing always looked so easy to deal with on
the stage or screen, talking the murderer out of his plan to murder
again. But the victim never seemed particularly panicked in those works
of fiction; probably because they knew the script and were aware of the
outcome. But this was all too real, and she was alone in a car with a
man who was completely unstable!

And no one knew where she had gone. No one knew she had
gone
anywhere
except one rather indignant nurse
who had probably reported her self-discharge before going off duty and
forgetting all about it. None of her family, or Rand, would probably
get to hear of her disappearance until tomorrow when one of them tried
to visit her. And tomorrow was a long way off.

It was difficult to believe Christopher's self-admission
of murder, although that smile he had given a few minutes ago told her
he was perfectly capable of it.

She swallowed hard. 'Where are we going in London?' She
deliberately made her voice light; after all he believed her to be
Suzie, and that she had chosen him this time.

'My apartment,' he supplied easily. 'Rand won't be able to
find you there,' he added with satisfaction. 'I know it was his
possessiveness that kept you from me last time.'

That was what he had wanted to believe, hadn't been able
to accept that Suzie really did love her husband. Poor Suzie. Poor
Rand…She had no way of knowing what Christopher intended
doing with her, if he was going to realise as suddenly as he began
believing it that she wasn't Suzie, and hit out at her in impotent
rage. But if she didn't get out of this alive Rand was always going to
believe Suzie had killed herself because of him, would have no idea
Christopher was responsible.

If she got out of this alive…! Her mother said
she had raised a daughter who could meet challenge; this was the
biggest challenge she was ever likely to meet. She didn't intend dying.

'Why did you try to harm me again, Christopher, if you
love me?' she asked softly, sure now that Mark hadn't been the one they
were seeking at all, that it had to be Christopher who had arranged
those 'accidents'.

He blinked, once again looking confused. 'I didn't try to
hurt you—'

'But the cut planks, the fire…?'

'That was Merlyn, not you,' he dismissed lightly. 'She was
the one your husband was having an affair with. You see, Suzie, he
hasn't been faithful to you, so why should you be faithful to him?'

'But why did you want to hurt—Merlyn?' she
prompted gruffly.

'To punish him, of course. He cares about her, you know,
and I knew he was hurting you. So I hurt him back,' he shrugged.

Merlyn didn't understand his logic, she doubted he did
either, and yet she knew that in his mind she had become two women, the
Suzie whom he loved, and the new woman in Rand's life whom he could use
to hurt him for keeping Suzie from him.

Merlyn moistened stiff lips, vaguely aware that her nails
had gone through the flesh of her palms and drawn blood, feeling the
stickiness against her fingers. 'You're right.' She forced herself to
smile, feeling as if a part of her stood away from herself watching.
'He's been unfaithful to me, he doesn't deserve my love.'

Christopher shook his head. 'I saw them together in her
hotel room. I wasn't sure about them when she went to the Lake District
to see him, but I had my suspicions. But that first afternoon on
location they were in her bed together. That night too. I stood outside
her room and listened to them both times!'

Merlyn felt sick as she imagined Christopher as the
prowler outside her window listening to her and Rand in bed together.
Christopher had been so determined that Rand should continue his affair
with Merlyn that every time they had a disagreement or agreed not to
see each other again he had somehow contrived to get them back together
again, so that he could have 'his Suzie'.

And all the time he had continued to punish Rand because
Suzie had loved him, refusing to let Merlyn wear a wig for her part and
insisting she actually have her hair coloured and styled like the other
woman's so that she would be a constant reminder to Rand of the woman
he had lost. Had that also been the time Christopher himself got the
two personalities confused in his mind?

All this time she had felt as if someone other than
herself governed her actions, had wondered if Suzie…
Christopher had manipulated them all, and somewhere in the midst of his
plans he had become entangled in his own cruelty, now actually believed
her to
be
Suzie.

'That was a little naughty of you,' she scolded.

'I had to be sure, don't you see?' he said vehemently. 'So
that you were free to come to me!'

'You've loved me for a very long time, haven't you,' she
said sadly.

'Ever since that first picture together,' Christopher
remembered tautly. 'But you could never see anyone but your precious
Rand. I loved you anyway, I knew one day you would come to me, that you
would realise no one could love you as much as I do.'

He had loved Suzie so much he had killed her rather than
let anyone else have her.

'I tried to tell you how I felt that day in London when I
came to your apartment. I'd heard you were staying there, and I had to
see for myself that you were completely well. It almost killed me not
being about to see you during that time, the white roses I sent you
every week just weren't enough.'

Merlyn remembered the bouquet he had brought to her in
hospital yesterday. Would Rand see them, read the card that had
accompanied them, and realise—? No, he wouldn't give them a
second glance, she was just clutching at straws.

'As soon as I arrived you told me I'd only just caught
you,' he rasped. 'That you were on your way back home. You thanked me
for caring but told me you were still in love with your husband!'

'And so you followed me,' Merlyn prompted.

'Yes,' he confided scornfully. 'You were so wrapped up in
thoughts of your precious Rand that you didn't even see me drive up
beside you until the last moment, and by then it was too late. You
turned off the road instinctively. I stopped my car and walked back to
look at you. There was blood trickling down your beautiful face. But
you still looked so beautiful!'

Merlyn didn't know how much longer she could ward off the
hysteria and continue to humour this man. She feared what this strain
was doing to her baby. Oh God, she couldn't die now, not when she
carried Rand's child inside her!

'What?' Christopher gave her an irritated frown.

She brought herself under control as she realised it had
been her choked sob that had angered him. He believed that she loved
him, that at last Suzie had come to him; he had to go on believing that
if she were to remain alive. He had killed once, and she knew he
wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

'Nothing.' She could feel her lips trembling as she smiled
at him. 'Maybe we could go out to dinner to celebrate the fact that
we're together at last?'

'I want to be alone with you,' he declared.

'Well, of course, Christopher,' she instantly humoured
him. 'If that would please you.'

'I made them suffer for betraying you,' he told her with
satisfaction. 'I even signed Merlyn's fiancé to play the part of
Brandon instead of Gary Parker so that Rand would know what it feels
like to only receive crumbs from the woman you love. Gary Parker wasn't
too happy about being replaced, I can tell you,' he chuckled
maliciously.

The power Christopher had wielded over all their lives the
last few months was absolutely terrifying. He had pulled their strings
and they had all danced to his insane tune.

'You've been very clever,' she said shakily.

'Of course,' he accepted with arrogance.

They were actually in London now, would soon reach his
apartment. And once they did that there would be no help for her!

The anticipation in his eyes as he locked the car in the
parking area beneath his apartment building filled her with nausea. But
his fingers on her arm were like talons, making escape impossible, and
as was usual in these underground parking areas, it was deserted except
for the two of them. The lift a short distance away would take them
straight up to his floor, to his apartment, and no one would even see
her. She couldn't let that happen!

'You're hurting my arm, Christopher,' she complained,
pushing at his fingers, all the time keeping a smile on her lips, even
if her eyes did reflect her panic. If she could just persuade him to
let her go for a minute…

'You're still very weak.' He kept a firm hold of her.

'Yes, but—'

'What do you think you're doing with her, Drake?'

Merlyn's legs buckled beneath her at the hollow sound of
Rand's voice, Christopher's grip on her preventing her from falling as
she desperately searched the car park for Rand. And then she saw him,
standing motionless beside the lift that would take her up to
Christopher's apartment. 'Rand!' she cried thankfully, not knowing how
he came to be here before them or how he had known where to find them,
just glad to see him as she attempted to go to him.