Rainbow for Megan (5 page)

ON the Tuesday morning, Megan remembered with a guilty start that he had not mentioned Iris's visit. To be truthful she had not wanted to put Ray on his guard. He would answer the door and therefore have to meet her whether he wanted to or not. Her conscience won in the end, and she warned him of the impending visit, adding, 'If you like, I'll see her for you and say you're busy.'

There was something in her tone that alerted him. `What's she like?' he asked curiously. 'Apart from the fact that you don't like her,' he added.

His intuition surprised Megan; she didn't realise she had been so obvious. In all fairness she had to admit grudgingly, 'Well, she's all right really. She takes herself too seriously, if you know what I mean—she's the village femme fatale and I think it's gone to her head.'

Ray burst out laughing. 'That's something that will never happen to you, Megan,' he said with amusement.

`I should hope not' she retorted quickly. 'Trouble is, she's no sense of humour.' She stared at the blank

piece of paper she had just inserted in the typewriter. `I can't see what Alain sees in her. Well,' she grinned, `apart, that is, from her face and curves, I mean.'

`Main?'

`Alain Drew,' she explained. 'Lives at Clock House. He's been away for a year, and has only just come back.' She frowned. 'Really Alain should have called on you first. He's the nearest thing the village has to the old days' country squire, and owns most of the land around here. Still,' she added, 'he's been busy catching up on chores around the estate.'

`And this Iris is his girl-friend, is she?' Ray queried.

Megan grinned again. 'Well, it's debatable,' she said. 'No one tells me anything these days, but from the way he's been acting it certainly looks like it.'

`And you're not too happy about it ?' murmured Ray. 'Do I detect a certain touch of jealousy ?' he teased her. 'I suppose he's young and good-looking?'

Megan looked astonished. 'Jealous?' she squeaked. `Whatever gave you that idea? Alain's like a brother to me—or he was,' she added slowly. 'One of us has changed, and it's not me. He seems to have lost his sense of humour too. I expect that's what love does to you.'

He chuckled again. 'It's plain to see you've never suffered from that malady.'

Megan shuddered. 'No, thank goodness !' she said hastily.

`Nor even had a crush on someone?' asked Ray.

`No,' Megan said abruptly. 'But I know what you mean. The verger's son had one on me, and followed me about like a puppy-dog. I think he's given up now, he joined the Army last week.'

Ray's shoulders were shaking. 'Megan,' he said, `you're as good as a tonic.'

A peal of the front-door bell reached through to them. Megan looked at Ray. 'That will be Iris,' she said. `Do you want me to see her for you?'

Ray grinned back at her. 'Not after you've aroused my curiosity like that,' he said, and went to answer the summons.

`Don't forget to be very unsociable, will you?' Megan whispered across to him before he reached the office door. 'Or I'll never speak to you again.'

He chuckled and raised one hand as he left the office.

Ten minutes later Megan heard voices in the hall, and knew Iris was being shown out. She listened and could hear Iris's slightly girlish voice, only used when she wanted to impress someone.

A few seconds later, Ray joined her. 'Whew !' he sighed, passing a hand over his brow. 'I see what you mean. She is a bit overpowering, isn't she? Women like that frighten me to death. She tried to get me to attend a social function on Wednesday, county dance or something. I gather all the bigwigs

will be attending, so she thought it would be nice for me to meet a few of them, but I got out from under. I coughed up for the Church fund and whisked her to the door. Next time,' he said firmly, 'we'll arrange something—a most important phone call or something that necessitates my immediate attention.'

Megan giggled. 'You weren't unsociable enough,' she said, 'or she wouldn't dare call again.'

Ray's eyebrows raised. 'It would take more than that to discourage that young lady,' he said. 'I've seen purposeful glints such as she had in her eye before now. I only hope you're right about Alain what's-his-name keeping her occupied.'

On her way home that evening, Megan encountered Iris. It was not an accidental meeting, Megan was sure.

`I've met your recluse,' Iris greeted her sarcastically. `You forgot to mention that he was reasonably young and quite a dish, didn't you ?' she demanded.

Megan gave her the sort of look one gives a spoilt child that doesn't know any better. 'Recluse was your word, not mine,' she said. 'I said unsociable, if you remember.'

`Well, I think he's the most attractive person I've ever met,' Iris stated grandly, 'much too nice to let hibernate. I suspect he's only marking his time until he finds suitable acquaintances. I shall ask Daddy to invite him to dinner one evening. I quite see his

dilemma—a man in his position would have to be extremely cautious in choosing his friends.' She broke off and gave Megan a piercing look. 'You did lay it on a bit thick, didn't you? Hoping to keep him to yourself, were you ?'

Megan seized her chance. 'Well, you can't blame me for trying. He's gorgeous, isn't he ? I'm quite potty about him.' She sighed dramatically. 'Not that he'd ever look my way,' she added mournfully.

Iris's eyes narrowed. 'Well, at least you're being sensible about it,' she said coldly. 'Alain will be relieved. The trouble with you is that you're too obvious. You just lack experience, that's all.'

She left Megan all but gasping, but soon her sense of humour reasserted itself and she found herself grinning. She wondered what Ray would think when she told him that she was his number one fan. She frowned when she thought of Iris's remarks, and felt pretty certain she knew what she had in mind; two strings to her bow would provide spice to the chase. Perhaps with two other contestants it might have worked, but Alain was not a man to stand for any nonsense, and Ray, thank goodness, was way ahead of any schemes she might endeavour to embroil him in.

Her father was quieter than usual that evening, and Megan guessed he was starting to worry over the future. He had been waiting to hear from their

solicitors and hoping the news would not be quite so gloomy as they had earlier intimated. She sighed. It looked as if he had heard and the news was bad. She wished she could wave a magic wand and have his book accepted this time. From time to time magazines would give him an assignment, but there had been no requests for quite a while; the old adage of it never rains but it pours was proving its worth in their case.

It occurred to her that it must be particularly galling for her father to have a successful author bridge the gap for them, an author whose work depended solely on ideas and did not entail the rigid research his work demanded. Not, she thought with loving fondness, that he would begrudge Ray his success, for success as such was not a thing he sought. He was content pottering in the medieval times, browsing through ancient manuscripts yellow with age. She couldn't, she mused, have chosen two more dissimilar authors to work for. She certainly could not complain of boredom.

The following morning while they drank their coffee, Ray asked after Megan's father and what he was working on at the present time. Her normally cheerful expression sobered. She told him, adding, 'His publishers refused the last book, you know. It's now doing the rounds; if it's returned again, there'll only be two left he can approach.'

Ray put his coffee cup down and glanced up at her quickly. 'Tried the American market ?' he asked.

Megan shook her head. 'Do you think they'd be interested?' she asked doubtfully.

He smiled and walked over to one of the shelves and selected a book from it. He opened it, ran a finger down a list of names and gave it to Megan. `The last three on that list,' he murmured. 'I'm pretty certain one of them will accept it.'

Megan stared at the names, then looked back at Ray, her eyes wide. 'Honestly ?' she said.

He grinned at her. 'Well, try them and see. They rather go for that sort of thing in the States.'

Megan's eyes shone with gratitude. 'Ray, you're a brick !' she cried, then immediately sobered. 'Now there's only the problem of selling him on the idea.'

`Without telling him who suggested it ?' he asked.

She nodded. 'He's awfully proud, Ray. I don't want him to think I've been confiding in you—which I have, but you know what I mean.'

`Well, why not just say I asked if he'd tried the American markets?' he grinned. 'It's not a lie. I did ask you, didn't I ?'

With an eager nod, Megan had to agree. 'I'll sort of mention it in passing, then,' she grinned back.

The door bell went as she gathered up the cups, and Ray looked at her. 'If that's Miss Markham,' he said grimly, 'I shall definitely be unsociable this time.'

Megan soon identified his visitor. Alain's deep voice floated across to her. So he had decided to pay Ray a visit, then, had he? Had Iris bullied him into it? she wondered. Not that she could see anyone bullying Alain into anything, it was usually the other way around. She also wondered which attitude Ray would adopt, the unsociable or the pompous one. When she heard him ring for Mrs. Matthews, she guessed he was ordering coffee, and grinned to herself. It would be the pompous act Alain would not be likely to repeat the call, or indeed hand out any invitation to the coming shoot, a thing he would most probably have done as an induction into the local society. Megan hoped things stayed that way. Iris would be disappointed, of course, but it was Main who held the key of entree to the village elite; if he approved all doors were open.

It occurred to her that his visit might be a case of sheer curiosity, a summing up, as it were, of Iris's judgment. She could imagine how Iris would have enthused about Ray. Yes, she mused, he would want to get a good look at someone who might turn out to be a rival for Iris's affections.

She was busily typing away when the door opened. Glancing up, she was surprised to see Ray, accompanied by Alain, walk into the office, 'Well, here she is,' Ray announced loudly. 'Slaving away as usual.'

Megan looked away quickly and hoped to be able to keep her face straight.

`I've come to ask your advice,' Ray went on. 'Do you think I ought to attend the County dance on Wednesday, Megan?' Before she could collect herself to answer, he continued in the slightly bored voice he adopted for these occasions. 'I always rely on my secretaries,' he confided to a poker-faced Main. `Especially if they're local.'

Megan was having trouble in suppressing her amusement. She dared not look at Ray. 'You'd hate it,' she said firmly, noting with pleasure Alain's lips thin.

`Yes,' murmured Ray. 'I rather thought I would.' He looked brightly at Main. 'Well, that's settled, then,' he said airily, and began to walk to the door.

Main stood his ground and looked at Megan. 'You are coming, of course,' he said, in a voice that dared her to say no.

Megan feigned surprise. 'No, I'm not,' she said hastily. 'I hate them too.'

Ray grinned. Alain looked from one to the other, his expression grim. 'Since when have you been a recluse?' he asked softly.

Megan coloured, but refused to give way. 'It's not a question of being a recluse,' she said coldly. 'Now I'm working I don't get quite so much time for socialising. I still work for my father, you know, and,' she

added with a note of challenge in her voice, 'I walk Chas.'

`I thought I'd arranged for someone else to take that brute off your hands,' Alain said harshly.

`You did !' Megan replied tartly. 'But I talked Mrs. Jones out of giving the job to Sammy. Chas needs a good run each day, not a walk to the nearest pub.'

Alain's eyes warned her she had gone far enough. `Then he'll get a good walk,' he said abruptly. `By someone who can control him.'

Megan grew angry. 'We do not go near your land,' she said furiously. 'It's not my fault Chas took a dislike to you, and I look forward to our walks. I've got quite fond of him,' she declared dramatically.

Eyeing his stiff features, she realised with a spurt of surprise that this was the first time she had openly defied Alain and felt quite pleased with herself.

`Don't blame me if the brute turns on you one of these days,' he said between his teeth. `I think I'll have a word with your father.'

`Father likes him too,' lied Megan.

Ray decided to intervene at this point. He looked at Megan. 'I'm not sure I shouldn't endorse Mr. Drew's warning,' he said. 'Are you really sure you can handle whatever it is?'

She shot him an indignant look. 'Of course I can !'

she said stoutly. 'He's really an old softie, you just have to get to know him.'

Ray wasn't convinced, and Alain's snort did not help matters. 'Then I think that's just what I'll do,' he said airily. 'I shall accompany you this evening, Megan,' he announced grandly. 'I've no wish to lose my efficient secretary.' He turned to the fuming Alain. 'Don't worry, Mr. Drew, I'll keep a strict eye on her.'

Megan could have hugged him. She now had a new champion, and if the glint in Alain's eye was anything to go by, he didn't like it one bit. Odd, really, he didn't want her around, yet he resented Ray's kindly intervention. He left shortly afterwards, giving Megan a curt nod to show her that he was extremely annoyed with her.