Second Best Wife (7 page)

‘I hadn't considered the matter,' she replied with a lift to her chin.

He chuckled. ‘Liar! Are you reading this?'

‘Yes, I am!' She took it back from him and, finding her place, buried her nose in it to such good effect that she barely noticed the shutting of the doors and consequently missed the last sight she might have had of Bombay as they took off and circled southwards over the city.

It didn't seem long after that she had her first glimpse of Sri Lanka. The white sands that fringed the coconut plantations shone brightly in the sun, promising a welcome of the kind that usually only travel brochures can offer, and then only by dint of some very careful photography.

Georgina put her hand on William's arm, shutting out the scene down below her. ‘Is it all like that?' she breathed.

‘Round the coast it is.' He looked at her more closely. ‘What's the matter?'

‘I'm frightened,' she said. ‘I wish I hadn't come! And, more than anything, I wish I wasn't here with you!'

‘It looks pretty good to me,' he said.

It looked better than that to her. That was the trouble, though she could hardly tell him that. She was afraid of losing her heart to both the island and to him.
If she hadn't done so already.

‘I want to go home,' she said.

CHAPTER FOUR

The hotel was, frankly, a disappointment to Georgina. She had expected something more in keeping with the way of life she had glimpsed from the minibus that had taken them from the airport into Colombo, but once within the air-conditioned portals of the hotel they could have been anywhere in the world.

'You'll feel better when you've had some sleep,' William told her with such confidence that a little of her own fright ebbed away. 'Sit down over there while I check in and cash some money and then we'll go upstairs to bed.'

But even that promise seemed to hold overtones of other, less desirable, possibilities, and she was a little afraid she would lose sight of him altogether in the comings and goings of parties of French and German tourists who seemed to be constantly on the move in the gigantic foyer of the hotel. She wished she had asked William if she could have had a cup of tea while she waited, for despite the many meals of the night, she was thirsty, but she didn't like to join him in the queue where he was standing.

When he had finally finished his business and came over to her waving the key, she was obsessed by the idea of having something to drink.

'William, do let's have tea out on the terrace,' she suggested.

'We will this evening,' he promised her. 'Right now I want to get upstairs before the luggage arrives. You'll have to make do with water.'

'From the tap?'

He shook his head. 'Maybe, here, but don't even drink from the tap outside of Colombo. You can tell, more or less, if the water is potable or not by whether the hotel provides a flask in the bedrooms. Coming?'

She went with him to the lift, a trifle bemused by the many exhibitions that were being housed in the various public rooms of the hotel.

'Still wanting to go home?' William inquired as they stepped into the lift.

She watched him press the button, knowing that he thought she was being silly. 'I suppose you feel at home in places like this?' she hazarded. 'I don't think I've ever stayed in a large hotel before. I read somewhere that such places have a well-oiled cosmopolitan atmosphere, but I've never been part of the international jet set before, so it just seems frighteningly impersonal. Positively gruesome!'

He laughed. 'Still hankering after going sightseeing?'

'No,' she admitted, 'I'll settle for some sleep. I expect the beds will be comfortable anyway —' She broke off, playing nervously with the strap of her handbag. 'Have we got two rooms?' she asked abruptly.

'Married couples usually share a room,' he responded calmly. 'But cheer up, Georgina, you'll have your bed to yourself for today and tonight.'

She expelled her breath in a sigh of naked relief. Indeed, she felt sufficiently reassured to answer him in his own manner. 'I hope you don't snore,' she said. 'Jennifer does. When we've been away together, I never would share a room with her because of it. But perhaps no one has told you whether you do or not?'

'I've never had any complaints,' he said dryly.

The lift doors opened and he stepped out before her, marching off down the red-carpeted corridor with an air of knowing exactly where he was going. Georgina followed more slowly. It came to her that she really knew very little about her husband, or the kind of life he led when he was away from home. There could have been any number of women who had shared more with him than she ever would.

The thought of them disturbed her, distressing her out of all proportion to their probable importance to him and therefore to her.

He unlocked and threw open the door to their room, waiting for her to come up to him. When he touched her arm she felt a wave of excitement shoot through her and she hastened her step to get away from him. She was being ridiculous! More men than she could count had made a similar gesture towards her and she had never felt the slightest thing more than a brief gratitude for their courtesy. Her innards had never,
never
turned to liquid fire, not even when some of them had kissed her.

It was a typical, impersonal hotel room, and yet she thought she

would never forget the way it had looked to her then. William swept back the curtains to reveal a view of the sea and the Parliament buildings outside the double-glazed windows. There was a small notice stuck on to the glass asking guests not to open the window when the air-conditioning was switched on, and she examined it with a care that she hoped would hide her nervousness from him.

'William—'

He looked up, his eyes quizzical. 'Georgina.'

'I'm sorry I'm not Jennifer. I mean, I know you're not getting any more pleasure out of this than I am. Wouldn't it be better —'

'No.'

'Why not?'

'I'm not pretending Jennifer wouldn't have been a better choice, but you'll do, Georgie Porgie. I'll see that you do!'

'One can't make oneself love to order,' she said, rubbing at the paper notice on the window with her finger.

'Who said anything about love?'

She sighed. 'It's hopeless trying to talk to you,' she complained. 'If you aren't in love with Jennifer why did you want to marry her?'

'I don't consider that any of your business,' he returned coolly. 'If you want to use the bathroom first, my dear, you'd better hurry up before my chivalrous instincts are overcome by need.'

'Have you got any?'

'Chivalrous instincts? I have a few. If you give up your bossy ways, you may be surprised.' He grinned maliciously at her. 'Are you going to try me out?'

Tears —tears, she hoped of fatigue — flooded into her eyes and she blinked them angrily away, disappearing into the bathroom. For a long time she stood in the small space that was all that was provided and fought to regain control over herself. She would feel better after a good sleep, she told herself, and therefore the sooner she got into bed the better, but until the luggage came up she had no nightdress with her. She undressed to her petticoat, paused, and then went the whole hog, taking a quick shower while she was about it. She put her petticoat back on, draping her towel about her shoulders for added protection.

William's eyebrows rose when he saw her. 'Is that for my benefit?' he asked. 'The female form holds no surprises for me, Georgie Porgie.'

'It's for
my
benefit!' she retorted.

His eyes travelled over with appreciation. 'Your modesty becomes you, but it doesn't cover you very well.' He watched the burning blush travel up the back of her neck as she turned away from him, seeking the safety of the bed nearest the window. 'Relax, Georgie. In that department, at least, you're every bit as good as your sister!'

She flung herself into bed. 'I'm better, if you want to know!' she declared violently. 'Even Jennifer admits that!'

'Does she, though? Then why try to hide yourself away? I wouldn't have said timidity, or coyness either, was a vice of yours.'

She gritted her teeth, hiding her face in the pillow. 'I'm not accustomed to sharing a room,' she said in muffled tones. 'Leave me alone!'

He stood over her, laughing. 'Very affecting. You'll get used to it, Georgie Porgie.' He bent down and kissed the exposed skin below her ear, ruffling her hair as he did so. 'Sleep well, little one!'

'I'm not a child!' she flared, frightened by the burning excitement his touch induced in her.

'No, you're not, so if you want to sleep don't press your luck, my girl!' He placed the back of his hand against her cheek in a surprisingly tender gesture. 'We'll talk this evening if that's what you want. I don't suppose you've ever seen the famous green flash that follows the sun's going down in the tropics? That'll be one thing you can look forward to without any fear of the consequences.'

She wanted to put up her hand to his, but she had no right to do so. Instead she turned on her back and looked steadily up at him.

'I'm not afraid of you, William Ayres. I'll never be afraid of you! So don't flatter yourself that I am!'

He smiled. 'If you were, you'd die sooner than admit it, wouldn't you, Georgie Porgie? What a strange girl you are! I'm glad I brought you with me if I couldn't have Jennifer. Life with you is unlikely to be dull, whatever else it may be!'

Her eyes followed him as he walked away from her and went into the bathroom in his turn. Would she be second best for ever and ever? she wondered. As far as he was concerned it seemed likely.

What a fool Jennifer had been to want someone else when she could have had him and his love as well! How could anyone prefer a man like Duncan when they could have had all that? Georgina fingered her cheek where she could still feel the sensation of his touch and marvelled at the painful surge of emotion that engulfed her. She didn't even like him! She must concentrate on that and on all the things about him that had never failed to irritate her in the past. But she could still feel the gentleness of his skin against hers when she fell into an uneasy slumber, and it was of him that she dreamed until his hand on her shoulder shook her awake many hours later.

'Is it time to get up already?' she asked, confused.

'If you want that cup of tea it is.' He shook her again. 'No going back to sleep again now! You didn't even wake up when the suitcases arrived. Do you always sleep like one dead?'

She blinked, her dreams merging into real life for a delicious, uncertain moment. But then she saw that he was already dressed and that his expression was one of impatience rather than tenderness.

'You should have woken me sooner,' she said. 'Why don't you go down and order the tea and I'll follow as soon as I'm dressed?'

But still he lingered. 'How long will you be?'

She glanced at her watch. 'Ten minutes?'

He smiled at that. 'That'll be the day! If you're much over half an hour there won't be any tea for you; an hour and I'll come up and get you!'

'I'll be ready in ten minutes!' she claimed. She screwed up her eyes, watching him through her lashes to see what his reaction would be to that. It was impossible to tell. She hoped that her own racing pulses were as invisible to him. She had been so sure that he had been about to lean over and kiss her, which was ridiculous in itself, but what was worse was that she had wanted him to do exactly that and she had wanted it in every fibre of her being. 'You'd have made a good slave master,' she added, 'only slaves are self-made, you know. I read an article about it. If you think free, you are free!'

'Stone walls do not a prison make — and all that? I shouldn't rely on the theory too heavily if I were you,' he advised.

'But you're not me! Will you kindly stop standing over me in that impossible way and go away! I'll never get dressed with you looking

on. I'm entitled to my privacy and I mean to have it!'

His eyebrows rose, a gleam of amusement entering the gold of his eyes. 'My dear girl, if you carry oh like this often I shall begin to think I've disappointed you in some way. What were you dreaming of when I woke you, or would that be telling?'

She cast her gaze down to his neatly polished shoes. 'You'd find it a dead bore if I did tell you,' she said. 'There's nothing more boring than other people's dreams. Besides, I can never remember mine.'

'Pity. They might tell you something interesting about yourself—'

'Am I so difficult to understand?'

'You'd best ask yourself that. Do you understand yourself?' His lips twitched. 'Do you begin to know what it is you want out of life?'

'Oh yes,' she answered gravely. 'I've always known that. William—'

'Uh-huh.'

'Go away.'

But when he had gone she didn't get straight out of bed. She lay there, with her hands under her head, wondering what it was he had said that she had found so shattering. Or was it what she had said? Or dreamed about him? That was the most likely explanation! Her whole being had been expecting his caress and it had been like falling into ice-cold water to have it denied her when she had been jolted out of her sleep into reality. Had he known? Was that what he had meant when he had asked her if she knew what she wanted from life? The thought was humiliating in the extreme, in fact it was quite unbearable and most unlikely. If she were sensible she would put it out of her mind and go and join him on the terrace for tea. There was nothing in their last exchange for her to get hot and bothered about; it was merely her imagination playing tricks —