The man at Kambala (16 page)

It was Jill who made the tentative suggestion that she should have something done about her hair. It was such an unusual colour, she said, it seemed a shame not to have it properly shaped while she had the opportunity. Sara accepted the overture in the spirit in which it was offered, and accompanied Steve's sister to an appointment at Schoutens, emerging somewhat self-consciously an hour later with a sleek, head-hugging cut which subtly altered the shaping of her face and raised Don's eyebrows in approval when he saw her on their return to the house.

`Amazing what a little polish can do,' he commented. `Now we must arrange the ball.'

`You make a lousy fairy godmother,' said his sister dryly. 'How about the club? Jill's been before, of course, but you'll find everybody friendly enough down there, Sara.' Her tone was faintly disparaging. 'Don can squire the two of you. I have other things to do this weekend.'

Sara said quickly, 'What about Barry? He could make it a foursome.'

`Barry?' Don sounded momentarily taken aback. `Well, yes, I suppose he could.' Her glance at her brother held an element of irony. 'It would take the strain off you.'

`It's fine by me,' was the equable reply. 'I'll suggest it

to him this afternoon — unless Jill would prefer to do it for me?'

It's hardly my place.' Jill's voice had a barely perceptible quiver. 'I think I'll have a lie down before lunch. It was dreadfully hot in the car.'

There was a brief pause after she had left the room. Diane was the first to move. 'I've a few things to do myself,' she murmured, and sauntered out, leaving Sara and Don alone.

`Why Barry?' asked the latter without preamble. Sara gave him a direct look. 'Why not? I thought he seemed rather nice.'

`It's Jill he's interested in.'

`I know. That's why I suggested him'

His smile was unexpected. 'Quite the little matchmaker, aren't you? What makes you think that your ruse is going to make any difference to the way Jill feels about me?'

`It's just possible that she might appreciate the differences between you,' Sara retorted promptly. 'At least Barry isn't out to make a fool of her.'

`And I am?' He looked interested. 'You've obviously been doing some research into the subject. What farseeing conclusions have you reached?'

`Nothing you don't know about yourself already. You encouraged Jill to fall for you to s
atisfy your own ego, then got f
ed with her when she started to make it too obvious how she felt.'

'Is that your version or hers?'

`Mine, of course. Jill hasn't discussed you with me at any time — apart from that first afternoon when she told me you'd been married.'

'Then you want to get your facts straight. Jill is a pretty girl and I enjoyed taking her around during those weeks after Steve left, but I never gave her any cause to think that I might be getting any serious thoughts about us.'

`You must have kissed her.'

`Naturally. She expected it. She even asked for it —like someone else I could mention.'

Sara flushed. 'That was different.'

`I know.' His light blue eyes were shrewd. 'You were using me to try to make Steve jealous. Did you think I wasn't aware of it? I'm not sure exactly how far things had gone between you two when we arrived and broke it up, but I could see how you felt about him from the first. You used me, so I used you. I thought that if I paid you enough attention Jill might get the point. Trouble is that I found myself getting too interested in you. You're quite a girl, Sara.'

She was totally nonplussed, hardly knowing whether to believe him or not. Yet everything he had said rang true. It was only Steve's summing up of him which had changed her original assessment and made her suspicious of his motives.

`So what happens now?' she asked after a long pause.

`That's rather up to you. It would be simple enough to carry on in the same way from my point of view.'

Sara looked at him uncertainly. 'You mean to pretend to an interest in each other so that Jill will be put off?'

`Except that on my side it wouldn't be all pretence. Not that you have to worry,' he added on a smile. 'I
wouldn't take advantage of it.'

It was ironical, she thought, that the obvious solution should lie so directly at odds with what Steve had asked of her. 'I don't want to fall out with Jill,' she said slowly.

`I don't think that will happen. Jill is basically a nice girl. She won't hold it against you that I'm attracted to you. She may be hurt at first, but it won't last. She was ready to fall for somebody when she first came up here, and I happened to be the one she chose. It could have been Barry, or any one of half a dozen others, only she didn't see as much of them. Propinquity can have quite an effect on the emotions.'

Sara looked back at him steadily. 'Are you trying to tell me something?'

`I suppose what I'm trying to say is that your feelings for Steve are probably about the same as Jill's for me, except that I'm not sure how he would have handled his side of it. The point is that now you're away from him you stand a better chance of getting over it quickly, especially as you must have realized how things are between him and Diane.'

A shutter came down over her emotions. Don would possibly believe her if she denied that there had been anything at all between her and Steve, but it wouldn't make any difference at all to the situation as it stood. Maybe he was even right about distance lending a certain disenchantment.

`All right,' she said. 'I think you might have given Jill a bit more encouragement than you say you did, but that's immaterial now. Are you going to tell Diane about all this?'

`What for? She's only concerned with her own affairs.' His tone was matter-of-fact. 'This will be just between the two of us. That's best.'

It might be best from Don's point of view, but it left Sara with an uneasy feeling that she was going to regret this whole arrangement
sometime
in the not too distant future, although she couldn't at the moment have explained why.

the following week seemed one long round of festivities. Unaccustomed as she was to living it up, Sara found herself sometimes just a little overwhelmed by the bewildering variety of people, places and entertainments which came her way, yet at the same time enjoying it because it took her mind off other matters. She was also relieved to see Jill turning more and more to Barry as she came to accept the fact that Don wasn't for her, hiding her hurt behind a cheerful facade which faltered only on the rare occasions when she thought no one was observing her. Sara could sympathize with her. She had fallen, and fallen hard for a man who had seemed the epitome of everything wonderful, and the knowledge that one's idol apparently had feet of clay would be far from easy to accept.

So far as she herself was concerned, Don behaved himself with a decorum which both surprised and faintly piqued her. For a man who had professed an interest which had grown despite his inclinations his attitude was unusual, to say the least — more brotherly than lover-like. They went everywhere together, sometimes with Jill and Barry, often alone, yet so far he hadn't even attempted to kiss her.

Not that she wanted him to make love to her, she
told herself on the second Saturday evening as she once again made ready to visit the club. It was simply that she needed the reassurance of knowing that he still found her an attractive as well as a good companion. It was mainly for
t
hat reason, she admitted, that she had brought this other new dress, although it was a cause which should have put her to shame. Nevertheless, she was aware that she had never looked quite as she did at the moment, with her shoulders bared by the halter neckline and her hips slender beneath the softly flaring skirt in deep amber crepe which so enhanced her colouring. If Steve could see her now he wouldn't call her a kid, she thought, and squashed the sudden flare of longing before it could get properly started.

Diane had once again declined to attend the club that weekend, which left the four of them to pile into Don's car and drive there together. Sara had by now met most of the members, and felt almost familiar with her surroundings as she walked into the bar at Don's side with Jill and Barry a few paces behind. The knowledge that the dress was drawing considerable attention from both male and female eyes gave her a wholly new confidence. By the time Don took her onto the dance floor she felt she was walking on air.

`Enjoying yourself?' he asked softly, and she gave him a sparkling glance.

`Oh yes ! Everyone is so nice.'

`Including me?'

She looked at him from beneath her lashes. 'Of course.'

`Then it's high time I changed my image. When a beautiful girl calls a man nice to his face it's death to
the ego !

`Am I?' she asked guilelessly. 'Beautiful, I mean.' `You are now. You were only pretty before.' `Before what?'

`Before you started realizing your potential,' he told her with deliberation. 'You've changed this last couple of weeks, Sara. Is it presumptuous of me to believe that I might have had something to do with it?'

Her smile was provocative. 'Not at all. If it wasn't for you and Diane I'd still be out at Kambala. You've both been very kind.'

`Nice, and now kind,' he growled in mock disgust. `You need your ideas shaking up, young woman !'

`Oh?' She widened her eyes at him. 'When?'

His own eyes glinted suddenly. `No time like the present. Let's go out on the terrace.'

Sara went unprotestingly, carried along on the crest of a wave she had no desire to stem. It was cool outside, and she gave a small involuntary shiver as they stood looking out over the lights of the city spreading away into the distance. Don drew her close, turning her in his arms to smile down into her upturned face. She met his kiss frankly and eagerly, sliding her arms up around his neck and feeling his tightening about her.

`So it did work,' he said softly when he eventually released her. 'It's been quite a strain stopping myself from doing that before, but my guess was right. You only want what you have to fight for, Sara Macdonald. That's why you wore that dress tonight, isn't it? To make me sit up and take notice.'

`Yes,' she admitted. She was aware of a vague sense of deflation she couldn't explain. She had wanted Don
to kiss her, and had enjoyed it while it lasted, yet there seemed to be something missing now that it was over. She felt so cool and calm about it all, and she didn't want to feel that way. She wanted to be in love with Don in the same way she had thought herself in love with Steve, wildly, excitingly, even painfully. Yet what did she know about love? Perhaps this was the way the real kind came along; liking someone, enjoying his company as well as his embraces, building up gradually into the more passionate emotion. What she had felt for Steve had been simple schoolgirl infatuation, proven by the fact that she had got over him so quickly. All lie had done was awaken her to the realization of needs other than the ones she was fulfilling out at Kambala, made her start to grow up. For that she supposed she should be grateful to him.

`Hey !
' Don touched her lightly on the cheek. `You've gone very quiet.' There was an unaccustomed note of uncertainty in his voice. 'Disappointed?'

`No.' She smiled at him brightly. 'How could any girl be disappointed in you, Don? You're the kind we all dream about. The dashing, handsome man of the world we're all supposed to have our sights set on getting.'

`Cynicism from you?' He was looking at her with an odd expression. 'Was that because you have doubts about what I am after myself?'

`Perhaps.' She half turned away from him. 'What are you after, Don?'

His hands were warm on her shoulders as he bent his head and touched his lips to her nape. 'I could say marriage, but it wouldn't be entirely true. Not yet. I'm

not sure I could ever trust anyone that far again. Can we just leave it that you're the best thing that's happened to me in years for the present, and take it from there as it comes? Or is it too selfish of me to want to keep you to myself on those terms?'

`No,' she answered very softly. 'I think it's very honest of you, and good for us both.

`Then that's how it will be.'

`My father will be back in just over a week,' she reminded him. 'You realize that I'll be going back to Kambala with him.'

`We'll talk about that when the time comes. A lot can happen in a week.' His smile was just faintly ironical. 'After all, you got over Steve York in less than that time.'

`Yes.' She paused. D
on, there was never anything between Steve and me. It was all one-sided.'

`Oh?' He studied her. 'He never even kissed you?' `Well ... yes, he did. But . .

`Then it certainly wasn't entirely one-sided. Not that I blame him. I daresay I'd have found the temptation irresistible too.' He slid his arm further about her shoulders, turning her towards the doors. 'You're starting to feel chilly, and we'll have aroused enough speculation by coming out here alone in the first place. You realize you're associating with a man of somewhat doubtful principles, don't you?'

`They don't know you too well,' she responded. 'And I'm not in the least bit worried about what anyone in there might think.'