The Wings of Love Page 17

  They sailed down the coast to Italy and anchored in a cove for lunch, ferrying the food across to the beach in the little dinghy they towed behind them. Tressy tried not to be left alone with Cris and hung on to Nora like a leech, but the others seemed determined to leave them together. When they had eaten Michel suggested a stroll along the beach, and Nora got up to join him. Tressy rose, too, but Cris caught her wrist. 'No. Stay here. It's about time we talked,' he added as the others moved away.

  Tressy disengaged her wrist and shrugged. 'What is there to talk about?' Kneeling down on the sand, she began to pack up the remains of the picnic.

  'The last time we met, for a start,' Cris said grimly. 'Oh, that.'

  'Yes, that.' Then, exasperatedly. 'Will you please leave those things alone and look at me?'

  'All right, if that's what you want.' She sat on the sand and looked up at him where he stood tall against the sun. Her heart skipped a couple of beats, but she made herself say calmly, '1 really don't see that there's anything to discuss.'

  Cris's mouth tightened. 'I was concerned about you.'

  'Why?' Tressy dug her hands into the sand so that he couldn't see them trembling. 'It wasn't any big deal,' she added deliberately.

  There was a long moment of shattering silence before Cris said stiffly, 'So it didn't mean anything to you?'

  'Why should it?' Tressy asked him coldly.

  'I thought it was something more than just a casual lay,' Cris replied bitingly. 'Evidently I was wrong.' 'That's right. It meant as little to me as it did to you.' Getting to her feet, Tressy began to carry the picnic things over to the dinghy. Cris followed her. 'And I trust there won't be any-shall we say unfortunate outcome to that night?'

  Tressy swung round to look at him, her face cold and set. 'You don't have to worry, you won't get any paternity suits thrown at you; I know how to take care of myself.'

  Cris's eyes ran over her disparagingly. 'I felt sure you would,' he told her, making it sound like an insult, then turned and strode away down the beach, leaving Tressy hating him, herself and just being alive.

  They didn't speak to each other again, making Nora and Michel look at each other ruefully when they returned and realised the situation. Michel suggested they cut short the trip and return to Menton, where he usually kept his boat, and then take a taxi on to Monte Carlo, and everyone agreed. There was enough breeze to fill the sails and they made good time on the way back. Ordinarily Tressy would have loved the way the boat moved with the wind, but she felt so wretched that all she wanted to do was to get the whole thing over. Tomorrow, she decided, no matter what Uncle Jack said, she was going home; she just couldn't take any more of this. She sat on the foredeck, Cris staying in the cockpit with the others, and he didn't come forward until they neared Menton harbour and he came to let down the sails so that they could go in on the engine.

  It was a lovely, peaceful day with lots of small boats and windsurfers on the water, the beaches crowded with sunbathers, a perfect summer day to be on holiday. When Cris came forward, Tressy moved her legs out of the way and looked up, unable to keep her eyes off him. Cris's glance met hers and he opened his mouth to speak, but whatever he was going to say was lost beneath the explosion of sound and flame that ripped through the boat as Michel turned on the engine.

  Cris staggered as the boat rolled under the impact and almost fell into the sea, but managed to grab the sail and hang on. Tressy was thrown to one side but immediately scrambled to her feet. She screamed out, 'Nora!' and tried to get through the flames coming out of the cabin windows to the back of the boat, but Cris came after her and pulled her back.

  'Nora's all right-Michel will take care of her.

  Come on, jump!'

  But Tressy tried to fight him off and get to the cabin. 'My new handbag's in there!'

  'Forget it. For God's sake, jump!' Acrid black smoke was blowing towards them and the flames had started to run up the rigging.

  'Are you crazy? That bag cost me six hundred francs!'

  With a furious oath, Cris picked her up bodily and threw her over the side, then he jumped in himself as another explosion ripped through the yacht.

  'Swim away from it!' he yelled at her, and came to put his hand on her shoulder to make sure she obeyed him.

  They swam a good twenty yards away and then Tressy trod water, looking round for her cousin. Nora and Michel were both in the sea and Tressy waved to her, but Michel was hanging on to the dinghy, trying to untie it and tow it away before it, too, caught fire.

  Cris said, 'I'll go and help him. Will you be all right?'

  'Yes. Be-be careful.'

  He looked at her for a second, then broke into a fast crawl and swam away.

  Behind her there was the shriek of a siren as an orange and blue rescue boat came surging out of the harbour towards them. The harbour wall, all the way up to the lighthouse, was lined with people, avidly watching. Tressy turned away and saw that the whole of the yacht was now in flames, the great pall of smoke rising high into the sullied blue of the sky. They had managed to untie the dinghy and pull it clear of the flames before the rescue boat came surging up. It picked up the others and took the dinghy in tow before turning to come for her. They left the yacht where it was to burn itself out.

  Neither Nora nor Michel were hurt at all except that Michel's eyebrows were a bit singed, and Nora seemed to be all right on the rescue boat, but when they got ashore shock hit her and she started to get hysterical. Tressy moved to look after her, but Michel firmly took over, giving Nora a shake and then holding her in his arms to let her cry it out on his shoulder. Somebody rushed up with a blanket to put round Nora's shoulders and someone else gave her a glass of cognac. Cris was busy with the officials, giving names and addresses. Tressy watched rather helplessly, then turned and slipped through the crowd and climbed the steps from the quay to the top of the wall. She sat on the edge and watched the fire gradually diminish as the flames ate away everything there was to burn. Then the rescue boat went out again and pulled in what was left of the hull, the vile smell of burnt fibreglass filling the nostrils of the large crowd that had gathered to watch.

  A taxi drove up and Michel put Nora into it, had a few minutes of rapid conversation with Cris, then got into it himself and it drove away. Cris started to look round the crowd, for Tressy presumably, but then the harbormaster claimed his attention again. The crowd of people began to drift back to the town and beaches when they realised that they had seen all there was to see and the burnt out boat was left, just about floating sluggishly in the water. Slowly Tressy got up and went down to look at it more closely.

  Black smuts blew off it on to her legs and the smell made her feel sick, but she peered at what was once the cabin area, then picked up a piece of stick and poked about in the debris where the drawers had been. After a couple of minutes she unearthed a tarnished frame and length of what had once been gold chain, all that was left of her lovely handbag. Carefully she hooked up the chain and caught it in her hand.

  'A souvenir?' Cris's sarcastic voice asked as she stood looking down at it.

  Raising her head, she met his gaze steadily enough. 'Something like that.'

  'We can go now. I've taken care of all the arrangements about the boat.'

  'What will happen to it?'

  'A crane will lift it out of the water on to the quay until the insurance people come down to have a look at it. Then I expect it will be scrapped.'

  He turned to walk down the quay, but Tressy took a last look at the boat. 'Why did it catch fire?' she asked. 'We think there must have been a gas leak which built up in the hull, then, when Michel turned on the engine, a spark ignited the gas and it blew up.' He waited a moment. 'Are you coming?'

  'What? Oh, yes.' Tressy turned to walk with him, but put up a hand to hide her face.

  'We'll get a taxi and I'll drop you off at the villa and ... ' He stopped, then caught her hand and pulled it down. 'You're crying!' he exclaimed in disbelief. 'So what? Leave me alone.'
Hastily she rubbed at her eyes with her free hand.

  'Why? Because your handbag got burnt?' Cris asked sardonically. 'What was in it that was so precious your book of telephone numbers? Or was it just money that you wanted to risk your life to save?'

  'Shut up! Damn you, shut up. Oh God, it was such a beautiful boat!' And suddenly the tears were pouring down her cheeks in an unstoppable flood.

  'Tressy.' Cris said her name on a guarded note of wonder. He lifted his arms as if to put them round her, but hesitated in case she fought him off again.

  But Tressy looked at him imploringly and said, 'Hold me. Please hold me.'

  So he put his arm round her and held her very close, his hand stroking her hair, much to the interest of passers-by. After a few minutes Tressy muttered something against his shoulder and he loosened his hold so that he could see her face. She sniffed and tried to wipe her eyes with her hands. 'Oh hell! In front of all these people, too. And I swore I wouldn't.'

  Cris put up a finger to wipe a last tear from her cheek. 'It's best to let it go. I thought you were upset because you'd lost your bag.'

  'Well, maybe it was for that, too,' Tressy admitted honestly. 'It was a brand new one; I only bought it this morning. It cost six hundred francs. That probably doesn't mean much to you, but it's more than I've ever spent on myself in my life. It took me a long time to make up my mind to spend that much money. But I was so miserable that I .. .' She broke off, her face flushing.

  'Why were you so miserable?' Cris turned her towards him, looking searchingly into her face. 'Tell me,' he insisted.

  Tressy hesitated for a moment, but instinct told her that she couldn't draw back now, so she straightened up and asked, 'Why did you take Nora out the day after we--we were together?'

  'So that's it!' Cris gazed at her with relieved amusement mixed up with annoyance. 'So Nora didn't tell you? Still, I suppose that's understandable. But why you should think that I wanted Nora after what we'd had together ... ' He gave an exasperated laugh. 'I took Nora out to lunch so that I could tell her in plain words that I wasn't interested in her and never had been.'

  Her face white, Tressy exclaimed, 'Oh, you should never have done that!'

  'Why not?-it's true. And I thought it about time she faced up to it.'

  'But she might have tried to ... ' she hesitated, then finished slowly, 'to kill herself again.'

  Cris stared at her, appalled. 'You'd better tell me,' he ordered grimly.

  So, standing there on the quay, with people walking past, and the stone houses of the old town rising to the cathedral behind them, Tressy told him why she had broken their date and tried to avoid him.

  Cris groaned. 'Nora really messed things up between us, didn't she? I had no idea she felt that deeply, but I must admit that I wasn't paying her a great deal of attention, my thoughts were entirely elsewhere. But why didn't you tell me? We could have worked something out.'

  Looking down at her feet, Tressy said, 'Do you think we could find that taxi now? I haven't got any shoes and these stones are hurting my feet.'

  'We'll find somewhere more comfortable by all means, but you needn't think you're going to evade the issue that easily. You still have quite a lot of explaining to do, young lady.'

  They found an outdoor cafe under the arches of the promenade and Cris insisted they sit together on one of the double seats almost surrounded by tall plants in wooden tubs that gave them privacy from the other customers. Tressy rubbed the soles of her feet. 'You were lucky,' she said, envious of his rope-soled deck shoes.

  'Doubly lucky; my wallet was in the pocket of my shorts, so I'll be able to pay for some drinks.' He produced a still wet note for the waiter and then, in a tone that wasn't to be denied, said, 'Now tell me.'

  Tressy sighed. 'I didn't tell you about Nora because-well, because I thought she was so much in love with you that she had the right to try and attract you, or however you care to put it, without me getting in the way.'

  'And didn't you think that you also had the right?' Tressy stirred her coffee and shook her head. 'Why not?'

  'Because-because I wasn't sure that I-how I ...

  Oh, dear! I just wasn't sure how I felt about you, that's all.'

  'I see.' Cris put a hand on her neck under the thick red fall of her hair and Tressy lifted up her head to gaze at him, her lips parting sensuously. 'But it seems that you did make up your mind about me later. Only I still don't know which way.' He gave a crooked, self mocking grin. 'When we made love I thought you meant it. But then you turned round and told me you hated me--which was quite a smack in the face for a man in those circumstances. So which was right, Tressy? Love or hate?'

  'Both.' Leaning back against the cushions, she gazed into his face, lifting a finger to trace his profile. 'I loved what we did together, but afterwards, when I came back to my senses, I realised what Nora might do if you-claimed me, and I hated you for putting me into that position, and myself for letting you, I suppose.'

  'Idiot,' Cris put a hand on her waist and drew her closer. 'Do you still hate me?'

  'No,' she admitted on little more than a whisper. 'Good. I was afraid Nora was coming between us, that's why I told her I wasn't interested. I could also have told her that I was head over heels in love with you, but I wanted to tell you that myself. Only you wouldn't give me a chance.'

  'How could I, when you went away?' Tressy objected indignantly. 'Your boat was gone when I looked in the harbour.'

  'So you did care a little!' Cris exclaimed triumphantly. 'I thought I'd clear out to let Michel have a chance with Nora, but I gave him strict instructions to get in touch if you asked about me. And a couple of days ago you did, so we fixed up the trip today between us. Although that, too, didn't work out as I'd hoped.'

  'You mean the boat blowing up?'

  'No, I mean the row we had at lunchtime. And you know it.'

  'Mm. We always seem to end up quarrelling.'

  'Not always. I can think of one notable exception,' he told her meaningfully.

  Tressy flushed a little and smiled. Cris was sitting very close, their faces only a few inches apart, and she wondered why he didn't kiss her, but then the reason came to her and she leaned forward and kissed him lingeringly on the mouth. 'I love you,' she said softly. 'I'll always love you.'

  He gave a long sigh. 'Well, it's about time.' And he pulled her close into his arms to kiss her with the fierce joy of possession.

  It was early evening before they left the cafe and walked up into the town to find a taxi. Tressy had Cris's shirt over her bikini, but she derived more warmth from his closeness and the arm he put across her shoulders.

  In the taxi, he started to make plans. 'I'll come to the villa with you to make sure that Nora is all right, then go on down to the boat to change. What time shall I call for you? We must go somewhere really special tonight to celebrate. And you must tell your uncle so that we can go back to England soon and I can meet your mother.'

  'My mother?' Tressy looked at him in astonishment. 'Why do you want to meet my mother?'

  'Well, it is customary for a man to meet his girl's people before they get married, you know.'

  Tressy sat up straight and stared at him. 'Married?' Cris looked amused. 'Did I forget to mention that?

  Sorry.'

  'Yes, I rather think you did forget it,' Tressy said hollowly.

  'Then I'd better remedy that at once.' Taking hold of her hands, Cris said softly, 'Will you marry me, Tressy?' and confidently waited for her answer.

  She gazed into his face and knew that she would never love anyone else, but she disengaged her hands and shook her head. 'No, Cris, I won't marry you. I'm sorry.'

  He stared at her, completely stunned. 'You can't mean it?'

  'Yes, I do. I don't want to get married.'

  The taxi jolted before he could say anything else and she saw that they had arrived at the villa.

  'Wait,' Cris ordered the driver as he got out. Then he took Tressy firmly by the arm and led her into the
garden. 'You said you loved me,' he accused.

  'And I do. I'll come back to the boat with you now if you like so that we can be together. And I'll stay with you for as long as you want. But can't you see? I don't want to be-to be owned.'

  'No, I don't see,' Cris answered shortly. 'You either love someone enough to marry them or you don't.'