The Wings of Love Read online

  He spluttered a bit when she came in and hastily swung his legs down, but Tressy sat in a chair opposite his and said kindly, 'It's all right, I won't give you away. It's nothing to do with me if you sneak in here to get out of the way.'

  The word 'sneak' didn't go down very well. He glared at her. 'What is it you want?'

  'I want to know how much money you're going to pay me while I'm working for you,' Tressy told him bluntly, coming straight to the point.

  'Working for me? But you're not working for me.

  We're giving you a holiday.'

  'Oh no, you're not. The reason you're taking me along is so that I can keep Nora and Aunt Grace looking like fashion plates: do their hair and make-up and look after their clothes. And if I'm going to work like that then I want paying.'

  'You seem to forget, my girl, that I put you through college so that you could get your certificates. It seems to me the least you could do is help your aunt and cousin.'

  'You didn't put me through college,' Tressy answered coldly. 'All you did was give my mother handouts when she didn't know which way to turn. Why, I bet you even claim for us as dependent relatives against your income tax.'

  Jack Sinclair looked slightly abashed and Tressy knew she had guessed right. But he said hotly, 'You realise we're paying your fare, as well as providing your food and accommodation. And you'll have plenty of leisure time. What more do you want?'

  'Wages,' retorted Tressy, refusing to be pushed into feeling guilt or embarrassment. 'You'd have to pay a hired maid, so you can pay me.'

  He glared at her again, hating to be thwarted by someone he thought of as a slip of a girl, but he was a shrewd enough businessman to know when he'd lost. 'All right, if you're that ungrateful for what we're doing for you, I'll give you ten pounds a week.'

  Tressy's eyebrows went up and she sighed. 'Let's be realistic, shall we? I'm a trained beautician and hairdresser. And working on Nora and Aunt Grace isn't going to be easy. I want two hundred pounds a week, in advance.'

  'What?' He nearly fell off his chair. 'You're mad!' 'Am I? When I go to a client's home to give them a private beauty treatment, I never charge less than forty pounds a time. On those terms I wouldn't give more than five treatments a week between them to Nora and Aunt Grace. I bet they want a whole lot more than that. And it doesn't include looking after their clothes.'

  Eyebrows raised, Uncle Jack stared at her.' 'You really charge forty pounds a time?' He was so surprised that he forgot himself and his Lancashire accent came through thick and strong. 'By 'heck, lass, you're into right business there. That's real brass.' But then he remembered himself and said, 'But don't think I'm paying you that much, because I'm not, and that's flat.'

  'Oh, but I really think I deserve that much.

  Especially,' Tressy emphasized, 'now that Nora's trying to catch a rich husband. After all, you do want her to look her best for Crispin Fox, don't you?'

  'Women,' he muttered bitterly. 'They can't keep anything to themselves for two minutes!'

  So they bargained, both giving way very gradually until they reached a figure which was a little more than Tressy had thought she'd have to accept and a little less than her uncle thought he'd have to pay, so they both believed they'd made the best of the deal.

  'Weekly in advance, though,' Tressy stipulated.

  He nodded. 'But there's one condition to all this,' he said, his voice changing and becoming serious. 'Nora's told you about this man she fancies, even though I told her not to. Well, I want your word that you'll keep away from him. I don't want you butting in. Nora's all I've got and I want the best for her. And if Crispin Fox is what she wants then I'll do my best to see she gets him.' Clumsily, without wanting to be disloyal, he went on, 'She's no beauty, our Nora, I know that. Whereas you ... ' His eyes went over Tressy's arresting face, long auburn hair and slender figure. He sighed. 'Well, you know what I mean. I want your promise that you won't try and queer our Nora's pitch with this man. That you'll stay out of it.'

  For a moment Tressy's feelings softened towards him; for all his faults Uncle Jack loved his daughter. But then she remembered how his younger brother, her own father, had walked out on her and her mother, and her heart filled with jealous bitterness. She shrugged. 'I'm not on the lookout for a rich husband, if that's what you mean. I prefer to get where I'm going by my own efforts.'

  He recognized the gibe all right but could afford to ignore it. 'I'll want your promise.'

  'Very well, then,' Tressy answered coldly. 'You have it.'

  'Good.' He wagged his finger at her. 'And I shall expect my money's worth, mind.'

  She laughed and stood up. 'I'm quite sure Aunt Grace will make sure you get it!'

  She went up to bed shortly afterwards and lay awake for a while, not looking forward to the next three months but glad that she had managed to screw some money out of Uncle Jack, although he would be more than surprised when, at the end of their holiday, she gave as much of it as she could back to him in payment for the money he had given to her mother while she was at college. She had been lucky to get that much; he must want her services pretty desperately. This Crispin Fox must be quite something to set Nora and Aunt Grace in such a tizzy. It would be interesting to see what he was like in the flesh, even if she did have to keep out of his way. And interesting, too, to see what he felt for her cousin. She sighed as she turned her head into the pillow; it was about the only thing there was to look forward to on this whole long working holiday that seemed to stretch into infinity.

  Uncle Jack had a reputation for being tight with his money, but Tressy had to admit, when she saw the villa he had hired for the summer, that he had spared no expense this time. It was a beautiful place, situated on the rocky promontory of Cap Martin that looked across the wide blue bay to Monaco and the skyscrapers of Monte Carlo. The villa was about a hundred and fifty years old and had originally been built for a princess, exiled from her own cold country, who had led a much more sociable and comfortable life in this temperate climate. Since her time it had passed through several ownerships and had been completely and luxuriously modernized and furnished in the best French taste-which was a little overdone to the more sober English eyes. Outside there was a garden shaded by exotic, unfamiliar trees and shrubs, a swimming pool and flights of steps leading down to the beach at the base of the promontory.

  After going over the house from top to bottom and taking a look at the nearness of Monte Carlo, Aunt Grace announced that 'it would do' and proceeded to allot rooms. She and Uncle Jack had the best bedroom overlooking the sea, with Nora next to them , Tressy was given a maid's room at the back of the house because they wanted the other bedrooms for when they 'entertained'. It would have been nice to be able to look out over the Mediterranean, but Tressy didn't much care where she slept; she probably wouldn't spend much time in her room anyway.

  Rather to her surprise, she had enjoyed the drive along the Corniche road from Nice airport, seeing new vistas of scenery continually opening up both inland and over the sea. And the weather was lovely; mid-June in England was often unsettled, but here the sky was a clear, cloudless blue, the sun hot enough for her to want to swim and sunbathe straightaway. Her aunt, however, had other ideas.

  'All our dresses need ironing to get the creases out, and then we'll both need our hair done before we go to the Casino tonight,' she instructed Tressy. 'Leonora, you'd better go and try to get a couple of hours' sleep; I don't want you looking tired when we go out tonight. Off you go. Tressy can unpack the rest of your things later.'

  The two cousins went upstairs together and Nora obediently took off her outer clothes and lay on the bed while Tressy collected her dresses.

  'Which one are you going to wear tonight?' she asked.

  'I thought I'd wear the new black one. Do you think it's all right?' Nora asked anxiously. 'It's not too dressy, is it?'

  Tressy held up the one she indicated; it was a black strapless sheath dress with a huge multicolored silk bow, like butterflies' w
ings, at the back. It was a stunning dress and must have cost a stunning price, but even without seeing her in it, Tressy knew that it was all wrong for Nora. 'Is it a special gala night or something at the Casino?' she asked carefully.

  'Oh no, it's just an ordinary evening.'

  'Then why don't you keep this for something special and wear a different one tonight? Like this.' She held up a pretty blue full-skirted one.

  But Nora immediately rejected it. 'Oh no, that's quite old. I want to wear something new. And I want to make an impression.'

  Tressy looked at her quickly. 'He's going to be there, then, your boy-friend?'

  Her cheeks flushing with pleasure at the term, Nora replied excitedly, 'We hope so. Daddy made enquiries and we know he's here in France. Most people go to the Casino some time in the evening. And if he isn't there,' she added naively, 'Mummy says we can always walk down to the harbor and see if he's on his yacht. So I think I will wear the black dress.'

  'Okay, if you say so.' Tressy just hoped she didn't ruin it when she ironed it. 'What's the name of his boat?'

  'It's called Chimera. An odd name, isn't it?' Tressy agreed, and left her to her nap.

  There was a well-equipped laundry room in the basement where she hung the clothes on padded hangers and began to go carefully through them. As she worked, Tressy smiled to herself, thinking that this Crispin Fox didn't stand much of a chance against the united front of the Sinclair family. She could almost have felt sorry for the poor man if she hadn't wanted him to hurry up and get engaged to Nora so that, with luck, they would all go back to England the sooner.

  She worked all afternoon and later did the women's hair in the rather formal and, to Tressy's mind, out of-date styles that they wanted and made up their faces. She was good at her job and with make-up was able to disguise the gaunt look that over-slimming had given to Nora's face, but nothing could hide the heavy bone structure of her shoulders revealed by the black dress. Still, if that was what she wanted and felt good in ... Tressy turned to Aunt Grace and did what she could to hide her triple chin; she was the one who would have benefited from the health farm, not Nora.

  They left at eight, intending to have dinner at a restaurant before going on to the Casino. Left alone, Tressy unpacked her own things and then went down to the kitchen to make herself something to eat. There was quite a lot of food, bought in readiness for their arrival, and Tressy liberally helped herself from a jar of Beluga caviare and to some pate de foie gras. Piling all the most expensive things she could find on to a tray and carrying it into the huge dining room, she set herself a solitary place at the head of the long, highly polished antique table and opened a bottle of wine from the racks in the wine cellar. She knew next to nothing about wine, but chose one which had the oldest date she could find on it plus a couple of cobwebs. Then she went upstairs, changed into a dress and did her hair and face, then came down to dine in solitary state. If she couldn't join 'em, then she was certainly going to do her best to beat 'em!

  But even the novelty of eating in such plush surroundings can soon wear off when you are entirely alone, and the lights she could see in the distance drew Tressy to the terrace where she looked out across the bay to the brilliantly lit coastline of Monte Carlo, made doubly bright by the reflection in the softly undulating sea. The lure of those lights proved too big a temptation to resist; within twenty minutes Tressy was on a bus, looking eagerly out as it jolted its slow way down the Lower Corniche and into Monte Carlo.

  The bus deposited her at the foot of the vast floodlit rock on which stood the Royal Palace, and she automatically began to climb the long flights of steps that led up to the top. There were lots of other people about, tourists mostly, taking a stroll after their evening meals or still eating at the many little cafes in the old town on top of the rock. Tressy stood with everyone else and gazed at the Palace, guarded by soldiers in uniforms straight out of Ruritania, then wandered round the souvenir shops for an hour or so before walking back down into the main town.

  The famous Casino was some way off, over the other side of the harbour, with all the best hotels and most expensive shops clustered around it. As she walked towards it, Tressy had to pass several youths or young men, in groups or pairs, prowling round the town looking for girls, and most of them tried to attract her attention, one even coming up to her and taking her arm. But Tressy knew how to take care of herself and shook him off, completely ignoring the others; she wasn't in the mood for being picked up. Opposite the Casino there was a square, and she sat there for some time, watching people going into the Casino and coming and going at the hotel nearby, doormen hurrying to open the doors of opulent Rolls-Royce and Mercedes limousines-'they were too big to be just called cars. Tressy wondered if she might see her aunt and uncle and Nora, and laughed to herself at the thought of their faces if she tagged along with them into the Casino. But she must have missed them, because they didn't turn up, and presently she had to leave because a man came over and spoke to her in French, obviously propositioning her. Tressy tossed her head at him, her red hair like flames in the lamplight, and walked back down to the harbour, walking quickly, as if she had somewhere definite to go; from experience she had found that men were far less likely to accost you if you walked purposefully.

  But at the harbour she slowed down and strolled along, amazed at the size of the private motor yachts there. Some of them were as big as small ships, and she overheard one big and beautiful boat pointed out as belonging to a famous Greek shipping millionaire’s. Overawed in spite of herself, Tressy walked along, looking for a boat called Chimera. She found it, about a hundred yards further along in the shadow of a cliff like rock on which ran the road from the lower town up to the Casino. All the boats in the harbour were moored Mediterranean style, with their sterns against the quay, most of them having short gangways which could be let up or down, leading from a gap in the stem rail to the quay. The Chimera wasn't by any means as big as the larger motor yachts in the harbour, but it was big enough. Its gangway was down and there were lights in all the windows as well as in the big open cockpit in the stem. Not wanting to get too close in case her relations were already on board, Tressy looked round and found a flight of steps cut into the rock leading to the upper road. She climbed them and standing in the deep shadow of a tree, found that she had a perfect view down into the Chimera. There was a small group of people in the cockpit sitting around with drinks in their hands, and they looked to be members of what the popular press described as the jet set; all sleekly good-looking and dressed in the casually elegant style that spelt money. As different from Uncle Jack and Aunt Grace as chalk and cheese.

  Leaning on the iron railing, Tressy peered down from her vantage point to observe them more closely. There were four people, two men and two women. Somehow she got the impression that the women were French, perhaps from their clothes and the way they wore them. They were women rather than girls; both looked to be in their late twenties, and both had dark hair. Tressy strained to listen to find out if she was right, but there was a radio or something playing in the background and she couldn't hear. One of the men had wandered into the cabin, but the other was tall and fair-haired, his features handsome in an aristocratic kind of way. He was slumped in a chair, smoking a cigarette and looking rather bored, despite one of the women's obvious attempts to try and divert him. Could this be Crispin Fox , Tressy wondered.

  But just then the music¢ came to an end and she distinctly heard one of the women call out something, adding the name 'Crispin'. A moment later the other man came out of the cabin into the full light of the cockpit. He, too, was tall, about six feet two, but there any similarity with the other man ended. The first impression Tressy got was of contained power of a lithe, muscular body that was used to action, his shoulders and broad chest constrained by the white dinner jacket, his hands more used to emphasis than offering drinks, his deep voice to giving orders instead of making small-talk. He was good with dark hair and even features, but there was toughn
ess and determination in the set of his jaw and thrusting chin, and arrogance in the way he held his head.

  Tressy caught her breath. So this was Crispin Fox!

  Heavens, no wonder Nora had fallen for him! But then she felt a surge of pity for her cousin. This was the kind of man who could eat a girl like Nora for breakfast. He could break her heart and not even notice that he'd done it!

  CHAPTER TWO

  THE woman who had called Crispin Fox into the cockpit was gesturing down the quay, and Tressy followed her pointing hand to see her three relations making their way down the quay towards the boat. They walked with Nora in the middle, like two elephants guarding their young, taking up so much space that they completely blocked the way.