Lord of Misrule Page 6

  ‘It’s the colour of your hair,’ Sebastian said lightly, watching her.

  She smiled. ‘I have a very dim memory of playing conkers when I was a child. I seem to remember we went to spend a day in the country and my father filled his pockets full of them for me. I took them to school and we played conkers at every free moment until the last one split.’

  She paused, her eyes becoming sad, then suddenly turned and flung the chestnut away from her as far and as hard as she could.

  ‘Was it that unhappy a memory?’ Sebastian asked, his eyes on her.

  Verity kicked some leaves out of the way and began to walk on before saying, ‘No, but sometimes it’s happy memories that hurt.’

  She didn’t say anything more. Sebastian walked beside her and for some time they strolled along in silence, Verity full of her own thoughts, until Sebastian said, ‘You and Paula seem very close. Have you known each other long?’

  ‘For almost exactly fifteen years.’ She paused, wondering whether to tell him, but felt somehow that she wanted to, although usually she made a point of not talking about her past in case people got the wrong idea and thought she was looking for sympathy. ‘Our fathers worked for the same international company. They were civil engineers and had just finished building a hydro-electric dam out in the Philippines somewhere. When it was opened our mothers were flown out there by the company to take part in the celebrations.’ Her mouth twisted as she said, ‘It was a reward for the great job our fathers had done. The highlight of the trip was to be a flight over the dam so that they could see it from the air. They all went up in the plane, all four of them, and some other European employees and their wives. But the plane developed engine trouble and crashed into the dam. They were all killed. Ironic, wasn’t it?’

  She paused, half expecting Sebastian to say something, to offer his unwanted condolences perhaps, but he was silent, waiting for her to go on, and presently she said, ‘Paula and I had no other relatives, no one to look after us, so the company took over as our legal guardians and sent us to a boarding-school. That’s where we met and that’s why we’re close and always will be.’

  ‘So you’re like sisters,’ Sebastian commented.

  ‘Closer than sisters, perhaps, because there’s no sibling rivalry. We needed each other. After we left school we went to the same college, and then shared a flat until Paula went to Bahrain and met Simon.’

  Sebastian came to a stop and leaned back against a tree trunk, his eyes on her face. ‘Did that upset you?’

  Verity laughed delightedly. ‘Good heavens, no! I thought it was marvellous. I regarded Simon almost as a brother-in-law, a third member of our family. Did you think I was jealous?’ She laughed again. ‘Have you looked at Paula? She’s beautiful, and she has that fragile, helpless air; she’s the sort of girl that men always want to marry and protect.’

  His mouth quirking in amusement, Sebastian said, ‘And how about you? Are you the same?’

  She raised her eyebrows at him. ‘Of course not, I’m too tall. How can a man protect a girl he has to look up to?’

  Sebastian gave a laugh of rich, masculine amusement- ‘Being tall myself, it hadn’t occurred to me. There are very few women I even see eye to eye with. But you’re not against marriage?’

  She shook her head, slightly confused by the question. ‘In principle, no.’

  ‘But in practice?’

  Her cheeks slightly flushed, Verity said, ‘Shall we say that I haven’t yet met anyone I care to put the principle into practice with.’

  ‘Beautifully put,’ Sebastian said with a grin. His eyes, still full of amusement, lingered on her face.

  ‘And how about you?’ she asked, feeling that she could do so now.

  ‘Oh, I’m the same as you.’ Sebastian straightened up. ‘Still waiting for the right girl to come along.’

  ‘You mean you’re still playing the field, huh?’

  ‘Right again,’ he grinned. They began to walk on, but after a moment Sebastian said, ‘And do you think that Paula will marry again—once she’s got over Simon, of course?’

  Verity hesitated, but then said, ‘Yes, I’m sure she will. She needs a man, someone to look after her, and even more so when she has the baby. Being orphaned made her feel very insecure, you see.’

  Sebastian gave her a swift look. ‘And that’s why you came here with her?’

  Verity nodded. ‘Yes, that’s why I came.’

  ‘Paula is lucky to have a friend who’s willing to do so much for her.’

  She sensed rather than heard an ironic note in his voice and immediately said defensively, ‘Paula would do exactly the same for me if I needed her.’

  Sebastian held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. ‘OK, don’t shoot mc down. I was simply rather envious, that’s all.’

  ‘Envious?’

  ‘Yes, such loyal friendships must be almost unique nowadays—plaionic friendships, anyway. It’s probably because it began when you were children, and in such special circumstances,’ Sebastian said musingly. ‘And because you’re the same sex, of course; I don’t think you could ever get such a close platonic friendship between a man and a woman.’

  ‘Especially if they were each married to someone else,’ Verity agreed. ‘The partner would be bound to be jealous and not understand.’

  ‘Or else understand, but want all the person’s love for her or himself,’ Sebastian added drily.

  Verity gave him a swift look, wondering what personal experience he had had to bring bitterness to his tone. Abruptly, Sebastian changed the subject and began to talk about the garden as they emerged from the trees on the other side of the wood. ‘A very old oak tree came down over there in last year’s big storm,’ he said, pointing to an uneven dip in the ground about a hundred yards nearer the house. ‘It took a time to clear away and I was going to plant a new young tree, but then we heard that Paula was pregnant and I thought we might wait until the baby is born and plant the tree on the same day. Do you think Paula would like that?’

  Tm quite sure she would.’ Verity turned a glowing face to him. ‘In fact, I know she’d love it. It’s very thoughtful of you. When are you going to tell her?’

  He gave a slight shrug. ‘Why don’t you tell her?’

  ‘Oh, but I’m sure she’d prefer to hear all about it from you, as it’s your idea,’ Verity protested, thinking that it would help to make Paula feel that she was really welcome here, and not only her but the baby, too. Thoughts of the baby made her say curiously, ‘You must love this place.’

  ‘It’s very beautiful/ Sebastian admitted, which didn’t tell her anything at all.

  ‘It’s such a shame that Simon didn’t bring Paula here before,’ she pursued, trying another approach. She waited, hopefully, for Sebastian to say something, but when he didn’t had to say rather lamely, ‘Of course, he was always very busy, establishing and expanding his business in Bahrain.’

  ‘Oh, yes, I’m quite sure he found plenty of excuses—I beg his pardon—reasons for not coming back here.’ And this time there was definite sarcasm in Sebastian’s voice.

  ‘You didn’t like Simon, did you?’ Verity said with Certainty.

  I trusting his hands deep into his pockets, he said ihortly, ‘Wc certainly didn’t have the same relation-ihip as you and Paula have, if that’s what you mean.’

  ‘It isn’t what I mean. You sound as if you had no nine at all for him.’

  He gave a short laugh. ‘Simon was a spoilt brat; Ins father doted on him, my mother was too soft with him because she was afraid of being called a wicked stepmother, and the staff, the people in the village, and the neighbours all pandered to him because he was the heir.’

  ‘And you?’ Verity ventured. ‘He didn’t speak for a long moment and she thought that she had ventured too far into his privacy, but at length Sebastian said, ‘Oh, I was as bad as the rest, I suppose. I enjoyed having a younger brother, and he had very charming manners. Trouble was, he was just too charming for his own go
od.’

  There was finality in his tone, and Verity didn’t dare to question him further, but she found the few things that he had said absolutely intriguing. She hadn’t known Simon Layton at all well herself, only having met him when he’d come over to England to see Paula a few times before he’d persuaded her to marry him, and then again at the wedding. Later she had gone over to Bahrain to spend a holiday with them, although even then she hadn’t seen much of Simon because he had been away on business most of the time. But she had always liked him; he had been one of those people that one took an instinctive liking to and went on liking even when one had discovered their faults. Only Simon Layton hadn’t lived long enough for her to find out any of his faults. Fleetingly she wondered if Paula had in their two years of marriage, but Paula had adored Simon, and was close to so few people thai she refused to admit that anyone she loved had any faults at all. She was, too, the type to bring out the best in people, so if Simon had had a callow side he would probably never have shown it to her.

  She pushed the thoughts out of her mind as they walked back, Sebastian telling her something of the history of the house. She listened for any proprietorial note in his voice, but there was none; he spoke of the place as if he had read up orrits history and found it interesting, nothing more. There was no love in his voice, no regret that he might have to hand it all over to someone else. His tone was very dispassionate, very controlled. Too controlled, perhaps?

  He was very unlike Simon, she thought. The younger man had been far more excitable, given to sudden whims and intense, almost obsessive interests. Like his interest in sailing, and camel racing, although that hadn’t lasted very long, according to Paula. Verity stole a glance at Sebastian and thought that she definitely hadn’t liked him on sight—quite the opposite, in fact—but she felt somehow that he had far more depth to his character than Simon could ever have had. If she could get to know him well enough for him to open up and let her Find out. And suddenly her heart warmed as she realised that she would very much like to get to know him very well indeed.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  From that hour everything seemed to change for the better at Layton House. Paula was far more relaxed now that she had had the talk with Sebastian and knew where she stood regarding the house and estate. And Verity couldn’t believe that she’d been such a fool. Her feelings about Sebastian were completely reversed, but strangely she kept the fact to herself, only telling Paula that he had proved to her that she had most probably been mistaken. In the past Verity had confided everything to her friend, and the fact that she wasn’t being completely open now rather surprised her. And embarrassed her a little, too. She wasn’t usually the secretive type, but somehow this change of feeling towards Sebastian was something she wanted to keep to herself; it was so new, so unexpected, and as yet so tentative. And she had no real idea how he felt about her.

  The atmosphere over the next few days was far more agreeable and relaxed. Sebastian was usually out on business during the day, but he was home for dinner every evening and at the weekend, and although Verity was seldom alone with him for any length of time she felt that she was getting to know more about him, and liking all that she learnt. Maggie, too, was always helpful and kind, so Mrs Chi vers’ sour attitude was the only detraction. Paula had met her now, and agreed with Verity that the woman was an old grouch. And her husband was as bad, if not worse. The girls ran into him one morning when they were returning from a walk round the garden and passed the garage. A man in working clothes came out carrying a box of tools, hesitated when he saw them, then went to walk past. But Paula stopped and said, ‘Good morning. You must be Mr Olivers,’ with one of her nicest smiles. But the man just gave her a glowering look and went right past them without saying a word.

  ‘Well, really!’ Paula stared after him, unable to credit such downright rudeness. ‘What on earth’s the matter with him?’

  ‘If you’d been married to Mrs Chivers half your life you might be miserable, too,’ Verity suggested with a grin.

  ‘Or it could be the other way round; maybe it’s Mr Chivers who’s made his wife miserable.’

  ‘Well, whichever it is there’s nothing you can do about it until the place becomes yours,’ Verity reminded her. ‘So there doesn’t seem to be much point in worrying about them. Let Maggie cope; she seems to do it very well.’

  ‘I’ll never understand why she keeps them on, though. They’re so surly. Surely staff can’t be that hard to get, not when you’re offering them a cottage as well?’

  There was a trace of anxiety for the future in Paula’s tone, so Verity said soothingly, ‘No, I’m sure you won’t have any difficulty. I think Maggie just keeps them on out of kindness, or out of habit because they’ve been here such a long time.’

  ‘Well, I don’t care how long they’ve been here, the first thing I’m going to do after the baby is born is to ask them to leave,’ Paula said with determination.

  ‘Good for you,’ Verity agreed. She turned to watch Mr Chivers striding along in the direction of the bridge and his cottage, a puzzled look in her eyes. ‘But you’d think they’d realise that their jobs depend on you and that they’d make an effort to at least be civil.’

  ‘Perhaps it’s country pride or something,’ Paula suggested. ‘A dislike of anyone new, especially if they come from London. I’ve read about that kind of thing:’ She turned away impatiently. ‘Oh, let’s forget about them. Do you really think we could decorate the nursery ourselves?’

  ‘No, but I think I could decorate it while you supervise,’ Verity corrected her. ‘You’re in no condition to be running up and down ladders, so don’t you dare try it.’

  ‘Well, if you’re sure. But there’s quite a lot of work involved, you know.’

  ‘But you’re not expecting the baby for three months’, even I can decorate one room in three months.’

  ‘All right, but I really need to go through colour charts and get material samples and that kind of thing before I finally decide what I want.’

  ‘OK, so we’ll ask Maggie where the nearest town is and then drive over there.’

  But Maggie went out to dinner and to play bridge with friends that evening, so it was Sebastian who gave them the information. ‘The nearest town of any size is Melford. Tell you what, Paula has an appointment with the family solicitor there tomorrow morning. Why don’t I run you both in and I can show Verity where the shops she needs are while Paula keeps her appointment? Then perhaps we could have lunch in the town.’

  ‘That sounds fine,’ Paula said enthusiastically. ‘That’s OK with you, isn’t it, Verity?’

  ‘Yes, of course. Thank you.’ She smiled at Sebastian and he smiled back, but then his glance moved on to encompass Paula too, and Verity felt an irrational little stab of jealousy which went as quickly as it came.

  There was a sharp frost the next morning, the first of the autumn, but by the time they left for Melford in Sebastian’s Jaguar the frost had melted in the sun and the day was bright and warm. There was a moment of hiatus before they left when he opened the back door of the car and glanced towards them. Paula got in and Verity hesitated for a second, wondering whether he expected her to get in the back too, but Sebastian firmly shut the door and opened the front passenger one for her. They chatted sociably enough as they drove along, the girls now far more at ease with him, but Verity found that she was looking forward to the time when they dropped Paula off at the solicitor’s office and they would be alone.

  Melford proved to be a pretty and comparatively unspoilt market town with a wide high street and mostly eighteenth-century buildings above the shop fronts. Only one brash supermarket, its windows full of discount posters, had managed to intrude itself into the pleasant aspect. Sebastian drove almost to the end of the street and turned into a driveway at the side of a large Georgian house, that had obviously been turned into offices, and parked in the paved area at the back.

  ‘The solicitor’s is only a short way from here,’ he told them.<
br />
  ‘This isn’t their building, then?” Verity remarked.

  ‘No, I have an office here myself.’

  Sebastian didn’t say anything more and Verity didn’t feel that she could come right out and ask what he did. He walked with them down the street and Verity waited outside while he took Paula in to introduce her to the solicitor. He was gone for only a few minutes, and when he came out said, ‘I think Paula will be at least an hour, if not more. Now, there’s a comparatively new shop in the town that does wallpaper with matching materials that I think might have what you want. It’s across the road.’

  They walked to the kerb and Sebastian put a protective hand under her elbow as they crossed the road. There had been a time, in the feminist days of her teens, when Verity would have resented that gesture and told the person with her that she was as capable of crossing the road without help as he was. But today she fell not feminism, but femininity, and accepted his assistance quite naturally, liking the feel of his hand on her arm.

  The next hour went all too quickly. They visited the shop Sebastian had suggested, and, although it had nothing like the comprehensive range and service they would have found in London, they took away swatches of material and wallpaper samples for Paula to choose from, then went to a do-it-yourself shop for paint charts. Several times Verity asked Sebastian his opinion and he gave it readily enough, displaying a taste that strongly coincided with her own. They looked through the charts together, their heads close, and it was impossible not to be aware of him. Verity glanced up and caught sight of their reflected images in a mirror on the wall; they looked right together, she thought, and wondered for a fanciful moment what it would be like if they were choosing materials to decorate somewhere of their own.