Sally Wentworth - Liberated Lady Read online

  Well, there was one simple solution to that problem. She got up and started to undress, the moonlight silvering the soft curves of her body. She would just have to make darn sure in future that she didn't let him get under her skin. Complete indifference was the only weapon she had against Alex Brandon and she intended to use it, however hard he tried to pierce it. In fact, build the wall around herself that he claimed she already had. And Nicky? Sara climbed rather wearily into bed. Tomorrow She would insist on getting Nicky alone and finally having that talk with her.

  Surprisingly she fell asleep straight away, not even hearing Nicky when she crept into the room later, and in the morning she awoke feeling refreshed and ready to face the day. Nicky was still asleep and from past experience Sara knew that she wouldn't stir until forcibly shaken, so she felt no compunction in opening the curtains and pushing the window wide to let in the spring sunshine. She leant out, savouring the view down through the garden to the lake set among the ring of fells. The garden was thickly planted with Lent lilies, the same type of daffodil that Wordsworth wrote about at his cottage at nearby Grasmere. The scent from them rose to meet her on the morning air and she closed her eyes to take in the heady perfume.

  'Good morning.' The voice below her roused her from her reverie and she looked down to see Alex standing in the garden, watching her.

  Now how do you greet a man you had a blazing row with only the night before? she wondered. For a moment she thought of ignoring him completely, but it seemed pretty pointless and would only create more tension in an already taut atmosphere. Then she remembered her resolve not to let him get under her skin, so instead she gave him a dazzling smile and answered, 'Good morning. Do you always get up this early?'

  His eyebrows rose slightly at the smile. 'Why don't you come down and join me?'

  'Why not?' Sara turned back into the room and after taking a quick bath dressed in a cream silk shirt and a pair of brown cord trousers with a matching loose-knit sweater to wear over the shirt. She applied her make-up—her warpaint as Alex had so. charmingly called it—very carefully. Somehow she had the feeling that" it was going to be a long, hard day and she was going to need all the confidence she could muster to fight Alex.

  He was waiting for her in the kitchen, sitting at the table drinking coffee and talking to Mrs Ogden.

  It was the housekeeper who greeted her first. 'Morning, Miss Sara. Would you like your breakfast now or when the others get up?'

  'Just coffee for now, thanks. Don't get up, I'll get it." She poured herself a cup and leaned back against the sink while she drank it, and listened to Alex drawing Mrs Ogden out to tell him about the years she had spent in her native Lancashire where she had run a guest house in Morecambe.

  'But then my Alf died and there didn't seem to be any point in carrying on somehow. Then I saw Miss Quinlan's advert and I've been here ever since. Nearly fifteen years now, it is.'

  She chattered on happily and Sara realised unbelievingly that even the indomitable Mrs Ogden-was falling under Alex's spell. But presently he rose and came over to her.

  'Coming for a stroll round the garden?' he invited.

  Putting down her cup, she replied casually, 'If you like.'

  By mutual accord they made their Way down the stone path towards the lake. The remains of. a large, Once imposing boathouse stood at the water's edge, but now the roof had partly collapsed and the timbers were damp and rotten.

  'What lake is this?' he asked.

  'Lowmere. It's one of the smallest, but I think one of the prettiest.'

  He nodded towards the ruins of the boathouse. 'It's a shame that that's been let go, but I don't suppose Veronica is very keen on boating.'

  'She used to be before she was ill. She wouldn't have let it get in such a state if she could have afforded to look after it, but unfortunately inflation caught up with her investments and I suppose the house had to come first.'

  'It wouldn't take a lot to repair it,' Alex remarked as he examined the building more closely.

  'There used to be a boat somewhere along the bank. Yes, - here it is.' Sara pushed aside some screening bushes and showed him a tarpaulin-covered rowing boat upside down on the bank. 'When we came up here for holidays we used to row across the lake to that island over there.’

  'Is it still seaworthy? Let's have a look.' Alex pulled off the tarpaulin and almost before she knew it Sara was helping to lower the boat into the water. 'It seems sound enough, and the oars are here too.' He put the oars in .the boat and then got in himself. 'Come on, let's try it out."

  She hesitated. 'Now?'

  'It will give you an appetite for breakfast. You needn't be afraid,' he abided drily when she still demurred, 'I don't intend to give you a ducking.'

  For a moment Sara glared at him, then shrugged, 'All right.'

  He rowed the old boat easily and well, sending it scudding over the water towards the island she had mentioned. It made tier remember other times when they had taken the boat out when she was still at school and Nicky just a small child. It had been fun then, all of them together on the few times that her stepfather had been able to get away from his business. She remembered how worried her mother had always been that Nicky might fall overboard. But then she had always been protective towards the younger girl and very dose to her husband, so that Sara had often felt shut out, an outsider. They had been kind, of course, but she had felt as if she didn't completely belong and had sometimes resented the love that had once been all her own being transferred to this new family.

  She trailed her hands in the water, a dark, hurt look in her eyes. They came to the island, but when Alex asked her if she wanted to land there she shook her head.

  'No, we'd better be getting back so that I can help Mrs Ogden with the breakfasts.'

  'I ought to make you row going back,' he told her mockingly. 'Just so that we stay equal, of course.'

  'It was your idea, so you can row,' she retorted, refusing to be drawn.

  Halfway back he paused to rest, the water lapping gently against the boat. It was very quiet, you could hardly even hear the birds as they flew busily among their nests in the trees that grew right down to the water's edge. A heron, its grey wings translucent in the sunlight, glided out from the island to swoop suddenly towards the lake and emerge with a fish in its beak.

  'Does it get very busy here in the summer?’ Alex asked.

  'Pretty busy, but nowhere near as much as the larger lakes. This one isn't really big enough for yachts and power boats, so you mostly only get canoeists and campers.'

  'I gather from Veronica that Nicky spends most summer holidays here.'

  'Yes, she always has since our parents died.'

  'You don't see much of her, then ?'

  Sara looked at him defensively. 'I see as much of her, as I can. She always stays with me at half-term and Christmas, and I take my holidays to coincide with hers. Unfortunately there are few firms that are willing to give you three months holiday a year, which is what Nicky gets,' she added bitingly.

  'Couldn't she have stayed in your flat while you were at work?'

  'A young girl on her own all day in London? She'd either have become bored to death or have got into the wrong company. It was better for her to come here.'

  'I see." His eyes ran over her. 'I thought it might have been for another reason’

  There was an inflection in his voice that suddenly made Sara become very still. 'What reason?' she asked slowly.

  'I thought you might have had a man living with you and didn't want Nicky around.'

  Sara's fingers dug deeply into the side of the boat, her knuckles as white as her face. Her first instinct was to let fly at him furiously, but then she remembered her resolve to be patient. Summoning up all her willpower, she-forced herself to relax and look at him under her lashes. 'Which man do you mean?' she asked sweetly,

  Alex drew in his breath sharply and looked at her searchingly. 'How many have you had ?'

  ‘Oh’, I lost count af
ter the first dozen,' she told him airily.

  A grudging look of admiration came into his eyes as he picked up the oars and started to row again. 'All right, Sara, I give you victory, on that one. But if you won't tell me then I shall just have to draw my own conclusions, won't I?'

  'Well, that shouldn't be hard; you've been doing it ever since you met me,' she parried.

  'No more than you have—and I'm willing to bet that mine, are more accurate than yours.'

  He pulled into the bank then and Sara was careful not to make any comments; her new resolve was already stretched very thin and only by keeping her mouth firmly shut could she hope to retain it. So they walked back to the house in silence and Sara was relieved to see that Nicky and Richard were already up.

  'Breakfast's ready,' Mrs Ogden told them as they came in. 'Come and sit down before it gets cold.'

  'I'm sorry, I should have stayed and helped you,' Sara apologised.

  'No need, Miss Nicky helped instead.'

  When breakfast was over Sara turned to her sister. 'Mrs Ogden needs some fresh vegetables, so I thought we might walk into Lowmere to get them for her.'

  Nicky opened her mouth to refuse, but Alex cut in, 'Good idea. Richard can come with me into Keswick; I want to get the car checked over and I need a new reflector on the back. The other one got smashed recently."

  Sara flushed, remembering just how the car had got damaged.

  ‘Why can't we all go to Keswick?' Nicky asked truculently.

  Alex leaned forward and put a finger under her chin to tilt her head. 'Because, young lady, Richard and I want, to have a talk—man to man. So do as you're told and go with Sara.'

  'Oh! All right.' And Nicky ran willingly off to get her coat, leaving Sara staring after her,’ she had been fully prepared to face a long argument, but Alex had accomplished it in two seconds. She turned and found him looking at her mockingly, his eyes glinting with amusement. The message in them was plain enough to read and made Sara glare back at him before she went to get the shopping list from Mrs Ogden.

  The two sisters strolled down the lane that lay parallel to the lake and in the beauty of the morning even Nicky couldn't stay sullen for long. Sara still found it difficult to broach the subject, but it had to be done. She squared her shoulders determinedly and said as casually as she could, 'Richard seems a nice boy.'

  Nicky turned a surprised face to her. ‘Oh, he is. He's wonderful. Do you really like him, Sara?'

  'As I said, he seems nice enough. But still a boy, Nicky.'

  'Well, hell get older,' her sister pointed out with simple logic.

  Sara smiled slightly. ‘That's true. But he's hardly in a position to support a wife, especially one who has no training for any kind of a career.'

  'It is-possible to train and be married, you know.’

  'Yes, but not for anything worthwhile if you haven't got any A levels. And don't look at me like that, Nicky; I haven't said that you can't marry him ever, only that you can't marry him now. If you go to university and get a degree life will have a fat better quality for you both. You'll be able to…"

  'Oh, don't give me that lecture again, Sara! I've heard it too often. I knew that was why you wanted to get me by myself. And I suppose Richard is getting the same lecture from his uncle.'

  'Yes, because we both want the best for you.’ Sara stopped and pulled her sister to a halt beside her, 'Nicky, please try to look at this with your head, without your emotions getting in the way. Can't you see that although this is wonderful now, that feeling might not last? In two or three years you'll have changed and so will Richard, you'll be two entirely different people. And if you've grown apart then there'll be terrible unhappiness for both of you. And what if you get pregnant, have you thought of that?'

  Nicky's face suddenly went bright red and she turned her head away and began to walk on again.

  'You've seen girls at school who come from split families, do you dare to take the risk of inflicting that sort of life on a child?'

  Sara pressed home the point as hard as she could, but Nicky suddenly turned round to face her. 'Yes, I dare," she answered vehemently. 'Because I love Richard and he loves me. All right, so we're young. But we'll be together and we'll face things together. And as soon as Richard gets his degree and gets a job he'll support me. Until then we'll have Father's money to live on.'

  "Oh, no, you won't!' Sara said angrily. 'Your father wanted you to have the best education you could. He wanted you to have all the things that I…' she covered the slip hurriedly, 'that he never had. And using it to support someone else just isn't on. Answer me this, Nicky: do you think your father would have let you marry at your age if he'd still been alive?'

  The younger girl stared at her white-faced for a tong moment and then tears began to fall down her cheeks. 'Why did you have to say that? You're cruel, Sara.' She put up a shaking hand to wipe away the tears. 'No, I don't suppose he would have wanted me to. But at least he'd have tried to understand, wouldn't have been cold and unfeeling like you. But you can't stop me marrying him, Sara.'l’ll be eighteen in September and then I'll be able to marry Richard whether you like it or not!"

  'Yes, you will! Sara answered quietly. 'But you'll have married without my blessing, so you won't get any money until you're twenty-five. Why don't you put that to Richard and see how he likes it?'

  'It won't make any difference. I keep trying to tell you that we love each other, but you won't listen I left, you can withhold the money, spend it on yourself for all I care. We'll manage without it!' And Nicky turned defiantly and strode on ahead.

  Sara looked after her distressfully before following her more slowly. She should have known that Nicky would never listen to reason in this mood. She had always been given anything that she wanted, and Richard had just taken the place of a new doll or a bicycle. She wanted him and she intended to have him.

  Their shopping in the little village of grey stone houses was done in a strained silence, but on the way back Sara broached the second topic that she had wanted to discuss. 'Why did you come here to Veronica's house, Nicky? You know how ill she's been.'

  "Well, I didn't know you, were going to follow me here, did I? And I had nowhere else to go."

  'She mustn't be upset by all this,' Sara warned. 'It would be best if we all left as soon as possible.'

  'Veronica's said that I can stay as long as I like. Richard and I wouldn't have been any trouble. It's you who's doing all the arguing and upsetting everyone."

  Nicky pointed out hostilely. 'So why don't you go away and leave us alone?'

  'It's about time,' Sara returned bitingly, 'that you grew up and learned that you can't have everything your own way. You're thoroughly spoilt and selfish. Why don't you admit that you didn't give Veronica's condition a thought before you came hareing up here like some heroine in a Victorian melodrama? You knew darn well that I'd guess where you were going and follow you. You just wanted to get Veronica on your side and couldn't care less what it did to her health?'

  'That isn't true. I came here because I needed her,' Nicky shouted, 'It's you who's making her excited, you who's being mean and horrible, you who won't…"

  But that was as far as she got, because Sara slapped her on the cheek. 'Stop it! You're getting hysterical.' She tried to hold the younger girl to her, but Nicky gave her one look of pure hatred and thrust her away. Then she dropped the bag of groceries she was carrying and ran to climb over a fence and run away across the fields.

  Sara called after her, but she knew it was futile. Resignedly she stooped to pick up the tomatoes that had fallen from the bag and continued on the way back to the house, the heavy bags weighing her down so that she couldn't hurry. When she finally, got back to Apple-berry, Mrs Ogden told her that Alex had phoned to say that the car would take longer than he anticipated and he wouldn't be back until later in the afternoon.

  "And Miss Nicky came in and rushed up to your bedroom and locked the door,' the housekeeper added in dire tones.

&n
bsp; 'Oh, great, now I won't be able to change until she comes out. And knowing Nicky she's quite likely to stay there all day.’

  'She’ll come out fast enough when her. young man gets back, don't you fret. Why don't you take the tray upstairs and have lunch with Miss Quinlan? She's tired today and she'll like a bit of company.'

  Sara carried up the loaded tray and found Veronica sitting up in bed resting against the pillows. She smiled as Sara entered and helped her to unload the day on to the bed table,

  'It's good of you to keep me company. I gather you gave Nicky a good talking to?'

  Shrugging her shoulders, Sara said ruefully, ‘I tried, 'but it didn't do any good. She's being thoroughly obstinate and seems to resent me completely.' She paused unhappily. 'She even seemed to hate me.'

  'Oh, she'll get over it,' Veronica said comfortably, 'She's only jealous.'

  'Jealous? Why on earth should she be?'

  Veronica's eyebrows rose. 'I should have thought that was obvious. You're beautiful and she's almost plain. You have a perfect figure and she's dumpy. She knows that you only have to crook your finger and dishy men like Alex Brandon will flock round you. You have drive and ambition and you're a success. Need I say more?'

  Sara was looking at her in some amusement. 'Yes, you can tell me where you learned to describe men as dishy?'

  Veronica's eyes twinkled. 'From Nicky, of course. She was mad about some French pop star last year and that was her latest word. And you must admit that Alex is dishy,' she added.

  'I suppose so, if you like that terribly suave type.'

  'But you don't?' Veronica asked her interestedly.

  'Lord, no, he's not my type at all. Too clever and knowledgeable about women by half,' Sara said firmly. Then, reverting to their earlier subject, 'But it isn't true, you know, Veronica. Nicky isn't jealous of me. She told me that she doesn't want my kind of life. She just wants to settle down and get married.'