Patterson's Island Page 13

  `Isn't that like him?' she demanded, 'I suppose he didn't give a thought to the fact that you might have your own plans.' She gave Beth a hard look, noting the shadows under her eyes even though the light was a muted one that came from a side lamp. 'He's not given up, has he?' she said. 'John can't understand what's wrong with him. I mean, you've made it quite clear how you feel, haven't you, and yet he still persists.' She sighed. 'Well, you'll just have to go on saying no until it gets through to him, won't you?'

  After she had gone, it occurred to Beth that Nicholas wasn't the only one who wouldn't listen to what she told them. Janice was the same where Gavin Patterson was concerned. With both, it was a case of hearing only what they wanted to hear. This thought led her back once more to the subject she had tussled with, ever since Gavin had given her a piece of his mind.

  No longer indignant or furious—she had been through that stage—she now had to face up to his diagnosis, because that was what it had been. Could he have been right? She only knew she had acted foolishly on each occasion they had met, that something about him had so riled her that she had wanted to hit out at him. At one time she had thought it was because of Nicholas, because he reminded her of him. Now she wasn't so sure, and was very much afraid that there was a grain of truth in what he had said. Was it some odd attraction that he held for her that had made her act as she had? Her lips twisted at this thought. Was it odd? He was an attractive man, and remembering the way she had felt in his arms she

  felt her cheeks grow hot, and her tongue gingerly felt her very sore lips. She couldn't—she wouldn't fall in love with such a man—and yet it was what he had hinted she had done. He had left her with no illusions on this score, for had she been aware of what she was doing she would have immediately recognised the `keep off' warning he had taken such pains to give her. In any case, it seemed he was taking no chances. As he had wanted to bring Janice's wedding forward, so now did Beth. She never thought she would be grateful for Nicholas's presence, but she was, fervently so ! In fact, if Nicholas decided to go back before the wedding, she was very tempted to go back with him—or at least part of the way. Just so that she could make her exit with flying colours, to prove that she wasn't 'hankering', as Gavin had put it, after him !

  CHAPTER TEN

  THE following week was taken up by pure sightseeing. Each day Nicholas would have a route mapped out—a visit to St John's, or St Croix, there were plenty of islands to choose from. The only place they did not explore was the island they were on. But Beth had suspected that this would have been Nicholas's reaction to Gavin's high-handed action the previous evening, and as it suited her purpose too, she did not demur.

  Nicholas did not mention the engagement once. It was as if he were sure of his ground, and she noticed how a 'when we go home' would slip into the conversation, but before she could argue the point he would adroitly change the subject. Knowing it was his way of trying to make her accept his will, Beth said nothing, as she had no intention of going back.

  On the last day of the week Nicholas made a mention of the work that was piling up at the other end, and how it was time to go home, and Beth, meeting his eyes resolutely, said casually, 'I shall miss you, Nicholas. I really have enjoyed this week.'

  His lips thinned, and Beth knew they had got to the crunch. 'I want you to come with me,' he said crisply.

  Beth shook her head firmly. 'No, Nicholas,' she said gently. 'I'm staying here.'

  It took a minute or so for him to control his patience, but it was ebbing fast. 'It's Patterson's do-

  ing, isn't it?' he ground out. 'Oh, I've seen the way he looks at you, and I haven't forgotten the way he dropped me off so that he could see you home.'

  Beth sighed. 'It's nothing to do with Gavin Patterson,' she explained patiently. 'If you want the truth, we don't get on,' and that was putting it mildly, she thought, and went on, 'When I said I was staying, I should have said in this part of the world—not on this island, but near enough to see Janice occasionally.'

  `Where do you intend to live, then?' Nicholas asked abruptly. 'You can't live alone—no, I really can't allow it. Janice will be too busy looking after her husband to bother about you. Your place is with me. I'll look after you, as indeed I have, done for the past two years,' he reminded her meaningly.

  He was telling her that she owed him something, a subtle kind of blackmail, Beth thought, only it wasn't going to work. 'I'm very grateful, Nicholas, for everything,' she answered firmly. 'But I'm not going to marry you. It wouldn't work out. I'm very fond of you, but not enough for marriage.'

  `I don't think you really know what you do want,' he replied irritably.

  Beth did know what she wanted—her freedom—and she was about to tell him so when he abruptly changed the conversation. 'When's Janice getting married?' he asked.

  Wondering why he had asked, she wasn't left long in ignorance after she had answered, 'In about a month's time,' and her heart sank when she saw him consult a diary, now realising what he had in mind.

  `I think I can manage to take a few weeks off then,'

  he said, and looked back at her. 'It will give you time to think things over—and,' he added with a set jaw, `I shall expect a definite answer by then.'

  Beth wondered what he would accept as 'definite'. and she had a vision of him haunting her existence for years, until she came up with the right answer!

  A day later he left the island, and Beth, waving him off, felt a surge of relief pass over her as she watched the plane getting smaller and smaller as it winged into the distance. At best, she mused, she had been given a month's reprieve, then it would start all over again—in which case she had better enjoy what time she had left. Nicholas had weighed things up pretty shrewdly; with Janice on honeymoon, Beth was bound to feel a little lost and lonely, and he meant to be around to relieve that loneliness. Not only that, she would have to find somewhere else to live, and find a job of some kind, no easy task for someone who had been as coddled as she had for the past two years,

  Shaking these miserable thoughts away, she managed to secure a taxi and went back to the cottage, walking in to find Janice in the lounge sitting with a bandaged foot resting on a stool.

  `What on earth,' queried Beth worriedly, 'have you done?'

  Over the top of the magazine she had been perusing, Janice smiled at her. 'It's not as bad as it looks,' she explained. 'I've only slightly sprained it. It means I have to keep off it for a few days. I stupidly reached for a book on a ladder, and it was higher than I thought it was. The next minute I was on the floor.'

  Beth gave a smile of relief. 'I'm glad I'm not the

  only accident-prone member of the family,' she remarked airily.

  The conversation then returned to Nicholas, and although Janice asked the question idly, it was plain to see she had been worrying about it. 'Has he really gone?' she asked in a hushed voice.

  Beth nodded, and couldn't bring herself to tell her sister that he was coming back for her wedding. Time enough for that when it happened.

  `Oh, thank goodness,' breathed Janice. 'My John couldn't understand him at all: I mean, you'd told him it was over, and left him a note, but he still persisted.' She smiled mistily at Beth. 'Well, it's all over now,' she said on a note of satisfaction. 'Now we can concentrate on the wedding. How do you fancy royal blue for the bridesmaid's dress?' she asked brightly.

  Beth looked alarmed. 'Is it to be a very grand occasion?' she asked, then ran a hand through her hair. `I know it's silly, but I'd never even thought of bridesmaid's and things.'

  `You'd better start right now, then,' Janice scolded mildly. 'I'm only having one attendant, and you're it.' She laughed at Beth's dismayed look. 'And Gavin's the best man, of course,' she added mischievously, adding to Beth's misery.

  Putting a brave face on it, Beth smiled back at her. Not for worlds would she spoil Janice's wonderful .day. If she wanted her to be bridesmaid, then a bridesmaid she would be.

  The telephone in the hall rang just then,
and as Janice made a move to get up and take the call, Murmuring that Mabel was shopping in town, Beth

  waved her back. 'You sit tight,' she ordered. 'I'll get it.'

  `How's Janice?' queried the voice that had not plagued Beth for the last week.

  Without realising it, she stiffened as she answered frigidly, 'Resting up,' giving no sign that she knew who was calling.

  `Good,' replied Gavin. 'Er ... I presume he's gone back?' he asked conversationally.

  Her fingers gripped the receiver. By 'he' he meant Nicholas, she supposed. Poor Nicholas, it appeared not only Janice was glad to see the back of him, though why Gavin Patterson should take that attitude was beyond her. 'Oh, you mean my fiancé?' she replied frostily. 'Yes, he went back this morning.'

  `Your what?' he asked silkily.

  Beth did not answer him; he knew very well what she had said.

  For a moment I thought you said "fiancé",' he went on smoothly. 'But of course, I must have misheard. He wasn't likely to have gone back without his fiancée, was he?' he asked, still in that smooth voice that made Beth's teeth grate.

  To her credit she answered him politely, but it was no easy task. 'Why not?' she said casually. 'He'll be back for Janice's wedding, there was no point in both of us going back when I might spend a little more time with my sister.' Now chew on that, she thought viciously. Did you have a message for Janice?' she asked curtly, successfully giving the impression that he was wasting time.

  His quick-drawn breath told her he hadn't liked

  that one bit. 'No,' he said abruptly. 'It was you I wanted to talk to.'

  Beth had been playing with the telephone cord, but now her hand stilled. He was going to ask her to let him know her whereabouts, and she was about to tell him in no uncertain terms that he would not be having any trouble in that direction, etc., when he took the wind out of her sails with a casual, 'I've missed you. It's been so peaceful.'

  `And it's going to go on being peaceful,' Beth snapped back, wishing she could put the phone down on him. 'I've turned over a new leaf. From now on I stay put. Janice is laid up, so I couldn't do anything, anyway. So you can relax.'

  He clucked admonishingly at her burst of temper. `I was getting so well organised, too,' he said sadly. `As for staying put, I don't think that will be necessary. Mabel's there, isn't she?' and he carried on before Beth could get a word in, 'I rather thought it might be a good idea if you got some training in while Janice is laid up. It's not so long now to the wedding; that way it will be a smooth takeover.'

  Beth stared at the receiver in her hand. She couldn't have heard aright, surely?

  He coughed, and Beth suspected he was laughing. `Are you all right?' he asked solicitously. 'You haven't fainted or anything?'

  `I think you've got the wrong number,' Beth grated out. 'The secretarial agency is your best bet.'

  Not from where I'm sitting,' he replied in a smug voice, adding in a 'by the way' tone, 'We eventually got the car back.'

  Beth took a quick breath—it was blackmail! Nicholas wasn't the only one capable of using it. She swallowed. 'When do you want me to start?' she asked bitterly.

  `What's wrong with this afternoon?' he suggested happily.

  Beth took it out on the cushion she was supposed to be plumping up before she sat down, and Janice stared at her in some amazement. 'What's up?' she queried. 'Who was that on the phone?'

  `Your esteemed boss,' Beth answered sourly. `Seems to think it's a good idea if I filled in for you while you're laid up—and,' she added darkly, 'he hinted at the possibility of my taking over from you.'

  Janice's eyes opened wide, and Beth was surprised to see that she looked anything but happy over the prospect. 'Oh, dear,' muttered Janice, 'I'm not too sure that it is—at least, not right now.'

  Beth's eyes were wary as she demanded, 'Why not?'

  `Well,' supplied Janice, frowning, 'he's not been what you might call in a good mood lately—for the past week, come to think of it. We've all been a bit worried about him, actually, because he's usually so good-tempered.'

  Beth was beginning to see a tiny light. Gavin must have been terribly disappointed that Nicholas hadn't whisked her off the island. She remembered his satisfaction after she had told him he was coming back—so in his opinion all was not yet lost. But for goodness' sake, why had he wanted her up at Chartways? Another stab of light pierced the darkness. He wanted

  a whipping boy—and who better than her? Oddly enough, she felt a little better after she had worked that out. Things were beginning to make sense at last. `What salary are you getting?' she demanded of the surprised Janice.

  Mentioning a figure that seemed a vast amount to Beth, Janice asked, 'Why?'

  Beth frowned back at her. She was busy working out how much she could earn in a month, and having. reached the answer, she smiled at Janice. 'Well, that should take care of any repairs that had to be done,' she said satisfactorily.

  It was Janice's turn to frown. 'The car, you mean?' she queried, then as if a thought struck her, she laughed 'That's if you last that long,' she commented.

  Beth drew herself up to her full five feet four. 'I intend to,' she answered coolly. 'And you'd be surprised what I can do when I set my mind to it.'

  Janice, however, was still doubtful, and sighed. 'I wish you luck, pet, but don't say I didn't warn you. Gavin's not the man he was.'

  On this doleful pronouncement Beth was left to cope as best she might, and her thoughts were not exactly cheerful ones as she made her way to Chartways just before two o'clock. The worst Gavin could do was to shout at her, she thought glumly, and steeled herself to accept all jibes and oblique references with fortitude, not allowing him to rile her into throwing everything up. It was the only chance she had of getting out of his debt, and she had to take it, no matter what.

  Her thoughts roamed on as she strode up the drive

  to the big house. This would be the first time she had seen Gavin since that night. Feeling the colour rise in her cheeks, she wished she hadn't thought of that, not at this time. The week she had spent with Nicholas had helped her push that particular memory out of her mind. It hadn't meant anything to Gavin Patterson, only as a method he had used to pay her back for what he thought was deliberate provocation on her part to catch his attention. She drew a deep breath. Well, she had exploded that myth by saying she was engaged to Nicholas, hadn't she? She frowned. Why had he expected her to take over from Janice, then? Because he hadn't believed her, that was why ! Her lips straightened. So it was a lie; but he didn't know that, did he? Had Janice broken her word and told him how things were between her and Nicholas? It rather looked as if she had, and if so, Beth would be wasting her breath if she contradicted her sister's misplaced confidences to her boss. And where did that leave her? She swallowed. She would rather not dwell on that.

  On reaching the house, she noted with some concern that Gavin must have been on the lookout for her, as the door opened when she got to the porch. `Very good of you,' commented Gavin jovially, making her dart a suspicious look at him, which he met blandly, and Beth felt like the sacrificial lamb led to the slaughter, as he led the way to Janice's office.

  Entering the office, Beth glanced round the room.. Like Janice, everything was neat and tidy, no evidence of its occupant having to take off in a hurry. She glanced back at Gavin standing by the door.

  There was a look in his blue eyes she couldn't fathom, and it worried her. Was he sizing up his next frontal attack? she wondered, and was sure he had something like that on his mind when he said casually, 'Sit down, Beth. I want to talk to you.'

  `What about?' she queried suspiciously, thinking Janice wouldn't be a bit surprised when she returned to the cottage barely half an hour after she had left.

  Meeting his eyes, she detected a hint of mockery in them, and to her furious chagrin found herself flushing. 'Am I going to work for you or not?' she demanded furiously. 'Or am I up here for a lecture?'

  His brows rose at this, but he refused to
be riled. `To the first question, I sincerely hope so,' he replied airily. 'However, there are a few things that must be settled first—er—if you've no objection, that is.'

  Here it comes, thought Beth wearily. She would have to promise to act with a certain amount of decorum as befitted the secretary to the owner of the island.

  Seeing that she did not contend this query, he indicated the chair behind Janice's desk, and when she was seated, sat down opposite her.

  Taking a deep breath, Beth prepared herself for complete servitude, reminding herself frantically that she was in his debt.

  The first question, when it came, was so unexpected that she just sat and stared at him. 'Just what is the position between you and Harbin?' was what he asked, and giving a wicked smile at her stunned reaction to the question, he carried on blithely, 'As a prospective employer, I need to know how long I

  can expect to retain your services,' adding smoothly, `Nothing personal, you understand?' Beth particularly noted the look in his eyes as he said this, and it rather belied his words.

  In other words, she thought furiously, he wanted to know when she was going. Why he had to do it in such a roundabout way was beyond her. 'You might be a prospective employer,' she answered acidly, 'but I'm not a prospective employee ! I understood you. just wanted me to fill in while Janice is incapacitated, and that's why I've come,' adding haughtily, 'I intend to leave the island after Janice's wedding. I'm sorry I can't oblige and leave earlier.' She would post him a cheque for the repairs, she told herself.

  `With Harbin?' he persisted, utterly ignoring the rest of her speech.

  Beth was in a cleft stick. Why the wretched man wouldn't let be, she couldn't understand. Did you hope he'd got away?' she asked sweetly, still refusing to give him a straight answer.

  `Are you asking for a dose of the last treatment?' he asked softly, 'because if you're not, I'd advise you to change your attitude. Now answer the question, one way or the other.'