Man with two Faces Read online

  members of the College that she loved her work and ,had no plans to seek a husband to support her at the earliest given opportunity.

  Endowed as she was with more than her share of what was considered beauty, she had had ample opportunity of observing the frailties of human nature, particularly where it concerned the opposite sex, and where age was no barrier. She had seen older men, who should have had more sense, make fools of themselves when out of the eagle eye of their spouses, and all supposedly pillars of respectability. As for their younger counterparts—Rebecca sighed. It was hardly surprising that she had a jaundiced view of the marital state, or of the male sex as a whole.

  There were exceptions, of course. Old Professor Dawson, for instance, was a pet, and she was quite fond of the Bursar, both of whom lived solely for their work, but they were the only two in the whole College that she could feel entirely at ease with and not have to watch points with, or find herself having to adopt an air of icy reserve against a sudden gleam of speculation she would spot in a predatory male's eyes while she went about her secretarial duties.

  Rebecca turned over on to her back. She ought to have got a job in a bank, in an accountants' office, she thought dryly, tucked away in some dreary office with a boss whose sole target was aimed at making more money. Or with that detestable author, who was only concerned with his precious work, and didn't care who typed it, as long as they were competent. She could have been a

  robot for all the notice he had taken of her, she thought indignantly, and felt a spurt of pleasure at having walked out on him. She was not used to that kind of treatment, although she had to admit that she preferred that approach to the apologetic, slavish one she had often encountered in the past.

  She gave a grin. You certainly knew where you stood with a man like that, and it was a pity that he couldn't have been a bit more likeable in his manner, but she supposed fame had gone to his head. With success in the literary field, and undoubted success in the petticoat stakes, judging by the amount of calls he had received from husky-voiced charmers while Rebecca was in his employment, she couldn't see how he could avoid becoming self-opinionated, it was a natural sequence, and just scored another point in her soured outlook as far as men were concerned.

  `Is this another cure for the mumps?' asked a voice somewhere above Rebecca that made her wonder if she was having an hallucination, for it was the voice of the man she had just been thinking about.

  As if doubting the evidence of her ears she sat up straight, and her startled eyes met Janus Leon's impersonal stare. How on earth, she thought, did he come to be at Pinehurst, and what had Barbara let her in for?

  `You've made a remarkable recovery, I see,' he went on sarcastically. 'False alarm, was it?' he asked with a sceptical glint in his eyes.

  For the want of a better reply, Rebecca said, `Er—yes.' There was nothing else she could say,

  she thought, but she promised herself a few words with Barbara at the earliest opportunity.

  `Working for Sir George, are you?' Janus Leon asked conversationally, as he dropped down beside her lounger. 'I guess English titles have a lot of sway here,' he added meaningly. 'Got yourself a nice little number by the look of things,' he added significantly, his knowing eyes flicking over her skimpy sunsuit.

  Rebecca wished she had something she could cover herself up with, and resented not only his

  tone but his cool appraisal of her figure. 'How did you know I was here?' she asked, more for something to say than real curiosity, although she could guess where his information had come from, he must have bullied Barbara for it.

  Janus Leon subjected her to a long cool stare. `Don't flatter yourself,' he drawled. 'I didn't know.' His, glance rested on her hair 'If you wish to remain incognito you should do something about that hair of yours. It's like a beacon to interested parties,' he added with a grin that had all the trimmings of a wolf on the prowl, and Rebecca recognised the signs, and for some unaccountable reason felt he had let her down; he was just another hunter out for a scalp.

  `I'm not trying to hide myself!' she retorted indignantly. 'I happen to be one of Sir George's guests,' she added coldly, meaning to put this cocksure man in his place.

  Janus Leon's eyes narrowed as he gazed ahead of him 'He's a widower, isn't he?' he said dryly, leaving Rebecca to draw her own conclusions on

  this comment, which she did, and wanted to slap his face for the suggestion that she was there for one purpose only.

  'He also happens to be the father of a good friend of mine,' Rebecca got out icily, and stood up quickly. 'You'll find Sir George down on the lower terraces,' she added firmly, showing him that she had better things to do than to stay bandying words with him.

  'What's the hurry?' he drawled, reaching up with, a deceptively casual hand towards her, and as she moved to avoid contact with him, caught her hand with a swift almost catlike sureness, forcing her to stay beside him until he chose to release her.

  `Would you mind letting me go?' she asked politely, She had been in too many similar situations in the past to lose her temper. She had seen it all before.

  `As I said,' he remarked coolly, 'what's the hurry? So we're both guests. I know your name and you know mine, and there's no reason why we shouldn't get better acquainted with each other, is there? You know,' he went on smoothly, 'I'm a great believer in fate. Sure, I was riled when you skipped out on me like that. You're good at your job, I'll say that for you,' his blue stare once again subjected her to a cool appraisal. 'You're also easy on the eye. It's not often one finds that combination. Okay, I take back what I said just now. You're here on the level as a friend of the family. I'm here as an acquaintance' of Sir George, and for an English background for a novel I've had in mind for some time. I gather,' he went on dryly, 'that'

  there won't be too many young things around on this' party. Sir George was worried that I might find things a bit dull from that angle. However,' he shot her a sidelong glance, `that was before I found you, and so far I've no complaints,' he added meaningly.

  Rebecca took the opportunity of removing her hand from his grasp before she answered this cool assumption of his that she would be willing to lighten his stay at Pinehurst by indulging in a light flirtation with him His look and his remarks were too pointed for her to misinterpret his meaning. 'I shall be pleased to do anything I can to help you get the background for the novel,' she said quietly, `and I'm sure John will too,' she added meaningly.

  `John?' queried Janus Leon with a raise of the eyebrows.

  Rebecca nodded graciously. 'Sir George's son,' she supplied a little maliciously, taking pleasure in the narrowing of his very blue eyes as he worked out the implication of this news.

  `Your friend?' he asked in a silky voice. 'Well, well!'

  Rebecca flushed as she caught the sarcasm in his voice, but replied readily enough, 'Yes,' and glancing towards the gardens, remarked, 'Oh, here's Sir George now. I'll go and change for lunch while I've got the opportunity,' and she walked off towards the house, conscious the whole time of those hard blue eyes boring into' her back,

  Before lunch, as was the custom, everybody assembled in the green drawing room adjoining the dining room, and Rebecca, who had told Laura of

  the arrival of the novelist, but nothing else, stood beside John and Laura and watched the introductions being carried out to the few guests who had not as yet met the author.

  His arrival had caused quite a stir even among these dedicated politicians, who, it appeared, had all heard of him, even if they were not avid readers of his books, and Rebecca was reminded of a remark of Barbara's on her enforced confinement in the College, and how she knew little of the world outside the cloisters of the College, and she had to admit ruefully to the truth of this statement.

  While she sipped her sherry and made desultory remarks to Laura and John, her bemused eyes watched Janus Leon receiving accolades from several of the guests who had clustered round him. That he was used to this kind of reeption was obvious from the
way that he handled the interested questioning about his work.

  When Mrs Carmichael pushed herself forward, exclaiming how much she had enjoyed his last novel, and proceeded to hog his attention, Laura gave Rebecca a knowing nudge of the elbow, and they both watched with amused interest as she determinedly cut across other questions in her bid to capture his attention.

  `I must admit,' murmured Laura, 'that he's a gorgeous hunk of man. He's got brains, too,' she added in a half-surprised voice. Did you read Devil's Ploy?' she asked Rebecca. 'If you haven't, you must. It's fabulous! They say there's talk of making it into a film. Oh, I do wish that wretched woman would come away and give someone else a

  chance to talk to him,' she added crossly.

  Rebecca gave her an amused glance. 'Don't worry,' she said teasingly, 'he's here for the week, remember? You'll get your chance later.'

  Laura pulled a face at this. 'Want to bet?' she asked dryly. 'She'll latch on to him like a leech. Give Daddy some peace, I suppose,' she added thoughtfully, 'although she's not entirely given up hope in that direction yet,' she tacked on meaningly.

  Sir George was apparently of the same mind as his daughter where Mrs Carmichael's monopolisation of the author was concerned, and with a skilful manoeuvre worthy of his political status managed to tear him away and continue with the introductions.

  `This is Colonel Franly,' he said, introducing a stout rather bucolic-looking man, whose mild voice did not match his looks. 'Just back from the Middle East. He could tell you a thing or two on the latest machinations out there—eh, Franly?' and at the raising of Colonel's sandy eyebrows at this assertion, added jovially, 'well, what's printable!'

  A few minutes later Rebecca was the next in line, and not knowing of her connection with Janus Leon, Sir George affected an introduction. On Janus Leon's nod of acknowledgment, and his quick, 'I'm acquainted with Miss Lindsey,' Rebecca received a jab in the side from the indignant Laura, who would no doubt take her up on that later, then it was Laura's turn to be introduced, since John had met their famous guest before the lunch assembly.

  This completed the introductions, and with some annoyance Rebecca found that Janus Leon was in no hurry to move on and circulate, put elected to remain with their small group; although he could have attached himself to any of the other guests who were plainly longing to talk to him.

  `I didn't know that you knew Rebecca,' said John, as the luncheon gong rang, and they all converged on the dining room.

  `Oh, we met in the line of duty,' Janus Leon replied breezily. 'She was kind enough to type some of my novel for me.'

  There was a smothered gasp from Laura at this, and Rebecca held herself in readiness for another dig in the ribs from her as she replied lightly for John's benefit, 'Barbara was in a hole, and I just helped out.'

  She felt rather than saw Janus Leon's sharp glance at her as they arrived at the table, and to her further annoyance she found that she had been placed next to the wretched man with John on her left, and Laura practically opposite her on the other side of the table, and something told her that she was not going to enjoy this meal one little bit.

  There was no shortage of conversation, for which Rebecca was grateful, and for once it did not centre around politics but on Janus Leon's novels, and she began to think she might enjoy-her lunch after all.

  A short while after this hope had been conceived, she found she had been a little previous in her optimism, for when a lull appeared in the conversation, and Sir George held the stage for a brief

  period, Rebecca found herself the subject of Janus Leon's attention. 'Doesn't he know you're a working girl?' he asked her in a low voice, audible only to her.

  At first she could not get the connection, and when she did, she was furious. He was hinting that she had somehow wormed herself into high society for somewhat obvious reasons. 'Of course he does!' she replied, keeping her voice just as low as his, and then turned her attention back again to John who was asking her if she cared for a game of tennis after lunch.

  `What were you two whispering about?' Laura demanded later after lunch, and the girls were on their way to their rooms to change for tennis.

  `We weren't whispering,' Rebecca replied tetchily, for she was still smarting under Janus Leon's insinuations.

  `Well, I couldn't hear what was said,' Laura replied pettishly. 'You're not having an affair with him, are you?' she asked curiously.

  Rebecca threw her a look of high indignation. `Certainly not!' she exclaimed in a voice that spoke of her feelings in no uncertain way.

  Laura giggled. 'Well, I couldn't see it, somehow,' she said, as they reached their rooms, and instead of going into her room that was next to Rebecca's, followed her into her room. 'Well, what's the big secret, or aren't you going to tell me? You could have knocked me down with a feather when he said you'd met. Why didn't you tell me?'

  Rebecca gave her an exasperated look. She wouldn't give up until she had heard the whole

  story, so she might as well get it over with, she thought, and launched into the story, ending with, `As for telling you, I didn't know he was invited here for the weekend, did I? He was only a passing acquaintance anyway. I might have mentioned it had his name cropped up in the conversation,' she gave a light shrug, 'otherwise I wouldn't have given it a thought.'

  Laura gave her a look that showed a certain amount of scepticism, and then sighed. 'All right, I believe you, thousands wouldn't, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt only because I know you. I suppose working with all those learned men makes you a bit blase.' She put her head on one side and gave Rebecca a considering look. 'What did he say to you?' she asked. 'Whatever it was, it annoyed you, I saw that much,' she added, then her eyebrows shot up. 'I say, did he make a pass at you?' she asked hopefully. 'I hear he's a bit of a playboy as far as the women are concerned.'

  Rebecca drew in an exasperated sigh. She saw no reason for not telling the truth. 'He seemed to think I'd gate crashed into high society,' she said dryly. 'Of course he'd got it in for me because I'd walked out on him,' she added. 'I only promised Barbara a week,. but I couldn't tell him that. Barbara needs his monetary support,' she gave a smile. 'Apparently she told him I'd got mumps.'

  Laura gave a hoot of laughter. 'Barbara was never good at covering up, but I should have thought she could have done better than that,' she said, and gave Rebecca a considering look. 'No wonder he's put out! I shouldn't imagine a thing

  like that has ever happened to him before, not where females are concerned anyway,' she added in amusement.

  The following week proved a very trying time for Rebecca and not anything like the peaceful time she had promised herself. Janus. Leon seemed determined to haunt her and attached himself to her small set, which comprised the younger members of the party. In a way this was understandable, but there were many occasions when he could have taken himself off on other pursuits, particularly as he was ostensibly there to gather material for a novel, but Rebecca was convinced he was out to cause her as much discomfort as possible, and succeeded, only she was determined not to let him see that he had ruined the first week of her holiday.

  To say that he shamelessly presumed upon their slight acquaintance was putting it mildly. Rebecca tried everything she knew to rebuff his attentions, but apart from actually telling him that she wished him elsewhere, cold looks and equally cold replies to his bantering conversation made not the slightest effect on him.

  After four days of the chase, Rebecca's temper was anything but sweet, and Laura's amused comment that Janus Leon must fancy her did nothing for soothe her ruffled feelings, for the truth of the matter was that he was out to annoy her. He hadn't liked being given a set-down. He was used to idolatry, and Rebecca had broken a golden rule by not joining the queue of his admirers.

  Be it tennis, or swimming in the luxurious pool ?at the back of the house, Rebecca could always be

  sure of company—John on one side of her, and the big game hunter on the other side. She had ceased to think
of him as an author, famous or otherwise, he was just another persistent male she had got stuck with, and one who was proving as stubborn in his attentions as she was to repel them.

  It went without saying that she was fervently looking forward to the end of the week when she would be able to continue her holiday without the annoying presence of one egotistical male. As she had expected, she had been asked to stay as long as she wished, and it was only the thought of the peace to come that kept her from inventing some excuse to leave the house party early.

  Rebecca was not the only one looking forward to the end of the week. John was showing signs of restiveness, like a volcano about to explode. As Janus Leon was one of his father's guests he could hardly order him off the premises, although he would have dearly loved to. The only saving factor that kept matters on a low key was the fact that Rebecca had not encouraged the attentions she was receiving from the author.

  As Janus Leon was Rebecca's bugbear, Mrs Carmichael was Laura's. She had attached herself to the younger set for obvious reasons, and made an uncomfortable fifth at tennis, which meant that someone had to drop out after each game to accommodate her, and what made it worse was that she was a very mediocre player and promptly ruined any chance of a good set, for the others were all good players.

  Relations between Laura and Caroline Carmichael only just stopped short of open warfare. Out of Sir George's proximity, the gloves were off as far as Caroline Carmichael was concerned, and she never failed to grasp an opportunity to belittle Laura.

  Laura, however, was made of sterner stuff, and usually gave as good as she got.- It was a game of very polite backhanders. So far the score was even, but it hardly helped to make the atmosphere a carefree one.

  Where Rebecca was concerned, she welcomed the older woman's presence. Caroline was not one to stand aside and let others take the stage, not the female of the species anyway, and it did give Rebecca some leeway where Janus Leon was concerned, and though she could sympathise with Laura, her instinct for self-preservation took precedence!