Neil was pulling on a cigarette in his chair on the terrace. He rose when they appeared, but Barry swung Tessa towards the drive and said with an apologetic grin, 'Can't stop, Neil. Tess wants to go for a walk, of all things.'
The green eyes watching her narrowed slightly. He lifted a dark eyebrow and drawled laconically, 'Of all things.'
Tessa was glad that Barry wasted no time in putting the length of the drive between them and the house. She felt that Neil's eyes were still on her even when they got out on to the road. They went downhill for a while and then turned off along a narrow path that ran almost parallel with the drive, and came out into a small tree-lined clearing. For some reason she was glad that Barry hadn't chosen her special walk along the track.
He kicked around for a while, then looked up at the twisted trees and grinned, 'I used to come and play here when I was a kid.' When Tessa didn't reply, he brought his gaze down to his shoes and said jauntily, 'Well, suppose we start talking?'
'All right,' she pulled in a breath, 'supposing I start with the question—what do I do tonight while you're seeing Elaine?'
He looked at her, thrust his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels to smile. 'So you finally caught on?'
'Finally,' Tessa said thinly.
There was a long pause and then he asked, 'Well, what's the moan?'
'I beg your pardon?' Tessa blinked.
'The grouses the complaints…* Barry paced impatiently. 'You must have something on your mind or we wouldn't be here.'
Tessa continued to stare. Now she knew why no one, neither Barry nor his friends, had gone out of their way to hide from her what was going on. To them she was someone who would be grateful for the crumbs, the girl who would consider herself lucky indeed to be chosen for the part. She was here on the Riviera, wasn't she, living the life of the rich. What more could she, a mere shop assistant, want or expect?
When the angry trembling had settled inside her she said steadily, 'You seem to forget that only weeks ago you were telling me that I was the only girl in your life.'
'Aw, come off it,' Barry sneered. 'You were ready to believe anything to get away from that narrow little life of yours.'
Tessa pulled in her lip. There might be some truth in that.
'And that's something you seem to forget.' He drew himself up. 'Only weeks ago you were nothing but a mousy little salesgirl behind some counter.'
'Well, it may surprise you to know that even mousy little salesgirls have got feelings,' Tessa quivered, 'but to save you any embarrassment I'll leave first thing in the morning.'
'Now wait a minute. Not so fast!' Barry swung her roughly back as she would have walked away. 'Don't you think you owe me anything?'
'Oh yes.' She gave him a withering smile. 'You bring me out here as a cover so that you can amuse yourself with somebody else, and I'm supposed to owe you something.' She considered for a moment and then went on coolly, 'But you are right. I still have the money you gave me to amuse myself. I'll use it for my fare home, and pay you back out of my wages. Goodbye, Barry,' her words were flat and final. 'I won't see you again before I leave.'
The look on the boyish face was one of blank disbelief. It was obvious that he couldn't grasp the fact that a girl in her position would want to walk out on the life of luxury that he offered. She waited patiently and coldly for him to release her shoulder from his grip and when his fingers slackened she moved off back along the path.
There was a silence in which she could hear the insects busy in the undergrowth, and then his voice came after her, half angry, half plaintive: 'That's right, you go. Oh, sure, it's fine for you. You don't have anybody telling you what to do, or trying to run your life for you.'
She turned, intending to make some suitably cool comment and then carry on, but the sight of the boyish figure slumped down on a rock, the golden head bowed in slim hands, made her stay where she was. After a long moment she moved back to him to say, lightly sympathetic, 'You make it sound a lot worse than it really is.'
'Oh, I do?' He flung a gaze up at her. 'Well, how would you feel if you were being stopped from marrying the one person in the world you were crazy about?'
'Well, I'd feel terrible!' She knew a genuine sympathy now, also a mild sense of shock. Was it as serious as that then? Were the two of them planning marriage?
Clouded blue eyes came up to meet hers again as Barry said smartingly, 'That's just what it is. Terrible! Can you blame me for thinking up ways to get to see Elaine? Wouldn't you try everything if you were in my shoes?'
'Well, of course I would!' Tessa replied fervently. 'But surely if you talk to Neil…'
'I'm through with talking to Neil,' Barry said sneeringly. 'In a few weeks I'll be eighteen, then I'll tell him what he can do with his fatherly advice.'
'You mean you'll get married against his wishes?' Tessa looked disbelieving.
'It's what I want, not what he wants,' came the tight re- ply.
'And what about the firm?' she asked. 'He watches over that for you, doesn't he?'
'I'll buy his two-cent partnership out,' Barry pulled a sneer of satisfaction, 'and run things my own way.'
'Is that how your grandfather arranged things?' Tessa asked.
Barry nodded. 'He always said when I got married I'd be man enough to run my own affairs.'
Tessa looked at the mere boy in him and smiled gently. 'He probably thought you'd wait until you were about twenty-four or five.'
'What's the difference? It all amounts to the same thing anyway,' Barry shrugged, 'and I don't intend waiting five or six years before I'm out of Neil's clutches. Elaine and I have decided we want to get married in August when I'm eighteen, and there isn't a thing Neil can do about it.'
'In that case wouldn't it be wiser to wait until then?' Tessa said quietly. 'Until the time you can please yourself?'
'And not see Elaine at all?' Barry looked crushed. 'Can you imagine what I'd feel like? And how do I know she won't go off with somebody else while I'm stuck here?'
'She won't if she loves you,' Tessa said gently.
'She might—and anyway I couldn't stand not seeing her.'
He dropped his head in his hands at the thought and Tessa stood over him with a helpless air. She felt a little ashamed of her display now. Concerned only with her own anger and hurt, she had never once given a thought to what
Barry must be feeling or why he had acted the way he had.
He looked so different now, slumped low like this. Different from the bouncing, laughing-eyed Barry she knew. Though it wasn't love, she knew that now, and something stirred inside her as she gazed down at him; a kind of deep maternal tenderness that made her want to smooth a comforting hand over the golden waves.
She said in heartfelt tones, 'I wish I could do something to help, Barry. If it was anything other than staying on pretending to be your…'
'Well, what's wrong with it, anyway?' He looked up quickly and caught her hand. 'You know I like you a lot, Tessa. What's wrong with you staying on at the villa if you're my friend?'
'That's not what everybody else thinks,' she smiled.
'Who's everybody else? Neil?' he sneered, and then impatiently, 'Whose side are you on, anyway?'
'I'm on yours, of course,' she said staunchly, 'I always have been, but…'
'Then why won't you stick by me?' Barry rose and faced her imploringly. 'Please, Tess,' he begged, 'just for a little while. At least until I get time to think of something else.'
'I'd like to help,' Tessa said reluctantly, and then because he was looking at her so meltingly, and yet everything within her was fighting against the idea, she said with a burst of irritation, 'Why on earth didn't you stay on in London with Elaine, if you knew Neil was coming out here?'
'I always come out here for the summer,' Barry scuffed his feet. 'If I'd stayed on over there he would have caught on straight away.'
Tessa looked at him again and shook her head. 'I couldn't do anything behind your grandmother's back,' s
he said slowly.
'She'd be all for it if she knew.' Barry gripped her shoulders. 'Honestly, Tess. She's always given me everything I want.'
He hadn't done too badly by Neil either, really, had he? Tessa thought. He didn't seem to stint on his allowance and she hadn't noticed Barry being stopped much from following his own pursuits. Still, that was only what she thought. She didn't know what it was really like, did she, having someone like that to boss you around? Or did she? Seeing that piercing green gaze in front of her now, she asked, 'What about Neil? He knows that something is wrong between us?'
'We can soon put that right,' Barry looked enthusiastic. 'Elaine wanted to buy some new clothes, so I arranged for her to get whatever she wants in Paris. She'll be gone about a week, so you and I can stick around the villa and clear up any doubts that Neil has about us.'
But not the ones he has about me, Tessa thought dejectedly. But that was a luxury indeed—to think that Neil would ever believe that he had been wrong about her. Even if she left now, tonight, he would see her gladly on her way with that mocking, suspicious glint of his. So would it matter if she stayed to help, when he would never think any good of her anyway? And Barry desperately needed Elaine. Neil needed no one, and probably never would. This last thought fanned a tiny flicker of irritation within her, but she had no time to think about it, for Barry was adding with an enthusiastic grin, 'I might enjoy having you for my second girl.' He considered her smooth tanned skin and coppery hair and tilted his head. 'You know, you're not bad, Tess. You'll never have Elaine's class, but you're not bad.'
'Well, thanks!' Tessa laughed lightly. It was an improvement on 'mousy salesgirl', anyway.
Seeing her laughter, Barry asked eagerly, 'Well, what do you say, Tess? Are you with me?'
Tessa hesitated while the blue eyes beseeched. She thought of herself free as air, and Barry with Neil telling him what to do, and suddenly fired with the feeling of youth for youth, she said on a slightly defiant note, 'I'm with you, Barry, all the way.'
'That's great!' He hugged her. 'I knew you'd be on my side.'
As they walked back along the path, Tessa's smile softened. Her affection for Barry now, she felt, was the kind she might have for a small boy she had known for a long time. It was good to see him bouncing and happy again. And she believed now that he really liked her. The blue eyes were alight with gratitude as he grinned, 'You're okay by me, Tess.'
He kept his arm tight about her waist as they strolled up the drive towards the villa. Madame Devereux must have arrived back, for the big black vintage car was parked outside its garage under the trees. The chauffeur was working in his shirt sleeves beneath the raised bonnet. Neil was standing beside him. He watched Barry approaching with Tessa along the drive as he talked and when they drew level, fell in beside them to say drily, 'How was the scenery ?'
Tessa had an idea that the question was aimed at her. She kept her gaze on the ground and heard Barry reply glowingly, 'Just great!' and then probably realising he was hungry he asked, 'How's it going? Do we get to eat now?'
'Whenever you're ready,' Neil said evenly. When they had almost reached the villa he asked casually, 'Going out tonight?'
'Nope,' Tessa felt herself drawn close as Barry looked at her and smiled, 'we're not interested in crowds tonight, are we, Tess?' And then as though he had just had an idea he turned to ask, 'Will it be okay if we play records on the terrace, Neil? I've got some new ones I haven't heard yet, and we can dance out there.'
'If that's what you want,' Neil nodded. After a silence he added, 'Maybe you could round up a few friends and make a party out of it?'
'Oh no, I wouldn't want that,' Barry said, shaking his head. 'It's got to be just me and Tess.'
Tessa looked the other way as they walked in the door of the villa.
Dinner had an element of excitement about it. Madame Devereux was full of her adventures of her breakdown on a lonely road coming back from St. Cezaire where she had been visiting. Barry was obviously pleased with the way things had turned out for him. He was gay and mischievous at the table, occasionally inducing an indulgent smile from Neil and delighted laughter from his grandmother.
Tessa was bubbling up too, except when she caught a frequent green glance directed at her down the table. Then she was seized with a wild bout of panic. What if Neil knew quite well what she was up to? But he couldn't, of course, she soothed herself. He only assumed that she was after the Devereux fortune, and as long as he kept thinking on those lines Barry and Elaine were safe.
After that first period of unease she decided recklessly to forget the man and his suspicions and enter into the spirit of the part she was playing. It wasn't difficult with Barry. He was a new person to her now and he made her feel wanted as no one had ever done before. After dinner, as they moved and swayed under the stars to the soulful beaty music of his choice he held her so close she had to smile away her shyness.
Madame Devereux, reclining on a sun-bed, twinkled over them for a while, but she was tired after her hectic afternoon and when Nicolette found her dozing quietly she led her off firmly to her room.
Neil sat draped back in his own chair, pulling deeply on a cigarette. Once or twice, Tessa thought she felt his eyes on her, but whenever she stole a glance his way he was gazing out across the gardens or up at the sky. He sat lazily through endless records without appearing to flicker an eyelid, but when Barry drew Tessa close after selecting and slotting in a new batch, he rose and said somewhat caustically, 'It's almost midnight. Time, I think, to call it a day.'
'We'll be along shortly,' Barry said, close against Tessa's cheek, 'after a couple more tracks.'
'I said that's it,' Neil clipped. 'Other people around here want to sleep if you don't.'
'Okay,' Barry dropped his arms good-naturedly. As he turned to go back to the records Neil said, 'I'll see to everything out here. It's time you were both in bed.'
Tessa walked meekly to collect her handbag from the table holding the record player. From where he stood over by the door Barry called, 'Come on, Tess, I'll see you to your room.'
As Tessa would have followed, Neil blocked her path and drawled, 'I think she can find her own way by this time.'
She heard Barry whistling lightly to himself as he made his way inside and felt her own heart fluttering like a caged bird as she found herself imprisoned between the table and the big frame. It seemed an eternity that she stood there waiting to be let by, and then as wide shoulders lowered towards her and an arm reached out to switch off the music, she sidestepped and sped quickly inside.
Her heart was still playing peculiar tricks long after she had reached her room. She could hear the footsteps clicking over the terrace below as everything was being put back in its place. Only when the lamps had been put out and silence settled did she shake herself into preparing for bed.
The morning, when Tessa awoke, was as perfect as any there had ever been. Gazing at the deep blue sky and lacy green leaves of the trees, she longed to be able to spend it down in the flower fields. Perhaps she could, if Barry slept late as he always did.
As she sat up against her pillows a firm knock came on her door. Nicolette seemed to know the exact moment to bring in her breakfast tray. She ate with her mind more on the outside world than on the omelette, crisp rolls and lemon flower jam arranged ornately before her. Too impatient to wait for the steaming coffee to cool, she showered and dressed and took sips as she brushed her hair. There wasn't a sound about the house. She found herself guiltily hoping that Barry wouldn't take it into his head to rise early for once.
Looking out from her balcony, she noticed that the amber car was missing from its spot on the terrace. Neil would have left for the factories by this time, pulling out with his usual minimum of noise. After looking along towards Barry's balconies and seeing no signs of life, she slipped on a pair of sandals and made her way silently downstairs.
The hall where the sun streamed in at the door was hot beneath her feet, but outside, remnants
of early morning coolness hung on the breeze adding a sparkle to the air. The archway of trees along the drive rustled at her approach. She laughed softly as two brilliant butterflies circled each other in her path and then fluttered off, almost holding hands, in search of the sunshine.
The road was ablaze with its glare. Tessa could smell the hot tarmac as she crossed. The lazy drone of a car long out of sight, hung over the valley. It was lost in the hum of insects as she came on to the track. Now there was only the fragrance of pine, and warm earth, and pale dry grass. She inhaled deeply and skipped along feeling blissfully in tune with the countryside. She could see the brown of her limbs against her white cotton dress, feel her hair framed in the bleached straw fringe of Madame Devereux's sun-hat.
Through the trees the workers were hard at it in the fields. There was no sign of Neil, a fact that brought a tiny whisper of disappointment to her smile. She tugged in a sigh, telling herself it was just as well for her anyway, and hurried down to wallow in the glory and confusion of endless flowers and blossom.
It was never difficult to fall in with the work of the day. She just watched what the women were doing and did the same. She knew most of them by sight now. Plump and middle-aged and dressed in voluminous prints and the floppy wide-brimmed hats, they were always ready with a smile. There was no chatter, of course. The Provencal tongue was more difficult to understand than pure French, and heaven knew, she knew little enough of that. But a bonjour was easy enough and she was rewarded with a chorus in return from the rows of flowers.
As always someone found her a spare basket. She took it willingly today, eager to cradle the perfumed blossoms in her hands, and for the next hour or so she was oblivious to everything else.
It was when she had been working for some time on a stretch down by the factories that a footstep sounded softly behind her. Before she had time to stir herself from her task or even wonder who it could be, smooth hands clapped over her eyes, squashing her hat flat to her head. She was held a prisoner as low laughter sounded from behind and then feeling herself released she swung round to exclaim, 'Barry! What on earth are you doing here?'
Roumelia Lane - The Scented Hills Page 10