Desert Honeymoon

by Anne Weale

  They returned from their brief time alone together to find that Kesri had been at pains to keep Dan happily occupied. As well as the trip to Jaisalmer, he had started teaching the boy to ride and in the evening they had watched movies together.

  Far from feeling left out, Dan had obviously had a great time and wouldn’t have minded if they had stayed away longer.

  But as the days passed and his time at Karangarh began to run out, it was clear he wasn’t looking forward to returning to England and school.

  ‘Couldn’t I go to school here? Do I have to go back?’ he asked Nicole, in Alex’s hearing.

  ‘I’m afraid you must, Dan,’ she said. ‘Granpa has made a lot of sacrifices for you to go to Marsden. He’d be terribly disappointed if we took you away. Besides, it wouldn’t be easy to get you a place in a school here, and the syllabus would be different.’

  ‘So what?’ Dan said, scowling.

  He caught Alex’s eye, coloured and muttered, ‘Sorry.’

  Nicole put an arm round his shoulders. ‘I understand how you feel but you’ll be here again at Easter, and I’m sure once you’re back you’ll soon settle down.’

  Later, alone with Alex, she said, ‘I’m impressed by your ability to quell Dan with a look. Compared with some boys of his age, he’s not often difficult.’

  ‘He’s very good-tempered,’ said Alex. ‘Don’t worry: I shan’t be a heavy-handed stepfather. But I’m not going to let it pass if he’s rude to you. Perhaps he’d feel better about going back if we all went.’

  ‘All of us? But I haven’t been here long enough to ask for a break.’

  ‘I’ll ask for it on your behalf. Kesri won’t object if I tell him I want to present you to my parents.’

  ‘I think you should have done that before you married me,’ she said, frowning slightly. ‘I’m sure they must think it strange...our marrying in such a hurry.’

  Alex took her face between his hands. ‘I couldn’t wait to have you.’ His eyes were dark with desire as he slid his long fingers into the depths of her hair, cupping her head and bending his own to give her a hungry kiss as if he still couldn’t wait.

  ‘Would you have come to my bed before we were married?’ he murmured against her cheek.

  ‘I don’t know. You didn’t ask me.’

  ‘Now I don’t have to ask. I only have to do this...’ As he spoke he unbuttoned her shirt, pushing it off her shoulders before doing the same with the thin satin straps of her bra.

  Within seconds she was naked to the waist and he was caressing her breasts with his hands and lips.

  Nicole closed her eyes and surrendered to warm waves of pleasure. She could not deny that, as long as they were somewhere private, he could do whatever he wanted and it would be what she wanted too. There was no way she could resist him.

  But later when, passion spent, they were on the borders of sleep, her drowsiness was dispelled by the sudden realisation that his impatience to possess her might not be because he found her irresistible, but because, before their wedding night, he had not had a woman for a considerable time.

  Seen in that light, his eagerness seemed less romantic.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  WHEN their flight landed in Scotland, they were being met by his parents whose titles, Alex had explained, were The Strathallen of Strathallen and Madam Strathallen.

  ‘There’s no need to be nervous. They’re very laidback,’ he assured her.

  But although she had the confidence of a successful career to support her in most situations, in the one about to take place Nicole was acutely conscious that her background and his were poles apart. Which wasn’t important to Alex, but was to his parents’ generation, whose outlook had been formed in an era very different from today.

  Had she arrived on her own, she would have had no difficulty in recognising her in-laws. Father and son were remarkably alike in their height, build and upright bearing. The Strathallen’s hair was grey verging on white, but still as thick as his son’s.

  Madam Strathallen was also tall and grey-haired. It was she whom Alex embraced while Nicole and Dan stood back and watched them exchange hearty hugs. At least they were not an undemonstrative family, she thought, as he hugged his father.

  Then he turned to present her to them. ‘This is my wife, Nicole, and my stepson, Dan.’

  ‘We’ve been so looking forward to this.’ Smiling warmly, her mother-in-law shook hands with Nicole. ‘Hello, Dan.’ She gave him her hand. Then her husband shook hands with them both.

  Evidently they were not the kind of people who would automatically embrace and kiss a stranger, even the wife of their son. Nicole liked them the better for it. She had never been comfortable with gushing in any form. It was one of the things she most disliked about Rosemary who left lipstick smears on the cheeks of all and sundry while being far from loving when at home.

  The Strathallen’s car was a large old-fashioned Bentley. ‘You sit with me, Nicole,’ he said, putting her into the front passenger seat.

  In Nicole’s world, men usually sat in front with women in the back to enable them to chat about matters of interest to their sex. She felt it would have been easier to make conversation with her mother-in-law than with this formidable chieftain, head of a branch of one of Scotland’s ancient clans.

  However, she needn’t have worried. The Strathallen did most of the talking, pointing out features of the countryside they were passing through and reminiscing about his travels when younger.

  They had been driving for an hour and she was feeling fairly relaxed when Strathallen, the house, came into view and revived her apprehensions. More castle than house, it was far larger and more imposing than Alex had led her to believe, with a pair of towers topped by turrets flanking the main entrance.

  To Dan’s delight, he was given the room in one of the towers where Alex had slept as a boy. No sooner had they unpacked than it was time for lunch. Afterwards, while his parents were busy with other things, Alex took them on a tour of the house and its grounds. Dan was impressed to discover that, in its oldest part, the building had a bottle dungeon where, long ago, prisoners had been forced to spend their imprisonment in an upright position.

  To Nicole the dungeon was a grim reminder of a barbaric past. She was more interested in the many examples of fine needlework made by Strathallen wives and daughters, ranging from chair covers to the curtains on four-poster beds.

  While they were in the gardens, the clear sky had clouded over and soon it began to rain, an unwelcome reminder that this was an inclement climate for much of the year. Soon the winter dusk drew in.

  Nicole was relieved to find that, although parts of the house were not heated, the bathroom adjoining their bedroom was comfortably warm. Leaving Alex with Dan in her son’s room, she decided to have a long bath before it was time to rejoin her in-laws.

  In another part of the house, The Strathallen was asking his wife, ‘Well...what do you think of her?’

  He had just entered their bedroom, not having had a chance to talk to her privately since they returned from the airport.

  ‘I’m puzzled... not just by Nicole... by both of them,’ she said slowly. ‘I like the look of her. Do you?’

  ‘Yes...very good legs...dresses well...not too much make-up. Seems intelligent too. Why are you puzzled?’

  ‘By the rather odd way they look at each other. Several times during lunch I saw her looking at him and Alex looking at her, but it wasn’t the way newlyweds usually gaze at each other.’

  ‘Would you expect that at their age? They’re not in their twenties.’

  ‘My dear, love is love at any age. There is something—’ she searched for the right word ‘—something guarded about her. It’s not only that she is nervous. Everyone is...meeting their in-laws for the first time. It goes deeper than that, I think.’

  ‘You’re always picking up signs that I haven’t noticed,’ her husband said, with an affectionate grin.

  ‘Men never do notice nuances. You
probably wouldn’t have spotted a note being passed across the table. You only register what you’re eating...and nice legs,’ she added, with a twinkle. ‘Seriously, Ian, I wasn’t imagining it. They are neither of them quite relaxed. I might be imagining it with her, but not with Alex. I know him too well. There’s something on his mind, I’m sure of it.’

  ‘If there is, it’s their business, not ours. I like the boy.’

  ‘Yes, Dan is a darling. Very good manners and a sense of humour. Not in the least bit brattish which is a relief. I thought, being a single mother, she might not have had the time to bring him up properly. I’m not sure I could have coped on my own. I do hope—’ She stopped short, frowning.

  ‘You hope what?’ he prompted quietly. A down-to-earth man with outsiders, her husband was far from insensitive. He knew she was too sensible to make mountains out of molehills. If she felt uneasy about their son’s marriage, her intuition was likely to be right.

  ‘I hope Alex hasn’t married her on the strength of a chivalrous impulse. It can’t have been easy for her and, now more than ever, her son needs a man to guide him. You know Alex always felt he was to blame for what happened to Nuala. I hope he hasn’t married Nicole as some kind of...restitution.’

  ‘I shouldn’t think so for a moment,’ her husband said briskly. ‘She isn’t some poor plain Jane hardly able to make ends meet. She’s a damned attractive girl and extremely talented.’

  ‘I know, but there’s still something vulnerable about her and Alex has always had strong protective instincts. He inherits them from you,’ she added fondly.

  ‘I don’t know about that, but I do know he has more sense than to take on a long-term commitment impulsively,’ said his father. ‘Having seen the divorce figures soar among his contemporaries, he will have thought long and hard before marrying Nicole. The fact that, as she said at lunch, she took to India like a duck to water will have endeared her to him. She wouldn’t have stood a chance with him if she hadn’t shared that enthusiasm.’

  ‘I’m very glad that she does, but I think love should be unconditional. It would worry me if I thought they didn’t feel the same way.’

  ‘Alex felt like that about Nuala,’ her husband reminded her. ‘You were worried about them.’

  ‘Because they were so young. I don’t think anyone is ready for marriage at that age. Would it have turned out well? We shall never know.’ She sighed. ‘I do so want him to be happy. He’s been on his own far too long. Sharing one’s life, with the right person, is so much better than being single.’

  ‘I agree with you there, my love.’ On his way to the adjoining bathroom, he paused to pat her shoulder. ‘You have enough on your plate without worrying about your son and your new daughter-in-law. We shan’t have them here for long. Why not enjoy it...let the future take care of itself?’

  ‘You’re right. I should and I will.’

  But when he had gone for his bath, Mary Strathallen could not help letting her mind dwell on whatever it was that made her vaguely uneasy about the second marriage she had been hoping would happen since her son turned thirty.

  Now her dearest wish had been realised but her intuition told her that something was not as it should be. Perhaps, if there was an opportunity to get Alex on his own, or to have a private talk to Nicole, she might get to the bottom of it.

  That evening, after dinner, while leading the way to the library where they had had drinks earlier, Nicole’s mother-in-law said to her, ‘My second daughter, Jenny, is mad about ballet. She’s sent me a tape of something she saw on TV which she says we must watch. I thought we might see it this evening. Do you like ballet?’

  ‘Yes, I do...not that I’ve seen much,’ said Nicole.

  Presently, while the grown-ups were drinking coffee, Mary Strathallen told the others her plan for their entertainment.

  ‘Oh, Lord! Men in tights,’ said her husband, rolling his eyes at Alex who was sharing the sofa with Nicole.

  ‘You’ll nod off anyway, Ian.’ His wife inserted the video in the recorder and went back to her chair to press the necessary buttons. This is called Zizi, Je T‘aime...Zizi, I Love You. It’s about a famous dancer, Zizi Jeanmaire, and her husband Roland Petit, one of the world’s great choreographers,’ she told Dan, who was sitting near her, drinking cola. ‘They met when they were nine years old and starting as pupils at the Paris Opera ballet school. When this film was made they were seventy-four but still astonishingly fit.’

  Nicole wondered if he would be bored. He had been on his best behaviour for hours and was probably longing to escape to his room and spend an hour on the Net. She was looking forward to bedtime herself. Despite her in-laws’ friendliness, the day had been a strain for her too.

  The film included a clip from the ballet Carmen which, overnight, had made international stars of Petit and his beautiful ballerina and brought them offers from Hollywood.

  In the closing moments of the film, they danced together, as if on the floor of a nightclub. Although she was wearing high heels, Zizi, her hair still cut close to her shapely head in the way that emphasised her elfin features, looked tiny compared with her husband.

  The way he was looking down at her, clearly still as enchanted by her as he had been half a century earlier, made Nicole’s throat constrict, her vision blur. If only Alex felt that way about her.

  ‘What did you think of it, Dan?’ Mary Strathallen asked him, as the credit titles started to roll.

  ‘It was interesting,’ he said politely.

  ‘Perhaps you’d like to go up and read in bed now?’

  ‘Oh, yes, please.’ The way he jumped at the suggestion made the others laugh.

  ‘I think we’ll all turn in, Mum,’ Alex said, rising.

  He held his hand out to Nicole, a gesture she felt was more for his mother’s benefit than because he wanted to touch her. Apart from the ordinary courtesies, outside the privacy of their bedroom he was sparing with affectionate gestures.

  Even in private he never kissed or caressed her except as foreplay. She had nothing to complain of in regard to his lovemaking. It wasn’t deteriorating into a routine. But she wished he would be more affectionate when they weren’t making love. The small spontaneous gestures were what she longed for, but they weren’t happening.

  Sometimes, in the dark, he kissed her as if he wanted to devour her. But in public he might have been her brother rather than her husband.

  She gave him her hand and let him pull her to her feet from the depths of the sofa. Expecting that to be the extent of the contact, she was surprised when he kept her fingers in his.

  ‘Is breakfast still at a quarter to eight, Dad?’

  ‘It is. I hope you sleep well, my dear.’ This to Nicole.

  ‘Thank you. I’m sure I shall.’

  A few minutes later as they mounted the staircase with Dan running on ahead, Alex said, close to her ear, ‘I shall make sure you sleep well.’ He was still holding her hand. As he spoke, the tips of his fingers caressed the back of her palm.

  ‘What are these, Alex?’ On the landing, Dan was peering into a flat-topped glass case.

  ‘A collection of fossils made by some long-dead Strathallen There’s a beetle trapped in amber. He was walking up the trunk of a tree when a trickle of resin or sap ran down and engulfed him. If you’re interested, look at them tomorrow.’

  ‘Can I pick up my email?’

  He was asking Alex’s permission rather than Nicole’s and it pleased her that he accepted his stepfather’s authority without the hostility she knew could occur, particularly among teenage boys who resented being told what to do by their mother’s new husband or boyfriend. At least that wasn’t a problem. Dan had looked up to Alex from day one.

  ‘Sure, but only check your mail. Don’t stay online. My father might want to use the phone. If you want to surf, do it first thing tomorrow. Nobody makes any calls before breakfast.’

  They saw him as far as his door where Nicole kissed him goodnight and Alex brushed his ch
eek with his fist, a gesture Dan seemed to like.

  On the way to their room, Alex recaptured her hand. ‘Today hasn’t been too bad, has it?’

  ‘Your parents have been very nice. But it is rather awesomely grand compared with my background.’

  ‘Backgrounds don’t count any more. It’s what people are like that matters.’

  He opened their bedroom door for her, closed it behind him and, leaning against it, pulled her against him. ‘I’ve been wanting you in my arms since that sexy scene in Carmen where he caught her in mid-air and she slid slowly down his body.’

  The scene had excited her too. She had felt a shiver of longing to be as close as that to Alex. Now she was.

  Sliding her arms round his neck, she whispered, ‘I want you too.’

  At least she could admit to desiring him, if not to loving him.

  From Scotland they flew to London where Alex rented a car and drove them to the meeting that, in a different way, Nicole dreaded even more than her first encounter with her in-laws. She knew Alex would like her father, but what would he make of Rosemary?

  When they drew up outside the house which for so long had been ‘home’ to her, it seemed to have shrunk in the months she had been away. The whole avenue of neat semi-detacheds with their cherry trees and labumums and their aura of middle-class respectability had seemed dull to her when she lived here. Now she had been away, she understood her restlessness better. There were people who could be happy here, but she had known in her bones that she didn’t belong in this environment. The place she would miss when they had to leave it would be Karangarh.

  They stayed at her father’s house for the few remaining days of Dan’s holiday, after which Alex suggested they had some days by themselves in a comfortable country hotel before returning to London for the final week of their trip to Europe.

  Dan wasn’t too unhappy about going back to school. He was looking forward to telling his friends about his adventures in Rajasthan.

  Strangely, Nicole found saying goodbye even more painful than the last time. Then she had also been venturing into the unknown. Now her future was clearly mapped and even if her marriage was flawed it was a better relationship than she had expected to come her way. But she wasn’t totally comfortable about leaving her son.