Impasse

by Margaret Pargeter

  'You didn't leave Trigg here alone!'

  'God,' breathed Dulcie angrily, 'you people without kids are all the same—always criticising! Wait until you have some of your own, then you'll realise it's far from easy.'

  Lee was saved from having to apologise, for Trigg's sake, by his unexpected arrival. He burst into the kitchen, his freckled face unusually excited.

  'That man's here again, Lee!' he panted. 'The one who put us in the ditch. There's a truck, too. They're taking your bike!'

  'Trigg!' Dulcie intervened in a startled voice, but Lee was already halfway through the door with an unheeding Trigg closely on her heels.

  What was Slade doing? Or was Trigg having her on? She hadn't heard anything, but that wasn't surprising as Dulcie always had the radio going full blast with the volume turned up.

  As she raced outside, around the corner of the house, she saw Slade's car first, then the truck. Trigg hadn't been joking after all. Her bike was on it and a man in a boiler suit was banging the tail-board in place. He was using the heel of his hand and some choice language when he hurt his thumb. Slade stood watching, an expression of grim satisfaction on his face.

  'What on earth do you think you're doing?' cried Lee, hair flying, eyes blazing as she skidded to a halt. 'Who are you?' she rounded on the man in the boiler suit.

  He looked embarrassed, but Slade didn't. 'Get going, Johnston, and follow my instructions precisely,' he said. 'Leave the—er—lady to me.'

  Had Slade hesitated deliberately? Lee could never remember feeling so outraged. 'No, wait a minute!' she grabbed the man's arm. 'That's my property you're busy loading up. It has nothing to do with anyone else,' she shot Slade an icy glance. 'You're taking it away without my authority, which amounts to stealing, and if you don't unload it at once, I'll call the police!'

  'I shouldn't advise it,' Slade cautioned smoothly, moving closer so she could see the dark bruise on the side of his face. 'Unless you want me to take advantage of their proximity. I might also be tempted to tell them a few things!'

  Lee glared at him, seeing him totting them up. Knocking him down, riding without lights and now a helmet. The light bulb hadn't been replaced and her helmets were, no doubt, still in the boot of his car. 'I may have committed one or two minor offences, but nothing to justify the confiscation of my bike!'

  'I'm doing it for your own sake, as well as that of others.' He glanced pointedly at Trigg, who was being firmly restrained by his mother, several yards away.

  'You aren't being reasonable,' she choked.

  'As reasonable as you deserve,' he snapped, raising an insinuating hand to his bruised face.

  Uncomfortably she turned to him, just long enough to allow his unhelpful accomplice to escape. With a curious but brief nod the man climbed into the truck and hurtled off, leaving Lee waving after him furiously.

  'I'll sue you for this!' She flew at Slade, cheeks scarlet. 'You had no business…'

  'You are my business.' Taking no notice of Dulcie, as if he didn't care who heard, he grasped Lee's flailing hands. 'You aren't fit to look after yourself, Lee, and if you're through making an exhibition of yourself, I'll take you home.'

  'What are you going to do with Lee's bike, Mr Western?' Trigg asked unhappily, edging forward. 'If you don't like her having it, I could look after it for her.'

  'No, you couldn't!' Dulcie's hands tightened on her son's shoulders. 'Neither you nor Lee has any sense. Someone should have done what Mr Western's done long ago.'

  Slade smiled at her. 'I'm glad you agree.'

  'Of course I do!' Dulcie basked in the warmth of his approval.

  'Will you sell it?' asked Trigg.

  'Scrap it, more likely,' Slade answered grimly. 'Either way, Lee will get what it brings.'

  Lee had enough sense to recognise that there was nothing to be gained by standing here arguing. They were merely arousing Dulcie's curiosity, and she already had plenty to keep her talking for weeks! Slade didn't seem to mind, but she refused to provide any more free entertainment. 'I'm going home,' she announced abruptly, 'but by myself.' She glanced at Slade coldly. 'You can't expect me to accept your offer of a lift after what you've just done.'

  'I said I'll take you!' His hand shot to her arm before she could avoid it.

  'Won't you both stay for lunch?' Dulcie asked hastily, but Slade didn't appear to hear her. He thrust Lee so unceremoniously into his car that before she could find the breath to get out again he was in beside her and roaring off.

  When she did recover her breath she attacked him wildly. 'Of all the rude, outrageous men I've ever had the misfortune to meet, you're the worst! Not content with ruining my life, you've now resorted to stealing my property…'

  'Call me a thief,' he interrupted curtly, 'and I'll have to remind you of something.'

  As if she could ever forget! And he was quite capable of backing up any story he told the police with information regarding her earlier crimes! Colour slid from her face. 'Blackmailing again?'

  'You provoke me to it.' His glittering glance was full of anger. 'We both know there's no possibility of blackmail, but until you learn to conduct yourself in a civilised manner, you mustn't object if I react in a similar fashion.'

  A civilised manner? Her eyes flew suddenly to the side of his face where the dark bruise was spreading. Her anger faded as she felt his pain herself. 'Did I do that, Slade?'

  'Yes,' his lips formed a cynical curve. 'I blame myself, though—I must be getting senile if I can't remember your ungovernable temper. Another woman might have responded reasonably to the advice I was giving for your own sake. But not you! I caught a glimpse of the murderous glint in your eyes—you would have liked to have killed me.'

  Her voice shook. 'No, never! You certainly made me angry, but I didn't mean to harm you. I might have given that impression, but it was more a case of not realising what I was doing.'

  'I'd like to believe it.'

  'You can.' She felt stricken that he expressed such a lack of trust. Was there no area where she could count on it? 'Slade,' she faltered, 'I know my bike has been a sore point between us, but surely you don't mean to keep it?'

  'I do.'

  He sounded so uncompromising that she flinched. 'But why?'

  'Why?' he drawled, turning into her drive. 'Because I still happen to want you, and I'm not prepared to let you go on risking your neck.'

  Want, want, want! Lee's stomach muscles tightened. That was all she ever heard from Slade. Hadn't he already taken enough? 'Don't you think you've got your strategy wrong?' she taunted. 'You're only succeeding in driving me away.'

  'That wasn't the impression I received through the night,' he mocked.

  'You'd be wiser,' she retorted bitterly, 'not to put your trust in that.'

  He drew up so sharply before River Bend that Lee was flung abruptly forward. 'What was that for?' she cried.

  'Perhaps just to remind you,' he said smoothly, as she brushed back the hair that had fallen over her face, 'that I don't care for opposition of any kind. I've got rid of that infernal machine that endangered your life. Now all you've got to do is get rid of Matt.'

  'Slade!' she began to protest.

  'Shush! Not another word.' As she opened her mouth to speak, his hand moved to jerk her against his unyielding body.

  It was a casual display of power that had her fighting for breath. He was imposing his will on her. Ever since he had come back he had been doing it all the time, showing her how far she could go. Tears forced their way into her eyes; she turned pale but tightened her lips against a murmur of pain. He stared at her for a long moment until his pupils began to darken. His mouth tightened as he dealt impatiently with the emotion causing it and abruptly loosened his hold.

  Lee drew a deep breath, cautiously moving her head to try and release the tension in her neck. As though her helplessness excited him, Slade slid a hand under her hair, probing beneath the collar of her shirt to find the silk of her skin. Her breath caught as he traced the top of her
spine with delicate care, sending showers of sensation over her.

  Feeling her shiver, he laughed softly, yet it was with a harsher sound that he lifted her chin and forced her mouth to endure the suddenly heated invasion of his. His lips pushed at hers, edging them apart, and whatever protest she had been about to utter was lost in the flood of sentient response that rose from the pit of her stomach. Involuntarily she arched against him and felt the tremor that went through his body, the immediate tightening of his muscles which denoted his heightening desire.

  'You're mine!' he muttered, holding her tightly, his voice thick. 'I want you, and whatever it is between us, it's not going to go away. You know that as well as I do.'

  'No, Slade!' she pleaded, reminded sharply of what she was doing. 'You're insane!'

  Air rushed out of him as her continuing refusal to listen infuriated him. 'There seems to be only one way I can make you believe,' he snapped, lowering his head.

  His lips scorched her cheeks as he found her mouth while curses rasped between his teeth. While her own breath was trapped beneath the fierce possession of his kiss, he bent her back until she was pinned against the seat both by his weight and mounting passion. He demanded a response she would have been reluctant to give, but as always her body betrayed her. Slade's ruthlessness shocked her, but she was even more shocked by the signs inside her that warned that her resistance was useless. Her blood was surging and boiling too feverishly to be of any help in fighting him. Her inarticulate cries faded and she moaned as he ripped open the front of her shirt and his hands closed over her palpitating breasts.

  The pressure inside her increased as his fingers stroked and he continued to arouse her. She clung to him as he kissed her lips with unhurried pleasure, then - buried his face against her racing heartbeats. She had only to turn slightly to help his searching mouth find her nipple. In an agony of suspense she waited before his lips closed over it.

  Making a deep sound in her throat, she moved hungrily against him, but felt stunned when his muscles tensed and after a few taut seconds, during which his grip threatened to break her, he put her firmly aside. He didn't do it easily. His jaw clenched and with glazed eyes she saw him fighting the overwhelming temptation of her very feminine sensuality as well as his own.

  'Wh-what's wrong?' she stammered, flushing deeply as she realised how much her query revealed.

  Slade smiled as he straightened. 'Nothing now,' he said softly. 'The only obstacle remaining is Matt, and you'll tell him, won't you?'

  'Yes,' she promised, envying Slade's swift return to normality but with no fight left in her to make a cutting remark about it.

  'You won't regret it,' he brushed a quick kiss over her uncertain lips. 'I'll be in touch.'

  Lee watched him drive away with some misgivings which she tried to ignore. For the rest of the day she did her best to nurture the faint hope that once she was free again Slade might ask her to marry him. Perhaps he didn't love her, but he must care for her a little, otherwise why had he bothered himself so much over her bike?

  Lee thought about her bike, but, apart from a lingering feeling of outrage over the way in which Slade had set about it, she wasn't really sorry that it had gone. She had outgrown it. For a long time she had thought of getting rid of it, it was only young Trigg's interest in it that had made her keep putting off. He reminded Lee of herself at his age. Her mother had been possessive over her but had never really wanted her. Trigg's parents were the same. They were prepared to give him anything other than their time and attention. Sometimes she wondered how much they loved him. She must have a word with Dulcie about boarding school. Dulcie must know he was fretting over it. He was quite happy in his present school where his teachers understood his asthmatic condition and helped him to cope with it. Other staff at another school would, but Trigg wasn't sure of this and it made him unhappy.

  She waited for Matt that evening with some trepidation. After showering, she put on a short skirt and blouse which she topped with a loose sweater, as the air since teatime had turned distinctly chilly. Matt and she often went out on Saturday nights and they usually dressed up, but Matt wouldn't wonder long over her rather austere appearance when he heard what she had to tell him.

  He arrived at seven, earlier than usual, but when she heard his car she went to meet him. She saw immediately that something was wrong and a terrible coldness suddenly invaded her. Had Slade told him the truth, this afternoon, after they had finished discussing business? He had said he wouldn't. He hadn't actually promised, but she had believed him. She would rather have told Matt herself, but he looked so grim that this seemed the only possible explanation.

  'Matt?' she whispered fearfully, wondering exactly what Slade had said, her blue eyes widening apprehensively as she clung to the doorknob with both hands, 'You—you seem disturbed about something. Won't you come in?'

  'It's my father,' he replied, without moving, apart from rubbing a weary hand over his brow. 'He's ill again. Mother rang just as I was leaving and I promised I'd go as soon as I'd called here and seen you.'

  CHAPTER SIX

  'Oh.' Lee looked at him blankly, his father's illness scarcely registering. So Slade hadn't said anything, after all. She felt briefly ashamed for doubting him but still in a quandary. Matt was in a hurry and anxious. How could she tell him she couldn't marry him, right now? It just wouldn't be fair!

  'Yes, of course you must go,' she laid a sympathetic hand on his arm. 'Would you like me to come with you?'

  'No, I don't think so,' he squeezed her hand absently as he hesitated uncomfortably. 'I believe Mother would rather I went by myself. She gets great relief from just being able to talk to me, you see. She doesn't find it easy to discuss her personal problems with someone else around.'

  Lee nodded, keeping her private thoughts to herself. Perhaps it was just as well she wasn't going to be Mrs Leland's daughter-in-law, but she would have been marrying Matt, not his mother. It said a lot for Matt that he was so willing to consider his parents, without being dominated by them. He was simply a warm, caring person, which didn't make Lee feel any prouder of what she had done.

  'It's a pity Sandra isn't here,' she said ruefully. 'She might have been able to give some practical advice.'

  'Mother would have welcomed her,' Matt agreed. 'Because of her being a nurse, you know,' he added quickly.

  'Will I see you later?' Lee walked to the car with him when he refused to come in for a drink.

  'We'd better leave it until tomorrow.' He kissed her swiftly. 'I've been saying that too often lately, haven't I?'

  He rang at ten to say his father was keeping better but that his mother wanted him to stay the night. He would see Lee the next day.

  She lay awake for hours that night and just seemed to have got to sleep when she was wakened by the phone. Thinking it must be Matt, with an emergency on his hands, she groped too quickly for the receiver and dropped it as she was picking it up.

  'What was that all about?' a voice asked, but it wasn't Matt's.

  'Slade!'

  'Hello, Lee,' he said softly. 'Still in bed?'

  'I had a bad night.' He sounded as if he would liked to have been in bed beside her, and she put a hand over her heart to try and calm the sudden wildness of its beat.

  'Because of me?'

  'You flatter yourself,' she retorted sharply. 'Why did you ring, Slade?'

  'I should have thought you could have guessed,' he taunted. 'I want to know if you've told Matt.'

  Sensing menacing undertones, she shivered. 'Not yet.'

  'Why not?' he snapped.

  'It wasn't my fault,' she bridled. 'You don't think I could possibly go on being engaged to Matt after what—what's…'

  'Happened,' Slade supplied bluntly. 'You don't have to get in such a state, Lee. There's nothing to be ashamed of. You belong to me, you always have and always will, but as usual you're evading the issue. I want to know why you haven't told him yet.'

  'His father's ill.' Lee pushed at her hair
with agitated fingers. 'He called, but he had to go and help. You surely wouldn't expect me to tell a man I couldn't marry him in those circumstances? He was worried and in a hurry.'

  'You could have asked him to call later.'

  'I did!' She took a deep breath to control her rising temper. 'He said we'd better leave it.'

  'Has he always put his family before you?'

  Slade's cynicism drove her to retort, 'Other men do.'

  He was immediately, blazingly angry. 'I'm afraid I find it difficult to believe you want to tell Matt anything. I warned you, Lee, I won't allow you to keep putting off. When I see him tomorrow if he doesn't know by then that you aren't going to marry him, then I'll tell him myself.'

  Had she taken leave of her senses? Lee wondered all morning. The deed was done, she had betrayed Matt with another man and must learn to live with the consequences of her own folly. Yet, though she knew she couldn't marry Matt now, loving Slade as she did, an empty future was not one she found easy to face.

  Matt came after lunch. His father had recovered and his mother was feeling better. He looked tired, but so pleased to be with her that Lee felt worse than ever.

  'I'm so glad about your dad!' She gave him a quick hug, for, whatever happened, she would always be fond of him. But when he sought to prolong the embrace, she mumbled an apology for not ringing and dragged him into the lounge.

  'Why didn't you?' Matt glanced at her rather reproachfully as he slumped into a chair. 'I thought you might.'

  'I didn't want to disturb anyone.' Lee patted a cushion on another chair, rearranging it unnecessarily as she wondered if there was any best way of breaking an engagement.

  'Isn't Sandra back yet?' enquired Matt, doing little to conceal a gigantic yawn.

  'I'm expecting her this evening.'

  'Mother wondered if she'd have time to look in.' He frowned with a hint of bewilderment. 'I don't know why it should always be Sandra, but she seems anxious to see her.'