by Anne Mather
‘Then why are we here?’ Shirley stared at her.
‘Because – because of his stepmother.’
‘Do you know her?’
‘Not exactly. I have met her, though.’
‘And?’
‘Well, it’s a long story, Shirley. Can’t you just accept that our being here serves the purpose and enjoy the week-end for what it is?’
Shirley paced restlessly about the room. ‘There’s still Ray.’
‘What about Ray?’ Karen looked up.
Shirley halted and looked down at the fraying handkerchief. ‘Does he know why we’re here?’
‘Of course.’
Shirley shook her head. ‘He didn’t tell me.’
‘Why should he?’ Karen was curious.
Shirley looked at her then with ravaged eyes. ‘Can’t you guess?’
‘No.’ Karen was confused. ‘What’s there to guess?’
Shirley sniffed petulantly. ‘He was angry when you didn’t come for tea. There was only the two of us in that huge lounge! Have you seen it?’ Karen shook her head and Shirley went on: ‘He guessed you’d gone off with Alexis, I suppose, but I didn’t.’
Karen got to her feet. The suspicion of what Shirley was trying to say was beginning to germinate in her mind. ‘Are you trying to tell me that Ray is responsible for – for your being so distrait?’ she asked quietly.
Shirley shredded the handkerchief. ‘Oh, yes, yes!’ She caught her breath on a sob. ‘I thought he liked me, I was sure he did. But – but—’
‘But what?’ Karen was growing impatient.
Shirley’s mouth worked. ‘He was so angry afterwards—’
‘After what?’ Karen felt amazingly calm in the circumstances.
‘After he kissed me, of course.’ Shirley sniffed again. ‘I – I have to tell you, Karen. There’s no one else.’
Karen wished she smoked. A cigarette would have cooled her down. ‘But why should you imagine he doesn’t like you?’ she asked. ‘If he – kissed you—’
‘It was what he said – about you and Alexis Whitney. He was just using me to get back at you!’
‘Did he actually say that?’
‘Not in so many words, but I knew!’ Shirley drew a shaking breath. ‘He was so angry!’
‘Oh, Shirley!’
Karen didn’t know what to say. She supposed she should be feeling resentful herself and angry, too, that Ray should attempt to make love to another girl behind her back, but she wasn’t. She just felt indifferent, detached. It was all wrong. Everything was wrong!
‘I shouldn’t have come,’ Shirley was berating herself now, pacing up and down once more. ‘I don’t want to be responsible for splitting you two up.’
Karen shook her head. ‘Please, Shirley, don’t get upset about it. Maybe if Ray so easily turns to another woman behind my back it’s time we were split up, as you put it.’
‘I’ve told you. He was angry, that’s all.’
‘Men don’t kiss women they’re not attracted to, just because they’re angry,’ Karen pointed out dryly. ‘However, I wouldn’t presume to judge what Ray’s motives might be.’
Shirley hunched her shoulders. ‘I always thought he liked me,’ she said again, almost to herself.
Karen, who had been about to turn away, looked back at her. ‘I didn’t know you knew him that well.’
Shirley flushed now. ‘I don’t – not really. But sometimes on Friday evenings …’ She paused.
‘Yes?’ Karen was curious in spite of herself. ‘What about Friday evenings?’
Shirley caught her lower lip between her teeth. ‘You know Ray is always late on Friday evenings, because of the choir practice? Well, I sometimes work late on Fridays, too.’
‘I see. Go on.’
‘Well, sometimes he gives me a lift, just into town, you understand. And a couple of times we’ve had a drink together.’
‘Have you? Have you really?’
All of a sudden Karen did feel angry. Ray had been so indignant when he had accused her of going out with Alexis behind his back, but never once had he told her that he knew Shirley Scott in any other way than as the headmaster’s secretary.
‘Are – are you going to tell him I’ve told you?’ Shirley sounded anxious.
‘Not unless I have to. Did he tell you not to tell me?’
‘No. No, but it was sort of taken for granted.’
‘I’ll bet it was!’ Karen tugged angrily at a strand of her dark hair. Then realizing that time was passing and she still needed a bath, she said: ‘Just leave it, Shirley, shall we? There’s no point in causing any more trouble. At least not here.’
Shirley nodded reluctantly. ‘I’m not looking forward to it at all now.’
‘Nor am I,’ remarked Karen grimly, beginning to un-button her blouse. With so many complications, how could she enjoy anything?
CHAPTER TEN
KAREN’S skirt was made of corded velvet and was the colour of amethysts. The blouse she had bought to wear with it was white and made of lace, with sleeves that clung to her upper arms, ballooned out over her forearms, and were gathered in a broad cuff at her wrists. The neckline was low and round, showing the creamy swell of her breasts. She had brushed her hair until it shone, swinging thickly against her cheeks, while the silver hoops she had worn the night of the Summertons’ dinner party glinted in her ears. She was making a final examination of her face in the mirror when Ray knocked at her door.
He came in at her invitation looking slightly stiff and uncomfortable in a dinner suit. ‘Are you ready?’ he asked, and she nodded. ‘You look beautiful,’ he added. ‘You suit long skirts. Some women aren’t tall enough.’
‘Thank you.’ Karen picked up her sequinned purse. ‘Where’s Shirley?’
‘Next door, I suppose. Haven’t you seen her?’
‘Yes, I’ve seen her.’ Karen watched Ray’s face closely and observed the guarded expression which entered his eyes. ‘Perhaps you’d better give her a knock, too.’
Ray hesitated, obviously undecided as to whether to behave normally or to confide that he and Shirley had had a row. Choosing the former, he walked back along the corridor to her door and knocked. Karen heard the door being opened and words being exchanged, and then Ray came back again, his face flushed.
‘She says she’s not going down,’ he said. ‘She says she has a headache.’
‘Oh, no!’ Karen brushed past him and made her own way to Shirley’s door. Opening it, she looked inside and found the other girl stretched out on her bed, still in a dressing-gown. ‘Shirley! Come on! There’s to be dancing later. You like dancing, don’t you?’
‘I’ve got a headache,’ said Shirley, in a muffled voice, her arm resting across her eyes. ‘Just go away and leave me alone.’
Karen would have liked to have said more, but Ray looked significantly at his watch and with a sigh she closed the door again and turned to him. ‘You know what’s wrong with her, don’t you?’ she challenged him.
‘How should I know?’
‘Because you’re responsible!’ Karen made an impatient gesture. ‘Oh, it’s no good arguing about it now. We’ll talk about it later.’
Ray didn’t make any comment and in silence they descended the stairs. The reception was to be held in the huge lounge where Ray and Shirley had been earlier, but as they reached the first landing they could see that the hall was thronged with people, too, all laughing and talking together and helping themselves liberally from the trays of drinks being circulated amongst them by a veritable army of white-coated attendants.
Ray heaved a sigh. ‘God,’ he muttered. ‘Where are they all going to eat dinner?’
Karen raised her shoulders helplessly, less concerned with food than with her own part in this. She searched the assembled guests in an effort to see one familiar face, albeit that of Michelle, when a voice behind them said: ‘Don’t let them intimidate you. A crowd is only a collection of individuals.’
Karen turned in relief to fi
nd Alexis behind them looking disturbingly attractive in his dinner clothes. Unlike Ray he wore them with ease, the narrow trousers accentuating the muscular strength of his legs.
‘Shirley’s not coming down,’ she said quickly. ‘She’s – er – got a headache.’
‘Oh, really?’ Alexis’s eyes narrowed. ‘She was all right this afternoon, wasn’t she?’
‘I expect it was the car journey,’ remarked Ray stiffly. ‘Some people are not good travellers.’
Karen cast an interrogative glance in his direction, but he looked away, and apparently unaware of this little interchange, Alexis said: ‘Shall we go down? I can see some friends of mine over there I’d like you to meet.’
The next half hour was filled with unfamiliar faces making unfamiliar conversations. Karen drank several Martini cocktails, gave noncommittal answers to personal questions, and stayed beside Alexis almost as though he was her lifeline in a stormy sea.
Ray remained with them, dour and taciturn, clearly not enjoying himself at all. But he drank rather freely and Karen found herself hoping that the food would be served soon. Once the actual dinner was over and dancing began they might be able to escape.
Dinner was eventually served upstairs in the room which Karen assumed was over the ballroom downstairs. There was a long table at which she was expected to sit with Alexis and his father and stepmother, and two other tables set at right angles to this which accommodated the other guests. In consequence Karen was separated from Ray, but after she was seated beside Alexis, with someone called Alan Forster on her right, she was relieved to see that he appeared to be talking to a young woman sitting beside him. Camera bulbs flashed as the scene was recorded for the local paper, and Karen hoped that it would not be important enough to get into the national press. It seemed unlikely, and in any case she was only another guest, a shadowy outline on a photograph of Mr. and Mrs. Howard Whitney.
When the meal was served Alexis turned to her. ‘Are you finding it all rather a bore?’ he asked in a low tone.
Karen looked at him. ‘Why do you ask?’
He shrugged. ‘I don’t know. You looked rather tense earlier on. I thought you were wishing you hadn’t agreed to come.’
‘I’ve already wished that,’ replied Karen tersely, beginning to eat her prawn cocktail.
‘Why?’ Alexis spooned prawns and mayonnaise into his mouth. ‘Is it something I’ve done particularly?’
Karen had to be honest. ‘Well, asking us here was something you’ve done,’ she answered, with a sigh.
‘I thought you were enjoying yourself this afternoon.’
‘When?’ She was deliberately obtuse.
‘You know when,’ he insisted softly. ‘When we were talking in the grounds.’
Karen had had enough of her cocktail suddenly and pushed it aside. ‘I – I did enjoy it,’ she admitted, taking a sip of her wine. ‘But this is something else.’
‘Why? I’m here, aren’t I?’
She bent her head. ‘For how much longer, I wonder.’
‘Why do you say that?’
‘I’ve no doubt, when the dancing begins, your vigil will be over. From the killing glances I’ve received from certain quarters, I should think my presence here isn’t altogether appreciated.’
He half smiled. ‘I shouldn’t have thought that would worry you one way or the other. If I leave, you’ll have Ray all to yourself.’
Karen’s hands curled tightly on her lap. Was he baiting her, or was he aware of the conflict between them? She couldn’t be sure, and she glanced at him uneasily.
Alexis caught that glance and dropping his hand from the table he sought hers, clenched in her lap. Prising them apart, he allowed his fingers to play with hers, watching her all the while until she was forced to look away. Determinedly, she drew her hands back to rest on the edge of the table and he turned his attention to his wine.
The meal progressed slowly through eight courses with coffee and liqueurs to finish. Alexis’s father, who was seated on his other side, had attracted his son’s attention half-way through the meal with some talk of a fault in the engine of the power boat they kept in the boathouse, and Karen told herself she was relieved. But for all the anxieties she suffered when Alexis was baiting her she still found his company more stimulating than any other man she had ever met, and she found herself listening to everything he said with an increasing fervour.
At last the meal was over, toasts to the anniversary couple were made and answered, and everyone began to leave the tables and make their way downstairs again to the ballroom from where the sounds of music were already beginning to drift.
Alexis held Karen’s chair for her and then in the company of his father and stepmother and several other couples they made their way downstairs, too. It was very warm, or perhaps it was the amount of wine she had consumed, Karen could not be sure, but certainly she felt as though her limbs were burning.
Ray made his way towards them when they reached the long corridor leading to the music-room, and Alexis excused himself to attend to some details for his father.
‘Well?’ said Ray, looking round. ‘Enjoying yourself?’
Karen shook her head. ‘Are you?’
‘You must be joking. This is not my scene, Karen. I feel out of place here. I’ll be glad when it’s all over.’
She was dancing with Ray when Alexis came back. She saw him immediately. Apart from the fact that he was tall, his pale hair was a brilliant identification in the muted lights. Ray saw him too and said: ‘Have you seen the way that stepmother of Whitney’s looks at him?’
Karen didn’t want to listen. ‘The band’s good, isn’t it?’ she said, pretending not to have heard.
‘She’s not at all what I would have expected,’ Ray went on, almost as though Karen had not spoken. ‘I’m beginning to understand why Whitney thought she might try to cause trouble. If ever a woman had malice in mind …’
Karen sighed. ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’
‘I wonder why she married the old man if she’s so keen on the son,’ mused Ray thoughtfully
‘Alexis wouldn’t marry her,’ retorted Karen, unable to prevent herself, and then coloured at the look in Ray’s eyes.
‘Really! And how do you know that?’
‘Someone told me.’ Karen was reluctant to reveal her source.
‘Who? Whitney?’
‘No, of course not.’
‘Hmm.’ Ray didn’t sound convinced. ‘Well, anyway, he was right. You don’t marry women like that!’
‘How do you know what she’s like?’ exclaimed Karen in surprise.
Ray shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Masculine instinct, I suppose. Women aren’t the only ones to know things by instinct, you know.’
The five-piece band on the flower-banked dais finished the tune it was playing and they walked slowly off the floor. As they did so they almost bumped into Howard Whitney and his wife who were standing with a group of people talking. Howard turned to Karen at once and said: ‘So there you are, my dear. I think Alex has been looking for you. But before he succeeds in finding you, you are going to have a dance with me, I hope.’
Karen managed a smile. ‘I should be delighted,’ she replied, glancing round at Ray. Then she met Michelle’s appraising stare. ‘Hello, Mrs. Whitney. It’s a lovely party.’
Michelle looked speculatively at Ray. ‘So glad you’re enjoying yourselves,’ she remarked, the slight slur in her voice giving evidence of the fact that she had already drunk more than was good for her. She put a casual hand on Ray’s shoulder. ‘And who are you? I haven’t seen you before.’
Howard looked rather tense and Karen was embarrassed for him. She was unutterably relieved when the band struck up a waltz and he was able to draw her on to the floor to dance.
‘Take no notice of Michelle, my dear,’ he said apologetically. ‘She can be rather provocative in this mood.’
‘That’s all right.’ Karen wished he would just let it go.
‘I’m so glad for you and Alex,’ Howard went on, shifting from one precarious subject to another. ‘I’m sure you’ll be very happy together.’
‘Thank you.’
He swung her round. ‘I should have guessed, of course. Alex has been a different man since he went to Wakeley.’
‘What do you mean?’ Karen couldn’t prevent the question.
‘Well—’ Howard sighed. ‘Don’t take this wrongly, but there have been – no women.’ He looked down at her searchingly. ‘In my experience, that only means one thing.’
Karen flushed. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘Alex has been a bit of a tearaway.’ Howard’s brows drew together heavily. ‘I suppose in some ways it’s been my fault, but who can really be sure about a thing like that?’
‘I don’t think his past life is anything to do with me,’ murmured Karen uncomfortably.
‘No, maybe not. But just in case anyone takes it into their heads to tell you tales about him, I’d like to say something in his defence.’
Karen wondered who he was thinking about in this respect. Michelle, perhaps? It seemed he was not as blind to his wife’s failings as Alexis imagined him to be.
‘You see,’ he went on, ‘Alex’s mother died eight years ago when he was just twenty-one. He was away at university at the time, and it was a terrible shock for him – for both of us.’ He sighed. ‘But at my age one accepts these things and realizes that life must go on. I’m afraid Alex found that harder to accept.’
‘He’s an only child,’ said Karen quietly.
‘Yes. Unfortunately. But Frances was never a strong woman, and having Alex nearly killed her.’
‘I see.’
Howard shook his head. ‘But it wasn’t only his mother’s death that – upset him. It was my remarriage that really sent him off the rails.’ He heaved another sigh. ‘Alex had known Michelle, you see. They’d been friends for about a year. She was a model and her work took her all over the country. For all he was at university, I believe they saw quite a lot of one another. But then Michelle met me and — well, I suppose we fell in love. She stopped seeing Alex and in six months we were married. Oh, I realize now it was too soon after his mother’s death to put another woman in her place, but—’ he made a helpless movement of his shoulders, ‘these things happen. Alex had to accept it.’ He frowned again. ‘Of course for a time I got very bad reports from his tutors. I’m amazed he wasn’t sent down. But gradually he seemed to realize that he needed his degree, and needless to say he got it. He has a good brain, don’t let his attitude hide that from you. He always was an intelligent child. That was half his trouble.’