The Runaway Bride

by Lucy Gillen

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  IT was something of a surprise to discover that they had been given a separate table for two, away from Edward and Patsy, and Samantha wondered whose idea that had been. Surely not Barney's, for he had shown himself anything but averse to the blonde girl's company. She looked across at the other couple and met Edward's rather doubtful smile. Patsy, she noticed, looked a little sulky, although it seemed to be having no adverse effect on her appetite. 'Disappointed?' Barney asked, noting the direction of her glance, and she shook her head. 'Not particularly, are you?' He grinned. 'I always preferred redheads to blondes, darling. I thought you realised that.' Samantha forked a morsel of local-caught salmon into her mouth, and flicked him only a brief, meaningful glance. 'You could have fooled me,' she told him. He looked at her upswept red-gold hair and smiled approval. 'I like your hair like that, it looks very fetching.' 'Thank you.' He ate in silence for a moment or two, then put down his knife and fork and reached across for her hand. 'You're just about the most discouraging girl to try and woo,' he informed her solemnly. 'I'd have thought that was worth a smile at least.' 123 Samantha withdrew her hand hastily, in case he should discover how it was trembling, and she continued to eat her meal as calmly as she could. It was really too bad of him to be so demonstrative in public when he knew how she felt. Especially with Edward Warren's eyes on them or perhaps because of it. She looked at Barney with a faint pink flush on her cheeks, 'You've never commented on it when I've worn it like this before,' she told him. 'Why should you take the trouble now? Except in the hope of getting your own way about something.' 'I have noticed it,' he said,, meeting her gaze steadily, 'but I've never commented on it because I thought you didn't bother about such things.' 'I'm a woman, aren't I?' He smiled slowly. 'Very definitely,' he agreed. 'But you've always treated me like one of the boys,' she declared with feeling. 'Or a kid sister. It's no use trying to change now, just to gain your own ends. I know just how you think of me. Barney.' 'Thought,' he said firmly, his dark eyes showing a glimmer of impatience. 'Thought is the operative word, Sam, not think. And I admit I didn't pay you as much attention as I probably should have done, but it's different now. I want to tell you how lovely you look, and how beautiful your hair is. I'm courting you, Sam, with all the ardour of a Victorian swain, and I expect you to at least throw me the odd crumb of hope. An occasional smile or a kind word.' 'Oh, don't be an idiot. Barney ' It was embarrassment that made her answer so sharply, and she 124 could not help a brief glance at the table where Edward and Patsy sat. Barney smiled ruefully. 'You see,' he told her, 'you don't know how to act when I do try to court you.' 'You're too late,' she said. 'I know why you're doing it, and I don't like being taken for a fool.' He breathed deeply, his wide mouth tightening ominously- 'You're the stubbornest, most obstinate little donkey this side of the border,' he told her, retrieving his knife and fork. 'And I hope your salmon chokes you.' Most of the next day they spent discovering the countryside on foot. Samantha had insisted they walk, because she said the best of the scenery was only accessible on foot. To her surprise Barney had raised very few objections, and they returned to the little hotel with bright faces and healthy appetites, 'I could'eat a horse,' he confided in a whisper as they waited for their lunch, and raised a hand to acknowledge Patsy Gordon's wave. Samantha ignored her, but managed a smile for Edward when he joined her. 'I hope it hasn't come to that,' she said. 'I'd much prefer some of that delicious salmon like we had yesterday.' 'Poached from the local laird's waters,' he teased, and she looked at him curiously. 'Is it? How do you know?' 'I don't,' he confessed. 'I'm guessing, but there was a real poacher's moon last night, and I just wondered.' 125 She had gone up to bed fairly early herself, the previous night, and she wondered what he had done with himself after she left him. Edward and Patsy had been in the bar, so probably he had joined them there for a few drinks. 'What did you do with yourself last night?' she asked, and thought he looked at her rather oddly for a second or two, then he smiled. 'Wine, women and song,' he said then. 'It was quite fun/ 'It sounds it,' she told him. 'But it doesn't sound very much like the Angler's Arms.' 'Oh, I went into the bar after you deserted me,' he said. 'That's where all the action was, darling. You should have stayed.' 'Did you join them?' A slight nod indicated Edward and Patsy, and he grinned. 'Her,' he corrected, with a wicked gleam in his eyes. 'Eddie came over all weary like and took to his bed, like you did.' 'I see.' He laughed softly. 'You may think you do anyway, darling.' 'Oh, I can imagine little Patsy wouldn't leave while you were still there. She believes in making the most of her opportunities, I'll say that for her.' 'Darling Sam!' He leaned across the table towards her, his voice low and his eyes bright and glittering. 'You're beginning to sound like a real little pussy, and you've a very naughty mind if you're thinking what I think you are.' 'I'm only thinking the obvious,' she retorted. 126 'Are you?' She should have known from the pitch of his voice that she was treading dangerously. He was too quiet by far. 'Well, perhaps I have just as much cause for suspicion. Maybe even more.' 'What what do you mean?' She looked at him warily. 'I went up to bed early, you know that you saw me go.' He nodded, his smile tight below the glitter of his eyes. 'And I saw Eddie Warren go off early too,' he said softly. 'Shall I jump to the obvious conclusions?' Samantha stared at him, the colour high in her cheeks. 'Oh oh, you you horrible, suspicious brute ' 'Sauce for the goose, my darling,' he quoted softly, 'is sauce for the gander.' 'But you know I wouldn't,' she said, still unsure just how serious he was about it. 'I think I know you wouldn't,' he allowed. 'But lately I'm beginning to wonder if I really know you at all.' 'You think I ' 'But you think I,' he mocked, and gave his attention to ordering a meal, while the woman serving them looked from one to the other, obviously aware of some undercurrent and curious to know what it was. 'What would you like?' he asked, and Samantha shook her head, a little dazedly. 'I I don't mind,' she said. 'You order me something.' They said little as they ate, but she glanced at him once or twice from under her lashes, still try127 ing to decide whether or not he really believed what he had said about her and Edward Warren. She hoped very much that he didn't, for although she had decided not to marry him, she would hate to have him think that badly of her. 'Barney.' She toyed with the spoon in her coffee, lashes hiding her eyes. 'Mmm?' 'Do do you really think I ' She bit her lip on the actual words, but flicked her gaze upwards and met his, steady and with a hint of laughter in it. 'Do you really think 7?' he countered, and she hesitated only briefly before shaking her head. 'No, not really.' 'That's settled then, isn't it?' he said cheerfully. 'Now let's forget it, shall we?' She nodded. 'O.K.' They had decided to drive out to a fairly local beauty spot after lunch, and Samantha perched herself on a rustic wooden bench in the sun while he fetched the car. If she noticed he was gone rather longer than expected, she took little notice, for it was possible he had either seen someone to talk to, or forgotten something and gone over to the cottage for it. It was more than a surprise, therefore, when he drove round to pick her up with Patsy Gordon already installed in the car with him. She had no intention of making a secret of her dislike of the situation, and she looked at the blonde girl discouragingly before tilting a questioning brow at Barney. 'Is Miss Gordon coming too?' she asked. 128 'If it's O.K. with you,' Barney told her, and she wondered what he would have said if she had said firmly that she did mind. 'Eddie's gone up to Fada Learg on foot, and as we're going that way and Patsy's on her own, I said we'd take her.' 'I see.' 'I just couldn't face that walk,' Patsy Gordon declared, her eyelashes fluttering in a display of feminine helplessness. 'So Eddie went on his own, I think he was rather cross with me. I really wanted to see it, though. It's supposed to be a fabulous view from up there. They were telling us about it last night, weren't they. Barney?' The suggestion of intimacy was just right, Samantha thought, if she had been inclined to be jealous, which she wasn't, and the baby blue eyes looked much too innocent as she said it. Barney merely smiled. 'Let's go and find out, shall we?' he suggested as Samantha climbed in beside him. At lea
st, she thought, she'd been allowed to sit in the front seat, although that was no doubt Barney's decision, not their unwanted passenger's. The drive itself was wonderful, and the sparseness of the traffic allowed Barney to enjoy it too. They left the low road that skirted the foot of the hills after a while, and began to climb. A slope that at times was so steep Samantha wondered if they'd make it or not. 'This is it,' Barney informed them, as they climbed still higher. 'Fada Learg. The long hill slope.' Samantha looked at him curiously. 'Is that what 129 it means?' He nodded with a grin, and Patsy Gordon, from the back seat, widened her eyes in admiration. 'Oh, how clever of you to remember that,' she gushed. 'Do you know any more Gaelic?' Barney laughed, partly because of the expression on Samantha's face. 'I only know that much because the landlord told us last night,' he said. Patsy sighed. 'It seems so easy coming up here in a car,' she said. 'But it needs so much effort and energy to walk everywhere. I do wish Eddie had a car.' Talking of Eddie,* Barney said, side-stepping an issue best avoided, I think I can see him down there on the slope.' He pointed a finger where, across to their left, on the gentle blue-green slope of the hill an army of dark firs marched stiffly down towards the deep grey-blue of a loch shimmering in the sun. A solitary figure clambered determinedly upwards, keeping as far as possible in the shadow of the firs and making amazingly good speed, considering the terrain. 'Do you think he'll see us?' Samantha asked, and thought Patsy Gordon was less enthusiastic about his appearance than anyone. 'I shouldn't think so for one minute,' she said. 'He goes off into a kind of trance when he's walking, and you might as well not exist.' 'We'll stop and give him a hail,' Barney decided, and was as good as his word. It was still and quiet when the engine stopped 130 aad there was an air almost of unreality as the soft, cool air folded round them in almost tangible waves. The smell of the heather and turf and the drifting perfume of the ftrs from lower down the hill even overpowered the smell of the car engine, and Samiantha closed her eyes for a second on the sheer wonder of it. Patsy Gordon, she thought a moment later, would not even have bothered getting out of the car, but Barney did, so she decided to as well. She stood at the very edge of the slope, far more interested i'n whether Barney was aware of her precarious position than in trying to attract the attention of her fiance. She teetered there for several seconds before he appeared to notice, then he reached out a hand and drew her back from the edge. 'Unless you want to roll down and join him,' Barney told her, 'you'd better get away from that edge.' Patsy put a hand to her mouth, rolling her babydoll eyes in exaggerated fear. 'Oh,' she said, clasping his arm with both hands, 'I didn't realise, Barney. Thank you.' 'My pleasure.' She still retained her hold on him, and peered down at the glen below, giving a very convincing shudder. 'Ooh! It is a. long way down, isn't it? It makes me quite dizzy.' 'Then don't look down,' he told her, practically, and she looked at him rather reproachfully. Spoilsport ' ; 'Are we going to wait for him to join us?' Saman131 tha asked, feeling slightly nauseated by the display of little-girl daring. Barney's eyes, when he turned and looked at her, glittered with laughter, and she felt the warm colour in her cheeks when she recognised the reason for it; He thought she was jealous of Patsy Gordon, and the idea both pleased and amused him. He reached for her hand, but she avoided him, pretending she did not notice, while the blonde girl still clung firmly to his other arm. 'We could wait for him,' he said. 'Maybe Patsy would feel like walking back with him. After all, it's downhill all the way going back.' Whether he was serious or just teasing her. Patsy was taking no chances, and she hung on to his arm even more tightly. 'Oh no!' she wailed. 'You wouldn't abandon me, would you?' 'Not abandon you, no,' he told her. "But Eddie might be glad of your company.' She glanced down at the advancing figure of her fiance and pulled a wry face. 'I expect he will,' she said. 'But I'd rather he came back with us than I had to walk all the way back.' Edward Warren spotted them at last, and waved a hand. He was not, Samantha thought, surprised to see Patsy with them, and she wondered if he would expect her to go down with him. As he came nearer it was easy to see how hot he was with the exertion, and he rubbed the back of a hand across his moist forehead as he scrambled over the edge and joined them on the road. 'You do it the hard way,' Barney told him with a 132 grin. 'We came the easy way up.' 'And brought Patsy too, I see,' he said. 'I half expected she'd go off with you, when I went walking.' 'Well, you surely didn't expect me to sit down there on my own all afternoon, did you?' Patsy asked, and he shrugged. 'Are you going to walk back with me? It's all downhill.' She shook her blonde head determinedly. 'No,' she told him. 'I'm staying with Barney.' With Barney, Samantha noted, not Barney and Samantha. As far as the blonde girl was concerned she did not exist. Edward looked angry, but resigned about it, and once again Samantha felt sorry for him. If only he would exert himself a little more, he could do a lot more with Patsy. As it was she simply wrapped him around her little finger and despised him for letting her do it. 'I'll walk back with you,' Samantha heard herself saying, and wondered what on earth had possessed her to make such an offer. She thought it was possibly the way Barney had stayed silent instead of trying to persuade Patsy to walk back, that had something to do with it, but whatever the reason was, it was done now and she could not very well go back on it Three pairs of eyes were watching her closely. Edward, she thought, looked quite flatteringly gratified to have her company, Patsy was vaguely surprised and not altogether pleased, and Barney looked annoyed. 'You can't possibly walk back, Sam,' he told her 133 and she looked at him obliquely. I don't see why not.' 'You're not used to walking,' he said. 'That's why not. You'd drop in your tracks before you'd got half way.' I Oh, nonsense, of course I shan't." 'Sam!' His dark eyes glowed with anger, and his mouth was set and tight-lipped, 'Don't be a little fool I That, thought Samantha, did it. She turned to Edward Warren and smiled. 'May I walk back with you, Edward?' she asked sweetly. Of of course ' He looked as if he couldn't quite believe it, and Patsy was unsure whether she liked the idea or not. Certainly she was being left in sole possession of Barney, which had seemed her objective, but Edward was a bird in the hand, and Barney wasn't exactly showing enthusiasm for the idea of being left alone with her. 'Then when you've rested, I'll join you on the walk back,' Samantha told him, and smiled meaningly at Barney over her shoulder. 'I'm sure Barney and Patsy won't mind, will you?' 'Does it matter if I do?' Barney asked darkly, and she smiled, sticking her chin in the air. Not really,' she told him. i It was less arduous than Samantha had expected, climbing down the hillside, and standing out on the steep, heathery slope, half way down, was a rather head-spinning experience. The sense of endless space made one quite lightheaded, and the glen 34 below them looked unbelievably beautiful. She stood for several minutes just taking in the sheer majesty of it, while Edward stood beside'her, as interested in her reaction as in the scenery itself. 'It's fantastic, isn't it?' he ventured at last, and Samantha nodded. 'It's odd,' she said, 'but I feel as if I want to cry, it's so lovely.' 'I know.' He was silent for a moment or two, then his arm rested on her shoulders suddenly, not too self-assured, but venturing to see what sort of a reception he would get, and she hadn't the heart to repulse him. 'You and I, we think alike, Samantha.' 'I I'm not sure about that,' she said, wondering just what it was that was making her heart skip so lightly. Perhaps it was the effect of their surroundings, perhaps the rather tentative pass her companion was making at her, or maybe a little of both. 'We do,' he insisted. 'I wish Patsy could see things the way I do, but ' He shrugged. 'Does Barney like this sort of thing?' 'Oh yes,' she said, honestly enough. 'He loves it.' 'Oh I see.' That, apparently, was not quite what he expected. He stood for a moment in silence again, and when he spoke again he did not look at her. You you didn't mind Patsy going off with him?' he asked. Samantha turned and looked at him speculative . 'Did you?' she countered. He did not answer for a second or two, then he shrugged again. 'I don't know,' he confessed. "I sometimes wonder if Patsy and I aren't a big mistake.' i35 'Do you always quarrel?' she asked, curious to know if they quarrelled as often as she a
nd Barney did. He considered for a moment. 'We don't actually quarrel,' he said at last. 'I'm not very good at arguing, and Patsy just gets annoyed with me. I well, I just let her go on,' he confessed. * 'Oh, I see.' She walked further on down the hill, the going a little easier as the ground levelled out and there was quite good walking. He followed, silent and, she guessed, thoughtful. The ground was almost level now where it swept down into the glen, and a narrow bum ran over glistening pebbles, chattering in the sun. She could have crossed it easily herself, but Edward went over first and took her two hands to assist her. His assistance, in fact, was the reason for her trip, and she clutched at him wildly when her foot slipped and she almost fell. In a flash his arms were around her, supporting her, his good-looking face only inches away and very contrite as he recognised his fault. 'I'm sorry." He looked at her for a'moment and she noticed for the first time what nice grey eyes he had, and even if his mouth and chin were a little weaklooking, he was still very attractive. She supposed she should have immediately moved away from him. He was bound to misinterpret her staying there, but she was intrigued to know how he and the vastly different Patsy could have come together. 136 It was almost a shock, therefore, when she found herself clasped even more tightly than before, and his mouth seeking hers before she could open it to protest. It was a very proper and passionless kiss in comparison with others she had known, but she was no less dismayed that he should have so misread her feelings. 'Edward! Mr. Warren!' She pushed him away, and he offered no resistance. Already thinking of what Patsy would say, she thought wryly. 'I'm sorry I'm really terribly sorry,' he said, looking so contrite and unhappy about it that she could not possibly have been angry with him, even had she been so inclined. She saw no reason at all why her being with Edward should be any worse than Barney's being with Patsy Gordon, and al-most certainly Barney would have been quick enough to take advantage of such a situation. 'Oh, it doesn't matter that much,' she told him lightly. 'But I'd rather you hadn't done it.' You you won't tell Barney?' She looked at him in surprise for a moment. If he had begged her not to tell Patsy, she could have understood it. But why Barney? 'Barney?' she asked, and he nodded, then looked down at his feet in their sensible walking boots. 'I have a feeling he'd beat the living daylights out of me, if he knew,' he confessed, and Samantha al-most laughed. I don't think you need worry about that,' she told him. 'But I shan't tell him anyway.' 'Thank you.' 37 ' She felt again, that unquenchable pity for him, and smiled as she reached for his hand. 'Shall we go on?' she asked. Barney greeted them cheerfully when they got back, and said he was surprised to see how fresh she looked. Patsy on the other hand looked rather sulky, as if things had not gone as she thought they should have gone. Somehow the idea that Barney had not come up to Patsy Gordon's expectations pleased her enormously, and she smiled over that tentative, wary kiss that Edward had given her. It would be rather ironic if Edward had been more forthcoming in this instance than Barney. She begged to be excused for the hour before dinner, because the walk had proved more tiring than she cared to admit, and the thought of lying full length on that soft, old-fashioned feather bed was too good to resist. The room was cool and restful and from the window she could see the hills in the distance, and the blue sky that sat like a prelate's hat on their peaks. It was the sound of voices in the yard below that attracted her attention suddenly, and she turned her head lazily and listened. One of them was Barney's, and the other was almost certainly Patsy Gordon's, and that, Samantha thought, gave her a right to listen to what they were saying. There was no evidence that Edward was with them, and she wondered if the other couple had quarrelled. 'I made Eddie get a taxi out here this morning,' Patsy was informing Barney, unaware that she was overheard. 'We went into Benfar and I bought my138 self another dress.' She giggled. 'You'll be thinking I've only got the one to my name if I wear that yellow one again, but you can't carry much when you're walking. It's gorgeous,' she went on enthusiastically. 'A real eye-catcher. I was rather surprised, as a matter of fact, to find anything like it in a place like Benfar.' Barney's deep quiet laugh reached her, and she wondered why she bit her lip at the sound of it. 'Oh, the Scots live in the twentieth century as well, you know,' he told Patsy, and she giggled. 'Yes, I suppose they do. It's all this history stuff I always feel they're about two hundred years behind the times.' There was a brief pause. 'Barney, you will ask about having us put on a double table,' won't you? I know Eddie won't do anything about Samantha listened carefully. This was something that concerned her as well as Barney and she had every right to know what he planned to do. She could even visualise the expression she thought he would be wearing when he answered Patsy. A kind of well-FlI-do-my-best-but-I-can't-promise look. 'I'll have a Word with Mrs. Gray,' he said, 'but I don't know if it'll suit their arrangements. Patsy. We can't cause too much upheaval when we're here for only a few days.' Samantha nodded her satisfaction and smiled to herself. "But you'll try?' Patsy insisted. I'll try,' he promised, and the ensuing silence, followed by a giggle and a whisper, told its own story. Samantha's hands clenched tightly at her sides as i39 she stared at the ceiling hatefully. So Miss Patsy Gordon was moving in for the kill, was she? A new dress, and making sure they shared the same table what was next? she wondered. She allowed herself ample time to wash and change before dinner, and she opened the wardrobe to take out a dress to wear, pausing suddenly and pursing her lips thoughtfully. The conversation she had overheard was still fresh in her mind, and it reminded her that she too had a dress that she had never yet worn.It would be quite as eye-catching as anything Patsy Gordon could have found, and buying it had been an act of sheer bravado. It had been packed simply because it happened to come to hand when she was cramming things into her case without much thought for what she was taking with her. She got it out and hesitated for several minutes before she even put it on, then she looked at herself in the long wardrobe mirror and frowned. It was bright red and made of a filmy material that clung to every curve of her body, the neckline much lower than anything else she possessed, and it swirled provocatively round her slim legs. With her red-gold hair upswept and pulled into loose tendrils over her ears, she looked very striking and rather wicked. Quite capable of competing with anything Patsy Gordon could produce, she felt sure. She made up her face carerully, but was a little more generous with the lipstick than usual, wishing that she had a brighter red one with her, then she surveyed the finished product in the mirror again. 140 It was even more garish than she had anticipated and she stared at herself doubtfully until footsteps on the landing made her turn her head. It was probably Patsy Gordon come up to change into that new dress with which she hoped to dazzle Barney. Instead of the click of a closing door, however, there was a knock on her own door, and she turned sharply, panic threatening at the thought of being seen like this. 'Sam! Are you decent?' She did not reply, but bit on her lips and wondered if she could possibly delay him until she had time to change into something less garish. Barney would certainly not like it not on her anyway. On some ogling blonde he would probably love it. Thinking she was probably asleep, he knocked again briefly, then opened the door and came into the room, stopping dead in his tracks when he saw her. He stared at her for a moment blankly, then she saw a glimmer of laughter mingled with disbelief in his eyes, and he came right into the room and closed the door behind him. 'What,' he asked quietly, 'is that supposed to be?' 'A dress.' She twirled round twice, because she liked the way the floaty skirt spun out round her legs. 'I've changed for dinner.' He regarded her for a moment longer. 'So I see. Well, you're not going down to dinner in that dress, my girl, it isn't decent.' 'It's a I don't care what it is,' he interrupted. 'It's not recognised gear for the Angler's Arms, and you can take it off, right now.' 141 'I can,' Samantha retorted, roused enough to stick to her guns, 'but I don't intend to. I'm going to wear Not here, you're not. This is a fisherman's pub, not the Folies Bergere, now take it off. Change it for something less less provocative.' Long lashes swept up to reveal a wide-eyed look of innocence that foole
d no one, and she realised with a start that she was actually enjoying herself. 'Am I provoking you?' she asked with a wicked glint marring the little girl effect. Barney laughed softly. 'You know damned well you are,' he told her, his voice low and sending shivers down her spine. 'But I'm thinking of that elderly gent in the tweed suit, who sits at the comer table. He'll probably die of apoplexy if he gets a look at it.' 'Well, you'll soon know,' Samantha said sweetly, 'because I'm wearing it.' 'You're not, you know!' 'Just because you don't like it ' His dark eyes swept over her in a look that spoke volumes and she hastily lowered her own. 'Oh, I like it,' he said softly in a voice that implied all manner of things. 'It's ' His hands emphasised the meaning in his eyes, and he laughed softly again. 'But you're not going down to dinner in it.' I am. Barney.'He was shaking his head slowly and he had the key out of the lock before she realised what he was doing. 'Change it?' he asked quietly, and she stuck her chin out. 142 ; 'No!' 'O.K. Then you get no dinner.' He showed her the key. 'I shall lock you in until you decide to change your mind.' 'You you wouldn't dare ' 'I would, you know! I'm not having you dressed like Delilah and making Eddie Warren's eyes pop all evening.' 'It's no worse than you ogling Patsy Gordon in her new dress,' she taunted, and he cocked a brow at her. 'Oh, you know about that, do you? Well, don't worry, darling, after an eyeful of you in that dress, I'll never be the same again.' I'm wearing it, and you can't stop me.' I can't,' he agreed. 'But I can starve you into doing as you're told. It's been done before.' In the Middle Ages!' she retorted. 'I'll scream if you lock me in. Barney, I swear I will.' 'Then I'll probably give you something to scream about,' he declared. 'Now get out of that dress, Sam, or no dinner.' 'You're a bully, a a horrible, unfeeling bully ' Could be.' She eyed him sulkily through her lashes. 'I've known you for eighteen years,' she told him, arms folded defiantly, 'and I've never realised what a ghastly monster lurked under that pseudo politeness.' Oh, it's not pseudo, it's genuine,' he told her calmly. 'It's just that I have hidden depths. Nine i43 tenths of my true worth is concealed like an ice You're cruel,' she accused, and he laughed. -And and cunning!' 'As a fox.' r 3 'Ooohl' Exasperation deprived her of words and she glared at him balefully. 'Why do you have to agree with me?''It's that pseudo politeness,' he said. 'I can t help it' 'She stood in the middle of the room, hungry but defiant, trying to decide which should take precedence. 'I'm hungry,' she said, looking at him hope'T'hen get out of that Sadie Thompson outfit, my darling, and we can eat.' 'I won't be 'He held up the key. 'Which is it to be?' he asked. 'I hate you,' Samantha said slowly. 'I really do.' He put his hands on the smooth tops of her arms and moved them caressingly up and down for a moment, then he drew her to him and kissed her lingeringly and gently on her mouth. 'I don't believe you,' he said softly; and Samantha wondered why she suddenly felt like crying. 'That pretty green one,' he whispered against her ear, 'looks much better on you.' 144