The Devil's Bride

by Margaret Pargeter

  Yet the thought of not seeing him again convulsively tautened her hesitating finger, making the decision for her. Her whole body rigid with nervous tension, she heard the faintly melodious chimes echoing inside and, before she had any chance of disappearing, found herself staring straight at the one person she had hoped not to see —Sophy.

  'Oh, good evening!' Sophy's smile was completely sophisticated. She looked like a sleek, well fed cat. 'I wondered,' she drawled, 'when you would decide to turn up.'

  'You must have known why I wasn't able to come sooner,' Sandra retorted quickly, wondering how she was going to get inside, with Sophy effectively blocking the way. Did she just wait on the doorstep until Sophy chose to stand aside, or should she push past her and demand to know where Stein was? From here she could see nothing of him. Perhaps he wasn't here. He could have loaned the place to Sophy and gone elsewhere. No —she bit her lip sharply— that would be too much to hope for. Sophy was surely dressed and made up much more attractively than she would have been if there hadn't been a man inside the flat. Trying to speak as coolly as the other girl, she added, 'Now that I am here I would like to see Stein right away.'

  'I'm afraid he is having his bath. I was just about to go and see if he was managing all right.'

  Sandra's face paled. 'Then he isn't properly recovered?' 'Oh yes!'

  Sophy's laughter tinkled lightly. 'There is nothing much wrong with him now, my dear. I think it is merely reaction to several things. You must remember what he has just been through.'

  'Yes, of course.' Relief swept aside Sophy's superior tones, but under the relief there was an unconscious dread. What exactly

  was Sophy's position here? Her manner, if nothing else, seemed wholly possessive. 'I —Madame Kartalis said you were on your

  way to America.'

  'I am.'

  'Then ------- ' Sandra could scarcely put it into words, 'I

  mean why, if that's so, are you staying here? If you are actually staying here?'

  'I was.' Morosely Sophy stared at her. 'And I don't think I need to apologise. I didn't feel it right to leave Stein alone, especially when he talked of getting a divorce.'

  'He told you that I-

  Feeling suddenly faint, as if even the floor was about to jump up and hit her, Sandra pushed blindly past Sophy into the hall, at precisely the same moment as Stein stepped out of the bathroom. He wore a short dressing gown of black silk, tied tight to his lean waist and powerful thighs, and looked much the same as he had ever done. Only his eyes were different. Stunned to a blank, gasping silence, Sandra realised it. Now they focussed sharply instead of being fractionally off target, as they had often been before.

  'Good evening.' He halted abruptly, taking in blankly the rather dishevelled appearance, the white, staring face of the girl in front of him. 'I'm afraid ... '

  'Stein!' Suddenly she knew he hadn't guessed who she was, and, just as quickly, she noted Sophy's puzzled expression. Acting instinctively, she rushed over and grasped his arms, her eyes conveying a silent warning. 'I just got in an hour ago. I came as quickly as I could.'

  Frantically she gazed at him, feeling his flesh tense beneath her fingers. It was all wrong! She should be asking how he was, telling him how glad she was to see him again, but it seemed imperative that Sophy shouldn't guess that he had never actually seen his wife before. Because naturally Sophy knew about Alexandra, about her having a part in Stein's film in America and, wasn't she, Sandra, supposed to be Alexandra?

  As she spoke she saw Stein's face darken formidably and knew the nerve-racking sensation of his glance going wholly over her.

  It was so piercing she shrank back as his disappointment seemed obvious. 'My God,' he ground out, 'my wife! You took your time in getting here!'

  There was no helpful clue as to whether he realised the extreme delicacy of the situation, or that he cared. How could she try to explain, plead her illness, when Sophy was standing gazing at them, her eyes full of a crafty curiosity? And what did Stein mean about her taking her time when he'd left explicit orders she wasn't to leave Corfu?

  Then quickly, to Sandra's startled astonishment, it was Sophy who broke the frozen silence. 'I'm sorry, Stein,' she said smoothly, 'I don't feel like being relegated to the spare room. I think I'd better leave you until you get your affairs properly sorted out. You know where to find me.' Completely dazed, Sandra watched as she disappeared into Stein's bedroom, emerging almost immediately with her suitcase. Had Sophy expected her action to bring Stein to an immediate decision, to throw his wife out?

  'It's all here,' Sophy shrugged, her glance betraying nothing. 'I've flung everything in, but if I've left anything, Stein, just hang on to it.'

  Vaguely aware of Stein's heavily spoken goodbye, Sandra contemplated the sharply closed door blankly. What did this all mean?

  'Well,' Stein drawled, his face cold, 'that didn't take long, did it? Now you've got rid of the one woman who seemed to really care about me, do you intend taking her place?'

  Without waiting for a reply he turned, pushing open the lounge door, almost dragging her through it.

  Because he seemed so indifferent, she cried, 'You don't appear to have taken any harm! Was she actually sleeping in your room?'

  'Would you have cared if she had been?' he sneered, closing the door hard before crossing to the drinks cabinet in the comer.

  'She knows about our divorce,' Sandra faltered, her voice, in spite of herself, echoing the pain in her heart.

  'She could be guessing,' he replied flatly, pouring a large

  whisky.

  'Oh!' Utterly confused, Sandra went off in another direction. 'She doesn't know you've never seen me before,' her voice shook. 'I told you you'd be disappointed. You thought I was a stranger!'

  'Remember,' he challenged coolly, 'you were the last person I expected to see and, as you say, I hadn't ever seen you before. It wasn't until you spoke that I realised.'

  What had he once said— 'I'd never mistake you, I don't need to see you.' How quickly he had forgotten!

  Almost defiantly she stared into his dark face. 'You can see for yourself now how ordinary I am.'

  'You aren't ordinary,' his mouth went tight 'But I've learnt it's not as easy as I imagined to connect a voice with a body. Not that I've got it so very wrong. Maybe later tonight I'll tell you.'

  'Stein,' her voice broke before the calculated determination in his, the way in which his eyes went discerningly over her, 'you know I can't stay here. If I do a divorce will become impossible.'

  'You mean,' he taunted, 'you only came out of curiosity? God, I could have killed you!' With a bang which cracked it, he put down his empty glass and coming over grasped her shoulders, 'I wanted you beside me and I waited, but I knew you wouldn't turn up, you little fraud! While I was blind you thought you could lead me around by the nose, but the thought of a whole man frightens you.'

  Her heart hardened as he called her names. Her appearance depressed him, but wasn't it better this should be so? It might make their parting that much easier, should he really believe her a fraud. What useful purpose would be served by telling him about her accident? None at all when he was so eager to think the worst of her.

  Yet it wasn't easy to be indifferent, to subdue all the love and concern in her heart. There was so much she had to ask him. 'Please,' she faltered, 'now that I am here, can't we forget about everything else, at least for a little while? Can you really see?' her eyes roved over his, tears glinting on her cheeks, emphasising her anxiety. 'I didn't think you'd be out of hospital so soon and I've been so worried. You might not believe it, but I have been.'

  'I would still be in hospital if they'd had their way,' he grunted, without removing his gaze from her anxious face. 'But I'm really quite all right,' he grinned derisively. 'I don't think I should be on my own, though, so you'd better be prepared to stay until I find someone else.'

  'No, I can't!'

  'Yes, you can!' Suddenly he hauled her up against him, his lips very c
lose to her ear. 'You've a lot to make up for, my dear. You lied and cheated your way into my life and now you can really begin to pay for it. I can see again, Sandra, can look at what, so far, I've only been able to touch. I want time to see every little bit of you before I let you go.'

  Gasping with dismay, she tried to pull away from him as his arms closed primitively around her. She mustn't listen to him! Wildly, through surging emotions, she uttered the best argument she could think of. 'How do you expect to

  get a divorce if you have me living here with you? What about Sophy?'

  'What about her?' his voice mocked openly. 'By coming here tonight you've made an excellent job of chasing her away, but why should I allow this to deprive me of some feminine company? Do you think Sophy is really the kind of woman who'd be willing to live with me openly while I wait for a divorce? No, my small Sandra, it is you who will look after me until I fully recover. Then we will go abroad where, if one knows exactly how to go about it, a divorce may be obtained at almost the drop of a hat.' Horrified, Sandra tried to twist from his iron grip. He hadn't the appearance of a man not fully recovered from anything!' You must be mad,' she cried, 'if you think you can treat me this way!'

  'You'd be mad to think I couldn't,' he sneered, his face harsh with determination as he held her suddenly away from him. With swift fingers he unbuttoned her shiny raincoat, sliding it from her shoulders and letting it drop to the floor. 'Now let me have a good look at you, girl. It's going to be quite interesting to discover if you match up exactly with how I imagined you would be.'

  Sandra thought she would pass out before surviving his penetrating survey. His eyes were arrogant as they travelled over her slight body, which her recent spell in hospital and worry over him had made thin. 'You'll do,' his hands went curiously tense. 'You'll do very nicely indeed, especially when I find you something decent to wear.' His voice thickened as he bent his head and his lips brushed her soft mouth. 'You look younger than I'd expected, but that doesn't make you any less desirable. Right now I think I'd be a fool to turn you away.'

  His mouth tasted of wine and warmth and promised rapture and she drew hastily away. His condescension hurt and she pushed against his hard arms.

  'So you can scarcely bear me to touch you!' He let her go curtly. 'I'll ring for dinner while you shower. Let's hope you'll feel better after that. Put on something pretty.' 'But...'

  'For heaven's sake!' he ran an impatient hand round the back of his neck. 'You'd better be prepared to indulge me. I've had almost a year of darkness — I'd like something more colourful for a change.'

  Sandra showered quickly, imagining all the time that he might come and disturb her. Some devil, a diabolic leaning towards a subtle revenge for her seeming neglect, raged in him. In his eyes she had committed an atrocity and must be willing to pay for her deception. This she realised, but had no clear idea how she was to defend herself. She had only to feel his mouth on her own to have every iota of common sense fly out of her head.

  The shower relaxed her, yet she felt still strangely strung up as she decided to please Stein by putting on the only long dress she had brought with her. It was one she had chosen for Kalnos, light and silky with a low neckline, a neckline she had thought wouldn't matter when Stein couldn't see her. Without thinking she had included it in her luggage as it was the only one she hadn't worn several times and, because it was light, wouldn't weigh too heavily for air travel. Now it wouldn't have to matter if it made her feel slightly unclothed.

  Carefully, feeling she needed some extra defence, she applied a sweep of mascara to her naturally thick lashes and outlined her full, curved lips with a seductive gloss. Her hair had grown longer as she had not had it cut while she was away. After her accident it had grown lank, but she was glad to see it beginning to shine again.

  Once ready she waited, lingering a while in the room Stein had shown her into. It was obviously the spare one and, hoping to give every impression that she wanted to remain here, she scattered her few belongings around. When at last she dared hesitate no longer she took a deep breath and went out

  Stein had changed, too, but just into a pair of dark slacks and thin shirt with a faint stripe to which he had added a tie.

  He was waiting in the dining room, along with dinner, and looked at her approvingly as she came towards him. Something smouldered at the back of his eyes as his glance touched the plunging neckline and his well shaped mouth quirked at the comers.

  'A veritable swan,' he drawled, going forward to pull out her chair, his fingers lightly guiding on her bare back as he saw her seated.

  As his fingers flicked fire through her she flinched, and feeling it he smiled grimly. 'As I said before, you don't seem able to bear me touching you.'

  Sandra sat down too quickly, her long skirts tangling revealingly about her slender limbs. 'Why should I pretend otherwise when you can't wait to be rid of me?' She spoke with a calmness she was far from feeling.

  'I'm not the only one in a hurry,' he muttered curtly, seating himself opposite, but because she wasn't sure if he referred to Sophy or herself, she kept silent.

  Stein was paler, she saw, his face in repose darkly brooding, but just as attractive as ever. Throughout the meal she found it difficult to take her eyes off him. A miracle had given him back his sight, but it seemed she had to seek constant reassurance that it had really happened and that he was well.

  Soon, in spite of the cool wariness between them, she was plying him with eager little questions about his operation, questions which seemed to come more readily as she drank the wine with which he kept replenishing her glass. Because it seemed to help, she drank recklessly, finding it curiously easier to drink than to eat the delicious food the restaurant supplied.

  With a kind of forced tolerance Stein answered her many queries, his eyes seldom leaving her face. 'I had a rather special visitor at the clinic,' he said eventually.

  'Who?' she swallowed hastily. 'You mean Sophy?'

  'You already know about her.' His mouth twisted derisively, 'This other one — you'd never guess?'

  'No — I couldn't,'

  'Alexandra,' he smiled.

  'Alexandra!' Sandra's green eyes widened with sudden fright. 'My — er — cousin?'

  'Who else?'

  'What did she want?' Sandra stared at him, her voice little more than a frightened whisper.

  'Oh,' he shrugged, his quick glance taunting, 'she'd heard where I was.'

  'Who told her? Was it the Professor?'

  'No. He only stayed a few days before going on, but he had, I believe, mentioned it to mutual friends.'

  'I see.' Sandra knew she had gone deathly pale. Yet another woman! What chance had she ever had? Of course Alexandra was married now. Or was she?

  'Did she really marry Arnold?' she asked.

  'Yes,' his broad shoulders lifted indifferently. 'She seems happy enough with her millions.'

  'Did she mention me?'

  'Now and then.' His eyes narrowed on her anxious face. 'You know Alexandra only likes talking about herself.' Sandra's long lashes flickered miserably. So Alexandra hadn't told him the truth? Well, what did it matter now? Rashly she lifted her glass again. 'To all your past loves,' she laughed, her eyes bright with pain.

  'To all the world's little deceivers,' he countered, raising his own glass, his mocking gaze sliding over her. 'To all the lovely wives who aren't there when they're needed.' 'Stein!' she protested,

  with a scarcely audible sob. 'You can't keep hurting me like this-'

  'Can't I?' His lazy indolence immediately leaving him, he came around the table to pull her ruthlessly to her feet, almost thrusting her into the other room. 'You'll find I'm capable of much more than I used to be. Do you want coffee?'

  'No!' she cried, hating him. He treated her as if she was of no account, as if he enjoyed tormenting her!

  I'll make it black,' his mouth curled. 'I could certainly do with some, if you can't.'

  But making no attempt to set about making
anything, he sat down beside her on the settee. He looked at her for a long time until, thoroughly unnerved, she felt on the point of screaming. He seemed to have a mocking need to examine every square inch of her. His hand went along the back of the cushion behind her, as if ready to follow the direction of his eyes as they rested on the pounding pulse at the base of her throat. He assumed an air of casualness, but there was a taut smile on his arrogant mouth. A swift shudder went through her as she wondered what he was thinking.

  Time had flown, and she saw it was after nine. Uneasily she edged away from him, trying to ignore the dictates of her heart, to remember her pride. 'I think I'll have an early night, if you don't mind.'

  'But I do mind.' His hand left the back of the settee to curve her shoulder, as he sought to detain her. 'Do you recall when you first sat on this settee? You stuttered and stammered so much I was intrigued.'

  'I'd rather forget.' Her voice was curiously strangled as he examined the faint bruise he had made on her bare arm by dragging her here, and his mouth lowered to move softly over it.

  'You'd rather forget too many things!' Suddenly he pulled her against him closely. 'But there are some I'm going to make sure you remember— for the rest of your life!'

  His hand went firmly under her chin, tightening on the bone until her mouth came up to meet his. Her skin burned like fire as he began to kiss her until her lips felt numb from the hard pressure of his and her heart beat a frantic tattoo beneath his hand. She felt a suffocating warmth in her throat and a fine colour washed into her cheeks as he slid the strap of her dress urgently to one side, so that he might explore the satin smoothness of her shoulders.

  'You're beautiful,' he muttered hoarsely, running his hand down her narrow back as his lips crept down her neck to kindle a devastating heat in her blood. His face lifted, coming to rest with a groan against her own again. 'You're so small and slender I could crush you. I could do it very easily with wanting you so much.'