by Jane Corrie
Farther down the hill, on the opposite side of the road from Rebecca, lay yet another hotel, its drive illuminated enough to be able to highlight the comings and goings of the residents, and where the drive began, she saw a couple embracing, and drew an inward breath. The man reminded her of Janus Leon, although his back was towards her, and his height prevented her from recognising the woman. Just then they turned towards her, and she saw that she had been mistaken in the identity of the man as the couple clasped hands and walked towards the town.
Rebecca walked on, not really understanding why she should have mistaken the man for her boss, and if it had been him; it was no business of hers what he did. That was what the sensible side of her said; the other, sentimental side, had known great relief and a lightness of heart, but she was not going to listen to that side. If she was getting sentimental and stupid, then it was the island that was at fault, not her, she told herself sternly. Once back in London she would find this to be so, and would be fervently glad she had not made a fool of herself over someone who thought her a nobody, and as he bad so nicely put it, someone he had picked up on his travels who was useful as a piece of office furniture.
Rebecca felt better after these thoughts. She was back to disliking the man again, and this was the way she preferred things.
So engrossed in her thoughts had she been that she had not taken in the fact that she was indeed falling in love with Janus Leon, and that was what all good secretaries did, providing the boss was handsome and single, and had devastating charm when he cared to use it. All this she would have to admit one day, when the danger was over, until then such admissions were out of the question.
by now there were many more people about, some passing her and others on the road ahead, and as Rebecca looked down the hill, she noticed that she was passing through an avenue of trees that led the way to the outskirts of the town, and giving them a closer inspection, she saw that they bore a blue blossom that reminded her of a type of wisteria, and again she wished she would be able to see them in
daylight. She certainly had not noticed them on the way to the hotel when they had arrived.
By now she had reached the town, and in front of her, in the middle of a crossroad, stood a ring of fountains on a grassy verge, with a border of flowers and a type of privet shaped into large balls at intervals around the centrepiece. It would look refreshing enough in the daytime, Rebecca thought, but now, with lights playing on the cascades of water, it enhanced the scene.
Rebecca stood looking at the fountain, content in the knowledge that she had not got to rush anywhere, but as her view became partially obscured by people who had passed her, she gave her attention to a small shop on the other side of the road, and she crossed to get a closer look at the wares exhibited in the windows, and spilling on to the pavement to attract attention.
Gazing into the windows, she took stock of the' gifts offered for sale. There was the usual collection of straw hats, numerous small porcelain figures, and working the pesetas back into pounds she found they were on a par with the prices back home, but on the whole most of the gifts were good value for money. A small galleon finely Worked in filigree in a gold-coloured metal caught her eye and she thought of Barbara and Laura, who she was sure would appreciate such a gift, and wandered into the shop, only to find a queue of customers waiting to be dealt with, all taking their time in choosing their souvenirs.
While Rebecca waited for her turn, she looked around the shop and saw some beautifully embroidered blouses and lovely tapestry work. She
knew that the embroidery would be expensive and though she would have liked to have bought herself a blouse, she resisted the temptation. She might be earning good money at the moment, but there was always the chance of an abrupt end to her employment. Recalling what Janus Leon had said about her services not being required when he returned to Australia, and the film scheduled to be made there, and was the next on the agenda, Rebecca foresaw an end to the association in the not too distant future.
By the time Rebecca had been served, she had to admit to a feeling, of tiredness, that was not surprising, considering the very late night, she had the previous evening, and after hearing someone say, `Oh, I can't trail all up there,' after being told that the item she required could be got in the town's main shopping area, she decided to head back to the hotel and have an early night. There was one more week, she told herself, and surely she would get another chance to explore Funchal, probably starting out earlier than she had today, and as a taxi slowly passed her, she hailed it, and was back in the hotel by eight-thirty.
As she entered the suite, she was looking forward to a shower and the luxury of an early night, but she had got no farther than the lounge when the telephone rang, and as she answered the call, she wondered if it was Janus checking up on her, and if he had rung before.
Her relief on finding that it was not Janus, but Daniel Dupre, soon turned to exasperation as she learned that he wanted to see her, and was in the lobby of the hotel, ready to dash up at her word,
and she fervently wished that she could think of a good excuse as to why she couldn't see him. To just say bluntly that she wanted an early night might sound impolite, and she had no quarrel with Daniel. On the other hand, she did not want to annoy Janus, but Daniel's quick and apologetic, 'Look, I won't keep you long. I want to ask a favour of you, and it's nothing to do with Janus,' eventually persuaded her to see him, and a few minutes later she was opening the door to his knock.
`I do apologise,' he said, as he entered the suite, `but I'm in a bit of a hole,' and he waved the brown paper bag he was carrying in the air, then sitting down at Rebecca's invitation, explained the reason for the visit. 'All I want you to do is to keep this for me until tomorrow evening,' he said with a beguiling smile. 'I promised a friend of mine I'd look after it for him—it's a surprise, you see, and I can't keep it with me as I'm sharing with the local gossip. If I walk in with this, he won't rest until he knows what's in the bag, and the cat will be among the pigeons,' he grinned boyishly. 'I'll not only lose a friend, but take a dive in my career, if it gets out,' he added ruefully, as he opened the bag and drew out an impressive-looking jeweller's box that, had it not had the jeweller's name on it, might have been taken for a cakebox. He then opened the box and withdrew a beautiful tiara that flashed and twinkled as the light caught its brilliant stones.
Rebecca's eyes opened wide as she stared at the tiara, and looked back at Daniel. 'I think it ought to go in the hotel safe,' she said firmly.
Daniel chuckled. 'Looks good, doesn't it? But
it's not the real thing, you know. It's a stage prop,
believe it or not.'
Rebecca found this hard to believe. Stage prop or no, she thought she knew good stones when she
saw them, for they were not paste. Her eyes showed
her disbelief.
`Honestly,' he said earnestly. 'Look, the real thing would weigh a ton, wouldn't it? These are synthetic stones, and the band is only plastic.' He placed it on Rebecca's head to prove his point, and as she had to acknowledge, he had spoken the truth; the tiara was no weight at all.
She was about to confirm this when Janus walked into the lounge, and after her first startled glance at him, quickly snatched the tiara off her head and pushed it at Daniel.
`Been shopping, have we? You did do well, didn't you?' he said silkily.
Daniel opened his mouth, then closed it again, aware that Janus was furious, and tried to work out why, then grinned sheepishly, 'I was just asking Rebecca to keep it for me until tomorrow evening,' he explained.
Janus's growled, 'Yes?' was not very encouraging, but Daniel ploughed on. 'It's old Wainwright's, you see. Well, not actually his. He's had it made for Helen. She's being a bit awkward about playing the Duchess again, said she refused to stagger around with the original prop—er—the tiara, I mean, so Wainwright had this one made up. It's as light as a feather. I was just showing Rebecca,' he hesitated, and Janus glared at him, r
eminding him that he hadn't finished the story.
`Well,' he went on hopefully, 'he's sharing a room with her, so he couldn't put it anywhere where she wouldn't find it, and it's got to be a surprise. I'm kipping in with Arnold Ashton, and he's the town crier, apart from having a nasty habit of throwing himself at any parcel that might contain food. He's got the appetite of a goat! If I walked in with this,' He indicated the box on his knee, 'he'd give me no peace until he knew what it contained.'
There was a small silence after this, and Rebecca stole a glance at Janus, who she could see was having trouble in accepting the explanation. He's wondering whether we've teamed up, she thought angrily, and he's surprised us inspecting our haul.
After a tight-lipped nod of acceptance, Janus took responsibility for the tiara, not giving Rebecca a chance to take it back to her room, and after a few more desultory remarks about things in general, Daniel took his leave, still not sure why Janus should have displayed such antagonism towards him. He would work it out, Rebecca thought ironically, and come up with the wrong answer, putting it down to jealousy where she was concerned.
When Daniel left, Rebecca's hopes of an early night were very quickly dashed by Janus's curt order to get her shorthand book, he wanted to get things finished this end, since they would be leaving Madeira the next day.
Rebecca, collecting her book from the office, knew a feeling of relief that they were going back to London, but this was tinged with a regret that she had not seen much of Madeira, and would have seen even less had she not slipped out earlier that
evening, and again recalling what Janus had said about it not being all work, she had to make an effort not to show her feelings when she joined him in the lounge.
After taking several notes, she found that Janus's `date' had been with the studio, making the final selection of the heroine. 'We did the scene where the plane comes down in the bush,' he told her, and Rebecca's mind went back to that chapter. The pilot, she recalled, had been unconscious, and the girl playing the part of a model was dressed in a creation that was meant to give the first preview of the fashion house delights in store for the waiting photographers at the airport they were due to land on, had a freak storm not thrown the plane off course, forcing a landing through shortage of fuel.
Rebecca could quite see why this particular scene had been chosen to prove the actress's ability to act the part of a girl who only knew city life, and had heard gruesome stories of the bush since her childhood, and now found herself not only in the dreaded 'area, but with an unconscious man as her companion.
`Dinah Casey, definitel' over-acted,' he commented bluntly, 'and Kay Phillips made the scene look like a day trip out to the zoo. Shona Bredon's the one for my money. She'd just the right approach. It's not easy,' he commented dryly, 'to look bewildered and terrified at the same time, but she managed it. There was no altercation, we all felt the same way, so that's settled,' he added on a satisfied note.
After taking a few more notes, Rebecca was
allowed to have her belated early night, with an authoritative order from Janus to pack her things that evening, as they would have to take pot luck on a flight back, and it might be an early one, he warned her.
As it happened he was right, and they left Funchal on the nine-forty flight, having had a last-minute rush to the airport, with Rebecca promising herself to go back there at the earliest opportunity, and take her time in exploring the island in her own time, and not at the beck and call of her imperious boss!
Back in London, Rebecca settled down to her duties. The new book was coming on fast and she was kept busy, although she did manage to see Barbara, now installed in her new premises, and feeling pleased with life, for business had picked up, and she had no worries moneywise, in fact, no worries at all, and she looked forward to the time when Rebecca would join her as her partner in a working capacity, and not a silent one.
Rebecca had mixed feelings about this. It was nice to know she had somewhere to go, but she could not work up any enthusiasm over the project. She felt unsettled, in spite of the work Janus was giving her, and supposed it to be the visit to Madeira that had caused it.
By now she was used to Janus's ways, and he to hers, and they worked well together, and, if the truth were told, she did not want to change anything, but she knew that when he decided to go home, she would have to start another job, either with Barbara or somewhere else, preferably some-
where else, she was not cut out to be a business tycoon, and needed work that was challenging and would keep her occupied. She also knew that she was in love with Janus, and she half hoped for, yet dreaded, the parting of the ways.
Once she had made this admission to herself, she felt calmer, and did not fight her feelings. He would never think of her as anything else but an efficient secretary, who night be easy on the eye, but had a lamentable way of collecting other folks' belongings, specialising in jewellery. No wonder he would be only too pleased to dump her when the time came!
With thoughts such as these in her mind, she got a shock about a fortnight after they had returned to London, with Janus announcing that they were off to Australia in a fortnight, and she had looked at him with wide eyes. He had said 'we', hadn't he? she asked herself:
`It's not all bush,' he had said sarcastically, on noting Rebecca's reaction to the news. 'Some parts are quite civilised,' he added harshly.
Rebecca flushed under his sardonic look, but her thoughts were elsewhere. He had meant her, too, she thought wildly, but why, after he had made it quiet clear that she could please herself what she did after he had left? Without realising it, a tiny hope sprang up in her heart, but she quenched it immediately, for that had been another surprise, the depth of her feelings for him, now that he was supposedly going out of her life. She swallowed. She had to know. 'Why?' she asked bluntly, completely ignoring his earlier comments, and there was nothing in her face to show how much her
heart was beating.
`Why?' repeated Janus, with a lift of his left eyebrow. 'I should have thought it would have been obvious. I'm not going to stop writing, you know. I need you; and I can't be bothered to go through the motions of finding someone else, not after having trained you to my satisfaction,' he added bluntly.
Rebecca felt a spurt of anger. She hadn't expected anything else from him, but the cool blunt way he had answered her query had made her hackles rise. If he had said the wilds of Borneo, she would have been expected to follow him without a murmur—or so he thought.
`For how long?' she asked. She did not intend to get stuck the other side of the world without any means of getting home.
Janus studied her through narrowed lids. 'Does it matter?' he enquired silkily.
Rebecca wanted to stamp her foot in temper, but refrained from doing so. 'Of course it matters!' she answered furiously. 'It's not like going over to the Continent, is it? I might not like Australia, and it's a long way to come home, and you did say you would have no need for my help once you left England for good,' she reminded him coldly.
`Who said it was for good?' he countered. 'Right now I. have no option but to go home, my father's been under the weather and needs some help. If I don't go he'll overdo things, as he did once before.' He drew in a breath that told Rebecca that he was having difficulty in keeping his temper. He had expected her to fall in with whatever he wanted, and had not foreseen any difficulty. 'Look,' he said
slowly, 'I've said I need you. We've yet to finish the book, haven't we? All things considered, I just won't have time to look around for a replacement. When things settle down again, I promise you I won't hold you back if you want to go home, after the book is finished, that is. I shall of course pay your fare,' he added on a dignified note, that suggested that if she thought otherwise then she had misjudged him, and she ought to have known better.
Rebecca took due note of the fact that he had not threatened her with what he considered her failings, and the reason why he had forced her to work for him, which was just as we
ll, she thought darkly, for she would not have hesitated to contact Laura and get things straight once and for all.
As these thoughts went through her mind, she saw that Janus was watching her closely, almost willing her to accept the terms. She shrugged. She had nothing to lose, she told herself. He would keep his word, she knew that, and there was still a long way to go in the book, but with any luck it would be finished within a month or so, providing Janus got down to it and did not get bogged down on other business. With a curt nod, she accepted his terms, and noting his sigh of satisfaction, realised that she really had had no choice in the matter, not as it was put to her, and that was typical of Janus Leon!
There was no further discussion on this subject, apart from his getting Rebecca to send a cablegram to his father, telling him when he would be arriving, now that their flight reservations had been made. `That will make him ease up,' he had said to
Rebecca when the telegram had gone.
Once that was out of the way, Janus concentrated on the book with a fervour that made Rebecca wonder if they would make such headway that her stay in Australia would be of short duration, although she wouldn't put it past him to have the next one already mapped out in his mind, and expect her to carry on in spite of what he had said earlier, but in her heart she knew she would go as soon as possible. Eventually he would marry, and it would be an Australian girl, probably someone waiting for him to settle down after his travels. She knew he was pleased at the prospect of going home, for he had occasionally reminisced on the past, and how he was looking forward to taking up old acquaintances, and how she would get on with this person or that, and Rebecca said nothing, and kept her thoughts to herself, often thinking how blind he was, and without knowing it, cruel, for she could play no part in the future he was mapping out for himself, apart from the office equipment. He did not actually say so, but according to her observations, she was sure that he had decided to go home for good, making perhaps the odd journey abroad when necessary.