Carver's Bride

by Nicola West

  Penrhys Court was ablaze with lights as they turned up the gravel drive. Linzi looked at it with interest. It had obviously been a grand house once, fitted to belong to the local landowner—did they have squires in Wales? Now, as Mr Penrhys had admitted to her the other day, lack of money meant that it wasn't maintained to its previous standards. But at night it still looked beautiful, and Linzi's imagination supplied a row of carriages standing outside the door, with grandly dressed ladies and gentlemen making their way to the festivities within.

  Tonight, however, it was just she and Jason getting out of the car. She was glad of her long dress, which gave a semblance of romance to the scene, and glanced with new appreciation at Jason's dinner-jacket. The old house needn't be too insulted after all, she thought, and smiled.

  'Something amusing you?' Jason's voice was clipped and Linzi felt sad that they couldn't share even this simple joke. A few days ago, they would have done, and she realised again just how far apart they had drifted.

  She was saved from replying by the front door swinging open and Ceri's high voice calling down to them. She sounded excited, Linzi thought, but of course she would be, with her twin brother home for the first time in a year. For a moment she closed her eyes; she had almost forgotten Selwyn, so recently returned from New York. But New York was a big place, it was hardly likely he'd have heard of her there. And he would be too happy to be at home to take much notice of a girl who was only here for a few weeks anyway.

  'So lovely to see you!' Ceri gushed as they went into the brightness of the panelled hall. 'Let me take your cloak, Linzi.... Well, anyone could see that you know about clothes, you look ravishing. Doesn't she, Jason? I'm afraid you put me absolutely in the shade—good thing I haven't got a jealous nature!'

  Linzi glanced at her and felt her lips twitch. Evidently Ceri was to be the sweet, simple girl-next-door tonight— in manner, anyway. Her clothes certainly didn't give that impression, and Linzi doubted very much whether Jason thought that Ceri was overshadowed by her own appearance. Indeed, as she looked at him she could see by his appreciative expression that he didn't.

  Ceri was wearing a dress of brilliant turquoise in a clinging jersey that left little to the imagination. The neckline plunged to show the deep valley between her soft, full breasts, and her eyes sparkled with mischief as she glanced knowingly from Linzi to Jason.

  'You must come in and meet Selwyn,' she went on, taking them each by one hand and guiding them into a long, elegant drawing-room. There was no sign of lack of money here, Linzi thought, but perhaps the Penrhys family had decided that whatever the rest of the house was like, the public rooms were to remain as they should be, as they had always been—an epitome of luxury and good taste. And they were certainly that; she couldn't help admiring the furniture, the carpets and pictures. Firelight glowed on the dark old panelling; once again she held a vision of those elegant people from long ago, grouped about the room like characters from a Jane Austen novel.

  Mr Penrhys was sitting at one end of a comfortably overstuffed chesterfield. He got up as Linzi and Jason entered, and she took his hand, smiling at him and murmuring a few complimentary comments about the house. Then she turned to meet the other occupant of the room, and was conscious that her heart was already beating fast.

  'So you're Linzi Berwick,' Selwyn Penrhys remarked lazily. He was very much like his twin sister, his dark hair curling over his forehead. Brown eyes looked quizzically into hers, his mouth smiled with practised charm. 'Well, I sure didn't expect to find a top international model living next door when I came home. What's Jason's secret?'

  'No secret,' Linzi answered lightly, aware of Jason's sombre eyes on her. 'He just needed a model and I happened to fill the bill.'

  'And a very nice filling too,' Selwyn drawled. He was much taller than Ceri, only inches shorter than Jason. He had picked up a twang of American in his travels and his voice was attractively deep. 'Ceri tells me you knew each other as kids too.'

  'That's right. My parents took Jason in when he was just a toddler. I didn't come along for quite a few years after that, of course—Jason was almost grown-up before I arrived on the scene.'

  'Kinda big brother, hey?' The American seemed a little overstressed then, but Selwyn's smile took away any slight irritation there might have been. 'Well, I envy him his choice in kid sisters!' He glanced at Ceri and grinned. 'Not that I've got anything to complain about in that department!'

  Ceri came over and hugged his arm. 'You're not so bad as brothers go, either,' she offered. 'Except that you're not here often enough.'

  'Well, someone has to make the money,' he answered mildly. 'Look, what'll you have; to drink, Linzi? Martini? It's still Scotch for Jason, I guess?'

  'Please. With lemonade,' she added, watching him go over to a drinks trolley that seemed to be supplied with almost every drink under the sun. Once again she became aware of Jason watching her and looked up to find his eyes fixed on her with a sardonic light in their depths. Flushing a little, she turned away and smiled deliberately at Selwyn as he handed her her drink.

  'You've been in New York until recently, haven't you?' he enquired, his dark eyes already beginning their flirtation. 'I daresay Ceri's told you I've just come over from there. We must have a talk some time—may find we've got some mutual friends.'

  'Yes, we must.' Linzi's heart had bumped uncomfortably at his first words, but there seemed to be nothing sinister behind them and she gave herself a stern little talking-to. New York was a big place. Millions of people lived and worked there. She must stop this silly panic whenever the place was mentioned. . . .

  '. . . . getting on with the figure?' she heard, and blinked at Selwyn.

  'I'm sorry—I didn't catch what you said.'

  He laughed. 'I was just asking how Jason was getting on with the figure. It's to be quite a masterpiece, apparently. Have people flocking to see it once it's in position.'

  'I don't know if sculpture ever gets quite that mass reaction,' Linzi said slowly. 'People don't seem to realise just what goes into it, on the whole. They look at a piece of marble or a bronze, and they either appreciate only its photographic qualities, if it's a straight representation, or they wrinkle their noses and just pass it by if it's abstract. They don't see the form, the line, the shape it makes of the air around it. They don't understand the magic of it; what you can do with its curves and hollows and its mass. It doesn't say anything to their imaginations.' She sipped her drink. 'Since I've been here I've been looking at the hills and the valleys—all massive sculptures in themselves. But translate that into something in a studio, something you can pick up and handle, and it seems to leave a lot of people cold.'

  'I don't understand it, but I know what I like,' Selwyn suggested, and Linzi laughed and nodded.

  Feeling at ease for the first time for several days, she turned to smile at Mr Penrhys—and caught Jason's glance. He was sitting beside the old man, deep in talk, but they were both looking in her direction. She didn't know if Jason had heard her words or not. But for a moment his eyes were unguarded, and their expression was one she'd never seen in them before. Inexplicably embarrassed, she turned away, and caught an odd look passing between Ceri and her brother, a look of understanding and mutual compliance.

  Linzi shook herself. She finished her drink and turned back to Selwyn. He was looking pensive—perhaps he hadn't expected a model to have thoughts of her own. But he said nothing more on the subject of sculpture, and their talk drifted into other channels. Linzi found him a pleasant, easy man to talk to. But her feeling of disquiet persisted and she was relieved when Ceri at last announced that dinner was ready and they all moved slowly out of the room.

  Ceri had done most of the cooking herself, Linzi discovered, helped by the young girl who served the food. It was surprisingly good—though why she should be surprised that Ceri could cook, Linzi wasn't really sure. Not many people could afford to employ full-time cooks these days, and the Penrhys family almost certainly couldn't. She coul
d see why Ceri was so keen to marry Jason; his work was now bringing in a very handsome income, and no doubt he could work as well at Penrhys Court as at Bron Melyn. She could see the sense of such an arrangement. Penrhys was certainly worth putting money into and would make a fitting home for a famous sculptor. But she felt sad at the idea of Bron Melyn being let or sold.

  After dinner, they went back to the drawing-room. Old Mr Penrhys, who had eaten little, declared his intention of going to bed early. Ceri seized the opportunity to invite Jason to see some old prints that had been unearthed in one of the attics. And Linzi found herself alone with Selwyn.

  'Well, we'll just have to try to amuse ourselves, won't we,' he drawled, looking as if he could think of several ways to accomplish this. 'Anyone ever tell you you're a beautiful girl, Linzi?'

  'I am a model,' she answered drily. 'It's all very subjective, of course—depends entirely on one's own idea of beauty.'

  'Well, I should say you were most men's.' He brought her a liqueur and sat down close to her on the chesterfield. 'Certainly mine, anyway, and that's the only opinion I care about. How do you get on with the famous stonemason, then? Must be strange, getting together after all these years.'

  Linzi slanted a glance up at him. She wasn't sure just how much he knew. 'Jason and I work very well together,' she rejoined primly. 'And I'm not sure how he'd react to hearing you call him a stonemason.'

  Selwyn laughed easily. 'Oh, that's just my joke. Jay and I understand one another. ... I suppose, you being more of a kid sister to him, your relationship'd be a bit different from most.'

  Linzi hesitated. 'I don't know quite what you mean.'

  'Oh, don't act the innocent, it doesn't suit you.' The dark eyes were roving over her. 'Most girls who looked like you wouldn't stand a chance with Jay Carver living in the same house. I mean, you're practically alone there with him, aren't you, and Hugh wouldn't see anything Jason didn't want him to see.' He moved a little nearer. 'Well? Are you still his kid sister? Or has time made a few changes here and there?'

  'Jason and I have a working relationship,' Linzi retorted. 'I don't know what you're trying to tell me, Mi—'

  'Selwyn—you called me that all through dinner, why stop now?'

  'All right, Selwyn—or what you're trying to imply, but I can assure you that it's nothing more than that, nothing at all!'

  'Well, okay, that's fine.' The eyes were almost undressing her now and she shifted abruptly away along the chesterfield. 'You're engaged anyway, so Ceri tells me, so I'm sure you wouldn't want it any other way. But we all need a bit of comfort now and then, and I should think it's pretty lonely for you, with your boy-friend away, isn't it?' He let his hand move gently over her shoulder, the fingertips reaching over the collar to caress her bare skin. Linzi got quickly to her feet.

  'I can stand being lonely, thank you.' She wished Jason would come back. She ought to be able to handle this importunate Welshman, but for some reason he frightened her.

  'Well, I'm sure you can.' Selwyn was on his feet too, moving close against her. 'And I wouldn't ask you to do anything you didn't want to do. But there's no harm in a little fun, is there? Between friends, and no strings or hard feelings when it's over?' He slid his hands up her arms and before she could stop him his mouth was on hers, forceful and demanding. A tide of fury and repugnance rose in Linzi, flooding body and limbs as she struggled, but Selwyn merely laughed softly in his throat and held her closer, his arms hard around her shoulders, his fingertips probing under her arms to find her breasts. She felt his teeth against her lips and jerked her head back, and felt rather than heard his stifled curse as one hand came up behind her head to hold it while he bent her body back over his arm. Her own hands flailed uselessly behind him, trapped almost to the wrist, unable to do more than claw at the back of his jacket. With a swift movement he twisted her round to the chesterfield and bore her down upon it, his weight forcing her back against the cushions. Linzi gave a cry of fear as she felt his hand fumbling with her dress, then sagged with relief as she heard someone at the door.

  Selwyn jerked himself off her as the door opened, but there wasn't time for Linzi to do more than struggle into a sitting position and raise her hands to her disordered hair. It must have been quite obvious to the two who came in that something had been going on; and it was inevitable that they should misunderstand.

  'Well, you and Selwyn do seem to be hitting it off!' Ceri exclaimed with a: gurgle. 'Sorry if we came back too soon—Jason did say he was sure you'd be all right, but I didn't like to leave you on your own too long.' She sent a sideways look at Jason. 'And you see, you were right, weren't you? We could have stayed a lot longer. But still, it's not really polite, is it?' Her eyes came back to Linzi, noting the crumpled dress and disarranged hair. 'I hope Selwyn hasn't been too naughty—you have to be stern with him, his girl-friends all tell me!'

  Colour flamed in Linzi's cheeks. She looked away from Ceri's suggestive glance and found Jason's eyes on her, dark with some unfathomable emotion, the lines of his face etched deeply with anger and something else—it could have been disgust, but she didn't want to believe that. Surely he must realise that whatever Selwyn had been doing, she wouldn't have been encouraging him. But as she gazed at him, mutely begging him to understand, he turned away. As if dismissing her, she thought, stung; as if considering her beneath contempt.

  'Now, what shall we do?' Ceri cried gaily. 'Do you play cards, Linzi? Oh, not bridge or anything madly intelligent like that—but whist? Solo? Would you like a game?'

  Well, it was a way of passing the evening, Linzi thought as they gathered round a table. At least it would keep conversation to a minimum and she wouldn't be exposed to any more embarrassment from Selwyn. But as her eyes met Jason's when she raised them from the cards, or their fingers touched accidentally as he passed her a drink, she knew that her discomfort wasn't by any means over. If Jason's thunderous expression was anything to go by, it had only just begun. And she dreaded the drive back to Bron Melyn.

  A dread that proved to have good reason behind it. Almost as soon as Jason had started the car and they were moving down the drive, with Ceri and Selwyn still waving in the doorway, he began.

  'Just what was going on in the drawing-room while Ceri and I were upstairs?'

  Linzi was too tired and unhappy to choose her words. 'What do you mean, going on? I could just as well ask what was going on upstairs!'

  He brushed that aside. 'When we came in, Selwyn was by the fire looking as if he'd just run a mile and you were on the chesterfield, and you didn't look as if you'd been sitting quietly discussing the weather. Your hair was all over the place, your skirt up to your knees ‑'

  'So what?' she flashed, knowing that he'd never believe the truth. 'Just what business is it of yours anyway? I don't have to answer to you for what I do!'

  'You're living in my house, under my care ‑' Jason began, but Linzi, her temper really roused now, interrupted him again.

  'I'm not under your care! I haven't been for the past five years. That's all over, remember, finished. My God, I was right to run out when I did—I dread to think what life would have been like with you. Why, you'd probably have chained me up during the day so that I couldn't get into any mischief. And as for leading my own life in any way at all ‑'

  'You're dead right there' he gritted. 'I'd probably have had to chain you up! The way you've been behaving since you came to Bron Melyn, I'd never have had a minute's peace any other way. I wonder just how many times you'd have betrayed me by now ‑'

  Infuriated, Linzi turned and slashed her hand across his face, regardless of the fact that he was still driving, even though slowly. At once he slammed on the brakes and the car jerked to a halt. In the dim light she could see that his face was twisted with rage, and she instinctively cringed away in her seat.

  'Why, you stupid little bitch!' There was a note of contempt in his voice that stabbed at her heart. 'What in God's name do you think you're doing?' His hand shot out and grasped
her wrist, wrenching painfully at the fine skin. 'You deserve a thorough good hiding for that, and I'm darned if one of these fine days I won't give it to you. I've been itching to teach you a lesson for years.' The threat tore at her nerves. 'You think you can do just what you like, don't you, and just because you've got the kind of looks most men go mad for you've got away with it up till now. But not any longer, sweet Linzi. What is it they call you? The Swan?' His fingers came up to encircle her slender neck and she could feel the tactile strength in them, the tension of fury that quivered against her skin. 'You really do play with fire, don't you,' he murmured, his voice dangerously silky now. 'You really do.... But it's not for much longer, little girl. Not for much longer.' The fingertips stroked gently at her neck, the thumbs meeting in the hollow of her throat, and Linzi closed her eyes in fear. There had always been this hidden streak of violence in Jason, but surely . . .? She made a tremendous effort and opened her eyes again, meeting his though she quailed before the open anger in them.

  'Look, I don't know what brought all this on,' she managed to whisper. 'A kiss—is that what you're objecting to? Selwyn's an attractive man—Ceri's an attractive girl. You have your fun, why shouldn't I have mine?' Her courage ebbed back as Jason, let his hands drop from her neck and sat there staring at her. 'And you're no one to talk anyway, Jason Carver. What about Sian? What about that poor child and the baby you've landed her with? Or did you think that had been sufficiently hushed up?' Cautiously, she shifted away from him, almost petrifyingly afraid of his reaction yet unable to stem the flow of words. 'You think I'm contemptible, don't you,' she threw at him, her voice cutting. 'Just because you found me and Selwyn looking as if we'd been—been kissing, you think I'm beyond the pale. Well, whatever you think of me, it's just nothing to what I think of you! Anyone who could do what you did—seduce an innocent child, who couldn't have been much over sixteen at the time—land her with a baby you refused to acknowledge—and then try to make out she was promiscuous anyway and the baby could belong to half a dozen different men—well, if what I've done is contemptible, there just isn't any word for that! It's a pity the days of horsewhips and shotguns seem to have gone, Jason, because if anyone deserved them, you do!'