Substitute Bride

by Margaret Pargeter

  'You're still being insulting!' she retorted sharply.

  'I didn't mean to be,' he shrugged. 'I believe any man would prefer a little earthiness to ice. Come to think of it,' his blue eyes were suddenly keener, 'you have a very promising mouth. With a little tuition,' he grinned, 'of the right kind, you might have distinct possibilities.'

  'Which I suppose,' she snapped, 'might make up for my lack of beauty?'

  'Well, no one,' he taunted, 'needs rose-coloured spectacles in bed.'

  His careless frankness was making her quiver and bringing wild colour to her pale cheeks. Yet there was nothing really offensive in his manner. He was annoyed because Blanche wasn't here and was obviously getting rid of his frustration. Rex Oliver often said much the same kind of thing, but the effect was different. Some of his remarks to Blanche made Emma almost squirm. Often she felt like telling him to shut up, only Blanche wouldn't have thanked her. Frankly, she didn't know how Blanche could stand him, especially now she was engaged to a man like Rick Conway.

  'Are you in England for long?' she made a rather obvious attempt to change the conversation.

  'Just for the next couple of days,' he replied, surprising her. 'This is why I feel it's important to see Blanche tonight. I have to fly to Australia for approximately three weeks. My cousin runs some sugar plantations in Northern Queensland for me and something has come up unexpectedly. I could have taken Blanche with me and made it part of our honeymoon, but there'll be a lot of business to get through and not much time for pleasure. Somehow I couldn't see her enjoying it. I thought three weeks would give her time to complete her preparations for our wedding and we could be married immediately I got back.'

  'That seems reasonable.' Emma, realising her own voice sounded remarkably flat, tried to smile to make up for it.

  'I already have a licence,' he said lightly. 'Think she'll be pleased?'

  'Of course.' Again Emma was aware of a curious hollowness inside her and wondered why it was there. Surely she didn't imagine she was going to miss having Blanche around? Yet what else could it be? Bewildered, she raised confused eyes to meet Rick Conway's and, once more, found herself caught in a moment of peculiar tension.

  Again she had a feeling that something momentous had been avoided when Daisy gave another roar of indignant pain, as the calf within her stirred. Quickly Emma went down on her knees in the straw, speaking to her softly while she gently soothed the animal's hot neck with her small hand. 'Rick…' she began.

  'Emma,' swiftly he drew her to her feet, after glancing at Daisy with quick comprehension, 'I'm hungry. It must be hours since I've eaten. Why not go and make us both something while I keep watch here?'

  'But she looks…' Anxiously, Emma stared down over her shoulder as Rick held her, trying to decide exactly how Daisy looked. 'I don't want anything to go wrong,' she frowned, moving uneasily away from him. 'If anything was to happen while…'

  'Nothing's going to happen while you're gone,' he let her go mockingly, 'I'll be here. My interests lie mainly in sugar, but I've managed horses and stock all my life.'

  'Well, if you're sure?' Daisy seemed to be reproaching her with huge, soft brown eyes, but Rick was so adamant he was leaving Emma with little choice. Wearily, the fight momentarily going out of her, she bent her fair head. 'I admit I would love a cup of tea, but you must promise you'll come for me if anything happens.'

  'I'll let you know if anything goes wrong,' he promised, with a deviousness she didn't think about until afterwards.

  In the house, in the small kitchen, as she swiftly cooked a light meal, Emma thought wistfully how nice it was to have a pair of broad shoulders to lean on, if only figuratively. Blanche was a fool to run the risks she did, and the sooner she realised it the better. By continuing to go out with Rex Oliver she was playing with fire, and while Emma felt she hated Rick Conway after the disparaging remarks he had made about her looks, she sensed he was twice the man Rex would ever be.

  Some might say Blanche deserved to lose her fiancé, but Emma found it hard to be vindictive. She had tried to warn Blanche, as soon as she had come into the house, but had been unable to get hold of her. She had even tried to ring Rex at two of his clubs. She had gone to a lot of trouble finding the numbers, but had been no more successful with him, either. Now she could only hope that Blanche would see Rick's hired car and send Rex away before it was too late. Sometimes Blanche appeared to have the intuition of an alley cat, and Emma prayed that, on this occasion, it wouldn't let her down.

  Leaving a pan of soup simmering on the hotplate, she went to tell Rick that dinner was ready and was surprised to find Jim Brown in the barn with him.

  'We were both present at the birth,' Rick said solemnly, as Emma's eyes widened with dismay, 'so there's no need to worry.'

  Daisy, a proud mother, was giving all her attention to her newly born calf. Emma, her small face lighting with a gentle tenderness, watched them until Rick, his eyes fixed curiously on her, reminded her dryly that he was still hungry.

  'Oh, I'm sorry,' she flushed, 'that's what I came to tell you about. I have something waiting.' Jumping up from her crouched position beside Daisy, she smiled warmly at Jim, who said he could manage now, and there was no need for her to come back.

  'I hope you didn't ruin your suit.' Suddenly remembering he wasn't exactly dressed for the kind of work he had been doing, she glanced at Rick anxiously as they entered the kitchen.

  'I found some old waterproofs hanging behind a door,' he assured her. 'Not that it mattered. I have another suit in the car and could always have got something in London tomorrow.'

  'How nice to have plenty of money!' she retorted sharply, before quite realising what she was saying.

  'Waspish tongues often go with plain faces,' he observed indifferently.

  He watched with unrepentant satisfaction as she went scarlet, and she knew intuitively that he enjoyed hurting her. She sensed, swiftly appalled, that given the opportunity he would take a sadistic pleasure in it. The awareness between them, if he was conscious of it at all, wasn't something he was going to let her enjoy!

  'When you've quite finished insulting me,' she snapped, 'I'll show you where you can wash your hands—unless you remember?'

  'The kitchen sink will do,' he said, and proceeded to use it, after taking off his jacket and shirt.

  Open-mouthed, her throat curiously dry, Emma watched as he turned on the taps before reaching for the soap. His back was broad and when he twisted slightly sideways, she saw the crisp curling hair which covered his strongly muscled chest. Hastily, as he finished rinsing the faint bloodstains from his arms and began drying them, she turned away. Trying to steady her breath, she began ladling soup into the golden earthenware bowls on the table.'

  She didn't look at him as he sat down, hating the peculiar heat which seemed to be surging right through her. Impatiently she wondered what was wrong with her and wished her hands would stop trembling.

  'That was good.' She winced at Rick Conway's sigh of pleasure as she removed his empty bowl. 'Did you make it?'

  'Yes,' she set the main course before him with a flat little frown, 'I prepared it last night, after I finished outside, before I went to bed. I'm glad you enjoyed it.'

  His brows lifted as though he was impressed, as he glanced up at her. 'You're a good cook. This steak is delicious, too. I don't think I've tasted better.'

  'It's not the best.' Emma wondered why she was bothering to explain, unless it was because praise was so unknown to her she was letting it go to her head. 'But I prepare it well beforehand, too, for the best results.' Her sense of humour suddenly reasserting itself, she grinned, 'I do have some redeeming features, you see.'

  Rick's eyebrows quirked again, but he said nothing, and her smile faded as she bitterly rebuked herself for fishing for compliments. Her face going quite pale, she looked away, staring blindly down at her own piece of steak, which she suddenly didn't feel like eating.

  'Do you often eat out?' He sighed, as if, noting he
r despondency, he was searching for a topic to amuse her.

  'Me? Oh,' she smiled again, wryly, 'almost never.'

  'When Blanche and I are married you'll have to come and stay with us,' he said formally. 'I think you would enjoy our West Indian food.'

  'Yes, possibly.' Her reply sounded stilted, she knew, but she couldn't find anything else to say. After Rick Conway married she wasn't sure that she'd be wise to see more of him than was necessary. They didn't get on.

  'Shall I make coffee?' he offered unexpectedly. 'I can see you're tired.'

  Because she couldn't recall anyone suggesting she was tired since she came here, she blinked in astonishment. 'If you like,' she indicated the percolator on the sink. 'I'm not all that tired, though, and when Blanche comes I'll go to bed.'

  He filled the percolator before he enquired thoughtfully, 'How much land do you have here?'

  'Just over a hundred acres. And you?' she asked, hoping to divert him.

  He smiled, as if her blunt question amused him. 'Considerably more than that, I'm afraid.'

  Emma noticed he didn't reveal anything. 'I suppose I ought to thank you for helping this evening.'

  'Not if you don't feel like it,' he returned tauntingly.

  It was an effort to meet the dark eyes, which Emma sensed were watching her cynically. 'You seemed to think nothing of it.'

  'I'm quite good with human babies as well,' he assured her lightly. 'On a sugar plantation things can happen very quickly and there isn't always time to fetch a doctor.'

  Was he deliberately trying to embarrass her? Her cheeks pink, Emma suspected he was, and her fingers curled tightly. 'You must be looking forward to having a son of your own,' she remarked stiffly.

  'First priority,' he agreed coldly.

  'You sound as if you were providing a part for a business machine!' she accused him. 'Babies need love.'

  'Should be born out of love, is what you're trying to say, isn't it?' His eyes were hard. 'We aren't all romantic idealists, Emma, but supposing you look after your affairs and allow me to look after mine?'

  'I think…' Emma was beginning hotly, when the hall door suddenly burst open and to her horrified consternation Blanche rushed into the kitchen, closely followed by Rex Oliver.

  Emma felt like sinking through the floor. If she hadn't been so busy quarrelling with Rick she might have heard Blanche .come in. Her face so pale as to cause Rick Conway to glance at her sharply, she stumbled to her feet. Desperately she tried to utter a word of warning, but only an odd croaking sound fell from her frozen lips.

  It amazed her, afterwards, to realise she needn't have worried. Blanche, with her usual cunning, took care of the situation immediately, after a mere flicker of stunned surprise. As Rick stepped forward, she launched herself straight at him with a shrill cry. 'Rick! Oh, darling, isn't this wonderful!'

  Numbly Emma watched as his arms went around her and his head lowered in a brief but warm kiss. 'I was beginning to think you were never coming,' he grumbled lightly, yet there was nothing indulgent in his eyes as they went speculatively over the man she had arrived with.

  Blanche sounded quite breathless, as if Rick's kiss had lasted longer than it had. Her eyes glittered too, but with a peculiar kind of excitement. 'It's wonderful to see you,' she repeated, 'but you should have let me know you were coming. I might not have been here yet if I hadn't remembered that Rex was taking Emma out this evening and rang him to beg a lift home.' With a charming smile she glanced at Emma. 'Rex kept grumbling that I'd made him late, but I told him you'd probably have forgotten, anyway. Am I right?'

  As Emma tried desperately to pull herself together, Blanche gracefully contrived to turn her back on Rick, to stare meaningfully from Rex to Emma.

  Rex was the first to catch on, perhaps because in his line of business he was used to dealing with unusual situations and had to keep his wits about him. With a charming smile he caught Emma to him, lightly kissing her bewildered lips. 'I can see you've been busy, darling, so it maybe doesn't matter that I'm late, but if we're going dancing you'd better get a move on.'

  'Dancing?' she whispered, her grey eyes round as she tried unhappily to wriggle from his arms.

  'Don't tell me you really had forgotten?' he teased, while his fingers dug cruelly in her arm, like a warning. She heard him take a deep breath as he glanced at Rick Conway. 'Emma gets so absorbed in the farm she often forgets about me.'

  'We may as well all go dancing,' Blanche said quickly, as something about Emma's expression convinced her that her schemes could still go awry. 'Can't we, darling?' brightly she appealed to a silent Rick.

  'Anything you like,' he agreed lazily, as she slipped a loving hand through his arm, 'but we do have a lot to discuss.'

  Blanche frowned. 'Surely nothing that can't wait?'

  'We have a wedding to arrange,' he replied lightly. 'Ours.' He took no notice of the others.

  'Wedding?' Blanche looked startled, almost shocked.

  'We are engaged, remember?' Rick reminded her, very dryly.

  'Yes, of course.' Blanche's smile, Emma saw, was very pleasant, if a trifle forced. As she watched, Blanche's mouth drooped petulantly. 'I hadn't forgotten, Rick, but you might have let me know you were coming. I can't just drop everything at a moment's notice. I have my modelling contracts to fulfil.'

  Rick's eyes narrowed, then he shrugged. 'We can't talk about this here,' he flicked an enigmatic glance at Rex which again betrayed no immediate liking for what he saw. 'Perhaps later.'

  There was dislike on Rick Conway's face but no real suspicion. With an air of lazy amusement the arm Rex had placed around Emma tightened. She could sense the almost bizarre pleasure he was deriving from her discomfort, felt it increase when he urged her softly to hurry up and change. 'If you're feeling exhausted, darling, I can always come and help,' he grinned, adding outrageously, 'It wouldn't be the first time.'

  'I can manage,' she murmured, restraining an urgent desire to slap his leering face. Meeting the brief anger in Rick Conway's, she felt sickened. It wasn't hard to guess what he was thinking. Blanche had a lot to answer for, but for once she might have bitten off more than she could chew. She would need brains as well as her normal cunning to find her way successfully through this little lot! Surely she didn't expect her to actually go dancing with them? She couldn't have forgotten Emma hadn't a thing to wear.

  Yet for all she felt she despised her, it was for Blanche's sake that Emma found herself nodding stiffly at Rex. 'Just give me a few minutes. I'm afraid I've—' pausing, she cast an apologetic glance towards Rick, 'I mean, we've been busy, and I forgot about everything else.' Trying to control a note of sheer fright in her voice, she turned to Blanche. 'You'll be coming up to change, too, won't you, before we go?'

  'After I take Rex and Rick into the lounge and find them something decent to drink.' She tossed a distasteful glance at the now cold coffee. 'You go ahead.'

  When Blanche followed her a little later, Emma was sitting on the edge of her bed. She stared at Blanche, who was looking unbelievably pleased with herself.

  'What do we do now?' she asked, her own face white.

  'Do?' Blanche smiled, a gleeful little smile as she threw off her coat, as if the two men downstairs presented no great problem. 'Hope for the best, I suppose,' she replied, with a coolness Emma found it difficult to emulate.

  'I think you're acting deplorably, going out with one man while you're engaged to another!' she suddenly found the courage to say furiously.

  'Now don't go getting all steamed up!' Blanche advised nastily. 'How was I to know Rick would arrive? If you'd had any sense, you would have contrived to get me word he was here and all this might have been avoided.' Her pale blues eyes cold with dislike, she snapped at Emma spitefully, 'You're so bloody self-righteous I expect you prayed the worst might happen so you could say I told you so!'

  CHAPTER TWO

  In the quiet of the bedroom nothing could be heard but the sound of Blanche's viciously drawn breath. Emma, t
aking a quick glance at her, swallowed nervously. Blanche's language didn't frighten her so much as the hatred in her voice. Blanche was making no attempt to disguise the fact that she despised her.

  Biting her lip on an unhappy sigh, Emma managed a rather muddled dignity. 'I did try to ring, but no one seemed to know where I could find you. And if Rick did break off the engagement you would only have yourself to blame, and I certainly wouldn't waste my time saying I told you so.'

  It was the nearest Emma had come to defying the other girl, and the effort proved almost too much for her. Twin patches of colour tinted her pale cheeks and her voice trembled.

  Blanche, apparently fearing she was going to have a case of hysteria on her hands, said quickly, 'I'm sorry. I agree you have a point, but you can't let me down now. You've got to help me!'

  Emma could almost see the way her mind was working. Blanche wouldn't have spared her another word, at least not a civil one, if it hadn't been for the two men downstairs. 'If helping you means going out tonight, I'm afraid I can't.'

  'It's not much to ask, darling,' Blanche was shamelessly wheedling now. 'We'll go somewhere quiet, where Rex and I aren't known, and only stay an hour or two.'

  'What it boils down to,' said Emma, recovering some of her poise, 'is that you're asking me to help deceive Rick. That's what I don't like, for a start.'

  'What can it mean to you?' Blanche's face was almost ugly as her temper rose again. 'Don't tell me,' she sneered, 'that you've fallen for him!'

  'Hardly.' Emma's soft mouth twisted ironically. 'What chance do you think I would stand with a man like that? But,' she attacked her cousin fiercely, 'if I had fallen for him and felt like encouraging him, I hope I'd have had the decency to remember there are such things as principles and loyalty. If Rick knew what was going on I'm sure he wouldn't want anything more to do with you.'

  'How do you know?' Blanche retaliated contemptuously. 'Do you imagine he's any saint himself? I don't see why, if I have to overlook his affairs, he shouldn't do the same where I'm concerned. Why should different rules apply for men and women?'