A Rumoured Engagement

by Catherine George

  ‘So Mother said. But they’ll be fighting fit by Saturday, no doubt I’m game if you are,’ said Saskia, laughing.

  When the taxi drew up in a quiet crescent of Victorian houses Saskia was surprised. The houses were attractive enough, with pretty front gardens, and were no doubt vastly expensive, but surely not desirable enough to make Luke break up with Zoë over one of them?

  Luke paid off the driver, then lifted Saskia’s hold-all and beckoned her to a gap between two of the houses. In the darkness, despite the street light, Saskia hadn’t noticed a narrow path lined with tall hedges.

  ‘I’ll go first,’ said Luke. ‘Be careful. The surface is a bit rough in places. Stay close behind me.’

  Deeply intrigued, Saskia zipped up her waterproof jacket and turned up her collar against the wind, following Luke’s tall shape, which looked bulkier than usual in a raincoat. He led her along the tunnel-like path to a tall, wrought-iron gate at the end of it, fastened with a chain and padlock.

  Luke turned a key in the lock, pushed the gate open, and security lights came on to illuminate a tiny formal garden and a house whose symmetry was its only adornment, other than the shell-shaped portico which sheltered the fanlight above the wide front door. Two tall windows, with twelve panes of glass in each, flanked the door, with three more multi-paned windows on the floor above and two dormer windows under the roof. The house was as simple as a child’s drawing, and to Saskia equally delightful. Zoë, she thought with scorn, was an idiot to prefer fashionable Docklands to this little gem.

  ‘Well?’ said Luke, putting a key into the door.

  ‘I can’t believe it’s here!’ said Saskia, shaking her head. She gestured to the street behind them. ‘That was quiet enough, when you think the Uxbridge Road isn’t far away, but this is amazing—including that hidden path. Mother never mentioned that it’s a sort of oasis in the middle of suburbia.’ Nor, thought Saskia with sudden guilt, would she herself have listened in the past if Marina had tried to describe Luke’s home.

  ‘It looks best at night,’ he warned. ‘Outside it could do with a coat of paint. It’s better inside.’ He switched on a light in the square hall to show a gleaming wood floor with a fringed oriental rug in the middle of it.

  Turning on lights as he went, Luke led her through a formal room with more gleaming floors, empty except for shelves filled with books flanking the beautiful, austere fireplace and the gilded mirror between two candle wall-lights above it. ‘I bought that only recently,’ he explained. ‘I’ve been hunting auctions and sales of various kinds in odd moments, but my recent travels have put a stop to that for the time being. The study I just brought lock, stock and barrel from the flat, of course.’

  He showed her a very functional, masculine room, with a modern desk and all the technology necessary for his business interests, plus a sofa and a couple of comfortable chairs, and a television. ‘I had a carpet laid in here, but the floors are beautiful, so I had the others sanded down and sealed to show the natural wood. I’ll buy rugs and so on as I go along.’

  The dining room boasted another graceful fireplace, but was otherwise equally empty.

  ‘I haven’t got to this room yet, either,’ explained Luke. ‘My other stuff is too modern, so I put it in the kitchen, which is down these stairs on a different level.’

  The basement kitchen ran across the width of the house at the back, with tall windows which looked out onto a paved courtyard area with a garage beyond, which, he told her, was his normal means of entry.

  ‘But tonight I wanted to impress you by coming along my own private front path.’ Luke pointed out the cooker and the central island with the designer sink and electric hobs, which, like the bathrooms upstairs, had been installed by the previous owner. Finally he opened a door to an old-fashioned pantry and revealed a washing machine and a refrigerator, then stood with arms folded, looking at her quizzically. ‘Well? Do you want to turn tail and run? Or do you fancy a look upstairs?’

  Saskia slid out of her damp jacket and put it over the back of a chair. ‘Are you kidding? Of course I do.’

  Luke led her back to the hall, and on up the staircase to a landing which branched to divide the upper floor neatly into two halves, with a long window at the head of the stairs looking down on the courtyard at the back. On one side of the landing Luke’s bedroom, austerely comfortable with carpet and furniture from his previous flat, connected with a luxuriously fitted bathroom. Beyond it lay another small, empty bedroom with bare boards.

  Luke raised an eyebrow. ‘Now for the acid test.’

  Across the landing two rooms were connected by a bathroom with a claw-foot tub standing against a mirrorlined wall. One bedroom held bunk-beds and a small wardrobe, the other a tall, mahogany cheval mirror and a large bed with a headboard fashioned of intricately carved brass.

  Saskia gazed at the room in silence, then looked up at Luke. ‘This is lovely. Utterly lovely. Are you sure you want me to have it? You could let it for heaven knows what to a paying tenant.’

  ‘Maybe I will. Eventually. I’d rather get the house finished first.’

  ‘How long have you actually lived here?’ she asked curiously. ‘I didn’t take much notice when Mother told me you’d moved.’ And had feigned lack of interest, she thought ruefully, at any mention of Luke’s new house.

  ‘Six months or so. Though I spend so much time travelling, I’ve literally slept here for only half of that. I stay put from now on, of course, until spring.’ He raised an eyebrow. ‘So. Are you interested? The twins love the place, hence the bunk-beds. I put Dad and Marina in my room when they stop over, and I doss down on the brass bed.’ He smiled crookedly. ‘You’re the only one who’s kept away.’

  ‘My time was rather taken up until recently. Not,’ she added tartly, ‘that I’ve ever been invited.’

  ‘I’m inviting you now.’

  She looked at him in silence for a moment, deciding not to tell him that just one look had been enough for her to fall in love with the house. ‘All right, then. Thank you. I’d like to stay. Just until my place is free, of course.’

  Luke gave her his usual crooked smile. ‘Of course!

  What a polite little sister you are, to be sure.’

  ‘Only I’m not your sister,’ she said, her eyes falling.

  The smile vanished. ‘For which I’m grateful—as I demonstrated so unexpectedly at the airport. But you needn’t worry on that score, Sassy. It was an accident. I’ll try not to make it a habit.’

  ‘Do you usually kiss girls by accident?’ asked Saskia, raising her head.

  ‘No.’

  Their eyes met, and held for a moment, then Luke turned away. ‘I need a shower. Have a bath, if you feel like it. I’ll bring your bag up. Would you like to go out for a meal later?’

  She shook her head. ‘Could we just order in something? I’m still recovering from my flight.’

  ‘Whatever you fancy.’ He yawned suddenly. ‘Sorry. It’s been a bit of a wrench to get back to the grind after my travels. Back to earth with a vengeance.’

  ‘With a trip to Heathrow at rush hour to top it off.’ She smiled. ‘It was very sweet of you to bother.’

  ‘Sassy, I am rarely sweet,’ he said dryly. ‘But it seemed a good opportunity to show you the house. I thought you might prefer it to a trip to Oxford.’

  ‘I did. Thank you. I appreciate it.’

  ‘Then don’t read an entire novel in the bath. I’m hungry.’

  When they met half an hour later in the kitchen, Luke was loud with approval.

  ‘You were quick, Sassy. Wonderful. So what shall we have for our takeaway supper? The Uxbridge Road can provide food in most languages.’

  She grinned at him, pushing her fingers through her damp hair. ‘Would you groan if I said I fancied a pizza?’

  He laughed, shrugging. ‘Why not? Mrs B has done some shopping for me, so I can even rustle up a salad to go with it.’

  They sat at the kitchen table later, sharing a vast four-s
easons pizza, accompanied by some fruity red wine with the elegant Fortinari label. Afterwards they took coffee up to Luke’s study, and Saskia listened, fascinated, while he described the vast amount of work necessary at Armytage Wines for the Christmas rush.

  ‘So how do you feel about going back to the bank?’ he asked after a while.

  Saskia curled up in the chair, leaning her head back, relaxed and drowsy from the food and wine. ‘Right now I hate the thought of it But I’ve been in the job a long time. I might miss the cut and thrust of it all, I suppose. Though sometimes the stress factor’s a bit high.’ She pulled a face, and looked across at the long figure stretched out in the other chair. ‘You obviously love your work.’

  ‘I’m my own boss, remember,’ he reminded her. ‘Something with its own brand of built-in stress. But nothing I can’t handle. You, on the other hand, sound as though you need a change.’

  ‘I’ll start looking in the papers,’ she said, yawning, and smiled across at him apologetically. ‘All that food and wine on top of my flight has made me sleepy. What time do you get up in the morning?’

  ‘Crack of dawn tomorrow, alas. But you stay in bed as long as you like. Give me a ring tomorrow night to say you arrived safely in Oxford,’ he added. ‘Are you game to come up again on Saturday with Jonty and Matt?’

  ‘Of course. I’ll let you know what train.’ Saskia frowned suddenly. ‘Don’t you work on Saturdays, then?’

  ‘Sometimes. I kept this one free.’ His eyes held hers. ‘As I said, I’m my own boss.’

  With an effort she looked away and got to her feet. ‘Feeble, I know, but I’m done in. So if I’m to be fit to entertain the twins I’d better get to bed. Thanks for the meal.’

  Luke uncoiled himself from the chair and strolled to open the door for her. ‘My pleasure, Sassy. Do you have everything you want?’

  She nodded, suddenly so much aware of his physical presence she found it hard to breathe.

  There was silence for a moment, then he said abruptly, ‘I don’t,’ and pulled her into his arms, looking down into her startled eyes. ‘Earlier tonight it was an accident. This time—’

  This time the kiss was different, fiercer, with a flashfire heat that enveloped them both. Saskia’s arms went round his neck, and Luke held her with rib-cracking closeness, their breath labouring in their lungs as their lips and tongues met with a passion which frightened Saskia out of her wits and left Luke white as a sheet when he let her go at last. She backed away in silence, her eyes locked with his.

  ‘I didn’t mean that to happen,’ he said hoarsely.

  She took in a deep, shaky breath while the world righted itself. ‘No. No, I don’t suppose you did.’

  Luke’s eyes narrowed. ‘What do you mean?’

  Saskia shrugged. ‘Because of the way things are.’

  ‘Dad and Marina, you mean?’

  ‘No.’ She smiled shakily. ‘I meant because you’ve never liked me much.’

  ‘Saskia,’ he said very clearly, ‘you were the one who hated the sight of me, not the other way round.’

  ‘You can’t pretend you were over-fond of me, Luke!’

  ‘It’s hard to be fond of a girl who spits at you like an angry cat, Sassy.’ He smiled a little. ‘At least that’s how it used to be at first. As you grew up you were more ice maiden than spitfire.’

  She returned the smile reluctantly. ‘I thawed rather suddenly just now, though.’

  He nodded, his eyes gleaming in appreciation. ‘So what happens now?’

  Saskia looked at him uncertainly. ‘I’m not sure what you mean.’

  ‘I mean,’ he said deliberately, ‘that now you’re probably sorry you didn’t go straight back to Oxford. Also that you’ll start flat hunting first thing in the morning.’

  ‘You’re not casting me out into the snow tonight, then?’

  He frowned. ‘Sassy, I’m the transgressor, not you.’

  She looked him in the eye. ‘That’s nonsense. It takes two, Luke.’

  ‘I wish you’d mentioned it sooner! I wanted to make love to you in Italy. Most of the time, but especially after the party.’ Luke moved closer. ‘I was jealous, Sassy. I objected to watching you dance with Dante all night.’

  ‘Not all night,’ she contradicted breathlessly.

  ‘I didn’t approve of the cabaret act with Tom, either.’

  “Then why didn’t you dance with me more yourself, then?’ she said gruffly, closing the gap between them slightly.

  ‘Because it wasn’t possible to hold you in my arms without demonstrating to the world at large that I wanted you. Badly. And I was supposed to be your brother, remember? People remarked on the resemblance.’ Luke reached out his hands to take hers, his eyes glittering darkly. ‘But we’re not relatives, are we? Consanguinity doesn’t come into it.’

  She shook her head mutely.

  ‘I would like to say I’ve been fond of you since the day we met, but it wouldn’t be true. I always had looked on you as a little sister,’ he went on, drawing her closer. ‘Then the day I arrived at the villa I walked into the bathroom and saw a nude, breathtaking vision, like one of Canova’s Three Graces come to life.’

  Saskia smiled suddenly, her eyes dancing. ‘Is that a compliment?’

  His eyes closed involuntarily. ‘If you’re pleased because the memory keeps me awake at night, then, yes, it’s a compliment. It’s also the truth.’ His lids lifted in a look of such blazing need her smile faded. ‘But because you’re Marina’s daughter, and I’m my father’s son, I won’t do anything about it unless—’

  ‘Unless?’ she prompted.

  ‘You feel the same way.’

  Now, Saskia knew, was the time to insist that she did not—that she had no intention of getting involved with anyone for the foreseeable future after the debacle with Francis. There were all sorts of reasons why a love affair with Lucius Armytage would be sheer madness. But at the moment she couldn’t think of any. The look in his eyes was making it very hard for her to think at all. And more powerful than all of that was the incredible physical response he roused in her. Something she’d never felt before for anyone.

  ‘Luke,’ she said very quietly, ‘I won’t lie. I do feel the same way. The time together in Italy changed us both, I know. I really loved doing the tourist things with you. And it was the same for me at the party—I was jealous of the other women you danced with. But it’s all a bit sudden.’

  He smiled. ‘We’ve known each other for ten years, Sassy. It’s not that sudden.’

  ‘Feeling like this is,’ she said bluntly, and disengaged her hands. ‘Look, could we sit down and talk?’

  ‘As long as you like.’ He waited until she’d curled up in a chair, then sat down in the other, watching her.

  ‘You know I had a succession of boyfriends,’ she said, not looking at him. ‘Your father always had lots of students in and out of the house. There was never any shortage of male company as I was growing up—randy undergraduates, most of them.’

  ‘It used to worry Dad, I know,’ said Luke. ‘And I could appreciate his problem. He felt very responsible.’

  Saskia’s eyes softened. ‘I love your father very much, you know.’

  ‘Actually I do. It was your great redeeming feature from my point of view. Anyway, we were talking about boyfriends. Did one of them break your heart, Sassy?’

  ‘No, nothing like that.’ She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. ‘Most of them were just friends. And those who wanted more than that didn’t last long because—’ She sighed. ‘This is going to sound very far-fetched.’

  ‘Try me.’

  ‘I refused to play if they wanted more than kissing and touching.’ She looked down at her clasped hands, her face flushed.

  There was silence for a long interval, then Luke said quietly, ‘Are you trying to tell me that you’re a virgin, Sassy?’

  She shook her head. ‘During my first year in college one of Sam’s students introduced me to a friend of his. Piers was very
good-looking, with a double-barrelled name and a lot of charm. I fell for him in a big way, flattered by his pursuit, and utterly entranced when he invited me to the May Ball. Mother bought me a beautiful green taffeta ballgown, and off went Cinderella to dance all evening with her prince and drink champagne.

  To cut the story short, I eventually found myself in Piers’s room. Looking back on it, I realise he was high on more than just champagne. Before I knew what was happening, he’d pushed me onto his bed to introduce me to the sublime mystery of love—his description, not mine. It took less than two minutes, after which he sprawled on his back, snoring, and I went home.’

  Luke frowned. ‘But surely you didn’t leave it at that’

  ‘It was so off-putting I left it for a long time. The other boyfriends were just that. If they were content just to be friends—and a surprising number were—fine. If not, no dice.’ Saskia shrugged. ‘I’ve had only one really close relationship since then. You met Michael Todd in Oxford, if you remember? I liked him a lot. But it ended in fiasco.’

  ‘Reluctant though I am to bring up his name, surely Francis was more successful?’ said Luke without expression.

  She looked at him. ‘He’d hate it if he knew I was telling you this, but I managed to postpone the acid test until I moved in with him. It was meant to be the crowning touch to our celebration that happy Saturday. Unhappily, I arrived a day early, as you know. Bad move. But up to that point I was quite sure he would be the one to change things for me. Now I’ll never know.’

  Luke frowned. ‘Saskia, if Francis came knocking on your door tomorrow, telling you that the ex-wife was no longer part of his life, that you were the one he loved, how would you react?’

  She thought about it for a moment, then shook her head. ‘I wouldn’t believe him. Besides, I no longer feel the same way about him.’

  ‘Because of Amanda’

  Her eyes met his. ‘No,’ she said baldly. ‘Because of you.’

  Luke got up and pulled her to her feet, putting a finger under her chin to raise her face to his. ‘Then in that case I suggest we backtrack a little. Take time to adjust to each other. I want you under my roof, whatever the sleeping arrangements—but no gentlemen callers or the deal’s off.’