She had expected Nicholas to be angry at her accusation. What she hadn’t expected was the flare of pure rage that crossed his face. An instant later, he gripped her arm so hard that she almost yelped out loud. ‘I always thought you knew more than you let on,’ he said in a totally grim tone. ‘Who told you? Not Charles!’ he stated with utter certainty. ‘He’d never speak about it to anyone. So, who else knows about it? Who could know?’ he muttered with a black frown. Then he gave her a hard shake. ‘Tell me, Cathryn!’
But she didn’t have the slightest idea what he was talking about. All she did know was that he was suddenly in an absolutely towering rage, and that Nicholas Ellis in this mood frightened her half to death.
‘N-no one’s told me anything,’ she stuttered. ‘I don’t know what you’re on about. Or why I said that. I suppose I was just angry at you because I thought you were using me. Taking what you wanted, without giving a damn about how I felt about it, and what I wanted.’
Very slowly, Nicholas let go of her. ‘Is that the truth?’ he demanded.
‘Yes!’ And it certainly was. Cathryn wouldn’t have dared to lie to him, not while he looked like that. She was still shaking a little, but getting a small amount of courage back again now. ‘Why did you react like that?’ she asked unsteadily. ‘What did I say to make you so furious?’
‘You accused me of wanting whatever Charles has,’ he reminded her, his own tone still edged with anger. ‘I thought that, somehow, someone had found out. That it had become a matter for common gossip.’
‘I don’t understand this,’ frowned Cathryn. ‘What could I have found out?’
Nicholas green gaze fixed on her. ‘The reason why my brother hasn’t wanted to speak to me for the last five years. You see, Charles thought exactly the same as you. That I wanted what he had.’
‘What did he have that you could possibly have wanted?’ asked Cathryn in a puzzled voice.
‘Helena,’ replied Nicholas tightly. ‘The beautiful, dead Helena. Charles believes that I once had an affair with his wife.’
CHAPTER SEVEN
Cathryn was beginning to wish very fervently that she had never got involved with these two brothers. The relationship between them was too complicated, too full of pitfalls into which an outsider could so easily step.
‘Why would your brother think something like that?’ she asked jerkily.
Nicholas held her gaze levelly. ‘Because all the evidence seemed to point to it.’
‘And did you have an affair?’ Cathryn had blurted out the question before she could stop herself, but she dearly wished it had remained unspoken.
He didn’t answer straight away. Instead, he studied her face for a few moments, as if searching for something. ‘What do you think?’ he said at last.
This time, it was Cathryn who took a long time answering. She thought very hard about it first, and forced herself to be objective. ‘I don’t think you’d do anything like that,’ she said at length. ‘I don’t think you’d need to.’
Nicholas visibly relaxed a fraction. ‘Why not?’ he asked.
‘Because you don’t seem like the type of man who has to prove anything. Not to yourself, or to anyone else.’
And this time, amazingly, a faint smile showed on Nicholas’s face. ‘That sounds almost like a compliment.’
‘I suppose it is,’ Cathryn conceded. Then she gave a light frown. ‘Are you going to tell me how your brother got such a wrong idea about you?’
To her disappointment, he shook his head. ‘I think I’ve had enough soul-searching for one day. Let the family skeletons stay in their closet for a while longer.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘You said you were going to get something to eat. I think that’s a good idea. We’ve already missed lunch—in fact, it’s almost dinnertime.’
She shot an incredulous look at him. ‘After all this, how can you think about your stomach?’
‘Quite easily,’ Nicholas replied, with an unexpected grin. ‘I seem to be recovering all of my appetites since we’ve been here!’
Cathryn realised that she wasn’t going to get any more information out of him. In fact, she was astonished that he had told her as much as he had. This island certainly seemed to do something to people! Nicholas had unwound to an amazing degree since their arrival.
And have you unwound as well? murmured a voice inside her head.
She swallowed hard. She supposed she had. Kissing Nicholas—and enjoying it. And who knew where it might have led, if it hadn’t suddenly turned sour?
As she walked slowly towards the kitchen, she was more unsettled by that last thought than by Nicholas’s explanation of the deep rift between himself and his brother. Nothing about this trip was turning out the way she had expected. More and more, she was getting a strong feeling that she ought to back away from all this, before it was too late.
Too late for what? she found herself wondering uneasily. She didn’t know—and that was the main problem. Things were happening; the situation was somehow changing. She didn’t know exactly where she was heading any longer, and that disturbed her deeply.
As they reached the kitchen, she suddenly swung round to confront Nicholas. ‘I’d like to go back to London,’ she said bluntly. ‘I don’t want to stay here any longer.’
‘Because of me?’
His question hung softly in the air between them. Cathryn had the feeling that, whichever way she answered it, she was going to be giving something away. In the end, she said nothing, but she suspected that had told him something as well.
‘It’s too late to leave today,’ Nicholas said at last, when it became obvious that she wasn’t going to answer him. ‘But, if you like, we can leave first thing in the morning.’
‘Just like that?’ she said in surprise. ‘No arguments? You’re not going to try and persuade me to change my mind? Or stay on here by yourself?’
He gave a brief shrug. ‘Perhaps coming down here wasn’t such a good idea,’ he answered rather enigmatically. Then he glanced out of the window. ‘Anyway, I think the weather’s going to change.’
‘The sky’s still blue and the sun’s shining,’ Cathryn pointed out.
‘There’s a different feel to the air. I think the Indian summer’s over.’
Cathryn was certain he was wrong; the weather looked absolutely fine to her. She wasn’t going to argue with him, though. He had agreed to leave, and that was the important thing, as far as she was concerned.
By the time they sat down to eat their meal, there was a dark smudge of cloud right across the sky, and a light breeze was stirring the trees behind the house. Cathryn hoped the sea wouldn’t be too rough by the morning. It wasn’t far to the mainland, but there would still be plenty of time for her to get seasick!
Nicholas took himself off to his room after dinner. She didn’t know if he planned to sleep, or if he was going to work on the manuscript of his book, which he had brought with him. She didn’t really care too much which it was. She was just glad to be free of his company for a while. She hadn’t even enjoyed her dinner very much, sitting across the table from him and seeing that green gaze every time she looked up. There was something about him which was disturbing her more and more. He only had to come near her and her skin twitched in a really odd way!
There was a portable television in the lounge, and she watched that for much of the evening. She wasn’t particularly interested in the programmes, but at least they helped to keep her mind off other things.
She was just thinking about going up to bed when Nicholas strolled in. He must be a mind-reader, she thought to herself a little shakily.
He took very little notice of her, though. Instead, he went over to the window and looked out.
Cathryn had glanced out of the window earlier, and she could have told him that there was very little to see. The light breeze had turned into a wind, which was sending clouds scudding across the sky. They were thick enough to obscure the moon for much of the time, so it was pretty dark out there.
> ‘Did you see the weather forecast?’ Nicholas asked rather abruptly.
Cathryn shrugged. ‘I think it was on. To be honest, though, I didn’t listen to it.’ She didn’t want to admit that her thoughts had been somewhere else entirely.
At that, he rounded on her, a deep frown darkening his face. ‘In a place like this, you always pay attention to the weather.’ Then his flash of temper vanished as quickly as it had appeared. ‘Not that it really matters too much,’ he muttered. ‘We can’t get off here until the morning.’
He sounded as if he would be very pleased if someone waved a magic wand and whisked him off right now. Cathryn nibbled her lower lip. Was it because of her? She really didn’t see how it could be. Those kisses he had given her earlier might have made him feel restless, but she was sure he was more than capable of coping with physical frustration. She was the one who, to her utter amazement, seemed to be having problems with it.
Perhaps it was because she had never truly encountered it before. Nicholas’s kisses had done something to her. Innocent though they had seemed at the time, they had started a small, gnawing ache inside of her. She had hardly noticed it at first. Now she could hardly think of anything else.
She wished he would leave the room. It would be easier to think straight if he weren’t around. A couple of minutes later, he did just that, and in only seconds she found herself wishing he would come back again.
Cathryn got rather abruptly to her feet. This was perfectly ridiculous! She would go upstairs, have a bath, and then get a good night’s sleep. She was tired, that was all. Everyone had fanciful thoughts when they were tired. It was a well-known fact.
The bath water was cool, and the sheets even icier than the night before. Cathryn’s teeth actually chattered as she tried to get warm. And the wind had taken on a more strident note now. She could hear it whipping through the trees and throwing itself against her window, making the frames rattle.
Oh, this was really great, she thought irritably. If it went on all night, she wasn’t going to get a single wink of sleep! Resolutely, she closed her eyes and tried to ignore the cold, the weather, and the confused thoughts whirling round inside her head. And in the end she was successful, sliding into a rather restless sleep.
She was woken up some time later by the sound of something hammering against the window. For a few moments, she lay there in the darkness, blinking blearily and wondering what on earth it was. Then she realised it was rain. It was pouring! And the wind had risen to a steady howl as it pounded its way across the island and whipped around the house.
Outside, several small objects seemed to be crashing about. Cathryn listened to the noises nervously, wondering how long this sudden storm was going to last. Then there was a much louder crash than all the rest. With a squeak of alarm, she scrambled out of bed and hurried over to switch on the light. She would feel a lot better if she could see what was going on!
When she clicked down the light switch, though, nothing happened. Another crash from outside set her heart thumping even faster. She fumbled with the door, finally found the handle, and flung it open.
Like the bedroom, the tiny landing was in pitch darkness. She couldn’t see a thing; she could only hear the sounds of the storm steadily building in intensity.
A little frantically, she groped for the stairs. Perhaps the lights would come on downstairs. Even if they didn’t, she might be able to find some matches, candles, anything that would give off some light and help to get rid of this awful suffocating darkness.
She let out an enormous sigh of relief as she finally found the top step of the stairs. She tried to go down too quickly, though, and tripped. With a loud howl of fear, she hurtled down half a dozen steps. She flung out one of her arms and just managed to grab hold of the banister, which stopped her from bumping and rolling her way right to the bottom.
Shaken and bruised, Cathryn huddled there in the darkness and felt like bawling her head off. She hated this storm, she hated this island, and she wished she were a million miles from here!
A door crashed open above her and a moment later Nicholas’s voice boomed out in the darkness. ‘What the hell’s going on? Cathryn? Where are you?’
‘Halfway down the stairs!’ she managed to get out in a ragged voice.
‘What on earth are you doing there?’
‘Breaking my neck, I think,’ she replied dolefully.
A few moments later he was beside her. Cathryn at last began to relax. Nicholas was here—perhaps things would begin to improve from now on. Then she jumped violently as she felt his hands run over her.
‘What are you doing?’ she demanded in a shrill voice.
‘Checking that you haven’t broken any bones,’ he answered.
Cathryn wriggled away from him. ‘I haven’t!’ she said with great certainty. She glared at him in the darkness, hardly able to see the pale smudge of his face. ‘Are you sure this isn’t just an excuse to grope me?’
‘No, I’m not certain of that at all,’ replied Nicholas cheerfully. ‘Can you get up?’
With a faint groan, Cathryn managed it. She might not have broken anything, but she was certainly going to have some hefty bruises.
‘Why are you wandering around in the dark?’ Nicholas asked her.
‘I didn’t like the storm,’ she said defensively. ‘And it was so noisy! It sounded as if the roof were crashing in. And when I tried to turn on the light, nothing happened.’
‘In other words, you were just plain scared,’ Nicholas said in an unexpectedly gentle voice.
‘Yes, I was,’ she admitted rather crossly.
‘Well, we can’t stay here all night, in the middle of the stairs. Shall we go up or down?’
‘Down,’ Cathryn decided rather hastily. Upstairs there were only the bedrooms, and she didn’t think it would be a very good idea to spend much time there with Nicholas—especially in this darkness!
She hobbled her way carefully down the rest of the stairs, wincing a little as her bruised bones began to ache. ‘Why won’t the lights come on?’ she asked, as she felt her way into the lounge.
‘Something must have knocked out the generator,’ replied Nicholas. ‘Wait here, I’ll get some candles.’
He was only gone for a couple of minutes, but it seemed like very much longer to Cathryn. She stood there listening to the force of the storm hurling itself against the house, and shivered. Some people might like all this nature-in-the-raw, but she definitely didn’t. And when she saw Nicholas returning with a flickering light, her knees positively sagged with relief. It was so marvellous to be able to see again, even if the candle did only throw out a very feeble glow.
Nicholas lit a couple more candles, placing them around the room. Then he came to sit on the sofa beside her.
‘Better?’ he asked.
‘I suppose so.’ Cathryn shivered again. ‘I can’t wait to get out of here.’
‘It’s only a storm.’
‘But it sounds so—oh, I don’t know. So violent.’
Nicholas looked at her. ‘You don’t like violence?’
‘Of course not. Does anyone?’
‘I suppose not,’ he said slowly. ‘Although it is possible to—get used to it.’
Something in his tone of voice made her look at him sharply. ‘Have you got used to it?’
He shrugged. ‘In a way—yes. In my job, I’ve seen so much of it.’
Cathryn wrinkled her nose. ‘I don’t know how you can keep on doing a job like yours, always seeing the worst side of human nature, the civil wars, the riots, people trying to maim and kill each other.’ She gave a small shudder. ‘There must be days when the whole world seems like an evil place.’
‘It does get to you at times,’ Nicholas admitted. ‘And I’ve seen correspondents and journalists who just can’t take any more, and have to give it up.’
‘You haven’t reached that point, though?’
‘No. It might happen at some time in the future, but right now I still enjo
y my job, and I intend to carry on with it.’
‘Even though you nearly got blown to bits because of it?’ she said a little incredulously.
‘There’s a risk in just about everything we do,’ replied Nicholas. ‘People have accidents in cars, in the home, when they’re away on holiday—the list is endless. Short of staying in bed all day, there’s no way to make sure you’re completely safe.’ His eyes gleamed. ‘And even a bed can be a risky place if you’re sharing it with the wrong person.’
‘Someone like Mandy?’ Cathryn remarked a little caustically, remembering the slinky blonde who had gatecrashed Sir Charles’s flat.
‘She’d certainly be a danger to anyone with high blood-pressure,’ agreed Nicholas, the corners of his mouth curling upwards. Then his brows drew together again. ‘Do you dislike the kind of work I do?’ he asked in a very different tone. ‘Or disapprove of it?’
‘Of course not. People have to know what’s going on in the world, even if a lot of it isn’t very nice. It’s no good ignoring it, pretending it doesn’t exist. I just wish...’
‘Wish what?’ he asked, as her voice trailed away.
‘Well—I wish it wasn’t you who had to do it,’ she blurted out. ‘Investigative reporting is all very well, but you’re not going to do much good if you get yourself killed!’
‘I’ll be more careful next time, I promise,’ he said with a dry smile. ‘And my job isn’t all doom and gloom. I’ve seen some extraordinary acts of heroism, and met a lot of people who are actually trying to make the world a better place.’
‘I wish someone would make this part of the world a better place,’ she said with a grimace, as another gust of wind shook the house. ‘Is it my imagination, or is the storm getting stronger?’
‘The worst will probably be over in an hour or so. And we’re quite safe inside this house. It’s already weathered the storms of over a century. One more won’t blow it down.’
A Kiss by Candlelight Page 11