Perilous Refuge

by Patricia Wilson

  'I'm leaving,' Helen managed quietly, her heart not yet settled back into place from her determination to strike Miles down at her feet.

  'I kissed you and you're leaving? Am I hearing things right? Look, I'll build a plastic bubble with a letter-box. You can sit in there and push letters out to me. I'll shout dictation to you through the hole, I'll even get you a two-way phone. Don't be such an idiot, Helen!'

  'It's not that. It's...' ,

  Tina burst into the hall as she heard them, her face still blotchy from last night's weeping, her eyes puffy and red, and Ross looked from one to the other in astonishment.

  'What the hell's going on here?' he grated.

  It was no use, Helen could see that. He looked about as movable as a tank.

  'I think you'd better come in,' she said unevenly and he glared at her even more, stepping inside and closing the door.

  'And I think you'd better start explaining.' He looked intently at Helen as she led the way into the sitting-room, not at all bothered that it looked untidy. She had even smoked last night, a thing she hadn't done for years.

  Tina crouched up on the settee looking as if she had been beaten, and Ross looked at Helen as if it were all her fault. It was Tina who explained.

  'Pig came,' she said shakily. 'He came yesterday afternoon and I couldn't get in touch with Helen because you were out of the office. He wants Tansy.'

  'Start again,' Ross rasped, his brows drawn together in an exasperated frown. 'You lost me with the first word.'

  'Pig wants Tansy!' Tina said in a subdued shout and Helen waved her to silence.

  'Miles came yesterday,' she said quietly. 'He told Tina that he wants Tansy. He's getting married again in a month's time and he's applying to the court for custody. He seems to imagine he'll get it with a wife at home all the time. He won't but he might very well get visiting rights. I can't even bear to think of it, so we're leaving. We're going somewhere where he'll not find us and, if he does, we'll move again.'

  'I see.' Ross took off his coat and flung it on to a chair. He sat down and looked at Helen evenly. 'You plan to run and never stop, I take it?'

  'I can't risk anything. He may very well win. Whoever knows what a court will decide?'

  He just nodded thoughtfully and looked at Tina. 'Any coffee for a shocked visitor?' he asked with a smile.

  'Sure. I can just about manage that. I'd better see why Tansy isn't up yet anyway.'

  She trailed out of the room, shutting the door, none of her exuberance left at all, and Ross turned grimly to Helen.

  'I assume she knows all about Gilford's violence?'

  'She does,' Helen told him quietly, looking bitterly into the fire.

  'Did she also suffer at his hands?'

  'No. He didn't get around to Tina. At first she didn't know but after a while he didn't care about that, just so long as nobody else knew. That's why he might win visiting rights. I was so desperate to get away, to get a divorce, that I agreed to an amicable arrangement. To the rest of the world, butter wouldn't melt in his mouth; we were incompatible but still friends.' She shuddered. 'Perhaps I should have killed him.'

  'Stop talking like that! The chances are he'll be wasting his time going to court.'

  'And chances are he won't. You don't know Miles.

  He's syrupy sweet, so persuasive. He'll come up with a story that will have them reaching for their handkerchiefs.'

  'And they'll look at you and Tina and call you both teenagers,' Ross murmured thoughtfully.

  'Thank you. That's a big help,' Helen snapped, beginning to pace about. 'It's not going to come to that anyway. I'm leaving. if I have to move weekly for the rest of my life he'll not get the opportunity to even see Tansy!'

  'Have you seen a solicitor?' Ross sounded coldly practical and Helen glared at him.

  'No! I'm not going to either. There's going to be no court battle for Tansy and Tina to face. My inclination is to run and that's what I'm doing.'

  Ross didn't reply because the door opened and Tansy came in, clutching a battered teddy-bear.

  'I slept a long time,' she observed, running to Helen, who picked her up and hugged her fiercely. 'Tina looks funny. She's got red eyes.'

  'It's a cold,' Helen said quickly. 'I think I've got it too. Let's get you some breakfast.' She looked across at Ross, not quite knowing what to say, but he was standing and reaching for his coat.

  'I'll have to go. I have things to do that can't wait, cancel my coffee.'

  Helen nodded. He would have things to do. She couldn't think why the sight of him had given her a small burst of hope, as if he would come up with some foolproof scheme to get them out of this mess. He was a man, going about his affairs, only angered because he was about to lose a secretary who had coped with the mountains of work he had flung at her.

  'I'll be back at eleven,' he added, to her surprise. 'I'm taking you out to lunch, all of you. Meanwhile, don't answer the door. If the expression in your eyes when you opened the door to me is anything to go by, then the door is best left locked. I might have difficulty bailing you out if you batter Gilford to the ground on your own doorstep.'

  'Our problems are not yours,' Helen said quietly, her face flushed at his easy ability to define her intentions. 'We really don't have time to go out for lunch anyway. I have to start telephoning and packing.'

  'I don't think there's going to be any necessity to pack,' he murmured, his lips twisting wryly, 'not at this stage anyway. I suggest you relax, calm down and get ready for lunch. As to your problems not being mine, I'm making them mine.'

  'But why?' She just stared at him, Tansy clutched to her breast.

  'I have my own reasons. I'll tell you later when you're not on the edge of hostility.'

  He walked out and Helen watched him drive away.

  She was in something of a dilemma. She didn't want Ross interfering with her life. All the same, it had seemed safe while he was here. She sighed and frowned thoughtfully. She was always having to remind herself that he was not safe at all, that he was a man, a man who made Miles look like a spiteful, cruel boy. She could deal with Miles herself easily now if he hadn't had this hold on her, the possibility of his being able in some way to claim Tansy. She shuddered at the violence she had felt in herself when she had thought he was at the door. No wonder Ross had seen it on her face.

  It seemed to Helen that lunch with Ross was merely an exercise in how to deal with two hysterical females, a manoeuvre to calm them down. It succeeded with Tina, she was almost eating out of his hand. Helen could have done without it. She had too much to do, too many things to prepare, and she was restless and edgy all through lunch and on the way back.

  He showed no signs of leaving and he was gentle with Tina to the point of tenderness.

  'Why don't you go and lie down?' he asked. 'You look as if you haven't slept all night.'

  Neither had Helen but he made no mention of that and, in all fairness, Tina had faced Miles and had all afternoon yesterday to worry about it.

  'I don't think so,' Tina said after a quick look at Helen. 'There's Tansy, for one thing.'

  'I'm here,' Helen said a little sharply. What was the matter with Tina? She had never behaved like this before. She was giving the impression that Tansy was her own personal burden.

  'Well, I think I'll take Tansy for a stroll anyway. She hasn't been out of the house for two days. You'll want to talk to Ross.'

  'I don't need to talk to anyone,' Helen said firmly, giving Tina a warning look, but it had no effect. 'It's beginning to snow again.'

  'We'll wrap up warm.' Short of ordering Tina to stay put there was little Helen could do and as she left, a very excited Tansy clutching her hand, Helen was forced to look at Ross. He was making her feel uncomfortable, making her feel peculiar in fact, his eyes burning into her.

  'Would you like some tea?'

  'No, Helen. I would not like tea, coffee or anything else. What I do want is for you to sit down, look at me and listen.'

  'The
re's no way you can help, if that's what you're thinking. And why should you help anyway? Just because you'll have to find another secretary there's no need to go to all these lengths. Secretaries are ten a penny and...'

  'Will you stop babbling on for just two minutes and listen to me?' he asked forcefully, his tone making her sink to a chair. 'So far, the only length I've gone to is to take your small brood to lunch. If you continue like this then I'll still be waiting to speak to you when they come back.'

  'When they come back?' Startled blue eyes watched his implacable face. 'Is that why you wanted Tina to go and rest? What can you possibly say that Tina can't hear, and in any case...?'

  'Helen!' He raised his voice, positively glaring at her, leaving her with her mouth open, words hanging on the end of her tongue.

  'That's better,' he growled when she subsided into silence. 'Now. I want to go over the things that are driving you away from your house and your job. You assume that Gilford will, at the very least, get visiting rights to Tansy. He's going to present a case where he will be able to offer more than you can, including a wife who doesn't need to work, who can give all her time to Tansy. Whether he will win or not I do not know, but I can think of a way to stop him, right in his tracks before he makes any sort of application at all.'

  'How?' She sat up straight and looked at him very earnestly.

  'Knock the ladder right out from under his feet. He's getting married in a month's time. Marry me.'

  CHAPTER SIX

  For a minute Helen thought she hadn't heard Ross properly. She just stared at him, her eyes turning from bright blue to purple, colour leaving her face.

  'What did you say?' She just whispered the words and he looked at her in exasperation, his lips tightening. 'You heard me, Helen. I'm asking you to marry me, and don't go into your usual frantic reaction.'

  'You must surely be mad!' She jumped to her feet, feeling definitely unsafe when he got slowly to his feet too, filling the room, towering over her. 'If that's the way you go about keeping your secretaries then...'

  'Oh, I'll need a new secretary.' he murmured. 'I don't want a working wife, and in any case we have to put up our ace to Gilford's queen. You stay home and look after Tansy. You become Helen Maclean, wealthy, secure and quite capable of taking care of your own daughter. He won't even try for custody and if he does, well, I pack a lot of punch in certain places. Not with the law.' he added as her eyes opened wider, 'in the business world, and he is in the business world, isn't he?'

  Ross sounded softly sinister, like a prowling jungle cat, his astonishing eyes narrowed to icy lights, leaping at her and pinning her as they had done when she had first seen him.

  'Well?' he asked as she just went on staring at him mutely. 'Are you going to think about it?'

  'I don't have to think about it.' Helen managed stiffly, trembling inside. 'I have no intention whatever of marrying again. You know my opinion of men. One man in a lifetime is one too many as far as I'm concerned.'

  'I had gathered that.' he said drily. 'I'm not proposing marriage for any other reason than mutual protection. You need help right now and I'm going to need help before very long.'

  'You?' She looked at him as if he were truly mad. 'Since when has someone like you needed help?'

  'Sit down, for heaven's sake.' he muttered, sitting himself when she sank back to her seat. 'Why the hell do you think I'm in England in the first place and why do you imagine I want to buy a house here and settle where my father's roots are? I was sent to school here to please him, hence my very English accent. Now he wants to have his roots more firmly fixed here than ever. He wants me to stay here, build the business up over here so that he can eventually come back himself. He also wants me to marry. My mother picked her out for her polish and background; a glamorous American heiress who's been pushed under my nose since she was about sixteen.'

  'You...you're not telling me that a man like you would tamely...?'

  'I'm glad you realise I'm not tame!' he snapped. 'However, I'm sick and tired of being manoeuvred, I'm bored with constant accidental meetings, carefully planned parties. I aim to get them off my back once and for all. I want to marry you, to take on Tansy and Tina, to have my own home and do a little settling down.'

  Helen was silent for a long time and he just let her sit there quietly. In fact she was running the whole idea past her mind like a computer. She would be safe with Ross, as far as being physically safe went. He had been ready to protect her in Paris and even yesterday at the house he had not pushed his advantage when he had had her at his mercy. Could she bear to be with him, though?

  Her skin shivered when she realised that she could. If she could relax with him a little more, get to know him better, she had the feeling that he would be a good friend, more than that. Tina and Tansy liked him. That brought her mind back to other recent thoughts. Tina had a crush on him. Still, it didn't matter after all because she could never let any man ...

  'It's very kind of you but it's out of the question.'

  He looked explosive. 'I just told you that it is mutual protection. Believe me, I'm not being kind. I'm grasping opportunity with both hands.' He suddenly looked at her with narrowed eyes. 'Or is that the whole problem? You're afraid that I'll grasp you with both hands?'

  'I've been married. I know what being married means, thank you,' Helen muttered, her face red. 'I still haven't got over the disgust.'

  'I'm offering to protect you, to take care of all of you.

  In return I want a wife as a good cover, to protect me too. I want a hostess to see to the comfort of business contacts and I think I've made it quite plain that I don't expect any "luring" from you. As to us, you can have your own room and I will not come into it.'

  'You're a man,' Helen pointed out in embarrassment.

  'How nicely you put it,' Ross said caustically. 'Luckily I don't need you to boost my self-esteem. I am capable of controlling my base instincts and this would be a marriage of convenience, mutual convenience. I would feel no shame whatever in seeking female company.'

  'I can see that,' Helen snapped. 'You have a reputation to keep up.'

  'I'm glad you realise it,' he pointed out, his eyes burning angrily. 'Now what do you say to my proposal?'

  No,' Helen said firmly. 'I want my own house and my own privacy and it needs to extend to more than a bedroom. Thank you for asking me but I'm afraid you'll have to get your mutual protection elsewhere.'

  'Very well, I'll go, but don't put the idea too far at the back of your mind.' He stood and looked down at her steadily. 'You may not get the chance to run too far and it's not much of a life you're planning. Even if you don't care for yourself, you could give some thought to Tansy, not to mention Tina. There's a long time to consider and perhaps a lot of running in it. You'll be traceable when Tansy is at school. What do you do then, uproot her and move, leave all her friends behind? Does Tina continue to run with you or do you finally scuttle off alone, dragging Tansy along?'

  'Shut up!' Helen jumped to her feet and faced him angrily, not liking the picture he painted. 'You're making me into some sort of criminal, or lunatic. I didn't wish Miles into existence and I didn't ask to live my life with him in fear.'

  'You had Tansy.'

  'Yes. I had Tansy.' Her face was white, her eyes almost black with emotion. 'But then, you wouldn't want to know about that.'

  For a second he faced her, his eyes burning holes into her mind, and then he turned abruptly away.

  'No. It's none of my business, even less as we're not going to see each other again. I accept your resignation, Helen. Goodbye.' He let himself out and Helen was still sitting staring at nothing when Tina came back in.

  'What did he say?'

  Helen looked up at her in surprise. 'What do you mean, what did he say?'

  'He wanted us out of the way to talk to you. I'm not stupid, Helen" She looked disappointed. 'Don't tell me you just sat there and drank coffee"

  'He asked me to marry him.' Helen said it flatly a
nd openly. If Tina had any ideas about Ross Maclean then this was a good way of putting paid to that. Leaving the district would help too.

  'Great!' Tina let out a whoop of delight. 'Saved! I knew he wouldn't let me down, gorgeous man" Helen's face mirrored her shock. 'You're pleased? I thought you had a crush on him!'

  'Me? I'm nineteen! Ross is one beautiful man but he's all of thirty-eight or even more. I made him welcome, that's all. It's time you started enjoying life and I just decided to help it along. I didn't know Pig was going to rear his head again but I wouldn't back his chances against Ross." She gave Helen a hug. 'When's the wedding?'

  'I said no.' Helen informed her steadily, and Tina's face was a mixture of disbelief and despair.