by Ann Charlton
What’s it all about?’ He squeezed her hand so that she winced.
‘It’s obvious, isn’t it?’ she said in a fierce whisper. ‘And you deserve to look a fool, Ashe—but I admit I never intended to—’
‘To what?’ he snarled close to her ear. ‘To go so far? 1 can tell you now, Teressa, that you nearly went too far that night—’ She began to feel frightened as it became clear that the full extent of her deception was hitting him. There was a tinge of red on his cheeks.
‘You little bitch! All that wide-eyed provocation, and all the time you’re the kind that performs in public with Don Juan Merrow r He jerked his hand in the small of her back, the gesture almost vicious in its suppressed anger. ‘What the hell is it all about, Teressa—why pretend to be what you aren’t—why did you set out to seduce me?’ Again that prod in her back.
Nothing she had ever seen in Ashe’s eyes equalled the fury there now.
‘Do you feel stupid, Ashe? 1 hope so—'
‘Stupid?’ he growled. ‘Yes, 1feel stupid and gullible for believing you existed—for not seeing through your efforts to tempt me. Which reminds me,’ he sneered, ‘how very much improved your dancing is, Teressa.
You haven’t stepped on my feet once. What’s the matter, darling?’ he added as she caught her breath at his painful grip. ‘Don’t you feel comfortable with me? Safe?’
‘Maybe I went too far, but what you did was worse, so much worse. You deserve to be—’
‘That touching goodbye performance of yours—you could teach Wendy a thing or two about acting,’ he cut in. A pause. ‘What do you mean—what 1 did?’
‘You really are rock bottom, Asher Anger choked her. ‘It doesn’t even ring a bell for you now, does it? The name Radcliffe.’
His eyes narrowed. ‘Radcliffe,’ he mused. ‘I used to know some people …’
‘Yes, you did. Damien and Cecily and—and—’
‘Tess.’
The band belted out ‘One Night in Bangkok’dancers wiggled and drinkers giggled and laughed and conversation buzzed beneath the booming bass. But her old name, said in that deep voice-just the way it had sounded years ago-dropped into a silence in Teressa’s head.
‘Tess: he said again. ‘Tess Radcliffe?’ His anger had vanished. He searched her face, looking back in time for that other Tess. ‘You’ve changed … your father and 1 were good friends … and your sister…’
Teressa pulled away.
‘That’s right—my father. My sister. So now you know why!’
She tried to talk Joel into leaving, but he was rather sulkily drinking a lot and insisted they must stay to see the New Year in. Once she attempted to leave alone and Ashe stopped her.
‘Sneaking away, Teressa !’ She was spun around to face him in the Westcotts’ magnificent hall. ‘Running out on Prince Charming there before midnight? What’s the matter—will all this glamour change into drabness at the stroke of twelve? Will smart, worldly Teressa Radcliffe turn into shy, sweet Teressa Richards at the witching hour?’ He took her arm. His voice was smooth, oil flowing over silk. ‘Let me take you back to your—friend. I’d hate you to run away before we’ve even had a New Year kiss.’
Teressa resolved right then and there to avoid him at all costs at midnight. Why wait until the New Year to make resolutions?
‘Here she is, Merrow,’ Ashe announced as he let Teressa free. ‘I just borrowed her for a bit to talk over old times.’
Joel watched him speculatively as he walked away.
‘You seem to have a lot of old times to talk about,’ he observed to Teressa.
‘Yes,’ she said with a certain irony. ‘He’s an old friend of the family.’
Bagpipes wailed in the New Year amidst screeching party whistles and the crackle of fireworks over Port Jackson. Corks popped and a champagne fountain began to flow on the big table. Joel kissed Teressa, then plunged into the crowd to sweep another woman into his arms. A man plonked a kiss on Teressa’s cheek as he passed and she hardly noticed because she was so busy watching for Ashe in the flashing lights. A glimpse of John O’Brien with Lara in his arms sent her shrinking back to the edge of the big room, her eyes straining for the familiar profile and silver-beige hair.
She sighed with relief when the lights went out and discovery was impossible. Before the breath had been expended, a voice spoke in her ear.
‘Happy New Year, Teressa.’
Her instinctive bolt for freedom was foiled. She was caught and dragged back against him, his arms locked about her from behind. In the dark she struggled, kicking at him with her heels, but he held her.
‘So reluctant to celebrate with me, Teressa,’ he chided. ‘And me so trustworthy-such a good, honourable sort of a chap—’ He pressed his mouth hotly to her neck. ‘Good old Ashe–one of your oldfashioned types who doesn’t seduce young innocents—’
His teeth nipped her ear-lobe. But I calculate that you must be at least twenty-two and not naive at all, isn’t that right, Tess?’ The lights flicked on for a moment and he spun her around. "Kiss me goodbye properly, Ashe," he mimicked as the dark closed around them again. I'm afraid I didn’t do it properly, Teressa. A girl like you doesn’t want some milk and water effort—’
‘Ashe—let me go!’
A burst of firework stars lit his face gold and tangerine for an instant, and Teressa quailed at his expression. Then the light was gone and his mouth was on hers in a kiss that held more contempt than any words. Her resistance was crushed, her hands trapped against his chest. The pins loosened in her hair as his fingers drove into it and a few strands fell about her neck. There were cheers and the swelling strains of ‘Auld Lang Syne’—balloons and champagne corks popped. Bagpipes droned. ‘Happy New Year!’ someone cried right beside them as Ashe crushed the memory of those other kisses for a young girl. A yellow streamer floated down and settled on his shoulder in a travesty of New Year’s fun.
‘Time for making resolutions, Teressa,’ he mocked. ‘I’ve just made my first. Happy New Year, my dear.’
When Joel made a wrong turn on the way home, Teressa realised that the ghastly evening hadn’t finished yet. She gathered her calmest manner and asked him to take her home.
‘I don’t feel well,’ she said with perfect truth.
‘Come on, Teressa, you can forget the ice-angel act. I gather you spent a night with Warwick, so you can spend one with me. You really had me fooled with your ladylike airs and high principles!’
‘I didn’t spend the night with him—not the way you mean. Nothing happened—’
He snorted in disbelief.
‘Turn the car around, please, Joel, or—’
‘Or what, darling?’ he laughed. ‘Let’s not fight. We can have some fun, you and I—I promise you’ll find that something happens when you spend the night with me … hell!’ he exclaimed as headlights and a beacon loomed up in the rear-view mirror. ‘Police. Aw—hell!’
‘Ah, Mr. Merrow,’ the officer said when he leaned into the car, ‘I thought I recognised your driving style—no doubt thinking you’re on the circuit at Bathurst again. I’m afraid we’ll have to ask you to blow up a New Year balloon for us sir—’
It was a fitting end to the evening, Teressa thought as she got out of the police car at her flat. And a terrible start to the New Year.
She had dinner with Thelma on the Tuesday following New Year.
‘You look worn out,’ clucked Thelma. ‘It must be the heat.’
But it wasn’t the heat that was putting circles under Teressa’s eyes: it was Ashe’s New Year resolution.
Thelma had a lot more to say about the heat before she moved into the details of her Christmas and New Year with her family.
‘I only needed one more thing to make this Christmas perfect,’ she sighed. ‘A postcard from Dan.
I know he’s a grown man, but I’d just like to know that he’s all right-do you know what I mean, love?’
Teressa bit back the unkind words she could say about Dan. A few line
s to ease her mind, that was all Thelma wanted from him. ‘Maybe he sent a card and it was delayed in the mail. You know what a build-up there is at this time of year.’
Thelma nodded. ‘That’s probably it,’ she said with feigned hope.
There was a knock on the door as they finished eating, and Thelma pulled a face. ‘I hope it’s not that encyclopaedia man again—’ She opened the door guardedly. Her cool.‘Yes?’ turned to a flustered, ‘Oh, well, I never! Mr. Warwick! I never expected to see you here.’
Teressa jerked from her’ chair to see his tall figure filling the doorway, towering over Mrs Richards.
‘Good evening, Mrs Richards,’ he said, meeting Teressa’s eyes coldly over the old lady’s head.
‘Won’t you come in, Mr. Warwick? Teressa and I have just finished dinner.’ She made a warning gesture to Teressa behind Ashe’s back as she closed the door.
‘Tom’s already left and I have to be on my way to Warlord soon.’
Teressa interpreted her meaningful look as a reminder to maintain the fiction of her husband’s continuing control of Universal Cleaners.
‘Ah yes. How is Tom nowadays? Is his back still giving him trouble?’ Ashe asked conversationally, and something in his tone gave Teressa a twinge of fear for the old lady. He knew about Tom.
‘Just a few aches now and then. You know how it is. Tea, Mr. Warwick? Teressa, make us a fresh pot, will you, dear?’ She smiled at Ashe. ‘If there’s one thing I taught my children it was to make a good cup of tea!’
It wasn’t, as she had said, an outright lie, but Thelma was valiantly acting her role of mother. Teressa opened her mouth to tell her it was no longer necessary, but Ashe drove right over her words. Why hadn’t she thought of this? In her selfish preoccupation she had forgotten to tell Thelma that Ashe knew who she was.
‘Really? I haven’t sampled Teressa’s tea, and it’s almost irresistible, but no, thank you.’
‘She’s a wonderful girl.' Thelma smiled fondly.
‘Thelma—’ Teressa began, and the old lady frowned repressively.
‘These modern children,’ she said to Ashe. ‘Plain old “Mum” was good enough in my day—’ Her smile disappeared and her fingers twisted together as she took the full brunt of Ashe’s displeasure. ‘Is something wrong, Mr. Warwick?’
‘Yes, Mrs Richards, something is wrong. You don’t have a daughter called Teressa. Nor do you have a husband any longer.’
Such anxiety filled Thelma’s eyes that Teressa went protectively to her.
‘Ashe, there’s no need to involve Thelma.’
‘She involved herself. This last charade prompted me to look a bit deeper into Universal Cleaners to find more lies. I don’t appreciate being misled by people who work for me. However, that’s a discussion that can wait.’ He looked at his watch. ‘As you’ll be leaving for my offices shortly, Mrs Richards, I’ll talk to Teressa in her own place.’
Teressa felt the sag of Thelma’s shoulders under her arm and her anger deepened. And her guilt. She had thrust the woman into this through her stupidity. Chin up, she looked Ashe directly in the eyes. ‘Go in, Ashe. My door is unlocked.’
He looked thoughtfully at her protective arm about Thelma, then went.
‘Don’t worry. I’ll tell him it’s not your fault.' said Teressa. ‘I should have told you he found out my real name. I’ll explain later.’
The door of her flat was open. Ashe was at her bookshelves with her copy of his novel in his hands.
CHAPTER SIX
‘So at least that wasn’t a lie,’ he said. ‘You laid it on a bit thick, though, didn’t you Teressas—hand on your heart and that inarticulate appeal— “I didn’t understand everything, Mr. Warwick” —what a little bitch you are!’
‘It was all you expected, wasn’t it? And that inarticulate appeal seemed to work. Your ego was flattered enough to give me another chance instead of hiring someone else to wait on your guests.’
Ashe rammed the book back on the shelf. ‘Listened at keyholes as well, did you? Heard me trying to replace you? You’re quite a girl, Teressa.’ Contempt turned his mouth down at the corners. ‘Was it a dare?’
‘A dare?’
‘Was it one of those pranks Merrow and his useless like get up to?'
‘A prank!’ She glared at him. ‘I’m not a schoolgirl now, Ashe. It was no prank. And Joel might not be perfect, but at least he’s honest about what he wants.’
‘Is he?’ Ashe moved in on her. ‘One of the new breed, I imagine. He beckons and you jump—right into his bed.’ She backed away from him but his hand shot out to close around her arm. ‘You did tell me your knew all about sex-idiot that I am, I believed you were only talking about the theory of it.’ His fingers bit into her arm. ‘Have you had a good laugh with him about me, Teressa? About a man old enough to know better but boy enough to want to believe in innocence in these days of enlightenment?’ She was swung close to him.
‘I’ve never discussed you with Joel—’
‘I’ll bet! A period piece like me—respecter of innocence and gullible as all get out. Was it coincidence that you picked on me for some fun—or did you set out to make a fool of me because of the way you felt about me years ago?’
‘It was coincidence that I just happened to take a flat next to someone who worked for you. I would have helped Thelma out anyway, but I was curious to see what you were like now. And then—’ she directed him a defiant look, ‘—I just stumbled on a way to make a fool of you.’
Ashe’s nostrils flared. ‘You relied heavily on that trusting nature you thrust at me every turn—and my oldfashioned honour that you kept mentioning. And all the time—’ He pulled her against him—slowly, deliberately. Teressa would have felt a lot safer if he manhandled her. ‘—all the time, sweet Teressa, you were provoking me—arousing me. A dangerous game.’
‘Let me go, Ashe—’
‘I did warn you I was no saint.’ His voice had dropped an octave and its quieter tone panicked her every bit as much as his sheer anger. ‘While you were tearing my ego to shreds, you made me want you, and I was ashamed of it …’ His eyes wandered over her bare shoulders. ‘When I saw you in that nightgown I was disgusted to find myself ogling you—’ He stroked his index finger up her arm, over her shoulder, watching with great concentration. ‘Did you know— ‘ he murmured as he spread his hand along the side of her neck. ‘Did you know I could see right through that nightgown—?’ Slowly, slowly he caressed along her collarbone, pushing aside the strap of her sundress so that it looped down over her arm. Teressa drew a sharp breath as he touched the upper curve of her breast-she tried to draw away as he smoothed the fabric down to expose some suntanned skin and the white mark of her bikini. But Ashe held her there.
‘And I thought-she’s lovely-youth and innocence have a beauty all their own—’ The fabric peeled away a little more. Ashe trailed his fingertips on her skin. ‘Then I thought-v-I almost wish she wasn’t young and innocent—’
.Ashe-e-don’t-e-e—’ she whispered, shocked at the leaping responses of her body.
‘And when I saw you in that bikini 1 was horrified all over again. 1 wanted to touch you—’ His hand curved beneath her breast, then over it, and the flesh and its peak swelled and lengthened in the heat of his palm. Ashe smiled, looked at her flushed cheeks, her wide eyes. He let her go. ‘It wasn’t entirely one-sided, was it, Teressa? In the dark that night 1thought 1was mistaken when you seemed to want me to hold you. Did the experienced Teressa find the role of innocent a bit tedious at times, hmmm?’
‘I hate you!’ she burst out. ‘How can you sound so—so righteous, as if you are the injured party?’
‘But 1 am the injured party. You see what’s upsetting me so, don’t you?’ He watched her adjust her dress. ‘A couple of watered down kisses was all 1 had when 1 could have had it all. 1 behaved like a gentleman when there was no need.’ Softly he added, ‘Is no need.’
She gulped at the implied threat. ‘It just goes to show—eve
n you have your finer moments. You should thank me for showing you one. But it didn’t last, did it? You cashed up your shy, naive housemaid and offered her a very suspicious job typing up your next book. Don’t tell me you weren’t hoping for a few fringe benefits from that situation. And you already practically married to the Moore fortune too!’
‘Why, you—’ There was a pallor about his mouth.
His eyes glowed like a tiger’s. ‘What a cesspool of a mind you have, Teressa. Thank God your father can’t see what you’ve become.’
‘My father? How dare you mention my father! You couldn’t have cared less about him. The world fell in on him and where were you?’