Captivity

by Margaret Pargeter

  Captivity

  By

  Margaret Pargeter

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  Captivity

  To escape being married off to a rich man, any rich man by her snobbish and ambitious mother, Alex fled from Sydney to Melbourne, only to meet someone who was just as determined as her mother had been. Chase Marshall whisked her off to his station in the outback, where he promptly proposed to her. But Alex was under no illusions as to why he wanted to marry her: he simply thought she would be suitable and he made it obvious that even after marriage he would continue to flirt, if that was what he called it, with the glamorous Davina Wilde. Well, he could keep his offer!

  CHAPTER ONE

  The flat in the Fitzroy district of Melbourne was, to Alex Latham, the last word in luxury. True, it wasn't very large, but for the two girls who shared it, it was more than adequate. Alex didn't know how Ruby Marshall, the other girl, could complain as she was doing now, with such an air of martyrdom, that there was barely room to swing a cat.

  'I'm going mad!' Ruby exclaimed, flinging up her dark head dramatically. 'Everything gets lost!'

  Obligingly Alex dived under Ruby's bed, extracting her missing evening slipper. 'If you'd only learn to be a bit tidier, Ruby, you wouldn't think you were going mad at all.'

  Ruby moaned, quite seriously, 'How can I be expected to learn new habits at my age?' Accepting her shoes without a word of thanks, she sat down to put them on. The buckle caught on her fine silk stockings and she cast Alex another dour glance.

  Alex returned the look wryly. The only time Ruby ever referred to her age was when she wished to avoid doing something. 'I thought you came to Melbourne to learn to stand on your own two feet?'

  'So what?' snapped Ruby. 'Surely that has nothing to do with being tidy?'

  Ruby could be sharp when she liked. Alex thought she could have made a list of things that might have improved Ruby's personality-such as learning to be more agreeable to those less favourably placed than herself. She was forever telling Alex how she had left home in order to escape being suffocated by boredom and wealth, but she complained continually at having to do without all the trappings of luxury which her brother had provided on his huge cattle station in the North. It was, though, partly because of this that Alex was rarely unsympathetic when Ruby grumbled, some of Ruby's problems, if not this particular one, seeming very similar to her own. From what Ruby said, her brother and Alex's mother might well be in the same league when it came to arrogantly managing the lives of others!

  Alex often found herself reflecting with surprise at the strange way in which a mischievous fate had brought Ruby and herself together two girls with very little in common. To leave home, was something the strong-willed Ruby had apparently been fighting to do for most of her life, while for Alex the desire to escape had only arisen a year ago, since she had left school.

  Alex's parents had come to Australia when Alex was small. Her memories now of England were vague.

  Her father, a biochemist, worked on agricultural research near Sydney, in New South Wales. He had decided that Australia offered good opportunities for both himself and his son and daughter. His wife hadn't been so keen to emigrate. She was a snob and considered England offered opportunities of a different kind. Having better connections than her husband she had foreseen few difficulties in getting her children well settled. She had married for love, the only time in her life that she had allowed anything to get in the way of her better judgement, and privately regretted it ever since. She was determined neither Alex or her brother should make the same mistake. For them there should be better things than having to struggle along on what might seem a good salary to others, but represented a mere pittance to her. She shuddered to think how she could have managed without her own private income.

  After settling down reluctantly in Sydney, she had prepared eventually to make the most of things.

  During the next few years she had worked hard, in what she considered a curiously classless society, to make her presence felt. From her mother's point of view, Alex supposed this strategy had paid off. She had managed to find Alan, Alex's brother, a wife from out of a well known and respected family. This, which she counted as success, and for which she took the entire credit, had appeared to go to her head, and with even more ambition in her heart she turned to Alex. Alex, having just left school, must have the right clothes, go to the right places, be seen with all the right people. In vain did Alex plead that she didn't want this kind of life, that her father couldn't afford it, that her mother would only make a laughing stock of them all if she persisted.

  For months Alex had split her energy between her office job and trying to outmanoeuvre her mother. It wasn't until one young man whom her mother produced became embarrassingly persistent that she appealed to her father.

  ' She's only doing it so I can find a rich husband and a husband's the last thing I want, Daddy, especially a rich one.'

  'I'm sure your mother always acts for the best,' Richard Latham, loyal to the last, protested feebly.

  For once Alex hadn't respected her father's obvious attempts to avoid a distressing subject. 'Why don't you put your foot down, Daddy? I'm sure you could if you tried, and it would help me. I don't want to settle down for years yet, and when I do I want to choose my own husband.'

  'Your mother thinks young Fisher has fallen for you!'

  'I don't even know if I like him!'

  'Good connections there, mind you.'

  Despairingly, Alex had stared at him, realising she must fight her own battles. Weeks later, though, when she was almost exhausted from the combined efforts of her mother and Don Fisher, something happened which convinced Alex that the gods hadn't deserted her altogether.

  Help came in the form of an urgent message from England. Enid Latham's mother had been taken ill and was asking for her daughter. Mrs Latham had to go. During the first weeks she was gone, Alex did a lot of thinking and decided she would look for work elsewhere. She had been surprised and rather touched when her father had offered to help, ashamed that she had written him off as being completely under her mother's thumb.

  'If it's any good to you, I know of a vacancy in a pastoral office in Melbourne, which isn't so very far away. At least,' he had given a rueful smile, 'it's far enough to enable you to avoid most of the social functions you don't care for but not too far to cause your mother and me undue worry.'

  'A pastoral office?' she had queried.

  'Well, it's only a suggestion. You could always try it.'

  Melbourne, the capital of the State of Victoria. Yes, she quite liked the idea. 'Where would I stay, though?' she asked.

  'You'd better go to a small hotel until you have time to have a look around. Your colleagues will probably be able to help you, once you get to know them.'

  It had been easier than she had ever thought it would be. She had an interview and the job was hers. The vacancy had been left by an older woman who had unexpectedly married and gone to live in Western Australia. Her departure also left a vacancy in the flat which she had shared with another girl.

  Ruby Marshall had scarcely glanced at Alex before telling her she was welcome to move in, providing she agreed to do most of the housework. As she had named a rent which was ridiculously low, Alex felt she would be crazy to refuse. What, after all, were a few dirty dishes? Who Ruby Marshall was, apart from being a fellow worker who was treated with great respect by the boss, didn't worry her unduly. It wasn't until after she saw the f
lat that she began to wonder, but such doubts had easily been forgotten as she strove to adjust to her new life.

  Enid Latham, recently returned from England, had naturally nearly thrown a fit when she had discovered that during her absence her daughter had flown, but, other than making frequent phone calls, she hadn't done anything yet about dragging Alex back home. For this Alex suspected she had her father to thank, as well as a friend of her mother's, who had been brought out on a visit and was being energetically shown the sights of Sydney.

  Alex was particularly relieved that her mother wasn't about to descend on her, as Ruby Marshall, while quite pleasant to live with, did practically nothing about the flat. Alex was kept so busy after work she didn't think she could have spared the time to entertain her mother. She glanced enquiringly at Ruby now. Ruby, shod in her silver shoes, was wandering around as though she wasn't going anywhere.

  'Won't your boyfriend be waiting?' asked Alex.

  'I suppose he might be,' Ruby shrugged her silken shoulders. 'Why do you ask? Do you want rid of me?'

  'Of course not,' Alex replied quickly. 'All I'm going to do is wash my hair. I have to do it often.'

  Ruby flicked an indifferent eye over it. 'That's because you're so fair, I expect.'

  Alex smiled, far too sensible to accept this as a compliment. Ruby never really saw anyone but herself, and Alex suspected she had been offered a place in the flat only because Ruby had decided she was a spineless little thing, too quiet to object if she was ordered about. So she had been, during her first days in Melbourne, Alex would have been the first to admit. She had been exhausted from months of trying to keep one step ahead of her mother. Of trying to play down her looks, which she didn't consider nearly so striking as her mother liked to make out, in order to discourage the stream of young men which Enid seemed to have an amazing talent for producing.

  Last week, however, Alex had had her hair properly cut and styled. It was still shoulder-length but was now like thick, gleaming silk which moved beautifully when she walked and suited her much better than the tightly curled version her mother favoured. This style gave Alex's long, slender neck and well balanced head an air of delicate dignity. She had the look of a highly strung fawn with her slender limbs and small waist and the hint of wariness in her lovely blue eyes which, unfortunately, her mother had been largely responsible for putting there.

  If Ruby hadn't paid much attention to her before, she was certainly taking a good look at Alex now, and was obviously rather startled by Alex's fresh young beauty. 'Why don't you go out with Martin James, from the office?' she asked. 'He's always chasing you. It would make a nice change.'

  Ruby would never suggest Alex moved in the same exclusive circles as she did. Alex hid a slight smile.

  'I don't think I'm interested in Martin, at least not enough to go out with him. Does it matter how I spend my spare time?'

  'To me—no,' Ruby was always frank. I'll probably be moving on soon, anyway. Quite frankly, I think I've had just about enough of Melbourne. In some ways,' she commented mysteriously, 'it's almost as bad as home. After my holiday I might try Sydney for a while.'

  Slowly Alex digested that. If Ruby moved on she would be giving up the flat, which would mean she would have to start hunting for a place of her own. And she would never be able to afford a place like this.

  'What will your brother say if you leave Melbourne?' she asked unhappily.

  'It's what he's going to say if I don't,' Ruby grumbled cryptically. 'The man I'm friendly with just now, for instance. I like him, but I know Chase wouldn't.'

  'You can't possibly know until they meet, surely?' said Alex, suddenly sensing Ruby needed soothing.

  'Why tell your brother? From what you've told me of him, he has too many other interests to worry over much about what his sister's up to.'

  'You don't know Chase. He even knows what his youngest, most unimportant employees are up to. A sister, an immediate member of his family, as far as he's concerned, is a piece of cake.'

  'Well, don't let him eat you up.' Alex grinned, admiring Ruby's flair for expressing herself exactly. 'If you haven't the strength, and this man is important to you, use your wits. I'm sure you have plenty.'

  Ruby accepted this as a compliment. She would never believe Alex would dare have a sly dig at her. She glanced at Alex tautly. 'Chase has arrogance as well as intelligence, my dear. My grandfather used to be the same. So is Aunt Harriet, but Chase is worse, I think, than either of them. He's just impossible to fight on his own grounds. Head on I wouldn't stand a chance.'

  'Then do it behind his back.' Alex never stopped for a moment to consider that her advice might be rash.

  If she had done, the possibility of such power as Ruby implied being toppled by means such as she suggested was so remote as to remove any seriousness from it. What she had impulsively suggested was prompted more from a wish to comfort Ruby than any real desire to goad her to defy her brother. From experience she knew what it was like to be caught in the machinations of family ambitions, but it seemed incredible that a girl of Ruby Marshall's age and sophistication should even recognise a higher power.

  'My dear child,' Ruby's tone rejected Alex's advice scornfully, 'no one ever gets the better of my brother.

  Even escaping this far nearly killed me: Believe me it was a major victory, but a hollow one for all that.

  Normally, he would never have allowed it.'

  This bordered a little too much on hysterical exaggeration to be wholly acceptable, yet Ruby had never looked as disturbed as she did now, not in all the weeks they had been together. What she said had a curious ring of truth, urging Alex to ask, 'Why did he let you go this time, then?'

  'I'm not sure.' Ruby was blind to the doubt in Alex's eyes. Perhaps he saw I was driven. He would like me to encourage a neighbour of ours. He seems to think a girl's chances of marriage don't improve after twenty six, but I have my own ideas in that direction. As he is soon to discover!' she finished waspishly.

  Alex said quietly, 'Maybe your brother's not as set on this as you believe. If he was then why should he have agreed to your living here?'

  'I've told you, I'm not sure!' Ruby snapped impatiently. Perhaps he thought he could keep an eye on me here just as well as at home. There has to be a reason, but I haven't tried too hard to find it. I'm just taking what's offered without asking too many questions.'

  'But you said he'll know everything you're doing?'

  ' So he might,' Ruby shrugged, 'but I haven't seen him for weeks. I have reason to believe he's well occupied on the other side of the globe, which can be the only explanation.'

  'Occupied?' queried Alex.

  'An attractive brunette, my dear, who'll only say no long enough to make it worth her while.'

  Ruby's cynicism struck Alex as regrettable. It also shocked her slightly. Chase Marshall did, too. Much more so. A kind of horrified fascination with the Marshall family caught her in a curious grip, forcing her to query with wide-eyed incredulity, 'Does your brother always allow his girl-friends to drive him to such lengths?'

  'Not always, and he was going to America, anyway,' Ruby admitted reluctantly. 'He doesn't usually have to exert himself in the least to get his own way. Women seem to make a habit of falling for his looks and his money, but he's generally less than impressed.'

  'Always?'

  Again Ruby shrugged. 'Oh, some last a few months. His affairs are usually brief. He seems to lose interest very easily. That's probably why he's never married.'

  Alex smiled maliciously, not caring for the picture she saw. 'Perhaps someone's refused him?'

  Ruby shook her head. 'None of us ever recall him betraying even a flicker of anxiety, let alone a broken heart. And we would have known.'

  'Does it have to show?'

  'Chase wouldn't allow it.' Ruby's absolute conviction amazed Alex. The lady wouldn't stand a chance.

  He'd have it all cut and dried, she wouldn't have a leg to stand on!' With a sigh, she rose to her feet. 'You
must allow me to know my own brother, Alex, especially as you've never even met him.'

  'This wasn't likely. And more likely, if she ever did, he wouldn't so much as notice her. The kind of man Chase Marshall was put him well beyond the experience of girls like herself. Convinced of this, Alex observed dryly, You don't show your brother in a very pretty light, Ruby. You don't make him sound a very nice person at all.'

  'He isn't,' yet there was an unconscious pride in Ruby's voice. 'I don't think there are many men like him, but he can be lethal when thwarted.'

  'Can't we all?'

  'You may laugh, Alex,' Ruby tied a scarf over her beautifully waved hair to protect it from the wind that was rising. 'It's not exactly a joke for me, though. You can't imagine what it's like, having to fight continually against being married off.'

  How could she reply to this without betraying her own story? Alex stared at Ruby unhappily. Loyalty for her mother made such a confession impossible, whereas Ruby appeared to have no such scruples.

  Although, to give Ruby her due, this was the first time she had been so frank about her family.

  'I mightn't mind so much,' she hedged weakly, 'if I really liked the man.'

  'Oh, Henry's all right,' Ruby admitted, 'but he's so unexciting. Marriage to him would mean I'd merely be exchanging one boring old station for another. You've no idea how lonely life can be in the Outback, unless you like that kind of thing. I…'

  The doorbell rang and Ruby departed, breaking off abruptly in mid-sentence, almost as if she was relieved at the interruption. As if suddenly she feared she had said too much.' See you,' she frowned, on her way out.

  Once she had gone, Alex got down to the serious business of washing her hair. Contrary to what she had told Ruby, it wasn't really in need of a wash, but once she had finished her usual tasks around the flat an odd restlessness wouldn't let her sit still. Ruby's outpourings had unsettled her, even while she knew Ruby would regret them before morning. Ruby was a strange girl, an odd mixture of personalities. She certainly seemed to have a problem, regarding her brother, but Alex couldn't see how she could help her.