by Jane Corrie
pocket. 'I think this comes under my department,' he observed casually.
Then, looking at her white face and strained expression, he remarked, 'I think the altitude's getting through to you again. You'd better sit down before you fall down.'
Kent was still getting over her traumatic discovery, and she continued to stare at him. Something in her expression must have alerted him as he gave her a searching stare and asked abruptly, 'What's wrong with you?'
She had been brought up to acknowledge the truth whatever the situation, and she did not evade the answer. 'I think ...' she began, then swallowed, and this time it rushed out, 'I think I'm in love with you.'
It was Matt's turn to take on the role of the stag at bay. He looked positively hunted for a second or so, but made a fine recovery. 'Like I said,' he drawled, 'the altitude's got you.' His voice was firmer and more sardonic as he commented dryly, 'It's that ring; I did warn you.'
Kent just looked at him. She didn't argue, and her, 'Yes, Matt,' had a humble note in it.
Giving her a sharp stare, he shouted, 'And don't say, "Yes, Matt", like that! '
'No, Matt,' she said.
'And don't look at me as if I'm the answer to a maiden's prayer, either. I'm not! Do you hear?' 'Yes, Matt,' she answered dully.
'Oh, for heaven's sake! ' he exploded, and flung out of the room.
Kent stayed where she was; she didn't understand why this thing had happened to her. She could quite understand Matt's reaction of near horror at her revelation.
Slowly she took the ring off her finger and stared at it. Was it the ring? Did it have some supernatural power to do things like this to people? Perhaps if she didn't wear it things would get back to normal? Her lips twisted wryly. What was normal? Was loving Matt normal? Her nerveless fingers dropped the ring. She didn't want to love Matt! He didn't love her. He didn't even like her very much.
Getting up very slowly, she retrieved the ring, but did not put it on again. Instead she slipped, it in her pocket. She doubted if anyone would notice its absence from her finger; Matt certainly wouldn't.
Taking a deep breath, she went Co collect her bag. It wouldn't do to keep Matt waiting. Matt—the very name did things to her heart; she couldn't help the way she felt. It was all too new—too wonderful!
Outside the chalet, she found him impatiently awaiting her arrival, with the engine revving. 'Step on it,' he said curtly. 'We ought to have left by now.'
Getting into the car, Kent sat mutely staring out at the luxuriant vegetation around them as the car sped down the incline to the works. Was it her imagination, or were the flowers twice as beautiful as before? A small bright green snake slithered
across their path and into the dense undergrowth on the other side of the road. She caught a glimpse of its bright gleaming scales before it disappeared. 'Matt! Did you see that?' she said excitedly. 'Wasn't it beautiful?'
The only reply was an absentminded grunt of, `What?'
She sighed and subsided into silence.
They were almost at the site when Matt said abruptly, 'I think Tony's right; you could do with some diversion. We'll join that outing on Friday.'
Kent's heart leapt; he was taking her ! 'Where are we going?' she asked quickly.
He cast a quick sideways glance at her, his brows raised. 'La Paz, of course, there's nowhere else.'
'Wonderful ! ' she breathed, meeting his hard stare
with a smile. 'Thank you, Matt.'
'Thank Tony, not me,' he said tersely as the car swung round a bend and into the works coming to a halt beside her office. When Kent got out, he moved on again leaving her staring reproachfully after it, then she smiled and hurried into the office to give Tony the news of her joining the outing.
'I thought Matt would take you,' he said comfortably. 'Couldn't see him leaving you on your own for the weekend in the chalet.'
`Have you been before?' she asked.
`Several times,' confirmed Tony. 'We've got it down to a fine art now. We book in at the Colonial Club, have lunch, then sit back and decide what
we're going to do. There's tennis if you're feeling energetic--or swimming, if not. There's also a fine shopping area, if that's your bent.'
I've seen that,' said Kent. 'After I married Matt,
I wandered around that part of town.'
There was a wistfulness in her voice as she said this and Tony's sympathetic nature caught it. He laid a comforting hand on her arm. 'Poor Kent,' he said, 'you must have felt lost. Matt's no ladies' man, at that, but he could have found some entertainment for you.'
'There wasn't time,' she said hastily, 'he'd promised to be back by four.'
Tony shook his head sadly. 'Trust Matt to come up with that sort of excuse,' he said dolefully.
'Tony,' Kent asked carefully, 'why didn't Matt ever marry? Has he'—she faltered slightly—`I mean, is there someone?'
Tony gave her a surprised look, then grinned. 'You're at it again, young Kent, aren't you, making a mystery out of his love life now Well, you're going to be disappointed again. He's not suffering from a let-down; nor is he carrying a torch for someone he can't have. No, sir, our Matt's a dedicated bachelor if I ever saw one.' He sighed expansively. 'There are times when I envy him, no complications for him.'
do they like him—the girls, I mean?' she asked shyly.
Tony blinked, a little taken aback by the question. 'Like him! ' he exclaimed. 'They fall over themselves to please him.' He rubbed a hand over his chin thoughtfully. 'I'd never get away with it,' he said sadly, 'treating women the way he does, but they come back begging for more.'
Kent thought about that for a moment. She hadn't liked the way he'd spoken to her at first. Now it was different; it didn't matter how much he shouted at her, she would still love him.
` Kent?' Tony asked suddenly. 'You're not getting pie-eyed over him, are you?'
She smiled sweetly at him. 'If you're going to warn me against such a foolish action, I'm afraid it's too late, Tony.'
Putting his hands on his head, Tony groaned.
`How could you? Of all the females he's come into contact with, I was sure you'd keep your head.' 'He says it's the altitude,' she replied demurely. `You mean you've actually told him that you ...'
A delighted chuckle broke from Kent. 'I'm afraid
so,' she gurgled.
`And he's taking you to La Paz?' queried Tony disbelievingly.
Giving him a mock frown, she replied, 'Well, only because he believes I need a change of atmosphere. I think he's hoping I'll have a change of heart, too.'
Shaking his head slowly, Tony muttered, 'I don't know who I'm most sorry for, you or Matt.'
Her eyes opened wide as she stared at Tony, all
amusement gone. 'Well, I must say ...' she began indignantly.
Still giving her that doleful look of his, Tony said gently, 'Can't you see what a fix it puts him in? He married you in good faith, Kent.'
She started to reply, then was silent. All too clearly could she see what Tony was getting at. 'I wouldn't hold him to the marriage, Tony,' she said quietly. 'I have some pride.'
He was not entirely convinced. 'There's plenty that would,' he said. 'And I couldn't blame you for trying.'
The world suddenly turned bleak for Kent. She had only been looking at it from her point of view. Tony was right; Matt was in an unenviable position. How could she have blurted out the truth like that?
She thought of La Paz and drew a deep breath, Matt was only taking her because he hoped she'd regain her sense of proportion. Now she didn't want to go, but could hardly refuse. 'What am I going to do, Tony?' she whispered.
'It'll sort itself out,' he replied, trying to sound as if he really meant it. 'One thing's certain, you need a break, and you'll get it this weekend.' He hesitated a second or so, then met her eyes. 'You do realise Matt's time will be booked, don't you? She's a curvaceous redhead answering to the name of Daphne Williams. She works in the Government offices.'
Kent l
ooked away quickly; now she knew where
Matt had taken himself off to the day they were married. She straightened her shoulders and looked back at Tony. T find something to do,' she said firmly.
He smiled back at her. 'You bet,' he said. 'Uncle Tony will see to that. Er ... that is, if you won't mind the company of a middle-aged, much married man.'
Blinking back the tears, she could feel rising to the surface, she replied shakily, `I'd be honoured, Tony. Thank you.'
CHAPTER SEVEN
THEIR rooms at the Colonial Club were connected by a communicating door. Kent had no fear that Matt would take advantage of the situation. Matt, however, had every cause to worry that Kent would.
After his curt, 'I trust you'll be able to keep yourself occupied,' letting her know with his usual lack of finesse that his time was booked, and she would have to look after her own entertainment, Kent had assured him that she had not expected his company anyway, and that Tony was looking after that side of things for her.
Tony lived up to his promise, and that first evening took Kent out to dinner at a cavern some miles out of town.
In spite of her depression, she managed to enjoy the evening. The Cavern, as it was called, was an underground cave adapted by an ingenious restaurateur who had never looked back since.
It was well patronised, and the food worth the visit alone. Kent left the ordering in Tony's hands, not that she had much choice, as the menu was in Spanish. After inquiring whether she cared for
venison, to which she had to admit she didn't know, she had never tasted it before, Tony, sure she would like it, ordered it.
When the meal was over, Kent could honestly say there hadn't been one portion of the many small dishes put in front of her that she had not enjoyed sampling a little of. The sweet, a kind of fried doughnut, another new introduction to her palate, ended the sumptuous meal. The wine Tony had chosen, a Sangria, a red wine mixed with soda water and served with ice cubes and slices of lemon and orange, was a pleasant drink, and Kent relaxed after the meal with her topped-up glass.
Neither was drawn to the dance floor, but were content to watch others partaking. Later they enjoyed the floor show of flamenco dancing, and Kent sat enthralled by the rhythmatic pulsating of the castanets, as the dancers whirled round each other, their precise staccato steps quickening to an unbelievable tempo.
A flower girl circled the diners, and Tony gallantly bought a corsage for Kent in spite of her smiling refusal. As she pinned it on her peacock blue cocktail dress, the only evening wear she had brought with her, her eyes were slightly misty, and she wished fervently Tony had not done that, for it reminded her of the reason he was taking her out that night. She knew he hadn't meant the gesture to be taken that way, but she felt like a child who was
being given goodies to take its mind off some sharp disappointment.
The diners now circled the floor, and Kent found herself searching among them for Matt's tall broad frame, and wondering miserably where he was. In all probability he had quizzed Tony on where he would be taking her, and was thus able to avoid meeting them.
It would hardly, she thought dully, enhance his evening if he had to introduce her to his Daphne. Would he then use the name 'wife' he seemed so fond of coming out with when he wished to discomfit her? Somehow she thought not, and certainly not after the revelation of her feelings towards him.
Eventually Tony jerked her out of her unhappy musings by remarking that they ought to be making tracks back. The road out is inclined to get jammed,' he told her.
It appeared quite a few others were of the same opinion, and the result was as Tony had predicted, a traffic jam of cars waiting to go over the pass leading to the main road. Subsequently, it was past two in the morning when Kent got to her room, and she was about to start undressing when the communicating door on Matt's side opened.
He had discarded his jacket and his shirt was partially open revealing the thick chestnut hair on his chest.
After the first startled glance in this direction, Kent hastily looked away again.
`Just where the devil have you been?' he queried furiously. `I've been in two minds whether to put an alert out on you.'
Kent blinked at him and said slowly, 'Tony took me to a place called the Cavern, but we got caught in a traffic jam coming home.'
`I'll have a word with our Tony,' he muttered. `Next time, let me know your plans, will you? I'd look all kinds of a fool not knowing the whereabouts of my wife.'
`Yes, Matt,' Kent replied quietly.
Her softly spoken answer seemed to infuriate him further, and as he came nearer she could smell whisky. He wasn't drunk, she thought, but he had certainly been imbibing. For a moment it looked as if he would shout at her, but he changed his mind and ruffled his hair back with an abrupt movement. `Look,' he said brusquely, 'this situation is getting out of hand.'
Kent couldn't pretend she didn't know what he meant. He had a problem, and she was the one who had given it to him. She wanted to say it was all right, she wouldn't make a nuisance of herself, but instead all she could do was to reply sadly, 'Yes ...'
`If you say, "yes, Matt", once more, so help me ...' he did shout then.
Backing away from him, she eyed him warily. He was like a caged tiger. She knew what she had to do, and it had to be convincing.
`Stop shouting at me, Matt King,' she said angrily.
`And you can stop worrying over me, too. I'm cured! As you said, it was the altitude. I'm back to normal now. I've had a wonderful time tonight, and I'll have a wonderful time tomorrow! So go away and stop blighting my horizon, will you?'
For a pregnant second or so it looked as if he might do anything but go away, but he suddenly turned on his heel and slammed the door between them.
Kent sighed, partly from relief and partly from sorrow. It had worked; he had only needed to hear her say she was back to normal, now he could relax and enjoy himself.
After a quick shower she prepared herself for bed and was just brushing her hair in front of the dressing table mirror, when Matt made his second appearance. Kent sat in frozen embarrassment; she only wore her nightdress, a flimsy gossamer thing. Her cheeks flushed crimson as she met his eyes in the mirror. Surely he would see her predicament and leave?
But to her utter horror he advanced further into the room, and her agitated fingers clutched the top of the dressing table. 'What is it now?' she managed to ask with as much nonchalance as she could muster.
'You didn't tell me where you were going tomorrow,' he answered casually.
Kent was certain there was something else on his mind, and still trying to adopt an offhanded attitude
she murmured, 'Tony said something about a swimming party—so we won't be leaving the club.' She made an attempt to yawn. 'If there's nothing else, I really am tired.'
'Trying to get rid of me?' he jeered.
Kent's eyes met his squarely. 'If there's anything else on your mind, you can forget it,' she snapped.
'Oh, there is,' he assured her infuriatingly, 'I want to put a theory to the test.'
A nasty feeling that she knew just what he meant made her answer furiously, 'Get out, Matt King! Before I shout for help.'
He grinned wickedly at her. 'Try it,' he said invitingly. 'Make a good story, wouldn't it?—husband ordered out of wife's room! '
Her flush deepened. In that mood she couldn't fight him. She just sat there feeling miserable and staring at her hands. The thick carpet drowned his steps as he came towards her, and when she next glanced up he was right beside her.
Her eyes met his in mute appeal. 'Matt, be sensible,' she pleaded gently. 'I meant what I said. Don't spoil things.'
'I just want to be sure,' he said harshly, catching hold of her by the shoulders and pulling her up from the dressing table stool, and without warning, he kissed her.
Kent could smell the whisky on his breath, and at first knew distaste. She tried to break his hold on her and managed it after his lips touched hers.
> 'You're drunk! ' she said disdainfully.
'A little high, maybe,' he agreed, adding softly, 'it would take more than a couple of whiskies to sway my judgment, though.' Surveying her through narrowed eyes, he then said, 'Tell me, didn't your Jack drink?'
Kent turned away from that look of his that seemed to sear right through her. `If he did, I didn't notice it,' she said quickly.
'Yeah,' Matt said caustically, 'that's what love does for you.'
She glanced back at him swiftly, catching the undisguised contempt in his voice.
'Having me on, were you?' he drawled. 'About falling for me?' He shook his head slowly. 'Lady, you sure had me worried for a -while there.'
Kent bit her lip; this was the break she so badly needed. 'Of course,' she rejoined swiftly, 'I wanted to get my own back on you. You were so dictatorial! I'm not used to being bullied either, so I made it up, so—so ' She stopped suddenly as her eyes met Matt's blazing ones.
The next moment she was in his arms again, and this time there was no reprieve. She was terrified. 'Matt, don't! ' she cried out as his lips forced themselves on hers.
After a punishing kiss, he raised his head and looked down at her with hooded lids. 'Remember, you asked for this,' he said harshly. 'You've reminded me often enough that I'm no gentleman.
I'm no tailor-made fair-haired dummy, either, as you're about to find out.' His lips came down on hers again, but this time the kiss was gentler, insistent and searching.
Kent slipped into wonderland. She had no resistance left. Utterly vanquished, she put her arms up round his neck and she shamelessly clung to him.
Then her world of rainbows was suddenly shattered when he flung her from him. She stood bewilderedly looking at him; he was breathing heavily and his hands were tightly clenched by his side.
'If you've any sense, woman,' he advised her stonily, 'you'll stay away from me—for your own good, and my peace of mind.'