'I see.'
Jake got up suddenly, walked to the window and then back again to look down at her.
'Why do you have to protect yourself in this way? Isn't there a boy-friend who could take care of you in a more… personal way?' His voice was oddly harsh.
She flushed again. 'No,' she said, raising her chin at him a little, facing the question in his eyes quite openly and honestly.
'That can only be because you don't wish for anyone. Many must have tried,' he said deliberately.
Davina didn't say anything to that, but her eyes dropped to her hands and she clenched one over the ring on the other.
Jake didn't move away. She wanted to get up, but couldn't do so without touching him.
'Do you still love him?' he asked harshly.
'Yes,' she admitted. 'That's why I can't go unprotected. I couldn't face it.'
Jake walked back to the window and she got up.
'Are you sure?'
'Oh, yes, I'm sure. I've tried to be with other people— I've wanted to be. But it doesn't work for me. I'm not proud of it, but I don't deny it. I've lived with it too long for that.' She turned to go. 'And now I really must go. Thank you again. Can I call a taxi?'
'Yes, in a moment.'
'No!' her voice was sharp and determined. 'No more, please. I don't want to talk any more.'
'I understand how tired you must be, but I want you to wait another moment.' His voice was determined and commanding with an undertone of something else she could not quite catch, almost an urgency.
'Where is your home, Davina? Which part of the country?' he asked unexpectedly.
She looked at him in surprise.
'In Cornwall, near St Ives. Why?'
'Because I've a suggestion to make. Sit down again just for another minute.' He was using his coaxing voice again.
She sat down primly on a hard chair by the door.
He stood quite still, legs apart, facing her across the room, the light behind him as on that first day and she couldn't see his eyes.
'Davina, will you marry me?' he asked evenly.
CHAPTER THREE
Davina stared at him, quite unable to take in what he had just said, and for a moment there was complete silence in the room while neither moved. Then she spoke sharply, decisively.
'Of course I won't marry you! Is this some kind of joke?' She was angry now. 'If you're making fun of me, I'd like to remind you that it was you who wanted this talk, not I.'
Jake answered quietly, quite unmoved by her outburst.
'If you think I'd joke about what you've just told me, you know me even less than I think you do. It's a perfectly serious question, and I'll explain exactly what I have in mind.'
'I don't care what you have in mind! I'm leaving, and I'll find my own taxi!' She got up and moved to the door.
'Please, Davina,' he said coldly, 'sit down and stop babbling. I have something serious in mind of benefit to both of us, and I think you should give me the chance to explain it.'
'I've just told you I love another man and you propose marriage? And you think I'll benefit?' She was fast losing control, her voice rising.
'It's because you're in love with someone else, someone who's not free to love you, that I'm making this suggestion. Now are you going to listen?' She said nothing, and Jake went on more quietly, 'It may sound strange to you, but we're both in slightly similar positions.'
Her eyes flew to his face in shocked surprise. Surely he couldn't be in love with someone who wasn't free to marry him? She knew Andrea Temple was unmarried.
'You're in love with the man who's to be your sister's husband, and you need to convince your family that he's of no interest to you. For this you want a fiancé. I, too, need a fiancée, to convince my father that I'm preparing to settle down. Both situations require a temporary solution.'
He paused and sat down again, looking into the fire.
'I don't think you know much of my personal life.' He stated it as a fact and did not make it into a question. 'I'm an only child, and my family consists of my father who's a widower. His greatest wish is that I should be married and have children. Every time I go home I know he's hoping I'll bring someone who's to be my wife, so that he'll see a grandchild before he dies.'
His voice was low and Davina sensed he was finding it difficult to talk about his personal feelings for his father.
'He's not very well and may shortly have to face an operation. He is also not young—he was in his forties when I was born.'
Jake stopped and took a deep breath, then he turned in his chair to face her and she saw his face was strangely bleak.
'What I'm suggesting is this. When you need a fiancé to convince your family, I'll make myself available to you, and when I need a fiancée on visits to my father, you make yourself available to me.'
There was a stunned silence.
'But that's quite impossible… it's dishonest,' she stammered. 'Your father… he would expect you to marry, not just to be engaged, and…'
'Let me finish, Davina,' he interrupted harshly. 'How long do you imagine it would take your father, who you say knows you well, to find out your escort for the day? Would it last out the week-end? And even if it did, what about the next time you visit them? Or they visit you in London? Would you try to find the same man again? What if he's not available, has left the escort service, doesn't want to come? How did you imagine all that would work out?'
'I've thought it out. Once the shock of meeting me again is over, I can ease them into the idea that I'm not the marrying kind, that I want a career and have no thought of marriage till I'm much older.'
Jake didn't say anything for a moment, and she felt she had convinced him. He sounded tired when he spoke again.
'And you really believe your father isn't going to guess? And be hurt even more deeply at your pretence? Do you want him to think you're so deeply hurt by Philip marrying your sister that you have to deceive him or pretend you're going to be a career girl?'
Davina did not answer. He was deliberately confusing her, making her aware of the inadequacy of her carefully laid plans.
'What about your father?' she retaliated. 'Don't you think he'll know immediately? I'm not the sort of girl you ever go out…' She stopped in embarrassment.
'Quite right,' Jake's voice was tinged with humour, 'you're not the sort of girl I normally take out. That's precisely why my father is going to believe in our engagement.'
'Well, what about my job? What happens to that? We can't have a phoney engagement at work. Everyone would know it's a joke.'
'Yes, I agree with you,' Jake said thoughtfully. 'In London we would have no need to keep it up. At work we would return to our normal relationships. You're too valuable to me at the agency to risk your leaving for personal reasons.'
Davina sat quietly trying to gather her scattered wits. Why, she thought, doesn't he ask Andrea Temple to do this for him? Why me? Perhaps because Andrea Temple might have hopes of actually becoming Mrs Jake Humphries, and obviously he was in no rush to get married, to her or to anyone else.
'I can't do it,' she said eventually. 'I could never go through with it. It's too ridiculous… I don't like to lie to my own family or your father.'
'My father you don't even know,' Jake argued, 'and your family you're planning to lie to in any case. At least this way they might believe it and be comforted by our relationship. That's the point of this, isn't it? That your father is comforted, reassured?' He glanced across at her, his head back and eyes veiled in the arrogant stance she knew so well. 'I assure you,' he drawled, 'I'll be able to convince him of my care for your happiness and welfare.'
Davina blushed at his tone.
'It would be a definite… er… business arrangement, nothing personal?' she asked bluntly, looking straight into his face.
'You have my word on that,' he said quietly, all mockery gone from his face.
'What if you met someone you really wanted to marry?' she asked. 'How would you handle
that?'
'I would ask you to release me as I would release you if you found someone you wanted to be free for. This is only a temporary measure, one that will benefit us both for a time.' He sighed wearily. 'You see, for me this is only to help my father face this operation. I want him to go into that certain I've chosen a life partner. After that, who knows…'
'Very well,' she was achingly tired now, 'I'll think it over.'
'You have precisely five minutes,' he said coldly.
'What?' she could feel her hackles rising again at his arrogant attitude.
'Don't be childish, Davina,' said Jake in his normal office voice. 'This has to be decided now, tonight. How else can we make arrangements to go down to your family tomorrow?'
'Oh, dear, I'd forgotten that…' She decided. 'Well, I don't think I can accept, thank you. I just couldn't cope with it all.'
He didn't answer directly.
'Your family live near St Ives,' he said, musing idly, 'and my home is in Mevagissey, less than thirty miles away. I shall be going home tomorrow and so will you. And our homes are within an hour's drive of each other.'
She gasped and stared at him wide-eyed. What an extraordinary coincidence! She wished she knew what was best. She was so tired and couldn't concentrate… first the sherry, then the fire and the meal…
'Let me make the decision for you, Davina. I assure you you won't regret it. If you give me the name of the escort agency I'll leave a message on their answering machine and cancel the arrangement you have with them. In the morning I'll pick you up and we'll have a leisurely drive down to the West Country. If you do have second thoughts you can always continue by train, and we'll have plenty of time to sort out the details on the way… what do you say? Will you trust me and accept?'
She felt a sudden yearning to end all this discussion and go to bed. She was desperately tired and worn out with her own feelings and all the talk.
'Very well,' she heard herself say, 'I agree.'
Davina was in the hall promptly next morning. Discarding the jeans she had planned to wear for the drive down, she had chosen instead a rose-coloured brushed cotton dress and matching jacket. It was full-skirted, tight-waisted and embroidered with tiny white daisies round the scalloped neck and hem. White sandals, a short black fur jacket over her arm and carrying her case, she was ready.
Jake looked cool and remote, with nothing of the friendliness of the night before. Taking her case with a brief, 'Good morning, you didn't oversleep, then,' he led her to the car.
Looking at the sleek lines of the silver blue Rolls, Davina though how well the large car suited his height. She thought also of how impressed her family would be when they saw it.
He wasted no time. Her luggage and fur went into the boot and within minutes they were on their way. In the closeness of the car Davina could scent his aftershave, and it reminded her of the way he had held her the previous night, easing her pain and giving her comfort. Yet this morning his face was set and he looked grim, although dressed for a holiday, in a brown suede jacket with cream slacks and toning shoes, his silk cream shirt open at the neck his signet ring and gold wrist watch gleaming in the car interior.
Looking at his face, she wondered if he had slept badly. Perhaps he now regretted the arrangement they had made only hours earlier. Maybe he wished he was alone, or perhaps with Andrea Temple. She thought of the lovely elegant girl and wondered if he had planned to have her along today.
Turning her head to look out of the window, she noticed they were heading into town instead of making for the motorway. The car crossed Grosvenor Square and stopped outside the Connaught Hotel. For one awful moment she thought perhaps they were picking up Miss Temple and that she was coming with them, then she dismissed that as a stupid thought, and followed Jake as he ushered her out of the car and into the hotel, tossing the keys to the commissionaire on the way.
Inside they were obviously expected. They were led into the dining room and within minutes Davina found herself at a corner table heavy with white linen and silver cutlery, staring at an enormous menu.
'Right,' Jake said briefly, 'breakfast, I think, don't you? I don't imagine you had any before you came out, and I certainly didn't.'
Davina looked round at the few tables that were occupied so early and noted unseen guests eating or waiting behind enormous newspapers while waiters moved noiselessly across the thick carpet.
'They do a very good breakfast here.' Jake was suddenly cheerful and she listened in awe as he ordered a three-course meal, starting with cereals and seemingly going right through the menu.
Davina asked for coffee and toast and was ignored.
'Let me see,' he sighed, 'madame will have fresh orange juice, scrambled eggs on toast with fresh tomatoes. And we'll have a large pot of coffee with hot milk for two.'
The food arrived on chafing dishes, hot and fragrant, the toast folded into white napkins, the coffee in heavy silver, and they ate in silence.
Davina found she was quite hungry, having downed only a quick cup of instant coffee at home. She enjoyed the food, relieved she was not called on to make conversation.
An hour later they were in front of the hotel and the commissionaire was handing them into a taxi. Jake said nothing by way of explanation and she knew him well enough, in this mood, not to ask a lot of questions.
They travelled down Bond Street, where shops were just opening and stopped outside Cartier. Davina made no move to get out, thinking he must be collecting something, but he reached for her and she found herself on the pavement as he rang the Cartier bell. Once more they were expected. Davina had a quick impression of intense quiet, sparkling glass surfaces, crystal chandeliers shimmering and deep carpets underfoot. They were ushered to a low table at the back of the showroom. She was mystified. She thought again Jake must be collecting a present for someone, and waited patiently.
It was not until two young men carried in a collection of trays, sparkling with rings of all sizes, shapes and stones, that she realised why they had come. She turned to Jake, dismay and embarrassment on her face.
'Please,' she whispered, 'I don't want… I really can't…'
'Just leave this to me,' he interrupted her. coldly. He then asked for the rings to be left for them to sort through alone. With smiles and bows, they were left alone.
Jake drew one of the trays towards them and began to study the rings casually, while she sat petrified and wanting to be gone. He spoke to her quietly.
'Now don't make a fuss, Davina, there's a good girl.'
'Please,' she interrupted, 'I can't possibly wear anything like this! It's far too valuable. I have the ring I bought myself. That's all I need and all I want.'
'I think you must let me be the best judge of that,' he said, his voice hard. 'My father wouldn't be fooled for a moment with the kind of ring you're wearing. It's not the ring I would give my bride.'
She flinched slightly at the word 'bride' and lowered her eyes to hide her blushes. 'Oh, dear…' she said eventually.
'Precisely,' he drawled. 'Just regard it as an investment for me. When we… er… end our arrangement, you can give it back to me if you feel so strongly about it. And it will be insured. So let's just leave it at that, can we, without more arguments?'
Davina looked at the dazzling display in front of her and wondered how she would feel if Philip was choosing a ring for her. She had sent his back to him, and he had never written, never acknowledged her letter. It had been a very different one from these, just a narrow gold band with one diamond surrounded by seed pearls, and she had loved and treasured it.
'What about this one?' Jake picked up a large square-cut diamond set on a platinum band. 'All women want diamonds, don't they?' he said rather cynically. 'The bigger the better.'
He slipped it on her finger and Davina went cold with fear and revulsion. What was she doing here, pretending to be engaged to someone she hardly knew and she didn't love? How had she got herself into this? She felt the tears rise in her thro
at and fought off the panic that threatened to engulf her. She had to get out of there and away from Jake. She couldn't go on with this masquerade.
'Davina,' Jake's voice was startled, 'are you all right?' He looked at the whiteness of her face and the tense set of her lips as she tried to control her panic.
'Please,' she whispered, 'I want to go… please… I can't…' She made to rise, but he stopped her, and she looked up to see his eyes grim and bleak, all laughter and mockery gone.
'I should have known…' he murmured. He flicked his fingers and asked for a brandy and a glass of water for madame, explaining about the heat.
Davina hardly heard what was happening. She drank the ice cold water and felt the panic subside. Jake held out the brandy to her, but she refused with a shake of the head. Then he began to talk to her in a low voice, picking up the rings describing each one, putting it down again, making no move to look at her again, giving her time to regain her composure. She was grateful to him for his understanding and her fears and trembling began to subside.
'You know, it's a funny thing,' he was saying in his normal office voice, 'but I feel your stone isn't really the diamond. Diamonds are glittering, of course, and can be fabulous, but somehow the green of the emerald seems more your stone. It's also beautiful, luminous but softer… like you,' and he turned and smiled at her. 'What about this one?' He held it out to her. It was quite lovely, a plain square emerald, pale translucent green, set on a white gold band and shimmering in the light from the chandeliers. She looked at him and smiled tremulously.
'Try it on,' he said gently.
It fitted perfectly, and she liked the slightly heavy feel it gave to her hand. 'Do you like it?' she turned shyly to Jake to see if he approved.
He was looking down at the ring, and picked up her hand, holding it lightly in his dark square one.
'It's just you,' he said simply, and stood up.
Davina was given a box for it in a tiny Cartier carrier bag, and they left to find another taxi waiting for them outside.
Back in the Rolls Jake concentrated on driving and they were out of London far more swiftly than she could ever have managed. On the motorway the big powerful car ate up the miles. It was Slough before Jake spoke again.
Wedding in the Family Page 4