by Penny Jordan
The salon door opened and Joss walked in, making her step back from the mirror.
‘Where’s Johnson?’ she asked him huskily, flustered to see him standing there when she had anticipated a few more moments’ grace.
Something gleamed in Joss’s eyes, something predatory and intimidating, but when he spoke his voice was cool and distant.
‘Since I’m shortly to become a member of the family, I told him there was no need to stand on ceremony.’
Nell gripped the edge of the table.
‘You told Johnson that we’re going to be married?’
‘You object? Why? We are going to be married, aren’t we, Nell?’
She looked mutely at him and then said sadly, ‘Do I have any choice?’
‘No—and I haven’t said a word to Johnson,’ he told her calmly. ‘I’m not totally without awareness, Nell … some of the rough edges have been rubbed off, you know. I know you will want to tell the staff our good news yourself …’
There was an ironic look in his eyes as he said the words ‘our good news’ and, despite her firm determination not to do so, Nell felt herself flushing … although surely there was nothing for her to feel guilty about. Joss was the one who had proposed their marriage. Joss was the supplicator, no matter how hard she found it to visualise him in that role. When she gave him her answer … And then she realised that she already had. Her lips parted on an uncertain breath, and, as though he read her mind, Joss said mockingly, ‘Too late, you’ve already committed yourself, Nell. Besides——’
He broke off as there was a discreet tap on the door and the housekeeper came in carrying a tray of coffee.
‘Thank you, Mrs Booth.’ Joss reached out and took the tray, giving the older woman a far warmer smile than Nell had ever received from him, making a faint flush of colour rise up under her plump cheeks as she left.
‘I didn’t ask for any coffee,’ Nell told him once they were alone.
She had been astounded by the way he already seemed to have taken control … by the way the staff, her staff, were already responding to him.
‘No? Just as well I did, then. When Johnson told me you were waiting for me in here, I thought we’d need it. As I remembered it, this room gets as cold as charity … No doubt that was why it was chosen by the French martyr …’
He looked amused at the astonishment on her face.
‘Did you really think me totally ignorant of the family’s history, Nell? Your grandfather told it to me … I am right, aren’t I? This sitting-room was furnished by Louise de Roget, wasn’t it?’
‘Yes,’ Nell told him bleakly.
‘Poor, unhappy little French child. I believe she spent more time at her prayers than in her husband’s bed. Our marriage won’t be like that, Nell.’
She looked up at him, shocked by the note of steel certainty in his voice.
‘I know you want a son, Joss,’ she told him with dignity.
‘More than one,’ he told her frankly. ‘And not just sons … I want a family, Nell.’
‘And if I don’t?’ she returned with spirit, but he ignored her challenge, smiling that cruel smile, and taking her chin between his thumb and forefinger so that she was forced to look directly at him.
‘Ah, but you do,’ he told her softly. ‘You were made for motherhood, Nell, and if you’re thinking of Williams as the father of your children, then forget him.’
‘David? But …’
‘Your grandfather seemed to think you might be fancying yourself in love with him—forget him. Nell, he might be able to afford you, but he can’t afford this house.’
What he said was in essence true, but that didn’t make it any the less insulting, not just to herself but to David as well.
To cover up the tremor in her stomach, she said sharply, ‘That remark is chauvinistic in the extreme.’
But Joss only laughed. ‘Give in, Nell. Admit that marriage to me will solve all your problems. No more closed-off cold rooms … No more pinching and scraping … No more nights lying awake, worrying about how you’re going to cope …’
How little he knew … Now her sleepless nights would be spent worrying about about how she was going to cope with loving him, living with him and trying to hide how she felt.
‘There’s another thing,’ he said as he released her chin and she jerked her head away.
As far as he was concerned, it was settled—they were to be married; and yet he had made not the slightest attempt to touch her … to embrace her … to make her feel that he felt something for her other than a mere desire to use her.
‘You’re going to need to buy yourself some new clothes. I’ll organise a credit card for you so that the bills can be sent direct to me. Fiona, my secretary, will help you. You’ll probably need to arrange to spend a couple of days in London. I’ll get her to organise something.’
Nell was furious. She had heard the gossip in the village about the relationship which was supposed to exist between Joss and the elegant woman who worked for him, commuting each day from her home in Chester to Joss’s house. But, even more than his assumption that she was not capable of choosing her own clothes, she resented the contemptuous glance he had given the outfit she was wearing, no matter how much it might merit it. With that single look he had made it more than clear how very unattractive he found her.
‘Thank you,’ she told him arctically, ‘but I really don’t need any new clothes, Joss. I already possess a perfectly adequate wardrobe.’
‘Yes,’ he agreed drily, ‘and I’m sure it’s as antiquated as its contents. What’s the matter with you, Nell?’ he demanded, rounding on her. ‘What possible pleasure can it give you to dress like a retired schoolteacher? Tweed skirts … twin sets. Wake up, Nell; not even the Royal family dress like that these days.’
It struck her as she listened to him that he was probably ashamed of her; embarrassed about how she would look in comparison with the women he normally favoured; worried that the outside world might take one look at her and know immediately why he had married her; and that hurt.
‘I’m sorry if my present appearance doesn’t please you, Joss,’ she told him when she had control of herself. ‘What a pity you can’t simply wave a magic wand and transform me, without all this tiresome fuss.’
She saw that he was about to say something and hurried on bitterly, ‘Of course, one other alternative would be to simply allow me to fade into the background of your life. After all, I can imagine how awkward it will be for you … Joss Wycliffe having a plain, dull wife …’
‘Oh, no, you don’t, Nell,’ he interrupted her harshly. ‘I’m not having you sneaking off with Williams behind my back. I want a wife who is going to play her full role in my life, in public and in private.’
Nell looked at him, astonished that he could actually think she was romantically interested in David, but forbearing to say anything. Let him think what he liked, she decided rebelliously, still deeply resentful of his insults about her clothes, even if she knew at heart that they were justified.
‘No need to look so tragic. I thought you’d be more sensible than this Nell. Your grandfather was almost proud when he pointed out to me the rich brides brought into the family through arranged marriage. Even down to the mill-owner’s daughter whose father’s millions came into the family after Waterloo. Pity her son turned out to be such a gambler and lost the lot. If he hadn’t …’
She lifted pain-blinded eyes to his face, desperately seeking some softness there, some glimmer of compassion, but there was none. She meant nothing to him, other than a means to an end, and she never would; she would die before she allowed him to guess how much she loved him.
She saw him glance at his watch. ‘I have to leave immediately after we’ve seen Williams, and there are several things we still have to sort out. The staff … As far as I’m concerned you are free to make whatever arrangements you choose, but Audlem, my chauffeur, will come with me, and I’d like you to make sure that there’s always a spare be
droom ready for Fiona. As you know, I prefer to work from home when I can. I suspect that the only place we’re going to be able to install my computer equipment is in one of the cellars. I’ll get someone round to check on that … I want it in before we get married. How much time will you need? I thought a month. That will give Williams time to draw up the agreements …’
He saw her face and smiled mirthlessly. ‘We may as well do this properly, Nell. I’ll make you a monthly allowance, for yourself, and open another account for you to run the house from. You’re going to find yourself very busy over the next few months with interior designers and the like. I want this place completely refurbished.’
‘All of it?’ Nell demanded faintly.
‘All of it,’ he confirmed. ‘So, Nell, can you be ready in a month? We’ll have the wedding breakfast here, of course. I’l give you a list of the people I want inviting. Fiona will help you with the invites, etc.’
‘Joss … Surely a quiet wedding …’
‘As though we’ve something to hide? I think not.’
He broke off as David Williams drove up.
This time Johnson did announce the visitor, and David came in, looking slightly flustered and concerned.
‘Nell!’ he exclaimed, going towards her, and Nell suspected he would have kissed her if Joss hadn’t suddenly placed himself between them and said forcefully,
‘You can congratulate me, Williams. Nell has agreed to become my wife …’
For a moment David looked too shocked to speak, and when he did it was to Nell, not to Joss.
‘Is this true, Nell?’
‘Yes,’ she told him quietly.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Joss watching them narrowly and then tranferring his attention to his watch, a slim, gold masculine timepiece. Odd, in someone so devoted to modern technology, that he should choose a very traditional kind of watch; traditional and expensive, but discreetly so; not for Joss the status symbol of the ‘in’ designer watch, she reflected acidly.
‘We’ve a lot to discuss, Williams,’ Joss announced, coming between them. The shock of his hand resting proprietorially on her arm made Nell flinch in surprise and then wince as she felt his fingers bite warningly into her flesh before he released her. She was trembling, slightly horrified at how very vulnerable she was to him physically.
David looked dazed when Joss had finished telling him exactly what was happening.
Nell felt equally dazed as she heard him name what seemed like an impossible sum, adding carelessly that he was giving it to her as a marriage settlement.
‘And I take it that Nell will be free to take it with her, should the marriage ever come to an end,’ David said stiffly.
Instantly Nell saw the golden eyes flash dangerously.
‘Only death will end our marriage,’ she heard Joss telling him.
She knew why, of course, and she suspected that David shared her knowledge, because when Joss had finished dictating to him the terms of the various agreements, he burst out explosively, ‘Nell, are you sure you know what you’re doing? Do you really intend to marry him?’
‘Yes,’ she told him quietly. There could be no going back. She was committed. David looked at her unhappily and then turned angrily to Joss, only to hesitate as Joss studied him, one eyebrow lifted in mocking interrogation.
‘You seem surprised?’
‘Not that you want to marry Nell,’ David muttered, flushed and obviously resentful, ‘but I can’t see why Nell would want to marry you. I realise exactly what you’ll get out of this marriage. But what about Nell? What does she get out of it?’
There was a tiny pause, and then Joss looked directly at her, his eyes hard and brilliant.
‘Oh, Nell will get me,’ he said in a very soft voice.
Her heart almost stopped. He had known all the time … He had just been playing with her, a cruel, vicious kind of torment, when all along he had known how vulnerable she was, how unable to refuse him anything … even though it meant sacrificing her pride and her self-respect.
‘And, of course, my money,’ he continued, his voice less soft and very cynical, and relief flowed through her as she realised he had not guessed how she felt at all.
David left just after two. Nell watched him walk to his car, his shoulders hunched defensively. He paused and looked up at the window.
Nell hadn’t realised Joss was standing so close to her and she stiffened in shock as she felt his hands on her shoulders, drawing her back against his body, one hand holding her imprisoned while the other lifted to her throat, caressing the tender flesh as though he were actually her lover.
When she felt his mouth against the other side of her throat she cried out softly and then started to tremble violently.
No one had kissed her like this before, caressing the sensitive hollows with knowing expertise, making her shiver and tense beneath the ripples of sensation that ricocheted through her body.
In a daze she saw David stare at them, white-faced, and then get into his car. Behind her she could feel the hard muscles of Joss’s body, and when she tried to pull away, his fingers bit painfully into her collarbone.
It was only when David had gone that he released her.
‘Why did you do that?’ she stormed furiously, her face burning hot flags of colour.
‘Why do you think?’ Joss retorted. ‘You’re going to be my wife, Nell.’
‘You didn’t do it because of that. You did it because David was watching us.’
‘Exactly,’ Joss agreed curtly. ‘As I just said, you’re going to be my wife.’ He smiled thinly as he watched her. ‘Such delicate skin.’ He lifted his hand and, thinking he meant to touch her again, Nell flinched back, only to feel a resurgence of heat burn her face as he simply looked at his watch and then said curtly, ‘There’ll be formal announcements to be sent to the papers … but Fiona will see to that.’
Nell saw the look he gave her and her face burned. Without saying so in actual words, he had left her in no doubts as to how he viewed her appearance. Did he honestly think that new clothes would make any difference? She was as she was … and, after all, he wasn’t marrying her for her looks or her dress sense. How galling it must be for him, though, to have to acknowledge as his wife a plain, too thin woman like herself. People would take one look at her and know exactly why he had married her, and, for all his bluntness when discussing the terms of their marriage, she suspected that he would not want others to know exactly why he had married her.
He left at three o’clock, telling her not to walk to the front door with him.
He paused at the door and her heart leapt.
‘Oh, I nearly forgot. You’ll need a ring. I’ll sort something out. I’m involved in business meetings in London for the rest of the week, but I should be free on Friday. With any luck, we’ll be able to finalise the wedding arrangements then. I’ll get Fiona to get in touch with you.’
And then he was gone, the Aston leaving a cloud of dust hanging over the drive.
CHAPTER THREE
‘LADY ELEANOR? I’m Fiona Howard, Joss’s personal assistant.’
The voice was cool and self-assured, and immediately Nell pictured the woman who owned it as glossy and elegant. From her voice it was hard to define her age. She sounded sophisticated and mature, but there was also an edge of something else in her voice that warned Nell that she wasn’t pleased about Joss’s marriage.
In the days since their engagement had been announced she had been besieged by reporters, telephone calls and visitors, and it had been rather like being overwhelmed by a tidal wave. Only that morning one of the society magazines had telephoned, asking for a photograph to accompany their announcement, and Nell’s normal calm was fast beginning to desert her.
She gripped the receiver tensely, her voice betraying her stress.
‘Joss asked me to call to find out when you’ll be free to go to London to buy your new clothes. I’d like a few days’ warning so that I can clear my desk, and get us a
hotel booking. I think we’ll be able to get most of what you need in Knightsbridge, but I’m not sure what you’ve got in mind for the wedding dress. You’ll want something simple, I expect …’ she added with an edge of mockery under her voice that immediately made Nell take fire.
She was not going to allow this supercilious secretary of Joss’s to bully her, or to show her up as the country mouse she undoubtedly was. Generations of fighting spirit rose up inside her, and to her own surprise she heard herself saying in a voice she distinctly recognised as her formidable great-aunt’s, ‘That won’t be necessary, Fiona. I’ve arranged to spend a few days with an old friend, and she’ll give me all the help I need.’
There was silence from the other end of the line and then a rather curt, ‘Oh, I see. Very well, then, I’ll tell Joss.’
Nell had no doubt that she would, and somehow she suspected that she herself would not feature flatteringly in the telling.
Joss was coming round to see her in the evening, to bring her engagement ring and check on the progress with the arrangements. She had done very little save to check with the vicar that a Saturday four weeks hence was available for the ceremony. She knew he had been surprised by her news, but he was too polite to show it, and she also knew that her engagement was the subject of much busy speculation in the village.
When Joss came he would also want to know when she had arranged to go to Cambridge. She gnawed on her bottom lip and then picked up the phone, dialling Liz’s number.
‘Nell … how lovely … I haven’t heard from you in ages. How are you?’
‘Engaged,’ she said bluntly.
There was a short pause, and then Liz said in a pleased voice, ‘Oh, my dear, that nice solicitor. I am pleased.’
‘No, not David,’ Nell told her flatly.
‘Not … then who?’
‘Joss. Joss Wycliffe.’
There was a pause and then a quiet, ‘Oh, Nell. Are you sure? I mean …’
‘I know what you mean, Liz, and yes, I am sure, but I need your help. Clothes …’ she added succinctly.
Liz had been before her marriage a complete clothesaholic; she also had an excellent eye for colour and line, and Nell knew that, unlike the as yet unseen Fiona, she would treat her sympathetically. If she had to have a new wardrobe, she would rather have Liz to help her choose it than anyone else.