Bewildered Haven

by Helen Bianchin

  Jenny opened her mouth in startled surprise. Did he really think of her like that—or was it one of his devious ways to reader her malleable?

  'Whatever happened between Max and me is none of your business,' she managed after a long silence, and her voice sounded stilted and slightly remote even to her own ears.

  'Oh, Jenny,' he mocked gently, 'I'm not a callow youth to be so easily fooled.'

  'No one could doubt that,' she was stung into retorting. 'I wish you'd just leave me alone. I find your attentions distasteful, and I—I can assure you they—they're—' she stumbled to a halt, her words incoherent through a blur of tears as she fumbled for the door catch. Once out of the car she ran the short distance to the front door and searched frantically for her key. Oh, what had she done with it ? The stupid elusive thing! The tears were trickling down her cheeks and she brushed at them angrily with the back of her hand.

  'Is this what you're looking for?' she heard Zachary's voice strangely quiet beside her, and a key was put in the lock as he opened the door and propelled her inside.

  The light-switch clicked on and Jenny made to dash into the bathroom. Hard hands caught at her shoulders halting her flight, and he firmly turned her round to face him. Determinedly she stared straight ahead at the neat knot of his black tie and desperately willed the flow of tears to cease. What a fool she was making of herself! She felt her bottom lip tremble, and anxiously she caught at it with her teeth. There must be something wrong with her, for all she wanted to do was to cry and cry until she couldn't cry any more! She raised one hand a little, then, defeated that there was nothing she could offer by way of explanation, let her hand fall to her side.

  Zachary uttered a brief imprecation as he drew her into his arms and pressed her face against his chest. His fingers threaded themselves through her hair as he held her, and once she thought she felt his lips touch her forehead, but it was so fleeting she thought she must-have imagined it. How long she remained like that she was unable to judge, but eventually the emotional outburst slowed and finally ceased. It was almost heaven to rest there against him, and she was loath to move away from the sanctuary his encircling arms offered.

  'I'm sorry,' she murmured indistinctly, at last attempting to free herself.

  He didn't comment, and with thumb and forefinger he lifted her chin until she was forced to meet his eyes. Dark eyes that held gentleness and a hint of some other emotion as his head bent down to hers. .

  Jenny's heart lurched as his lips caressed her cheek, her eyes, touched on the tip of her nose before trailing across to tease the lobe of her ear. When at last he claimed her mouth she was lost as she had known she would be, her lips parting beneath the insistent pressure. His kiss seemed to last for ever, and when he lifted his head she could have cried out and wanted only to reach up to draw his face down again to hers.

  Gently he traced a finger along her jawline and outlined the pattern of her mouth. 'No more pretence?'

  Jenny slowly shook her head.

  'Are you still convinced I aim to add your scalp to my so-called collection?' Zachary questioned quietly with more than a hint of sternness.

  Jenny looked at him curiously, trying to fathom his expression, but it was unreadable. 'I don't really know,' she answered honestly.

  'I'm giving a party at my home on Friday evening,' he told her thoughtfully, his eyes examining her face intently. 'Will you come?'

  'I'm sorry, but I can't,' she shook her head regretfully, unsure of her emotions.

  'Is that a polite way of saying you are too afraid to come?' he queried wryly, and placed his hands possessively at her waist.

  Jenny felt her stomach somersault crazily as he drew her close and slid his hands up. to fasten on her shoulders. She felt his warm breath fan her cheeks as he bent down and began to caress her neck with his lips, trailing up over her cheek to her eyelids which he kissed lingeringly.

  'I've accepted an invitation to dinner,' she managed on a slightly strangled note, as her breathing began behaving in a most chaotic fashion.

  'Cancel it,' Zachary commanded softly, fastening his mouth on hers demandingly as if he was hungry for her kisses. When at last he lifted his head her lips felt bruised and trembled slightly, and it was some seconds before she realized she was still gripping his shoulders. A blush stole over her cheeks and she hurriedly withdrew her hands down to her sides.

  'Well ?' There was a slight smile tugging the corners of his mouth, and as she glanced quickly up at him there was a curiously tender expression on his face.

  'I can't—I'm sorry. My aunt and uncle are visiting Auckland and intend staying overnight. They've asked me to have dinner with them and they'd be very disappointed if I turned them down.'

  'Are they staying here at the flat?'

  Jenny shook her head.

  'Will you ring me as soon as you get home?' he asked insistently. 'I'll come and collect you.'

  She looked up at him in surprise, her eyes wide with incredulity. 'At eleven or twelve o'clock at night?'

  Zachary smiled a little, his eyes agleam with amusement. 'Why not ? Most parties don't get under way until then.'

  'I'm not sure. It's—' she began doubtfully.

  'If you don't ring me by midnight, I'll arrive and drag you from your bed by your long silken tresses,' he threatened quietly, adding, 'You'd better bring something in the way of swimming apparel, as I have a pool.'

  Jenny flashed him an anxious look from beneath her long darkly-fringed lashes. 'You wouldn't dare!' she expostulated.

  'No?' he answered mockingly. 'And take that look of anxiety from your face. I don't organize parties that include nude bathing.'

  Jenny almost choked, then was mortified as she felt a telling blush colour her throat and cheeks, and desperately she cast her eyes away from his all too discerning scrutiny.

  'Is that also included in my so-called repertoire of rakish misdeeds? Come,' he drawled dangerously, 'pray enlighten me.'

  'I—I didn't say that,' she stammered, unashamedly embarrassed.

  He looked down at her wryly. 'My dear Jenny, you didn't need to—your expression said it for you.'

  Shakily she turned away from him. She felt overwhelmingly tired and completely topsy-turvy emotionally. 'I think you'd better go,' she said with as much dignity as she could muster.

  'If I don't,' Zachary's voice threatened softly from behind, 'I'll probably do something regrettable.'

  Jenny felt herself begin to tremble uncontrollably, and despite her attempts to blink them back the tears rolled slowly down to her chin.

  There was an odd, almost tense silence in the room, and when he spoke his voice was incredibly bleak.

  'If you're crying—so help me, I'll spank you,' he uttered with barely leashed wrath.

  That was as much as she could bearably take, and with a choked sob she ran to her room and slammed the door behind her, leaning against it as she breathed in great gulps of air as if she had just run a mile.

  'Jenny ?' She heard him call in a voice that was almost savage in its intensity, and she was sure that any minute he would force open the door.

  'Go away. Please—just go away,' Jenny beseeched. . There was a few minutes' silence when her own breathing sounded so loud to her ears she felt sure he must hear it also. A slight sound alerted her, and she sensed rather than heard him cross the carpeted floor, then the front door clicked shut and a few seconds later his car sprang to life to purr down the driveway.

  Jenny stood leaning against the door for a long time, too emotionally drained to spare the effort necessary to switch off the lights and get ready for bed.

  CHAPTER 5

  Wednesday dragged interminably, when every buzz at the telephone switchboard sent Jenny jumping nervously, and she didn't need the other girls' curious glances to tell her that she looked a nervous wreck.

  At the end of the afternoon she not only looked terrible, she felt terrible, and Grant Ogilvie commented kindly when she had to ask him to repeat the sentence he
had just dictated:

  'Jenny, you look absolutely dreadful. This can wait, and if you don't feel well tomorrow you're to take the day off.'

  Jenny shook her head at him gravely. 'It's just a headache—nothing an early night and a few codeine tablets won't cure. Thanks, anyway,' she added gratefully.

  As she covered her typewriter a few minutes later, she accepted Suzy's solicitous words with murmured thanks, and caught an oddly speculative look from Lise. When the elevator descended and the doors slid open she thought for one agonizing second that the tall darkly-suited figure standing in the rear left corner was Zachary Benedict, but it was not, and she could barely hide her relief.

  The inner city traffic was as usual totally chaotic, with innumerable stops and starts as the huge volume of home-ward-bound workers attempted to vacate the city streets. Once inside the flat Jenny heaved a heartfelt sigh and sank down into a nearby chair to leaf through her mail. Food—even the thought of it sickened her, and she promised herself a nice hot cup of malted milk and a few plain biscuits in bed after she'd read her mail and had a shower.

  The ring of the telephone startled her, and she looked at it blindly, unwilling to answer it until common sense prevailed.

  The relief when she heard her cousin Dianne's voice at the other end of the receiver was almost enough to make her lightheaded, and she launched into a long account of her weekend at home, excluding all details regarding Zachary Benedict.

  The warm needle-spray of the shower eased a little of the tiredness from her body, and Jenny took her time as she shampooed her hair, feeling slightly guilty over such wanton waste of hot water. The door-bell pealed just as she wound a towel turban-wise around her head, and hastily she flung her arms into a towelling robe and flew to the door. .

  'Who is it?' she called, feeling slightly apprehensive.

  'Zachary Benedict.'

  Oh no! It couldn't be him—surely it couldn't.

  'Jenny?' he summoned compellingly, and she heard him twist the door-handle.

  'I—it's locked, I was taking a shower,' she offered shakily. 'You—you'll have to wait until I get dressed.'

  'I'll wait,' he answered curtly, and she went quickly into her bedroom and thrust on some fresh underwear, slacks and a short-sleeved knit top. With fingers that shook she re-wound the towel round her head and crossed the lounge to the front door.

  He looked formidably tall standing there in the doorway, the navy body-shirt accentuating his darkness and lending a slightly piratical air to his features. He had casually left the shirt unbuttoned from about six inches above the waist, and the cuffs of the long sleeves had been turned back to rest half-way up his muscular forearms. The silver-grey suede trousers provided a startling contrast and her eyes widened a little as he moved inside and stood looking down at her enigmatically.

  'Have you eaten?' Zachary began without preamble, his expression hardening as she fiddled unnecessarily with the towel round her head.

  'What—what do you want?' Jenny parried nervously, aware that she wore not a skerrick of make-up to mask her paleness.

  'Want?' His laugh was short and rather harsh. 'My dear Jenny, if I were to answer that you'd consider me outrageous and flee like a chastened maiden in fear of her virtue,' he concluded sardonically.

  Jenny turned away from him crossly as a vivid blush stole over her cheeks and she felt unaccountably angry that he had the power to disturb her emotions so easily. The sudden movement caused the heavy turban to fell apart, and she made a slight exasperated sound as she attempted to re-wind it.

  'Leave it,' Zachary instructed tersely, stretching out to pluck the towel from her hair with little regard for the long silken strands beneath it, and stepping close he proceeded to rub her hair dry with an ungentle briskness.

  Standing so close to him the faint tang of his aftershave teased her nostrils and she glimpsed dark springy hair between the deep vee of his shirt and suppressed an inordinate longing to reach out and touch it with her fingers. He was like no man she had ever met before, and his very presence aroused feelings she hadn't known she possessed. It was like awakening from a deep dreamless sleep, and she felt frightened—not of him, but of her own weakness. It was bewildering to find the moral principles she had hitherto found no difficulty in keeping could now so easily be cast aside, and she knew she must fight desperately to resist him. She choked back a slightly hysterical laugh—it was either sink or swim!

  'There,' he threw the towel carelessly down on to a chair, then lifted her face and looked down with the suspicion of a smile lurking in the depths of his eyes. 'At this precise moment you resemble the wicked witch in one of those children's television programmes.'

  Jenny pulled away from him jerkily and ran an exasperated hand through her hair. 'It'll take ages to brush all these tangles out,' she accused crossly.

  'Your prickles are showing, Jenny-wren,' Zachary commented dryly. 'I thought we'd dispelled any need for pretence last night.'

  Jenny swung round to face him, her eyes flashing indignantly. 'For what purpose, Zachary Benedict? The challenge of proving how irresistible you are?-Does it irk you that you haven't yet managed to seduce me? Is that why you continue to seek me out?'

  His eyes hardened until they resembled jet flints, and his face was a cold furious mask. Jenny sensed he was using every ounce of restraint to prevent himself from physically shaking her, and she slumped inwardly in the knowledge that she deserved punishment. If he walked away now and chose never to see her again she could hardly blame him.

  'It's a great pity we haven't reached the degree of intimacy that would permit suitable chastisement,' he threatened ruthlessly, 'Believe me, you'd weep for mercy!'

  Looking at him now, Jenny didn't doubt it. There was implacability on his taut features, a ruthless strength of purpose, and suddenly she knew it was pointless to continue fighting him. What had he said—was it only four evenings ago at the beach-house? 'Don't fight it, it will be a sheer waste of time.' Something of her thoughts must have been apparent as she unconsciously pleaded with him, her eyes mirroring her bewilderment and desolation. She desperately wanted to say the words to seek his understanding of why she fought him so stubbornly—to cry out, 'Please, please don't hurt me.'

  'I can't think why you bother with me,' she managed at last in a shaky whisper. 'I seem to fling, insults at you every time we meet.'

  His expression softened slightly, although there was still a degree of anger lurking in the depths of his eyes. 'I agree that words are not the most favourable manner of communication between us,' he vouchsafed dryly as his dark gleaming eyes rested on the soft fullness of her mouth then travelled slowly upwards to meet her startled gaze.

  Jenny coloured painfully, and her heart thumped rapidly beneath her ribs. 'I'd better do something about my hair,' she excused, a mass of jangled nerves as she fled into her bedroom without a backward glance. She tackled the tangles with a vigour that had little regard for her scalp, and told herself over and over again that if he was still there when she returned to the lounge then somehow everything would be all right. Her stomach lurched crazily as she forced herself to dress her hair into a time-consuming style and apply the briefest touch of powder to her almost white cheeks, a clear pink colour to her lips.

  It was something of an anti-climax to enter the lounge, and for one heart-stopping second Jenny thought that he had left. Then her eyes met his across the room and she faltered and stood still in the middle of the room.

  Lazily he stood to his feet, his movements slow from choice, and Jenny was unable to ascertain anything at all from his enigmatic expression. .

  'I requested my housekeeper to have a meal ready at seven, and it's almost that now,' Zachary told her quietly as he took his car keys from his pocket and jingled them in his hand.

  Jenny hid her confusion as best she could and tried not to appear disappointed that he was intending to leave.

  'If you haven't already eaten, perhaps you would care to join me?'

&n
bsp; She cast him a startled glance and saw at once that he was giving her the opportunity to refuse, but something in the way he had voiced the invitation instinctively led her to believe that he was issuing a subtle ultimatum. The thought that she might be treading dangerous ground was disregarded.

  'Thank you, I'd like that,' Jenny accepted meekly.

  Neither spoke during the drive of little more than a mile and when Zachary turned the car into a long curving driveway Jenny felt strangely calm. The grounds were beautifully kept, with various shrubs and an absolutely splendid Norfolk pine standing tall, its spreading branches tapering skywards with meticulous precision.

  As the car crunched to a halt on the red chip-metalled driveway in front of the elegantly designed home Jenny couldn't help expressing a gasp of pleasure at the huge sprawling cream-coloured roughcast stone hacienda with its curved archways and tiled pathways. The roof-tiles were of a dull red and lent the dwelling an aura of warmth.

  'You have a beautiful home,' Jenny complimented simply as she slid from the car to stand beside Zachary, who inclined his head slightly in acknowledgment. In silence she followed him to the magnificently panelled wooden door at the main entrance, and in the hallway cast an appreciative glance at the deep richly cream-coloured shag-pile carpet covering the floor. There were a few small landscape prints on the wall, and from the lounge Jenny could see a tiled courtyard beyond the floor-to-ceiling sliding doors. Luxuriously upholstered chairs and double-seater lounge-settees were comfortably spaced about the large room, and a colour television con-sole vied with expensive stereo equipment for instant entertainment at the flick of an electronic switch.

  A tiny, comfortably proportioned middle-aged woman stepped into the room and Zachary smiled across at her.

  'Come and meet Jenny,' he bade her kindly. 'Mrs. Lowry—Jenny Meredith.'

  Mrs. Lowry nodded graciously towards Jenny. 'I'm pleased to make your acquaintance, Miss Meredith.'