Walk in the Shadows

by Jayne Bauling

  Walk in the Shadows by Jayne Bauling

  Nicola's missionary streak had got her into hot water more than once, and never more so than on the occasion when young Denise Graeme persuaded her to pretend to be having an affair with a married man, so that Denise's fiancé Barak Sorensen wouldn't realise that Denise was the real culprit. Needless to say, the whole thing gave Barak the lowest opinion of Nicola, but at least she need never meet him again. Or so she thought—until she went up to a farm in the Transvaal to work and found that Barak Sorensen was the man in charge...

  printed in Great Britain

  MILLS & BOON LIMITED

  17-19 FOLEY STREET LONDON W1A 1DR

  All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the Author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the Author, and all the incidents are pure invention.

  The text of this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the prior consent of the publisher in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  First published 1978

  Australian copyright 1979

  Philippine copyright 1979

  This edition 1979

  @ Jayne Bauling 1978

  ISBN 0 263 73015 8.

  CHAPTER ONE

  `PLEASE, you've got to help me!'

  The voice was young and breathless, but the cool hand grasping her arm didn't tremble. Nicola Prenn spun round to confront the person who implored her help. The girl was a stranger to her, as were so many of the people thronging her father's house this evening, waiting to see the New Year in. She suspected that many of them would be strangers to her father too.

  `What is it? she asked. She had slipped away to the veranda, finding the noise and heat inside overwhelming, hoping for solitude, only to be accosted in this way with a demand for help.

  She studied the girl who stood under the yellow lantern. Very young; certainly not more than eighteen, Nicola thought. The voice that had beseeched her aid had held tragic appeal, yet the face she looked into was smooth and expressionless. It was a very beautiful face, with the short, straight nose and unblinking tawny eyes : framed by the silky mane of hair, it was the face of a young lioness, Nicola thought fancifully.

  She was conscious of her own face seeming over-made-up beside the subtle colouring the girl had used to enhance her tawny beauty, but the heavy make-up had been applied with deliberate intent. Nicola's skin was one which paled drastically in extreme heat; and today had been very hot, without a breath of wind to

  ease the stifling humidity. In the afternoon, thick black clouds had rolled across the heavens and, hearing the distant rumble of thunder, she had thought thankfully that they were in for one of their spectacular high veld storms, but the clouds had drifted away, diminished by the heat, and by the time she had started to prepare for her father's party, her hazel eyes had provided the only bit of colour in her white face. So she had used a heavy hand with the make-up and had put on one of her skimpiest dresses in an attempt to keep cool, and now she was being made to feel over-made-up and under-dressed by a willowy teenager. Nicola frowned slightly, waiting to hear what the girl had to say.

  `It's my fiancé, you see,' was the explanation. 'He's followed me here—I suppose my parents told him where I'd gone. I've just seen him come in. It won't be so bad if he thinks I'm on my own, just looking for a bit of, fun, but if he suspects that I came with Todd, I'll be in real trouble. He knows Todd, and doesn't approve of him at all.'

  Nicola's eyes narrowed. 'Would that be Todd Baxter?' she enquired.

  Yes, do you know him?'

  `Slightly.'

  He was an acquaintance of her father's—hanger-on would be a more appropriate term, Nicola thought cynically. Robert Prenn was a generous-hearted man, giving his friends a good time, and Todd Baxter was always ready to take advantage of that open-handed generosity. She had met him once or twice when he had called on her father, but she hadn't known he was here tonight She knew that there was a wife some-

  where in the background, and she felt sorry for the woman who was left without her husband, even on New Year's Eve. Nicola didn't care for Todd. It wasn't so much that he was evidently unfaithful to his wife; it was the way he mocked her, making people laugh at her expense, that caused Nicola to despise the man

  She wondered if this girl knew he was married.

  `It's all the better if you know Todd,' the girl continued after a moment's thought. 'I don't know who you are, but I noticed earlier that you seemed to be on your own, so you won't mind helping me, will you?'

  `That depends on what you want me to do,' Nicola said carefully. It was an odd situation; being required to help someone who was a total stranger to her.

  `It's this; just pretend you're with Todd for a few minutes. Then my fiancé will think that if Todd is with you, I've been on my own for the evening, although he'll know Todd brought me here. That way, he won't have too much to be angry about ... just my going off to search of some fun,' the girl added with a smile, and her young face was suddenly curiously mature.

  Eve, Nicola thought inconsequentially. What was this child-woman trying to do? Perhaps this fiancé was older and had outgrown the need for the gaiety that would seem all-important to someone of eighteen. Eighteen—it was young to be engaged. At that age I imagined myself in love with someone new every month, Nicola thought idly. I'd have been horrified at the thought of anything as permanent as a fiancé. Perhaps this girl found the permanency chafed too?

  `Why should I help you?' she asked curiously.

  `Please ! You must,' came the reply, and the desper-

  ate young urgency had returned to the girl. She made a dramatic gesture. 'He'll be so furious with me if he thinks I've been with Todd all evening. Please help me by pretending Todd is your partner. It only requires a few minutes' play-acting. I'll tell Todd—he'll understand.'

  She wasn't trying to make the fiancé jealous, then. Perhaps her coming to the party had been born of a natural need to have some fun and she was now finding herself in deep water. Nicola was used to assisting people, for the simple reason that she couldn't bear to see anyone in trouble, so she said, 'All right.'

  It couldn't matter, after all. Todd was an acquaintance of her father's, and she would probably never meet the girl and her fiancé again. The girl obviously cared about maintaining her relationship with the man, so she would give her assistance and just hope that this fright would prevent her from getting into trouble again.

  `Thank you,' the girl breathed, her tawny eyes sparkling. 'You're a darling ! Now listen, my fiancé hasn't seen me yet, so I'll just pop in and tell Todd what we're going to do, and you can follow in a minute and take him off somewhere as if he was your exclusive property.'

  `Heaven forbid if he really was,' Nicola said as the girl left the veranda to return indoors, moving with feline grace. She had the tall, slim figure of a model.

  An intriguing character really, the older girl thought. There would be an inborn canniness there. The girl would know how to avoid trouble. She was a quick thinker.

  Nicola smoothed her auburn hair. In a minute she would go inside. She hoped she would be able to find Todd easily.

  She glanced at h
er watch. Another hour to go before they would welcome in the New Year. She wondered what it would hold for her. She couldn't think of anything she wanted desperately. She was fairly contented with her life as it was; she had many friends and she enjoyed her painting. Nicola knew how lucky she was. Although her mother had died when she was still a toddler, she had had a happy childhood, brought up in Natal by her maternal grandparents while her father found solace in his painting, travelling round South Africa and its neighbouring countries, constantly seeking new scenery to which the artist in him could re-spend.

  What a way to spend New Year's Eve ! Nicola thought as she prepared to leave the peaceful veranda : first wilting and bored among a crowd of people who were mostly strangers; now manoeuvred into playing a devious game for the sake of a young woman who was probably eminently capable of looking after herself. So different from Christmas which they had spent with her mother's family in Natal. Her brother Clive and his young wife had come down from Rhodesia and there had been only the family present to share the festivities. But by Boxing Day, Robert Prenn had been tired of the green South Coast and its gentle scenery, and Nicola had returned with him to the house in northern Johannesburg which was within easy reach of the Magaliesberg, that range which had inspired all Robert's most dramatic paintings.

  Nicola entered the house reluctantly, narrowing het eyes against the haze of smoke which hung over the big lounge. Chatter and laughter, some of it unnaturally high-pitched, assaulted her ears as she looked about for Todd Baxter. She saw her father,' his bushy hair standing wildly on end, his outstretched arms gesturing expressively as he argued vigorously with a fellow-artist who was his greatest rival and best friend. He ignored her as she passed him and Nicola smiled ruefully. Robert was well away and if the argument remained -unsettled it midnight, he would continue with it, happily forgoing the traditional New Year celebrations.

  This was a ridiculous situation in which she had involved herself, she realised as she caught sight of Todd and started to make her way towards him. She should have told the girl to get herself out of the trouble she had made for herself instead of calling on a stranger to do it for her. But it wasn't in Nicola to refuse a plea for help, however distasteful she might find the activities involved in giving it. Her father called it her missionary streak, and it had led her into hot water more than once in the past. Nicola sighed. She only hoped the girl had warned Todd of what was forthcoming.

  Feeling rather foolish, she laid a hand on his arm and smiled up at the man who was an occasional visitor when Robert Prenn was at home. Nicola had little experience of acting and the action was an effort, so she hoped the wrathful fiancé was watching. That would make it worthwhile.

  `Ah, Nicola!' Todd Baxter returned her smile, im-

  prisoning the hand she had placed on his arm. 'Denise didn't tell me it would be you.'

  `Is that her name? I don't think she knows who I am,' Nicola replied, still smiling over-brightly in case the fiancé was looking on.

  `She picked the right person anyway,' Todd said appreciatively. 'In more ways than one. Your father has spoken of your inability to leave well alone.'

  `And of course I had to be in on this, once the situation was made known to me,' Nicola said with a mixture of rue and coldness. She found it impossible to like the man, but for the sake, of the girl's relationship with her fiancé ...

  Todd released her hand and slipped an arm about her waist. It cost Nicola a great deal to refrain from recoiling visibly. It wasn't that Todd Baxter was in any way physically repulsive : he was moderately presentable, a man of about thirty with light brown eyes and floppy brown hair; but she couldn't forget some of the cruel things he had said about his wife. If a man left his wife, Nicola believed he ought to redeem. the action by having the courtesy never to run her down in front of other people. But of course, Todd hadn't permanently left his wife. 'I can't afford to,' he had said once. 'She holds the purse-strings.'

  `This is an unexpected bonus,' he was telling her now. 'I think it's a favourable omen for the New Year.'

  `Where do we go from here?' Nicola. demanded, wholly unresponsive to the charm he was attempting to employ. 'We can't continue smiling inanely at each other, with your arm draped around my waist. We must look ridiculous. Won't this Denise's fiancé be

  satisfied with the picture we've already presented?'

  `Oh, not yet,' Todd said quickly. 'I want him to be fully convinced that I'm with you. If he thinks Denise and I ... I don't want to get on the wrong side of him any more than I can help.'

  'Are you scared of him?' Nicola asked scornfully.

  `Yes, and so would you be if you met him So you want to know where we go from here? Straight back to the veranda from which you've just come,' Todd advised. 'What a girl like you was doing alone in that romantic setting, I can't think, but allow me to remedy that. The situation warrants it. We make an ostentatious exit—together.'

  `Not too ostentatious,' Nicola cautioned. 'Let's hope the fiancé has his eye on us and comes to the desired conclusion. I shouldn't like all this to be wasted.'

  `It won't be, I promise you,' Todd told her, and Nicola felt uneasy. She allowed him to keep his arm about her as they headed for the veranda. He carried a half-full glass in his free hand. If her father saw this exit, an explanation would be demanded of her, she felt sure, because although Robert never interfered in her life, she knew that while he tolerated Baxter as a visitor to the house, he would never call the man 'friend'.

  Looking back as they went out on to the veranda, she caught sight of the girl whom Todd had called Denise. She was with a tall man, but Nicola couldn't tell if he was watching them or not.

  Once outside, Todd put his glass down on the veranda table and attempted to draw Nicola into his arms, but she evaded him. 'Oh no, Todd. No one is watching us now, and I haven't done this for your

  benefit, but for the sake of that girl who was obviously worried about the construction her fiancé might put on her being here when you're around. Why did you bring her? She's not much more than a child.'

  Todd laughed. 'My dear Nicola, Denise Graeme might be eighteen to your—what is it, twenty-three? But she's much older than you in many ways. She's all woman, while you're as naive as they come. But never mind, I like you very much.'

  `What am I supposed to do? Swoon into your arms after your last thrilling remark?' Nicola retorted sarcastically. She didn't relish being told she was naive.

  `You've got a sharp tongue,' Todd commented.

  Again he put his arms about her and this time Nicola was unable to avoid him, finding the wall behind her. She glared furiously at him and his face was alien in the yellow lighting She was surprised by his persistence tonight. He had never taken much notice of her before. But then he had never seen her so made-up, or wearing such a scanty dress before. She had always been in the jeans she wore for working when he had previously called op her father.

  `You could ruin this girl's engagement,' she couldn't resist admonishing him Nicola Prenn, who wanted to see everybody's lives -turn out as 'satisfactorily as her own had done.

  `I don't think she'd allow me to do so,' Todd said, drawing her closer to him, and Nicola found it impossible to break free of his clasp.

  `And what about your wife?' she demanded after struggling vainly for a while.

  She felt an urge to slap him when he laughed and

  stated, 'Oh, Hilary keeps me in the style to which I'm accustomed.'

  He released her abruptly as a sound came from behind him. Mortified, Nicola stared at the willowy Denise Graeme and the tall, powerfully built man beside her. He possessed a satanic darkness of hair and skin, so that the ice-grey eyes presented an almost frightening contrast, and it was those eyes rather than anything else about him which drew the attention.

  A slow smile softened the girl's expressionless features. 'As you can see, darling, Todd has concerns of his own. I'm sure he's cursing our intrusion,' she added on a light gurgle of laughter, drawing closer to h
er fiancé.

  `As I can see,' the man echoed her sardonically. The grey eyes were contemptuous, flicking over Nicola and returning to Todd, who looked distinctly uncomfortable. If she hadn't been so embarrassed herself, Nicola might have laughed. What a classic situation!

  `Didn't expect to see you here tonight,' Todd addressed the man awkwardly.

  `Evidently,' was the coldly indifferent reply. 'However, you needn't let my presence worry you. Denise and I will be leaving in a minute. I just wanted to as sure myself of something.'

  He had wanted to make sure that Todd was too fully occupied to have bothered with Denise, Nicola deduced. She wished the pair of them would go away— and Todd too.

  Denise smiled at her. 'You needn't worry about us; we know how to keep our mouths shut.'

  `Thanks,' Todd muttered, and Nicola, blushing, could have screamed. The fiancé's interpretation of the situation was just as she and the girl. had planned it should be, but she resented it nevertheless, particularly with those occasional appraising glances that the grey eyes sent her way. Once again she was conscious of the sight she must look, especially beside the cool good taste of Denise Graeme.

  `Shall we go, darling?' Denise asked, slipping her arm through the man's. 'They can't want us here. I'm afraid I can't thank our hosts because I don't know who they are. You know how it is at these parties.'

  `I do,' the man agreed. 'And I've already thanked your host on your behalf; he's Robert Prenn.'

  How high-handed, Nicola thought. In Denise's place, she would resent that.

  The artist?'

  `Yes.'

  `And I didn't even meet him,' the girl said regret' fully.

  Neither of them appeared to know that Nicola was Robert Prenn's daughter, and she said nothing, remaining as mute as Todd, who was standing helplessly beside her.

  `Let's get away from here,' Denise's fiancé suggested, making it clear that he found the company out here distasteful. The couple turned, then the man glanced back to address Nicola : 'I might have been tempted to give you a gentle warning, but judging by what I overheard just now, you haven't any illusions about what you're doing.'