by Hilary Wilde
Eoland Harvey was not the stem tyrant had imagined, or that Miss Hunter had implied 8 He, was sympathetic and tolerant. He would uidS derstand why they had arranged for her to Natalies place. It would be a thousand better to tell, him the truth than to let him OU'fca ' 'H That' he would never 'forgive. 4
CHAPTER THREE
I-THAT afternoon, after they had finished practistheir dances, Lauren told Nick that she had||tp see him. |; "It's important," she told him urgently, "and |we must be alone." p He looked amused, but suggested they went up gbo her room.1| "Don't forget your hair," he warned her. | "I've ten minutes," she said, looking anxiously W her watch. Somehow she must make Nick un^derstand. H "Go ahead, culS the cackle and ^et down to |business," he said, laughing at her, and sitting |in an armchair sideways, his legs dangling over phe arm, and lighting a cigarette. g- She wishe4 she had the gift of words for, as told Nick everything, she saw that he was 'ffiot convinced at all. !*"' She started from the beginningwhere Deborhad recognized her and so she had met Mrs. dstrom, who also recognized her. How later, the sands, Roland Harvey had come along h Deborah. Is she spoke, she watched two deep lines be'en Nick's eyebrow deepen, but he remained nt until she had finished. Nick, he was so nice, so friendly and kind. sure he would understand if we explained rything to him. He isn't nearly as cold and "n as I thought, but if he found out that we [ lied .. ." She gave a little shiver as she stood re, hands clasped tightly, her eyes pleading, her voice desperate. "I hate to think what he'd say. We must tell him the truth, Nick." He leaned forward and stubbed out his cigarette with a quick impatient movement. His head was framed-by the view through the open windows. The blue sky, the distant shimmering water, voices and laughter drifted in on the wind that was so gentle it barely moved the graceful fronds of the palm trees. It was a very hot day, but suddenly, to Lauren, the room seemed icily cold as Nick looked at her. "Are you quite mad, Lauren?" he asked sharply. "Simply because you've seen this man in a good mood for an hour or so, you imagine you can judge him. Miss Hunter must know him better than you- do, and she said it was out of the question to expect him to understand." "But, Nick, he" Lauren tried to speak. Nick was on his feet. She had never seen him so angry before. "You would really let me run the risk of losing this job, anger Miss Cartwright and perhaps ruin my future and Natalie's? All because of a childish hunch you've got that Mr. Roland Harvey would understand^" His eyes were hard. "Come off it, Lauren. How naive can a girl be? In addition, what about Miss Hunter? It might make him so mad that she might lose her job, too. Is that a way to repay her? After all, she has taken a risk in keeping us on." "But, Nick, I'm sure she's quite wrong and he'd understand," Lauren said desperately. "For Pete's sake, stop acting like a silly little fool," Nick said crossly. "We'd find ourselves, on the next plane to England and there would be a scathing note in the post for Miss Cartwright." He seemed to tower above her, he was so angry. "Look, let's have no more of this nonsense, Lauren. I know what I'm doing, and what I say goes. Unfortunately you've got us in this mess, so you must try and get us out of it. You must just keep 44 out of the way and not run into the Lindstroms again." He strode furiously to the door, openedit and slammed it behind him. Lauren stood still in the centre of the room. It was the nearest approach she had ever had to a quarrel with Nick. She felt exhausted and a little scared. Then she saw the timethat wretched hairdresser! Later, as she lay in the warm fragrant bath and could hear voices in the corridor as people walked along it, she wondered if Nick was right and she was wrong. After all, he was much more experienced than she was, he had danced in many hotels, and, as he had said, surely Miss Hunter should know Roland Harvey better than she did? Yet she still felt sure that they were wrong about Roland Harvey. He was not the difficult tyrant they made him out to be. A strong man, he would not stoop to such pettiness, she felt sure. But had she the right to go on fighting Nick about this? His whole future might be at stake. Mentally she shook herself and relaxed in the warm water. How lovely a hot bath could be?She would really rather not risk Mr. Harvey's wrath in case it meant leaving here ... this fairyland was something a girl dreamed about but could never hope would come true. Roland Har-vey's friendliness had been heady, .and maybe she was wrong and Nick was right. He was such anexciting, impressive sort of man that it was difficult not to feel thrilled because he had been so kind. Drying herself on the large, luxuriously soft towel, she went on wondering and more and more, she began to think that Nick could be right and she might be wrong. After all, Deborah had been with them, and she had heard that woman at the lecture say that Roland Harvey loved children, especially little girls, and so mightn't that mean that when he was with them he would be in a 45 gentle mood? Mightn't this vanish when Deborah wasn't there? Was it worth risking everything? Dressing slowly for the evening with Claudia's aid, she turned and twisted before the mirror, amazed, as always, with what she saw. What a mind Nick hadwhat imagination! Tonight she wore a gown with a skirt made of layers of softnet, ranging from palest rose to deepest crimson. The tight strapless bodice was of softest green silk, pleated and supposed to be the calyx of the flower, Nick had said. Her hair was pale green, and he had told her to use green eye-shadow and a strange-coloured powder and lipstick. But strange as it was, the effect was wonderful, andit would look even more lovely in the concentrated glare of the spotlights. Nick was a wonderful man. Miss Cartwright had told her that Nick did the choreography of the dance and designed the frocks Natalie should wear. Tonight the theme of the dances was to be gaiety, youth, joyousness, the sweet perfume of a young summer ... As she looked at herself, shethought how far removed from gaiety she felt. She hated quarrelling with anyone and it might make .Nick- difficult, ^moody, and frightening to dance with. Would he still be angry? Her fears vanished when he came to fetch her and his hands were warm and gentle on her bare shoulders as she looked up at him nervously. "Don't look like that, honey child," he saidquietly. "I'm sorry I let off steam like that, but you had me really frightened for a while. You see, you're such a good little kid and you always think the best of everyone, but by the time you're my age, you'll be more sceptical. I'm sure Roland Harvey wouldn't waste time listening to my hard luck storyhe would simply see that his ordershad been flouted, and that would be that." He I paused and looked anxiously into her face. "You I do see, don't you?" i She felt ashamed that she had upset him so ? much. "Of course, Nick. I've been thinking about | it, and you're quite right." She smiled at him. I "Besides, you're the boss." | "There's my girl!" he said, and put his arm ? around her shoulders and hugged her. "Come S along. I have a feeling that tonight we're going I to dance as we've never danced before." | Nick must be psychic, Lauren thought, as the I evening slowly passed. It was a wonderful eve|ning in every way. Now she felt completely re|laxed, content to accept Nick's ruling that the | secret must be kept. Her fear of being sent away I from this island paradise had been lifted. As theI music began, the butterflies inside her vanished [and she was laughing up at Nick happily-as he lied her on to the floor, lightly swinging her hand. I Everything was rightthe music perfect, their | minds attuned, the atmosphere very friendly. The | audience seemed to catch the true meaning of the I dances, and a wave of enthusiasm swept them at | the end of the dances and Nick and Lauren took I more bows than they had done on the night beffore.| Miss Hunter joined them as they were finishing |their dinner. She swept majestically into the small | room, her head held arrogantly high; elegant in a |sheath frock of gold lame, her dark silky hair |
said she only liked tomato juice, and they hadfinally accepted her word. Nick had told her that he was proud of her and she had thoroughly enjoyed it all. There had been a thread of fear running through it all. of coursethe fear lest she see Roland Harvey and he ask her for a dance. 'How, if that happened, could she prevent him from recognizing her? She must practise a new voice,deeper, huskier, perhaps, in case of such an event. But she had not seen him the whole time, nor had she seen Mrs, Lindstrom. Were they, perhaps, having a little intimate dinner alone in Mr. Harvey's suite? Perhaps planning their future? Was Roland Harvey in love with Leila Lindstrom? It was likelyfor she had great beauty and elegance. At the same time, it was hard to imagine Roland Harvey being in lovewith her ... in love with anyone for that matter. Nick's last words that night had been: "Stay away from the Lindsfrom kid, Lauren, and try not to meet Roland Harvey." It would not be easy. In the morning, Lauren awoke early and slipped away to the family lagoon while" most of the families were still at breakfast. Deliberately she walked away from Deborah's pointed rock and went to the far sideof the lagoon, feeling she was being unkind to Deborah, whose fault it was not, but maybe Nick was right and this was the best way. She found a solitary palm that threw welcome shade on thehot white sand. Close by was a tiny pool, fringed with small coloured stones. She spread her towel and began to write a letter to her family. There .was so much to tell them and the day was deliciously hot so that the temptation to relax and close her eyes, drifing into dreams, was almost overwhelming, butshe fought it. She told them about the wonderful hotel, about the beauty of the island, about Deborah, about the famous Roland 49
Harvey ... but she did not tell them that she was supposed to be Natalie Natal and that they had not told Roland Harvey the truth. She knew what her parents would have saidthey would have said the truth must always be told, and although she felt they were right, she had to do what Nick said. After all, but for Nick, she would not have been here. Deborah found her at last, falling on to her with cries of triumph. "I looked and I looked and I looked," she said eagerly. "Mummy said I could swim if I found you." She plumped herself down on the hot sand by Lauren's side, beaming at her. Lauren had to smile. It looked as if she was going to be useful to Mrs. Lindstrom! Not that she mindedshe loved Deborah, but it meant that Roland Harvey might be involved as well and Nick would be mad with her. There was nothing to be done at the moment, though, so she relaxed and enjoyed herself with Deborah. They found the little pool was deep enough for the child to try to swim properly in it, and they were in and out of the water the whole time, laughing, enjoying it together. At lunch time Deborah trotted off dutifully, and very soon Lauren followed her example and got a cold lunch with a wonderful salad from the conveniently handy little buffet set up near the beach. Then she went back to her palm tree and little pool and tried to write some more of her letter. The letter went slowy, for there was so much beauty to look atthe expanse of blue water, the whiteness of the sand, the huge palm trees. It was all so wonderful, like a Technicolor film. It didn't seem possible that this could be happening to her ... Shadows fell across her writing pad and she looked up, expecting to see Deborah. To her dismaybut inward joyshe saw that Roland Har50
vey was holding Deborah's hand and gazing down at Lauren as she sat on the sands. "Shall we disturb you?" he asked and, without waiting for a reply, sat down by her side. Hastily she thrust her letter away, her cheeks warm as she wondered what he would say if he could read the nice things she had said about him to her mother. "I was only writing home," she said, hastily zipping the writing case together. He smiled. "Good girl. Deborah and I are going swimming. Care to join us?" "Miss Woubin is teaching me to swim," Deborah said, dancing round them, her feet sending up little spatters of sand. "I love Miss Woubin and Miss Woubin loves me." Roland Harvey smiled at her. "I'm not surprised ... in either case." He turned to Lauren. "You're fond of children, Miss Roubin?" His voice was kind but impersonal. Lauren rested her weight on her hands, leaning back, feeling her shoulder-length hair swinging gently. "Yes, I am. I teach children ballet, you know, Mr. Harvey." He was staring at her, his dark glasses hiding his expression. "So I understand. Miss Roubin. Deborah enjoys her lessons." She wondered why he was staring at her so intently, and had a moment of panic as she wondered if she had washed all the green rinse out of her hair. But it seemed as though it must be all right, for they went on to talk about dancing, and how it gave Deborah self-confidence, and then he persuaded Deborah to stop dancing around them, for she was showing off a little to him, and asked her to arrange her precious shells into a pattern. "No, tell me a stowy," Deborah insisted, curling up by his side. Roland Harvey smiled a little apologetically at Lauren,, 51
"We'll get no peace if I don't" he murmured. He told Deborah that when he was a little boy, his parents had gone to a faraway land where children could not live, and so he had lived with his uncle. "Uncle Horace was very kind to me," he said thoughtfully, "and I've often realized since that I didn't appreciate all he did for me. I'm afraid children are often selfish without realizing it. .." He talked of his childhood in Cornwall, of his interest in stories about smugglers. "I think I always was a rebel," he said with a half smile. "I decided there and then that when I was a man I would be an explorer. All my work at school and at university was headed in that direction, and as soon as I could, I went off on different expeditions. I was rarely at home. I'm afraid I never thought that my uncle might need me. It must have been all of eight years since I last saw him," he said ruefully, "when I heard he was dead. Uncle Horace had a big hearthe left me all his money and this hotel." -Deborah was leaning against him, her eyes drowsy and her cheeks flushed. "Is that why you're so very wich?" she asked sleepily. Lauren watched the way the big man smiled at the child. How he loved her! How gentle and kind and loving he was with her. It seemed a strange trait in a hard, cold brusque sort of man but was Roland Harvey really all those things? Wasn't this relaxed man the real Roland Harvey? Wasn't his hardness a facade behind which he hid? "Yes, darling, that's why I'm rich,' he said gently, and stared at the peaceful Jagoon. They were at the most deserted end of the long beach arid it was very quiet. "That money means a lot to me," he went on quietly, almost as if talking to himself. "It means freedomit opens the way for many expeditions. It means that now I can 52
plan things my way and not the way of those who raise the money for us." He turned to Lauren and for a moment his face was that of an eager boy. "It's like being given a fairy wand," he said. Now so many of my dreams can come true " "You will sell the hotel?" she asked idly, fas
cinated by this new side of him. She was startled .when he frowned, for his. whole face seemed to change, to become hard and suspicious. "Who have you been talking to?" he demanded. She was confused by his abrupt change of mood. "No oneno one at all. It was just that^that you said now your dreams would come true, and I thought... well, I didn't think that running a hotel could be one of your dreams, soso I thought you would be selling it and going off on another expedition." His face relaxed. "I see. Of course you're right^-in a way. That is-what I would like to do, but one of the -terms of the will was that I should run this hotel for a year before I made any de-cision to sell it or keep it. It seems that it was a dream come true for my u'ncle and he wanted to make it one of the finest hotels in the world." His voice was dry. "Apparently it wasn't'. .- ." it isn't! Uncle Horce was getting old, and towards the end he left everything in the hands of his assistants. They were very efficient but . . ." He frowned. Looking down, he saw that Deborah was asleep. He glanced at Lauren with a half-smile. "I'm afraid I bored her. I expect I'm boring you, too?" "Oh, no, you're not," Lauren said eagerly. "I'm most interested. I imagine it must be terribly hard to run a hotel successfullyespecially one of this size and reputationwhen you've had no experience at all." "It is," Roland Harvey agreed. He eased the sleeping child, who lay against his arm, into a 53 more comfortable position. "You know," he went on thoughtfully, "the thing that puzzled me most hereand still does, for it hasn't changedis the constant staff changes. I can't understand it, forI pay excellent salaries and I have a very good manager in Miss Hunter. She really does know .her job. Yet there's something wrong here. Something seems to be festering, like a concealed sore." He frowned. "Do I sound absurdly fanciful? I just don't feel the staff are happy."There was a pause. Lauren hunted wildly in her mind for an intelligent remark. In the end, she said unhappily: "I wish I could help you, but I've never talked to any of the staff."Roland Harvey's face showed plainly his displeasure. Again! It was as if everything she said today was wrong."I certainly don't want you to discuss the position with the staff," he said sharply. "It's not your affair. You're here to enjoy yourself. I hope you are?""Oh, I am," she said quickly. "I think this is a lovely place."She wondered if he was surprised .to think that she could afford a holiday like this. Perhaps hethought ballet teachers earned large salaries? If he only knew! He probably knew very little abouthow the world livedhe was probably so wrapped up in his precious expeditions. Or perhaps he didn't think about her at all. They were silent for a while, and then Roland Harvey looked at his watch and at the angelic face of the sleeping child. "She's a sweet child," he said softly, "but I gather from her mother that she's a bit of a handful." Lauren turned to him, her eyes flashing. "Whatyoung child isn't?" she asked indignantly. "When a child is meek and quiet, it's time to start worrying about her. Deborah is just a normal healthychild for her age, very intelligent, rather un . .." 54 She stopped herself in time. She looked at him. "I'm sure you were a handful at her age," she finished lamely. He'put back his head and laughed. "Touche! I most certainly was." "You're very fond of children, and yet . . !" Lauren hesitated. "Yet you've never married?" She found courage enough to say it, and then held her breath. Had she said the wrong thing again? Angered him? But he did not seem annoyed. He merely smiled and asked: "Have you never heard that hoary old cliche, 'He travels fastest who travels alone'? Besides, I'm not an ordinary man. I mean, I don't lead a normal life. I don't think it's right to ask any woman to shoulder the burden of having to adapt herself to my way of living, for I certainly couldn't adapt myself." Or wouldn't, Lauren thought to herself. "You've never been in love?" she asked, and wondered how she had the courage to say such a thing. He laughed. "Of course I've been' in love. And out 'of it, pretty sharply, too, several times. There's nothing quite so disillusioning as finding that your adored angel has feet of clay. Look, Miss Roubin," he went on, smiling at her, "I'm thirty-six, is it likely I could live in a world of such beautiful women and walk unscathed? There was one girl, and I was very youngabout twen-ty-five. She was . . . well, very lovely. She told me frankly that I must give up my mad exploring and. settle down in her father's firm. Guess what her father sold? Kitchen hardware. Saucepans and such-like." He laughed. "I told her she didn't love me, and she burst into tears and said I didn't love her! Impasse. After that, I decided marriage was not for me. It's only when . . ." He looked down at the sleeping child and gently touched the freckles on her nose. "It's only where 55 children are concerned that sometimes I envy other men." "I think any woman who really loved you . . ." Lauren began. Roland Harvey looked at her with what, she recognized with a shock, was pity. "You said that before, Miss Roubin. I'm afraid you're too young to know what love is. You're little more than a child." "I'm twenty-one," she said indignantly, tossing her head so that her ash-blonde curly hair swung with the movement. He looked surprised. "Are you really? I thought you were about seventeen." Was he teasing her? Did she really look only seventeen? , Looking at him, she found herself believing him. Why, to him she was a child. A child to be treated kindlyin the way he treated Deborah. But she was not a child. Nor did she want to be looked on as oneor treated as one. She was a woman./ But not to Roland Harvey. He had already forgotten her, and was lopking at his watch worriedly. "If Deborah wants to swim, I'll have to wake her up," he said. "I've got an appointment." Tenderly and gently he awakened the child, giving her time to wake up properly, then he went swimming, into clear calm water with Deborah on his back, clutching his dark red hair, for once ruffled, her face ecstatic. He did not ask Lauren to join them, so she remained where she was, watching them, her face thoughtful and a little sad. Surely she looked more than seventeen? Surely any man with eyes to see could tell that she was a woman, old enough and eager to be loved . . . Suddenly she caught her breath. Watching the child and the big, handsome man romping like 56