'So?' Alain raised a slightly irritated face to her and she explained quickly.
'There's probably a phone. I could telephone Gaetan and tell him.'
'I suppose so,' Alain muttered, going back under the bonnet, 'Might as well be killed sooner than later. Get back in the car. I'll go along there.'
'I'll go!' Beth was off, running along the dark lane before Alain could react, and she ignored his calls. If Gaetan was going to be angry then she intended to get to him first and take some of the heat off Alain, and the cafe was very close by, she could see the lights even now.
It didn't look quite so light when she stepped inside and at the sight of her, dressed in a Vernais suit of blue silk, her hair a glorious disorder of gold around her face, her eyes alight and shining with the brisk run, all conversation stopped. Dismay flooded through Beth and she almost took to her heels then and there.
The place was filled with men, and although she told herself that they were merely country people having a final drink, she had to admit that they looked like ruffians of the worst type. She took her courage firmly in hand, though, and marched to the counter, her head high and a no-nonsense expression on her face.
'You have a telephone that I may use, monsieur?' she asked coldly as the patron, a fierce old man, stared at her grimly.
'Oui, mademoiselle, over at the back,' he said shortly. He neither asked questions nor offered help, and she was very glad of her fluent French as she went to the telephone and dialled Gaetan, praying that he was at home.
'Hello?' The deep voice washed over her like a benediction and she had to take a steadying breath to prevent herself from gabbling in a panic.
'Gaetan? It's Beth.'
She had no chance to say more because he was almost roaring into phone.
'What is the matter? What has happened? Answer me immediately!'
'Wait! I'm going to tell you if you'll give me the chance,' she pleaded. 'Alain's car has broken down and we're stuck on the road.' She gave him the name of the village and interrupted when he seemed about to set the phone on fire with wild oaths.
'Please, Gaetan!' she cried, raising her own voice. 'I'm all right but can you do anything to help? Alain can't get it started. I ran along to this cafe to use the telephone.'
'You ran along in the dark? Ma foil' Everything she said seemed to make matters worse. 'Stay there until I come to get you! You hear me, Beth? Stay there.'
'Wait!' She really was in a panic now, afraid that knowing their location he would simply put the phone down and tear off leaving her here, the focus of all eyes, eyes that even now seemed to be burning holes in her back. 'I can't stay here, Gaetan.'
'You will! I will not have you out in the darkness alone!'
'I can't.' She was very much aware that everyone could hear her. She slipped into English desperately. 'Gaetan, it's an awful place. Let me run back to Alain,' she begged. 'This place is full of men and…'
'How far away is the car?'
'A few yards only. Once round the bend in the road I'll see it,' she said desperately and he answered quickly.
'Very well, run back to Alain and sit in the car, lock the doors. I'll be there in minutes.' He put down the phone but not before she had heard him cursing softly, something about Alain and his bones, and she put the phone down and fled, not at all sure now what frightened her the more, Gaetan's rage or the unseemly looking men in the dirty cafe.
She raced back to Alain and received a telling off from him too for simply running off like that, but his voice took on less anger when she told him that Gaetan was on the way. They waited in an uneasy silence and Beth said softly, 'This is ridiculous. He's only one man.'
'That is the general impression that people have until they know him,' Alain offered scathingly. 'With time and study he reveals himself to be a whole group of men, all dangerous. I shall be forbidden to see you again.'
'Oh, rubbish!' Beth exclaimed, getting into the car as Alain once again delved into the mysteries of the engine. Her heart was beating like a hammer and Gaetan was not even here yet.
He came in a few minutes with a great blaze of lights and a great roar of noise, drawing up alongside and leaping out in a fury, and Beth too sprang out, wondering whether or not to throw herself in front of Alain who now stood with a murderous expression of his own, observing Gaetan in deep annoyance.
'Get in!' Gaetan opened the door of his low fast car and jerked his thumb at it, his eyes on Beth as if he was making an inventory of her appearance. She had no mind to disobey and slid into the seat with an anxious expression on her face that looked very much like guilt to any onlooker.
For a minute Gaetan stared at Alain and then his shoulders relaxed.
'I phoned for help on the way here,' he said tightly. 'The garage will be out to you at once. I'm taking Beth home.'
Alain managed a nod and reached for a rag to wipe his hands, a rag that was as dirty as the hands it was supposed to clean, and Gaetan waited no longer. He took off with a force that had her pressed back into the upholstery, her eyes on Gaetan's dark and angry face. She kept silent. Words were the last thing he would welcome right now and she knew it.
They were quite close to home as it turned out, near to one of the small villages that Beth had noted when she had first come to Paris with Gaetan, although in the darkness the leafy roads did not now look quite so inviting as they had done.
Gaetan was silent too, silent and angry, and even when they stopped at the front of the house he said nothing. There was no attempt to put the car away. He simply abandoned it and led her inside, turning her to the smaller of the two salons that the house possessed and putting on the overhead lights as she turned to face him.
He stared at her as he had never stared before, his eyes as intent as they had been when he had arrived to rescue her, although now, with the lights brightly on her, she could tell that he was looking for any sign that she had been manhandled.
'You are all right,' he said, and she couldn't tell whether it was a statement or a question.
'I shall be when you stop frightening me to death,' she said brightly in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere.
'You are not concerned then that you have frightened me to death?' he growled angrily, his gaze riveted on her face. 'You were alone in a dark place with Alain and then you were alone in a questionable cafe with a whole gang of men who frightened you! Mon Dieu! You realise do you not, that anything might have happened to you before I could get to you?'
'Nothing happened to me, Gaetan,' she pleaded in a placating voice. 'It was all really a stupidity on my part. I should have waited quietly with Alain until he got the car fixed and then none of this would have happened.'
'Worse would have happened!' he snarled. 'You would have been out all night! Alain has no more idea how to fix a car than he has of constructing a hot-air balloon!'
'Then why did he fiddle about with it?' Beth asked with astonished eyes, her innocence making Gaetan turn angrily away.
'Perhaps he decided that it would be a good idea to find something for his hands to do!' he snapped scathingly. 'Or perhaps he was filled with cold panic when he realised that you were still out at midnight and likely to be out for a great deal longer.' He looked at her moodily and then said, 'Do you need a brandy?'
'No, thank you,' she said in a little dignified voice. 'Unless of course you intend to go on shouting at me.'
'I'm not shouting at you!' he roared and then looked decidedly abashed, a small flare of colour touching his high cheekbones. 'He—he didn't—touch you, did he, Beth?' he added softly, his eyes anxiously on her face.
'No!' Beth looked away and down at her toes, her own colour flaring, but her sense of humour got the better of her and she raised laughing eyes to his. 'I did think, though, that he was going to slap me when I got back from the phone.'
'He should not have let you go alone!' he said in an annoyed voice, staring at her until her knees began to shake.
'He didn't have much choice,' she a
ssured him. 'I ran off.'
'Why, for heaven's sake? It was dark and lonely.'
'I know, that's why I ran off. I wanted to call you and—well…'
'You did not feel safe with Alain?' he asked suspiciously, and once again she had talked herself into trouble.
'Yes, but—but I wanted to—to…'
'To have me haring out to get you! You wanted to prove to yourself that I am at your beck and call, terrified that something will happen to you! You wanted to wield your female power!' he grated, stepping near in a threatening way.
'No!' She backed off and he stopped, his face relaxing and his lips twisting into a self-mocking smile.
'Well, nevertheless, it seems that I am at your beck and call and you do not seem to have very much difficulty in wielding your female power, even though it seems you do not understand it.' He tilted her face with one imperious finger and she looked at him defiantly, her face rosy and just a little stormy.
'Perhaps you had better go to your bed, Beth,' he said softly. 'We are both in an excited state and just on the edge of temper. To go off in two separate directions seems to be advisable right now. I will telephone the garage and see that Alain has been rescued. If he has not I will go back for him, now that there is no possibility of my killing him.' His dark eyes rested on her tremulous lips and he smiled slowly. 'For a while I think you will have a different escort—me.'
'Why?' she whispered, frightened when she realised that she wanted to be kissed very much indeed.
'To punish Alain, why else?' he asked drily. 'Goodnight, chérie.'
Beth almost ran from the room, her heart beating so fast that it was painful. He had called her darling again. He had been wild with rage that she was in danger and he had admitted that whenever she called he would race to her.
Stop being a fool, her mind told her. As to the endearment, Madeleine used it to Gaetan and to her. He probably hadn't even noticed, and of course he had raced to the rescue; he was, after all, her guardian. Still, he intended to take her out with him for a while and it was worth the small amount of fear she had suffered. Tomorrow she would ring Alain and make it up to him. She would find a way to explain that would not leave him hurt.
She curled up in bed and went to sleep with a smile on her face, hugging the thought to her that for a few days at least she would be with Gaetan. Admitting that he was beginning to be the very centre of her world, and that her desire to be free had slowly vanished.
For a while the promised outings did not materialise, but Beth knew that Gaetan was really busy with the latest collection and she was quite content. For one thing, he stayed at home as much as he could, though what sort of trouble he thought she could get into here under Madame Benoir's watchful eye she had not the faintest idea. He took her on several trips to the works and she saw Alain each time, though never for more than a few minutes, as for one thing he too was knee-deep in work, and for another she had no wish to spoil the new and beautiful relationship that she had with Gaetan.
Alain seemed to accept with no malice that she had to stay close to Gaetan for the time being, and for herself she was only too happy to do so, because their relationship was now so close and comfortable that she had never been happier in her life. Gone was the old sardonic mood, the cruel, teasing tone, and though, strictly speaking, he did not pay much attention to her, when he did it was with a warm and gentle manner that made her feel well liked and safe.
She enjoyed too her growing friendship with Marie-Annette because although the sharp-tongued and businesslike woman was several years older than Beth, she was easy to get on with and told her so much about the work that Gaetan did. The fact that Gabrielle was always somewhere in the background, often to be seen with her head close to Gaetan and her hand on his arm, was a thing that Beth had to face whether she liked it or not.
Her eyes usually strayed in that direction, though, and this did not escape the sharp-eyed gaze of Marie-Annette.
'You are wondering about those two, eh?' she murmured one day, turning to see Gaetan's arm around Gabrielle as he showed her something on one of the benches. She pushed her great spectacles on to her nose, getting on with the most complicated draping on to a dummy the while. 'You are not alone there. I very much doubt if Gaetan is involved with her, she is not quite his type, it seems to me, but then again, one never knows. He has been taking her out for some considerable time. There are various opinions, you can place your bets either side. One thing though is sure, she has stayed the course longer than most and I doubt if that is merely because she works here and is good at her job.'
'Well, I suppose that a man like Gaetan has plenty of lady-friends,' Beth offered, feeling like a traitor but desperate to know where his feelings lay.
'Plenty is an understatement!' Marie-Annette grunted through the pins in her mouth. 'They flock around like sea gulls after a ship. He is, after all, very handsome and virile, n'est-ce pas? Though I would say that marriage is out of the question. Once was enough for him, so they say.'
'He's married?' Beth actually felt the blood drain from her face. He had said that he was not.
'You are not listening, ma chère!' Marie-Annette said with a mocking frown, standing and removing the pins from her mouth. 'When I gossip I expect total attention. I said that once was enough for him, note the word was. He is not married any more. She died.'
'Oh!' Beth hung her head. So he still loved someone who was no longer here. It saddened her so much that she just wanted to walk away. 'He must be so unhappy.'
'I would say that the only feeling he has is one of great relief,' Marie-Annette informed her evenly, stepping back to survey her creation. 'He married her when he was very young and foolish, and they were not really in love, I hear. She ran off and left him— of course he was not then rich and famous or she might have stayed and made him even more miserable. She died in a fire at a hotel where she was staying with her latest victim. I doubt if he even remembers her name, so do not go breaking your heart for him,' she added with a quick grin. 'He is more than capable of taking care of himself, and his heart is always under steady control. I often wonder whether he even has a heart!'
Gabrielle seemed to appear from nowhere and stood for a minute looking crossly at them both.
'Should you be making the latest models when there is an outsider in the place?' she asked Marie-Annette with a waspish look at Beth.
'I should be getting on with my work and that is exactly what I am doing!' Marie-Annette said. 'I suggest that you do likewise!'
'If you are worried about me, Mademoiselle Dubois,' Beth put in sharply, 'then I can save you any worries. I never go anywhere without Gaetan. We are together constantly now.'
It was spiteful she knew but somehow she couldn't help it and it hit home deeply. Gabrielle flushed with anger and stalked off on her very high heels, a trail of perfume marking her passage, and Marie-Annette laughed loudly, her eyes bright with speculation as she regarded Beth closely.
'Well, well!' she said softly. 'A blow below the belt I think, ma chère!'
Beth was glad that Gaetan appeared then to take her out to lunch. She did not have the courage at the moment to face either the speculation in Marie-Annette's eyes nor the questions that her own mind was beginning to ask very loudly.
'Been sharpening your tongue up again?' Gaetan asked softly as they drove off. 'I don't often see Gabrielle walk off from any argument with a red face.'
'There was no argument,' Beth assured him, keeping her eyes averted. 'She just seemed to be questioning whether or not I should be in the warehouse seeing so many secrets.'
'And of course you told her that you were to be trusted entirely?' he asked mildly.
'More or less,' Beth agreed, taking a great interest in the road at her side of the car.
'More, I would say from her looks. I suppose she deserved it and I suppose too that I shall hear all about it when I next see her. For you I am not at all worried. I know that you are well able to defend yourself.'
&n
bsp; 'That's not what you thought when you came to get me when Alain and I had broken down!' Beth said quickly, turning on him with flashing grey eyes. 'You said that I had to stay with you in future!'
'I said, for a while,' Gaetan corrected. 'The kind of trouble that I envisaged then cannot be escaped by the use of a sharp tongue, however well honed. You feel the necessity to see Alain again in the evenings?'
'No. I'm quite happy with things as they are!' said Beth quickly, feeling on decidedly slippery ground and not wanting to be foisted off on to Alain again.
'Alors! Tomorrow we will have a picnic. Just you and I.'
'A picnic?' Beth gazed at him in amazement. A picnic did not somehow fit into the general impression that she had of what Gaetan would find amusing, and her face showed her doubts.
'Mais oui! The French, ma chère, invented the picnic!' he stressed with a look of outrage that she knew was covering laughter. 'Do not imagine that we behave as you do when we dine out of doors. No soggy sandwiches and hot flasks of tea. We do things with style and…'
'Pizazz!' Beth finished, bursting into delighted laughter.
'Vraiment!' he said with a little dignified seated bow. 'You begin to understand us. I approve.'
Madame Benoir entered the spirit of things with a will, no doubt having been told by Gaetan that as a nation they were now under close observation and would have to be on their mettle. Gaetan and Beth left early with a bulging picnic basket that seemed to contain everything that would have done justice to a buffet lunch in a very splendid hotel, the wine and champagne included, and Beth sat with the wind blowing through her hair as they drove well out into the country, the windows of the car down in the warm air, the sun through the trees dappling the winding road as they climbed into the hills far away from the city.
She could have driven on for ever. Gaetan played tapes on the car's stereo system, and they rarely spoke unless he saw something to point out to her that would interest her, and she knew that he too was enjoying the day, the fresh air, the sunshine and the chance to relax away from Paris.
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