'Your sister-in-law said something about Stephen being reluctant to ask for help from me because we were divorced,' Daniel drawled.
'I'm sure she's right, Stephen's very proud.'
'So why would he ask Hill for help? Unless he thinks that any day now Hill's going to be his brother-in-law?'
Lindsay heard the terse note in the voice and felt herself flushing. She didn't answer, and luckily the coffee started bubbling right then and she could make a big show of being too busy to say anything, switching off the percolater and unplugging it from the wall. Daniel moved softly, she didn't hear him until he was right behind her, and his voice made her jump when it came so close he was almost whispering into her ear.
'No comment?'
'None of your business,' Lindsay retorted, checking the tray to make sure she had everything: cups, sugar, coffee pot, milk. She kept her eyes down, her back towards him, trying not to be aware of his close proximity.
'You're not; in love with Hill!' Daniel sounded self-satisfied, his voice purring, and her temper began to rise like mercury in an exploding, thermometer.
'Who says?'
'I do,' he told her in maddening amusement.
'What you know about love could be written on a postage stamp,' Lindsay muttered in an impeded voice, trying not to lose control. She was too old to slap his face, she wasn't going to descend to that level, although no doubt he'd like that, it would give him an excuse to use his own hands in a very different way. She was going to keep calm, whatever his provocation.
'You can't hide love, I don't have to be an expert on the subject to know that,' Daniel drawled, smiling. She heard the smile in his voice and grew angrier. What was so funny? 'And I saw how you looked at Hill,' he added, giving the remark an intonation which she disliked intensely.
'Maybe I'm not as obvious as you think I am,' she returned with a bite, wishing she dared turn and hit him, because there was an element of truth in what he had said and to herself she couldn't deny it. She liked Aston very much, she admired and respected him, but she couldn't pretend she was head over heels in love with him, he didn't make her pulse beat faster, he didn't set her body on fire, but then she had outgrown that sort of love, it didn't last, and she wanted something more real, more permanent, which Aston could give her. Going up in flames is all very well, but what happens when the fire goes out and all that's left is charcoal? She never again wanted to end up in charred, blackened little pieces.
'Did I say you were obvious?' Daniel took hold of her elbows and spun her round to face him, so fast she didn't have time to break away. Angrily, she glared up at him, which was a mistake, because there was a wicked mockery in those silvery eyes, and more than that, an intention which she glimpsed too late, his gaze drifting downwards to her mouth just a second before his head swooped down. 'Only to me,' he whispered as his lips parted her own.
Had he used brutal force she would have struggled violently, hit him, fought free somehow, but Daniel was not making the mistake of using force this time, and he took her off guard by his devious, unscrupulous tactics, enlisting her own body as an ally against her. His mouth coaxed and incited, moving with slow, warm sensuality, the tip of his tongue flicking between her trembling lips, and Lindsay felt perspiration spring out on her forehead, she couldn't keep her eyes open. The way he was kissing her made her dizzy, she had to cling to him to stay upright as her head spun. She didn't want to feel like that again; the intensity of her passion for him had almost destroyed her once before, she had told herself she was free of him now, he couldn't get to her again, but where Daniel Randall was concerned she seemed to be schizophrenic, split into two. Torn between love and hate, between bitter contempt and a fierce compulsion, her body was dissolving in heated excitement as his hands touched her with that lingering seduction, one of them moving up and down her back while the other softly stroked her throat, her shoulders, her breasts. Her hands went up jerkily to catch his head, hold it, her fingers in his black hair, she swayed closer, wanting to melt into him, and remembered that that was how it had been, that was what love meant, this nagging desire to merge with him, hold him inside her and never let him go.
Daniel moved, breathing harshly, and she was separate from him again, their bodies parted, their mouths disentangled. She felt cold and desolate, she shuddered as she pushed him even farther away, almost too dazed to realise that they were in Alice's kitchen in the sunshine with the fragrance of fresh coffee filling the air. Time had seemed, to stop, she had moved outside herself into Daniel, existing in a black velvet world of hands and lips and smothering, sweet sensations. It hurt to come back to reality.
She couldn't bring herself to speak. Trembling and darkly flushed, she picked up the tray of coffee and walked unsteadily towards the door.
'That's it, run away from it,' Daniel said behind her, but she pretended not to have heard, she kept on going with her eyes fixed on nothing, the cups on the tray rattling as her hands shook. What had just happened had not come as any real surprise to hers she had stayed away from him just because he could do that to her. The physical chemistry between them was explosive, Lindsay couldn't deny that, she had always known that he could reach her on that level. Daniel was a male animal with powerful sexual magnetism, Lindsay couldn't deny that, either, but neither could she forget that other women felt his attraction. Daniel wasn't a man who belonged to anyone, Lindsay had wasted too much of her life burning with jealousy because he was turning those mocking grey eyes on another woman.
How many evenings had she spent alone during their marriage, wondering who he was with? How many parties had she gone to with him only to see him dancing with someone else and ache with misery over the way he was smiling down at his partner? He was ruthless in business, she hadn't expected him to be so ruthless in his private life; she had thought he was hers, but she had discovered just how wrong she was—Daniel Randall belonged to himself. Lindsay's dazed incredulity when he first told her he loved her and asked her to marry him had become gradually a bitter disenchantment. Her first uneasy suspicions had hardened into certainties, she had become sure that Daniel had only married her because he couldn't seduce her, but once he had got what he wanted he had gone back to his old way of life. Her jealousy began to corrode her every waking moment, she couldn't bear the unremitting pain, she had had to get away from him.
She shouldn't have let him get so close to her just now, she would be crazy if she walked back into that trap. However temptingly baited, it would end the way it had ended before, with her getting badly hurt.
In the sitting-room, she found Alice walking round and round, her arms clasping her shoulders, a hard flush on her cheeks. 'I'll kill him,' she was saying. 'I'll kill him.'
Aston glanced towards the door as Lindsay came in and winked at her surreptitiously. To Alice he said: 'He was worried about you.'
'Funny way of showing it!' Alice would not be placated.
Lindsay put down the tray. 'Coffee,' she said. 'Come on, Alice, sit down and relax.'
'Relax? I'm on wires, I couldn't sit down.' She kept on walking, scowling.
'We ought to tell the police that Stephen's okay,' Lindsay said to Aston as she poured, him coffee.
Alice stopped dead. 'I'd forgotten them— whatever will they think? I feel such a fool—there was I ringing the police, crying my eyes out, and all the time he was sleeping off a hangover!'
'Drink your, coffee,' said Lindsay, handing her a cup. 'I'll ring the police and explain, I'm sure they'll understand.'
They did; Lindsay heard the amusement in the duty sergeant's voice. 'Thought it might be something like that,' he said. 'Happens all the time.' I told you so, his voice silently breathed. Far from being angry at the waste of police time he was pleased with himself for having been right.
'I'm sorry to have troubled you over nothing,' Lindsay said, all the same.
'No trouble, miss, that's what we're here for. Very glad the gentleman turned up safe and sound.' He could hardly wait to ring off a
nd tell his friends he had guessed right. Lindsay put down the phone, grimacing.
As she turned round, Aston joined her. 'I've got a vital appointment this morning. I must be off,' he said, smiling at her, and she linked her arms around his neck, leaning towards him.
'Did I say how grateful I am? It was good of you to come over to give Alice the news, you're a darling.' She kissed him lightly and Aston's hands closed on her waist, drawing her nearer. His mouth came down with warm insistence on her own and Lindsay swayed against him, kissing him back.
A moment later, Aston murmured: 'What's Randall doing here? Didn't he go out of your life a long time ago?' The question made Lindsay stiffen.
She leaned back to look up at him. 'A reporter rang him and told him Stephen was missing, so he came round to find out what was going on.'
'This morning?' Aston asked, and her eyes flicked down, she felt herself flush. Before she could think of a way of answering that awkward question, he said drily: 'He looks very much at home here, and who are the two gorillas out on the drive? They made me prove my identity before they would let me near the front door, and even then they hung around until Randall had spoken to me. I picked up that they came from his zoo and took their orders from him.'
'The press kept ringing the door bell. Daniel felt we needed protection.'
'How long have they been out there?'
'All night,' said Lindsay, and then her eyes met Aston's and she sighed.
'Which means so has he,' Aston thought aloud.
'Yes, he arrived just after you left last night.' Lindsay felt she ought to be apologising, Aston made her feel guilty, as though she had invited Daniel here.
'And stayed all night.' Aston's air of good humour was not so much in evidence at this moment, his jaw had hardened, he was frowning and she read accusation in his eyes.
'On the couch downstairs!' Lindsay knew she was very flushed, she hoped she did not look guilty.
'And where were you?'
'Upstairs,' she said crossly. 'In the spare bedroom.'
'All night?'
'All night!' she agreed, her chin up defiantly, meeting his probing stare without flinching. 'And before you ask—no, he did not make love to me last night. If he'd tried, I'd have knocked him into the middle of next week!'
Aston relaxed slightly, half-smiling. 'He seems very concerned for an ex-husband,' he said, though. 'I didn't expect to find him here.'
'He's interested in Stephen's business, if Stephen isn't careful Daniel Randall will be running his firm.' Lindsay heard the sting of bitterness in her own voice and saw Aston's eyes widen.
'Like that, is it? He isn't interested in you, then? He seemed very hostile when I told him I'd come to see you, I thought for a minute he was going to punch my face in…' .
'Daniel's an aggressive man.'
'You mean he always talks like that?' Aston whistled softly, his face wry. 'That must be wearing to live with.'
'It is—I told you, I can't stand the sight of him.'
Aston laughed. 'I'm not too smitten myself, but then I have good reason not to be—even if he'd been charming to me, there was no way I'd have liked the guy.'
Lindsay didn't pretend not to know what he meant, she smiled up at him, shaking her head. 'You don't need to be jealous of Daniel Randall, nothing would tempt me back to him.'
Aston wound a hand into her gleaming red-gold hair, kissed her gently on the mouth. 'I hope you mean that—in case you hadn't noticed, I'm your fan for life and you're much too beautiful to be wasted on a hard case like Daniel Randall.' He opened the front door, waved a hand at her. 'Stay in touch, and don't let Randall within a foot of you.'
'I won't,' she promised, and stood at the door waving as he got into his car and drove away under the watchful gaze of Daniel's security men. Lindsay resisted the temptation to put out her tongue at them, closing the door with a slam.
Slow clapping made her spin in shock, Daniel stood at the door of the kitchen, lounging casually against the frame, derisively applauding her.
'Were you eavesdropping?' Lindsay asked angrily.
'I was a fascinated audience,' he drawled. 'Your performance was touching—such wide-eyed sincerity, you almost convinced me.'
'I meant every word!'
'And I just imagined the way you kissed me half an hour ago!' he mocked, bringing a hot wave of colour flowing up to her hairline.
'You kissed me!'
'I don't remember you struggling.'
'Your memory has never been very reliable.'
'On the contrary, my memory is infallible,' Daniel corrected with a smile which she found detestable, the crooked amusement in it brought back too many memories of her own.
'Oh, of course, it would be,' she flung back, seething. 'Infallible and omniscient, aren't you?'
'I know you rather better than you seem to know yourself,' he told her, and she turned away, shaking with temper, to go into the sitting-room. Daniel did not follow her and a moment later she heard him talking to someone in the hall. Alice went to the door, looked out and came back a second later.
'Mr Datchet,' she said dully as Lindsay eyed her enquiringly.
'You ought to see him,' Lindsay said. 'Stephen might not be too happy to come back and find that Daniel Randall has been inspecting his account books.'
'I suppose you're right.' Reluctantly, Alice left the room. Lindsay heard her voice from the hall. 'Hallo, Mr Datchet…'
Lindsay went to the window and looked out. The sky was clouding over, the sun had vanished behind a bank of stormy slate-blue cloud hanging low over the surrounding rooftops, and a sudden wind was whipping the tops of trees into frothy green tangles of leaves. She decided she should bring the two children back into the house, it looked as if it might rain at any minute.
The hall was empty, and she heard Daniel's voice from a little room leading off it which Stephen used as a study and office. Lindsay walked through the kitchen and into the garden. Matt was running aimlessly around the lawn while Vicky shovelled sand into a small bucket. They both started towards her eagerly.
'It's cold,' Matt said. 'Can we come in?'
'In,' said Vicky, lifting her arms.
Lindsay hoisted her up and Matt darted past her into the house, shouting: 'Mummy, Mummy!'
When Lindsay went into the kitchen a moment later, Vicky clinging to her like a little monkey, she found Alice kneeling on the floor unbuttoning Matt's jacket.
'Your hands are frozen,' she was saying, and Matt was looking reproachfully at Lindsay.
'Auntie made us stay in the garden for hours!'
'He's almost blue!' complained Alice turning a glare on Lindsay.
'It was sunny when I put them out there, I thought they would have fun playing in their sandpit.'
'Poor baby!' crooned Alice snatching Vicky from her. 'Is she cold, then?'
'Sorry,' said Lindsay under the barrage of three pairs of accusing eyes, and slipped out of the room, feeling very guilty.
A few moments later Alice took the two children upstairs, talking cheerfully to them. Lindsay heard the sound of a vacuum cleaner in the bedrooms—Alice had decided to vent her fury with Stephen on the housework and the children were helping, Lindsay heard Vicky chattering to herself as she fetched and carried for her mother. Daniel and Mr Datchet were still in the study, their voices low. Conspiratorial? wondered Lindsay, listening at the door unashamedly. What exactly was Daniel up to in there?
It was a Saturday morning; Lindsay should have been doing her own housework in the flat, or her shopping, which she always did at weekends. After she had divorced Daniel she had had to go back to work, of course. She hadn't been able to face the idea of working in another bank, secretarial work didn't exactly enthrall her and she had had no training for any other career. For a few months she had worked for ail agency, doing temp work in a variety of firms, but always keeping an eye open for a job which might be exciting. When she was sent to work for a few weeks in the publicity department of a national
cosmetics firm she had enjoyed herself so much that she had jumped at the chance of working there full-time. Her first job at Vivons had been badly paid, tiring and repetitive; she had been put in charge of answering letters from the public for which a standard letter had been printed. All Lindsay did all day was to type in the name of the person to whom the letter was going, then type their name and address on the envelope. After a week of this, she was almost climbing the wall, it was even more boring than working in a bank. But she had gritted her teeth and stuck it out, and after three months, which had seemed like an eternity at the time, she had been promoted to a job with more responsibility and a lot more job-satisfaction.
Now she was second in command in the public relations department, she earned more than she had ever earned before and she loved her work. She had discovered she had a flair for thinking up ideas, she had learnt how to work with the press and how to block stories which could harm the firm. She worked in a busy, lively office full of people with quick, alert minds, she was successful and self-reliant. She was no longer the unsophisticated innocent who had been bowled over by Daniel Randall's first smile, it had cost her a good deal, but she had made herself into a woman she could respect. When you despise yourself, life isn't worth living.
From learning to respect herself, she had learnt more about other people, too. She saw Daniel Randall far more clearly, for a start, and she did not trust him. She met a lot of men like him in the course of her jobs opportunistic, devious men with corkscrew minds and no scruples. Lindsay was worried about his intentions towards her brother's firm. Stephen was going to be horrified when he found put that Daniel had been prying into his affairs. Why had Alice allowed Mr Datchet to show Daniel the books?
The sound of rain on the window made her look lip. The weather had broken, the clouds sagged low over the roofs opposite and the pavements were dancing with great spots of rain. The two security men sat in their car staring out glumly. There was no sign of the reporter—he must have given up and gone.
Stephen still hadn't got in touch with Alice— what was the matter with him? Now that Lindsay knew he was safe, she saw his behaviour as even more out of character. Stephen had always taken his responsibilities so seriously, it wasn't like him to let Alice worry. Was he having a nervous breakdown? Something must be very wrong with him or he wouldn't be doing this. He must Have been carrying an intolerable load for months without any of them noticing. They took him for granted, Stephen had always been able to cope, whatever life had thrown at him. Lindsay loved and respected her brother, she had always felt she could depend on him whenever she had problems, but now she realised that she had never wondered if he needed any help or support; he had seemed so much in control of his life. This silence of his was a cry for help which he hadn't been able to put into words, she saw that now, and she was angry with herself for not having realised anything was wrong with him until now.
The Sex War Page 6