A Bad Enemy (19 page)

Lisle bit her lip. 'Could I go straight back to the flat instead? I—I'm very tired.'

'At this time?' His tone was mocking. 'I thought you were the girl who danced until dawn seven nights a week.'

She shook her head, attempting to smile. Even derision was better than this awful coldness. 'You shouldn't believe what you read in the papers.'

'I don't,' he said. 'Only what I see and hear for myself. All right, then, I'll explain to my mother and Clem, and take you back to the flat.'

'There's really no need,' Lisle protested. 'It's only a short ride from here and...'

'I'm quite well aware where it is,' he said shortly. 'Also that you don't want to take me there, just as you couldn't wait to hustle me away earlier. Why, Lisle? What are you trying to hide?'

'Nothing,' she said. She wasn't even sure if it was true. Tom might have recommended Gerard to stay where he was and rest, and if Jake found him there, there would be endless recriminations to deal with, probably from both sides. Besides, Gerard had lost so much already. Surely she could protect him in this new and unwelcome vulnerability from Jake's abrasiveness.

'Then there's ho reason why I shouldn't go with you.' The grey eyes were implacable, holding her in steely thrall.

'No.' She tried to smile appealingly and failed. 'Except—except that I really am tired. This evening has been something of a strain, and…' She paused helplessly.

'And of course that's the only reason for your fatigue.' The contempt in his voice bewildered her. 'What's the matter, Lisle? Afraid I might make you suffer more of my unwelcome attentions?'

They wouldn't be unwelcome, she thought miserably. It had been a loathsome evening from beginning to end, and she longed quite intensely to creep into his arms and let his warm strong body give her comfort. Even when he was in this strange, harsh mood, wanting him was still an agony inside her.

She made herself shrug. 'Perhaps. You haven't exactly kept your word in the past.'

'Then we make a good pair,' he said. 'You treacherous little temptress.'

He turned and walked away from her. She watched him go, sinking her teeth into her bottom lip, aware of an almost overwhelming impulse to follow, to beg him not to leave her like that but to stay with her—all night if he so chose. But it was too late, and besides, they weren't alone.

Even as she moved, forced herself forward to say goodnight to Clem Sorensen, she saw Mrs Allard watching her curiously, and colour flooded into her face.

Jake's mother disapproved of her already. The last thing she wanted was for her to know how disastrously any hope of a relationship between them had gone awry. Yet she must have noticed Jake's abrupt departure, and already drawn her own conclusions, Lisle thought wretchedly.

Her chin lifted, and veiling her troubled emotions under a surface insouciance, she went through the social forms required of her, not daring to relax until her taxi arrived: Jake put her into it, and she leaned forward, offering her lips to him for the goodnight kiss which convention demanded.

For a long moment he looked at her, his eyes flicking restlessly over the tremulous reddened curve of her mouth.

She said on a little imploring note, 'Jake?'

He stepped back as if she had clawed him with her nails, his hard mouth tightening. He said softly and glacially, 'I think not.'

Lisle huddled back in her seat, willing herself not to cry as he gave the driver the fare and the direction, before turning away without another glance at her.

Janie was still awake when she arrived back at the flat.

There was a light showing under her bedroom door, and lisle knocked lightly and went in. Janie was propped up on her pillows, reading, a pair of large horn-rimmed glasses perched on her nose.

'How did it go?' She put her book down.

'Don't ask.' Lisle sat down on the edge of the bed, tracing the pattern on the quilt with a restless finger. 'What did Tom say about Gerard?'

'He's not going to be a pretty sight for a day or two, and he needs a visit to his dentist, but apart from that there's no real harm done.' Janie hesitated. 'We—we didn't tell him what had really happened. Just that Gerard had had a fall. He—Tom, that is—took him back to his place for the night, just to be on the safe side,' she added on a note of constraint.

Lisle said awkwardly, 'Janie, I'm sorry. I can't imagine what prompted Gerard to come here. He knows damned well I'm not living here any more, and he hadn't the faintest idea I'd be here this evening. I don't know what he was thinking of.'

Janie gave her an ironic look. 'Don't apologise. I know all those things, and so did he, and yet he still comes here. He came to—me, Lisle, and I've got to take heart from that, even if it makes me the fool of the century.' She gave a taut smile. 'I'm not telling you anything you hadn't already guessed, I'm sure.'

'No.' Lisle admitted softly. 'But, Janie…'

'Oh, I know exactly how it all came about. I've known about Carla Foxton, and all the other ladies who preceded her, and it makes no difference. I only wish it did.' Janie's tone was bitter. 'He's lucky Harry Foxton didn't kill him, and I think he knows it, although whether it will make any difference to his way of life in the long term remains to be seen. He's grateful to me at the moment, and a little ashamed of himself, but that may not last.'

Lisle studied her in silence. At least Janie was being realistic, and that might be her saving grace, because although Gerard might have had a fright, she wondered whether it would have been a sufficient shock to make him deviate from the course he had pursued enjoyably through life.

He was a lightweight, she thought sadly, and probably always would be, and Janie undoubtedly deserved better.

'By the way,' Janie said, 'I should warn you that for reasons best known to himself, he's started to blame Jake for what happened to him tonight. Apparently Carla ditched him when she heard about the shake-up at Harlow Bannerman, and then made a tearful confession to her husband in order to save her own skin. Gerard feels that if he was still Sales Director in the company, none of it would have happened.'

'Then he's fooling himself.' Lisle shook her head. 'As a matter of fact Jake warned me not long ago that Harry Foxton was becoming suspicious. I'd have passed the warning on if I thought it would have been welcome, but in the circumstances I thought it was best to say nothing.' She sighed. 'Now I'm not so sure.'

'No, I think you were right,' Janie said steadily. 'It's Gerard's misfortune that the man who's been placed in control of the company has power, as well as sexual charisma. It's a combination he envies, but he has to learn to cope with it, to come to terms in some way with the fact that Jake Allard is probably twice the man he'll ever be.'

'You think that? Then how…?'

'How do I love him?' Janie gave a crooked smile. 'I've asked myself that on many occasions. But you of all people should understand, Lisle. We can't legislate for these things. They—just happen.'

'Yes,' said Lisle, after a long pause. 'They—happen.' She leaned forward and kissed her friend lightly on the cheek, then went to her own room.

But it was a long, bitter time before she could sleep.

Murray was full of eager questions when she visited the hospital the following day. Naturally he wanted to know all about the dinner party, and what she thought of Jake's mother.

'She seems charming,' Lisle assured him, infusing her voice with false enthusiasm. 'And very attractive too.'

He gave a satisfied smile. 'I hoped you'd like each other. You've been so long without a mother's care, my darling. It would be wonderful if Mrs Allard could fill this gap in your life, The fact that she lives in the South of France could be a problem,' he added with a slight frown. 'But perhaps when the grandchildren start to arrive, she'll come back to this country.'

'You're impossible!' Lisle scolded. 'You must stop trying to manipulate people.'

His eyes kindled. 'Well, I've made a pretty fair job of it so far, as you should be the first to admit.'

Should I? she thought despairingly. Oh, Murray, if you only knew!

She turned the subject fairly adroitly, discussing plans for his return home, avoiding all mention of her relationship with Jake, or the wedding.

He seemed so much better, so much stronger, she thought as she drove home to the Priory. Surely there would come a time when she could break the news to him that the marriage he had built his hopes on should not and could not take place.

As Lisle brought the Mini to a halt, she saw there was already a car parked in front of the house. She didn't recognise the make or the number, she thought, frowning a little as she left her own vehicle.

She was frankly amazed when a uniformed driver climbed out, and opening one of the rear passenger doors, assisted Mrs Allard to alight.

She gave Lisle a faint smile. 'Hello, I thought I'd take you up on your invitation after all, but if it's not convenient, then you must tell me.'

'It's perfectly convenient,' said Lisle. 'Only I just didn't expect…'

'To see me again,' Mrs Allard supplied wryly. 'Well, I gave you every justification, I must admit.'

Lisle felt more and more bewildered. 'If you'd like to come in, I'll ask the housekeeper to get us some tea.'

'There's no hurry for that.' Mrs Allard gestured around her. 'Wouldn't you like to show me the grounds first? You were quite right about the countryside.'

Lisle felt as if she was in a dream as she obeyed the older woman's suggestion. And as Mrs Allard asked her questions about the layout of the garden, and the various plants and shrubs which had been planted to give life and colour to a normally rather dead time of year, the first awkwardness began to pass.

It was obvious that the older woman was herself a keen gardener. She chatted with animation about her villa, and the different demands in terms of soil and landscape that its grounds made on her.

'But of course you'll see that for yourself when Jake brings you to visit me, as I hope he will, she added almost casually. 'I'd thought of taking myself elsewhere and offering you both the place for a honeymoon if I could have persuaded Jake to postpone your marriage until the spring, but he's quite adamant that it must take place as soon as possible.'

Is he? Lisle's tone held irony, and Mrs Allard smiled a little.

'Perhaps this is the moment to explain what I'm doing here,' she said. 'For a number of reasons, I'd decided prior to last night that you, were not the right wife for my son, and I came to England frankly to do anything I could to stop the business going any further. But—last night—I saw you looking at him when you didn't know you were observed, and it occurred to me that you might love him, and that I could be misjudging you entirely. Am I right?'

Lisle's face felt rigid. 'I don't think you have any right to question me,' she said at last.

'No right? I'm Jake's mother, and I happen to love him too.'

'No one would doubt that, but I assure you that my feelings are really of no concern. I have no intention of marrying Jake.'

'I see.' Mrs Allard was silent for a moment Then she said drily, 'That's not the impression I have from him. In fact from the scant information he's given me, I gathered you have very little choice in the matter.'

'There's always a choice,' said Lisle. 'My grandfather is making marvellous progress, and he'll be strong enough very soon for me to tell him the truth—that I can't bring myself to go through with it.'

'But can you really do that?' Mrs Allard frowned. 'From what Jake told me, I thought…'

'No matter what he said, there's no obligation— none.' Lisle took a deep breath. 'I may have been living in a crazy dream, but I'm awake now. It's over.'

'You sound as if you're trying to convince yourself.'

Mrs Allard's voice was dry. 'But are you sure it's possible to act as you plan to do?'

'You mean that Jake won't appreciate being jilted?' Lisle asked. 'Well, it doesn't have to be like that. He can be the one to do the jilting if his male pride demands it. But I don't think he'll care particularly— not as long as he can be rid of me.' Her voice broke a little.

'So you do care.' It was a statement, not a question.

Lisle turned her head away, 'It doesn't matter,' she said wearily. 'Mrs Allard, it was kind of you to come here today, but I don't think your visit has achieved anything, unless it's to reassure you that I have no intention of marrying your son.' She swallowed. 'You said you had—reasons for not wanting it. Well, I'm sure they're perfectly valid ones.'

'They seemed so. As soon as your engagement was announced, I began to get phone calls from all kinds of people, all of them with had news, or so it seemed. I already knew from Jake that you were Murray Bannerman's granddaughter, and that marriage with you was part of the deal he'd agreed with your grandfather. I was naturally horrified. I begged him to reconsider, but he said it was too late. And then the calls started, many of them from friends who were genuinely concerned. They said you were fairly—notorious, that your brother was an inveterate womaniser, and there was little reason to believe you were any less promiscuous. They said you'd lived high, even though the company couldn't afford it, that Harlow Bannerman was nearly bankrupt because of you both. That to save yourself from ultimate penury you'd persuaded your grandfather to buy you a rich husband with the only asset he had left—the company. They said you were mercenary and heartless.' She paused.

Lisle said, 'Oh no,' very softly. 'No wonder you behaved as you did last night!'

'I was prepared to give you the benefit of the doubt, however. I couldn't imagine Jake selling himself to anyone remotely resembling the description I'd been given of you. But when I arrived, I saw for myself how unhappy he was, how sick at heart.' Mrs Allard sighed. 'I'd never seen him like that before, I was shocked. It convinced me that everything I'd heard could only be true.' She smiled sadly. 'I found it very easy to hate you, even though you were far from being what I had expected, on the surface anyway. You were younger, and not as hardboiled as I'd imagined, so I began to wonder, and then I saw you look at him and realised I'd made a mistake. Please don't ask me to believe I've made yet another,' she added.