A Bad Enemy (18 page)

'And you needn't worry.' As she opened the flat door for him, he gave her a wry look. 'Gerard and I have never been friends, but you can rely on my discretion, for your sake if not for his.' He paused and his voice gentled a little. 'Don't look so stricken, my dear. Some angry husband was bound to catch up with him eventually. Perhaps this will teach him a much needed lesson.'

Lisle sighed. 'Perhaps.' She gave him a small smile. 'Thank you again, anyway.'

He said in a low voice, 'I'd do anything for you, Lisle—you know that.' He took her hand, his thumb caressing her skin. 'Are you quite determined to go through with this—marriage? Is there nothing I can say or do to persuade you?'

'Nothing.' Gently but firmly she freed herself. 'Oliver, I'm sorry. I don't need to be reminded of how badly I've behaved towards you…'

'That wasn't what I was trying to do,' he said ruefully. 'I'm just telling you, my dear, that if you need an escape route, I'm prepared to provide one.'

She was silent for a long moment. Then she said wearily, 'There is no escape. There can't be.'

He watched her, incredulity deepening in his face. 'You're in love with him? My word!'

'Is it so unbelievable?' she asked unhappily.

'Oh, he's an attractive fellow. I don't think anyone's in any doubt of that,' Oliver said bitterly. 'But, Lisle, he's ruthless! I've never met anyone like him. He cuts through everything like—like a bloody, laser beam. These past ten days or so have been a revelation!'

Lisle bent her head. 'You don't have to tell me that,' she muttered.

He touched her hair awkwardly. 'My poor girl—what a hell of a mess! What can Murray have been thinking of, for heaven's sake? He can't have been under any illusion about Allard, and if he wanted his successor in the company to be a hatchet man, who can blame him? We needed shaking up, and more. But to involve you…'He sighed heavily.

She didn't look at him. 'Yet I love him. I—I didn't want to, or expect to. But it happened, and there's not a thing I can do about it. I don't expect you to understand, Oliver…'

He said gently, 'Perhaps I understand better than you think. Goodnight, my dear.'

Lisle went slowly back into the fiat and closed the door, her face sober.

In the sitting room, Janie was dabbing the blood from Gerard's face with swabs of cotton wool dipped in warm water and Savlon.

She looked at Lisle and said calmly, 'It looks gruesome, but I think it's mainly a nosebleed. Oh, and he seems to have a broken tooth. But Tom's on his way, and we'll know better then. They're just about the same size, so I've asked him to bring some spare jeans and a sweater,' she added practically.

Lisle came to her side. 'Janie, let me do that.'

'No, it's all right.' Janie gave a small, taut smile as Gerard winced and muttered something under his breath. 'I can manage until Tom arrives. Besides, you need to get ready. Jake will be here at any moment and he'll expect you to be ready.'

'Allard coming here?' Gerard twisted, grimacing. His nose was badly swollen, and his lip was cut, possibly on the broken tooth, Lisle thought, but he was beginning to look more normal. 'Oh, that's all I need! I don't want to see him. He's not to know about all this — do you hear?'

Lisle said wearily, 'Yes, I hear, although I promise you it wouldn't come as any great surprise to him. I'll go and get ready at once, so there'll be no excuse for us to hang around when he arrives.'

The dress she had decided to wear wasn't new, but it was a favourite of hers, one that she felt relaxed and happy in, and it seemed quite important to hang on to all the relaxation and happiness that she could get.

It was made of cream wool as light and soft as a cobweb in a delicate crochet design with a tiny ruffled neck, and long sleeves, and glamorised by an unobtrusive glitter of gold among the threads. She put small golden roses in her ears, her only other jewellery being her engagement ring. She was just spraying on scent when, the doorbell rang again.

She snatched up the dress's matching shawl and went to the door, her gold kid purse clutched in her other hand.

In evening dress, Jake looked taller than ever, and her heart turned over at the sight of him.

There was an extra tinge of colour in her face, as she remembered their last encounter, and her eyes were shy as they met his. He was probably remembering too, which explained the cool constraint in his voice as he greeted her.

'I'm ready.' Lisle touched her lips nervously with the tip of her tongue.

'So I see.' His face was derisive. 'Very demure, beauty, but rather out of character. Who are you trying to fool?'

She stifled the hurt, shrugging slightly. 'Not you, of course, but presumably your mother could still have some illusions.'

'Not many.' His hard mouth smiled, but his eyes did not. They were almost silver this evening. As cold and glittering as frost, she thought. 'No offers of coffee this evening. No civilised sherry?'

'I didn't think we had time.' She tried to sound casual. 'Shouldn't we be going?' It had occurred to her that they might bump into Tom on the stairs and that he, in his innocence, would give the whole game away.

'Just as you wish.' Jake held the door open so that she could precede him into the corridor outside.

They were in the car and already drawing away from the kerb when Tom's elderly car came round the corner. He saw her, and gave her a cheerful 'thumbs-up' and she waved in reply before sitting back in her seat with a concealed sigh of relief. Tom was pleasant and capable, and if Gerard needed even minor treatment, he would cope.

'Another friend of yours?' Jake's voice bit at her.

'Janie's brother. He's a doctor.'

'Does he usually make house calls at this hour?

'He visits his sister quite regularly,' Lisle returned coolly, and closed her ears to whatever it was he muttered under his breath.

After a pause, she said, 'I expect you're wondering how it is I'm back at the flat…'

'No. I've discovered that it's best not to enquire too closely into your motives for anything,' he said icily.

Lisle drew a breath. 'Then I won't attempt to explain.'

'I doubt if you could.' There was a sudden odd hoarseness in his tone, a suggestion of anger damped down, but threatening to flare again violently which was disturbing. She knew he didn't like her being at the flat, but surely this was an overreaction. Or was this what she could expect whenever she disregarded one of his wishes? she wondered wryly. After a silence, he went on, 'But we won't discuss it now. My mother will be expecting us to present at least a semblance of amity, and I don't want to disappoint her.'

She was chilled. She hadn't expected lovemaking or even tender words, aware that she herself had quite deliberately strangled any prospect of that, but she hadn't bargained for his icy grimness either.

Oh dear, she thought miserably. What hope was there for a relationship which united love on one side with mistrust on the other? And knew with a kind of despair that the answer was—none.

Lisle felt mentally frozen when eventually they arrived at the hotel where Mrs Allard had her suite. They hadn't spoken a word to each other for the remainder of the journey, and Jake's profile, as she stole a sidelong glance, looked as relentless as granite. The evening had hardly begun, but already it was a nightmare, and she was too unnerved by what had happened to Gerard to be certain she could cope.

Jake's mother was a tall woman, very dark like her son, her hair liberally and attractively streaked with grey. There were deep laughter lines round her eyes and mouth, and she was wearing a very expensive amber silk dress as casually as if it was a rag.

As Jake ushered Lisle into the room, she came forward at once to greet them, but her smile was formal and rather muted. She shook hands and said the right things, but the underlying warmth which should have been there was absent, Lisle sensed.

In the circumstances it was a relief to find the evening was not to be a threesome. There were others waiting to be introduced—a cousin of Mrs Allard's, plump and pleasant with a husband to match, Jake's godparents, both university lecturers, and a tall thickset man with glasses who turned out to be the American Director of Allard International's United States operation, who had accompanied Jake back to Britain from his recent trip.

His name was Clement Sorensen, and Lisle found him amazingly easy to talk to, which, she supposed drily, was part of his stock in trade, but nonetheless welcome. On the other hand, conversation with him tended to be slightly embarrassing after a while, because he obviously credited her with more knowledge about the inside workings of Allard International and Harlow Bannerman than she actually possessed, and she guessed he was too shrewd not to realise this, and wonder.

Champagne was served, and Mrs Allard made a little speech, welcoming Lisle as Jake's future wife, after which toasts were drunk, and there was a lot of laughter and banter. Jake joined in it too, standing with his arm round Lisle's shoulders, and only she knew just how impersonal his touch really was—just like a stranger's. She smiled too, and prayed that no one looked into her eyes.

It should have been a wonderful evening. They went down to the restaurant and ate a delicious meal and drank more champagne, and later went to a nightclub where they danced. There were a lot of people there whom she knew, and a constant stream of them came to the table because they had heard about her engagement and wanted to wish her well.

Lisle smiled until her face felt stiff and sore and wished they would leave her alone. Jake looked as if he was carved from stone, and his mother's expression wavered between astonishment and disapproval.

Lisle wondered how much champagne she would have to drink before she had the courage to ask, 'Mrs Allard, why don't you like me? What have I done?' Probably an entire magnum, she decided, and even then her, nerve might fail. Mrs Allard seemed as strong-minded as her son.

She was thankful to her heart when the party began to break up in the early hours. Her head was splitting, not from too much champagne, because she had hardly touched a drop, but from the strain of trying to appear radiant when she felt as if she was breaking apart.

Jake had left his car at the hotel, and they had all driven to the club in taxis, so there was a brief wait in the foyer of the club while the doorman whistled up sufficient cars to take them all to their various destinations.

Lisle made herself approach Jake's mother. 'Mrs Allard, I was wondering if perhaps you'd like to come and stay at the Priory for a day or two. The countryside's a bit bleak and barren at this time of year, but it's still lovely—or at least I think so.'

'Yes, I'm sure you think so.' The dark eyes met hers as coolly as Jake's could have done. 'It's very kind of you, of course, but I'm not altogether sure what my plans are for the remainder of my stay.'

In other words—no, Lisle thought, flushing as she stepped back. Well, the overture had been made, and she didn't see what else she could do.

She made her way to Jake's side and touched his arm. He turned immediately.

'I'm sorry if you've been kept waiting. That's the last of our guests on their way. Clem is staying at the same hotel as my mother, so we can share the next cab.'