Beaumont Brides Collection (79 page)

‘I won’t be long, Gabriel,’ she said, absently. ‘Make some tea if you want some. There’s a carton of long life milk somewhere.’

‘Can I get something for you?’

‘No.’ So he didn’t bother. He heard the shower running briefly, then her bedroom door closing. Twenty minutes later she reappeared looking as poised and as stunningly beautiful as ever.

Makeup, rather heavier than usual perhaps, covered the worst of the blotches on her face and neck. Her eyes and lips had been made up brightly to draw attention away from what could still be seen. And her hair had been covered by an elegant arrangement with a scarf that didn’t look out of place with the wide cotton trousers and silk tunic.

She looked, every inch of her, a star, but he didn’t think she would appreciate compliments.

‘Ready?’ he asked.

‘Yes. Let’s go.’

*****

Joanna was in a side ward and Claudia insisted on seeing her alone. Gabriel watched from a distance through the glass walls as she bent over her friend, kissed her cheek and held her hand. Then she sat on the edge of the bed and began to talk. She was there a long time.

Edward arrived after a while and sat with him. ‘This is a very sad business, Mac.’ He nodded towards his daughter. ‘How did she take it.’

Mac considered the question. ‘I think she feels guilty. That somehow it’s all her fault for having so much.’

‘She doesn’t need to feel guilty,’ Edward Beaumont said angrily. ‘Everything she has came at a terrible price.’ Mac nodded, aware of Edward’s scrutiny. ‘She’s told you.’ It wasn’t a question but a statement, and it didn’t need an answer. ‘She’s an extraordinary girl, Mac. Infuriating at times, I’ll admit. And there have been times I’ve been terribly afraid for her. If she trusts you sufficiently to tell you about her mother, I don’t need to explain.’

‘No.’ He turned away from Edward’s shrewd eyes, standing up as Claudia reappeared. ‘How is she?’

‘Just bruised and sore. She’ll be allowed out tomorrow if she’s got someone to look after her. I’ve told her she can come and stay with me.’

‘Claudia, darling,’ her father, began. ‘Is that wise?’

‘She hasn’t got anyone else.’

‘Will you be able to cope?’ Mac asked, taking her hand. ‘It doesn’t sound like such a good idea to me.’

‘Of course it’s a good idea. There’s nothing wrong with me and my life is back to normal. No more nonsense,’ she said, not quite managing to meet his eye.

‘I was thinking of her. After what she did it’s going to be difficult for her to accept anything from you. The letters, the dress...’ - he dismissed them as minor problems - ‘...but when she sees the paint...’

‘I’ll get decorators organised this morning. She won’t have to see it.’ She regained possession of her hand and turned to her father. ‘And there’s no need to worry about tonight’s performance, I can handle it.’ She cut off her father’s protest. ‘Once I’ve had my hair sorted out. Will you drop me off at the hairdressers, Gabriel? It’s not far out of your way home.’

There. She’d said it. Set him free with her casual dismissal. Let him know that she quite understood that last night was just one of those things that happened when two people were thrown together in emotional circumstances.

She’d needed someone, he’d been kind. Far more than kind. But there was no need to make a big thing out of it, pretend it meant more than it did, hang on until it all got horribly messy. That way it could only end in tears and what they had shared had been too important, too special for it to end like that.

‘Drop you off.’ The words were slow, careful, as if he wanted to be certain that he understood her. ‘You don’t want me to wait for you?’

‘Good heavens, no.’ Her laughter was diamond bright. ‘I don’t need a bodyguard any more, darling, and I’ve put you to far too much trouble already. I can easily get a taxi back to the flat.’

There was a moment of silence. Then, ‘Yes, well, perhaps you’re right. I’ve got a million things to catch up on. Tony’s been doing two jobs.’

Edward cleared his throat. ‘I’m going your way, Claudia. Maybe, if Mac is so pressed you should let him get back to work.’

‘Oh, yes-’ Claudia began, quickly.

‘There’s no need-’ Gabriel said, at the same time.

Edward glanced from one to the other. ‘I’ll leave you to sort it out, while I make a call from the car.’

‘Well, there,’ Claudia said, as soon as her father had gone. ‘What could be better? Now I won’t have to feel guilty about dragging you out of your way.’ She put out her hand in a formal and unmistakable gesture of farewell.

She wanted him to shake her hand? After last night? He couldn’t believe it but took it, because it gave him a last chance to be near to her, not shaking it, but simply holding it. Fighting the urge to pull her into his arms and pour out his feelings. But she looked so distant, so far from him and instead, he leaned forward and lightly kissed her cheek.

‘You don’t have to feel guilty, Claudia,’ he told her. ‘About anything.’

Despite the overheated temperature of the hospital Claudia’s hand felt cold in his and she shivered a little.

‘I’ll never forget what you did for me. Truly.’ And when she stepped back she had a smile firmly fixed to her lips. ‘Goodbye, Gabriel. Mind how you jump out of aeroplanes.’

He wanted to seize her, make her look at him while he told her how much he loved her, how much he would always love her. But he didn’t because he knew she wouldn’t want to know. And with a little flutter of her fingers she turned and walked away from him.

‘Goodbye, my love,’ he said, softly. She didn’t hear him. She was already clipping smartly down the corridor, head held high apparently oblivious of the ripple of head-turning recognition as she passed. She turned a corner and disappeared from sight. For a moment Mac remained where he was, then, unable to bear the emptiness he began to follow her, breaking into a run as she disappeared through the door to the car park. But then he stopped.

The ever present newsmen were there, no doubt alerted by a porter with a contact on a news desk. They surrounded her as she waited at the curb for her father and she threw back her head and laughed at something one of them had said.

He could still see her, but she was gone. She was back in her own world. He’d known how it would be. But he hadn’t realised just how hard it would be to let her go, how much it would hurt.

‘Joanna is going to be fine. Just a few bumps and bruises.’ Her clear voice carried to back to him. ‘When Private Lives goes on tour later in the year she’ll be playing Amanda, you can put money on it.’

‘And what’ll you be doing Claudia,’ one of the men asked.

‘Having fun, darling, what else?’ And she blew them a kiss before stepping into her father’s Daimler.

*****

Claudia Beaumont. Her name was like a brand between his eyes, her scent clung to his skin. She was a hot ache that wouldn’t go away,

Before he met her, he had believed she was just another trivial, careless, almost certainly amoral woman. He had learned that he was wrong, in every respect. She was warm, funny, loving. Who else would have rushed to offer comfort to a girl who had done everything in her power to frighten and hurt her, who might even have blinded her?

He frowned. He had been so certain that it had been a man who had been behind the campaign of terror. He should have insisted on speaking to Joanna himself.

While the slashed dress, the letters had fitted a certain kind of female cattiness, it had been a man in the delivery van, watching the apartment. And there was something else. What? He rubbed his hand hard over his face. Something. He needed sleep so badly. Maybe with a clear head—

The urgent burble of the telephone cut across his train of thought. ‘Yes?’ he snapped, bad-temperedly.

‘Mac. I need help.’ It was Adele and something in her voice loaded his blood with adrenalin and he was immediately alert. ‘I’ve started having contractions and Tony flew to Cardiff first thing. I phoned him but there was a problem with the plane-’

‘Where are you?’

‘At the airfield.’

‘Idiot!’

‘Thanks, and I love you too. Someone’s got to keep this place ticking over while you’re off holding Miss Beaumont’s pretty white-’ She broke off.

‘Adele?’

‘Ummm. Mac, this is a bit tricky. Everything is moving rather quicker than I was led to expect. I’ve called an ambulance but-’

‘I’ll meet you at the hospital.’

‘I’m sorry to disappoint you, but it’s not you I want. I need Tony. Now...’ Her breath caught on a gasp. ‘Oh ... ooohhh. Mac! Do something!’

‘Cross your legs, sweetheart. I’ll get him to you somehow.’

*****

‘Are you sure you did the right thing, Claudia?’ her father asked as they drove out of the hospital car park.

‘Oh, yes. Joanna must come to me.’

‘I wasn’t talking about Joanna Gray. I was referring to Gabriel MacIntyre.’ She glanced up, startled. ‘He seems very fond of you.’ She didn’t respond and he continued. ‘He’s quite a hero, you know. He got a gong for something he did in the Gulf.’

She wasn’t a bit surprised to hear it. ‘Did he? How do you know that?’

‘It was in the paper yesterday. Your little contretemps in some restaurant made quite a splash and someone must have been doing their homework.’

Claudia groaned. ‘Oh, good grief. I’d forgotten all about that.’

‘There was quite a bit about his wife, too. He was married to Jenny Callendar. The climber? But I expect you knew that.’

‘Yes, he told me.’

And after that he’d still had the patience to listen to her petty problems, the generosity to make love with her when he had seen her need for him, as if she was the last woman in creation. It made her heartsick that he should have been so exposed because of his determination to protect her.

‘He’s a good man, Claudia. Luke checked him out.’

Claudia stared at her father. ‘Luke did what?’

He shrugged. ‘Mac promised to look after you, sweetheart, but Luke didn’t know anything about him.’

‘Gabriel wouldn’t hurt me, Dad.’ She sat back and closed her eyes. He’d been generous, kind, held her, loved her when she’d needed him and today she’d put on her finest performance for him as she’d let him walk away without a moment of guilt. ‘He’s about as close to a “parfit gentil knyght” as a girl can hope for these days. He even knew how to bow out without making a fuss.’

‘That’s a pity.’

‘Oh?’

‘I was rather hoping he would know when to hang in there. He’s the first man I’ve met who looked capable of keeping you in line.’

Claudia forced a laugh. ‘That’s reason enough, don’t you think, to beat a hasty retreat.’ And before her father could think of a suitable response she changed the subject. ‘Now, tell me about Diana. I hear you took her to the theatre last night.’

*****

Claudia left the salon after a couple of hours during which she had been treated like a Dresden shepherdess by a stylist shattered by the ruins of her hair. She had been pampered, cooed over by his staff, offered every combination of coffee, tea and snack that it was possible to dream up. They all assumed that her distracted mood was the result of the disaster that had befallen her hair. She didn’t disabuse them.

She’d sent Gabriel away…

She couldn’t believe she’d done that. Another few days, a week even, wouldn’t have made such a difference, would it?

Except of course, that it would have.

Once she was out of danger there could be no pretence. She would have to admit her feelings. Then he would feel guilty for not loving her in return and he would try to pretend. She couldn’t do that to him. Or to herself.

‘Claudia?’ She realised that her approval was awaited and she gave her attention to her reflection. ‘What do you think?’

‘It’s... Oh, heavens, it’s so different.’ She turned her head to the side. ‘I’ve never had short hair, before. I feel positively light-headed.’ She touched the soft golden tendrils that curled around her ears and lay on her neck. It gave her a gamin look that was entirely new. ‘I just love it.’ There was an almost audible sigh of relief from around the room and she laughed. ‘It’s wonderful. Thank you.’

‘Just stay away from paint and that will be thanks enough,’ the stylist warned her. She’d spun them a story about knocking a tin of paint from a stepladder at the theatre and they hadn’t questioned it.

Back on the pavement she didn’t know what to do. For days her whole life had been dictated by Gabriel, now suddenly, she was on her own.

She ought to go back to the flat, try and sleep for a while. The flat. The paint. She needed to organise an emergency clean-up so that Joanna wouldn’t have to face the mess she’d made.

*****

Tony didn’t wait for his plane to be repaired. He borrowed a car and beat Mac to the hospital by seconds and they met in the entrance to the maternity unit.

‘How is she?’ Tony demanded.

‘In a hurry to be a mother. You’d better get in there.’

Tony hesitated. ‘I hope I don’t faint.’

‘I advise against it, she’d never let you live it down.’