Bird of Prey (11 page)

Caroline nodded eagerly. It hadn’t been as difficult as she had feared. “I shan’t be long,” she added placatingly.

She saw a smile quirk his lips. “You’re going on a shopping spree, yet you won’t be long. And how exactly do you expect to achieve that? It’s my experience that when women go shopping for themselves, time means nothing to them. On the other hand, perhaps you’re one of those extremely rare females who knows exactly what she wants and will head straight for it without being diverted by the way.”

He was mocking her, Caroline knew, but she determined to be silent. Better to put up with his jibes than to let him know the true reason for her expedition to Keswick.

She did not know that as she made her resolve her mouth had formed a firm, stubborn line, which had not escaped his observant eye.

“All right, so you’ll keep your own counsel! You’re as good as telling me, aren’t you, that it’s none of my business. All right, let’s change the subject.”

There was an awkward pause and Caroline felt herself being regarded with an air of puzzled exasperation.

“I don’t want to buy anything for myself. It’s for Robin,” she vouchsafed at last.

“For Robin?”

“Yes, he wants an anorak like mine. I think he hates the sort of fancy-dress clothes that Grace makes his wear, and I shouldn’t be at all surprised if that’s partly to blame for his bad behaviour.”

“You mean,” he said deliberately, “that you’re going to buy Robin an anorak out of your salary, which by the way—may I remind you—will be paid in advance.”

“Yes, I know, and it’s very good of you,” she put in hurriedly. “And I wouldn’t have asked, only I’d hate to disappoint Robin. He wants it so much.”

He leaned back in his chair and suddenly he was laughing, and as she watched him, Caroline realized how greatly laughter changed him. He was no longer the stern, withdrawn, overpowering employer but an immensely human and approachable person. A little wistfully there flashed through her mind Mrs. Creed’s remark concerning Randall’s friendship with Grace. “He’s quite a different person when she’s here,” she had said. “She’s so outspoken and not a bit afraid of him and is the only person who can really make him laugh. ” Well, she had made him laugh, but it certainly had not been because she was outspoken or unafraid of him. It was, rather, that unconsciously she had tickled his sense of humour. With Grace it would be different. He would be sharing a joke or witticism and his laughter would contain a tribute to her brilliance and sophistication. But his amusement as far as she was concerned, was because of her gaucherie and unconscious naivete. Because she was afraid of him she got herself entangled in all sorts of difficulties when she tried to explain lucidly what she wanted.

“Caroline, you’re the most amazing little person,” he said at last. “I don’t think I’ll ever understand you. Little did I know what I was bringing upon myself when I brought you home that evening from the station.”

But he was smiling and there was no sting in his remarks, and suddenly she felt happy and at ease in his company.

“Here, pour yourself some coffee,” he invited, pointing to a small occasional table on which stood a coffee pot, cup and saucer. “Meanwhile, I’ll make out a cheque.”

“What about you?” she asked a little shyly, as she did as he requested. “Shall I fetch another cup?”

“No, don’t bother. I’d rather have a pipe, if you don’t mind.” As he spoke he scribbled in his chequebook. “Here, do you think this will meet your expenses?”

She glanced swiftly at the cheque, then laid it down, the colour rising to her cheeks. “Oh, but this is too much. I didn’t really expect anything like this. ”

“Well, it seems to me that if you intend indulging your generous impulses, you’re going to need every penny of it,” he said a little dryly, and then abruptly dismissed the subject.

Seated opposite him, a cup of fragrant coffee in her hand, she told him the whole story while he puffed thoughtfully at his pipe.

“So this is the reason why you’ve been flitting around the house like a pale ghost at this unearthly hour of the night! ” he said at last when she had finished. “How typical of Grace to forget the essentials! ”

“I don’t think Grace realizes how much Robin hates being treated as a sort of pretty toy. He’d be so much happier and easier to manage if he were allowed the rough and tumble life that little boys enjoy.”

“Very well, my little amateur psychologist, you may spend your wages in this quixotic act, if you’ve got your heart set on it. But it seems rather incongruous to me that you should be buying clothes for a wealthy little boy, whose mother throws away in the course of a few minutes more than you would be able to earn in a month. Don’t you realize how foolish you’re being, Caroline?”

“But it’s what I want to do,” she told him stubbornly.

He took his pipe from his mouth and surveyed her thoughtfully for a moment. “Very well then, if that’s what you really want! But I must say you’re the most pigheaded, stubborn, unconventional and mulish girl I’ve ever met in my life, and to say you have a mind of your own is putting it pretty mildly. ”

But Caroline, sipping her coffee, smiled secretly to herself, for his voice was unmistakably indulgent. “That sounds horrid,” she said demurely.

“You should have discovered by now that I’m rather a horrid person,” he returned. “However, this evening you’re looking very pretty and somehow or other have inveigled me into doing that you want. And by the way, what is that scent I detect?” He sniffed

thoughtfully. “Something old-fashioned, isn’t it; a flower scent?”

“It’s Muguet des Bois, actually,” she told him.

“Lily of the valley? Somehow that’s suitable. You’re a lily-of-the-valley sort of person, Caroline. Don’t you know that?”

A little shyly she glanced down, her long lashes fanning her cheeks.

“Here, take this and be gone.” His bony fingers thrust the cheque towards her. “It’s long past your bedtime—and mine too, for that matter, so off you go.” She stood up, her eyes bright. “I’ll set off first thing in the morning,” she said. “And Robin may come too, so that I can get the right size?”

“Yes, of course, but be sure to let Mrs. Creed know your plans. Otherwise I imagine she’ll take a dim view of your disappearing to Keswick for the day.”

“Oh yes, I’ll tell her,” Caroline assured him.

She felt herself caught by the shoulders and marched firmly outside the door. “Now off you go, before I regret my generous impulses.”

As soon as he had shut the door behind her, Caroline turned and began to run jubilantly up the stairs only to be stopped short as she saw the dressing-gowned figure of Mrs. Creed.

“Where have you been, Caroline?” the housekeeper inquired sharply. “Do you realize how late it is?”

“I went down to see him about my wages,” Caroline faltered, puzzled and dismayed at the sharpness of Mrs. Creed’s tone.

“You mean to say that you went down to speak to Mr. Randall at this time of night?” the housekeeper demanded in tones of outrage.

“Well, you see he didn’t come in till late,” Caroline faltered, “and then we began talking about Robin and that sort of thing—”

Mrs. Creed looked stern. “If I’d known you planned to do such a thing I’d certainly have given you a word of warning. Really, this is most irregular. I don’t know what the master will think of me, allowing a member of the staff to wander about the house at this time of night.”

“But I’ve told you he didn’t come in until late,” Caroline put in, “and if I’d waited until tomorrow I might have missed him, and I did want and advance on my salary to buy the anorak for Robin.”

“Advance on your salary?” Mrs. Creed gasped. This piece of information obviously struck her with new horror.

“Well, I never did hear of such a thing. To think you asked the master for money in advance! I’ve no doubt he gave you short shrift, and it serves you right. The idea!” She sniffed suspiciously. “Do I smell perfume?”

Caroline nodded, feeling unconscionably guilty.

“I’m afraid I spilled it. That’s why it smells so strong.”

Mrs. Creed pursed her lips, her eyes narrowing. “So you put on perfume before interviewing Mr. Randall!”

Evidently this struck her as extremely significant: her eyes bored into Caroline’s.

“It seems to me,” she said ominously, “that you’re getting ideas, and that I can’t allow. Even though you are Mrs. Brant’s cousin, you’re nevertheless one of the staff here at Longmere and must behave as such. I’ve no doubt,” she added aggrievedly, “that Mr. Craig will be furious tomorrow, and it’s me he’ll blame for allowing you to take such a liberty. I’d no idea what you had in mind, for I must say I thought you a nice quiet, well-behaved girl; not the kind to try and fling herself at the head of the master of the house. Just keep in mind, Caroline, that Mr. Randall Craig is as good as engaged to Mrs. Brant, and even if he weren’t—” The housekeeper hesitated, but it was only too obvious what she meant.

Even if he weren’t engaged to Grace, Caroline was thinking wryly as she continued towards her room, it was unlikely that his thoughts would stray to someone like her.

The housekeeper had made her suspicions only too plain, but it would be useless, Caroline knew, to try to convince her that she hadn’t the slightest notion of trying to steal Randall from Grace. How foolish and futile such an ambition would be—even were she to entertain it for a moment. And yet, as she closed her bedroom door behind her, she knew that somehow during that talk in the study they had come closer together than they had done since her arrival. Grace was a lucky woman, Caroline thought vaguely. It was true she didn’t appear to get along smoothly with Randall Craig, yet undoubtedly he had a fascination that any woman would find hard to resist. Their relationship was so full of tension that it would forge stronger bonds between them than would an ordinary conventional romance.

It would be impossible, of course, to convince Mrs. Creed that under the circumstances, her conclusions were ludicrous. To her it would be the ordinary and fairly common pattern of a young, unsophisticated girl falling hopelessly and foolishly in love with her employer.

On the following morning Robin seemed to be suffering the results of staying up so late on the previous evening. He was sleepy and ill-tempered when Caroline went to his room to wake him, and only the news that Randall had agreed that he should accompany her to Keswick aroused him sufficiently to get him out of bed. But he dawdled over breakfast and they were rather late when they hurried along the avenue and on to the road, and were just in time to see the rear of the bus as it set off for Keswick.

“There, you see, we’ve lost the bus,” Caroline couldn’t resist saying, rather crossly.

But Robin was anything but contrite. “We’ll just have to drive into Keswick,” he announced with all the aplomb of the spoiled child.

“You forget I’ve no car,” Caroline reminded him severely. “No, I’m afraid we’ll j ust have to wait until we can go by bus next time.”

“But that’s a whole week away,” Robin protested incredulously. “And Mummy will be back by that time and I’ll be home again and she won’t let me have an anorak—you’ll see.” His face crumpled and it was obvious that he was on the verge of tears.

Caroline felt almost as disappointed as the child. She had looked forward to this outing and his pleasure at her purchase. She watched apprehensively as Robin now burst into sobs. “We can’t wait a whole week, Caroline. You promised—you know you did.”

“Oh, do stop crying,” Caroline protested. “It’s your own fault we

missed the bus. You simply wouldn’t hurry, although I asked you

to, over and over again.”

“But I want to go today! ” Robin’s tears redoubled. He sounded

stubborn and intractable.

“I’m afraid you’ll just have to make up your mind to stay at home. Come on, Robin,” she held out her hand. “No point in our standing here.”

“I’m not going back.” He dug in his feet mulishly. “You said we’d go to Keswick, and a promise is a promise.”

Caroline sighed. What on earth had possessed her to suggest the outing in the first place? She should have realized that a child as indulged and self-willed as Robin would be hard to manage, even if things had gone according to plan. Now that they hadn’t, the situation was rapidly getting out of hand.

“But we must go back, Robin,” she said desperately. “We can’t

just stand here.”

“I’m not going back. I’m not. I’m not!” He thumped his foot, his voice rising shrilly.

It was at this moment that, to Caroline’s relief, a car swung out of the wide gates of Longmere. As it drew abreast she saw that Randall was behind the wheel. He stopped and wound down the window.

“Just what are you two doing, standing out here on the road?” His eyes went to Robin’s tear-stained face and stubbornly set lip. “What on earth is wrong with the child?”

“I’m afraid we missed the bus,” she explained hurriedly. “It passed through the village a few moments ago, and Robin is disappointed he can’t go into Keswick.”

“Disappointed appears to me to be rather an understatement,” Randall said dryly. “Anyway, why on earth did you not catch the bus? You should have been more punctual. But I suppose you were daydreaming again, Caroline. Time means nothing to you, I believe, when your imagination begins to take over.”