Wild Melody (6 page)

'Are you leaving already?' Jeremy asked, his voice sharp with curiosity.

'Why, yes.' Before Catriona could move, or protest, Jason bent and kissed

her slowly and deliberately on the mouth. 'It's time, I think, that all good

little girls were in bed,' he went on, smiling down into her outraged eyes.

Jeremy flushed, and he looked at Catriona with unmistakable speculation.

'So that's how it is. Fine. Be happy,' he said, with a fair attempt at

nonchalance.

'Besides,' there was no disguising the amusement in Jason's voice, 'Sally

would never forgive me if I kept Catriona out too late.'

Jeremy looked at him quickly. 'Sally Fenton? Is Trina staying with her?

I—see.'

'I doubt it,' Jason said lightly, and took Catriona's hand. 'Come on, love,

time to go. Tell your mother I'll phone her,' he added to the nonplussed

Jeremy as he led Catriona away.

In the car she turned on him furiously. 'How dared you?'

'How dared I do what?' He was infuriatingly unruffled as the car moved

down the drive and nosed out on to the road.

'Paw me in that insulting way!' she raged, and was further incensed by his

laughter.

'You flatter yourself, Miss Muir.' He flashed her a swift glance. 'Surely that

can't have been the most strenuous embrace you've experienced. I must

have a word with Jeremy.'

'Oh, shut up,' she said bitterly. 'At least with Jeremy I never

felt—besmirched.'

Something came and went in his face, but his voice was still amused. 'I'm

sure you would have done—in time.'

She sought for a retort that would silence him once and for all, but none was

forthcoming, so she retired behind a hostile tight-lipped barrier of silence.

Jason Lord seemed totally unconcerned. He hummed snatches of tunes,

commented on the road conditions and eventually with a courteous, 'I hope

you don't mind,' switched on the radio. It was a foreign station. Catriona

could not recognise the announcer's accent, but the music they were playing

had an oddly soothing quality. The street lights and the white lines on the

road became fused in a soft blurring of consciousness. Her head slipped

sideways on to her companion's shoulder, and her breathing became soft

and even.

She was floating on a cloud, weightless and carefree. Jeremy was beside

her, his kisses light as Highland mist on her face. How warm she was, how

safe. Then a shadow came between them, and someone was shaking the

cloud, which was break-' ing up and dissolving. It was Jason Lord, his face

satyr-like. 'Come down off Cloud Seven, Miss Muir,' he was saying. 'Come

down. Come down.' And his hands were hard on her shoulders, shaking her

so that she tried to cry out, only the cloud was muffling her.

Gasping for breath, she struggled out from under the Continental quilt to

find Jason Lord standing over her with a cup and saucer.

'You are a violent little thing in the mornings,' he commented sarcastically.

'Do you want this coffee in bed or over it?'

Catriona stared at him for one panic-stricken moment, then huddled the

quilt over her bare shoulders.

'It's all right,' he said with studied patience. 'It's only your dress that's

missing. I assumed you wouldn't want to ruin it by sleeping in it, so I put it

on a hanger in the wardrobe.'

'You did—what?'

'Oh, grow up,' he snapped. 'You surely don't think there's anything indecent

in that boned effort and long waist slip you're wearing. There were women

at the party last night showing twice as much.'

Catriona was crimson from head to foot. 'Do you mind telling me what I'm

doing here?' she inquired icily.

'With pleasure.' He sat down on the edge of the bed, to her immediate alarm.

'You're here as a very temporary lodger, and as soon as I can get Sally

Fenton on the telephone and talk her into taking you on, you're leaving.'

Catriona quivered. 'I don't know that I care to be passed on like an unwanted

package,' she began.

'And I don't know that you have any choice,' he interrupted. 'I happen to

know Sally is looking for another girl to share with, and it could be a way

out of the woods for us both. I'm not happy at the idea of you drifting out

into the city jungle with no one to keep an eye on you.'

'I'm not a child,' Catriona said defiantly.

'Oh, no. Your actions have been characterised by your maturity since you

got off the train,' he retorted.

'But I don't know this Sally,' she protested.

'You know her as well as most girls who share flats these days. Often they

just answer each other's ads. In your case, it's me doing the arranging

instead of a newspaper. And I'm sure you'll like Sally.'

'Well, that makes everything all right, doesn't it?' she said, trying to emulate

his sarcasm.

'Only you can do that,' he told her. 'You say you have nowhere to return to

in Scotland. You may as well iive up to the story you told nephew Jeremy

and try enjoying yourself in London for a change. Sally'll help you find a

job of some kind. She's an actress, so she's used to finding herself temporary

work between engagements.'

'I see.' Catriona stared unseeingly at the pattern on the quilt. 'All right, I'll

give it a try. And—thank you,' she added with difficulty.

'Well, let's not strain common civility any further," he said, but he was

smiling. 'Come on, drink this while it's still hot.'

Catriona accepted the cup meekly and began to sip. She allowed Jason

Lord to reach the door before halting him with a wide-eyed, 'Oh, Mr Lord.

Forgive me for asking, but is Sally—one of your women?'

She expected an angry outburst, but instead he leaned against the door,

smiling lazily.

'No, as a matter of fact, though I'm flattered by your in- * terest,' he said.

'Can it be because you imagine you've joined those select ranks yourself?'

In spite of the sheltering quilt and her quite adequate covering beneath it,

Catriona felt naked under his insolent gaze.

'If so, let me disabuse your little head of any such notion.' His voice

lengthened to a drawl. 'As I told you last night, I don't take sweets from

babies, especially when they're asleep. Among other things I require of

"my women", as you so elegantly put it, is that they at least remain awake

and give me their undivided attention. You fail on both counts.'

And the door closed behind him, as the pillow, hurled with all the force

Catriona could muster, thudded against it.

Almost in spite of herself, Catriona found that she liked Sally Fenton on

sight. Sally was small and red-headed with delicate mobile features and an

impish smile. Her eyes were dancing as she flung open the front door of the

flat.

'Jason, angel!' She flung herself rapturously at him. 'You've saved my life.

Ever since that idiot Jill went back to Birmingham, I've been desperate.'

' 'Careful, Sal.' Jason disengaged himself and sent a glinting look at

Catriona. 'You'll be giving Miss Muir the wrong idea.'

'Miss Muir? Oh, surely not. It's Catriona, isn't it, just like in Robert Louis

Stevenson,' Sally said gaily, taking her hands. 'Please come in and say you

like it and that you'll stay for at least a little while. I need the extra rent—not

to mention the company.'

'Don't tell her that,' Jason admonished, sitting on the edge of the table and

lighting a cigarette. 'She's a Scot and intensely money-conscious.'

'That's not true,' Catriona began indignantly, then subsided as Sally

exclaimed, 'Oh, just ignore him. He says the most appalling things about

everyone. But we have to forgive him because he's so important—aren't

you, darling?' And she wrinkled her nose at him.

'Not important to you, at any rate, Sally,' he said drily. 'I'll fetch Miss Muir's

things from the car.'

'And we'll make up the other bed,' Sally said. 'The bedroom's only tiny, I'm

afraid. I hope you haven't got too many clothes.'

Catriona swallowed. 'I've hardly got any,' she admitted.

'Oh.' Sally swung round and regarded her for a moment. 'Well, that's super.

We. can go shopping. Don't look so frightened—you don't have to spend the

earth to create a good effect. And it will be no good applying to the agency

I go to in jeans,' she added practically. 'A trouser suit, perhaps, but those

have rather seen better days, haven't they?'

It was impossible to take offence, Catriona thought amusedly, as she helped

Sally unload sheets and covers from an old-fashioned blanket box that

doubled as a window seat in the little bedroom. In spite of its size, it was gay

with cheerful wallpaper and sparkling white paint and there were pretty

turquoise curtains at the window.

'Here's Jason with your stuff,' said Sally, tucking in a corner of the

bedspread. 'Give him a hand while I empty a couple of drawers for you.'

Catriona went back reluctantly into the living room in time to see Jason

depositing her guitar case on the floor beside the table. Her rucksack was

there already, and so were a pile of silver dress boxes marked with the name

of the store they had visited the day before.

'I think there's some mistake,' Catriona said quickly.

'What have I forgotten?' He straightened, eyeing her.

Catriona pointed at the boxes. 'They don't belong to me.'

'Don't be a fool,' he said curtly. 'Of course they're yours. What earthly use

could they be to me? And don't say I could give them to one of "my

women" or I swear I'll turn you across my knee and give you the hiding

you've been asking for since I met you.'

'I wasn't going to say that,' she said quietly. 'But I can't accept these

clothes. You must see that. I—I can't afford to pay for them just now

either, as you know. I only took them to begin with because I thought that.

. .' her voice trailed away miserably.

'You thought Jeremy would pay for them as your husband,' he finished for

her. 'But as I told you, it's in the family. Of course--' his voice took on that

drawling note she had come to dread—'if you insist on repaying me in

some other way, I'm sure we can come to some arrangement.'

'Please don't,' she said with difficulty. 'I want to thank you for everything,

and you don't make it easy.'

'I don't make it easy for myself either,' he answered abruptly. He came over

and stood looking down at her. 'Thank me, then,' he said, smiling faintly.

She lowered her eyes hurriedly to the faded pattern on the carpet. 'I'm

much obliged to you,' she said eventually.'

Jason gave a swift, impatient sigh. 'Don't be,' he said brusquely. 'I'm sure

Cinderella would never have said that to Bluebeard. Goodbye, Catriona.

Keep in touch.' And he was gone.

'Now you see him, now you don't,' said Sally cheerfully from the doorway.

'Old Moira will certainly have to go some, if she intends pinning him down

for life.'

'Moira?'

'Of course you don't know. Stupid of me,' Sally sat down on a

battered-looking armchair and sighed. 'Moira Dane, I mean. She's playing

the lead in the TV play I'm in, and at the moment she's hell-bent on letting

us all know it. And now she's got her beady eye on Jason. She's been

sticking to him like glue ever since casting.'

'Does he produce plays as well as his other work?' Catriona asked.

'No-o.' Sally looked at her oddly. 'Didn't he explain? Well, perhaps not.

Anyway, he's in and out of our rehearsals quite a bit for one reason and

another, and I'm afraid one of the reasons could be Moira.'

'I suppose she's very attractive,' Catriona said.

'Absolutely gorgeous. She's a redhead like me, but that's about all we have

in common. We're supposed to be sisters in the play, so our colouring had to

be similar, I suppose,' Sally said. 'It's a marvellous chance for me as long as

I don't let Moira goad me into walking out or anything daft.'

'Is she that bad?' Catriona was sympathetic.

'She gets us all down at times—except Jason. He doesn't let anyone,

especially a woman, get to him to that extent,' Sally said. 'But she can be

really nasty. I suppose she's the sort who would stand on your foot if she

thought you had a corn.' She got up briskly. 'Now, I have a rehearsal in

about an hour. I'd better show you our splendid kitchen.' She whisked back

a gingham curtain in one corner to reveal a miniature sink and cooker

crammed into an alcove. 'Food in left-hand cupboard, under fridge. Soap,

cleaning stuff and everything else in the other one. Any questions?'

'Is there any room for them?' Catriona laughed.

'Not really,' Sally twinkled back at her. 'I am glad you're here. Are you

going to have a few days' sightseeing and general enjoyment before you

look for a job? I should.'

Catriona looked at her doubtfully. 'If that's all right.'