Yesterday's Bride (19 page)

"Jason, I, I wanted to tell you tonight—I've made up my mind about the annulment," she stuttered. "I mean…"

As she struggled to find the right words, Jason swung around to summon the bartender with a lift of his finger. When he once again faced Leigh, he wore a look of utter boredom.

"Spare me the details," he said curtly. "I find I'm not interested."

Stunned, Leigh was unable to believe his words. It was a misunderstanding. He had to hear her out.

"Jason, listen…"

As swiftly as a jungle cat he moved, his hands shooting out to grasp her upper arms in a tight, bruising hold that bit into her tender flesh like knives. "No, you listen," he snarled, shaking her mercilessly. His eyes were blistering with fury, his mouth thinned to a cruel line. "If you don't get out of my sight right now, I'll do something we'll both regret in the morning."

In total rejection, he cast her away from him and she would have fallen if she hadn't caught onto the side of the revolving bar stool.

She straightened and faced him, a terrible look of pain in eyes that were brimming with tears.

"Go away, Leigh," he rasped wearily. "Go back to your boyfriend. Get lost."

Somehow she got herself out of the bar and up to her room. Through the hurt, she tried to think clearly. Jason was angry, perhaps understandably so, at finding Dan in her room. If only he would let her explain. She might be a fool, but she had to try, if there was to be any chance at all for them. Surely she hadn't rediscovered her love only to lose him again. Maybe in the morning, when Jason had cooled off, they could talk.

But in the morning, Jason was gone.

Leigh hadn't slept well, and consequently she was up early. Her first thought was to call Jason, but she wouldn't let herself pick up the phone until she got washed and dressed. If Jason agreed to see her right away, she intended to be ready.

She shook the creases out of her brown linen slacks and pulled them hastily on. With the pants, she teamed a skinny-ribbed summer sweater of cream silk knit. A quick brush at her hair and she went to sit on the bed while she telephoned.

No answer.

That's strange, she mused. It was very early for Jason to be already up and out. Maybe he had gone for a walk or a newspaper.

To pass the time, she tidied her things, neatly folding the dress and slip she had left lying on a chair last night and packing them in her case. She assumed they would leave late this afternoon since Jason had said he had to be back at work tomorrow. It wouldn't hurt to get a jump on her packing. She needed to keep busy anyway so she wouldn't have too much time to think.

The hands of the clock crawled slowly around until finally Leigh judged that enough time had passed for Jason to have returned from wherever he had gone, and she tried again. Still no answer.

I'm not having much luck with this phone, Leigh told herself in an attempt at humor.

Like last night, she'd just have to go looking for Jason, but hopefully, with a better result this time, Leigh told herself as she picked up her shoulder bag.

When she stepped out into the quiet hallway, she saw that the door to Jason's room stood open. Could he have just returned?

She went to peek inside. A maid in a stiffly starched green and white uniform was in the process of stripping the bed. Hearing someone in the doorway, she looked up.

"Good morning." Leigh smiled while her eyes searched the impersonal interior for a trace of Jason's occupancy.

"The man who has this room—has he gone out?" Leigh asked, hoping the maid might have seen him.

"I don't know, miss. I was just told to make up the room." With a shrug, she returned to her task.

A feeling of dread gnawing at her, Leigh rushed downstairs in a fever of impatience.

She asked the bored desk clerk to page Jason Randall.

"I believe he's checked out, ma'am. Just a moment, please." The ruddy-faced man turned to scan the set of square cubicles that lined the wall behind him. Locating the one he sought, he fished inside to pull out a small folded piece of paper.

"Are you Mrs. Randall?" he asked after reading the print. His boredom was replaced by an undisguised interest.

People surely are strange
, he was thinking. A married couple, apparently, booked into separate rooms. And then, the man had taken off early today in a devil of a temper. Now here was the wife he had left behind, her face as white as paper.

"Are you all right, ma'am?" He saw her sway slightly and grip the counter for support.

She gave him a vague nod and reached for the note. The lounge area of the lobby was deserted at this hour of the morning, and not really caring where she sat as long as it was private, Leigh dropped down onto the first chair she came to and opened the piece of white hotel stationery.

"Leigh," she read, "I have to leave. Emergency. I'll send a car for you this afternoon."

Short and to the point, with Jason's signature scrawled in black ink across the bottom.

An emergency. Was it really an emergency? If so, couldn't he at least have wakened her and told her? A few seconds' phone call, that's all it would have taken. Wasn't it more likely that he welcomed a chance to get away from her, that he didn't want to face her again, she wondered with uncharacteristic cynicism. Was she now so repugnant to him that he couldn't stand a few hours' drive in her company? The words of Paula Knight came unbidden into her mind, something about when Jason was through with a relationship, he was through. No recall. No recourse.

Well, she got the message. He had meant what he said last night. It was over.

Feeling numb, Leigh got to her feet and went back to the desk.

"Is there transportation from here to Harrellsville?"

"Yes, Mrs. Randall. A bus leaves twice a day from the village below the hotel." The clerk checked the large, round clock on the wall behind the reception counter. "You've got plenty of time to make the second run this afternoon," he said.

He told her the time and place and agreed to arrange for a hotel car to drive her the three miles to the village.

Leigh wasn't going to wait around to be picked up like an unwanted package someone had forgotten to claim. She'd make her own way back to Jason's house, and from there to New York. The way she felt right now, she wasn't going to stick around any longer than she had to.

After she had finished the rest of her packing, she called Smitty.

"Leigh!" Smitty registered surprise.

They exchanged the usual greetings and Leigh asked about Jody.

"She's fine. That picnic with the Penders did the trick. But what about you? Are you having a good weekend?"

"Smitty, is Jason there?"

"Jason? What would he be doing here? Isn't he with you?" Alarm sharpened her voice. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing much. Jason had to leave. Something came up. I'll explain when I see you." Leigh's hand was perspiring and slippery and she had to transfer the receiver to her other one.

"If Jason shows up there, would you tell him not to bother to send a car for me. I'll manage."

She had to break into Smitty's barrage of questions. "I have to go now. I should be there sometime this afternoon, Smitty."

Without hanging up the receiver, she pressed the button and dialed the desk to ask that someone be sent up for her bags.

The trip to Harrellsville seemed endless as well as exhausting to Leigh. It wasn't that she was really physically tired, although she hadn't had much sleep the night before, but her nerves were frayed. By the time the rather ancient, creaking bus pulled into the terminal in Harrellsville, all she wanted to do was to get away and forget that anyone named Jason Randall had ever existed.

She found a taxi to take her to the house, and by the time she finally arrived, the sun was setting in a blaze of color.

Smitty met her at the door, tall and gaunt, and totally dear to Leigh. At the sight of her uncompromising form, some of the remoteness that had allowed Leigh to keep going all day seemed to vanish and Leigh wanted nothing more than to put her head on Smitty's bony shoulder and have a good cry.

But of course she did nothing of the kind.

Smitty's sharp greeting put some starch into her instead.

" 'Bout time you got here." The housekeeper said, reaching for Leigh's suitcase. She put it on the bottom stair and motioned Leigh into the kitchen.

"Now," she said, her hands on her hips, "I want to know what the dickens is going on."

Leigh sat down and gripped her hands tightly together in her lap. "I told you. There was some sort of emergency and Jason had to get back."

Smitty snorted. "I know that much. Jason was here about an hour ago. Dropped off his suitcase and had a sandwich. I guess he hadn't eaten all day. He said some workers had congregated at one of his warehouses early this morning, threatening mischief, so his secretary contacted him at Blackstones and told him he'd better come back. Apparently he talked some sense into the young fools."

"Where is he now?"

"That Paula was with him. He took her back to the office."

"Did you, er, give him my message?"

"About not sending the car for you? Yes."

"Did he say anything?"

"Just nodded and left." Smitty leaned her arms on the table, watching Leigh closely. "He was in a black mood. Should be, if you ask me. The very idea, going off and leaving you like that. You didn't ask to stay on there, did you?"

"No, I wasn't consulted."

"What's the man thinking of?" Smitty muttered. "What's the matter between you two?"

"Everything, Smitty."

The simple word hung on the
air. Everything
.

Leigh took a deep breath. There was a time to cut your losses, she told herself, and that time had come.

Taut with resolution, she asked Smitty, "Where's Jody?"

"At the Penders. Betty came for her after lunch to spend the afternoon."

"When are Bob and Clare supposed to get here?"

"Should be in the next few days. I expect they'll cable when they've got a flight."

"Do you think you could handle Jody as well as your work here until then?"

"If I had to." Smitty tensed with suspicion. "Just what are you planning, Leigh?"

Leigh couldn't meet her eyes. "Since Jody's parents will be here soon, then I've finished what I was asked to do." As she rose from the chair, she tried to smile, to hide the pain in her heart.

"I think I'll go upstairs and wash off some of the grime of the trip."

Smitty let her get to the swinging door before she spoke. "You're making a mistake."

Leigh swallowed hard. "Well, it won't be the first time, will it?"

Her decision made, she felt calmer. The tears that had threatened all day didn't come. Maybe I've just reached the bottom of my emotional barrel, she told herself as she turned the shower on full blast, as if she could wash Jason Randall out of her mind with the stinging spray.

She put on the white toweling robe that was hanging on the back of the bathroom door and hefted the suitcase she had brought from downstairs up onto the bed.

No sense in unpacking it, but maybe she could fit in a few more items. She was leaving here with more than she had brought, literally as well as figuratively.

She had started on the second bag when the door opened.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" came Jason's harsh voice.

After a slight start at the sight of him, Leigh continued to fold a flower-patterned scarf.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" she countered coolly as she placed the small square of silk in the bag.

A glance at Jason showed her that he had moved inside the room, standing stiff and straight.

"So you're running away again?"

"No," she said, going over to the bureau near the window and opening a drawer. "I'm doing exactly what you yourself told me to do. I'm getting out of your sight."

With that, she made herself ignore his sudden indrawn breath and dipped into the drawer for a stack of blouses and tops. She didn't realize that he had come up behind her until he spoke.

"Don't go," he said.

"Wh—what?" Leigh whirled around, the pile of tops falling to the floor unheeded.

"Don't leave me." His dark eyes were burning into hers, pleading, and she had to station herself against the bureau to remain upright.

"If you leave, I don't think I can make it without you. You'd walk away from half a man, because you'd be taking my heart with you. I love you, Leigh."

Half afraid she was dreaming, she went to him and put her hands on each side of his face, trying to read the message in his eyes.

"Jason," she whispered, going into his arms with a glad cry, as all the pent up hunger between them was released in a flood of passion. He held her as if he would never let her go, raining kisses on her eyelids and cheeks before his mouth claimed hers with an ardor that possessed and promised.

Too soon he held her away from him to look soberly down on her. "I owe you an apology for all the brutal things I said to you last night. I was crazy with jealousy. I wanted to strangle Morgan and the only way I could keep my hands off you was to get you out of there. I thought you were going to leave me and I didn't want to hear you say it. Then this blasted business at the warehouse came up and I knew I'd never be able to concentrate with you around, so I left you at the hotel, figuring we could straighten everything out later." Tenderly he brushed the soft clinging silver hair away from her face. "I know I hurt you and I'm sorry. I never want to hurt you again, Leigh."

"Jason, about last night…" she began, but he silenced her with a finger on her lips. "I know, Leigh. You had nothing to do with Morgan showing up at the hotel. I had a little talk with Paula. That's why I went back to the office this afternoon." His face was suddenly stern. "Paula's in the market for a new job."

"Oh, Jason, you didn't fire her for that!"

He shrugged. "Why not? Seeing Morgan in your room took ten years off my life. Besides, Paula seemed to have a few mistaken ideas about me and she was getting to be a pest."

Leigh laughed shakily. "You have no cause to be jealous of Dan or any other man, Jason. I love you. I think I always have."