That Man Next Door Page 10

  "I'm trying to explain," she went on desperately. "Everything went wrong and it wasn't a bit like I wanted it to be, like I meant it to be. I'm sorry you lost the race, I really am. I only wanted to give the children an outing and — and, oh, I don't know — everything's gone wrong!" Tears were rolling unchecked down her cheeks and she did not care, anymore than she cared that the words were just tumbling over each other and making very little sense.

  It was doubtful if even Terry could have looked more woebegone and she felt he must be thoroughly embarrassed by her outburst. It would probably be the last straw and he would simply walk off and leave her there; it was no more than she deserved.

  Instead, however, a moment later she was hazily aware of a pair of strong arms hugging her tight and a voice murmuring soothingly against her ear. "All right, all right, come on now." Just as if he was consoling Terry. One large hand pressed her tearful face against his chest and his fingers moved caressingly through her hair. "Don't cry, Kim, don't cry anymore."

  He could have been consoling Terry, she thought hazily, except that there was something more than mere consolation in the caressing fingers through her hair.

  CHAPTER VI

  IT was obvious the next morning when Kim reported for work that someone, it could only have been Eve Mellors, had told George at least something of what had happened to prevent James Fleming winning the race, for he eyed her curiously when she came into the room.

  "I gather you had quite an eventful day yesterday," he remarked, and Kim's brows flicked him a brief frown.

  "It wasn't quite what I expected," she admitted, giving her attention determinedly to preparing her desk for work.

  "It wasn't quite what James expected either," George chuckled. "He was all set to sweep the board again this year, instead he didn't even finish the course."

  "I know." She still refused to enlarge on the subject and guessed, inevitably, that he would continue his questioning until he was satisfied.

  "Eve told me the bare bones of it," he confessed, confirming her suspicion, "but I must admit I'm still very curious."

  "I don't doubt you are," Kim allowed wryly, but still held her tongue.

  He came me across to her then, sensing her reluctance, putting an arm round her waist, his voice persuasive. "Come and tell Uncle George all about it," he coaxed, and added with disarming frankness, "I'm dying to hear your side of

  it."

  Kim smiled ruefully at the confession, but evaded his arm and sat down at her typewriter, determinedly businesslike. "You know as much as there is to know," she told him, "and we haven't the time to waste on it. We have to get

  this typescript ready for next week, and we'll never do it if you don't get down to some work."

  "Slave-driver !" he accused. "Does that mean you're not going to tell me?" He looked disappointed and a little annoyed.

  "That's it exactly," Kim affirmed, feeding paper and carbon into her machine.

  "Well, I think you should," he complained. "How can I cut Eve down to size if you don't put me in the picture at least a little bit ! " George, Kim thought, was being persuasive again, and he was very good at it. "Eve's livid," he added, hopefully trying to prod her into self-defence. "She's furious because James didn't win and the champagne party she had laid on for the celebration was a bit of an anticlimax in the circs. Cousin Evie doesn't like losing, even by proxy." He eyed her speculatively, waiting to see if his tactics were working. "Is it true what Eve said? Was it your fault that James lost the race, as she says?"

  "I — yes, I suppose it was," Kim admitted, seeing nothing for it but to satisfy his curiosity.

  "Well, come on," George encouraged, "tell me more, darling. Don't leave me in mid-air now you've started."

  Kim sighed resignedly, unable to resist a smile. "All right," she agreed, "I'll tell you about it, just as long as you promise to get right down to work afterwards."

  He raised two fingers, shoulder high, his face solemn. "Cub's honour," he vowed gravely.

  Kim leaned back in her chair, a pencil twirling rhythmically between her fingers. "I took the children to what I thought was a safe little cove just round the end of the cliff, only it wasn't as safe as I thought."

  George pulled a wry face and shook his head. "I could have told you that if you'd mentioned it," he informed her. "You poor love, what happened?"

  "First," Kim explained, "Lee got stuck fast in an unbelievably small crevice in the cliff face and I couldn't get him out."

  "That's monster number two, isn't it?" George asked.

  "Lee's the middle one," Kim corrected him reproachfully. "Anyway, the poor little soul was really stuck fast and I couldn't think how on earth to get him out. Mr. Fleming, of course, soon released him — black mark number one to me. I suppose I should have kept a more careful eye on the boys, but it — well, it just didn't occur to me what boys can get into. I just didn't realise."

  "Who would?" George sympathised. "Didn't you realise you'd chosen a dodgy place to go either, darling ?"

  "Of course not," Kim retorted. "I don't know the place all that well even yet and it looked quiet and safe and just right for them to play. I was horrified when I realised it was cut off at high tide and when the sea came up so fast I Shad a horrible feeling it might swamp the whole cove."

  "Not quite," George told her. "But you must have had the collywobbles for a while there. Of course you could have huddled there and waited for the next low tide then led your little band to safety like Moses through the Red Sea," he added facetiously, "or you could have swum round."

  "It wasn't funny," Kim rebuked him, "I was terrified and worried to death about Lee in that wretched crevice. After all, I was responsible for them."

  "Aah, poor Kim !" He hugged her, planting a kiss on her forehead. "So you sent out distress signals and James picked them up?"

  "I didn't intend it should be James," she insisted. "I just told the children to wave and try to catch the eye of someone going past in a boat, if there was anyone. I had no intention of making James lose the race, it — well, it just

  happened to be him that came along, leading the field in that wretched race he was so keen on winning."

  "Very unfortunate," George commented wryly. "Was he very mad?"

  "He was furious at first," Kim agreed, "although in fairness, he didn't say very much, but I could tell."

  "I'll bet he was furious," George allowed, "but he wouldn't say very much, he's got enough self-control for ten men sometimes. Apparently the people at the finish, when they heard about him veering off the way he did, thought he'd gone berserk, and there was no end of speculation, then one of the later competitors said he'd seen him with some other people in the cove. After that of course it was realised that he must have been sidetracked for some reason. It was when the observant one mentioned children that Eve saw the light and hit the roof."

  "Well, I'm very sorry about spoiling her party," Kim said, "but I've no intention of apologising to her. I told James how sorry I was, but I shan't do the same for your cousin."

  "Heaven forbid," George declared piously. "You'd never hear the end of it."

  It would have made things easier if Kim had known Eve Mellors was to be there for coffee that morning, then she would have declined George's usual invitation on some pretext or other, but as it was he said nothing, though she was pretty sure he was expecting his cousin to be there. It was almost a shock to walk into the room and see her sitting there, to meet that cold unfriendly gaze directed at her.

  She flicked a reproachful glance at George, but he had a firm grip on her arm that forestalled any attempt she might make to turn about. "As you see, darling," he told her, "we're honoured with company this morning."

  Eve glared at him coldly. "I hardly rate as company,

  George, not in my own house. After all, it's mine as much

  as yours and I'm perfectly entitled to be here as often and

  whenever I like."

  "Oh, absolutely," George agreed ami
ably, his gaze guileless as he seated Kim on the settee beside him. "I just thought you might have been consoling James this morning, that's all. After yesterday I imagine he's in need of a soothing hand on the brow and all that."

  It was a tactless subject to raise, and the more so because it was so obviously done with malicious intent, and Kim felt herself shrink from it. No doubt Eve Mellors would have mentioned it herself sooner or later, but it was unfair of George, Kim felt, to precipitate the inevitable unpleasantness.

  "I would have thought that subject was not one you would have mentioned with your secretary here," Eve told him icily.

  "Why not?" George asked blandly, and Fay looked vaguely worried, knowing her brother's penchant for saying the wrong thing, as often as not, deliberately, but it was no use saying anything about it, she knew. George discouraged was George encouraged and he always took a special delight in teasing Eve. He also went out of his way to be even more than usually flirtatious with Kim whenever his cousin was there, simply because he knew it annoyed her.

  He leaned across now and kissed Kim's cheek lingeringly, wrinkling his nose at her. "Your conscience is clear as a bell, isn't it, darling?" he asked.

  "Of — of course." Kim scarcely knew how to answer for the best. There were times when George could be horribly embarrassing, and this was evidently going to be one of them.

  Eve Mellors' sharp eyes gleamed malice. "I suppose you imagine you achieved something by losing James the race,"

  she told Kim, her usually drawling voice taut and icy, "but don't fool yourself, Miss Anders, don't for one minute imagine you've made any impression other than a bad one."

  To Kim the subject seemed to have grown beyond the bounds of reason in importance and she felt her temper rising at the way she was being treated, both by George and his cousin. "The only thing I tried to achieve, Miss Mellors," she told her, trying to steady her voice, "was the safety of the children. It was a case of priorities and I happened to think that the lives of three babies were most important than winning some — some silly race." The latter was perhaps, she thought, rather unwise, but she was tired of the matter and anxious only to put it into perspective. It was ridiculous to place so much importance on winning a boat race.

  The cold eyes gleamed with, if anything, even more malice. "You realise he was leading?"

  Kim nodded, her mouth tightening. "I had no idea the children would attract Mr. Fleming especially," she said. "It was only because he was leading that he saw us first and came for us, but I'm sure any of the other competitors would have done as much had they realised our position, and without quite so much fuss. It just happened that James — Mr. Fleming was first, and I still think I did right."

  Eve Mellors tutted impatiently. "It was sheer stupidity that got you there in the first place, so I understand," she told Kim, and Kim wondered if the opinion was her own or James Fleming's. "One thing is quite certain, you'll never be allowed to be in charge of the children again. James should have left them with Mrs. Pannet, as usual, but —" she shrugged, her lip curled derisively, "I suppose he thought you needed the money."

  Kim stared at her in blank disbelief, too stunned even to

  be angry as yet. "You surely don't — don't think I was paid to have the children?" She felt George stir, as if he would protest, but sent him a look that left him in no doubt that she could deal with Eve Mellors herself.

  "Weren't you?" The dark eyes look vaguely uncertain for a moment. "I believe plenty of young women supplement their incomes with baby-sitting."

  "Well, in this case it doesn't apply," Kim declared, her eyes sparkling indignation. "I had the children because I promised to take them out one day. There was nothing —professional about the arrangement at all."

  "I see." The information was regarded with, if anything, even more suspicion and the sharp eyes looked at her speculatively. "Then may I ask why you promised to take the children out?"

  Kim shook her head, despairing of ever making a woman like Eve Mellors understand her motives. "I like them," she said, "that's all. Why else?"

  The thin mouth expressed scorn. "I can think of a number of reasons," Eve declared, "but nothing you try will do much good after yesterday."

  The implication was so obvious and so unexpected that Kim felt the colour flood into her cheeks and she would have made her feelings known in no uncertain way, but for the fact that someone forestalled her.

  George had been silent for too long and he determinedly made his presence felt, his usually, friendly blue eyes narrowed into an expression almost as malicious as his cousin's. "Don't make wild guesses, Evie dear," he told her. "If Kim has a happy ending with anyone in this neck of the woods it'll be me, so sheath your claws."

  Eve looked at her shrewdly for a moment as if she sought confirmation of his words. "I see," she drawled. "How nice for you, Miss Anders, it's not every girl can marry her

  boss, especially such a wealthy one as George. Congratulations."

  "George —" Kim looked at him, a little dazedly, too confused at the moment to even resent the other girl's implication. All she could see on George's face was a wide smile and a certain smug look of satisfaction as if he had deliberately manoeuvred the situation.

  "You could congratulate me too," he told Eve. "I've got a very lovely girl here."

  "George," Fay told him reproachfully, "you're being most unfair to Kim and embarrassing her horribly."

  "Am I, darling? I'm sorry." He gazed at Kim in apparent rapture, his blue eyes glinting with the pleasure of having scored off Eve. He put an arm round Kim's shoulders and kissed her fervently. "I just couldn't keep it to myself any longer. Do forgive me."

  "George, please —" Kim stared at him uncertainly, unwilling to believe he would go to such lengths even to annoy Eve, but nothing in his manner reassured her. He sat as close to her as he could possibly get, gazing rapturously at her mouth as if he might decide to kiss her at any moment.

  "Oh, darling, don't be angry with me for speaking out of turn," he begged, and Kim swallowed hard, shaking her head.

  "George, stop it!"

  He looked as if she had struck him, blinking at her for a moment in silence, then his expression became so contrite she could almost believe it. "Darling, please don't hate me, I couldn't bear it if you did."

  "George !" Fay added her reproach, but George in an irrepressible mood was, Kim suspected, just that. Nothing would deter him, especially when it was fairly obvious that his cousin had taken the bait he had so carefully laid.

  Eve put down her coffee cup on the table in front of her,

  her movements unhurried and almost deliberate, then fastidiously dabbed at her lips with a tiny handkerchief. Lowered lids, for the moment, concealed whatever was in her eyes, but Kim could almost feel the resentment. "This is quite a surprise," she said at last, flicking a dark, unfriendly gaze at Kim. "George, of all people!" She stod up, tall and elegant, her long thin hands smoothing a skirt already impeccable. "However, I imagine it's rather too early for an official announcement yet," she went on. "Please don't think me too much of a pessimist, Miss Anders," she added as she passed Kim, "but I know George." Her smile, as she swept from the room, was full of meaning and as malicious as a cat's, and Kim wished the floor would open up and swallow her.

  "Oh, George, how could you?" It was Fay who recovered first, and she looked across at her brother reproachfully, while Kim merely sat, silent and a little confused at the turn of events. "It would serve you right," Fay told him, "if Kim walked out on you here and now."

  "Oh, she wouldn't do that, would you, my sweet?" He was completely unrepentant and very, very sure of himself as he hugged Kim close and laughed. "That's really given little Evie something to think about," he declared.

  Kim's mind cleared gradually and with realisation came anger that she had been used so casually to lend weight to his teasing Eve. She could, she supposed, have made her objections more telling, but it had all happened so quickly and unexpectedly that she had scarcel
y believed it. Teasing was one thing, she thought crossly, but sending Eve Mellors away with the firm impression that she had promised to marry George was quite another, and it was high time she let him have a little of his own medicine. Fay, she felt sure, would willingly join in if she paid George back in his own coin.

  She sighed deeply, tucking her arm through his and, pausing only to pass a conspiratorial wink at Fay, gazed soulfully up at him. "You've made me the happiest woman in the world, darling," she told him demurely. "I'm glad you stood up for me like that and I'm glad you've told me how you feel, although —" she lowered her eyes shyly. "I would have liked to be the first to know without anyone else about. Anyway, of course I forgive you for being — well, premature, and at least Fay knows now."

  For a breathless minute George looked down at her, his expression uncertain, then the full meaning of what he had precipitated came to him and he blinked. "Kim — I — you, you mean you — you'd —" Try as he would George could not voice the dreaded word "marry", and Kim felt laughter bubble up inside her as she caught Fay's eye.

  She looked up at George again, her own eyes widened until they looked as bland and innocent as a child's. "You did tell Eve you were going to marry me, didn't you?" she asked, and George swallowed hard. "Not in so many words, of course," she added hastily, her smile demure, "but that's what you meant, wasn't it?"

  "Of course he did." It was Fay who answered, her eyes shining with suppressed laughter. "I've guessed for some time that George was more serious about you than he's ever been before," she told Kim, "and I'm so pleased, Kim."

  "Thank you." Kim's eyes lowered shyly, but not before she exchanged a look with Fay that almost shattered her self-control.

  George for once was silent, and Kim wondered just how long she could keep up the pretence without bursting into laughter. "Kim —" he began, but faltered when Kim once more raised wide and soulful eyes to him. "It's — it's early days yet, isn't it?" he added lamely.