Painted Wings Read online

  CHAPTER NINE

  DOMINIC was looking at her curiously, one black brow cocked in query, and Deryn was certain he was finding it all very amusing as usual. They were having lunch and she had just mentioned the near ' quarrel she and Gerald had had because he had heard her referred to as Mrs. Gregory. 'Did they actually call you Mrs. Gregory?' he I asked, and she nodded. 'I could have dropped through the ground.' 'It must have been a rather novel experience.' She looked at him reproachfully, wishing he would take it more seriously, or at least stop being so facetious about it. 'It was very embarrassing,' she told him shortly. 'I didn't know what on earth to.do for the best.' 'I can imagine.' She could see quite plainly that he was laughing, and she glared at him down the length of the table. 'I wish you'd stop laughing,' she complained, and he pulled a face. 'It's all very well for you to treat it as a joke. You started this silly business and now I have to take the brunt of it.' 'Correction, please.' He held up a hand. 'Those people started it I just didn't bother to argue.' 'It would have been more to the point if you had,' she retorted, 'and you did your share towards it, anyway. I heard you refer to me as "the little woman".' She curled her lip in dislike. 'Of all the 139 the revolting phrases I' 'It is rather putrid, isn't it?' he agreed cheerfully.' 'But you are, aren't you? A very little woman, and a very beautiful one too, especially when you're angry and your eyes sparkle at me.' 'Dom, stop trying to sidetrack me ' 'Was I?' 'You know you were, but no matter how you try to get out of taking the blame for it, the fact remains that you told those people I was your wife. Yes, you did,' she added hastily when he looked as if he might argue the point. 'You said my wife paints I heard you as plainly as anything, so don't try to deny it.' He speared a forkful of salad and stopped with it poised in midair, his grey eyes gleaming wickedly. 'I'm not denying it,' he told her quietly, 'but how do you know she doesn't?' Deryn stared at him with wide eyes, knowing she must have heard him wrongly, but knowing just as certainly that she hadn't. 'You your ' She swallowed hard, while he continued to eat his meal quite unconcernedly. 'You're married?' He cocked a brow at her, and grinned. 'Is there any reason why I shouldn't be?' Deryn flushed, a dark gleam of .anger in her eyes and a tight, cold feeling in the pit of her stomach. .'If you are,' she told him shortly at last, 'you have no right to behave as you do I' No?' . 'No!'she snapped. 'And just what disdemeanour had you in mind?' 'You know what I had in mind,' she told him. You you act as if you're free to take girls out to 140 dinner ' 'Girl,' he interposed quietly, munching on his salad with as little concern as if they were discussing a third person. 'It was only one girl.' 'It makes no difference,' she retorted. 'A married man has no business taking even one girl out to dinner. And then there's there're other incidents.' I 'Like kissing you?' he suggested softly, and ? laughed. "You know quite well what I mean ' She toyed . with her fork for several seconds, her mind spinning I chaotically, then she looked at him again, an unI certain, appealing look in her eyes. 'Dom are you?' 'Married?' She nodded, and he smiled. 'That seems to be the burning question, doesn't it?' She stuck out her chin, but she waited for his r answer with more interest than she would have admitted to. 'I'm just curious,' she said, and he laughed again, shaking his head. 'No, I'm not.' 'Ooh, you !' He grinned, and she could cheerfully have hurled the breadboard at him. 'Oh, you devious, unscrupulous ' 'I only wanted to see how easily you could be side ' tracked if I put my mind to it,' he laughed. 'It was almost too easy, Deryn.' 'Practice makes perfect,' she retorted. 'I've no doubt by now you're very adept at talking your way out of anything.' 'Not anything he demurred, his eyes teasing her. 'But by now, as you say, I've had a few extra years' start on you, little bird.' 'Then you should be old enough to know better!' 141 . 'I should be,' he admitted unconcernedly. 'But I just can't resist teasing you.' She put down her knife and fork carefully, and looked at him. 'You're trying to sidetrack me again,' she said. 'And you won't be sidetracked.' 'Not again.' She was silent for a moment or two, her mind busy, then she looked across at him. 'You must do something about that that wife business, Dom, I mean it. It's caused me enough trouble already.' He flicked a questioning brow again. 'Gerald?' he guessed, and she nodded. 'But it isn't only Gerald,' she said. 'The woman in the village shop knows too. She spoke about my my husband.' He smiled. 'And you didn't correct her?' 'How could I?' Deryn asked. 'She said she'd heard from Mrs. Somebodyorother that I and my husband were staying at Llanwellon Cottage. It was probably your friendly caller, or somebody she, knows. It was difficult to know what to say on the spur of the moment without giving the wrong impression or' going into long and complicated explanations.' 'Which is what I tried to tell you in the first place.' 'But the damage was already done by the time I was faced with it, and anything I'd have said would only have made them think the worst which they probably will anyway, now.' They?' She nodded. 'A sharpeyed female behind me in 142 the queue. She noticed I wasn't wearing a wedding ring, I'm sure of it. So heaven knows what stories are going around now.' 'It does sound rather as if we'll be viewed with a jaundiced eye by your chapelgoing compatriots, t doesn't it?' he said calmly, and Deryn frowned. 'It's not funny, Dom! And neither is that crack about my chapelgoing compatriots.' i "You're worried about your reputation?' '. ,'Of course I am!' He smiled at her slowly over the top of a glass of water. 'You surprise me, I wouldn't have thought you'd have bothered about it. You're not a very good Bohemian, are you, Deryn?' i 'Oh, will you stop using that that outdated word ' 'Sorry ' He grinned at her as she got up from . the table to go and make them coffee. 'It must be these grey hairs.' 'And stop talking about your grey hairs,' she told him edgily. 'You don't believe that, any more than I do.' 'My grey hairs?' He touched a hand to his hair and grinned ruefully. 'Oh, they're a fact of life, little one, whether we like it or not.' 'But, you don't have to keep reminding me about them.' 'I don't think I do, do I?' he asked mildly. 'Only when you accuse me of being outdated, or something equally decrepit. Rubbing it in, as it were.' 'Oh, Dom, I don't!' she protested, but he merely smiled, and refused to reassure her. . She made the coffee in a rather sulky silence i43 while he leaned back in his chair and watched her, smiling to himself in a way that made her uneasy. There was so much she didn't know about him, so , many rumours and mysteries about his recent and rather public past. How could she even guess what he was thinking? What was making him smile in H that way? ' ' '''3 When she brought him his coffee he put a hand lightly over hers, before she could withdraw it, and. smiled up at her, but he appeared to be more serious now. 'Has all this caused you any trouble with Gerald?' he asked quietly. 'If it has, I'm sorry, Deryn.' She shrugged, making no immediate effort to free . her hand. 'In a way it has she told him. 'I've ex plained to him as best I can, but well, when Gerald gets a bee in his bonnet, it's difficult to get ' rid of k, I'm afraid.' 'And what particular bee has he got in his bonnet that's worrying you?' he asked softly. Deryn did not look at him, but kept her eyes. downcast. It was a strange feeling and hard to explain, but sometimes, as now, when he was being .H gentle and understanding she felt oddly weak and vulnerable and almost dependent on him. As if she . had no need to do anything but lean back and leave everything to him and it would be all right, which was, of course, quite silly. She was independent, and l she could sort out her own problems without any g one's help. ' ' 'It's just that Gerald has such idiotic ideas some times she said at last. 'At the moment he'wants to go to Africa with him.' ' 'Oh, does he?' She nodded. 'It's a very good job, illustrating a wildlife book, and the chance to go out there for perhaps as long as a year, and see all the the birds and things I should have to paint.' He said nothing but waited patiently for her to go on, and she knew he was listening carefully to every word she said. ' 'He hewanted it to be ' She hesitated again, then met his eyes and suddenly gabbled the words out hastily. 'He wanted me to marry him and. go out there on a sort of working honeymoon.' 'I see.' He played gently with the fingers he held, and now it was he who looked down. ''And you're afraid that this other silly business is going to put him off, is that it?' 'Oh no,' she said, 'it isn
't that. I've told him already I don't want to go.' He looked up then and she hastily freed her hand and moved away, because she could not control the , sudden and alarming way her heart was reacting to 'what she saw in his eyes. 'You don't want to go?' he asked. 'No.' She poured out her own coffee and sat down at the other end of the table again. 'I you see, the trouble is,' she said, slowly because she found the right words hard to come by, 'he he blames you because I won't go. I mean she added hastily, 'he thinks that ' She shook her head and picked up her coffee. 'It's quite idiotic,' she said. 'Of course it is,' he agreed softly. 'Dom, I don't want you to think ' 'I don't think anything, little one,' he said quietly as he stirred his coffee. There was a small, secret145 looking smile crooking one corner of his mouth, and she thought that somehow it made him look rather sad, although that was quite silly, of course. 'Don't worry,' he reassured her. 'We'll put him straight, one way or the other. It had been a wonderfully peaceful day, Deryn thought, narrowing her eyes against the glint of the sun on the river and feeling unutterably lazy suddenly. It had been the kind of day that she would have liked to happen more often the kind of day that gave the impression it would go on for ever. She had had no one to bother about but herself, and she had made the most of it, working in the summery peace of the river bank and thoroughly enjoying herself. She had returned only briefly to the cottage round about midday for coffee and sandwiches, then returned to the river bank to be equally and just as enjoyably industrious. It all seemed so perfect that she had refused to even think about the time when she would be leaving Llanwellon Cottage and going back to London. She had even had the idea that she might perhaps, it it was possible, buy the cottage, or at least rent it permanently and live in the valley always. It was something she had always dreamed of. She had worked well today too, much better than she had for some time, and she was pleased with what she had done. It remained to be seen whether Gerald would be just as pleased. Certainly he would not like the idea of her living in Wales for good, especially while he was away in Africa, and thinking of the African trip she pulled a wry face. 146 Their parting had not been exactly friendly the evening before in fact she had actually lost her temper with him. She shrugged off the problem of Gerald for the moment, however, and stretched lazily as she got up from her stool. It was getting on for six o'clock and she was more than ready for her dinner after a whole day out of doors, even though tonight it would be. a solitary meal. Perhaps, later on, she might even indulge in the luxury of a long, refreshing soak in the old zinc bath before going to bed. The idea of it was sheer bliss and she relished the prospect as she packed up : her things. Dominic was away for the whole day, a most un, usual occurrence, and he would not be back until quite late. A business trip, so he had informed her, somewhat vaguely, although he had taken Hound with him. She admitted to missing Hound, if not his master, and without either of them she experienced the real isolation of the cottage for the first time since their arrival. . Gerald had gone off to London again, but he had, on the other hand, been more forthcoming about his reasons for going than Dominic had. He had to fix up the details of the African trip, he had told her, and had, inevitably,tried again to get her to change her,mind about going with him. He had tried persuasion and jibes, but neither had had any effect on her decision, although she was not even quite sure if she knew just what her reasons ' were. Her adamant refusal to do as he wanted, however, had made him what she considered unreasonably angry and he had gone off looking furious 147 and leaving her wondering if she really had a good reason for not going. Once again, as she came up from the river and through the trees, she shrugged off theproblem of Gerald. She was half expecting to see Hound come bounding out to meet her at any minute, and once again realized with a wry smile how much she missed him when he wasn't there. She glanced automatically at the summerhouse as she passed close to it, and stopped in her tracks, frowning curiously, when she noticed thaf the door stood partly open as if someone might be there. It was unlikely that anyone would have been in there, anyone chancing on the place by accident, although she would not have seen anyone if they had. It was possible, of course, that Dominic had left the door open himself, carelessly, when he went out. She should, she thought uneasily, go over and investigate, just in case, although she was not feeling particularly brave and had no idea what she would do if there was someone there. She approached cautiously, in case he had returned without her knowledge, although it was unlikely as Hound had not yet made his presence known. It was quite silent in the rathermusty interior, however, and she stood in the doorway for a moment or two before venturing a bit further inside. There was no sign of anyone at all, and she doubted if anyone had been there, but now curiosity held her for a moment, as she looked around. It was very spartan, with only the bed and the armchair borrowed from the cottage, and alongside it one of 148 the wrought iron chairs and the table that had been the original occupants. A big wooden box stood at the end of the bed with a blanket in it, presumably Hound's sleeping quarters, and an old rag rug that she had missed from the cottage gave relief , from the bare, dusty boards beside the bed. A couple of battered suitcases shared the smaller, windowless room with the gardening tools he had not even bothered to evict, and altogether it looked very barren and uncomfortable. She shook her head .slowly over such stubbornness that would rather suffer such discomfort than move out. She also felt a brief twinge of conscience when she thought of her own comparative luxury in the cottage. Even empty as it was, though, she experienced a strange feeling of intimacy, as if Dominic was still there, and she shook her head as she turned to go. Something caught her eye as she turned, however, and she frowned curiously across at the little wrought iron table beside the bed, and at one item in particular that stood propped open and facing the bed. It was one of those leather photograph frames, used for travelling and folded down the middle like a wallet. Curiosity urged her on, even though she knew it was unforgivably inquisitive of her, and she walked over and picked up the wallet, looking down at the photograph it contained. She was quite a pretty girl, in a sultry kind of way, with very dark hair and eyes and a full mouth that was not quite smiling but promised much. It was signed across one corner in a large bold script Dom, take care, darling, all my love, Tess. i49 While she looked at it Deryn tried to remember the name of the American heiress who had chased around all over the place with Dominic, but she couldn't remember it. It was five years ago now, of course, and it was more than likely that Tess was a much newer acquisition. She was certainly very young, no older than Deryn herself and therefore quite a lot younger than Dominic. Deryn studied it for a moment longer, then put it back carefully in what she hoped was the same place. Finding the photograph gave her a' strange feeling of intruding that she had not been quite so aware of before, and she went hastily to the door and outside, making sure the door was closed properly, and sparing a backward glance as she walked across the grass to the cottage. She prepared her "solitary dinner with rather less enthusiasm than she had expected, and ate it while she gazed at the pages of an old magazine, but her mind was not on either her meal or the magazine. She was trying to fit the dark and glamorous Tess into the scheme of things, and was so far failing completely. If she was a current girlfriend, why had he hidden himself away in the heart of Wales on His own? And why did he make so few trips away, the only way he could have access to a telephone? It did not make sense, unless he was here because of the girl. If they had parted and he was seeking isolation to get over losing her, but that didn't fit in with the way he behaved, and the blithe, confident manner he always displayed. She shrugged finally, in an attempt to dismiss it 150 from her mind. After all it was of no interest to her who the mysterious Tess was, or what Dominic Gregory was doing there. Her own immediate concern should be Gerald and whether or not she had treated him quite fairly over the African trip. She would, she decided, go to bed early and get up early tomorrow morning, and she would indulge in a good long bath first. She. put on the two iron kettles and filled them to the brim, boosting their suppl
y with a huge enamel bucket that she found under the sink. It would take ages to heat, of course, but it would be worth it to have a really full bath for a change. Usually she took far less time over her morning bath than she liked, because she knew Dominic was waiting to come in, but tonight she was free to take as much time as she liked, and she meant to make the most of it. She brought down bath oil and some special lotion for making her skin soft, and she thought she would indulge in all of it tonight, and then relax completely in the steaming fragrance. She carefully drew the curtains over, then undressed and stepped into the old bath, sinking down into the smooth, silky hot water with a sigh of sheer bliss. It came right up, nearly to her shoulders when she slid down, resting her head on the rim of the bath with a towel for a cushion, although of necessity her knees were high under her chin. It was a gorgeous feeling and she closed her eyes and enjoyed it to the full. Nothing and no one mattered at all not Dominic, not .Gerald or the mysterious Tess no one at all. This was complete ecstasy. 151 She must have become quite drowsy, for some time later she suddenly opened her eyes wide and stared at the door, her mouth half open in stunned surprise. Without a doubt someone was coming and she had not thought about locking the door. It had not even occurred to her that anyone would be calling on her, especially at that time of night. There was no time to scramble out of the bath, however hastily, and her robe was on the other side of the room, so she simply sat there helplessly as a knock rattatted cheerfully on the wooden back door. A definite and excited sound of woofs and snuffles was enough to tell her who it was and she held her breath when she realised that at any moment now she would probably have company. More usually now, Dominic waited for an invitation to come in, but if she was too long in answering his knock it was quite likely that he would put his head round the door to see if she was there or not. 'Just a minute ' she called, her voice sounding oddly squeaky and indistinct while she tried to sit up straight so that she could get out of the bath and fetch her robe. Whether he had misheard her, or whether his action was deliberate, she would probably never know, but it was as she was attempting to get to her feet that the door opened and Hound came bounding in. His tail was wagging joyfully in the excitement of seeing her again, and he headed straight for the bath while Deryn stared in dismay. He came over, big and clumsy and heedless of anything except his own delight, putting his front feet on the edge 152 of the bath and, a moment later, splashing heavily into the soapy water and barking wildly. Deryn screamed as he knocked her off her feet and back into the bath, her legs and feet waving inelegantly in the air as her head disappeared into the mass of fragrant bubbles. She thought she heard a voice as she was submerged, but the breath was I knocked out of her and she could not do or say anyI thing in protest at the moment. 'Deryn ' I Dominic sounded alarmed as she surfaced'at last, but she would rather have drowned, she told herself, I than be caught in such a state, and she struggled to' I get her head above water before he came any nearer. Surprise and alarm had so far kept him near the door, but at any minute now he would be coming across and she shook her head rapidly, spluttering and scattering water everywhere, while Hound stood by and applauded. Water games were his favourite sport. It took her a moment or two to see that his master : was still almost the width of the room away, but she let out another yell as she saw him start forward, trying at the same time to make sure that she was well enough covered by the suds in the bath. i 'Go away ' she told him. 'Go away Get out!' Of course he was laughing now, amused now that he was sure she wasn't hurt, and making no attempt" to do as she said. 'Are you O.K.?' he asked instead, and walked over and picked up her robe from the chair where she had left it, making exaggerated gestures of hiding his eyes as he came over with it, 'handing it to her by suspending it from one finger. i53 Nice to see you,' he said, and laughed softly, ducking when she snatched the robe from him. 'Turn your back,' she said shortly, and he obeyed, though he was still laughing. She stepped out of the bath gingerly with the robe already wrapped around her and keeping a wary eye on Hound who was viewing the whole thing with an air of hopeful anticipation. 'Can I turn round now?' Dominic asked, and she pulled the tie belt tighter as she nodded. 'If you want to,' she told him grudgingly. He turned slowly and looked at her for a moment as if she was someone he had never seen before, then he smiled. 'Oh, I do like,' he said softly, and in a way that sent a long, cold shiver trickling along her spine. The robe was an old towelling one that had once been her brother's, and she had borrowed it because she did not normally bother with such niceties as dressing gowns in her own little flat. Her brother was built on the same lines as the man who now watched her so intently, and it covered her from chin to toe. Her hair was dripping wet and coming out of the careless coil she had put it in while she had her bath, and with the huge robe enveloping her completely, she both felt and looked far from her best. What was more, she was angry and disappointed because her nice relaxing evening had been ruined, although, she told herself, she might have known it was too good to be true. Dominic watched her in silence untilshe turned on him angrily, one hand pushing a stray end of hair 154 from her face, her eyes sparkling. 'Don't gawp!' she told him crossly. '80117.' His eyes still had that deep, dark look that was too disturbing for comfort. 'I wasn't being offensive, but you jook so delicious I just couldn't help looking at you.' 'I look a mess,' she retorted. 'And what are you doing here, anyway?' 'Welcome back, Dom!' he said mockingly, and' laughed. 'I came, sweetnatured creature, to bring you news I thought you might be interested 'in, but since I've got off on to such a wrong foot, I don't think I'll bother at the moment.' Deryn shrugged further into the allenveloping robe, and looked reproachfully sulky. 'That's . entirely up to you,' she said, and stuck out her chin. He cocked his head to one side and studied her I'for a second. 'Are you sure you're not hurt?' he asked concernedly. 'You went down with an awful bang, and you're not usually quite so crotchety.' 'I'm perfectly all right,' she told him. 'But I lon't usually expect people to come bursting in on me while I'm in the bath, either.' 'I thought you said come in,' he explained, and sounded as if he was telling the truth. 'It sounded like come in, to me.' 'Well, I said just a minute,' she informed him 'shortly, only half believing him. He sighed. 'So I was wrong again ah well, in : view of my faux pas I'll save my news until breakfast : time. See you then.' ' He turned and walked across to the door, but .Deryn was curious again and she called after him, i55 not quite knowing why she did it. 'Is it important?' she asked, and he turned his head only, shrugging his shoulders. 'It is to me,' he said. Her mind raced rapidly for a moment, reaching one seemingly inevitable conclusion. 'I suppose it's something to do with Tess,' she said, and he turned round slowly then, his grey eyes narrowed curiously, and, looking darker again, she thought, wondering if he would be very angry. Tess?' She wished already that she had said nothing about the girl whose picture she had seen in the summerhouse, and she shook her head as if to deny any further knowledge. ' I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that.' He cocked a curious brow at her, his gaze so steady that she wished the floor would open up and swallow her for being so rash. 'But you have said it,' he told her quietly, 'and I'm interested to know what and how you know about Tess.' 'I don't know anything,' she assured him hastily. 'Please Dom, I honestly don't know anything, and I don't know why I said anything about her. I wish I hadn't. Don't question me!' He came across the room towards her again, and she bit on her lip anxiously when he put his hands on her arms, his fingers tight and hard as steel while he regarded her steadily. 'Don't you think I at least have a right to be curious?' he asked, and she nodded. 'Yes. Yes, I suppose you have.' 'Then tell me how you know about Tess.' 156 ' I 'Deryn!' ' . She looked down, somewhere in the region of the top button of his jacket, which was just at eye level, and nodded. It took only a minute to tell him how she had discovered the door of the summerhouse , open and gone to investigate, then seen the photo graph on her way out again. When she was finished and she glanced up at him again, he was smiling in a way she found even more disconcerting than his h serious face
of a few moments before. 'Oh, I see,' he said softly. 'You were playing little security guards, and you found Tess's picture.' 'That's right,' she admitted, half defiantly now that it was said. 'I didn't intend to pry, and I'm i sorry I did.' ' 'I'm not.' She looked at him, frowning curiously. 'I don't , understand you,' she said. He laughed again softly, and .for a moment she had the wild, unreasoning suspicion that he was going to kiss her, then he shook his head and cocked a brow at her. 'Did you think she was pretty?' he asked. Deryn looked at him uncertainly, wondering just what he expected her to say. 'She she looked very nice,' she said, and wished she had made it spund a little more enthusiastic. 'She is.' 'Oh.' It was difficult to know just what to say now. She had never felt quite so wildly disturbed before in her life, and he was still watching her with that dark, deepeyed look that did strange things to 157 her senses. ' I'm rather tired,' she said, huskily. 'I think I mean I wish ' 'You want me to go,' he said with a smile, and she wondered if the darkeyed Tess would have approved of that smile. He studied her for a moment longer, then bent his head suddenly and kissed her with incredible gentleness on her forehead. Something he really had no right to do while they were discussing that allrevealing photograph. His arms drew her closer until her face was pressed against the roughness Of his jacket. 'You smell delicious,' he said softly against her hair. 'And I shall go back to my monkish cell before I forget these grey hairs again.' 'Domf' 'I know,' he said, smiling. 'I'm not supposed to mention my grey hairs, but sometimes, little bird, it's safer if I do.' His lips brushed against her forahead again and he turned to go. 'Goodnight, Deryn, sleep tight.' 'But, Dom ' He smiled at her over his shoulder as he opened the door. Hound at his heels. 'Goodnight, little bird,' he said softly. 158