Gentle Tyrant Page 8

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  IT was nearly a week since Laurie had been riding, and she was even more bitterly disappointed because Rod would not let her ride Suli. 'It's too risky,' he told her for the hundredth time as they sat on the garden wall one lunch-time. 'Who for?' Laurie retorted. 'You or me?'' 'Why, you, of course,' Rod said uneasily. 'I don't understand ' Laurie laughed shortly and looked down her nose at him. 'You're as much afraid of what Quin will say to you as of what might happen to me,' she accused, and almost immediately felt sorry because he looked so hurt. 'Oh, darlling Laurie, that simply isn't true,' he protested. 'Then will you let- me ride Suli?' He looked very much like Quin for a brief moment when exasperation showed in his eyes, then he put out his hands and gently placed them either side of her face, leaning towards her so that he spoke close to her mouth. 'I can't, Laurie.' 'Because you're afraid of Quin?' He sighed and kissed her before answering. 'Because I'd never forgive myself if anything happened to you, 134 my sweet. I'd willingly let Quin break my neck, as he's threatened, if I was ever foolish enough to let you ride Suli and he threw you like he did Rose.' She smiled up into the dreamy grey eyes so close to her own. 'Oh, so you do believe he threw her?' she said softly. 'Of course.' 'There's no of course about it; Laurie retorted, still smiling. 'You were quite prepared to believe that I'd hit her over the head. with a club the last time we mentioned it.' 'Ah well, now I know better.' He kissed her again, less gently this time, and pulled her close into his arms. His arms were strong and he held her so tightly she could scarcely breathe, let alone move. And there was nothing dreamy or poetic about the way he was kissing her either, so that her heart was skipping rapidly against her ribs. 'Rod!' When he released her mouth it was only to kiss her with equal ardour on her neck and forehead and the smooth, pulsing spot at the base of her throat, his voice muffled in the thick softness of her hair when he spoke. 'Oh, Laurie, Laurie!' She was horribly uncertain whether she was enjoying his obvious ardour or not, and she did little to en-courage him. Not, she thought, that he needed en-couragement. 'Rod, please ' 'Please be nice to me,' he begged huskily. 'And please don't ask me to do something I know I'll be sorry for.' She put her hands against his chest and pushed him 135 away far endugh to enable her to look up into his eyes. They looked much darker than usual and glowed with a warmth and excitement that did crazy things to her pulse, and she shook her head to try and clear it of the thousand and one impulsive things that raced through her brain. 'Are you still afraid of what Quin will say?' she said, and he shook his head. & 'You don't know him Like I do,' he told her. 'He really would break my neck if I let you have Suli and anything happened to you.' 'Oh, nonsense, of course he wouldn't. He'd simply say it served me right and probably have a good laugh, then forget all about it; Rod looked down at her solemnly, shaking his head slowly. 'You really don't know him,' he told her. 'But he ' She hastily shook her head and lowered her eyes because the things that were going around in her mind were not only crazy but highly improbable. She took a deep breath and laughed, a short, nervous sound, and rather breathless. 'Well, it's really up to you, of course,' she told him. 'If you don't want me to have Suli, I won't try to persuade you any more.' Then she looked up at him again, the heavy lashes half lowered over her deep blue eyes. 'Only it's very bad for my morale,' she added, 'when you resist my powers of persuasion so easily.' 'Laurie!' His arms tightened round her when she tried to free herself. 'I'm disappointed,' she told him, her mouth pouted reproachfully. 'And I told Quin you would let me now he's got something else to crow about.' 136 For a moment he looked at her steadily, and she could almost imagine the battle that was going on inside him as he fought against his wariness of doing anything to displease Quin. Then he nodded, pulling a face before bending his head to kiss her again. 'All right,' he sighed resignedly. 'You mean I can?' She lifted her face after a second and kissed his chin. 'Oh, Rod, you're wonderful!' 'I'm asking for trouble,' he said ruefully, 'and I shouldn't be doing it.' 'I'm glad you are.' 'But I'm coming with you,' he told her. 'And I'm getting Brownie for you, not Suli.' 'But you can't,' Laurie protested. 'If Quin knows ' 'He needn't know if I'm careful,' Rod said. 'But we shall have to be a bit cunning about it.' 'How?' She was beginning to feel as if she was taking part in some fantastic intrigue. T'll have to think.' He sighed deeply. 'I don't know what Quin's going to say, but I've promised, so we'll go.' Laurie hugged him, well satisfied now that she was to be mobile again, and gratified too that he was prepared to brave Quin's inevitable wrath for her. 'Can we go this evening?'she asked. 'I don't see why not, though I'll have to be very careful sneaking Brownie out, because if he sees me, he'll stop me taking her.' "Oh, it'll be all right,' she assured him, more con137 fident every minute. 'And thank you a thousand times, Rod.' 'I do miss my rides with you,' he confessed. 'And Quin had no real right to stop you using Brownie.' 'Except that he Likes to boss; Laurie observed dryly. He looked down at her curiously. 'Why did he stop you?' he asked. Laurie shrugged, unwilling to go too deeply into that. 'Ob, just one of his fits of bossiness; she said airily, and Rod did not press the point, to her relief. 'When and where shall I see you this evening?' He frowned over it for a moment. 'It's essential that he doesn't see you anywhere near the stable,' he said, and pondered further. 'Mm. Yes, I know how we can do it. I'll bring Suli down to your place before Quin gets back tonight.' 'Suli? But I thought ' A raised hand silenced her and was alarmingly reminiscent of Quin. 'If he notices Suli is gone, he'll only conclude that I'm out, or possibly Rose,' he explained. 'If he sees Brownie isn't there he might get suspidous, especellaly if Quin's here at the house. So I'll leave Suli at your place, then sneak Brownie out when I get through with Russ. O.K. ?' 'Fine; she said, willing to agree to anything that would allow her to go riding again. 'I'll wait for you by Cummin Rock. It'll be better if I go as far away as possible from the house and I can manage Suli that little way.' 'Well, don't go any further; he admonished, again with more than a hint of Quin in his manner. I�ll be there about seven.' 138 She smiled up at him, well pleased with her victory. 'Thank you. Rod.' She tiptoed and lightly kissed his mouth. 'I'll see you at seven.' 'Before that,' he reminded her. 'I'm with Russ this afternoon, thank heaven. Laurie glanced hastily at her wristwatch and pulled a face. 'So am I,' she said. 'And I'm going to be late if I don't go right now.' He kissed her gently on her mouth, looking very solemn. 'Laurie.' She smiled enquiringly, hoping he wasn't having second thoughts. 'Please wait for me to bring Brownie for you. Suli really is hard to handle, and I'd never forgive myself if you were thrown Like Rose.' 'I won't be,' she assured him, then frowned curiously when she remembered something he had said earlier. 'Just out of curiosity,' she said, 'why are you so suddenly sure that Rose was thrown?' He shrugged. 'Quin,' he said shortly. 'Quin?' Her frown deepened and for the moment she forgot that she was on her way back to start work again. 'What does that mean?' she asked, and he shrugged his shoulders again. 'He got the truth out of Rose,' he told her, almost reluctantly. 'He made her admit that Suli had run away with her and that she was knocked off her seat by a low branch. She admitted that you had nothing to do with it.' 'Oh oh, I see.' For a moment she was unsure just what her feelings were at the news. Certainly it was a relief to know that there was no longer any shadow of doubt in the matter, but it disturbed her too, in some 139 strange way, to think that Quin had taken so much trouble, to clear her. And his doing so could have done nothing to endear her to Rose McAdam, she felt sure. Even Rod seemed oddly reluctant to admit that his brother had gone to such lengths for someone he professed to have little time for. 'Rose hated admitting it,' Rod told her. 'But you know Quin when he puts his mind to anything.' 'Yes,' Laurie said softly, as she turned to go back to the house. 'Yes, I think I do.' It had seemed a very long afternoon to Laurie, but she knew it was only because she was so looking forward to going out that evening. Although once or twice when she had looked at Rod, busy at Russ's desk, she wondered from his expression if he was having second thoughts. She missed her rides more than she would have believed possible and the
past few days without her daily outing with Brownie had given her some idea of what it would have been Like if Quin had not made that original generous gesture and allowed her the use of the mare. How long it would be before he relented from his present edict she had no idea, but she had found herself once or twice during the afternoon, toying with the idea of trying the same tactics with him that had worked so well with Rod. She had hastily dismissed them, of course, for one thing because he would be much less susceptible than Rod, and for another because she was strangely shy about using her femininity to persuade Quin. The result, she felt, could be so 140 much more disturbing. She cooked dinner for herself and her grandfather and tried not to notice the way he looked at her curiously while she busied herself in the kitchen. 'What are you up to?' he asked suddenly, as she sat down at the table, and Laurie blinked for a moment in surprise. 'What do you mean?'' she asked. 'I mean,' her grandfather told her patiently, 'that you and Rod McAdam are up to something, and I'm curious to know what it is.' 'Oh well, it's nothing very criminal,' she assured him with a smile, although it made her uneasy to remember how friendly he was with Quin. 'We're going for a ride, that's all.' 'Oh?' The old man regarded her for a moment while he helped himself to vegetables. 'I thought Quin had put a stop to your riding for the moment. Has he relented?' 'No, he hasn't,' Laurie retorted, knowing he was going to disapprove of their plan. 'Quin isn't the type to relent.' 'Then how,' her grandfather asked, 'are you going to ride?' Laurie did not look at him, but concentrated on her meal, her eyes carefully downcast. 'Oh, Rod's organising it,' she told him airily. The old man nodded. 'And I suppose the fact that there's been a familiar and very beautiful' black Arab gelding in our back garden for most of the afternoon had nothing to do with it?' he suggested. 'Well yes, in a way.' Her grandfather's shrewd old eyes watched her 141 across the table for a moment. 'You're not thinking of riding him, I hope; he said then, and she shook her head. 'No no. Rod's Rod's bringing Brownie down for me.' 'Without Quin's knowledge?' She nodded, feelling suddenly less excited about the prospect of her ride, and rather as if she. was doing something mean and underhand. 'It it'll only be for a little while. Grandpa,' she said. 'He won't know.' 'And that makes it right?' 'Well no. No, I suppose it doesn't, but oh, I don't know it seemed a good idea at the time.' She was already feelling very guilty about it and wished she had never agreed to the idea of sneaking. Brownie out of her stall. It would have been simpler if Rod had just let her ride Suli, then she wouldn't have been 'answerable to Quin at all. 'It's Quin's animal, isn't it?' her grandfather asked, and she nodded. . 'Yes.' 'But you're prepared to take it without his consent?' 'Oh, you make it sound as if we're I'm stealling it,' she cried. 'We're we're only borrowing her, that's all, and if he hadn't been so mean and unreasonable it wouldn't have been necessary.' 'Just why did he stop you?' he asked, as Rod had done, and she was no more willing to answer him than she had been Rod. 'Didn't he tell you?' she retorted, and he simply looked at her steadily. 'I'm sorry, Grandpa, but well, you know how unreasonable Quin can be.' 142 'I know how unreasonable you say he can be,' he told her quietly. 'Just what happened this time?' 'He he says I treat him as if he has the plague,' she admitted, quoting Quin himself, and she saw a small tight smile at the comers of the old man's mouth as he cut into his dinner carefully. 'I think perhaps you do; he told her, and Laurie looked at him reproachfully. 'I can't help it if I don't Like him,' she said defensively. 'He always makes me feel ' She shrugged uneasily, unable to explain exactly how Quin did make her feel. 'I don't know small.' She sought for the right words, her meal forgotten for the moment. 'He talks to me as if I was a child, and it makes me so mad I just automatically hit back.' 'Not literally, I hope,' her grandfather said quietly, with surprising facetiousness. 'I did once,' Laurie admitted. 'And I'm not sorry either.' The old man raised a brow at her briefly. 'You surprise me,' he said. 'That Quin let you get away with it.' 'He didn't exactly.' He had, she remembered only too well, left her stranded on the moor and then, inexplicably, come back for her. There was a great deal about Quin McAdam that was inexplicable, she thought. The old man cocked a curious brow at her. 'I thought it didn't sound Like Quin to let you get away with anything,' he said, and his evident satisfaction made her frown. 'Quin McAdam,' she said firmly and with absolute 143 conviction,- 'is a bully and a an egotistical monster; 'Quin McAdam; her grandfather argued quietly, 'is a strong-minded, very virile man, and the sooner you recognise it the better you'll get on with him; 'I've no desire to get on with him; Laurie declared. '.I don't like him, and it isn't really very important one way or the other whether I do or not. I work for Russ, and I ride with Rod, I don't have to have anything to do with Quin at all; 'You do if yon want to ride his horse; her grandfather reminded her, and she looked at him reproachfully.'You would be on his side; she accused. 'You're as thick as thieves. Grandpa, and I don't think it's fair.' 'Why?' He ate his meal unconcernedly, and Laurie reallised with a start that there were a lot of characteristics in common between Quin McAdam and her grandfather.'Because you should be on my side; she told him. 'Instead you always think he's right and I'm wrong.' 'Oh, not always; he denied, and she could have sworn he was laughing at her. He said no more on the subject of Quin, but had it not been for a streak of stubbornness that refused to allow her to back down, Laurie would have called off the ride she had worked so hard to get. As it was she deared away and washed up, then went upstairs to change, leaving her grandfather sitting behind a daily newspaper, puffing away at an old pipe. 'Laurie visitor I' She was just going into her bed room when her grandfather's voice called her from downstairs and she glanced at her watch with a puzzled 144 frown. If it was Rod, he was very early, unless something unforeseen had forced him to change his plans. 'Your escort's here; her grandfather informed her, and she shrugged her shoulders and changed direction. 'I'm coming!' She went downstairs, still wearing the short, pretty cotton frock she had worn all day, a smile in readiness for Rod when she opened the sittingroom door, then stopped and stared open-mouthed at Quin. 'Surprised?' he asked quietly, a hint of idness in his eyes, although he looked faintly amused at her expression. 'I I was expecting Rod,' she said huskily. As if he wouldn't know already, she thought bitterly a moment later. It was obvious that Rod's plans had gone awry and she felt guilty for his sake, because it would have been Rod that caught the full weight of Quin's anger in the first instance and he would never have done anything at all if it had not been for her. 'So I gathered,' he told her. Her grandfather, she noticed with dismay, had disappeared into the nether regions of the cottage and left her to face the music alone. Quin stood by the window, dressed as he usually was in slim-fitting light trousers and an open shirt, his fair head slighdy untidy, probably where he had run his fingers through it, and he looked almost overpoweringly big in the tiny cottage room. 'Where where is he?' she asked, and he cocked a brow at her. 'At home, nursing his pride.' She looked at him fiercely, guessing how Rod must 145 be feelling. 'Oh, you shouldn't have blamed Rod,' she told him. 'It wasn't his fault at all.' 'I know exactly where the blame lies; he told her quietly, his gaze steady and infinitely disturbing. 'That's why I'm here.' 'Oh, I see.' She shifted uneasily, not quite knowing what to say. 'Well, I'm glad you reallise it wasn't Rod.' 'It was Rod I caught horse-stealing; he said, and she thought he was serious. 'They used to hang horsethieves, you know.' -'And you wish they still did, no doubt; Laurie retorted before she stopped to think. The ice-grey eyes held hers steadily for as long as she could stand it. 'You can never resist getting at me, can you, Laurie?' She said nothing for a moment, but felt utterly miserable because suddenly everything seemed to have gone wrong, and not only was she to be deprived of her ride but she had got Rod into trouble as well. 'What what did you say to Rod?' she asked meekly. He was in no mood to relent, obviously, for there was no relaxing of the stern air and he looked down at her as if she had committed the unforgivable sin. 'It doesn't concern you what I said to Rod; he told her, and would have gone on, but she looked at him angrily, her blue eyes dark and shiny wit
h tears of frustration. 'It does concern me,' she told him. 'I happen to be very fond of Rod, and it wasn't his fault any of this happened. I'm to blame and you should take it out on me, not Rod.' One brow cocked speculatively and there was a glimmer of the old familiar expression in the half smile.146 'You're rather inviting trouble, aren't you?' he asked softly. 'Just what do you suggest I do to extract revenge?' *I ' She raised her eyes and looked at him, at a loss to know how to answer. 'I don't know,' she said at last. 'But I'm sorry.' 'Because you planned to take Brownie without my knowing, or because you were caught at it?' he asked, and immediately shook his head before she could object. 'I shouldn't have said that, Laurie,' he told her, surprisingly. 'I'm sorry.' Laurie turned away from him, looking utterly despondent. 'Oh, I suppose you have every right to be sarcastic; she allowed, with unexpected meekness. 'We I shouldn't even have thought of taking Brownie without your permission, but ' She looked over one shoulder at him wistfully, for a moment, her eyes big and appealling. 'I do miss my rides,' she said. He said nothing for a moment, then he reached out with one hand and touched her cheek. It was a gesture so light and gentle that she instinctively leaned her face against his hand for a brief second, a shiver running down her spine Like a trickle of ice. 'Then there's nothing I can do but let you have your rides, is there?' he said softly, and Laurie gazed at him for a moment or two, unbellievingly. 'You you mean you'll let me have Brownie again?' she asked huskily. He studied her face for a moment, with only a hint of laughter in his eyes. 'Well, you don't think I'll allow you to ride Suli, do you?' he asked. She still did not move, but looked at him wide-eyed, 147 trying to make up her mind what could possibly have prompted his sudden and unexpected change of mind. She had expected anger, and he had definitely been angry initially, but this sudden relenting was not only unexpected but very disturbing. 'I I thought you were were angry,' she said, unable still, to grasp his mood. 'So I am,' he informed her, 'but since your daily ride is so important to you that you're prepared to resort to cloak-and-dagger tactics with Rod, you'd better have your way.' 'I I don't know what to say.' 'Thank you, Quin?' he suggested mildly, and she smiled. 'Thank you, Quin,' she echoed obediently. For a moment he stood looking at her, and there was some expression in his eyes that set her pulses racing and gave her a strangely reckless feelling that she fought hard to control. 'I wasn't too hard on Rod,' he told her softly at last. 'I know just what he was up against, but do me a favour, will you, Laurie?' She gazed at nim questioningly. 'Yes, yes, of course, if I can; 'I'd rather you didn't use your femme fatale tactics on Rod again,' he said, with every appearance of being serious. 'He's far too susceptible, and heaven knows what you'll get him into next. If you want to practice on anybody try it on me.' Laurie glanced up at him through her lashes, a small provocative smile coming unbidden to her mouth. 'That would be rather a waste of time,' she said. 'Exactly,' he agreed. 'That's the idea.' 148 It was not the answer she had expected and she pouted reproachfully something else that she reallised was a waste of time. 'I I suppose Rod will be on his guard against my my wicked wiles from now on, : thanks to you,' she guessed, and he grinned down at I'her. "That's right,' he agreed. 'I think he's got cold feet for the moment.' 'So you did bully him!' The retort was impulsive, and she wondered for a moment if she had spoiled everything again, but he was still smiling. 'Right again,' he said. 'And if you don't watch your p's and q's, I'll bully you too.' She eyed him for a moment, speculatively, then thought better of the retort she had in mind. 'Poor Rod,' was all she said, instead. Toor Rod?' He cocked a brow and she saw that strangely disturbing look in his eyes again. 'I don't feel sorry for him at all. Not when he has so much going for him; 'He has you bullying him,' Laurie retorted, and he laughed. 'And you consoling him; he said softly. 'That's worth any amount of buying, Laurie.' Again that wildly radng pulse in her forehead made her feel lightheaded, and she held his gaze for a longmoment, before sweeping her lashes down to hide her eyes. 'I I really am grateful to you for letting me have Brownie again,' she said huskily. 'I won't go tonight, not now, but I'll be out tomorrow morning, Like I used to be.' Again he was silent for a disturbingly long time, 149 and when she looked up at him again he moved away from the window and stood so close to her that she could feel the warmth and strength that emanated from him. One finger traced the curve of her cheek and he was smilling.'Lucky Rod,' he said softly, and his fair head bent over her slowly until his mouth was just a breath away from hers. She lifted her face to him and her eyes were already half closed when the kitchen door opened and her grandfather walked in. 'Ah,' he said with unaccustomed facetiousness, 'I thought it had gone very quiet.' 150