Part 14 (1/2)

Claudia tried to draw back~ her head, and his hand slid round, stroking her hair, to clamp the back of her head and make sure she could not pull far away from him.

”You're beautiful, you know that, don't you?” he said softly, and thenhe kissed her with a pa.s.sion which swallo. v~ed her like a great wave,so that she drowned in it, unable to see or hear anything else,clinging to him to save herself, her arms going round his neck, holdingon to him tightly, her body swaying towards him like tendrils of weedflowing with a tide they, could not resist.

When he stopped kissing her it was like being broken out of a trance; she was disorientated, confused, her colour high, her breathingffapid.

Ellis was breathing fast, too, his eyes like burnished steel, brilliant and dangerous. He r~m his fingers over her red-gold hair, smiling crookedly.

”A pity I have to be off to Germany tonight. When I get back, can wehave dinner in town? I'll ring and make a firm date when I know whatI'm doing.”

”I only go into town at weekends,” she said huskily, and Ellis gave her an amused smile.

”Oh, I think we can persuade my father to let you have an evening off to meet me.” He glanced at his watch and sighed, releasing her and sitting up.

”We had better get back, I suppose! He must be off the phone by now.

Let's hope he managed to work something out. ” He got to his feet and Claudia stood up, too, a little weak at the knees but trying to hide it.

”I thought you liked to be in the centre of London so that you could get to auditions if one came up suddenly?” Ellis asked as they walked back to the house. ”Isn't it a problem for you, living out here?”

”I had a morning off one week for an audition,” she said, shrugging.

”But nothing interesting has come up since I started work here. I've managed to get weekend appointments with my voice coach-on Sat.u.r.day mornings. And I go to the gym at weekends, too, and keep up my exercises on my own here before I go down to breakfast.”

He gave her a thoughtful look.

”You went to drama school, I remember--did you ever have any success?”

Slightly defensive, she gave him the highlights of her career, then in a fit of honesty said, ”I know I'm not ever going to be a star, but I love acting.”

”You should aim for. television or film,” Ellis said, considering her face and figure with amused eyes. ”You must be very photogenic. Have you got an agent? He isn't doing much of a job, is he?”

”He has a lot of much more successful clients,” she wryly said.

They went back into the house, but, before they rejoined Quentin, Ellis said, ”When we meet in London, would you like me to get tickets for a play, instead of just having dinner? We could have supper after the theatre.”

”Yes, please,” she said eagerly.

”I used to go to the theatre several times a week, at least, until I started working out here. I do miss it.”

1 . ~A.

”OK,” Ellis said, turning towards the door of his father's study, but before he opened it they both heard the front doorbell ringing, and Celeste grumblingly going to open it.

Stephen? thought Claudia ruefully, wis.h.i.+ng now that she had not rung him in such a panic and asked him to come down here. Her wild visions of what Ellis might plan to do to her had not come true, thank.

heavens.

Ellis gave her a sideways glance, lifting one black brow.

”Can this be my dear brother. Come hotfoot from London to rescue you from me?”

The mockery in his voice made her go pink, laughing.

Then they heard the new arrival's voice, and realised that it was not Stephen. Claudia stopped laughing. She knew that voice. It was Estelle's.

Shooting a hurried look at Ellis, she saw that his face had gone blank, his lids half down over his grey eyes. Had he asked Estelle to join him here?

He must have done. Why else would she be here? She hadn't visited Quentin before, she couldn't have come to see him.

She was here to see Ellis, which meant that he had wanted to see her.

~ Celeste appeared, mouth rigid. ~”Ellis, you have a visitor,” she began, but Estelle was right behind her, and did not wait for Celeste to finish.

She flew past the housekeeper and stood on tiptoe to kiss Ellis on his mouth.

”Oh, darling, I've missed you... It seems years since I saw you...”

Claudia was sick with jealousy. She tried to look away but couldn't; she 'had to know the truth. She watched them with strained attention, trying to work out how Ellis really felt about Estelle, but it was impossible to tell because he knew she was there, watching him.

It was easy to guess how Estelle felt about him. She made no secret of it, kissing him lingeringly, her arms clasping his neck, her body leaning towards him in yearning. She couldn't have been more obvious if she had tried, Claudia thought sourly.

Ellis deftly managed to free himself without difficulty-Claudia wasn't even sure how he had done it.

One minute he was wreathed with Estelle--the next he wasn't. Cleverly done, she thought. How often has he used that trick? She mustn't forget that there had been plenty of other women before her. Did she want to be one in a long line? How many would there be after her?

That was the real question, and she felt a black depression coming down on her as she faced that one. She couldn't trust him to be faithful, could she?

n.o.body could. It would be pure crazy folly if you did.

Estelle didn't seem worried by the way he had wriggled out of her grasp, though. She went on smiling at him, smoothing down her brunette hair with one slim, pale hand. She was as elegant and expensively dressed as she had been when Claudia met her in London.

Today, she wore a flame-red wool dress, under a black mink jacket, and looked a million dollars. Easy for her, Claudia thought, when her father was worth millions. Try looking that way on an ordinary working girl's salary!

”I know you said you'd see me at the airport tonight, but I couldn't wait,”

Estelle said throatily.

”I had to see you sooner than that.