Part 11 (1/2)

'Are you?' He seemed curiously unconvinced.

'What are you doing here?' she protested, trying to prop herself up on her elbows, but finding the effort too much for her.

Jared glanced over his shoulder at Laura, and a strange expression crossed his face. 'I was- concerned about you,' he muttered half angrily. He stared down at her. Do you need a doctor?'

She realised what he meant, and the ridiculousness of it all brought tears of frustration to her eyes. She moved her head slowly from side to side, feeling the dampness on her cheeks.

'Oh, G.o.d, Catherine!' Jared cast another grim look in Laura's direction. 'You know what I mean.'

'Yes, I know what you mean,' she mumbled, 'but no! I don't need anything.'

Jared expelled his breath on an angry sigh. 'All right, all right!

We'll leave you.' He indicated that Laura should precede him to the door. 'I'll get Susie to fetch you some aspirin.'

'It's probably the heat,' remarked Laura complacently, and Catherine was amazed at her lack of perception. Or was it a lack? She could never be sure now.

'The heat!' Jared's harsh echo of her words was barely audible.

'You're sure you'll be all right?'

'I've said so!' Catherine nodded jerkily, just wanting to be alone.

'I think you should tell Elizabeth,' he added, and they both knew to what he was referring.

'There's nothing to tell!' she retorted tearfully, and turned her face into the pillow. Let him make what he liked of that!

She must have slept because when she opened her eyes, Susie was sitting beside the bed, idly folding pleats into her starched ap.r.o.n. She smiled when she saw that Catherine was awake, and got up to lean over her.

'You're feeling better?'

Catherine lifted her wrist and tried to concentrate on her watch.

'What time is it?'

'Three-thirty.'

'Three-thirty!' Catherine was horrified. 'Have I slept for more than three hours?'

'Yes, miz,' Susie nodded.

'I-' Catherine hesitated. 'Where is- everyone?'

Susie frowned. 'There's only you here right now, Miz Fulton.

Miz Royal, she phoned to say she was having lunch at the Prentiss house, and Mr Royal, he left over an hour ago.'

'And-and Miss Prentiss?'

'She stay a few minutes after Mr Royal leave, and then she says she's going, too.'

Catherine absorbed this. 'Where-where did- Mr Royal go?'

she asked, realising her weakness for doing so.

'I think he went back to the beach house, Miz Fulton. I don't really know. He don't tell anybody. He just leave.'

Catherine struggled up on to her elbows. 'Well, you can go now, Susie. I'll be fine.'

Susie looked doubtful. 'Mr Royal, he say you shouldn't be left alone. Not today, leastways.'

Tears p.r.i.c.ked at Catherine's eyes at this fleeting glimpse of Jared's sense of responsibility towards her. But she managed to blink them back, and swung her feet to the floor.

'Honestly, Susie, it-it must just have been a touch of the sun.

I-feel quite all right now.'

'You sure?'

Catherine nodded, and the girl moved reluctantly towards the door. But after she had gone, it was simpler to acknowledge weakness, and Catherine bent her head into her hands. Of course, it was too much sun which had upset her-that, and the violence of the emotions Jared had aroused inside her. But she doubted that Jared would ever believe it. And who could blame him? She wondered if he had asked Laura to stay until she woke. Was that why Laura had left after he did? Had the girl chosen this way to show a spark of independence?

With a sigh, Catherine tried to get up from the bed. But to her dismay, her legs buckled under her and she was obliged to crawl back on to the pillows, feeling more alone than she had ever done in her whole life.

In fact, she spent three days in bed.

When Elizabeth returned home and discovered what had happened, she was not to be deterred from calling a doctor. The dark-skinned physician gave Catherine a thorough examination and then p.r.o.nounced the opinion that she had developed a mild attack of sunstroke. He insisted on at least forty-eight hours' bed rest in a darkened room, and Catherine was certainly too weak to argue with him. But there was no pleasure lying alone with her thoughts, and as her strength gradually returned, she longed to escape from this house which had become a kind of prison to her.

Laura called to see her on her second day in bed. As expected, she made no reference to the events precipitating Catherine's illness, and instead talked incessantly about the plans for the wedding. Catherine wondered if Laura realised what she was doing, and decided that she probably did. She appeared to live life at a very shallow, level, and anything likely to disturb the surface calm was deliberately ignored. Listening to her describe her ideas for the bridesmaids' dresses, Catherine was dismayed at the pain she was inflicting, and in her weakness it wasn't easy to hide her feelings. Perhaps Laura knew this, she thought bitterly.

There was more than one way of seeking revenge.

Elizabeth was a little more subtle in her approach. Her concern, she said, was that Catherine should be well enough to attend the party the Prentisses were giving in a week's time. It would be a shame, she exclaimed, if Catherine couldn't be there to share in the fun.

Marion Prentiss sent her a bouquet of roses and her wishes for her speedy recovery. Everyone was being very kind, but Catherine doubted their sincerity. All of these women had their own reasons for wis.h.i.+ng her well, but they were not the simple ones they alleged.

On the fourth day after her collapse, Catherine was well enough to get up and sit in an armchair on her balcony. The breeze blowing off the Atlantic brought the smell of salt strongly to her nostrils, and she could taste its sharpness against her skin. The morning sun gave the ocean a coral tinge, glinting off the breakers that thundered their way sh.o.r.eward.

The sound of a car coming up the drive was an intrusion on the quiet air. Earlier only the sounds of the insects among the flowers and the occasional plop of a fly hitting the surface of the pool had disturbed the stillness, but the drone of the engine was increasing rapidly.

Then the engine was cut off and a car door slammed. Catherine's nerves tensed. Who could it be? Laura, most likely, she conceded with a sigh. She hadn't been over the day before, so she could be expected to put in an appearance.

Then there was a tap at her bedroom door. She turned her head.

'Come in!' she called, her eyes widening when Susie came into the room instead of Jared's fiancee.

Susie looked flushed. 'You've a visitor, Miz Fulton,' she exclaimed hurriedly. 'Mr Dexter. He's asked to see you.'

'John Dexter?' Catherine's relief was ludicrous. 'Oh, yes, yes, I'd like to see him.' She looked down doubtfully at her blue silk dressing robe. 'But not like this. Will you ask him to give me five minutes, and I'll come down.'

'Oh, but Miz Fulton, do you think you ought?' Susie was concerned. 'Miz Royal, she said you'd be staying in your room today.'