Part 13 (1/2)

Jared was recognised, and while a table was being prepared for them in the restaurant, they went for a drink. One wall of the bar had been rolled aside to give access to the lido area beside the pool, and guests walked about in shorts or bikinis, mingling with more formally clad patrons. Jared suggested they seated themselves at the long red counter, on tall stools, luxuriously shaped like small armchairs.

He ordered long chilled drinks, served in gla.s.ses edged with slices of fruit and frosted with ice, and containing a definite tang of alcoholic sharpness. But it was good, and Catherine drank hers thirstily.

'Steady on,' advised Jared dryly, putting a hand on her arm and propelling the gla.s.s back on to the bar. 'It's not lemonade.'

Catherine smiled. 'I never thought it was.'

Jared's fingers lingered against her skin, his thumb ma.s.saging the veins on the inner side of her wrist. 'Would you really have stopped me from making love to you?' he asked softly, his eyes heavy with meaning.

Catherine drew her arm out of his grasp, and gestured futilely towards the pool. 'I can't wait to swim again,' she babbled. 'It seems weeks, not days, since I was in the water. I expect you've swum every day at the beach house, haven't you? And surfed, too. I'd love to be an expert at that-'

'I could teach you,' he said steadily, and chancing a brief look at him, she was devastated by the warmth of his gaze.

'Don't look at me like that, Jared,' she breathed huskily, and he shrugged and turned his stool so that its back was against the bar, surveying the scene around the pool with a slightly jaded contemplation.

A girl in a bikini, who had been stretched out beside a young man on an air bed, got to her feet just then and seeing Jared, waved vigorously. Then, nudging the man at her feet with her toe, she stepped over his bulk and came into the bar towards them.

'Jared!' she exclaimed, bending over him to kiss his cheek and giving him the full benefit of her cleavage. 'Jared Royal! I've only been back in Bridgetown since Sat.u.r.day and what do I hear?

Jared Royal is getting married at last! I couldn't believe it.' Her gaze s.h.i.+fted to Catherine, and then she looked frankly embarra.s.sed. 'Oh, I mean-I thought-where's Laura, Jared?'

'At home, I expect,' returned Jared lazily, getting to his feet.

'Catherine, this is Angela Motson. Angela, I'd like you to meet my-my ward.'

He used the word deliberately, and watching him Catherine encountered the mocking challenge of his stare. Angela, meanwhile, was obviously astonished, and she looked round impatiently for her escort to join them. The young man was slowly getting to his feet, and Catherine recognised Andy David, one of Laura's friends, who had attended the party at Amaryllis.

He and Jared greeted one another, and he smiled at Catherine.

'Feeling better?' he asked. 'Laura told me you'd been smitten by the heat.'

'I'm much better, thank you,' Catherine replied politely, and Angela, having recovered her composure, exclaimed: 'Are you two eating in the hotel?'

'As a matter of fact we are,' Jared agreed, and Catherine's heart sank when Angela suggested they should all have lunch together.

'I've just spent three months in the States,' she explained, for Catherine's benefit, 'and I can't wait to catch up on all the news.

How about it, Jared?'

Jared glanced at Catherine, but she was looking down at her hands, and he gave a casual shrug. 'All right,' he said, as she had known he would. 'So long as we can get away by two. I have to be at Seawell by two-thirty.'

'The airport?'

Angela raised her eyebrows, but as Jared said nothing more, she was forced to let it go. Catherine was curious, too, but she guessed Jared was going to the airport to collect some painting equipment. Maybe that was why he had taken this day off from finis.h.i.+ng the commission. It was a logical a.s.sumption, and it succeeded in destroying her already depleted store of confidence.

The meal was delicious. Prawns with melon, steaks and salad, and a trifle flavoured with brandy. But Catherine ate next to nothing. She felt choked with emotion, aware, as he obviously was not, of their brief time together slipping away.

Only once during that long meal did she look up to find Jared staring at her, but when she tried to communicate her feelings to him, he looked away again, and a moment later was laughing heartily at something Angela had said.

However, when the waiter came to ask them if they had enjoyed the food and to inquire whether they would like coffee, Jared pushed back his chair.

'I think we'l have to skip coffee, if you don't mind, Catherine,' he said abruptly, and Catherine didn't mind at all. She got obediently to her feet, gesturing Andy to re-remain seated when he would have risen, and walked round the table to join Jared.

'Oh, must you go?' Angela was evidently disappointed. 'It's only ten minutes to the hour.'

'I'm sorry.' Jared was adamant. His hand curved round Catherine's upper arm. 'We'll see you some other time.'

'At the party!' exclaimed Angela enthusiastically. 'My invitation was waiting when I got back. I'm looking forward to it.'

Catherine and Jared exchanged glances, and then he gave a slight shake of his head as if to indicate a negative reaction. 'So long!'

he said non-committally, and propelling Catherine before him, walked out of the restaurant.

But once in the car, his actions bespoke his annoyance. 'I expect you think I should have told Angela there's not going to be any party, don't you?' he demanded.

Catherine s.h.i.+fted her shoulders against the soft warm upholstery.

'I can't answer that,' she protested.

'No? Well, I didn't feel like entering into those kind of explanations with her!'

'You don't have to justify yourself to me.'

'Don't I?' He didn't start the engine, but half turned in his seat towards her, one arm along the back of hers. 'Don't I? So why were you giving me the cold shoulder all through lunch?'

'I wasn't doing that,' she cried. 'Besides, you seemed contented enough talking to your old girlfriend.'

'Angela is not an ”old girl-friend”.'

'Well, a young girl-friend, then,' retorted Catherine tautly.

'Not that either. She's a friend of Laura's. Would you have had me be rude to her?'

'It's nothing to do with me.'

'd.a.m.n you, it's everything to do with you,' he swore violently, and turning, he started the car savagely, releasing the brake, and churning up the drive with spinning tyres.

Catherine clutched the edge of her seat as they approached the gates, convinced Jared would never negotiate them at this speed.

But long before there was any danger, he had slowed, and they turned out on to the coast road again with controlled expertise.

'Jared, why did you ask me out to lunch?' she asked, helplessly staring at him. 'I only seem to make you angry.'

Jared drew a harsh breath. 'Because,' he said, his tone containing traces of self-derision, 'because, fool that I am, I've let you get under my skin. To the extent that I can't seem to think of anything but you!'

'Jared. ..'