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'You're here alone, too,' Ruth said alertly. 'No wife, Robert?'
Judith could have kicked her. He smiled, shaking his head. Ruth's smile widened as she looked back at Judith, her eyes saying: there! He's free and you can have him if you want him. Judith stared back without a blink, pretending not to get the message which Ruth was sending so insistently. Ruth seemed to think she must be desperate; it was time Judith disillusioned her. Looking away, Ruth spotted David making his way through the throng and her face lit up.
'Oh, there's my husband—excuse me, won't you?'
Judith looked after her as she darted away, her spine tingling with irritation. Ruth was being ludicrously obvious, deliberately leaving her alone with Robert.
'How's John Atkins? I heard he went to the States,' Robert remarked, and Judith looked back at him, nodding.
'We both did—I've just come back, but John's staying there; he's doing very well in New York.'
'Why did you come back? A better job?'
'My grandfather died; family obligations, you know…'
'Where are you working now?' Robert asked when she had finished explaining why she had returned to England, and she shrugged.
'I'm taking a brief sabbatical before I take up one of the offers I've had.' It sounded much better than telling him frankly that she didn't like the only solid offer she had had.
'If you're still taking offers you might come in and talk to me one day—we would be very interested in having someone with your qualifications; you must be quite an expert on the American market by now.' Robert fished into his inside pocket and produced a flat card case, extracting a card he handed it to her. 'Give me a ring and let me give you lunch; even if you don't want to join us I'd like to have a chance to talk to you somewhere quieter than this.' He looked around the noisy room with a grimace.
Judith studied the card, her curiosity aroused as she saw the name of his firm. She remembered him now; she vividly recalled the occasion when the firm went public, they had been so successful that they had needed capital badly to be able to expand and, judging by their quoted price on the market at the moment, their success had continued.
'Thank you,' she said slowly.
Robert watched her face. 'I'm serious,' he stressed. 'Tell you what—give me your phone number and I'll ring you, otherwise you might forget.'
She laughed. 'I won't forget.'
'Promise?' He had moved closer and was looking down at her with what was more than a business interest; his hazel eyes held a very attractive smile. His face was deceptively formed, the muscle and bone beneath his skin gave his features a solid look which the humour and warmth of his eyes denied. He wore his fair hair cut very short, but it had a tendency to curl tightly against his scalp, although she could see that he had brushed it down flat with great vigour. Judith liked what she saw, she smiled back at him and nodded. 'Promise.'
He stayed with her when Ruth and David joined them ten minutes later. Ruth had obviously decided she had left them alone long enough; her matchmaking, although blatant, was not selfless, she was bored with watching from a distance and wanted to check and see how they were doing. Judith got the distinct impression that Robert knew exactly what was in Ruth's mind; as Ruth looked eagerly from one to the other of them he glanced at Judith with a glint in his hazel eyes. Judith grinned at him; by now she knew enough about him to be sure he would grin back, and he did. Ruth looked very satisfied, she didn't know why they were grinning at each other like that, but she could see that they were sharing private jokes, and that was just great, her little conspiracy had worked. She couldn't believe that Judith was happy working with such dull things as share prices and market quotations; Ruth wanted to see her safely married, it would give them something in common again. Ruth was so contented that she could not imagine any other way of being happy than to be married with two children; and sometimes Judith wondered if she could be right. But she could see no point in getting married for its own sake; you had to be sure the man was someone you would never get bored with or stop loving, and that was a feeling Judith had never had for anyone she had dated.
Looking across the room towards Baba, she hoped Baba had made the right choice; that she hadn't been dazzled by Luke Doulton's worldly possessions; by his money, his power, his glamour, because if she had Baba was going to be unhappy when she woke up and realised that all those things did not make a safe basis for a good relationship. Once she got used to Luke's way of life she would start to see him as he was behind all the glitter. Maybe he would be as charming and attractive as he seemed, but maybe he was nothing of the kind. He had to be a very tough man to have survived in the jungle he inhabited, and would a man like that make Baba happy? Judith frowned, studying them both. Perhaps he would; perhaps Baba was precisely the sort of woman he needed and had been looking for. After all, she was sweet-tempered and placid. Luke could be sure he wouldn't get any hassle from her, she wouldn't make waves, she was obviously easy to live with and he must get all the trouble he needed when he was at work. Maybe what he saw in Baba was the promise of a peaceful home life, not to mention a beauty that made heads turn everywhere she went. Baba's combination of beauty and good temper was a rare one, and Luke Doulton would want an exceptional woman.
While Judith was watching them Luke had been talking to a new arrival; a tall, elegant woman in her late twenties with sleek black hair swept up behind her head and pinned there with a pearl clasp. Her black dress had chic, it went with the slightly arrogant cast of her features: the high cheekbones, perfectly modelled nose and rather cold mouth. Judith wondered what was being said; Baba was looking uneasy and although Judith couldn't see Luke's face she saw his long body stiff
en with tension and the muscles in the back of his neck were rigid.
'I wonder who that is,' said Ruth with the uneasiness which you could see in Baba's expression.
'That's his assistant, Caroline Rendell,' Robert told them drily.
Judith looked at him sharply and he made a wry face. 'Luke always picks girls who look a million dollars,' he said, then gave Ruth a hurried smile, remembering that she was Baba's sister. 'These days the office staff have to impress the clients,' he joked, but Ruth didn't look much happier.
'Baba said she was good-looking,' she said, half to herself.
Judith watched Caroline Rendell's icy face; it wore a little smile, but there was nothing humorous or pleasant in the movement of her lips. Judith felt sure she was saying something very acid, the girl looked as if acid remarks came easily to her.
'I don't like the look of her,' Ruth commented.
'Join the club.' Judith glanced at Robert. 'Have you met her?'
'I met her—she didn't appear to be meeting me. Every time I've seen her since she's ignored me. I don't think I measure up to her standards; to get noticed by Miss Rendell you have to be a multi-millionaire!'
Judith laughed. 'I believe you.' That was the impression she had got, too. Caroline Rendell looked ambitious and cold; she also looked as if she was bitterly angry with Luke Doulton and she was making no pretence about it which, if she was a really clever woman, she would have done, because although Judith barely knew him, it seemed clear that Luke Doulton was not a man who would look kindly on anyone who embarrassed or annoyed him.
She glanced back at the little group and saw that Caroline Rendell had walked away and Luke was facing her now. His face was blank, but Judith watched those grey eyes of his and she almost felt sorry for Caroline Rendell; that was the look Judith had first seen when her bank was engaged in attempting to put together a take-over bid for one of Luke Doulton's companies. He was hiding his rage better at the moment, forcing it out of sight by an effort of will, but Judith felt it coming across the room in waves. Caroline Rendell had made a bad mistake. Whatever had been going on between her and Luke Doulton he hadn't chosen to marry her; making some sort of public scene, however discreetly, had been stupid. It wouldn't alter his decision, it would merely make him angry; Caroline must have been beside herself with temper not to understand that.
