AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Maybe it will be easier with a change of scene.’
‘You’re planning to go away?’ he asked with polite interest. ‘Any particular destination in mind?’
‘Not yet. I can’t make any firm arrangements really, until all this is over.’
‘Well, you shouldn’t have much longer to endure it,’ he said.
‘I hope not.’ She hesitated. ‘I was thinking of going abroad, if I can get the same kind of job.’
‘I might be able to help there. I have various contacts in the pharmaceutical industries, if that appeals to you.’
'I'll bear it in mind.‘ She wouldn’t, of course; the last thing she wanted was to be beholden to Malory Templeton. But at least he wasn’t putting any obstacles in her way, or insisting she serve some minimum term as his fianc, she thought. In fact, he seemed almost anxious to speed her on her way. But even that was understandable after the embarrassment she’d caused him. Playing her part correctly this evening might have made up a little for that, or so she hoped. However, she wanted no more such evenings.
Malory parked outside the cottage and took her weekend case from the boot while Amanda found her door key.
‘Thank you.’ She held out her hand for the case, then hesitated. ‘Would you like a nightcap before you go?’
‘No alcohol,’ he said, ‘but I would appreciate some coffee.’
Amanda was completely taken aback. She’d expected him to make some courteous excuse and be on his way. But she could hardly withdraw the offer now, so, mutely, she allowed him to follow her into the cottage.
She’d half hoped her mother would still be downstairs, but the drawing-room was in darkness, except for the logs smouldering quietly behind the spark-guard.
Amanda gave a small, silent sigh. In the old days, Mrs Conroy would have been up, waiting eagerly for all the details of the evening—what had been worn, eaten, said and done. The fact that she’d gone to bed was a sign of her continuing displeasure.
She switched on the lamps and added another log to the fire, before going to the kitchen to prepare the coffee. She glanced at the percolator, then hunched a shoulder. He could have instant, and like it.
Malory was occupying the armchair, very much at his ease, when Amanda returned.
‘This is very kind of you.’
She wondered if she could detect a note of irony in his voice, and dismissed the idea. She handed him his mug, then seated herself on the sofa in a swirl of silky gold pleats, yawning ostentatiously as she reached for her own coffee.
‘You’d never have made an actress if you’re exhausted after one performance,’ Malory commented.
‘Then it’s lucky I had no such ambition,’ Amanda retorted.
‘So, what did you want from life? Or was your only horizon a secretarial post, followed by a suitable marriage?’
‘Of course not.’ He made it sound so appallingly conventional, she thought vexedly. And who was he to talk, anyway? ‘And I’m not a secretary. I’m a personal assistant,’ she added defensively.
‘Ah,’ he said gravely. That, of course, makes a difference.‘
‘Well, it does to me.’ Amanda set down her mug with a definite thump. ‘It’s all right for you to sit there, being lordly, but we didn’t all have an enormous company handed to us on a plate.’
‘Neither did I. Believe it or not, Amanda, I had to fight tooth and nail for everything I wanted. It was a valuable lesson about life.’
‘Which you are presumably handing on. I’m sure you mean well, but I’m really not in the market for fatherly advice.’ She’d intended to sound crushing, and was totally disconcerted by his shout of laughter. She cast a nervous glance ceiling-wards. ‘Oh, do be quiet, or you’ll wake my mother, and she’ll wonder why you’re still here.’
He was still grinning. ‘And what will she do? Come rushing down to protect your virtue from my fell designs?’
‘Hardly,’ Amanda said crossly. ‘Anyway, you haven’t got any fell designs.’
There was an odd loaded silence, then he said quite gently, ‘Amanda, you can’t possibly be that naive. You’re a beautiful, desirable girl. There wasn’t a man in that room tonight who wasn’t wondering what it would be like to make love to you.’
She cast him an edged, nervous glance. ‘Please— don’t say things like that.’
‘You’d prefer me to pretend it had never crossed my mind?’ He shook his head. That would be dishonest.‘
‘The whole situation’s dishonest.’ She was startled to hear an almost desperate note in her own voice. ‘You’re not in love with me—you know you’re not… And I don’t care for you.’
