Dark inheritance (12 page)

Barbara was- amused to find that the bathing cabins were fitted with baths and divan beds. Curious to see what Rockwood's taste was like she undid the package
he had given her, startled to find a brief, elegant white
bikini.

When she was ready she surveyed herself in the mirror, wondering what Rockwood would think of her now. His guess at her size had been remarkably accurate, for the swim suit fitted her perfectly, the start
ling whiteness contrasting sharply with the deep honey-
gold of her skin. Rockwood had thoughtfully included a white flowery bathing cap, and swinging it on one wrist and with her sun-glasses shielding her eyes she stepped self-consciously out into the sunlight.

Rockwood was waiting by his cabin and if he had dot put out a hand to detain her she would have walked past him, for in his dark green swimming trunks he looked entirely different. Barbara thought she had never
seen anyone whose physique was more symbolic of his
character, for the words one could have used to describe his personality would have applied equally well to his appearance. The broad, heavy shoulders and chest, the narrow hips and strong, sinewy legs exuded the same dynamic forcefulness, while the firm column of his neck and proud carriage of head, with its crest of dark red hair, bespoke a proud sensitivity.

He surveyed her in silence for a moment and Barbara was glad her sun-glasses seemed to give her a protective covering, for she was painfully conscious of her semi-nudity. But to her secret chagrin Rockwood seemed more concerned with the swim suit than with her, and made her turn round several times to show him he had bought the right size.

"I'm glad it its you," he said at last. "The sales
woman had no idea what size I wanted, although I des
cribed you as accurately as I could."

"It's a very good fit, thank you. She must have been quite intelligent."

"Put it down to my photographic memory and the fact that I was pretty handy with a pencil at school."

"What's that got to do with it?"

"I had to draw a picture of you to show her what shape you are." There was a flicker of amusement in his eyes. "I'm glad to see I put the right curves in the right places."

"You could always earn your living as a poster artist," Barbara retorted, not without asperity.

For the first time he seemed to look at her and not the costume. "If all my models looked like you I wouldn't mind. Pity you can't wear swimming suits more often." As he spoke he led her towards two empty deck chairs at the edge of the pool. "Would you like to get baked in the sun now or have a swim first and sun-bathe afterwards?"

Somehow unwilling to sit in close proximity with him, she decided to swim first, feeling that if they joined the shouting throng in the pool it might break the uncomfortable intimacy between them.

"Come on, Dominic, I'll race you to the pool." She ran away from him, but he followed quickly and they both dived into the water at the same time, Rockwood striking out into the centre of the pool with strong even strokes while Barbara followed more leisurely, her laborious breast-stroke no match for his swift overarm.

He turned and swam back towards her.

"Well, well," he grinned, treading water, "so there' something even you can't do to perfection!"
. "Not at all," she puffed indignantly. "I know I'm no as quick as you and this stroke doesn't look as showy,
but it "

Her words were lost as her head disappeared below the surface, and the man reached out and heaved her up beside him. Laughing and spluttering she put her hands on his shoulders as he towed her towards the side.

"Would you object if I offered to teach you to swim properly?" he enquired humourously. "Even if you don't learn the crawl I think you'll find the over-arm less ineffectual than the breast-stroke."

"I'm willing to try anything to get me along. Anyway I always think the breast-stroke makes people look like frogs."

"In that case you're the nicest frog I've ever seen." And without more ado he caught her by the waist and swam out with her to the middle of the pool where it was quieter.

Rockwood was a good teacher and for the next half hour Barbara practised the arm and leg movements he showed her. At first he kept his hand beneath her waist, only breaking away to demonstrate the stroke and watch as she tried to repeat his actions, and she was just beginning to feel she had mastered them when he insisted on their going out of the water, and led her protesting up the ladder towards their deck chairs.

"But I'm not a bit tired—I could have gone on for ages yet."

"Possibly, but it's the first swim you've had this season and I don't want you to overdo it."

He sat down and stretched out full length, squinting op at her in the sunlight as she took off her bathing cap and shook out her hair. "Hey, you're drowning me!" he protested lazily.

She shook her hair more violently over him and then ignoring the deck chair at his side lay down on a coloured mattress. Her embarrassment had lost its edge and they chatted desultorily as they basked in the sun, the warmth radiating through their bodies and evaporating the dampness of their costumes.

After a few minutes Rockwood got up, dragged up another mattress and lay down by her side. "You look far too comfortable to be the only one to enjoy this."

Gradually the insidiousness of the heat dissipated their conversation and they lay silently sun-worshipping, their bodies nearly touching. Turning tier head to say something to him, Barbara saw that he had fallen asleep with the suddenness of a little boy, his face in repose looking so much younger that it was touching. The stern lines around his mouth were softened into gentleness and she had only to move her hand to feel the burnished hairs on his outstretched arm. With a little sigh she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

She awakened with a feeling of being watched, and turning her head sharply found Rockwood resting on one elbow looking into her face.

"You've been asleep," he accused.

"So have you."

"Nonsense, I just had my eyes closed."

Barbara stretched and turned over on to her stomach. "So had I."

"Do you usually snore when you close your eyes, then?"

"Women never snore."

"Then what would you call those delicate
little
bubb
ling noises you've been making for the last fifteen minutes."

"Purely the result of salt water!"

He laughed. "You have an answer for everything, haven't you Barbara? Thai's what I like about you. At least, one of the things."

Their eyes met and held and although hers faltered under his ardent gaze she had no desire to look away.

Instinctively she longed to be near him—not only mentally but physically as well—and the wish to be held in his arms and feel his lips on hers was suddenly so strong that it was almost overwhelming.

The man's face seemed to mirror her own thoughts,
and a pulse throbbed at his temple. "Darling Barbara,
I "

"Hullo, you two! Am I breaking up a
tite-d-tite?"

With an exclamation Dominic swung away from her
and Barbara saw Mark looking down at them.

"What the blazes are you doing here?" Rockwood's tone was entirely different from a moment ago.

"The same as you, old boy—enjoying myself. Although perhaps not quite so successfully, without such a dazzling companion." Mark sat down at Barbara's feet, his eyes travelling over her in frank admiration.
"I'd never have recognized you, Barbara—you look
wonderful. Or perhaps you've been told that already?"

She sat up quickly. "How uncomplimentary to assume you're the only one to notice my attractions," she said lightly.

He grinned. "Nearly as quick on the uptake as you
arc beautiful. Don't tell me my cousin's touchiness is
catching."

Barbara ignored this. "You still haven't told us what
you're doing here."

"I thought a change of air would do me good."

"Rather a coincidence our being here at the same time, isn't it?" Rockwood asked coldly.

"On the contrary, I timed my arrival to coincide with yours," the younger man confessed blandly.

"How did you know we'd be here?"

'One of Aunt Ellie's innumerable postcards, dear cousin."

Rockwood digested this in silence and Mark went on: "Aunt Ellie told me you were coming ashore at Monte, so all I had to do was ring up the shipping
office and find out when you were arriving. I intended
meeting you at the quayside, but I had a late night at the Casino last night and my good intentions went to the winds."

"Since when have you been so solicitous for our wel
fare?" Rockwood asked acidly.

"Since the advent of our aunt's charming companion, old boy."

Barbara sensed Dominic's rising anger and said quickly: "How clever of you to track us down!"

Mark's nonchalant expression did not change. "It
wasn't difficult. Knowing how well my worthy cousin
always does himself I had only to go to the best hotel in Monte and enquire for him."

She stood up, hoping to break the antagonism between the two men. "I'd better go and get changed— my swim suit's still damp."

"You're not running away, surely?" Mark got to his feet and put a hand on her bare shoulder.

"Of course not, but I'm feeling rather uncomfortable." She was uneasily aware of his hand, aware too that the gesture of familiarity had not escaped Domi
nic's eyes, and moved quickly away hoping the tension
would have cased by the time she returned.

"Don't be long," Mark called after her, "we'll be waiting for you on the terrace."

When Barbara came back she was dismayed to find
the atmosphere even more frigid, and as she poured out the tea that Rockwood had ordered found herself won
dering how two men who were so likeable when on their own should display entirely different characteristics when they were together, for Rockwood had become surly and taciturn and Mark became more pro-. vocatively good-humoured with each sally.

This was only the second time she had seen them together, and the first occasion at Crags' Height ha been so brief that she had had no time to form any conclusions about their relationship. Although Domi
nic's reactions to his cousin had been quite apparent—
contempt mingling with irritation—Mark's attitude had
been less evident, less easily definable. But here, on the gaily tiled terrace with the sun shining from a blue sky,
there was an undercurrent of such bitter animosity that
she could almost feel it flowing tangibly between them,
and was aware that Mark's good-natured nonchalance covered the same implacable dislike that the older man did not bother to conceal.

"Where's the old girl?" Mark sipped his tea.

"If you're referring to Aunt Ellie, she's lying down in one of the hotel bedrooms with a headache."

"Not exactly inconvenient for you. I mean, old ladies
can be such a bore, can't they?"

"As an old lady is the sort of burden you've never cared to assume, I don't see how you could possibly know," Rockwood said bitingly.

For the first time Barbara saw a look of annoyance on Mark's face. "It's rather difficult to assume a financial burden without the wherewithal."

Rockwood did not reply, and to ease the tension Barbara put in: "You said you'd been to the Casino last night, Mark. Did you win or lose?"

"Lose, worse luck,," he grinned, "Still, you know the old saying—unlucky in cards, etc. How about
coming along with me -tonight, Barbara? You could go
back to the boat and change and we could have dinner
beforehand. Perhaps you'll bring me some luck at the
tables."

"Barbara's coming to the Casino with me," Rockwood said impassively.

"I'm sorry, Mark," she smiled across the table, "but
Dominic did ask me first." Beneath the tablecloth one of her hands was caught in such a fierce grip that she almost winced.

"Never mind, better luck next time," Mark said
impcrturbably. "Trust my dear cousin to get in before me! Your luck with women is changing, Dominic."

Rockwood ignored the taunt and turned to Barbara. "If you'd like to go up and see if Aunt Ellie's awake we'll get back to the boat."

She stood up and held out her hand to Mark. "In case I don't see you when I come down, I'll say goodbye now."

"You can't get rid of me as easily as that," he smiled. "I haven't come all this way just to see you for live minutes. Besides, I'd like to see my aunt."

"Well, I won't be long."

The old woman was delighted to see her younger
nephew and kissed him affectionately. The sleep had
evidently done her good, and watching her prattle excitedly to the burly, fair-haired man, Barbara would not have known her for the pale, sickly-looking woman she had left a few hours ago.

Mark refused to take Dominic's hint to leave but insisted on going aboard ship, and much to Aunt Ellie's delight said he would dine with them that evening.

"How sweet of you, Mark dear! We can have a
lovely little dinner-party and be one big happy family
again."

"Barbara and I are dining ashore. Aunt, so you'll have to forgo your family party and rely on Mark to entertain you," Rockwood said flatly.

"Oh, what a pity! Never mind, perhaps tomorrow night^—"

"We'll see about that when the time comes." Then turning to his cousin Rockwood addressed him for the
first time since their tea on the terrace. "In view of the
celebrations I interrupted last time you dined with Aunt Ellie, please see that this time you remember her age and health."

"Like you, dear coz, I'm hardly likely to forget."
And Mark walked off to the bar to have a cocktail while
they changed for dinner.

Some of Barbara's pleasurable anticipation of the evening ahead was marred by the fear that Mark's
presence might affect Dominic's mood, and when they
stood ready to go ashore again he bade his aunt and cousin good night so frigidly that her heart sank,

But the moment they reached the quay his manner
changed and he became once more the delightful com
panion he had been at the pool. They dined leisurely at a restaurant on the corner of a narrow street, its cream walls and scarlet geraniums on the bar typical of the many restaurants of the Cote d'Azur, and did full justice to the artichokes in wine sauce and fillets of steak.

Afterwards they walked slowly along the promenade
and sat down to rest on one of the benches in the little park facing the Casino, sheltered by palm trees from the sea breeze.

"Sure you're warm enough?" Dominic looked down at her, his face barely discernible in the darkness.

"Quite, thanks."

He smiled. "I was forgetting, you're never cold, are you?"

"Very rarely."

His hand caught hers as it lay on her lap. "How warm
can you be?"

She shivered involuntarily. "I don't know, Dominic."

"I should like to find out," he murmured, and leant over until he spoke almost against her lips. "You don't mind, do you?"

Blindly she shook her head and his mouth closed over
hers. Their other embraces had been so fleeting that almost before they had begun they were over, but this
was no momentary touch but a long moment of deep
tenderness and joy.

"Oh, Barbara, my darling," he whispered, hardly moving his lips from hers. "Oh, my darling /y
nghalon."

Her hands stroked his hair, drawing him closer, and the pressure of his lips deepened from tenderness to passion. Never before had Barbara fell herself respond
with such ardour and only knew that to be in this man's
arms, to be held against his body, his lips warm and demanding on hers, filled her with a desire that transcended any emotion she had ever experienced before.

Then, almost afraid of the passion he aroused in her, she pushed him gently away. "No, Dominic, please."

Instantly he loosened his hold. "I'm sorry, did I frighten you?"

"I think I frightened myself." She moved away from him and with shaking fingers drew out her compact.

Dominic watched as she made up her lips. "You're merely gilding the lily," he said softly.

Barbara took out her handkerchief and wiped his mouth. "Most of the gilt seems to have come off on you! I can sec you don't make a habit of kissing women."

He imprisoned her hand and held it against his lips. "You're the only woman I want to make a habit of kissing."

For a long moment they were silent, gazing into each other's eyes.

Then Dominic stood up and pulled her to her feet. "Come along, my darling, or I shall start kissing you again."

Arm in arm they walked slowly towards the Casino between the palm trees, climbed the shallow steps to the
main entrance and entered the central hall with its marble floor and copper-coloured pillars. Before going in to play they sauntered' into the bar for a drink, pledging each other with their eyes as they sipped their liqueur, then Dominic led her towards the gaming-rooms.

"Everyone who wants to have a little flutter comes
here," he said as they entered the vaulted hall set with
roulette tables. "The more seasoned gamblers use the other "rooms, but here most of the stakes are low. The only place where evening dress is
de rigueur
are the Privies of the Sporting Club. I'll take you there before we leave Monte if you promise not to give way to gambling fever."

"I've far too many things to do with my money than throw it away," she retorted.

But in spite of herself she was fascinated by the spin of the wheel and to Dominic's amusement insisted on buying her own chips and playing quite independent of him. In the crowd around the tables they lost sight of each other, and when she appeared at his side again it was triumphantly to hold out a handful of money.