The Daughter of Night (16 page)

'Because you're complicated, contrary and contradictory.' Demetrios followed her and watched as she hung up the jacket of her suit.

'Wrong again,' she shook her head at him as she kicked off her shoes. 'I'm none of those things. You're suffering from an overdose of vivid imagination. Take an aspirin and lie down for half an hour, you'll soon feel better,' and with a toss of her head, she rejoined Katy to listen to a glowing account of the school buildings, the conservatory attached to the house which would be an excellent place to keep a puppy while it was still making puddles and, last but not least, the important question of what puppy—big or small, hairy or smooth.

Demetrios waited till Katy had run out of questions and Hester was mentally fatigued with answering so many before he lounged over to join them, effectively putting to an end the debate on what sort of dog would be best.

'One that's small enough to be ignored, yet too big to sleep on your bed,' he decreed, 'and also, since Hester will have to look after it while you're in school, it had better be a nice, well-behaved and gentle type. Remember, if it bit Hester, she'd probably bite back!'

Katy went into peals of laughter at the thought and went off to her bedroom to consult the oracle—her newly acquired book on dogs.

'That'll keep her quiet for a while,' Demetrios remarked as the door closed behind the child. 'Now, let's get back to our conversation and your remedy for my over-vivid imagination. Is there a nurse in your family, by any chance?'

Hester, who had been idly fitting in several pieces of Katy's jigsaw, felt a warning prickle of goosepimples down her spine. Her hand remained poised over the small table and she appeared to be contemplating the half-finished puzzle with rapt attention, but her mind wasn't on it. He couldn't know! There was no way he could have found out! She'd been very careful about everything and super-careful about what she'd said— so he must be making a chance remark.

'What a strange remark.' She tried a piece of the puzzle and when it wouldn't fit anywhere, she tossed it back in the pile. 'You know I don't have any family except Vilma, and she's not my idea of a nurse. Whatever gave you that idea?'

'You did, with your suggestion that I should take an aspirin,' he chuckled. 'You sounded as though you were quite used to coping with semi-invalids.'

'But I am.' She was on safe ground now and could smile widely. 'Remember, I've been working with girls ever since I was seventeen, anything between ten and fifteen of them, and with that number, headaches are the rule rather than the exception. If you show too much sympathy, they'll decide the pain's too great to be borne and they'll go home, leaving the place understaffed, so I learned early to temper the sympathy with a brisk, practical approach. It saved a lot of hassle.'

'Yes.' He put a finger under her chin and forced her face round so that he could look into her eyes. He wasn't brutal about it, she felt no pain, only a quiet, implacable insistence. 'But the brisk practicality's only on the surface, my dear—isn't it?'

'All the way down to the bone,' she contradicted. 'I've got few emotions and I keep them under very strict control. Hardhearted Hester, that's me, and I pride myself on it.' Her eyes glowed and there was a wry twist to her mouth. 'How else could I have done what I've done?'

'Tell me what you've done,' he invited, and she faced him squarely, thinking up several rather romantic versions of her activities, dismissed them because they sounded too highfalutin' and came out with it baldly, no punches pulled.

'I put the black on my own mother—salted away the loot where nobody will ever find it.' She thought about that for a moment and qualified it. 'No, that's not quite correct. Like I said, I donated it to a good cause and then I hopped into bed with a complete stranger—you could hardly say those were the actions of a shrinking violet, could you?' She paused thoughtfully and an impish smile lit her eyes. 'I made on that deal as well. A glorious honeymoon, sitting in an ex-monastery on a rock in the middle of the Mediterranean—I swapped my bedsit for this,' she glanced round at her lush surroundings. 'I'm going to be installed in a house in the country and used as a breeding machine and you've just bought me a very nice evening dress! How could any girl be dissatisfied with that?'

'And you've also gained a charming stepdaughter,' he pointed out, 'and you're going to be an equally charming and devoted wife.'

'Hmm,' Hester wrinkled her nose. 'I shan't cheat on you, if that's what you mean. We made a bargain and I've no intention of doing you dirt.' Once more, her eyes sparkled maliciously. 'How could I when you've given me so-o-o much!'

Fortunately, the waiter chose that moment to come in with the tea trolley, followed by a middle-aged maid who scooped up the dress and went off with it over her arm.

Hester took a last, long, considering look at herself in the full-length mirror in the bedroom and stepped back, satisfied. It was amazing what a beautiful gown did for a girl—that and a great deal of care and attention to details. She had spent a long time on her face and it had been time well spent. Her eyes looked wider, darker and mysterious, her rather firm chin now looked much more delicate and her mouth was darkly but softly red. Her hair, drawn back into a loose coil in her neck, first brushed until her scalp tingled and then polished with a silk hankie, glowed like well waxed wood. She smelled of 'Arpege' perfume, but it was the dress which was going to catch the eye. Demetrios would have no need to be ashamed of her, despite her humble beginnings.

Turning back to the mirror, she admired the way the silver embroidery caught the light, making the black of the silk even more dense, and she took a trial step so that the side slit to just above her knee parted to show her long, slender leg and one high-heeled, black silk sandal. Nothing wrong there, she decided— it might have been a bit much if the dress had been décolleté, but it wasn't. It came right up to her throat, finishing in a little mandarin collar and only her arms were bare. She certainly wasn't suffering from over-exposure.

Demetrios came into the bedroom just as she was ferreting in the wardrobe for her camel coat, and the gleam of appreciation in his eyes made her blush. She covered her momentary embarrassment with a snort. 'Nobody will see this,' she threw the coat across her shoulders. 'I'll drop it off in the cloakroom as soon as we arrive. No,' as he took a pace towards her, 'I've done a lot of hard work to achieve this effect and if. you start mauling me, it'll all be spoiled,' she rattled on, words falling from her lips as she went past him to the door.

'Is Katy asleep? Has the maid come up yet? I hope you'll order something substantial for dinner, I had a very scrappy lunch in a cafeteria and I didn't feel like doing justice to those cucumber sandwiches at teatime.'

She continued chatting volubly all the way down in the lift, it was a good cover for her increased heartbeat and the breathlessness which had attacked her when Demetrios entered the bedroom. She had seen him in business clothes, in jeans and a tee-shirt, in a formal suit—he looked good in all of them, but now she was seeing him dressed to go out for the evening, which made him quite something. Had the situation between them been different, she would have gone quite starry-eyed with pride—his white shirt made his face just that little bit darker, his evening jacket fitted him as though he had been poured into it and his thin black evening trousers made his legs look as though they went on endlessly.

It wasn't fair, she mourned to herself. He'd no right to be so damn good-looking—he'd no right to smile at her as he was doing, as if he knew every thought running through her mind. He put up a hand to smooth his hair and instead dislodged a bit in front which immediately became a curl and flopped over his forehead, and she had to fight the desire to smooth it back with tender fingers.

The spate of words falling from her lips dried up suddenly and she had to turn her back on him and think very hard about Katy and Athene. She clenched her hands tightly round the flat black silk purse—it hadn't cost her a penny, it had come with the dress— and when the lift slowed, it was only stubborn pride which prevented her from throwing herself at Demetrios and asking to be taken back upstairs again. The whole of her was a screaming, molten mess of wanting to be made love to—she slid a glance at him through rather heavily mascaraed eyelashes and her chin lifted while her mouth tightened. He was almost smirking with triumph, damn him. He knew!

Over her shoulder, his hand came to press the release button on the lift door. 'Would you rather not go out, Hester? We could have a quiet dinner in the suite and an early night,' he suggested.

'Not on your life!' The door slid open and she stumbled into the cold dimness of the underground garage. 'You promised me a night out and that's what I'm having. I wouldn't miss it for the world! Hurry up,' she stood by the door of the car and faked a shiver, 'it's rather cold here and I can't wait to get to the fleshpots!'

The night-club was crowded, every table seemed to be occupied, and Hester looked around with well concealed awe. There were so many beautifully dressed women, so many jewels, and she was glad she'd spent so much of Demetrios' money on this dress. She was also glad she was hungry, it would have been such a waste to come to a place like this and fiddle with a fillet of sole—hastily she consulted the menu and made her choice before she took a sip at her aperitif.

'How long will it be before we can move into the house?'

Demetrios delayed his reply while he made up his mind about food. He took so long that Hester felt her blood pressure rising. 'What are you having?' He looked at her over the top of the menu as though she hadn't asked a question.

'Fillet steak, mushrooms, asparagus and sautéed potatoes,' she answered briefly. 'I asked you a question—when are we moving into the house, or is that another big secret?' Any change in her heartbeat was now entirely due to his delaying tactics. After all, he must have made some plans, and surely she should be the first to know.

'We'll talk about it later,' he told her dismissively.

'You don't want to rush things, my dear. Haven't you learned that a good meal and some wine mellows a man?' He smiled at her mockingly. 'We should have stayed in the hotel, the food there's as good as anything here and you'd have got your own way with much less trouble—pillow talk's always more productive.'

'I am
not
trying to get my own way,' Hester denied vigorously. 'And as for what you call pillow talk,' she looked up, met his gaze and flushed, 'I wouldn't stoop to a thing like that!' Her flush died away, leaving her face pale and cold. 'No, don't tell me I sold myself once and then ask why I'm being so fussy now.' She kept her voice low and hardly moved her lips. 'You helped me once when I was desperate, but it was only once. I promised myself I'd never ask you for anything ever again, and certainly I won't make capital out of the fact that we're good together in bed.'

'But you're asking for a house…'

'Not for me,' she interrupted. 'For Katy. It's what she wants and it's time she settled down to a proper life, an ordinary life where she has a home and family like other children. So, what about this house?'

'We have to allow about two months for repairs and decoration and then another few weeks to furnish it…' He was being reasonable.

'Rubbish!' Hester muttered the word under her breath, but he caught the movement of her lips.

'You said?'

'I said "Rubbish".' She moved aside slightly as the waiter put avocado shells stuffed with a creamy mixture in front of her and she picked up a fork and spoon, holding them as though she was going to kill whatever was in the mixture. 'Two months for repairs and decoration in an empty house! I don't believe it, unless the damn place is falling to bits—in which case you shouldn't have bought it! How long has it been empty?'

'A few months,' he shrugged. 'The wiring will have to be checked…'

'That's a day's work.' She was no longer biddable, although she managed to keep her voice down. 'Two months! I know you're a big man in your own field, but honestly… What's wrong with the house that a few fires and a bit of paint won't put right? And don't glare at me as if it was all my fault!'

'You could have come with Katy and me to see it,' Demetrios reminded her gently.

'So, it
is
all my fault. I just
knew
you'd find some way to blame me,' irritably, she pushed aside the avocados which she had hardly touched. 'I might have known you'd think of some way to get back at me for taking a day off! There ought to be a union for married women, perhaps then we'd get a charter or something laying down the rules and conditions of employment.'

'You're overworked?'

'Of course not,' she muttered savagely while she kept a sweet smile going for the benefit of anybody who might be looking. 'That's the trouble, I suppose. I'm not used to an idle life and there's so little to do—by the end of next week, Katy and I will have seen all the sights—twice! Couldn't I go down there and see for myself?' Try as she would, she couldn't keep a note of desperation out of her voice, and it was reflected in her eyes. 'Some firms will tell you anything,' she heard herself almost wheedling. 'If I could see the place, I'd have a much better idea.'

'You want this house so badly?' Demetrios poured himself a glass of wine, and raised an eyebrow at her empty glass. 'Want some?'

Hester shook her head, both at the question about the house and the wine. 'It's not that, I'm thinking of Katy. It's more than time she started to live a normal life—there's nothing wrong with the hotel, but she ought to start getting used to not being waited on hand and foot and it's all very restrictive. Please understand,' she was serious. 'In a home, a real home, she'd learn some responsibility, she'd have her own things around her and learn to care for them instead of walking away from a mess and leaving the clearing to somebody else. Oh,' she sighed exasperatedly, 'you don't even know what I'm talking about, do you, but I'm right, I know I am. Am I getting through?'

'Only in so far as if I don't give way, you'll keep hammering at me,' he chuckled, and watched as a waiter slid a plate in front of her, and when she had made her choice from the proffered dishes, 'We'll go down tomorrow, make a day of it. I'm pleased you're taking an interest at last. Tell me, are you an expert in moving house? Have you done it before?'