The Daughter of Night (21 page)

'Not your fault.' Hester shook her head, trying to be just. 'I didn't make a very good impression—I must have sounded like one of the Furies!'

'You certainly weren't very accommodating.' He shifted her to a more comfortable position in his arms. 'Twenty thousand in used notes in a paper bag—you sounded like a gangster's moll, but,' his lips curved in a reminiscent smile, 'you were so beautiful, and after you'd slapped me down, I started to make excuses for you, and by the time you practically threw me out, I'd made up my mind Vilma should give you the money and I was plotting how to get you into bed. I was sorry about that later, but at the time, I thought you knew the ropes. I'd some idea of hiding you away in a love nest nobody knew about, keeping you to myself, but something in your manner when we were in the restaurant made me realise that, after all, you weren't the type, you wouldn't go along with anything like that, so I grabbed at a couple of fortuitous circumstances and asked you to marry me.'

'Asked!' Hester squeaked with indignation. 'You didn't ask! It was an "either or" thing, an ultimatum. You forced me…'

'And after I kissed you, I knew why.' Demetrios found her mouth and there was a long silence. 'Mmm,' he raised his head. 'It's a bit different now—that first time, you were a bit passionate, but underneath there was a shy, beguiling innocence that took my breath away. You were taking the first step with me and I wanted to make sure you took every other step as well, and with me, nobody else! I was in love with you, Hester. I still am, and I think I always will be. I wanted you and I knew I could make you want me— rather basic, I'm afraid, but I thought we could go on from there to bigger and better things.'

Hester closed her eyes to hide the wild, leaping happiness in them as she pulled his head down to hers. 'Oh, my love,' she whispered, 'my very, very dear, dear love. Isn't it wonderful?'

'And equally wonderful that we're alone in the house,' he teased. 'Otherwise the daily would have been pushing her vacuum round by now and we'd have had to move!'

'Wake up, you disgusting little slut!' Demetrios was standing at the side of the bed with a cup of coffee in his hand. 'You've no thought for your family at all, lying here in bed till noon. What are we supposed to be having for lunch? All I can find in the fridge is a box of chipped steaks.'

Hester half opened her lids and looked at him drowsily. 'Spares,' she stifled a yawn. 'In case we ran out of beefburgers for Katy's birthday party.'

'Strange food for a birthday party.' Demetrios' eyebrows rose.

'My dear man, my very dear man!' Hester struggled to sit up in bed, pulling the sheet up to cover herself and flushing when she saw the derisory glint in his eyes. 'Where have you been this last ten years? Jelly and blancmange are O.K. for children, young ladies demand something a little more sophisticated like a barbecue on the patio and a jam session in the lounge after they've stuffed themselves. I bought beefburgers because I didn't think we could barbecue steaks properly. Oh dear!' as she looked around the bedroom. 'This place is one hell of a mess, there are clothes scattered everywhere. Do you always leave your trousers hung up on the floor, or is it a habit you've picked up over the last fortnight?'

He sat down on the side of the bed and ran a long finger over her bare shoulder. 'Do we have everything ironed out now, my darling?'

'Nearly everything.' She took a sip of the coffee. 'That's good, better than when I make it,' she told him.

'Are you hinting?' His eyes narrowed with laughter. 'Because let me tell you, my darling witch, I've no intention of taking over the commissariat duties, not when I'm keeping a woman in the house.'

'And you, taught the hotel trade from the bottom up,' she marvelled, 'Didn't you have to start in the kitchens?'

'I did, washing up!' Demetrios became insistent. 'Are you satisfied with your share of our bargain, that's what I'm trying to find out.'

'Hooh!' She handed back the empty coffee cup. 'You're just looking for compliments. You want me to say something to bolster your ego, but how can I? I've no standard of comparison…'

'And you never will have.' He stopped trailing his fingers across her shoulder to tighten his hand on her upper arm. 'And that's a threat, not a promise. Now,' he aimed a slap at her hip, 'get up and you shall have your lunch cooked for you just this once as a reward for being a loving wife.'

When he had gone, Hester scrambled herself into the bathroom and stood under the shower for a few minutes. All the clouds had gone except one, and that one loomed big and black in her sky. She hadn't feared Vilma's threat, not when she had been ready to pack and leave as soon as Demetrios came home, but now, everything was different.

She wondered how Demetrios would take such a story, and to give credit to Athene, it was a very good story. There was nothing unbelievable about it. What she had done once, she could easily be believed to have done again, especially when she still hadn't told him why she had done it in the first place.

While she rubbed herself dry and struggled into clean underwear, Hester pondered the problem. She could tell him now, tell him about Flo and the clinic— the reason she'd wanted the money, but—her mouth firmed. No, she wouldn't. What would his love be worth if it had to be founded on reason?

And then she smiled wryly at herself. What had hers been worth either? She'd been all too ready to condemn, although, even in condemnation, she'd still loved him and, even if he had been with Athene, she would have allowed him to wheedle himself back into her arms—but no, she couldn't tell, not yet, not even to save her happiness, not if Vilma's tale killed his love stone dead.

It was strange how his thoughts seemed to follow hers—when she entered the kitchen, sniffed and gazed appreciatively at the well laid table, the bowl of green salad—when Demetrios had seated her and spread her napkin with a nourish that made her giggle and then placed the dish of fried, chipped steaks on the table—

'You never did explain what you wanted all that money for, or even what you did with it.'

'No, I didn't, did I?' she agreed amiably. 'And I'm not going to, not yet. Are you consumed with curiosity?'

He chuckled. 'Not a bit. I'd like to know, of course, and you'll tell me some time. Answer me one question, though—did you give it to your hairdressing friend? Because if you did and it was an investment, from what I hear, your prospects are pretty sound, that young man's going places. America, I hope. I prefer to have an ocean between him and you.'

'Silly!' Hester reproved without saying 'yes' or 'no'. 'Crispin's certainly going places, and I also hope it's America—Hollywood preferably, because it's where he's always wanted to go. He aims to be a second Vidal Sassoon, and he's good enough, but we were only ever friends. He hasn't much time for girls, his career is far too important to him. Truly, he was never anything more than a very good employer and a friend when it didn't interfere with his career. If you ever threw me out, he'd take me back at once, not because he has any feelings for me but because I'm a good hairdresser, that's all.'

'It had better be,' Demetrios observed darkly.

Hester kept everything very light and merry for the next two days. She was waiting for the blow to fall, but before it fell, there was love and laughter, passion and sweet fulfilment, so she made the most of it. It might be snatched away from her at any moment, and she was determined to have as many memories as possible to carry with her into the lean, dark years ahead.

The telephone rang insistently, and Hester let it ring while she looked round the sunlit kitchen, planning where she would start—not that it took much planning. There was the dishwasher to load with the breakfast things and there was a small pile of good china and some crystal glasses left over from dinner last night—those wouldn't go in the machine, they would have to be done by hand—and the daily woman had once again rung to say she wouldn't be coming this morning. Hester sighed and hoped that if and when she had a family, her children would be a little more healthy than the daily's, who all seemed to be in daily need of dentistry, injections or a visit from the doctor.

The telephone kept up its brr—brrr hopefully as though it knew that if it did it long enough, somebody would dive to take the phone off the hook, and at last, with a sigh and a reluctant step, Hester went into the hall to answer it. Demetrios, who had given himself a few days off to get over his Mediterranean trip, had been callous about the non-appearance of the daily, but had relieved her of the task of driving Katy to school, and he was being very sluggish about getting back.

Vilma's light, chill voice came over the wire. 'You're still there, Hester. Do you think that's wise?'

Hester glared at the mouthpiece. She had been expecting this—possibly why she hadn't wanted to answer the phone for the last two days—and she yet had to decide what to say or do. She'd have to play it by ear.

'Surely neither you nor Athene expected me to vanish in a puff of smoke?' she answered irritably. 'I can't abandon Katy without making some provision for her.'

An arm came round her waist and a hand took the receiver from her fingers and she turned to find Demetrios at her elbow.

'Creeping up on me again!' she snarled softly.

'Having trouble with the boy-friend?' he countered in a low murmur. 'What's this about making provision for Katy? I'll have a word with him myself, make it quite plain you haven't a moment to spare,' and he clapped the receiver to his ear.

Hester hitched herself up on her toes to get as close to the earpiece as possible. She wanted to hear what was said, and she grinned sarcastically as his brief 'Hello' was met with Vilma's, 'Is that you, Demos? I thought you'd be in town at your office.'

Putting her tongue out at him, Hester dropped back on to her heels and with a flounce went back to the kitchen, where she banged pots and pans about on the stainless steel draining board and sang tunelessly at the top of her voice, before Demetrios came back into the kitchen and put a hand over her mouth.

'You shouldn't do that,' he reproved. 'You've got a lot of volume, but you're tone-deaf. Vilma seems to be in a bit of a knot, something she doesn't want Sandros to know about, so we're meeting her in town this afternoon. I've phoned the school and asked them to keep Katy with the boarders for the night—that'll save us rushing back.'

'Little Lord Put-it-right,' Hester scowled down into the perfectly clean sink. 'I don't see why I have to go with you, and I don't care for Katy being fobbed off with the boarders when she has a perfectly good home.'

'She'll be boarding next year in any case,' Demetrios told her calmly.

'Boarding?' Hester's voice rose an octave. 'For heaven's sake, why? We only live five miles from the school, and it's no trouble to drive her there and bring her home…'

'But next year, you might be otherwise occupied.' His calm broke up and his eyes sparkled. 'You can't drive a Mini while you're dandling a baby on your lap.'

'I don't want Katy to board,' Hester said mutinously. 'I don't think she'll be happy…'

'Nonsense,' he broke in on her. 'She'll be perfectly happy once she settles in, she's quite well able to look after herself and very adaptable. It'll be good for her, and besides…'

'Oh yes, I know,' she was becoming cross. 'I'm going to be having my hands full with the first of my fourteen children!'

'Be a good girl and I'll cut it to six.' He gave her a pat on the shoulder and wandered off to his den, a small room at the back of the house, too small to have been included in the estate agent's list.

Hester prepared lunch and then went upstairs to look in her wardrobe. The things she'd hauled out yesterday were bound to need pressing, and she hadn't much choice anyway, not unless a pair of slacks and a cotton shirt would do—she had plenty of those.

'There's quite a nice boutique in Esher, I passed it on my way back this morning.' Once again Demetrios was standing behind her, peering over her shoulder at the row of hangers, and she hadn't heard a sound—the sound of his voice startled her and she swung round.