The Man at Key West (11 page)

'I'll see you tomorrow, then,’ he said.

‘Not tomorrow. I shall be busy with my pictures
then
seeing my editor. Sorry, Jay.’

There was a pause, then his tones changed as he
s
poke. ‘If that’s how you want it there’s nothing more to say,’ he said crisply.

Sue went up to her room, knowing that the hollow feeling in her stomach was half due to hunger, but she felt sick ... too sick to think of
f
ood. She washed her hands and face in cold water hut did not bother to change. Then, feeling more normal, she went down to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee.

The drink revived her flagging spirits. At least
she
was alone in the house and she could relax to a
c
ertain extent. But she was denied that for long. The door bell chimed as she was on her second cup of coffee.

Wondering who it could be, she hastily
sm
oothed down her tawny hair and went to see who it was.

‘Oh, hello,’ she said vacantly, looking into the pale grey eyes and quelling a shiver. Henry Cassells smiled.

‘Hello yourself,’ he answered with a gleam coming to his eyes as he looked her over appraisingly.

Sue made no attempt to let him into the house. ‘My father and Connie are out,’ she said with an attempt at flippancy. ‘I don’t know what time they’ll be back. Can I give them a message?"

He shrugged. ‘Aren’t you going to ask me in?’ he said with raised brows.

‘I’m sorry,’ Sue replied firmly. ‘I’ve only just arrived back from an assignment and I have to get
to work right away.’

‘In the evening?’ he exclaimed in surprise. ‘What’s a pretty girl like you doing working so late when you ought to be out enjoying yourself?’

‘I’ve been enjoying myself working—and now, if you don’t mind, I must go,’ she said without preamble.

He made no attempt to move. ‘Tomorrow night, then? How about it?’

Sue hesitated, knowing that she was dealing with an unscrupulous man who could harm her father in some way.

‘I ... shall be busy all this week,’ she said. ‘Sorry—some other time, maybe.’

He put out a podgy hand to chuck her under her chin in a playful feint. ‘We’ll get in touch, then,’ he said. ‘Tell Connie I called.’

Sue leaned back against the closed door after he had gone, breathing with the gasps of one who had been running. It was clear to her that Henry Cassells did not know that Connie had gone away. She put her hand to her aching head. What was going on? She had no intention of getting involved with a man like Henry Cassells. The trouble was, she felt that he would be back again quite soon to see Connie, and Connie would not be there.

Wearily Sue went back to her room, took a bath, put on her nightdress and a wrap and looked for a book to read before going to bed. She had not the heart to carry on with her photographic work or the article she was preparing. Far better to leave it until the morning when she felt less jaded.

The door bell pealed just as she was getting interested in her book.

‘Oh no!’ she groaned to herself. Who could it be? Had Henry Cassells found out that Connie had
g
one away? Had he returned to ask for her forwarding address, which Sue had not got?

The door bell pealed again. Whoever it was did not intend to be kept waiting. Sue began to tremble. Whoever it was might call back later when she h
a
d managed to go to sleep. She was almost at the door when the third ring came. With her heart
t
humping against her ribs she opened the door a
c
ouple of inches.

‘Hello, Sue,’ said Jay. ‘May I come in?’

He was inside the door before she could say anything and he looked down at her as she stood b
a
refoot and tousled in a pretty blue wrap showing long brown legs. Her tawny eyes looked enormous an
d
she said, ‘it’s after nine o’clock.’

‘So what?’

‘I didn’t expect you to call. I’m ready for bed. You’d better have a drink while you’re here.’

He was still looking down at her curiously. ‘You look pale and all eyes. What’s been happening?’

‘Nothing,’ she said quickly. ‘I’m tired, that’s all.’

‘Have you eaten?’

Sue bit her lip. ‘I’ve had all I want,’ she answered
s
tubbo
rn
ly.

‘I said have you eaten?’

She was leading the way into the lounge. ‘Have you?’ she asked.

Jay gripped her arm and swung her round to
fa
ce him.

‘Never mind about me. You either get dressed and come out with me for a meal or we eat here,’ he said grimly. ‘Are your parents out?’

‘Yes. I’d like it better if I went to bed. I’m tired.’ He let go of her arm and Sue felt sure it would be black and blue it in the morning where he had gripped.

‘Sit down,’ he commanded. ‘I’m going to the kitchen to find you something to eat.’

Sue sat down and closed her eyes. She did not intend to tell him anything that had happened and that everyone had left the house except herself. If she questioned him about Connie he would not tell her a thing. He was the sort of man who kept his business affairs strictly confidential. So she would say nothing.

He came with half a chicken and fresh salad on a tray. There was yogurt and sliced melon and fruit.

Jay sliced the chicken breast and put it on a plate, then pushed it along with the salad for Sue.

‘Try a slice of melon first,’ he said. ‘The juice will encourage your food to go down.’

Sue took the melon, knowing that if she did eat he would leave her alone.

She began to eat it, recalling what fun they had shared at Key West eating one between them and then swimming in the sea to take away the stickiness of the juice. Jay would not be thinking of that, she was sure. Already he had forgotten their short holiday and his mind was on other things.

She asked, ‘Why have you come?’

‘We’re going to a wedding in two days from now. Have you forgotten?’ he said coolly.

She gulped a piece of melon. So that was why he had come—not particularly to see her but to discuss the wedding of Gloria and Lee.

She said carelessly, ‘You could have talked about it on the telephone.’

‘Perhaps I was intrigued by your manner. I sensed a crisis of some kind.’

‘What crisis could there be?’ she answered, avoiding his glance. Her heart was beating rapidly at his nearness and she watched him pour out
t
wo cups of coffee.

‘That’s what I intend to find out,’ he said, passing her a cup of coffee.

‘And if I tell you there’s nothing to find out,’
she
answered, ‘what then?’

He picked up his cup of coffee and his eyes narrowed over the rim at her.

‘
You haven’t got some man upstairs, have you?’
he
shot at her.

‘It wouldn’t have anything to do with you if I had.
’

‘I know there’s no man here because your father would not allow it,’ he said. ‘Also you aren’t the kind to have that sort of relationship with a man.’ Sue started on the chicken and salad. At least it
gave
her an excuse not to lift her eyes to his face. She did not intend to argue with him.

Jay took out a cheroot and lighted it. Then after exhaling the smoke ceilingwards he looked down ill her for so long that Sue was forced to lift her eyes to his expressionless face.

‘That’s better,’ he conceded. ‘The wedding is at noon on Friday.’

She said perversely, ‘Which gives us three days, not two as you just said.’

‘Two clear days,’ he corrected her coolly. ‘And slop splitting straws. You haven’t changed your mind about going?’

‘No. Have you?’

‘Why should I, after I’ve given my word?’ His
t
ones were as metallic as his dark eyes as he added, ‘It’s to be a civil wedding, not a church one.’

She watched him finish his coffee, aware of his tenseness and her own state of undress in her nightdress and wrap. She lifted her glance to his, briefly, felt the heat rise from her neck.

‘You don’t sound very enthusiastic about it,’ she commented.

Jay looked down at the cheroot which he held between brown fingers, and Sue could not under-™ stand why she felt so nervous and strung up. She was not afraid of him. You could not be afraid of a man whom you loved with every fibre of your v being. She only knew that his unexpected visit had dulled the pain she had of a horrible sense of loss. He said slowly, ‘Perhaps I had other reasons for seeing you which will eventually tie up with what’s going to happen on Friday. I’ve brought your present—the one you refused the other day.’

He extracted a small packet from his pocket and offered her the square thick envelope.

Sue took it and stared at him wide-eyed, but he was not forthcoming.

‘Go on, open it,’ he said crisply.

Sue wished her fingers did not tremble so much as she struggled with the seal. There was a small case inside and she had noticed the name of a jeweller with a crest on the envelope.

Again she glanced up at Jay, but he had walked the length of the room out of her vision.

The ring she unwrapped lay in a velvet bed to shoot dazzling lights into her bewildered face. A ruby surrounded by diamonds in a claw setting ... ‘A ring, Jay?’ she exclaimed in amazement. ‘For me?’

‘I’d like you to try it for size,’ he said, coming to a halt by her.

Her face cleared into a smile. ‘Oh, you mean I’m to try it for size for Gloria? But we might not take the same size?’

She slipped it on her finger and it fitted, to her amazement. She laughed, a husky sweet sound, and li
fte
d it up for the light to bounce off the gems.

‘
Don’t tell me this is Lee’s wedding present to
me?’
she said. ‘I know people do outrageous things
these
days, but Gloria wouldn’t be wildly excited to
se
e this if it’s meant for me.’

J
ay’s smile was sharp. ‘You’ve had two guesses. Why not make a third?’

The colour slowly receded from her face as her
tawn
y eyes held his dark ones.

'You ... you mean ... that it’s from you ... to
...
to me?’ she stammered.

‘
E
xactly. I want you to marry me o
n
Friday.’

‘
You must be joking!’ she gasped, and tried to pull off the ring. It refused to come off. ‘Take it o
ff
this instant!’

There was devilment in his eyes. ‘Aren’t you
ta
king a risk in asking me to come that close in your present state of undress?’ he said softly, dangerously.

She stopped struggling to prise off the ring and look at him open-mouthed.

‘Have you been drinking?’ she demanded angrily.

He grimaced mockingly. ‘I had champagne with my meal earlier on this evening and I probably drank your share with Gloria and Lee. But I must admit I’ve been feeling rather strange for quite some time now since knowing you.’

‘Since knowing me?’ she echoed. ‘You mean because you didn’t get your own way with me?’

His eyebrows lifted infuriatingly. ‘That could be it.’

Sue gave up eating and pushed her plate away. The ring shone mockingly up at her and she thought how wonderfully happy it would have made her in different circumstances.

‘I don’t think that’s funny,’ she muttered as the colour came flooding back into her face.

‘Neither do I,’ was the reply. ‘In fact it’s decidedly painful.’

Sue was thinking swiftly about other things which to her were painful. One was the fact that only Jay appeared to be in a position to help Connie in whatever mess she was in. She thought with a quiver of Henry Cassells’ visit and those calculating eyes of his undressing her as she had stood facing him at the door. What menaced Connie also menaced her father, and she was going to do all she could for him.

If she married Jay until the matter bothering Connie was settled she could still get an annulment. Her whole body went cold at such a cold-blooded thought. But she would do it. Once she was his; wife Jay would have no other option than to protect her family. It was like a sword thrust to her heart to think that Jay did not love her—he just did not enjoy being beaten by anyone much less a slip of a girl.

She said huskily, ‘Will you give me time to thinks it over?’

‘Until tomorrow? I have to go away tomorrow at ten and I won’t be back until Thursday. I must know before I leave.’

She threw out a hand. ‘I’ve just started a new job. I want to give it a trial. It means a lot to me.’