Unknown (5 page)

For the remainder of the morning there was little time for introspection as Davina helped in answering the telephone and taking in flowers and telegrams of congratulation. Soon after breakfast visitors had begun to arrive in groups of two or more to pay their respects, for Mrs Brehm had lived in the district for more than fifty years and had long ago been accepted by the locals as one of themselves despite her English background. By one o’clock it seemed to Davina that most of the neighbourhood must have decided -to call and supplies of vases for the floral offerings had long since run out.

She was trying to squeeze another dozen long-stemmed roses into an already overflowing bucket in the garden room when Helen Williams peeped round the door. Spotting her elder daughter, she came right in. ‘I’ve been looking for you. Pamela and her family have just drawn up, so I’ve told Wilhelm to say we’re not at home should anyone else turn up to see your grandmother. Lunch is nearly ready and I want ‘Mother to have a proper rest afterwards. At this rate she’ll be fit for nothing by the evening.’

Davina laughed as she straightened up. ‘Don’t you believe it, Mum! Gran’s loving every minute and I’ll bet she’s got more staying power than the rest of us put together. My feet haven’t touched the ground since breakfast and I feel as it I’ve been through a mincer. I suppose there wouldn’t be time for a quick dip in the pool before lunch?’

‘Certainly not!’ Helen Williams’s reply was prompt and definite. ‘Wash your hands and come along. The caterers are due at three and I want lunch eaten and cleared away before they get here.’

Following the rest of the family out of the dining room when the midday meal was over, Davina was taken by surprise as a hand reached out to bring her to a halt. She looked from the long brown fingers encircling her bare arm and up to meet Rex’s eyes.

‘I hired a car when I arrived in Lucerne, and as your mother assures me she has no need of your services this afternoon, how about coming for a nm? You look to me as if some fresh air wouldn’t do you any harm.’

‘Hardly flattering, but I know after this morning I must look a mess. There wasn’t time to freshen up properly before lunch,’ Davina ended apologetically, for she was well aware that her make-up had long since rubbed off and during lunch her cousin Miranda’s bandbox appearance had made her feel even more untidy than she really was.

‘Would there be time for me to shower and change? This dress is ready for the laundry,' and as Rex nodded she asked, ‘But what about the others? Maybe I ought to see what they want to do,’ Davina ended, for it had not escaped her notice that during lunch Miranda had hardly taken her eyes off the visitor from Australia, and Miranda was unlikely to enjoy the snub of having her wishes ignored out of hand.

‘Are you trying to tell me you’re the kind of girl who needs her family’s permission before she goes out for a drive?’ Rex challenged, and there was scepticism as well as disbelief in his voice.

Davina got as far as a swift denial. ‘Of course not, it’s just that...’ when Rex broke in.

‘If you’ve better things to do, just say so. I’ll wait in the car fifteen minutes, no longer. If you’re not down then I shall go on a sightseeing tour on my own,’ and releasing her arm he strode out of the dining room.

Davina looked down at the faint marks left by his grasp on her arm and smiled ruefully at the ‘take it or leave it’ ultimatum. In a way it appealed to her, and the chance to get right away for a couple of hours was very tempting. Deciding to risk any possible repercussions, she ran up to the bedroom and in record time had showered, dried and dressed in halter-neck cotton top and thin coffee-coloured denim trousers. She slipped cosmetics and a comb into her voluminous shoulder bag and as an afterthought a bikini and a towel. She was back downstairs well within the stipulated fifteen minutes to find Rex Fitzpaine sitting reading behind the wheel of a large cream-coloured Mercedes.

Without getting out he reached across and opened the passenger door so Davina could get in. He made no comment as he switched on the ignition and put the car into gear. Trust him to select such a big car! Davina thought as the silence lengthened, then chided herself as she imagined Rex trying to squeeze his bulk into a Mini or one of the baby Fiats or Volkswagens. Determined not to reveal her thoughts or give him an opportunity to snub her by asking where they were headed, she turned her head to look out of the window.

But she was not a girl to remain silent indefinitely and as the village was left behind and the car gathered speed she said impulsively, ‘I feel exactly as if I’m playing truant.’

Rex glanced sideways before his eyes returned to the road ahead. ‘If you do, it doesn’t appear to be bothering you. Did you often skive off as a child?’

‘With a headmaster for a father? You must be joking,’ Davina replied, then added thoughtfully, ‘You sound as if you
expected
me to be a bit of a rebel.’

‘Now as I hardly know you that would be an irrational and a snap judgment.’ Davina sat silently, feeling as if she had been deftly put in her place as Rex went on, ‘You have a very interesting family. Have I met them all now?’

At least he wasn’t going to pursue the truant bit, Davina thought with relief as she answered, ‘All the immediate family, yes. We’ve some distant Brehm cousins, but I hardly know them. What did you think of the beauty of the family, my cousin Miranda?’ There was no reply and she rushed on, ‘Being such a dishy girl she’s much in demand and I think family gatherings rather bore her. I expect she’s had to give up quite a few pressing engagements to come for Grandmother's birthday celebrations, so it wouldn't be surprising if she were a bit fed up.’

‘Is she? I hadn’t noticed.'

Davina glanced at Rex through the corner of her eye. Did the ambiguous remark mean he too had spotted how Miranda’s eyes had lit up at the sight of a fresh face? She asked carefully, ‘You mean you don’t feel she's wasting her time coming to Gran’s birthday party? Miranda thinks so, believe me.’ She sighed. ‘I guess she’s used to a lot of flattery from the opposite sex and I’m afraid James and Paul won’t pander to her whims. Sorry if that sounds catty.’

‘I meant I hadn’t noticed she was bored. She sat opposite me during lunch and never stopped talking. In any event, I hadn't placed her as the beauty of the family. Your sister holds that tide, or as she matures.'

Davina's face softened. ‘Do you know, you’re the second person in the last day who’s told me that. I’m so used to Catrin it had never occurred to me how lovely she’d grown until James said almost the same thing last evening.' Then as Rex did not reply but turned on to the motorway she asked as the car speeded up, ‘Where
are
we going?'

‘Your Uncle Giles told me there's a hotel on the Burgenstock where there's a swimming pool and the views are pretty spectacular. He assures me it’s near enough to spend the afternoon there and still be back in good time for. the party this evening and was good enough to tell me how to get there. The bulge in your bag suggested you’d equipped yourself for all eventualities, so I didn’t bother to ask if you’d brought togs.’

Davina, a faint flush in her cheeks, turned to look squarely at the clear profile of the man beside her before dropping her glance to the strong brown hands holding the wheel. Catrin was right—beneath the calm exterior Rex hid a complex character. She said lightly however in reply, ‘Trust Uncle Giles to know every five-star hotel within miles! But thank you for inviting me to share your afternoon’s expedition. All those visitors this morning were a bit much.’

The hotel was the epitome of luxury, more like a grand country house than an hotel. When the car was driven off by a uniformed porter Davina followed Rex into the foyer, looking with awe at the opulent rococo-style decoration and furnishings while he enquired if they might have tea and use the pool.

They were shown through the gardens to where the swimming pool and changing rooms were concealed from the hotel by banks of flowers, and when the waiter had departed with their order Davina chuckled. ‘It won’t be at all the sort you’re used to. I’m sure they don’t serve tea-bags in hot water in Australia.’

Rex turned to face her and smiled straight down into her eyes. As Davina’s breath caught in a quick gasp and her pulses raced he said in his deep, soothing voice, ‘Don’t fret. Apart from yesterday when Catrin made the tea, I haven’t drunk a decent cup since I came to Europe. You should try the kind we make back home, especially at some of our out camps. Until you’ve sampled that, I reckon you haven’t tasted tea.’

As he finished speaking the waiter placed a tray on the table beside Davina and as she kicked off her sandals she burst out laughing at the expression on Rex’s face. He smiled again, however, as with a mocking bow she handed him the glass bearing a dangling tea-bag and a slice of lemon, and a hint of his smile was reflected in her own eyes.

Rex raised the glass to his lips and with a, ‘When in Rome …' took a sip of the weak beverage. He grimaced as he put it down. ‘Sorry, but even I can’t stomach that. I’ll go and change. Sec you,’ and with a brief salute he strode off to the changing rooms.

Davina sat back to finish her own tea before she too went to put on the bikini in her bag and join the other swimmers in the pool. She swam two lengths, then turned to find Rex had surfaced quietly beside her.

At his brusque, ‘That’s enough. Go and rest,’ she spluttered with astonished anger at the high-handed order.

‘Don’t be ridiculous! I’m not tired, and in any case you’re not my keeper.’

‘This afternoon I am,’ Rex replied bluntly. ‘I promised your mother on no account would I let you tire yourself out,’ and before Davina could think of an answer she found herself lifted like a child and put down gently on the tiled surround of the pool. As she scrambled to her feet determined to defy him, Rex heaved himself out of the water to stand beside her and Davina looked up, suddenly overwhelmingly aware that her strength was puny as opposed to his.

The sheer size of the broad shoulders and deeply tanned barrel chest so near it was only inches away from her bare shoulder made her catch her breath. Hastily she turned to where her towel lay and throwing herself down she closed her eyes to try to shut out that extraordinary feeling of helplessness which had washed over her. Rex’s swift and unexpected action in lifting her out of the pool had taken her by surprise and Davina was reluctant to admit even to herself that she had almost succumbed to a reckless impulse to touch him, feel if that brown back of his felt as silky as it looked.

I must be losing my mind, she thought, to get turned on merely by seeing a man stripped down to swimming trunks, and she tried to concentrate on the sound of the water lapping against the sides of the pool, the sounds of conversation in various European languages and the clink of glasses as the waiters moved around. At last they faded gently into the distance, or seemed to do so, and when at last Davina opened her eyes, she discovered Rex sitting beside her, quietly smoking a cigarette.

Feeling self-conscious, she sat up and he turned his head to look directly at her. ‘Admit I was right to make you get out when I did. You’ve slept for over an hour. I guess you couldn’t have slept too well last night Got a guilty conscience or something?’

Davina glanced at him curiously; it seemed a strange question to ask. ‘No. Should I have?’

He did not answer directly, simply offered to roll her a cigarette and when Davina shook her head said, ‘Then I guess we’d better be getting back. Unless you’d like a drink first.*

Davina shook her head again as she collected her things and went away to put on her clothes. Was Rex piqued that she had fallen asleep? Had he sensed the sudden desire for physical contact which had swept over her and been disappointed she had resisted the temptation to flirt? Maybe he was unaccustomed to asking a girl out to have her waste half the time in sleeping. But he did not strike her as a conceited man, so the unmistakenly censorious note in his voice was all the more mysterious.

They arrived back at Davina’s grandmother’s house to find the caterers engaged to provide the refreshments finishing the setting up of long buffet tables with Wilhelm hovering anxiously. ‘He’s like a hawk about to pounce as if the poor things have designs on the family silver,’ Davina remarked laughingly as she and Rex went upstairs together.

He smiled at her remark, but without replying gave her a wave before going to his own room further along the wide corridor. Davina found Catrin, already dressed, was putting the finishing touches to her make-up.

‘Did you have a nice afternoon? I wish you’d been here, though, to see Miranda’s face when she discovered you and Rex had sneaked off on your own.’

‘There was no sneaking about it.’ For some reason Davina felt angry at the suggestion that she and Rex Fitzpaine had made a surreptitious assignation.

Catrin she saw looked surprised at the tart reply, but she simply said, ‘If you want a bath, I’d grab it now. If you’re quick I’ll wait and we can go downstairs together.’

Davina did not take long, and as she dressed, Catrin entertained her with a brief outline of her own afternoon. ‘Mother wanted a few extras from town, so James and Paul offered to drive me in. I think they were as glad to get away from Miranda as I was.’

‘Talk about handsome is as handsome does,’ Davina said as she smoothed foundation cream on to her face, ‘I expect she’ll be wearing something ruinously expensive tonight and shine us both down. Pity she’s always so waspish.’

‘Not to the men she isn’t,’ Catrin remarked, ‘and as to shining us both down ... well, I think your dress is super. Where did you get it?’

‘Sales. It’s French. Do you like it?’ and Davina got up to show off the cream dress with its brown velvet ribbon ties at waist and off-the-shoulder neckline.

Catrin nodded approval. ‘It’s great, and that layered skirt really suits you. One thing about being pint-sized, we don’t have to worry about frills making us look fat. What about mine?* and she pirouetted on her size three gold kid evening sandals. ‘Laura Ashley, as if you hadn’t guessed. It was the only one of its kind and probably a sample.’