`I'd like a word with you, Melanie.'
Melanie's knees felt weak. So much for thinking that she had got off lightly after her exhibition last night! He had only been waiting for Celia's departure, and she ought to have realised that.
`In the study, please,' he ordered.
As Julian preceded her along the passage to his study, Melanie began frantically working out just how she would explain her behaviour. It had all seemed
reasonable at the time, but looking at it in the cold light of day, she had a lot to answer for, and she knew it.
However, by the time they were in the study, her thoughts had changed. She was no longer on the defensive. She had played the part she thought he would want her to play. It wasn't her fault if she had got the signals wrong. If he had put her in the picture in the first place, she wouldn't have muddled her lines. She hadn't had much co-operation, had she?
Julian walked to his desk and settled himself down, and Melanie was reminded of that earlier interview when he had put the terms of the contract to her. This, then, was it! She felt a deep sense of relief. The play was over, and she couldn't say that she had been a great success, but then she had never claimed to possess acting abilities, and if she'd known what lay ahead of her, she wouldn't have touched the post with a bargepole, not even if it meant putting up with that awful Makin man.
`Did you know exactly what you were up to last night?' he asked in a silky voice, throwing Melanie into a spin just as she was ready to receive her cards.
`I ' She swallowed, then collected herself; if he was out for a little bit of fun at her expense then he was going to be unlucky. 'I suppose I did the wrong thing again,' she said, feeling her anger well up inside her. 'I thought that was the way you would have wanted me to behave '
Julian's sharp, 'Why?' cut off the rest of Melanie's explanation, and left her floundering. 'Why?' he repeated harshly.
Melanie drew in a deep breath. All right, he had asked for it! The thought of her packed suitcase, and her aunt's nice little cottage, bolstered up her courage.
`I would have thought that was obvious,' she said coldly. 'I rather gathered that you were out to impress Mrs Talbot.' As soon as the words were out, Melanie knew that she had made a bad mistake. She could have put it a bit more diplomatically, but it was too late now, if the sudden blaze of Julian's eyes, making them look like chips of ice, were anything to go by.
`You did, did you?' he all but growled. 'And where exactly did you get that impression from?' he demanded.
Melanie decided to go the whole hog; she might as well, there was no going back now. He must think her simple if he was trying to deny this fact, but then her observations would be of no interest to him and she was glad to have Mrs Hardwick's to fall back on. 'Mrs Hardwick,' she replied. 'I don't think she had seen Mrs Talbot for some time, and she wasn't really thinking—I mean, she didn't mean to cause me any worry, and it was too late then to take what she had said back
`And that was?' Julian ground out.
Melanie's eyes flashed back at him. He did mean to have his pound of flesh, didn't he? 'That you and Mrs Talbot had been expected to marry—or words to that effect,' she ended crossly.
`So you thought it only needed a helping hand. Trying to make Leonora jealous, were you?' he almost purred, but he was furious, and Melanie couldn't for the life of her see why, unless it was because a guest at his table had dared to interfere in his private life.
`I very nearly took you up on that promise in your eyes last night, did you
know that?' he said smoothly. B
ut you didn't think of that, did you?' he went on blandly, as if talking about the weather, and Melanie's eyes widened as the implication hit her. 'I would be
well within my rights, you know,' he added goadingly, `and what would little Miss Prim and Proper have done then, I wonder? Crawled under the bed, or thrown herself out of the window ?'
Melanie's small hands clenched into fists; she could feel the points of her nails biting into her soft palms. There was no answer to that, and he knew it. Now that he had got that out of his system perhaps he would get back to what was important and give her the date of her release.
`Nothing to say?' Julian mocked. 'No, I don't suppose you have. I wouldn't advise you to play fast and loose with your next employer; he might not have as much patience as I've had.'
Melanie's cheeks flamed crimson at this very unfair accusation. 'How dare you?' she said in a low, vibrant voice. Tor my part, I only hope I shall be spared the indignity of ever again having to pander to a man's ego!'
Now that she had started, she found it hard to stop. She was hurting inside, and wanted to give as good as she got. 'What did you care about me?' she threw at him. 'I was just "available", wasn't I? A little mouse of a schoolteacher no man would have looked at twice, and certainly not you, who could have any woman he chose just by lifting his little finger.' She paused for breath.
`I didn't think mice had claws,' said Julian softly, before she regained her breath, but his eyes laughed at her.
Melanie could see the amusement in those all too knowing eyes of his, and simply couldn't bear it. `That's right,' she stormed. 'Go on, laugh at me! You can have another laugh with Mrs Talbot when you meet her later. At least I've lightened your day!' she
spat out as she swung around to leave, only wanting to put as much distance as possible between herself and this hateful man.
Her hand was on the door knob when she found herself swung round to face him.
There was no amusement in his face now, but a grimness that frightened her, and it did flash across her mind that he might strangle her as his hands framed her face. The next moment he jerked her into his arms, and the word she was about to utter was stifled in a kiss so fierce in its intensity that Melanie could only put it down to another form of punishment.
When he did let her go, her breathing was fast and uneven, and her hand swung round in an arc to deliver what she had wanted to give so many times before, a hard slap at his arrogant features. But she never made contact, for he caught her hand in mid-air and forced it behind her back, and before she could attempt to bring her free hand into action, he had caught that too, so that only her blazing eyes showed her feelings at this treatment.
`Where's the
little
mouse gone now?' he asked silkily. 'I knew that there was a woman somewhere under that placid exterior of yours.'
Melanie tried to free herself from his grip by moving backward, but this proved to be a mistake, because she found herself hard against the door, Julian's lean, wiry form giving her no escape from his suffocating hold.
`Will you please let me go?' she said coldly. 'You wouldn't want me to scream and have Mrs Soames in, would you? I shall if you don't release me this very minute,' she threatened.
`Mrs Soames is too well trained to interfere in a domestic tiff,' said Julian lightly. 'She's had a lot of
practice, if you remember,' he added meaningly.
With a sinking heart, Melanie had to admit that she was beaten. She was no match for him, and never had been. He would enjoy himself and she would have to wait until he felt that he had punished her enough.
`I've seen the claws,' Julian said quietly, 'now let's see if I can make my kitten purr,' and he released one of his hands to catch her chin, forcing her to accept his lips.
This was no time for Melanie to remember that she loved this man, and it was certainly not the time to try and convince herself that she hated him. Not with those firm lips of his gently tracing hers in a soft, insinuating way, demanding her response, a response that she didn't dare give, although her heart was urging her to do so. Only the thought of Leonora gave her the strength she needed to keep her wits about her.
Suddenly Julian let her go, and stood surveying her through hooded lids. 'So I was wrong,' he said caustically. 'Not a mouse, nor a kitten, but an ice maiden.' He stood away from her and opened the door. 'My apologies,' he said stiffly, 'for subjecting you to what must have been a very distasteful exhibition.'
Melanie somehow managed to walk out of the study, although all her instincts screamed for her to run, and once clear of Julian's watching eyes, she rushed up the stairs to her rooms as if the hounds of death were upon her heels.
By the time she reached her rooms, tears were cascading down her cheeks, almost blinding her, and she had to resist the temptation to throw herself down on her bed and weep her heart out. Julian might decide to follow her, and she was not going to let him find her in that state.
Melanie turned her swimming eyes to her case, neatly standing by the wardrobe, and the sight of it gave her confidence, as she had hoped it might do. There was nothing to stop her from walking out here and now. It was what Julian might expect her to do, indeed, hope that she would do, in which case he hadn't been considering Celia. He had been too intent on paying her back for what he considered insubordination from the ranks.
She had defied him right through their relationship, and had withstood every insidious attack, not only mentally, but physically. He just had to have one last go at her, unable to convince himself that there was a woman who could resist him, and that was her own silly fault, she thought bitterly, recalling the way she had looked at him last night. No wonder he had decided to try his luck!
She drew in a shaky breath when the thought occurred to her that he might have tried last night. She recalled the confident way that she had removed the chair from the door, and her absolute certainty that she would be able to stand up to him.
Well, she now knew the answer to that, and so did he. She had nothing to fear from him now. It would be all he could do to acknowledge her presence, she thought, and Celia would be too caught up with the arrangements of the coming trip to notice anything amiss.
Celia was back by mid-afternoon, and by that time Melanie had got herself well in hand, and was able to listen to her comments on the shopping trip with some degree of equanimity. They had not, apparently, met Julian for lunch, for Celia mentioned snatching a sandwich in a snack bar.
When Melanie had dutifully inspected the result of
her morning's shopping, Celia went off down to the paddock, and Melanie was left to her own devices again.
She decided to telephone her aunt to forewarn her that she would be with her at the end of the week, and she felt that the communication would do her good; she needed to feel that she belonged somewhere, just to ease this terrible ache of unhappiness inside her.
As she was about to make the call, Leonora I appeared in the hall, and Melanie told her that Celia
was in the paddock, to which Leonora replied, 'I know; I saw her. I came round the back way. I wanted
a word with you.'
Instantly Melanie was on her guard, for she had a pretty good idea why Leonora had sought this private talk with her. In all fairness, she was going to try to put Melanie into the picture, as if she didn't know the way the wind was blowing, Melanie thought caustically, and vaguely wondered how she was going to go about it.
Leonora's first question, however, threw Melanie off balance. 'Do you love Julian ?' she demanded.
Melanie blinked, then made a swift recovery. Leonora didn't believe in beating about the bush, evidently, and Melanie's voice was low as she replied, `No,' and hoped to be forgiven for the downright lie.
Leonora's features hardened and the warmth in her eyes died out. 'I thought not,' she said drily. 'So that was all play-acting on your part last night, was it? I rather thought it was. From my own observation, and from what Celia had told me about you, it was entirely out of character.'
Melanie looked away quickly from Leonora's accusing eyes. She couldn't even act the doting wife with any degree of realism, she thought miserably, but
she said nothing; there was nothing that she could say.
`Do you think that was very kind?' Leonora asked.' `And before you ask if it's any business of mine, I'll tell you that I'm very fond of Julian. There was a time when I don't know what I would have done without his help.' She shrugged impatiently. 'But that's beside the point. Let me give you some advice. Leave here. I can't imagine why you didn't do so before. I'm sure Julian will see that your future is attended to; he's a very generous man.'
Melanie looked at her. The advice was good, but there was Celia. 'Celia ' she began.
`I'll look after Celia,' Leonora broke in impatiently, `don't worry about her.'
At this point, Celia joined them. 'I thought you'd come and look at Popsie,' she accused Leonora. 'I saw you go by.'
Leonora promised to do that right away, and Melanie stood gazing after them, remembering the look that Leonora had given her before she followed Celia out of the French windows.
She might just as well have shouted at her, 'Get going!' and Melanie decided to take her advice.
The first thing she did was to ring for a taxi to take her to the station. She had no idea when the trains went, but they should be frequent, and she gave herself fifteen minutes to finish her packing.