Bachelor's Wife (16 page)

A nightmare woke her in which Trevor's face loomed huge, misshapen, contorted. She turned on her bedside light and was out of bed as though trying to escape before her fear left her. She checked her watch. Only ten to three and she was wide awake, knowing she wouldn't sleep again for hours.

She moved towards the window, intending to look out, for all it was dark, as she wondered if Nash was home yet. Probably, she thought, but who knew what hours he kept. Then a sound behind her had her spinning round.

The man she had been thinking of stood there. His robe, appearing to have been hastily dragged on, and by the look, over nothing, had her enormously aware of her own scant covering.

'All right?' Nash enquired, quietly closing the door and coming over to where she stood momentarily paralysed. 'I thought I heard you scream.'

He was talking calmly, easing the agitation her eyes were showing at having him there in her room, naked under his robe, she knew now as she saw the hair coming up from his chest as he drew nearer.

'The light beneath your door made me think you might be awake.' They were standing almost toe to toe when still in that same calming voice, he asked, 'Did something frighten you, Perry?'  'I...' she began, the dryness leaving her throat, 'I had a bit of a nightmare. I—didn't know I screamed. Sorry I woke you up.'

'Coleman?' he queried, her apology brushed aside. 'Did he figure in your nightmare?'

She nodded. And not wanting to dwell on it, her voice husky, 'I'm over it now. F-forgotten most of it already.'

She thought then he was going to take hold of her in some touch of comfort to chase the rest of her nightmare

away. His hands did come up, but only reached as far as her arms, then they were dropped as he took hold of both her hands in his.

'I noticed the bruises on your arms when I was here before,' he said, letting her know why it was her hands he was holding, letting her know too that there was very little his eyes missed. 'Ellie tells me the bruising on your body is far more extensive.' She braced herself for what was coming. 'Was I wrong to bring you here? Should I have taken you straight back to the hospital?'

'No, Nash,' she said, suddenly able to speak freely to him. 'I'm very fair-skinned, so it's natural I should bruise easily. And ... and anyway, I don't like hospitals.' And in case he wasn't going to take heed of what she said and intended to take her there anyway, 'Please don't make me go back. The doctor—your friend Daniel, he said I was all right, didn't he?'

 'He said you should have rest and care,' he told her, his eyes scanning her face.

'Well, there you are, then. I've rested all day and Ellie is caring for me as though I was a day-old chick.'

That brought a semblance of a smile to his face. 'And you're going to rest again tomorrow?' he enquired.

'In bed, you mean?' she asked, not liking the idea very much.

'In bed,' he confirmed.

Perry didn't know why she was giving in so easily. Nash couldn't
make
her go to hospital, any more than he could make her stay in bed tomorrow if she didn't want to.

'Oh, all right,' she said, not very graciously, she had to admit.

But he wasn't offended. Well, he wouldn't be, would he? she thought, growing mutinous because it wasn't like her to be so acquiescent with him and she wasn't liking herself very much. He had got his own way
again,
so why should he be offended?      

'How about bed now?' he suggested. 'I'm not tired.'

'Would you be if I went down and warmed a glass of milk for you?'

'I don't like warmed milk.'

'Nor having your bottom smacked either,' said Nash, making her aware she was pushing it.

But he'd done it again. Her smile came out suddenly and sunnily from her mutinous face. 'I wouldn't mind a cup of tea,' she said in apology. And then, thinking by way of an apology after all he had done for her—half killing Trevor topping all she owed him—it wasn't enough, and her eyes misted over. 'I don't know why I'm being so argumentative. It's not like me—I'm sorry, Nash.'       

'It's not like you because you're not you yet,' he said kindly. 'You've been frightened by a nightmare—parts of it still fresh in your mind. That's probably why you don't want to get back into bed.'

'I love your psychology,' she said. And as though to prove him wrong, not seeing until later it was what he intended, she went over to the bed, forgetful for the moment that close up he could see very little of her in the nightdress that tended to cling wherever it touched. 'Oh,' she said, seeing his eyes on her when at the bed she turned to give him a cocky 'So there!' look. Without thinking about it she dived in among the covers, almost crying out loud at the pain that shrieked through her.

Nash didn't look smug, he looked concerned if anything as he saw her wincing expression, but his voice sounded smug as he said, 'That'll larn you!'

'Pig,' she said, and didn't mind when he leaned over to put her covers straight that he placed a gentle kiss on her mouth, then asked as quietly as he had when he came in:

'All right?' '

'Fine,' she told him, and saw his lips curve that, feel

half dead though she might, she wasn't going to let anyone know it.

'Sugar?' he asked, and Perry felt quite light-hearted as she quickly recalled that he was going to make her a cup of tea.

'No, thanks,' she smiled, and lay down after he had gone, curled up on her side, her eyes closing as she wondered why she had ever been afraid of him. He was quite nice really, given he did have a sharp side it was better not to tangle with. He had been ready to murder Trevor anyway, But would he really have spanked her rear end as he threatened? The answer came back—yes, yes, he would. But he hadn't, she thought. When it had looked as though things were going to cut up rough she had smiled at him, backed down, and he had been kind to her.

She awakened at dawn to find her bedside light still on and that a cup of cold tea was standing there, and she felt awful that after going downstairs in the dead of night to brew up for her she had been asleep when Nash had come back.

Had he stayed to see if she stirred? she wondered, not sure she liked the idea of him watching her while she was asleep, for all he must have seen her unconscious in the hospital. Or had he merely come in and gone straight out again, leaving the tea in case it was only a light doze she had fallen into?

The next time she woke up she felt as good as new. That was until she uncurled her body and stretched and an 'Oooh!' escaped her.   

Yet whoever heard of anyone lying in bed on a Saturday? On a weekday, yes, when one was obliged to get up to go to work, the bed pulled then occasionally, especially on those dark winter mornings. But if that sunlight she could see was anything to go by, it was a beautiful spring day out there.

Perhaps Nash would have business in London today, she thought hopefully, her promise to him of last night weighing heavily, hope in her heart that she might be able to wander outdoors for a while. Well, he hadn't got where he was by keeping a five-day week, had he?

In a mind to have her bath unattended anyway—the thought of Ellie's distress, for all her caring, was something she didn't want if her bruises hadn't faded any this morning—Perry found her idea thwarted as just as she was about to flip back the covers, Nash walked in.

The business suit of yesterday had gone, she saw at once, and gone too went her hopes of spending any time outside, to see that this morning he was trouser and sweater-clad.

'You're not going to London today?' she enquired, wishing she had waited to give him a polite good morning before rushing in headlong to find out what his movements were. She could see from the hard look on his face as he approached that she had been far too eager with her question.

'Wanting to get back to London already?' he said toughly, misreading her completely. 'I would have thought you'd have had enough of that—animal's company to last you a lifetime.'

Oh, how easily he could make her angry! It was on the tip of her tongue to say Trevor wasn't an animal, just for the sheer perversity he aroused in her.

'It was partly my own fault,' she snapped instead, privately of the same viewpoint, that Trevor's behaviour had gone far past the expected limits of civilised humanity. 'I invited trouble,' she added, seeing Nash wasn't sweetened at all that she was. taking this line in defending the man who had felt the sharp edge of his knuckles.

'Oh, sure,' he scorned acid aggression striking her ears. 'What did you do, lie there and say "I've been a bad girl—here I am—rape me"? Your screams sounded genuine enough from where I heard them.'

'Oh, go to hell!' she flared, wanting to cry at how easily he could flatten her, her spurt of anger blowing itself out, her voice wobbly as that whole nauseating scene came back. 'I—I was terrified, you—you know I was.' She sniffed and searched for a handkerchief from under her pillow, then felt the mattress go down as Nash's weight had him sitting near her.

His voice had lost its hardness as she wiped the few weak tears away. 'So why do you want to go back to London?' he asked gently.

'I don't,' she answered, 'Well, I do, but...' Suddenly she found it impossible to lie to him. 'But it's you I want to go to London.' And, unable to look at him, she heard herself confess, 'I was hoping to get up when your back was turned.'

His laugh made her feel better. 'Wretched female,' was all he said, and she found she quite liked him with his face creased in amusement. That was until he added, 'That small shower that just came down tells me you're not as fit yet as you think you are. Wouldn't you agree?'

'Do you always have to be so right?' she asked, knowing she would die rather than let anyone see her in tears if she was well.

'Always,' he said imperturbably, not a scrap put out that she was ready to be snappy again. 'How about if you rest this morning, and if you feel up to it sitting out in that chair for an hour or two this afternoon?'

Wanting to be sarcastic, Perry looked at the chair he indicated, then found she was too grateful for this small concession to say anything that might have him changing his mind. Then she discovered he wasn't waiting for her answer but had stood up and was about to go. Her eyes caught the tea cup and saucer on the bedside table.

'Er—Nash,' her voice stayed him. 'Er—thanks for the tea.'

'Pleasure,' he said briefly, and went. Neither of them had alluded to the fact that she had been asleep when he

had brought it and that it was still there as he had left it, only now cold.

Being generally fussed over by Ellie, Perry had her bath and breakfasted, and alone once more, settled back to read some of the magazines Ellie had brought her, saying Nash had gone out by himself before shutting himself with his work in his study.

He
is
kind, Perry thought, none of the print in front of her being absorbed, as the magazine fell from her hands on to the bed. It must be a real pill to him that she was under his roof at all. Yet he had brought her here simply because he knew she didn't want to go to hospital and Mrs Foster was unable to look after her.

Again she made up her mind to get better quickly. She might, if she could find Nash in the right mood, even get him to take her back to London when he went on Monday. He wouldn't want her under his roof those few weeks he had spoken of, she was convinced of that.

He came in to see her again after lunch, but she thought better then than to tell him what was in her mind about Monday. First let him see what excellent progress she was making, she thought, as he came to the foot of the bed, picked up her dressing gown and handed it to her.

'The moment you've been waiting for,' he announced. 'Put that on and tell me where you want to sit.'

'By the window,' she said promptly, obeying his instructions, knowing his not asking her if she felt up to it could only mean he had found out from Ellie that she had eaten every scrap of her lunch.

She had her dressing gown on by the time he had carried the chair to the window, padded it with a blanket to wrap round her and had turned round.

'Just one thing,' he said as she was about to leave her sitting position on the edge of the bed. Grey eyes pinned her as she waited to hear what was coming. 'Just how much of your lunch was disposed of in the bathroom?'

Her pink colour showed her guilt. Though how he knew, as nice as the meal Ellie cooked had been, her stomach wasn't used to more than one big meal a day and a good half of it had been emptied from her plate and flushed down the loo she didn't know.

'Oh, you!' she sighed, exasperated, half afraid that for all his preparations he was going to change his mind about letting her sit out. 'Do you have to be so clever?'

Her answer was a grin that so transformed the sternness of him, she nearly fell flat on her face. 'It's a gift,' he said, adding, 'Come on,' when she was still unsure if bed was to be her place for the afternoon, 'let's see what sort of a job you make of walking unaided.'

It was an effort, in view of the twinges that had a go at her, to walk with her shoulders back. But she managed it, and was rewarded by his muttered, 'Game to the last!' as he "tucked the blanket around her and went to bring up a small table so she should have her magazines near should she want them.

She glanced through the window—and her glance stayed. The wide open spaces Nash had spoken of as needing spread out there before her.

Her, 'Why, it's perfect!' came involuntarily as she stared, held by the view. Green fields, sloping land. Trees, some in clumps others interspersed with a hedgerow patchwork. To the right a sizeable coppice, to the left more tall stately trees, not another house in sight.

Nash came to stand by her shoulder, looking, she thought, in the same direction as herself as he remarked, 'Glad you like it.' But for all his comment had been easy, suddenly she was aware of tension, where before there had been none.

She turned her head quickly, sunlight glinting on the gold of her hair, and saw he wasn't looking at the view but at her. His eyes went from her mouth to her hair, and back again to her mouth. And in that moment, Perry knew Nash was going to kiss her.