Hostile engagement (18 page)

When Lucy got up and washed, she saw the tell-tale

signs of her weeping reflected in the bathroom mirror, and bathed her eyes in cold water to find that that didn't do very much good. Ah well, she shrugged resignedly, she wasn't going anywhere today, and since her friends had stopped calling since she had refused invitation after invitation, there was little chance of anyone seeing her except Rupert.

When she rang her aunt an hour later, her aunt was delighted to have her to stay. 'I haven't seen you since the funeral,' she said gently. 'When are you coming?'

Lucy thought for a second or two; she would like to give the house a thorough clean before she went. Would Friday be all right?'

Going in search of Rupert after she had put the phone down, she found him staring moodily out of the sitting room window. 'I've just rung Aunt Dorothy,' she told him. `She sends her love—I'm going on Friday.'

Rupert accepted this piece of information without comment and continued to stare out of the window. Lucy wanted to ask him what he had been thinking about when she had come into the room, but realised her question was unnecessary; Rupert's thoughts were despairingly transparent.

Then suddenly Rupert dropped his moody air. 'I'm going out,' he said, his face showing sudden resolve, and before Lucy could ask where he was going, he supplied, `I'm going to see Archie Proctor to see if he'll wait for his money.'

Lucy watched his car roar away down the drive, knowing he had grown fed up with the inactivity of staring into space with his thoughts going over and over the same old problem. She couldn't see that going to see Archie Proctor would do very much good, instinct telling her Archie was much too sharp to let her brother promise to pay him at a later date when there was no likelihood of Rupert finding the money from anywhere.

Dressed in shorts and a loose-fitting cotton top, Lucy set about the housework. She would give the downstairs rooms a good clean out today, she thought, and tackle upstairs tomorrow. For what was left of the morning she was busy in the sitting room, vacuuming, polishing, dusting, flinging the windows wide open to let the sun come streaming in. At lunch time she felt hot, dusty and tired, but a ten-minute sit-down with a cup of coffee and a piece of toast removed the tiredness, making her wish she could get rid of thoughts of Jud that perpetually crowded in so quickly. Trying not to think of him was useless, she found, for as soon as she had banished him from her thoughts, fixing her mind on something else, he would again come unbidden to her mind. Trying once more to eject him from her thoughts, she wondered how Rupert was faring—he had been gone a long time; perhaps he was having trouble in finding Archie Proctor.

After rinsing the few things she had used for her light lunch break, Lucy looked round the kitchen and decided that was next on her list. Then having cleaned all the surfaces, she looked at the kitchen floor. More often than not she cleaned it over with the long-handled sponge mop, but today, more from the need to keep herself thoroughly occupied, she filled a bucket with hot soapy water and armed with a scrubbing brush and floor cloth, placed the movable furniture on top of the kitchen table and got down on her knees.

It was a large area to scrub, as she knew from previous ex
perience, and a hot June day was perhaps not the best time to do it, even with the windows open and the back door standing wide there was little breeze to cool her, but she carried on and had almost finished with just one more patch to do, .when she thought she heard the sound of a car round the front. Rupert, she thought, and knowing he couldn't have news other than bad, carried on with her

scrubbing, thinking to make him a cup of tea when she'd finished.

Her head down with beads of sweat clinging to her forehead making the hair around cling damply to her brow, Lucy was unaware that anyone had entered the kitchen until two hands came clenching hard at her waist and she was s
et bodily to her feet. Her yowk!
of surprise was broken off, colour surging though her cheeks, as gaining her balance she swung round and saw Jud Hemming standing there looking angry enough to hit her, but before she could find her voice and ask him what he thought he was playing at, he was taking in the appearance of her long legs with knees grubby where she had missed the kneeling mat, seeing her eyes still showing evidence of last night's weeping, noticing the sweat of honest toil clinging to her, and was biting into her.

`Surely to God there's no need for you to do that?' he snarled.

Jud knew they were broke, what was the use in pretending? Lucy thought as the pink flush died from her cheeks and she tried not to be alarmed by his very obvious anger. `Who else would do it?' she snapped back, and as he took a step nearer found she wasn't as brave as she thought she was, and added, hating herself for backing down, 'A-anyway, I've finished the floor now.'

`Then go and get cleaned up,' Jud bit at her. 'You look terrible.'

`Thanks.' She knew she looked terrible without having him confirm it, and pleased to find her anger against him returning. 'I'll go and get cleaned up when I'm ready.'

Jud looked at her steadily and she thought some of his anger was diminishing until he said with a dangerous quietness which told her he wasn't fooling, 'I'll come and put you in the bath myself if you're not out of here in one minute.

`Damn you!' she exclaimed, knowing it was no idle

threat, but she went just the same, and just to be contrary when she would have loved a bath, she stood under a refreshing lukewarm shower for ten minutes and pondered on the reason for Jud's visit.

She had never thought to see him again-well, apart from perhaps bumping into him in the High Street. Perhaps he had come to apologise for his behaviour last night —no, he wouldn't do that—if she was honest they were both partly to blame; she had goaded him into doing what he had done by throwing his more than generous offer back in his face. She was drying herself off with a towel before donning fresh underwear and a pretty summer dress of lilac-coloured cotton when she wondered if his mother was ill. The thought upset her for a while until she reasoned that Jud wouldn't have come to tell her that anyway, and if his mother was ill he certainly wouldn't come storming to Brook House so violently angry-which gave rise to the thought, had he been angry before he had seen her on her hands and knees scrubbing the kitchen floor? She dismissed the thought; she could work herself to a grease spot and Jud Hemming wouldn't care.

He was still in the kitchen where she had left him when she came down. The room had been put to rights, she noted, as she glanced cautiously at Jud, all the chairs were neatly pushed in against the table and her hastily abandoned bucket had been emptied and was standing on the floor near to the cooker.

`Where's your brother?' he asked without preamble, as she stood uncertainly by the door, his eyes going over her, nothing of whether or not he approved of the change in her appearance showing in his face.

`He's out,' she said shortly.

`In that case I'll talk to you.'

Briefly Lucy wondered if it was Rupert Jud had come to see, and felt angry that he should feel he would make do with her. She wanted to say a sarcastic 'I'm honoured', as

she had done once before, but suggested instead that they moved to the sitting room, and as Jud followed her in she paused to wonder how she could think of being sarcastic when what she wanted to do was to fall at his feet and beg him to love her the way that she loved him.

Jud waited until she was seated before taking the seat opposite her—she was struck again by his natural good manners and firmed her lips so none of the softness in her was apparent to him.

`What plans have you made for the future?' Jud asked, coming directly to the point. Lucy had known it wasn't his way to shilly-shally around, but the question caught her off guard, and her eyes widened as it came to her that somehow or other Jud knew the extent of the trouble they were in.

`I'm going to stay with an aunt of mine for a few days on Friday,' she said, looking away from him, playing desperately for time—she knew he didn't mean immediate future, her going away for a few days didn't concern him in the slightest, but since Rupert had settled nothing about the money he owed—even if Archie Proctor had agreed to wait, which she doubted-she wasn't about to tell Jud anything.

`Quit stalling,' Jud said sharply, letting her know she could disappear to the moon and never come back and it wouldn't bother him. 'I happen to know your brother is in debt way above his idiotic neck.'

Lucy let his comment about her idiotic brother ride, though she was -sorely tempted to flare up at that even though in her own opinion Rupert's gambling had been more than idiotic. 'What makes you think my brother is in debt?' she asked instead with as much civility as she could manage, and thought Jud wasn't going to answer her, then with a look that said, All right, if you want it with no holds barred, here goes, he said :

`I didn't think too much behind the reasons for your brother selling me a piece of jewellery. He had a jeweller's

estimate of its value made out in his name, I naturally thought it belonged to him—if I thought about his reason for selling it at all I probably put it down to the fact that it was something he no longer had any use for; he had told me it had belonged to his dead mother. When you came to the Hall claiming the ring as yours I realised your brother had stolen it from you.' Lucy winced at the word 'stolen', and Jud paused briefly before going relentlessly on. 'It was then I knew he must be in very bad straits financially—especially as I could see how much the ring meant to you. Then when I came to see you I noticed there didn't seem to be any hired help about the place.' Lucy saw Jud's glance flick around the room, telling her he knew that as well as the absence of staff, some of the furniture was absent, too.

Yes—well, perhaps we are a little hard pressed at the moment,' she agreed, though not seeing it as any business of Jud's.

More than a little hard pressed, I would say,' Jud said coolly. 'I happen to know your brother owes at least seventeen thousand pounds.'

Lucy looked at him aghast. `H-How do you know that?' she whispered, all pretence gone from her now.

`I made it my business to find out,' Jud answered, and only then did Lucy begin to wonder why he wasn't at his office; he was casually dressed in sports shirt and slacks—surely he hadn't taken the day off to pry into their affairs? `As the supposed
fiancé
of Lucy Carey of Brook House, I'm privy to certain information about you,' he added.

`Mr Arbuthnot,' Lucy uttered incredulously. 'The bank manager told you?' She was out of her chair, furious that Charles Arbuthnot had released to Jud, in the guise as her fiancé, confidential matter he had no business disclosing. `He had -no right ...' she began furiously.

Jud neither confirmed nor denied that his informant had been the bank manager, but ordered her sharply to, 'Sit down-I'm here to try and help.'

`Help?' Lucy queried. Jud Hemming was the last person she wanted help from, but she sank down again as he had ordered.

`Yes, help,' he confirmed. 'Now shut up and just give me the answers I want.' Lucy was too dumb struck on being commanded, and in her own home too, to 'shut up' to do more than look at him Then while she was searching round for some suitable sarcastic comment to floor him with, he was saying, 'You told me your brother had studied farm and estate management—is that right?'

Not knowing why she was answering him at all, though thinking it might be something to do with Jud's authoritative air that commanded an answer, she found herself saying, 'Yes, that's right. Rupert is fully qualified, he's very good at it, he ...'

`And is he seriously looking for a job?' Jud broke in, and again Lucy found herself answering.

`Yes, he is-but he doesn't want to move away from Priors Channing.'

`Right,' said Jud. 'Jack Gilbert has been helping me out, but he's past retiring age and wants to go as soon as I can find someone qualified to look after the interests of the farms and properties attached to the Hall. Tell your brother to come and see me, and if he's as good as you say he is, I'll take him on a three months' trial.'

`But—but ...' Agitatedly Lucy stood up, her heart brimming over with love for this man. He was trying to help, proving he wasn't as cold as he was looking now, and she dropped her eyes, not wanting him to see the love she had for him shining from her eyes as she struggled to get her words out. 'I know he'll be thrilled at the chance of working in Priors Charming,' she said quietly, while hoping Rupert would take advantage of the wonderful opportunity Jud was offering, but ... The light went out of her eyes; no matter how much money Jud would pay him, Rupert couldn't hope to settle the huge sum he owed.

`You're worrying about the seventeen thousand?' Jud asked, noticing her sudden stillness and coming to stand beside her.

Lucy nodded. 'Rupert comes into some money when he's thirty,' she said, and looking at Jud had a suspicion he knew about that too. 'In five years' time he'll be able to pay the money off, but I can't see anyone waiting that length of time, can you? And Rupe refuses to sell the house—it's all so impossible, isn't it?' she ended flatly.

Not so impossible,' said Jud, causing Lucy to look at him quickly, hope rising high within her as though expecting him to have thought of something both she and Rupert had overlooked. 'If Rupert works for me, he will obvi
ously need somewhere local to
live-there's
a
house available, but since you say he won't give up Brook House, I'd be prepared to buy this place off him and give him a written undertaking to sell the house back to him when he comes
into his ininheritance-meantime
can settle his debts and still live here.'