Kitty Little (17 page)

Suzy rashly volunteered to sing to the tourists waiting at the steamer pier in Ambleside, and Jacob Warburton organised an impromptu scene from
Twelfth Night
in the market place at Kendal.

Within days of this huge effort they received not just one booking but three.
 

‘We’re in business,’ Kitty squealed, hugging Esme tight then rushing to do the same with Jacob and Suzy, Reg and Archie and all the other members of the company who were coming to feel like a family to her, everyone doing the same. She particularly noted the embrace between Archie and Charlotte, which was surely lengthier than necessary.

‘We deserve this,’ Charlotte said. ‘We’ve worked our socks off,’ which made them all laugh, not simply because of the hammed up Yorkshire accent but because, so far as the speaker was concerned, it was largely untrue.
 

Over the next few days engagements poured in. Fitting these into their diary proved quite a task, demanding several telephone calls to confirm or rearrange events. It also involved lengthy discussions about post office boxes and telegrams and the co-ordination of information with Mrs Waldron, their friendly postmistress who agreed to pass bookings on to them while they were on tour.

Their first booking was two nights in a small village near Settle in Yorkshire, then on to the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire followed by three in the wilds of Westmorland and Cumberland. More were even now being confirmed in places as diverse as Skipton and Preston, Harrogate and Workington. They were on their way.

‘You look quite worn out,’ Kitty remarked as she saw Esme take off her spectacles and rub her eyes in a tired gesture.

‘You look a bit peaky yourself.’

‘Thanks.’

‘It’ll all be worth it in the end, I dare say.’ Esme smiled then pulled a wry face. ‘No doubt it’ll be worse once we’re on the road.’

‘Probably.’ Kitty’s own happy smile faded to be replaced by a quick frown of concern. How on earth was she going to cope with a baby on top of everything else? She almost blurted out her secret there and then, might well have done so had they not been interrupted.

‘What a po-faced pair you are,’ Charlotte flung her arms about both girls and hugged them tight. ‘Come on, cheer up for Goodness’ sake. We’re on our way.’

Archie was beside them in a second, declaring they should celebrate properly and dashed off to return with a couple of bottles of red wine.

Rehearsals were forgotten as the afternoon did indeed turn into a celebration. Kitty’s thick brown hair was usually fastened up into a heavy chignon, worn very sensibly in the nape of her neck, and she always carried a small silver hunter watch attached to the waistband of her skirt, in order to time scenes more accurately. Today she left the watch off, and let down her hair, in reality as well as metaphorically.

Charlotte danced a wild gypsy number then Tessa played ‘villain’ music for Rod and Sam’s clowning. Reg and Esme became engaged in a noisy game of snap while Felicity Fanshaw and Suzy sat huddled in a corner chatting. Jacob recited various Shakespearean monologues before ending up snoring on the couch, well gone on the whisky.

Perhaps it was the wine which finally loosened Kitty’s inhibitions for she went boldly up to Archie and asked if he’d mind stepping outside as there were one or two things she needed to say to him. Charlotte, observing the quick exchange and seeing Kitty saunter away down the path, hurried quickly over just as Archie was about to follow.

From the moment of her arrival Charlotte had envied the trio’s close-knit friendship and vowed to infiltrate it. No one, in Charlotte’s opinion had a right to be happier than herself. For all he was a whey-faced, rather sad creature, Archie was charming, pleasant, agreeable, even rather sexy in a gentle, aristocratic sort of way. And if he were not her usual sort of man, then he certainly fitted the bill so far as the size of his pocketbook was concerned. ‘
Darling
Archie,’ she purred, slipping her arm through his and neatly blocking his exit. ‘Would you do me a
huge
favour?

He glanced down as if surprised to find her there, and smiled. Her lovely hair was all tangled, her face flushed from the dancing. She looked like a naughty child at a party, a most delightful imp. There was a magnetism about her. She possessed the kind of earthy, animal quality that no man could precisely put a name to but recognised as utterly irresistible. ‘Your wish is my command.’

Charlotte’s optimism soared. This was indeed progress, which so far had been frustratingly slow. She could see by the way he was looking at her that he was interested. She would often sense his eyes upon her, yet at other times he barely seemed to notice her presence. Too damned cautious perhaps. ‘You turn a girl’s head with your flattery,’ she said, reaching up to lightly kiss his cheek, so that her breasts grazed his hard chest.

Archie laughed softly. ‘Minx. And don’t you lap it up.’ He glanced over her head through the open door into the garden, his gaze narrowing as he watched Kitty walk uncertainly away along the garden path. He felt torn, wanting to be with both girls. ‘We’ll talk later. Kitty needs a word first.’

Charlotte clicked her tongue sympathetically but maintained her hold on his arm as she slid one hand over his chest, then stroked his cheek. ‘I need your help, Archie dear, with the teeniest little problem. I really don’t know how to tell Kitty, but I need to go away for a few days, maybe a week. Just to check on things at home. My mother hasn’t been well,’ she fabricated, adopting a suitably sad tone. For all Charlotte welcomed the bookings, she was afraid to neglect Magnus for much longer in case he did something outrageous, such as disinherit her. A brief visit home might sweeten him. And once the tour got underway, who knew when she’d have the time?
 

Archie frowned, looking vaguely anxious. ‘I didn’t realise you had a mother.’

Charlotte put back her head and laughed, revealing perfect white teeth. ‘Everyone has a mother darling,’ and offered assurance that she’d be back in good time for the start of the tour. ‘If you could just explain to Kitty for me? Please?’ She pressed her delectable body against his so that he could breathe in the scent of her perfume. ‘I shall miss you of course,’ she murmured. ‘There’s something so
exciting
about you.’

‘And you,’ Archie murmured, half to himself.

‘I’m glad you noticed.’ She was smiling tantalisingly up at him from beneath lowered lashes, lips pouting so that her meaning was all too clear. He wanted her. Didn’t every man? And she wished him to know that she would not be unwilling. Charlotte felt giddy with power as she always did when out to enslave her latest victim. Emboldened, she placed her soft lips against his ear and reminded him that her room was conveniently close to the back stairs. She couldn’t have made it plainer.
 

But Archie’s gaze was once again upon the door through which Kitty had so recently passed, searching the now empty path, almost as if he could see her waiting for him in the shrubbery. ‘Sorry, what did you say?’ He wasn’t even listening.

Charlotte felt a flush of annoyance and her eyes narrowed, but she manufactured a giggle to disguise her fury. ‘I said you and I could perhaps enjoy a little drink together later.’ He was making excuses, actually setting her to one side, and the next moment striding away, leaving her quite alone.

A cold wind blew a flurry of leaves into the hall. ‘Bugger! Charlotte swore loudly and comprehensively, revealing her true background in several more blunt words, then slammed the door shut and stormed upstairs. Once in the privacy of her room, she strode back and forth, ranting and raving, steaming with fury as she hurled books from shelves, following these with a vase of flowers that Esme had placed there earlier in the day. Never, in all her life had a man actually refused her. But she knew who to blame. Oh, indeed she did. And wouldn’t she make her sorry.

Warmly dressed in their winter coats and galoshes, they walked at a leisurely pace down the pitted track that had once been the main carriage drive of Repstone Manor. A bright winter sun slanted probing fingers through the bare branches of the beech trees that lined the way. Even the mountains seemed to be drawing back as if to let in more light on this crisp November day. Had it been Charlotte walking beside him, Kitty thought, the sunlight would have turned her hair to a golden halo, her elfin neatness entirely suiting the woodland scene.

Kitty drew the edges of her shabby, three year old raincoat close and linked Archie’s arm in the kind of friendly way she’d once taken for granted. Yet now, because of the tension inside her, it felt awkward. How would he react to being told he was about to become a father? All her worries about him feeling trapped into marriage rushed to the fore. He might even insist they abandon the travelling theatre project, sack the actors and give up on her dream, which was the last thing she wanted.

Kitty was filled suddenly with indecision.

‘Penny for them?’

‘Oh, I was just thinking what excellent progress we’re making, now the bookings are starting to come in,’ she prevaricated, then kicked at a stone, annoyed with herself for missing a golden opportunity. ‘We’ll be ready in good time, so long as everyone pulls their weight.’

‘Are you suggesting someone isn’t? Just because Charlotte has to rush home to spend a few days with a sick mother doesn’t mean she’s slacking.’

 
Kitty stared at him in astonishment. ‘Rush home? When did she decide that? She hasn’t asked for time off.’

‘She asked me, and I said she could.’

‘Isn’t that just a perfect example of her selfishness? Our final week of rehearsals and with all the packing to be done at the start of the tour, and she skives off. It’s too much.’

‘She’ll be back at the end of the week, in good time for our first engagement, Kitty old thing.’

‘Oh she won’t risk offending you, that’s for sure.’ The evening was bitterly cold and Kitty pulled her scarf closer about her neck.

He frowned at her. ‘And what’s that supposed to mean?’

Without stopping to consider the effect of her words, Kitty said, ‘She’s only using you. Having you run errands and do tasks she’s perfectly capable of carrying out herself. She treats you like a servant.’

The frown had turned to a scowl. ‘I like to help, don’t you know. Hardly turns me into a skivvy, does it?’

His displeasure at her criticism flowed over her like a draft of icy wind, yet Kitty felt quite unable to retract a word. Her heart was pumping like a mad thing and although she knew everything was going wrong, that all her carefully rehearsed phrases were seeping from her mind, she felt helpless to prevent them. Instead, all the envy and jealousy she’d nursed for Charlotte over these last weeks poured out of her. ‘She certainly overplays the Little-Miss-Helpless. It’s utterly nauseating. I’m only suggesting that you should be careful.’

‘Charlotte has had a difficult time,’ he patiently pointed out, ‘losing her fiancé and not having any people of her own to turn to. Would’ve thought you, at least, could understand how she feels, old sport.’

‘Yes, I lost Raymond but I don’t go round expecting preferential treatment because of it.’ She could hear her own voice sounding uncharacteristically carping and high pitched, as if the pain of her jealousy had destroyed all her sense of reason.

Archie had stopped walking and was standing staring at her, his face stiff with displeasure. ‘What was it, exactly, that led you to this observation, Kitty? Her open, friendly nature, or because she’s prepared to admit when she’s taken on too much and ask a man for assistance now and then?’

The sick sensation in the pit of her stomach felt very like fear. Kitty was terrified about the changes taking place in her body, invaded as it seemed to be by this new little stranger who was going to spoil everything and turn her life upside down. She hadn’t the first idea how she would cope. She longed for Archie to realise what was happening to her without her having to tell him. She wanted him to proclaim his undying love for her, to insist that
her
happiness was all he cared about, but she couldn’t for the life of her work out how to make him say these things. And here she was embroiled in a quarrel she’d never intended. Kitty became aware that Archie was still talking, still comparing her unfavourably with Charlotte.

‘Encumbered by that stubborn shield of independence of yours, you never seem to need help of any kind, certainly not from a mere male, and particularly from me.’

‘Now you’re being ridiculous.’ A small voice at the back of her head was warning her to play the helpless female, to own up to her own vulnerability. Yet a contrary voice reminded Kitty that the last time she’d shown weakness, she’d found her life taken over by a selfish mother and an engagement announced to a man she didn’t even love. ‘I don’t go around making eyes at a man just because he has money in the bank. I’m my own woman, at least I hope I am. Charlotte Gilpin, on the other hand, has already admitted to one engagement which could be considered above her station. I’m perfectly certain that she’d have no objection to another. She’s a grasping little gold digger. That much is obvious.’

The silence following this outburst was appalling. The stunned shock and disbelief in his face, the hard anger in his eyes made Kitty instantly wish every reckless word unspoken. Archie looked bigger, broader, darker of brow, somehow far more masculine and aggressive than she’d ever seen him before. His tone, when he finally spoke, was chilling.