Stormspell (16 page)

'Yes'm.' Celeste moved towards the door, the heated scent of her body musky in the afternoon air. 'You coming out now? Or is you going to hide in here for the rest of the day?'

'I'm not hiding,' protested Ruth indignantly. Then, aware of Celeste's scepticism, she said: 'All right. Where is Mr Howard? I'll ask him if he'd like some tea.'

'Mr Howard, he drinking a cool beer,' asserted Celeste with confidence. 'Sitting on that verandah, where he been all afternoon.'

Ruth acknowledged this with a nod of her head, and after Celeste had made a reluctant departure, she left her cubbyhole and emerged into the living room. It was cooler in the larger room, and cooler still in the hall, with the breeze drifting through the open doorway. She could see Dominic at once, seated in one of the basketweave chairs, his feet propped on the verandah rail, an empty can of lager hanging loosely from his fingers.

'Hello.' she greeted him, stepping out of the shadows, and with a lithe, easy movement he swung his legs to the floor and got to his feet.

'Hi.' he responded civilly. 'Finished studying?'

'For the present.' she conceded, walking to the rail and resting her palms upon it. it's been a beautiful afternoon, hasn't it?'

'Has it?'

He was not making it easy for her, and she glanced at him over her shoulder. 'Doctor Francis didn't come.'

'Apparently not.'

'I wonder why?'

'I guess he didn't realise it was that urgent.' he remarked brusquely, it looks as if you're stuck with me until tomorrow.'

Ruth half turned. 'I—we don't mind.' she murmured, but it was evident from his expression that he didn't believe her.

Ruth turned to look back at the ocean. She was guiltily aware that her father had not minced his words earlier, and it could not be pleasant being confined in a place where one felt one was not wanted. But her father was old—and sick—she excused him quickly, unwilling to indulge in any criticism of her parent, even if his reception of their visitor had been less than enthusiastic.

'So,' she persisted now, trying to act casually, 'what have you been doing all afternoon?'

'Well, not looking for the remains of my boat,' Dominic assured her dryly. 'I went for a walk, actually. but not too far. You should have come with me. I found a pelican's nest.'

'Did you?' Ruth turned eagerly to face him, resting her slim thighs against the wooden balustrade. 'Where was it? Along the beach? I know there's a colony there. You should see them diving for fish.' She laughed, forgetting for the moment to whom she was talking. 'They swoop down like meteors!' She made a swooping motion of her hand. 'They practically submerge themselves in the water.'

'I know.' Dominic's tawny eyes narrowed as they rested on the animated curve of her face, and she was momentarily hypnotised by his intent gaze. Then he looked abruptly away, moving his shoulders in a dismissing gesture and saying briefly: 'I spent some time in Florida last year. They're common enough there.'

She sensed his withdrawal, and was hurt by it. Somehow it was always like this between them, she thought, wishing she was more experienced, more
sophisticated.
Here she was. telling him things he could probably tell her. and more comprehensively. The trouble was. although she was well educated, she was not experienced, and she hadn't anything to say that was new or original.

As if aware of her confusion, he left her then, excusing himself to go into the house. She guessed he was going to seek the solitude of his room, and left, staring at an empty chair, Ruth felt an overwhelming sense of inadequacy suddenly. Compared to his, her life did seem pointless, somehow, and with insight she realised why her father objected so strongly to their association. He was afraid Dominic might influence her, and while she might argue against this, undeniably, he had.

Father Andreas arrived in the early evening, and with some relief Ruth invited him to stay for supper.

'Doctor Francis was supposed to come this afternoon,' she confided to the elderly priest, as they waited for her father to join them. 'But he didn't arrive, and I know Daddy would welcome your company.'

Father Andreas looked less convinced of this, but Professor Jason's attitude when he came to greet the priest was more enthusiastic than usual, and he was disarmed.

'Of course, stay to supper,' he urged, when he heard of Ruth's invitation. 'I'm sure our guest will be glad of alternative companionship, and it's some time since we shared a bottle of wine.'

Father Andreas smiled. 'As you say. Professor,' he affirmed, with quiet acceptance, and Ruth was relieved that the uneasy threesome of lunch was not to be repeated.

Dominic joined them soon after, and over dinner, he and Father Andreas discussed the Greek's homeland. It appeared that Dominic knew Salonika quite well, and he was willing to answer the priest's questions, and reassure him that the city had been completely restored to its former glory.

'So many Byzantine churches,' exclaimed Father Andreas, spreading his hands. 'So much beauty, so much devastation. The history of Salonika is the history of the world.'

'The city is called Thessaloniki now,' Dominic remarked ruefully, but Father Andreas was not to be moved.

'Salonika it will always be for me,' he declared staunchly, and Professor Jason scoffed a little.

'You don't move with the times, Andreas,' he commented provokingly. 'Like your religion, you're steeped in myths and legends: past victories, past glories; when are you going to accept that this is the twentieth century?'

Father Andreas was not offended. 'Perhaps I am a little old-fashioned,' he acknowledged, with a shrug of his thin shoulders. 'But so are you. or you would not be living here, allowing your undoubted talents as a teacher to go to waste.'

Professor Jason frowned, not caring for this turn of the conversation. 'Mine was a question of priorities,' he declared crisply. 'Not an inability to cope with a world gone mad!'

Father Andreas moved his head thoughtfully from side to side. 'Yes, yes,' he said, 'I suppose the world did go a little mad in 1940. But my faith did not falter.'

'Your faith!' Professor Jason shook his head. 'How can you believe in all that mumbo-jumbo!'

'Daddy!'

Ruth's protest was instinctive, but Father Andreas only smiled. 'Your father and I have had this argument many times, my child.' he told her gently. 'Unfortunately, he will only see what his eyes tell him is true. He does not allow the belief that man is not the all-powerful being he thinks he is. Yet without that belief man is only half alive.'

'Another half truth. Andreas?' enquired the Professor scornfully. 'A man of intelligence can distinguish between fact and fiction, can bring a scientific mind to bear. We all know where we came from—'

'—but it is where we are going that interests me,' retorted Father Andreas triumphantly, and Ruth, recognising the start of yet another theological debate, started to clear the table.

The kitchen was empty when Ruth carried in the tray, and she was unloading the dirty dishes into the sink when she heard footsteps behind her. Glancing round, she found Dominic depositing two tureens on the table, and she forced a nervous smile when his eyes encountered hers.

'Daddy's lecturing on his favourite subject,' she explained, half apologetically. 'He and Father Andreas always get around to religion sooner or later.-

Dominic straightened, pushing his hands into the low waistband of his jeans. With his shirt unbuttoned at the collar to expose the brown column of his throat- his smooth silver-fair hair brushing the neckband at his nape, he emanated the kind of sexual attraction Ruth had hitherto never encountered, but that didn't prevent her from responding to it. On the contrary, she had never been more aware of him than she was tonight, and just watching him brought a disturbing unsteadiness to her knees.

'Where's Celeste?' Dominic asked now. keeping his opinion of her father to himself, and Ruth shrugged.

'I don't know.' she admitted, leaving the dishes to soak and drying her hands. 'Is there something you want? Perhaps I can get it for you.'

'I don't think so.' Dominic looked thoughtfully round the kitchen, and as he did so they heard a squeal of excitement from outside. It was unmistakably Celeste, and Ruth beat Dominic to the door by only a hair's breadth. He came up hard behind her as she halted uncertainly on the threshold, and she didn't know which disturbed her most, the sight of Celeste, her skirts high above her knees on the back of her cousin's motor-cycle, or the compelling pressure of Dominic's muscled frame behind her.

It was obvious that the black man in charge of the motor-cycle had coasted the last few yards. There had been no sound, and a motor-cycle's engine would have carried to the house. Clearly, Celeste had taken no notice of her employer's dictates, and she scrambled off now. giggling as she exposed more of her plump thighs.

'There, you see,' she said, speaking to Dominic, as he put Ruth firmly aside and went to join them. 'Didn't I tell you my cousin'd do anything for me?'

Harold, for that was who it must be, Ruth guessed, grinned, showing broad white teeth. 'If'n you want to borrow this m'chine, Mr Howard, sir, you're mighty welcome.'

Dominic cast a speculative glance back at Ruth, and then inclined his head. 'Two-fifty.' he remarked. 'It's a powerful little motor. It must be ten years since I rode one of these.'

'You're not going to ride it—are you?' Ruth spoke urgently at first, and then tempered her protest with a question, i mean, it's dark. Wh-where could you go now?'

Dominic grimaced, 'I don't know. You tell me.' He turned back to Harold, who was getting off the machine. 'Has it got fuel?'

'Gas? Yes. sir. I filled it up m'self.'

'Good.'

Dominic hesitated only a moment before taking the bike from him and swinging his leg across the saddle. Then, straddling the machine, he tested it for weight and control. It was light, and manoeuvrable. and he gave the three of them a whimsical look.

'Okay.' he said, wheeling it round in a semi-circle. 'I'll give it a go. Anyone want to come with me?'

Celeste looked at Ruth, her dark eyes slightly malicious. 'You want to go. honey?' she enquired in a silky voice. 'Or you going to let Celeste ride pillion?-'

Ruth's mouth felt dry. 'My father—Father Andreas—' she began, but Celeste only scoffed.

'What they doing?' she demanded. 'Arguing, as usual? Hell, ain't no one going to miss you for half an hour. Leave it to Celeste.'

'Perhaps you ought to stay here.' Dominic remarked now. flatly. 'As you say, we wouldn't want to upset your father, would we?'

Ruth's fists clenched at her sides. 'I—I've never ridden a motor-cycle before,' she exclaimed, in her own defence, and Celeste snorted.

'Ain't but only one way to learn. Missy,' she taunted, linking her arm with Harold's. 'Ain't that so?'

'Are you coming or aren't you?'

Dominic was getting impatient, and Ruth shifted uneasily. She didn't want him to go. but if he insisted on disobeying her father's instructions, she could not prevent him. But to go with him—that was something else, something she knew without a shadow of a doubt her father would forbid.

And yet she wanted to go. Where was the harm? she asked herself. As Celeste said, her father need never know. No matter how culpable that made her feel, this was her last chance of being alone with Dominic.

'All right.' she conceded, rather breathlessly, and stepped forward uncertainly, not quite knowing how to proceed.

'Climb up behind me,' Dominic directed, supporting the bike with a foot on the ground at either side. 'Now. swing your leg across—that's right. And hold on to me.'

Ruth endeavoured without much success to keep her skirt at a respectable length, conscious all the while of Dominic's lean form in front of her. timid to hold on to him as he had suggested.

'You want to follow the track down to the harbour.' said Celeste's cousin now, coming forward. 'If'n you want, you can freewheel all the way down to the harbour, then start your engine when ain't no fear of being overheard.'

'Good idea,' Dominic remarked laconically, but Ruth could not see his face. 'Then where would you suggest? You'd better give me some directions.'

'There a track over by Guarder Rock,' Celeste told him, frowning. Then she looked at Ruth. 'You know the way. Missy. You can show him.'

Ruth nodded, rather jerkily. 'We—we won't be long. If Daddy misses me—'

'—I'll tell him you're taking a bath,' declared Celeste, shortly. 'Have a good time. It's the only way.'

Ruth wondered, and as Dominic pushed the bike towards the rise leading down to the village, she half wished she had stuck to what she knew was right. This was totally against her nature, behaving in this clandestine way. and she wondered what Dominic was thinking as the momentum sent them rolling, ever more quickly, down the uneven slope.

Her own thoughts were soon taken up with the need to keep her seat. With the wind rushing through her hair, streaming out behind her like an ebony banner, and the speed of the bike increasing every second, she was compelled to put her arms around Dominic's waist and cling to him for dear life. She had no experience in such matters, no understanding of balance or the centrifugal force that would keep her on the machine. She only knew a moment's blind panic, when she felt sure she was about to be lifted bodily from the smooth leather, before she gave in to the desire to hold on tight, so that she

might enjoy this exhilarating feeling of speed.

Dominic slowed the bike at the foot of the hill, turning to look at her in the pale illumination cast by the moon. 'You all right?' he asked, and she was forced to release him to allow his free movement, nodding wordlessly in answer to his query.

With a shrug, he turned back again, starting the engine, and this time the powerful throb of the motor added to the sense of elation she was feeling. They followed the track that wound up from the harbour, and round the shoulder of the headland. Despite her fears, the way was quite smooth, ironed out by years of use. With the moon's light and the powerful beam of the headlight, there was no danger of losing their way. and Ruth determinedly forgot her anxieties and began to enjoy herself. She had never done anything like this before, never travelled so fast, or so excitingly, never disobeyed her father quite so deliberately.