The Youngest Bridesmaid (21 page)

She stopped speaking abruptly as she felt the sudden chill in Pier
’
s regard.

“
You
’
re talking a great deal of rubbish,
”
he said coldly.
“
The speculations of a rather ignorant old servant should hardly concern you, and whatever
Tibby thinks you have largely yourself to blame. You give so much away.
”

“
How can I help it when you made it so clear at the beginning—separate rooms and—and everything? It was you who gave too much away, not me?
”

“
At least I didn
’
t confide your apprehensions to Melissa.
”

“
What do you mean?
”

“
You know very well, my, dear. You begged her to remain in the first place as a possible distraction, and now you
’
re stuck with her you have second thoughts.
”

“
You know that
’
s not true! If Melissa told you I had confided in her she did it for her own ends, and one needn
’
t look very far for them.
”

“
Indeed?
”

“
Yes,
indeed
! You called her bluff, you see, by marrying me instead of chasing after her, and now she has regrets.
”

“
Possibly we all have regrets,
”
he said, sounding suddenly very angry,
“
but whatever yours may happen to be, don
’
t imagine that you can use your decorative cousin as a red herring. We
’
ll see if you
’
re so pleased to be rid of a convenient excuse when I send her home tomorrow.
”

“
Oh, Piers, we
’
re quarrelling...
”
Lou said inadequately, valiantly resisting a sudden desire to cry. She could not know that to give way to tears then might have broken down his resistance, for she had none of Melissa
’
s instinctive knowledge of the right and the wrong moment for exercising feminine wiles, so she merely sounded petulant and childish.

“
Hardly a quarrel,
”
he replied crushingly.
“
The whole thing
’
s a storm in a teacup and not worth any loss of temper. You
’
re carrying your make
-
believe a little far, Cinderella, when it comes to turning Tibby and Melissa into a witch and the wicked fairy respectively. You must learn to grow up.
”

“
One can
’
t,
”
said Lou, listening to an ominous rise in the wind which could mean that the storm would break before morning,
“
grow up if one
’
s
treated as a child. You have, I think, a very limited experience of women, Piers.
”

He looked at her with surprise, hearing, too, with slight uneasiness, the change in the weather. She could be right at that in her assessment, he thought a little ruefully, remembering the brief, sophisticated affairs which had punctuated his life. There had been scant reality in any of them, and there was something very real, and a shade disturbing, about
this child he had married so inconsequently.
Had
ad
Melissa not arrived to interrupt his tardy wooing, he might,
by now, have found that simple felicity which had always eluded him, and which he had instinctively felt could be fostered on this island cut off from the tedious obligations of wealth
.

“
You
’
re probably right,
”
he said.
“
It
’
s even possible that you can teach me more than I can teach you. Forget my impatience, Lou, if you will. Tibby
’
s potions, whether they were responsible or not, shall be poured down the drain in future, and we
’
ll have Melissa headed on her homeward journey tomorrow. Will that satisfy you?
”

CHAPTER SEVEN

But the storm broke
in the night. Lou had lain listening to the violence and fury of wind and rain and known that t
h
e
i
r last chance was lost. Inexperienced in matters of west country weather, she had thought the last couple of days wild enough, but, looking from her window in the morning at the heaving sea, and the giant waves turning the little harbor into a cauldron, she knew that departure from the island now would be impossible.

“
How long will it last?
”
she asked Tibby.

“
Days—could be weeks,
”
the old woman answered, but there was, oddly enough, no triumph in her voice, only indifference. Having got what she wanted, Lou realized, she could afford to withdraw her spite, or perhaps she was merely sitting back and waiting.

Melissa, Lou found, had recovered sufficiently to leave her bed and devote time and care to her face. Tibby had unpacked again for her, and when Lou looked in to enquire, she was making a leisurely and dissatisfied selection from the mass of clothes she had brought.

“
Not a rag to wear! You
’
ve got away with the best of
m
y wardrobe, darling,
”
she said, fing
er
ing yet another rejected garment in a heap on the floor.
“
Really, I do think Blanche was a bit high handed, even if there wasn
’
t time to fit you out. The mink and the more glossy numbers weren
’
t exactly suitable for this dump, or for you if it comes to that.
”

“
Cousin Blanche didn
’
t know,
“
any more than I did, that we were coming here,
”
Lou replied, and was reminded of the many cautions for reticence she had received and ignored when she observed her cousin
’
s amused smile.

“
You can take back anything you want,
”
she added hastily.
“
I
’
ve worn hardly any of them.
”

“
Can I really? Even the mink?
”
Melissa
’
s disgruntled expression changed promptly to one of
charming excitement.
“
Let
’
s go and make selections at once, shall we?
”

She ran across the passage to Lou
’
s bedroom without waiting to be asked, and Lou stood watching while her cousin pulled clothes from their hangers, trying them on, tearing them off, admiring herself from every angle, picking what she wanted without troubling to enquire what could be spared.

“
After all, they were meant for me, weren
’
t they?
”
she said, finally wrapping herself in the mink coat with sensuous delight, preening complacently over the rich fur held against her throat, fully aware that such a coat could do for her what it never would for Lou.

Neither of the cousins were conscious of Piers until he spoke from the doorway of the dressing room.

“What the hell’s going on?” he demanded. “This room looks a shambles.”

“I’m only taking back some of my possessions,” Melissa said, posing deliberately for him to admire and approve.

“Your possessions?”

“Well, they were bought for me, darling. Lou has very sweetly said I can have them back.”

“
As I understand I
’
m responsible for the bills, the decision hardly rests with Lou,
”
Piers said, and there was a dangerous softness in his voice which would have warned Lou but was lost on her cousin.

“
Well, even so, sweetie-pie, you
’
d hardly grudge me some of the spoils, would you? Look at all I
’
ve lost by flirting with temptation, which is all it really was. Besides, Lou isn
’
t the type for sophisticated glamour and you can well afford to buy her a demure little trousseau of her own. After all, what girl
wants to take on another girl
’
s leavings?
”
Melissa had probably spoken at random, and was referring to the clothes, but Lou caught her breath, and Piers heard.

“
So you
’
ve been complaining again, complaining and confiding?
”
he said to her, quite pleasantly, but his expression was not pleasant as he watched the betraying color creep under her skin.

“
Melissa, you know I never mentioned—
”
Lou began, but Melissa
’
s fine blue eyes had narrowed and her slow smile was politely apologetic.

“
Well, darling, perhaps you sometimes
are
a little naive with your confidences, but
I
understand, of course,
”
she said.
“
Piers, you mustn
’
t expect too much of your little bride. Our Louise is devastatingly truthful, you see. If she feels disappointed—or—or—cheated, she makes no bones about it.
”

“
And do you feel cheated, Cinderella?
”
The mocking bite was back in Piers
’
voice and he flung the nickname at her with none of the accustomed gentle humor.

“
I don
’
t think our private affairs can have much interest for Melissa,
”
said Lou, striving for dignity, but before he could comment Melissa broke in with drawling amusement:

“
On the contrary, my
s
weet. You forget that Piers and I were once engaged, and anything affecting his love life interests me profoundly. Darling Piers, can
’
t I even keep the minky?
”

“
No,
”
said Piers harshly, aware with a distaste in himself that when she chose to cajole him with her old practised guile, she could still stir his senses, if not his reason.

“
Oh, let her have it,
”
Lou said wearily.
“
I
’
m not all that way about mink, anyhow.
”

“
Shut up, the pair of you!
”
Piers exclaimed rudely, and went back to his dressing room, slamming the door behind him.

“
Poor sweet! Between us we
’
ve really got him rattled,
”
Melissa remarked, her head on one side, and Lou, driven at last beyond the polite bounds of hospitality, rounded on her cousin.

“
Melissa, we
’
d better come to an understanding,
”
she said.
“
I
’
m stuck with you, thanks to Tibby
’
s efforts and this blasted weather, but if you came here to make mischief you
’
d better have second thoughts, so no more hints and half-truths about confidences I
’
ve never made. Leave Piers alone—understand?
”

I
t never failed to surprise Melissa when her mousy little cousin suddenly turned. She had not
learned, as Piers was beginning to, that under that artlessness lay a simple honesty that could be disconcerting.

“
Why, darling—
”
she began in injured protest, then her curiosity got the better of her.
“
What do you mean by Tibby
’
s efforts?
”

“
Those doses she made you swallow. They had something in them to make you sick, hadn
’
t they?
I
believe you knew it, too.”

For a moment Melissa looked surprised, then she laughed.

“Really, Lou, I begin to think Piers is right when he says you live in a world of make
-
believe and are no flesh and blood wife.”

“
Did Piers say that?
”
Even as she spoke, Lou despised herself for asking the question, and Melissa seized her advantage. Lou might be hard to fool over certain things, but on the subject of Piers she was vulnerable.

“
That was the kindest of his criticisms,
”
she retorted.
“
You really shouldn
’
t have jumped into marriage with a man of his type and expect to hold him at arm
’
s length. Can I keep the mink, darling?
”

Lou had gone a little white, but she managed to speak calmly.

“
If Piers agrees. He
’
s paying for it.
”

“
Oh, he
’
ll agree if you talk him round nicely.

“
All right, we
’
ll make a bargain,
”
Lou said, suddenly shedding the first of her too sensitive skins.
“
You want that coat badly, don
’
t you? If you behave yourself while you
’
re here you shall have it, if not, you won
’
t.
”

Melissa hugged the coat around her and gazed reproachfully over the soft, rich collar.

“
Honestly, darling, I don
’
t know what you
’
re getting at,
”
she protested, and Lou turned away and began putting clothes back on their hangers, conscious that her hands were trembling.

“
I think you do,
”
she said.
“
Now help me tidy up the room, please, and first I
’
ll have the coat back.
”
Melissa took it off reluctantly, then flung it on the floor with sudden petulance.

“
It sounds suspiciously like blackmail to me,
”
she said, and Lou unexpectedly grinned.

“
What
’
s a little blackmail between cousins?
”
she replied with airy unconcern, aware, to her own amazement, that it was surprisingly easy to call her cousin
’
s bluff, once you knew how. Melissa, judging by the way her jaw dropped, was equally amazed. For once she had no slick comeback, and began, quite meekly, to pick up clothes and put them away.

But it was not so easy, Lou discovered, to maintain that advantage when Piers was present. Melissa gave a good enough impersonation of the untimely guest who had unwittingly outstayed her welcome to make him frown at Lou
’
s lack of response.

“
You
’
re hardly helping the situation,
”
he told her.
“
Melissa
’
s sudden arrival wa
s
unfortunate, if altogether typical, but at least she
’
s behaving herself. Why can
’
t you play ball?
”

Because, thought Lou wretchedly, you could never win playing ball with Melissa, but she could hardly tell him so.

“
I
’
m afraid I don
’
t know the rules,
”
she temporised and he gave her a sharp look.