Yesterday's Bride (18 page)

Leigh's glance dropped to the table, the old pain engulfing her.

"Jason," she faltered, "do you think we could ever forget the bitterness of the past and just be two people, oh, without old antagonisms that get in the way?" She kept her face averted until she was sure she could safely look at him without the longing showing plainly in her face.

"That is the question, isn't it," he said soberly. "Yes. I believe we can start over. That's what I want, Leigh."

After what seemed an eternity, he raised his glass to hers. "To our future," he said as the fluted goblets touched.

Heads turned when they crossed the dining room to their table, such a striking couple they made, the tall, dark man a perfect foil for the ethereal beauty of the slender blond girl. The ornate dining room was at the top of the hotel, and their table was by a long window that looked down on the valley below, where the lights of numberless houses competed with the stars that twinkled in the fallen dusk. When Leigh had drunk her fill of the scene, she turned to admire the beautifully set table. One long-stemmed yellow rose in a pewter vase sat in the center of the crisp white linen tablecloth, where shadows flickered in the glow of candlelight. The waiter handed her a large menu, but Leigh couldn't concentrate on the printed words and asked Jason to order for her.

A good decision, she found as she listened to him discuss the merits of various white wines with the wine steward before giving the menu his full attention.

"We'll start with
escargots bourguignons
," he ordered, flicking a warning to Leigh to protest if she had an aversion to snails. "A Caesar salad and the salmon soufflé," he continued.

When the waiter had gone, Jason told Leigh that the Caesar salad was a specialty at this particular restaurant, he had learned.

"As is the salmon. I think you'll like it."

She did. Shredded salmon enclosed in a shell of featherlight nutmeg-flavored soufflé topped with a cream sauce, it was delectable. Leigh hadn't realized that Jason was so knowledgeable about gourmet dishes, but then, there was a lot she didn't know about him. He was a complex, many-faceted man.

The evening was a memorable one, although Leigh knew that the food alone could not account for that. Jason could, however. They didn't talk much, or at least if they did, Leigh could never quite remember what they said. No words of love passed between them and no embraces. Yet, Jason made love to her as surely as if he had taken her in his arms in the crowded room. His hand touched hers where it lay on the table between them. His eyes caressed her face, and his voice was low and seductive when he leaned close to whisper in her ear. Leigh was happier than she had dreamed possible, her cheeks tinted a wild rose, her eyes a cloudy mauve, and she no longer bothered to hide what she felt from Jason. He had given her a special evening that she would remember all her life.

For her decision was made. It was not consciously arrived at, she realized, but a culmination of all the things she had learned about Jason and about herself in the past few weeks. She loved him. It wasn't just a strong physical attraction as she had thought at first. Jason was a man she would walk over broken glass for. The past had ceased to matter. He wanted her and that was all she needed to know. Her doubts had vanished in the wave of pure love that swept over her. He needed her and whatever he asked, she would willingly give. The pleasure of giving would be enough. That he had asked her, without love on his part, to resume the marriage, she now had the strength to deal with. And she would make him happy, or perish in the attempt, she told herself. Oh, she didn't kid herself that it would be easy. Jason was a demanding, overbearing, sometimes ruthless man, and she would have to bear the brunt of it. But he could be tender, too, and she would teach him to be loving. He felt something for her, and even if it was only desire, it could grow. As he had said, they could make it work.

After dinner, Leigh floated out into the hotel grounds in a haze, her spinning head not all the result of the light Mosel wine she had drunk. In the sweetly scented darkness, she walked close to Jason, her arm around his waist. When they stopped at the far end of the garden, she went up on tiptoe to kiss him on the lips. She wasn't fighting her feelings anymore.

Very gently Jason held her away from him.

"Too much wine, I think," he said in amusement. He bent to plant a kiss on the tip of her nose and then he propelled her back toward the hotel.

Leigh stopped him with a sound of protest.

"Jason, it's not the wine." She wanted him to realize that she knew exactly what she was doing. This was no spur-of-the-moment, wined-and-dined feeling. It was real.

"Let's go upstairs," she breathed.

After subjecting her to a searching scrutiny, he agreed. He seemed to sense that she was in earnest.

In the hall, he took her key and unlocked the door.

She took the key back without looking at it, her gaze concentrated on Jason and the question in his eyes.

"Will you come in? I want to talk to you."

There was no need to delay telling him that she was ready to be his wife in deed as well as on paper. She had made up her mind, for better or worse.

He pushed open the door and allowed her to proceed him into the room.

Inside, Leigh stopped short, causing Jason to bump into her.

In the armchair sat Dan Morgan, a magazine on his lap, his shirt casually undone, his coat and tie thrown across the bed.

He rose to greet her. "Hi, Leigh, I got here as soon as I could."

In total confusion, Leigh put her hand out to Jason, behind her, for support.

"I seem to be in the way here," he said tightly. He took Leigh's hand from where it lay on his arm and dropped it, as if he were brushing away a bothersome insect. "If you'll excuse me."

Leigh had been frozen into immobility at the sight of Dan in her bedroom, but the click of the door behind Jason's departing back jolted her to awareness.

"Jason!" With a cry, she ran after him. He wasn't in sight, and she got no answer to a knock on the door of the next room, so she hurried down the hall to the elevator. By the indicator above the bronze doors, she saw that the car was at the main lobby level, probably where it had just carried Jason. Leigh wanted to bang on the wall in frustration.

Defeated, she walked slowly back to her room to confront Dan, who was standing in the open doorway, waiting for her.

"How did you get in?" she asked at once.

"The desk clerk opened the door for me." He reddened. "I told him I was a relative and had news for you." He looked at her set, pale face. "I didn't mean to cause trouble, Leigh. I did try to call first from downstairs. Even had you paged."

That must have been while she was strolling with Jason in the garden in such a state of euphoria, Leigh realized numbly.

"What are you doing here?" Mechanically she closed the door and moved into the room.

"Leigh, I had to see you immediately. I've got fantastic news!" In his excitement, Dan grabbed her hand. "I've been in New York conferring with Desmains and he's agreed to wait two weeks for you. Imagine, the great man himself, waiting for a model!"

Ignoring her complete lack of response, he went on, but more slowly. "At first, he was furious that you turned him down. But I talked him around, Leigh."

She couldn't have cared less. At the moment she would gladly have banished both Desmains and Dan Morgan to the Sahara.

She shook off Dan's hand and walked over to the center of the room, pulling herself together.

"I thought I told you I would get in touch with you when I was ready to go back to work," she said coldly.

"I know, Leigh." He had the grace to look abashed, but then the exultance came to the fore again. "But, Desmains…"

"I'm afraid I don't particularly care about Monsieur Desmains, Dan," she cut him off. "I'm just not available."

"What!" Dan was clearly astounded. "You'll be finished in the business if you…"

"Then I'll just have to sell shoelaces, won't I?" she said. "Right now it doesn't seem important." Leigh didn't think she could take much more of Dan or his persuasive tactics.

"I'm developing a headache," she said, realizing it was true. "Would you mind leaving, Dan?"

The expression on his face hovered between petulance and defeat, but Leigh steeled herself against feeling sorry for him. He had deliberately disregarded her wishes and gone ahead with this venture. The trouble he might now reap he had brought on himself. If only he had called her first, to check with her, he could have been spared all this.
They all could have been spared
, she amended.

Dejectedly, he picked up his jacket and tie. "You won't change your mind?"

"No," she said and then she softened. In spite of everything, Dan had been a good agent and a good friend. She went and stood beside him. "I can't," she said softly. "I have a marriage to set right."

Finally he took her at her word. "I shouldn't have barged in like this." Self-pity tinged his voice. "I've got a car waiting, so I'll be on my way. See you around sometime."

She walked him to the door, but halted him with a question as a thought occurred to her. "How did you know where we were, Dan?"

"I went to the house. Your housekeeper said you were away for the weekend, but wouldn't divulge where, so I called Jason's office and his secretary told me."

She would, thought Leigh bitterly, seeing Dan off.

As soon as she was alone, she went straight to the phone and dialed Jason's room. There was no answer. Impatiently she paced the floor. Where was he? She had to talk to him, to straighten this out. Undoubtedly he believed that she had asked Dan to come here, that she had decided to go back to work.

Again she tried his room, but still no answer, only the continuing buzz of the ring. Answer it, she begged.

Gulping back a sob, she picked up the filmy white stole she had dropped when she and Jason came into the room to find Dan there, and draped it around her shoulders.

If Jason wouldn't come back to his room, then she would go and find him. Switching out the light, she closed the door and walked determinedly down the hall.

At the entrance to the bar-lounge, she hesitated to peer through the smoky haze. At this hour it was less crowded than it had been earlier, and she had no trouble locating Jason. He was seated at the long polished wood bar, a drink in front of him.

He watched her approach, but when she reached him, he deliberately turned away.

"Hey, bartender, bring me another." The empty glass was hoisted. "Make it a double this time."

After he had a refill, he turned back to the waiting Leigh, running his eyes over her in an insolent appraisal.

"Well now, honey, what can I do for you?" he asked suggestively while an interested onlooker on the next bar stool guffawed.

"Maybe she's offering what she can do for you, buddy," the man chortled, eyeing Leigh himself. "Hey, little lady, if he doesn't treat you right, you come on over here."

Her cheeks burning in humiliation, Leigh touched Jason's arm in mute appeal.

"Jason, please. I've got to talk to you."

He pointedly moved his arm to pick up his glass and her hand fell away.

"Go ahead," he invited, downing half the whiskey in a gulp.

"Not here. Jason, I need to talk to you."

"This is as good a place as any. We're all friends here." He nodded toward his neighbor. "Right, mate?"

Then, as if he were forced, he looked at Leigh. "Well, what's on your mind?"

There was nothing but resignation in his tone, and he made no move to offer her the courtesy of either a drink or a seat. So she stood there, pressing her palms together and trying not to tremble.

"I didn't ask Dan to come here, Jason," she said.

"Oh?"

"No. The desk clerk let him into my room."

"How cozy for you both," he sneered, his eyes on the cubes of ice melting in his glass.

Biting her lip, Leigh leaned against the empty bar stool behind her, its chrome edge digging into the small of her back.

Was there no way to reach him? she asked herself in desperation. This was not the time or the place, but she would have to tell him of her decision to stay with him. Surely then he would try to understand.