Kitabı oku: «Gift For A Lion»

TABLE OF CONTENTS

COVER

TITLE PAGE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

ENDPAGE

COPYRIGHT

CHAPTER ONE

SUN, Joanna thought drowsily. Golden, glorious sun. She sighed luxuriously, pillowing her head on her arms. Oh, but it was good to be here, away from Father's disapproval and Aunt Laura's bleat of ‘But what will people say …?'

Joanna grinned to herself at the thought of what Aunt Laura would say if she could see her now, stretched at her ease on the deck of the Luana, the top of her bikini unfastened to complete the perfect tanning of her smooth back, with a makeshift towelling screen to shield her from the gaze of everyone else using the tiny Mediterranean harbour of Calista.

The Luana had dropped anchor there on the previous evening, but neither Joanna, nor her cousins Mary and Tony Leighton or Mary's fiancé Paul, had possessed sufficient energy to go ashore. They had simply eaten on board and turned in. But in the morning the boys had decided to go ashore for supplies and to see what entertainment Calista might have to offer and Mary, who appeared, Joanna thought a little disdainfully, to live in Paul's pocket, had immediately volunteered to go with them. Joanna, however, had refused.

Calista might be picturesque, with its white houses and gaily tiled roofs crowding almost to the water's edge, but it was also definitely scruffy, she had decided, and the harbour, with its bobbing boats of every shape and size, smelt.

Also, if she was honest, it was in many ways a relief to get away from Mary's constant chatter and enjoy a couple of hours of absolute peace and relaxation. Joanna suppressed the thought, feeling guilty. After all, if Mary had not agreed to come, Joanna herself would have been denied the trip. However modern and forward-looking her father might have been on the bridge of his ship or in the world he now controlled from his eyrie in a Whitehall office block, he was quite mediaeval in his view about what decent girls did or did not do. And in his book a decent girl did not go off alone on a Mediterranean cruise on a sailing boat with a single man, even if he was her cousin and in every likelihood her future husband as well. Hence the invitation to Paul and Mary to accompany them.

It was only too likely that Tony, who had been summoned for a private interview with her father before the trip, had also received a stern lecture on the kind of behaviour Rear-Admiral Sir Bernard Leighton expected from anyone escorting his only daughter. Certainly he had emerged from her father's study very red around the ears, Joanna thought, her lips curving slightly at the memory. At any rate, Tony's behaviour towards her had been circumspect in the extreme, and Joanna had been content for this to be so. She found Tony's tentative lovemaking very pleasant, but not wildly arousing, and she felt as long as he did not try to rush her into anything, they could probably achieve a very satisfactory relationship in time.

Sometimes she even wondered wryly whether Tony was not just a little in awe of her, but she was not so sure that this was such a bad thing. One thing she had decided quite a long time before, and that was that freedom and independence were essential in marriage. Tony, she was certain, would never try to dictate to her or dominate her in any way, and this was one of the reasons that made marriage to him seem so attractive. Joanna had lived with one dominating male—her father—already, and while she had never experienced any real difficulty in twisting him round her finger to obtain anything she really wanted—this cruise, for instance—it was often a wearing and time-consuming process. Joanna's next permanent relationship was going to be an altogether easier affair, she decided, smiling sleepily.

‘Ahoy, Luana!’ It was Tony's voice, and she hastily fumbled with the strings fastening her bikini top before sitting up. Mary scrambled aboard from the dinghy first. Her face was flushed and there were beads of perspiration on her nose. She was carrying two bulging straw baskets. Joanna watched her with slight compunction. Poor Mary hadn't had much of a trip so far. She didn't care much for sailing and had been violently seasick when they ran into some bad weather in the first few days. She was by no means an expert swimmer either, and tended to blister in the very hot sun. In fact, Mary was never happier than when she was below decks in the tiny galley preparing food for the four of them. She and Paul were marrying in the autumn, and Mary had been taking a cordon bleu course in preparation.

When she saw Joanna, she gave one of her irritating little shrieks. ‘Oh, Joanna! You haven't gone to sleep and got burned, have you?'

‘No, of course not.’ Joanna tried to keep her irritation out of her voice. ‘It's a glorious day. Is there anything interesting ashore?'

‘There was a sort of market,’ Mary said. ‘Lovely fresh vegetables. I might do gazpacho for supper.'

‘It's not exactly a tourist's paradise,’ Tony complained. He threw himself down on the deck cushions beside Joanna and unbuttoned his shirt. ‘There are a few bars for the locals and one that does duty as a night club, and that's your lot. Shall we push on somewhere else?'

‘Oh, I rather fancy the night club for a change,’ Joanna said lightly. In truth, she would just as soon have taken the boat elsewhere, but some imp of perversity made her gainsay Tony to see what his reaction would be. He leaned forward and brushed her shoulder lightly with his lips.

‘Right then, love. The night club it shall be, though I suppose I shall spend the evening protecting you from the local lechers.'

‘I can protect myself,’ Joanna protested, a little pettishly, and he smiled at her.

‘I've brought you a treat. Would you believe—an English newspaper?'

‘Lord! How many days behind the times?’ Joanna said as he handed it to her. She opened it at the social pages and cast a casual eye over the engagement notices, but none of her friends were among them. Engagements seemed to be going out of fashion, she thought. Trial marriages were the ‘in’ thing, but not, she was secretly relieved to acknowledge, where her father was concerned. She glanced dismissively over some of the items on the front page, ignoring the discussion between Paul and Mary on whether they should have a light or a heavy lunch.

‘Anything interesting?’ Tony squinted over her shoulder.

‘The usual mess. Another big bank robbery in London. A row in the House of Commons over cuts in spending. Some Red scientist defecting from a conference in Venice.’ Joanna tossed the paper to the deck. ‘But it's all so out of date. World War Three could have started without us.’ She looked impatiently at Mary and Paul. ‘Oh, do stop it, you two. It's too hot for anything but salad anyway, and I hope you've brought some decent cheese.'

‘Yes, o queen,’ Paul muttered. ‘Come on, darling. We'll get things started.'

Joanna looked after them as they disappeared down the companionway and there was a bright spot of colour in each cheek. Tony touched her arm gently.

‘Joanna?'

She looked at him uncertainly. ‘Is that what I'm like?'

He hesitated. ‘A bit—but it doesn't matter to me, love, because I know you don't mean it. Having your own way over things comes naturally to you, somehow, and of course Uncle Bernard being as he is …'

‘What do you mean?’ She stared at him.

‘Well, darling, he is—Rear-Admiral Leighton. I know he has a desk job these days, but he does still give the impression of being on a quarterdeck somewhere supervising a keelhauling, and—sometimes—it takes some getting over.’ His voice died away a little unhappily.

Joanna said tautly, ‘I see.’ She stared hard at the immaculate polish on her toenails. ‘I'm sorry, Tony. I'll try and be a little less—regal from now on.'

He nuzzled her shoulder. ‘I think you're perfect,’ he whispered.

‘Then you're a fool,’ she said, but smiled, robbing the words of their sting. ‘I think perhaps the queen had better make amends by helping with lunch.'

Shs got to her feet, slim and lithe in the minuscule black bikini, but somehow the golden day seemed less radiant, she thought.

In her attempt to be amenable, Joanna not only helped Mary prepare lunch but insisted on clearing away and washing up afterwards, while Mary sat in the most sheltered corner of the deck with a selection from the stock of paperback thrillers they had found in one of the fitted cupboards in the saloon.

As she tidied the last of the cutlery away and wiped down the surfaces, Joanna could hear the murmur of voices from the saloon and guessed that Paul and Tony had got the charts out to plan the next stage of their trip.

Tony loved sailing, she thought, pushing a strand of bright auburn hair back from her damp forehead. It was a pity in many ways that he had no boat of his own. He had been loaned Luana by the senior partner of the firm of architects where he and Paul both worked. Both the partner and his wife were keen sailors and kept the boat moored at Cannes, spending as much of the summer as they could in the South of France. This year, however, they had gone to Canada, where their eldest son was being married, and Tony and Paul had been offered the use of the boat.

Joanna looked round with slightly critical eyes. Luana was fine for two, she thought, but definitely crowded for four. Not for the first time, she toyed with the idea of persuading her father to give Tony and herself a boat as a wedding present. They could spend their honeymoon on board, she thought, at the same time acknowledging that her father would not really approve of the idea. She could almost hear his voice— ‘Behaving like a lot of damned hippies.'

His idea of a honeymoon would be a luxury hotel in Paris or Rome, she decided with amused impatience.

On the whole, he seemed quite pleased with the idea of her marrying Tony. His only complaint was that Tony had become an architect, instead of joining the Navy as his uncle had suggested, but eventually he admitted that at least this decision showed that the boy had some mind of his own. Tony must take after his father, Joanna thought, because both Mary and Aunt Laura were hardly strong characters. Her father had taken the whole family under his rather formidable wing when Anthony Leighton had died suddenly of a heart attack some years before. Mary and Joanna were only a few months apart in age, and Sir Bernard had arranged for them to attend the same school, apparently under the conviction that they would be ideal companions for each other. He had also hoped that Aunt Laura would provide Joanna with the mother she had lost while still a baby.

None of it had really worked out at all, Joanna thought ruefully. She and Mary had barely anything in common except the family name. Mary was inches shorter than she was and inclined to be dumpy, and she was sometimes quick to show resentment of her taller, more attractive cousin. And while Tony had always appeared totally oblivious to the difference in financial standing between both halves of the family, both Mary and Aunt Laura had made no secret of their awareness that they were the ‘poor relations’ of the Leighton family.

In a way, Joanna was thankful that Mary had met Paul and fallen in love with him and settled her own future so painlessly. She would no longer feel obliged to see that Mary received the same party invitations as herself. Not that Mary had ever been particularly grateful for Joanna's efforts to broaden her social life. Joanna had gone through a fairly prolonged art college phase, before eventually recognising the limitations of her talent, and Mary had not approved of the circle of friends she had acquired as a consequence. Mary had an almost suburban horror of ‘getting talked about', and Joanna admitted it was fair to say that some of the past exploits of members of her circle had enlivened the gossip columns of some of the less responsible daily papers, while she had grown quite accustomed to her own doings being highlighted in the social pages of glossy magazines.

On top of that, there had been regular battles with her father, who had condemned all her friends out of hand as ‘hippies and long-haired layabouts'. At first Tony had been someone to grumble to occasionally about her father's uncompromising attitude, but soon she began to enjoy his companionship for its own sake, and not merely because he was her cousin and happened to be handy. Probably that was why her father had made so little demur about their relationship. He was undoubtedly relieved that she seemed to have chosen someone who corresponded fairly well to his idea of an eligible young man.

She looked into the saloon, thick with the smoke from Paul's pipe, and grimaced at the charts spread over the folding table.

‘Where next, Marco Polo?'

‘Corsica, we think, eventually, but we're going to stop here first.’ Tony's finger stabbed a point on the chart. ‘Saracina. It's only a tiny island, but it sounds quite interesting and it's only a couple of hours from here. Rocky, of course, but with a few nice bathing beaches.'

‘Well, that's what we want,’ Joanna said lightly. ‘Nothing too civilised.'

Paul got up and stretched, knocking his pipe out into a large pottery ashtray. ‘I'll go and see what Mary's doing, I think.'

Tony watched him go with a grin, then turned to Joanna, holding out his arms and drawing her down on to his knee. ‘That's what is known as a tactical—and tactful—withdrawal,’ he mentioned.

‘Tact isn't the quality I most associate with Paul,’ Joanna muttered.

‘I wish you liked each other better. He's a great guy when you get to know him—and we shall all be related in the near future.'

‘When he marries Mary.’ She took a strand of his fair hair and wound it round her finger.

‘I wasn't just thinking of that.’ He pulled her head down to him and kissed her on the mouth. It was a long kiss, more intimate than those they usually shared, and Joanna found herself enjoying the pressure of his lips and the movement of his warm hands on her half naked body. Nice Tony, she thought, almost drowsily, realising that she was allowing him more licence with his caresses than she normally permitted. But when his straying fingers penetrated into the bra top of her bikini, she drew away at once.

‘Oh, Jo,’ Tony groaned. ‘What's wrong?'

‘Nothing's wrong. You know the rules.'

‘By heart. As formulated by Rear-Admiral Sir Bernard Leighton, R.N.—to name only a few.’ He sounded sulky and she gazed at him, concerned.

‘But I thought you agreed …'

‘Of course I did. I would have agreed to anything to get you away with me. Now you're here and—nothing's really different, is it? Big Daddy's influence reaches a long way.'

‘That's horrible.’ She twisted away from him and stood up.

‘I'm sorry,’ he sounded tired. ‘It's just that I thought once we were out of sight, we would also be out of mind.’ He gave a short, bitter laugh. ‘I meant to keep my promise to your father, but it did cross my mind that there could come a time when we would be so carried away that nothing would matter except each other. I feel like that whenever I'm with you, but I'm beginning to realise I'm on my own.'

‘Are you saying I'm frigid?’ Joanna questioned him furiously.

‘No—far from it. I think there's a vibrant, passionate woman waiting to be awoken in you, Jo. But she'll never come alive while you're so much under your father's thumb. I've wondered a few times if what you need isn't a man who could dominate you even more than he does. Someone your father wouldn't dare to take aside on your wedding day and order to be gentle with you on your first night. Someone who'd tell the old boy to mind his own damned business.'

Joanna looked down unseeingly at the littered charts, her eyes blurred with tears. ‘If you think Daddy interferes too much in my life, it's only because he loves me,’ she whispered. ‘I thought you loved me, Tony. Don't you want to protect me—or would you prefer it if I'd slept around with every man I'd met since I was sixteen?'

‘Of course not.’ He got up and came over to her, drawing her against him with gentle hands. ‘Love, if I've upset you, I'll cut my throat. It's just so—frustrating sometimes, having you so near. Probably your father was right to say what he did to me. He certainly seemed to know more about what I'd be feeling than I did.'

He kissed her again, but this time the caress was deliberately light. When he let her go, Joanna stood on tiptoe and brushed his mouth with hers.

‘You're so wrong, Tony,’ she murmured. ‘I don't want another dominating man. I want a real partnership.'

‘I'll just have to hope that's what you continue to want,’ he said, firmly putting her away from him. ‘I could use a drink. I'll go and see what the others want.'

While he was gone, Joanna tidied away the charts and collected some cans of iced lager from the refrigerator unit in the galley. She wanted a few moments to allow her emotions to calm down before she presented herself on deck.

She was startled and a little worried by Tony's outburst. Startled, because of the sudden depth of feeling he had displayed and worried by the possibility of future friction between her father and himself.

She sighed. Maybe the close proximity they had been forced into since the cruise began had something to do with it. It was a strain with the four of them living so close together. They had all become edgy, and an evening ashore even with Calista's limited night life might be good for them all, she thought optimistically.

Hours later she was convinced of it. Surrounded by a shouting, laughing crowd, bumped and pushed but loving every minute of it, she danced to every beat record that the trattoria's ancient jukebox could provide. She had dressed with daring simplicity in a pair of stark white trousers, fitting closely over her hips and flaring towards the ankles, and a brief halter-necked black top which made the most of her tan. She had caught her slightly waving mass of coppery hair up off her neck, securing it with a black velvet ribbon. Her wide hazel eyes sparkled, partly through excitement and partly because of the rough red wine which was Calista's most acceptable drink.

She knew she was the cynosure of every male eye, and the knowledge delighted her. She was delighted too at the way Tony stuck determinedly to her side, making sure that no one got an opportunity to pester her. There was an expression in his eyes when he looked at her that made the back of her neck tingle pleasurably. She even found herself wondering whether it would be possible for them to return to the boat on their own for a time. She knew what she was inviting, and the thought made her pulses throb uncertainly. Was that what she wanted, or was she merely letting the wine and the music take over? Suddenly she didn't know any more. and when Tony reached out and took her into his arms on the crowded space between the tables that served as a dance floor, her hands came up at once to push him away.

‘Darling, don't be silly. It's the wrong sort of music for that.'

‘Oh, Jo, I want you,’ he said huskily.

‘What we both want is more wine,’ she spoke lightly, trying to dispel the awkward moment, caught suddenly in two minds and uncertain which one to choose. ‘Come on, I'm parched. We'll go back to the table.’ She edged her way, laughing and acknowledging greetings and frankly appreciative comments as she went.

Tony followed, his good-looking face mutinous. ‘I don't like hearing you spoken to like that.'

‘Like what?’ She looked at him over her shoulder. ‘Don't tell me you could understand what they were saying.'

‘I don't have to be a language expert to read their minds,’ he retorted sullenly.

‘Well, what people are thinking is a matter of supreme indifference to me,’ she flung at him as they joined Paul and Mary, who were sitting at a candlelit table in the corner making rather laborious conversation interspersed with many gestures with two local fishermen.

They rose and bowed admiringly as Joanna dropped into her chair. Then the conversation began again. How long were they staying in Calista? Only until tomorrow? But that was a tragedy, to think that the signorina would never dance in the trattoria again. Where were they going next?

‘Oh, that's easy,’ Paul said. ‘We decided that this afternoon, didn't we, Tony? We're going further down the coast to a little island called Saracina, and we'll tie up there for a night or two … What's wrong?'

The taller of the two fishermen had seized his arm with an alarmed expression.

‘Not Saracina,’ he said, shaking his head for greater emphasis. ‘Not Saracina. Not good.'

‘What's wrong with the place?’ Tony leaned forward. ‘Surely it's inhabited.’ He enunciated slowly and carefully, ‘People—live—there.'

Both men nodded vigorously. ‘You keep away. Not good. Not want—visitors.'

Joanna spoke coolly and incisively, her words aimed at Tony and Paul, who were exchanging concerned glances. ‘Well, I'm afraid visitors are what they're going to get. It all sounds most intriguing, and I wouldn't dream of keeping away simply because the islanders want to remain exclusive.'

The shorter fisherman, who had a moustache, broke in excitedly. ‘We go there—fish—since two days. Men come in boats—with guns. You stay here. Not go to Saracina.'

‘Gunboats?’ Tony muttered. ‘Hell's teeth! Perhaps we should keep away at that.'

‘Oh, I don't want to go anywhere where there might be guns,’ Mary said with a shudder.

‘I've never heard such nonsense,’ Joanna exclaimed impatiently. ‘Maybe the fishing's private or something, and they want to keep the boats away, but we don't want to fish. We just want to tie up in one of the bays and spend the night. There's no harm in that.'

‘Well, I think we should give it a miss,’ Paul said, his voice stubborn.

‘Oh, for heaven's sake!’ Joanna threw herself angrily back in her chair. ‘We've made our plans. Are you going to change them just because of a little scaremongering by a couple of fishermen? They probably got chased for—poaching or something, and are just making this story up to cover themselves for running away. There's nothing on the charts about Saracina being prohibited to shipping. I insist that at least we go and see for ourselves.'

Looking at Tony, she could see he was weakening, but Paul was made of sterner stuff.

‘Well, I came on this cruise for some sunshine and a few laughs and to help Tony sail the boat,’ he said. ‘We've had plenty of sun, I'll admit, but the laughs are getting thinner on the ground all the time. One thing I'm not prepared to do is take my future wife anywhere where there could be danger of any sort. That's final, and if Joanna still insists on going, Mary and I will find a boat to take us to the nearest large port and go home.'

Biting her lip with vexation, Joanna saw that Tony and Mary were both staring at him in open admiration. The two fishermen sat uneasily silent, obviously aware that the previously relaxed group were now in conflict over what they had said.

Joanna forced herself to smile. ‘There's no need to go to those lengths,’ she said. ‘If you feel so strongly about it …'

‘I do,’ Paul interrupted.

‘If you really do feel so strongly,’ she repeated, raising her voice a fraction, ‘then why not spend another day and night here? I'm sure while we're anchored in their harbour and coming ashore spending money, the locals will be only too delighted to invent further fairy tales to prevent us from moving on.'

‘Jo,’ Tony murmured uncomfortably, ‘keep your voice down, love. I'm sure some of these people can understand what we're saying. We've had a couple of very funny looks.'

Paul got up, scraping his chair. ‘Come on, darling,’ he said to Mary. ‘Otherwise I might say something to Her Majesty that we might all regret.'

Joanna had already realised she had gone too far, and had been all set to apologise. But Paul's words halted the apology on her lips. After all, she thought, seething, it was Paul and Tony who had found Saracina on the chart and decided to make it the next port of call. All she had wanted was to stick to the arrangements that had been decided on. She disliked last-minute changes of plan, because in her experience they were invariably for the worse.

The thought of spending a further day in Calista, suffering the resentment of Paul and Mary, appalled her. Besides, she had really wanted to go to Saracina. Still wanted to, in fact, in spite of everything that had been said.

She drank some more wine, while the first germs of a plan began to ferment in her brain. So the others wanted to spend a day ashore here. Well, they were welcome to do so. She would take her bikini and a towel and some food and find a friendly boatman who would take her to Saracina. But she wouldn't tell the others what she intended to do. She would make the excuse she wanted to stay behind for another sunbathing session on Luana.

Her spirits rose. There must be someone on Calista who would be willing, for a price, to take her to Saracina and leave her there for a few hours. She would have a whole day in blissful solitude, while the other three wandered round the same streets, avoiding the same donkey droppings and being taken for a ride by the same street vendors. And it would just serve them right for being so stupid. She came back with a start to the present to find that the two fishermen were apparently taking their leave, leaning over Tony and talking rapidly in their own language.

‘What were they saying?’ she asked idly as they moved away across the smoky room.

‘I don't know. Paul's the language expert, not me. I could only pick up about one word in twenty,’ Tony frowned perplexedly. ‘But they were still talking about Saracina, and I could have sworn that the short one said something about a lion.'

‘First guns, now wild animals.’ Joanna's smile was satirical. ‘They must have a good reason for wanting us to keep away from there. Smuggling, I daresay.'

‘Well, it doesn't matter. We're going to steer well clear of the place. I don't like the sound of any of it,’ Tony said a little impatiently. ‘And there's Corsica to look forward to. Don't forget that.'

Joanna looked at him sideways under her long lashes. ‘Oh, I won't,’ she agreed sweetly.

They were interrupted at that moment by one of the local young men who had summoned up the courage to ask Joanna to dance with him. In spite of Tony's evident disapproval, she agreed charmingly, telling herself he needed to be taught a lesson and did not deserve any particular consideration.

She was much in demand for the remainder of the evening, as the local men vied with each other for a chance to partner her. It was all very flattering and a little heady, and as Joanna glanced through the crowd towards the table, she saw that Paul and Mary had returned and were sitting with their heads together with Tony. Criticising her, no doubt, she thought rebelliously. Well, she'd give them something to be critical about.

At last Tony made his way through the crowd to her side. ‘I think it's time we were going, Jo,’ he said tautly.

‘Oh, why?’ she laughed up at him, buoyed up by the chorus of groans from the men around her.

‘Because it's late.'

‘It's not that late, and it was you who discovered this place anyway.’ She knew she was being deliberately obstructive but told herself she didn't care. ‘I'm enjoying myself, and I don't want to leave. You three go on back. I'm sure I can find someone to bring me back to the boat later on.'

Tony looked furious. ‘No chance,’ he said grimly. ‘We'll wait until it's convenient for you to leave.'

Joanna watched him turn on his heel and walk away and sighed a little. She would have to leave, in spite of what she had said. She didn't want to give Paul and Mary any further ammunition for their complaints about her behaviour. And if she was truthful, she was tired herself.

So she followed Tony back to the table, apologised meekly but with a glint in her eye for having kept them all waiting, and allowed herself to be shepherded back to the Luana.

She had hoped that the wine and the dancing would have made Mary sleepy, but as they undressed awkwardly in a rather fraught silence in the tiny cramped cabin they shared, Joanna soon realised that Mary wanted to talk and was merely biding her time. It was also obvious that she viewed herself quite erroneously in the role of peacemaker.