She started toward the front door, but Neil caught up with her and held her arm firmly.
“You don’t think I’d let you walk across the threshold,” he said. He darted ahead of her, unlocked the front door and came lightly back down the steps. Laura was laughing with genuine pleasure when he swept her up in his strong arms and carried her easily up the steps and into the house.
CHAPTER THREE
They laughed gaily as they entered the house, both of them for a fleeting moment carefree and happy.
“Enter the typical newlyweds,” Laura declared, hugging Neil’s neck.
Neil’s smile faded and became a frown.
“Well, almost,” he said glumly, lowering her to her feet with almost rude abruptness.
They stood in silence for a moment, looking about the room. They had been there often in the two weeks past, preparing the house and arranging the new furniture. It was comfortable in good taste. The decor was mostly Danish Modern, inexpensive but good pieces. Laura had made many plans for further decorations of the house. Now those plans seemed pointless to her.
“How about a drink?” Neil suggested in a quick attempt to restore their spirits.
Laura scowled. “It’s early in the day for that, isn’t it?”
“It’s our wedding day, remember?” He led her firmly toward the small bar built into one end of the living room. “People have a right to break the rules on their wedding day.”
A new doubt crept into Laura’s mind as she remembered the two weeks just past. Neil drank rather frequently, although she could not remember him drinking at all before. She had paid little attention to this fact, dismissing it as caused by the nervousness natural in a bridegroom. Now, however, she could understand that other factors had played a part, and she wondered how much he had come to rely upon alcohol as a solution to his problems. It was another area in which she realized she knew little about her husband.
“I guess you have a point there,” she relented, wanting to avoid dissension at the moment. Surely he would relax more now that they were actually married, and his drinking would be unnecessary. She went along with him, seating herself on one of the tall stools. Neil went behind the bar and produced a bottle of Bourbon.
“We have Bourbon and Bourbon,” he quipped. “What’ll it be?”
“That’s a tough question. How about Bourbon?”
He brought two glasses from the shelf underneath the bar. “Ice!” he demanded imperiously.
“Ice,” she repeated and jumped down to hurry to the kitchen. She was back a moment later with a tray of ice and a pitcher of water. Neil poured the drinks, leaving little room, she noticed, for water.
“Here’s to us.” He toasted her, handing her one of the glasses.
Laura returned the toast and sipped the drink cautiously. It burned slightly as it went down. She was not much accustomed to drinking, and moreover she had eaten little lunch.
The lack of lunch, however, did not seem to worry Neil. He downed his drink rapidly and poured himself a second before she had done more than taste hers.
“Hey, you are celebrating, aren’t you?” She tried to make her tone light and joking, but in fact she was frightened by his intensity. It was as though he were determined to get as drunk as possible, as quickly as possible.
In answer, he tilted his glass up again. Laura held her tongue, reminding herself that he had every reason to be nervous. If liquor would help to restore his spirits, there was probably no harm in it, and it certainly seemed to be doing just that. He was smiling pleasantly, his eyes gleaming perhaps a little too brightly.
“It’s a rotten shame we can’t take a honeymoon,” he said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
Laura shrugged and allowed herself to relax a little. The drink helped her nerves also.
“We’ll make up for it,” she told him with a smile.
“You’re damned right we will,” he agreed loudly. “I promise you a first-class honeymoon next year. Where would you like to go—Paris? Rome? Say the word and your husband will take you there.”
The word husband brought Laura’s tension back with a flurry. Her husband! Looking at him, clearly feeling the effects of his liquor, she realized once again that they were strangers to one another in a very real sense. Worse, they were without the all-important link that gave most couples the opportunity to comprehend and join with one another.
She was spared the necessity of an answer by the doorbell.
“We’ve got company,” she said aloud. “Our first visitors in our new home.”
“It’s the back door,” Neil told her as she started toward the front.
With a grin, Laura went in that direction, across the compact kitchen, to the door that opened to the patio in the rear.
Her first impression of the woman standing outside the door was one of breathtaking loveliness. The stranger was taller than she, slightly more slender. Her age, Laura guessed, was somewhere between twenty and thirty-five. Gleaming black hair, cut stylishly short, framed a narrow face that was dominated by hauntingly dark eyes. The brightly patterned blouse and skin-tight capri pants she wore set off her trim, youthful figure to the best possible advantage.
“Hello.” Laura greeted her visitor meekly. She felt almost unattractive in the presence of this sleek, striking creature.
“Hello. I’m Eve Blair.” Her visitor returned the greeting with a flash of white teeth. “One of your neighbors. I saw you arrive and thought I’d better come over and welcome you to the underworld.”
A strange way to describe the neighborhood, Laura thought, but she found the gesture flattering. It was comforting to know that she was among friendly people.
“Come in,” she said, opening the door wide. “We’re just having a drink.” Then, thinking that this might create an unfavorable impression, she added quickly “We’re newlyweds.”
“I noticed.” Eve Blair’s smile was not particularly pleasant, as though she were mocking everything that she saw or heard. Laura blushed, remembering how Neil had carried her across the threshold, announcing the newness of their marriage to any onlookers.
That’s silly, she told herself, leading the way into the living room. There’s no reason to be ashamed of my marriage or embarrassed by it. But somehow, aware of Eve’s dark eyes on her as they walked, she had the impression that this beautiful woman could see through the sham they were putting up, could somehow know the truth about the marriage.
Neil had already started on another drink when they entered the room. Laura saw his eyes take in their guest and glimmer even more brightly with appreciation. For an instant, she suffered a pang of jealousy. That’s ridiculous, she told herself, almost laughing aloud. That’s one thing I won’t have to worry about. Physically, at least, there was no likelihood that Neil would be unfaithful to her.
“Neil, this is Eve Blair. She’s
