She watched him drive away towards the town, then turned back to her dressing table with a little sigh. He would be back.
It occurred to her that she ought to warn Mrs Fraser that she wouldn’t be there for dinner. She didn’t want to add a charge of thoughtlessness to the crime sheet against her. And she could ’phone Alan at the same time.
The first errand was simple enough, but the second was more tricky. The ‘phone rang and rang, but there was no answer. She groaned silently as she replaced the receiver. She would have to try later.
When she got back to her room, Celia was stretched on the bed waiting for her. She was smiling, her eyes sparkling with a mixture of amusement and malice.
‘Well, sweetie, you’re quite a dark horse aren’t you—but rather silly to think you could ever keep such a delectable man all to yourself. It was just as well I was still in Switzerland while it was all going on, or I might have tried to steal him myself. And he wouldn’t have got away from me so easily.’ She gave a little laugh. ‘He could hardly believe we were cousins.’
Laura picked up her comb again, forcing suddenly nerveless fingers back to their former task. She said tonelessly, ‘Well, he wouldn’t be the first to find it amazing that we’re related.’
‘That’s true,’ Celia agreed limpidly. ‘But he’s by far the most interesting to date.’ She stretched like a little cat. ‘Poor Laura. It was being rather optimistic, sweetie, to think you could ever hold his interest for long.’
Laura’s fingers gripped the edge of the dressing table. She was used to Celia, she thought, inured to the kind of jibes she excelled at, but for the first time she was tempted to rake her nails down that lovely, contemptuous face.
She said with no particular expression, ‘Well, I didn’t labour under that particular misapprehension for very long.’
Celia giggled. ‘No, indeed. It can’t be many men who are unfaithful to their wives during the first year of marriage. Your little honeymoon didn’t last long at all.’ She paused, her eyes fixed almost avidly on Laura’s mirrored reflection. ‘And did you really not know about the Tristan Construction connection? Don’t you think the whole thing’s quite fascinating?’
Laura shrugged, carelessly she hoped. ‘It’s hardly any of my concern. We’re divorced—remember?’
‘How could I forget?’ Celia sounded gloating. ‘And I’m glad you had the sense to let him go without a struggle, Laura. It’s never very dignified fighting a battle you simply aren’t capable of winning.’
Laura dug a last hairpin viciously into the top-knot she’d created, almost transfixing her scalp in the process. ‘Frankly, I don’t think that aspect ever occurred to me.’ She was surprised to realise this was the truth. She’d been too hurt, too shattered by Jason’s infidelity to want to do anything but crawl away and lick the wounds he’d inflicted. To somehow learn to endure the blow she’d suffered to her new-found, fragile confidence in her womanhood.
‘It would have occurred to me,’ Celia said complacently. ‘And I think—yes, I really do think I’d have fought tooth and nail—and won. But that’s the difference between us, isn’t it, sweetie?’
‘One of them, certainly,’ Laura returned. Dissatisfied, she pulled the pins out of her tawny hair and let it spill round her face again.
‘So, I can take it you won’t start fighting now?’ Celia lifted a hand and studied its perfectly manicured nails.
‘I don’t think I understand.’ Laura picked up her jar of moisturiser and began to apply it sparingly to her face and throat.
‘Then think.’ Celia’s voice sounded almost strident suddenly. ‘He doesn’t belong to you anymore, as you’ve just admitted. In fact it’s a moot point whether he ever actually belonged to you at all, even if you did wangle a wedding ring out of him. So, I take it you’ll have no real objection if I have him instead now?’
Laura’s mouth felt so dry, she felt as if her lips might crack open and bleed as she forced the words between them. ‘No, I’ve no reason, and certainly no right to object, but I should warn you your father may well feel very differently. He never liked Jason or approved of him, and I don’t think he’ll care for the fact that you’ve invited him here this evening.’
Celia smiled. ‘He may not have liked the penniless artist who married his little niece for her money, then—done her wrong, as the saying is. But the Jason Wingard who’s now the managing director of a big, successful firm like Tristan Construction is a very different proposition. He’s no fortune hunter now to be shown the door, but an extremely eligible, and incredibly sexy man.’
‘Perhaps.’ Laura could hardly believe how calm she sounded, how collected, when emotionally she felt ravaged. ‘But I still doubt if your father will see it like that, no matter how rich Jason may be now.’
‘If you think for one moment that Daddy would let any personal feelings stand in the way of business, then you don’t know him,’ Celia told her coolly. ‘You told me yourself how important this contract is, and like a dutiful daughter I intend to spare no effort to make sure that Caswells gets this contract, along with any other goodies Tristan Construction might care to throw our way. Your ex-husband was telling me, when you so thoughtlessly interrupted us, that they’re heavily committed to private housing over the next few years, as well as the local projects. And housing estates mean show houses—completely furnished, including carpets.’
‘You seem to have it all worked out,’ Laura said.
‘I have.’ Celia lifted herself off the bed, straightening a crease from her shirt. ‘I just want to make sure, Laura darling, that you aren’t going to be the skeleton at any little feasts I may plan.’ She laughed. ‘Because I intend to mix the firm’s business with a hell of a lot of pleasure.’
‘So, why tell me?’ Laura began to apply foundation in quick jerky movements. ‘What do you want from me? Surely not my blessing?’
‘Hardly.’ Celia’s eyes, bright and predatory, met hers. ‘No, this is just a timely reminder that Jason is no longer your affair, and that I don’t intend to brook any interference from you or anyone else. You had him, and you couldn’t hold him. Well, that’s tough, but it’s the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. Now, it’s my turn.’
Laura replaced the lid on the little jar. She said slowly, ‘Celia—Jason may be legally single, but that doesn’t mean that he’s necessarily—free. Doesn’t it disturb you that there may still be other—priorities in his life?’
‘Why should it?’ Celia gave a negligent shrug. ‘I’m not a naïve, narrow-minded little schoolgirl. And I’ll make damned sure his sole priority in future is me.’
‘Then I wish you luck.’ Laura rose too. ‘Now I’d be glad of some privacy. I’d like to get dressed.’
Celia’s eyes swept her cousin’s slim figure, wrapped in its cotton robe, and her lip curled. She said, ‘What a ridiculous prude you are, Laura. It’s little wonder Jason found himself another woman.’
As the door closed behind her, Laura dropped limply back on to her dressing stool. Celia’s behaviour was incredible, even by her own standards, plumbing new depths of selfishness and arrogance.
But
