[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

swine. Other women seem to fall for him like ninepins. Why on earth can't you do the
same, Laura? You'd be rich and safe. He's generous to his family. You would never
want for anything.'
'I love Tom,' she cried in anguish.
Her father's face reflected his irritation. 'Tom Nicol? A stubborn, poverty-stricken
slum doctor? You can't compare the two. Mercier would shower you with money. All
Nicol can offer you is a life of struggle.'
'A life without love,' she said dryly. 'Is that what you want for me, Dad?'
He looked angry for a moment, then his anger fell away like a cloak and he said
miserably, 'If you won't do it for yourself, do it for me and your mother.'
She stared, her eyes wide and shaken. 'You think he'll prosecute you if I refuse to
marry him? Surely he couldn't be so ruthless! Even he wouldn't do that.'
He shrugged. 'I'm not 'so sure. But even if he doesn't call the police, I'm finished-he
made that clear. I couldn't work at the firm again, and who else would take me on?
Mercier wouldn't give me a reference, and I can't blame him for that. So where in
God's name do I find work at my age without a reference? It would be obvious to
everyone that there must be a reason why the firm refused me a reference after so
many years' service. I wouldn't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting another
job.'
Laura was trembling now, her hands and feet icy cold with shock. 'Oh, Dad, what are
we going to do?' 'Laura,' he said pleadingly. 'Your mother ... that's all I care about
now. She must never know. It would literally kill her-you know the doctors have said
another shock would do it. I wouldn't ask you for myself, I could manage somehow.
But your mother ... what about her?'
She wanted to cry, but somehow she fought back the - stinging tears. 'I've no real
choice, have I?' She remembered Randal's last words. A bitter, ironic smile curved
her pale lips. 'He knew that. Damn him! '
Eagerly, James Hallam said, 'I'm certain he would do all he could to make you
happy, darling. He wouldn't want to marry you if he didn't genuinely care for you.'
Oh, wouldn't he? she thought savagely. Her father had no idea: He did not know
about Randal's long, amoral pursuit of her. He didn't understand the complex nature
of the man he worked for, or realise the depth of his determination to have his own
way.
She stood up, squaring her shoulders as if to face a dark future.
Her father looked at her with sick hope in his eyes. 'What are you going to do?'
'What do you think?' she asked him.  I'II have to marry him.'
How was she to tell Tom? she asked herself desperately as she worked in the house
next morning. This was going to come as a terrible shock to him. She was sure he
had never suspected that Randal might want to marry her.
When he rang the bell half an hour later she went to let him in, her green eyes
enormous in her white face. Tom looked at her in alarmed concern.
'What's wrong? Your mother?' His eyes shot up the stairs. 'Is she worse?'
'No,' she shook her head. 'Come into the kitchen, Tom. I must talk to you.'
He followed her anxiously. Laura stood straight, like a child caught out in a misdeed;
her hands tightly clenched at her waist, and faced him.
'Randal Mercier has asked me to marry him,' she said huskily.
She saw the shock in Tom's eyes. Then abruptly he turned away and walked to the
window, turning his back to her.
She watched his back painfully. 'I refused at first,' she said slowly. 'But then my
father told me something that makes it plain I have no choice but to accept.'
Tom swung round at that, frowning. 'What do you mean?'
'Dad ... Dad is in financial difficulties. We need Randal s money.' It was as far as she
could go. She dared not tell him the whole truth; she had no right to. But she could
not bear Tom to think she was marrying Randal because she loved him.
There was a long pause. She listened to the sound of Tom's slow breathing. All her
life lay in the hollow of his hand. Her eyes traced the slight stoop of his shoulders,
the lift of his neck, the shape of the skull beneath his sunny hair. The light falling
through the window showed her a few white hairs among the gold. He's past thirty,
she thought. He'll be middle-aged in a few years. Her heart ached with tenderness.
She had loved him all her life, hurrying to grow up so that she could marry him, and
the thought of a future without him was bitter.
He sighed and gave her a smile, a pale, cold movement of his mouth which did not
reach his eyes.
'What will you do?' he asked her.
'As my father wishes,' she answered in a tone as calm as his own; betraying nothing
of the pain which was twisting deep inside her like a snake of poison.
If only he would show some sign of regret or sorrow, give her some comfort to take
with her into the darkness of the future. Her eyes searched his face. A pulse at his [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]