Hostile engagement Read online

  Bit of a kiss? She wouldn't want to know him when he really got going ! 'I've had better than that from novices,' she told him coldly, and only as the words dropped from her lips and all movement behind her ceased did she realise her words had sounded challenging. The last thing she wanted she hurriedly realised, was that Jud Hemming should give her a further demonstration that he had passed out of the Lovemaking Academy with first class honours. `I didn't mean that,' she retracted quickly, terrified suddenly at the lack of movement behind her. 'Y ... you've got me so confused I don't know what I'm saying.'

  `Confused?' She heard his voice at last, quietly dropping the question into the tension-filled air.

  `I ... I ... Oh, put it down to the fact that I'm not used to having a man in my bedroom,' she said irritably, and wished he would hurry up and fix her zip so they could get out of her room and the intimacy that surrounded them.

  She felt Jud's hands come to rest on her shoulders, causing her head to jerk upright as his grip tightened. 'You're no stranger to bedroom scenes, though, are you?' he asked, his voice sounding offhand in her ears, as though he wasn't really interested in her reply.

  `As you stated previously,' she told him, 'I still have a lot to learn.'

  The sudden increased pressure on her shoulders worried her, but it lasted no longer than two seconds, then Jud's hands left her shoulders and he was once more trying to free her zip, saying coolly, 'In that case I'd better hurry up and get this job done so that we can leave your chaste little room,' and then infuriatingly, when he must know any movement she made would have her dress tearing at the seams, he added, 'If you have me in mind to be your tutor, forget it—cut your teeth on somebody else.'

  It could have been his way of assuring her she had nothing to fear from him, but Lucy didn't see it like that; she knew he had taken her 'I still have a lot to learn' as an invitation, an invitation he had turned down, and her fury threatened to boil over. Then her zip was sliding up, Jud having achieved the job he set out to do, and she was left staring at the door as he went out saying, 'I'll wait for you downstairs.'

  He was absolutely, one hundred per cent insufferable! Lucy thought as she collected her wrap. It was a warm night, and her wrap wouldn't be needed, but she felt in need of holding something in her hands; she didn't trust her control sufficiently to have her hands free if Jud Hemming made another crack like the last one before they reached the Hall.

  Mrs Hemming came out into the hall to greet them when she heard them arrive and within a very few minutes Lucy decided she liked Jud's mother very much. How could she not like her when she was so opposite from her son, not only in looks but in manner too?

  `I thought you were never going to get here,' she said after Jud had introduced them. 'Forgive my impatience, Lucy, but I've so looked forward to this day.'

  Lucy summoned up a smile as she walked with the grey-haired woman, who was about her own height, into the drawing room she had been in only yesterday. She found it difficult to meet Mrs Hemming's eyes while they sipped

  sherry before going in to dinner, and this upset her because she had never had any trouble looking directly at anyone before. It was guilt, pure and simple, she knew, at the deception she and Jud were practising on this welcoming woman, that kept her looking down into her lap for most of the time. She hoped Mrs Hemming would put it down to shyness until she could get a grip on herself.

  During dinner conversation became more general, and Lucy was thankful to be able to appear more natural. This was Mrs Hemming's first visit to Rockford Hall since her son had moved in, and she was interested in everything Lucy could tell her about the district and its inhabitants.

  `It's lovely hearing everything from someone who's lived in the neighbourhood for a long time,' Mrs Hemming said at one stage. `Jud can't abide the sort of affair we went to yesterday morning. He'd bought tickets, of course, to support the charity, but I made him take me so that I could get to know as many people as I could while I'm here.'

  The conversation moved on to something else and Lucy drew a relieved breath that with the strawberries and champagne function successfully out of the way, she hadn't had to reveal she had been there too. She was grateful now that there had been such a crush and she had not got around to meeting Jud's mother then-she would like to have seen Jud lie his way out of that one. Then what Mrs Hemming had just said about wanting to get to know as many people as she could while she was here made her ask

  `You don't live at the Hall?'

  `Oh no, didn't Jud tell you?' Lucy looked down at her plate as she tried to find a suitable answer that didn't involve the need to lie to this kindly woman. Then there was no need to lie, for Mrs Hemming was saying, 'Of course he hasn't, I expect you've been too wrapped up in each other to think of anything else,' and went on to tell her she had a house in Malvern. Originally she and Jud had lived in Warwickshire, and although they had liked the area very

  much, there was nothing to compare with the pre-Cambrian hills of Malvern. She had visited them often as a girl, and when Jud's hard work had paid off and he told her he would buy her a house anywhere in the world she chose to live, there had been no other choice for her but Malvern. 'Not many mothers are blessed with such wonderful sons,' Mrs Hemming said, giving Jud an affectionate smile.

  `You're biased,' Jud told his mother.

  `So I expect is Lucy,' his mother replied proudly.

  `Not every girl of my acquaintance falls in love with me, you know,' Jud said indulgently.

  `Ah, but Lucy did—didn't you, my dear?'

  Conscious that two pairs of eyes were turned in her direction, Lucy felt the heat of a blush creep up under her skin.

  `Now you've made her blush,' Jud put in quietly, and deftly changed the subject to talk about the redecorations he had planned for some of the upstairs rooms.

  After a delicious meal where the main course had been one of Lucy's favourites, duck superbly cooked with an orange sauce, they adjourned to the drawing room where a trim little maid came in with a tray of coffee.

  Inevitably it seemed, with Mrs Hemming so pleased about her son's engagement, talk came round once more to this subject. Mrs Hemming handed Lucy a cup of coffee, remarking, 'Have you named the day yet, Lucy?'

  Lucy took tight hold of her coffee cup and saucer, staring at the steaming liquid as though fascinated, only lifting her eyes when Jud told his mother softly :

  'Lucy's parents died quite recently-we've decided to wait awhile.'

  `Oh, my dear, I am sorry!' Mrs Hemming's sympathy was instant, and knowing that since she was deceiving her so badly she didn't deserve her sympathy, Lucy had to blink hard to keep the tears away. She didn't like that Jud

  should use her dead parents as a means to get her out of a tension-filled moment, but she realised with a fairness she didn't want to feel that there was very little else he could have said that would sound convincing. 'Are you all alone now?' Mrs Hemming enquired gently, and Lucy with her control returning was able to tell her she lived with her brother Rupert, and had an aunt living in Garbury, a pretty little village on the outskirts of Sheffield.

  Towards ten o'clock Jud decided it was time his mother was tucked up in bed. 'Dr Reading said you must keep regular hours and I think you've had enough excitement for one day,' he told her.

  `You're marrying a bully,' Mrs Hemming smiled across at the dark-haired girl she thought would one day be her daughter-in-law. 'I shall see you again before I go back, shan't I?' she asked.

  Jud handed his mother her handbag, making some comment to the effect that he was sure it had a hundredweight of coal in it, it was so heavy, and was it necessary for her to carry so much about with her, to which Mrs Hemming replied that men didn't understand about such matters, and gratefully Lucy realised there was no need for her to answer the question Mrs Hemming had put to her, while wishing the circumstances of their meeting had been different because Jud's mother was proving to be as good and kind as her own mother had been.

  `Jud's taking m
e back to Malvern on Friday,' Mrs Hemming told her. 'There isn't very much time for us to get to know each other very well.' She thought for a brief pause, then turned to her son and suggested warmly, `Jud, why don't you and Lucy come and stay with me for the weekend? You could do with a break, I'm sure, and a weekend in the Malverns will blow all the cobwebs away.'

  Her words dropped into a tense silence on Lucy's part as she waited for Jud to answer for them both. She didn't know how he was going to get them out of going, but he

  would she was sure. He would see, she was certain, that to deceive his mother for the few hours she had been in her company at the Hall had been difficult enough. To spend the weekend with her at her home would be too much—apart from the distaste she felt at the deception, she would never be able to play her part convincingly for a whole weekend. She felt herself relax as Jud helped his mother to her feet and began to speak, then all her nerve ends seemed to tighten into one outsized knot, as she heard him saying easily :

  `What an excellent idea. We'd like that very much, wouldn't we, Lucy?'

  * * *

  * * *

  CHAPTER FOUR

  LUCY'S control was at breaking point when Jud returned after seeing his mother from the room. She was so angry she didn't trust herself to speak without yelling at him and thereby risking waking the whole house. She stood up, her lips tightly together, her handbag over her arm.

  `You want to go?'

  Several short sharp sentences of affirmation sprang to her lips, but she managed to bite them down. 'Yes,' she said instead, and refused to say anything else.

  Jud stood looking at her; he couldn't help but notice her tight-lipped expression. He was astute enough to know she was quietly simmering, she felt sure, but if he anticipated a slanging match, he said nothing other than, 'I'll get your wrap.'

  Once they were in the car and driving away from the Hall, Lucy could contain herself no longer. 'How dare you!' she ground out, her words coming out in tightly controlled fury. 'How dare you!'

  `How dare I what?' Jud replied, seeming to be greatly surprised that she had taken exception to anything that had gone on that evening. 'I must confess myself mystified, Lucy, at what you've found to be angry about.'

  So her seething fury had not been lost on him. 'How could you accept your mother's invitation for both of us?' she stormed, then really getting into her stride, 'You can have no idea how I felt at having to deceive her—I felt sick every time I had to lie to her ...'

  But you didn't have to lie to her, did you?' Jud cut in, his tone still sounding unconcerned. Lucy thought for a

  moment-he was right, she hadn't in actual fact told any lies that evening, but—

  `I lied to her by implication-I've joined forces with you in allowing her to believe we're engaged.' She was silent for a brief moment, then, 'Doesn't it bother you that you've lied to her?'

  Not if the end justifies the means,' Jud said smoothly.

  Lucy sat quietly fuming. What sort of man was he—this man who could calmly pretend to be engaged to her to get himself out of Carol's clutches, and carry it through even if it meant lying to his own mother?

  `You should be ashamed of yourself,' she said, her thoughts on his mother, and was quite unprepared for the burst of laughter that echoed in her ears as the man by her side gave way to outrageous amusement. She could see nothing at all funny in what she had said, and although at any other time she might have thought his laughter a pleasant sound—up until then she hadn't thought he'd got a laugh in him—at that moment, the sound of his laughter made her more infuriated than ever. 'You're disgusting!' she fumed, and would have said more, only he stopped her with one well-chosen sentence.

  `And you, Lucy, have the makings of a first-class shrew.'

  If he hadn't been negotiating the car round a particularly tight bend she knew well, Lucy felt she would have been unable to resist the impulse to punch his head for that remark, but since he was the last person she wanted to end up in a ditch with, she used all her will power and kept her hands clenched tightly in her lap, and said not another word until he drew up outside Brook House, when he showed every sign of going in with her.

  `I'll be all right on my own,' she said shortly. It was another waste of breath, she saw, as he left the car and walked to the front door with her. The house was in darkness and she fumbled in her bag for her key, only to have it taken out of her hand and inserted in the lock by Jud. It

  was Jud too who snicked on the light and stood to one side in the hall as she preceded him into the sitting room.

  She'd be damned if she would thank him for her dinner. `I won't be going with you to Malvern for the weekend,' she said, making no bones about it. It was a fact, she wasn't going, and he might just as well know now as later; he should never have accepted for her in the first place.

  `Did you think all you had to do to earn your ring was to wear it?' he demanded.

  It did seem an easy way to earn three thousand pounds' worth of sentiment, Lucy admitted then, and wondered if she would have agreed to wear it had she known the further deception she would be called upon to practice. As she looked down at her left hand the ring sparkled back at her, bringing a lump to her throat—the ring truly belonged to her, but she felt defeated suddenly.

  `Don't make me go, Jud,' she said softly, all temper gone from her now, her voice unconsciously pleading.

  `What's your objection to going?' Jud's voice was hard, ignoring the pleading note in her voice.

  `I ... I ...' then as his unyielding attitude got through to her, her own voice lost some of its softness. I could never have deceived my own mother. You mother reminds me of her-not in the way she looks, but she has the same gentle manner, the same kind way with her ...' her voice tapered off. What she told him was the truth, but she couldn't look at him, doubting her words would have any effect on him—he was much too hard.

  She was proved right, for his voice was harder than ever when he spoke, causing her to wonder if he thought she was putting on an act just to get out of going.

  `We'll be leaving on Friday afternoon,' he said coldly. `Make sure you're ready.'

  How had she got into all this? Lucy wondered as she lay wide awake in her bed after Jud had gone. It had seemed so simple at the start; all she had had to do, she had thought,

  was to wear the ring on her engagement finger for three months. She should have realised without having to be reminded that Jud Hemming had paid three thousand pounds for the ring, she must have been an idiot to think he would write off the loss of his money so easily. And yet if Rupert hadn't blabbed about her engagement to Charles Arbuthnot, none of this would have happened.

  Thinking of her brother she hoped he was safely tucked up in bed somewhere and not getting up to any mischief with Archie Proctor. She wished she could stop this overprotective feeling she had for her brother-as she had told Jud earlier that evening, Rupert was twenty-five and well able to make his own decisions, but that didn't stop her worrying about him. He had been shaken to the core when he had discovered the lands he had hoped one day would be his had been gambled away from him, and she could understand in part why he should feel 'to hell with everything' and go wild for a time, especially since he had worked so hard to learn everything there was to know about looking after his inheritance. Poor Rupert, there was no longer an estate for him to manage.

  Her thoughts see-sawed backwards and forwards between Jud Hemming and her brother, and she fell asleep at last wondering what on earth had possessed Rupert to tell the bank manager she was engaged to Jud.

  Lucy felt much better about everything when she got up the next morning. Everything had seemed to have taken on nightmare proportions last night. She still didn't want to spend the weekend at Mrs Hemming's house, and had to keep taking a look at her ring every now and then to prevent herself from taking out her writing case and penning a regretful note to her saying she couldn't go. But as Jud had reminded her last night, the only lies she had told had been by implication onl
y—that still didn't make them any less lies, in her view, but there was small consolation in that, and she did so want to keep her ring. Its monetary value

  was incidental, she loved it because it had belonged to her mother and would have loved it equally had it been worth only a few pounds.

  She was still preoccupied with her thoughts after lunch when Rupert returned. There was no doubting he was in high spirits as he came whistling into the kitchen where Lucy was putting a sponge cake in the oven.

  `Made a killing at the races yesterday,' he said excitedly after the briefest of greetings. 'Old Archie put me on to a couple of good nags ...' He then went on to explain the intricacies of doubling one's bet by letting all the money won on the first horse ride on the second, and then on to more involved procedure that seemed highly complicated to Lucy. With a sinking heart she listened to him enthuse about 'good old Archie', and wanted to beg him to have nothing more to do with him. She had a question she wanted to ask her brother and it had nothing at all to do with horses, but she held back until eventually Rupert came to the end of his tale; he still had the light of success in his eyes and she didn't want to take that look away—he'd had very little to get excited about lately—but her question couldn't wait any longer, and with the openness of the relationship she had had with him since childhood, she asked her question straight out

  `Why did you think it necessary to tell Charles Arbuthnot that I was engaged to Jud Hemming, Rupe?'

  Expecting him to at least have the grace to look ashamed of himself, Lucy was shaken to see Rupert greet her question with no sign of looking abashed, though he did think to say he hadn't thought old man Arbuthnot would spread it around.