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unsatisfied passion, didn't it? It was the revenge you wanted.'
'No,' she whispered. 'No!' Her face was utterly white, her eyes despairing.
His words made it plain that, desire her though he did, he also hated her.
'Oh, yes,' he said, the words grinding out between his teeth. 'You enjoyed
being the candle to my moth, Selina. You liked watching me flame
helplessly against your brightness, unable to escape or get what I wanted.'
'Stop it, Ashley,' she moaned. 'How can you be so cruel? When just now I ...'
'You finally surrendered?' His voice was icy. 'Has it occurred to you yet, my
darling, that that has set me free?'
Her eyes stared at him, widening in pain and disbelief. 'What do you mean?'
'You understand me very well,' he said drily. 'I got what I wanted in the
end I told you I always did. You finally wanted me as much as I wanted
you. Doesn't it seem logical that having had you so satisfactorily I should no
longer want you?'
She closed her eyes to shut out the cruel mask of his face. A swimming
sensation was creeping over her body. She gave a soft strangled moan and
her limbs relaxed.
When she regained consciousness she was lying beneath a sheet, her cold
body growing slightly warmer. A movement beside her drew her dazed
eyes. As she saw Ashley she winced, her lips shaking.
'You'd better stay in bed all day,' he told her coolly. 'You're quite white. I've
got to go into town to see the Campbells. Joanna will come over to look
after you.'
Selina made no movement, uttered no sound, her eyes staring at him dully.
He was a total stranger again, and she felt lost.
After waiting for some comment she never made, he shrugged. 'I'll see you
later,' he said, moving out of the room.
She lay there staring at nothing, trying to drag herself out of the cold pit of
despair. Then gradually anger grew steadily inside her. His bitter cruelty had
come as such a shock after what had preceded it. She had to admit in all
justice that her own treatment of him in the past might explain it, but she
could not excuse it. Ashley had treated her like a woman of the streets, his
attitude one of total hostility. He hated her. She had to face the fact. Her
abject surrender had completed the alienation the past had begun. Between
them they had destroyed their love for each other.
But what did he mean to do? He had not been very clear on the point. He had
said that she would have to beg for his love at first, then he had said he didn't
even want her any more. Which was the truth? Was their marriage at an end?
Had he gone to Renata Campbell tonight? Was he going to leave her?
The golden afternoon sun flooded across the floor, so lyrically beautiful that
it made her tears rise again.
The telephone began to shrill beyond her room. She heard Joanna answer it,
the low murmur of her voice. Slipping out of bed, Selina put on her wrap
and went out to see who was calling, hoping wildly that it would be Ashley.
Joanna was just replacing the receiver. She turned and looked surprised
when she saw Selina standing there. 'Why, you're awake ... Mr Dent said
you wasgoin' to sleep all day.' Her eyes twinkled. 'Honey, you must be tired
out!'
Selina flushed at the amusement in the dark face. 'Who was that on the
phone?' she asked anxiously. 'Was it A my husband?'
'No, Mrs Dent, ma'am, it was a gentleman ... Sir Daniel something or other,
he called himself. I told him you was not to be disturbed, just like Mr Dent
said.'
'Oh!' Ashley had thought of everything, she thought bitterly. He might not
want her any more, but he did not intend her to see or speak to Sir Daniel.
That streak of possessiveness ran deep.
Joanna eyed her reflectively. 'You going back to bed, Mrs Dent?'
Selina shook her head. 'No, I'm going to get into my bikini and have a swim,
I think.'
Joanna chewed her lower lip. 'Mind if I pop back home? I was in the middle
of the ironing when Mr Dent asked me to come over, and if you're feeling
better you may not be needing me.'
'That's all right, Joanna. I'll be fine by myself.' Selina said quietly. She went
back into her bedroom and changed into her bikini, then wandered down to
the beach and stared across the blue sea with eyes which contemplated an
empty future. Kicking the fine soft sand with her bare toes, she stood at the
water's edge, feeling the cool salty waves trickle over her feet. She was half
tempted to walk out and never come back. Even in her worst moments she
had never felt quite so desolate and lonely. She had always had Roger to
worry about in the past. He had been the spar to which she clung in the
shipwreck of her life. His need of her had kept her afloat. However sick and
horrified she had been years ago she had known she had to look after him.
and it had been his desperate need which had saved her from falling totally
beyond hope. Now Roger was an adult and far away from her, and she had
no living human being to care for, no one who needed or wanted her.
The blue sea stretched to the edge of the horizon, misty in its furthest
reaches, with the late afternoon sun a blurred golden coin wrapped in
opalescent wraiths of cloud. It was exquisite, but empty, and echoed her
own feeling poignantly.
What was Ashley doing now? Making love to Renata Campbell? Teasing
her, flirting with her, dancing with her?
She turned restlessly, to twist her mind away from such thoughts, and found
herself under silent observation.
Sir Daniel Ravern stood a little way up the beach, looking curiously out of
place in this setting, his lightweight dusty white suit flawlessly pressed, the
creases knife-edged. The wind lifted his silvery fair hair with a caressing
motion. His face was as austere and remote as the blue sea.
He moved down towards her slowly. 'I had the most curious feeling, while I
watched you, Selina,' he said as he joined her. 'I got the idea you were
thinking of killing yourself.'
It was typical of him that he should speak so bluntly. She smiled drily at
him. 'I was,' she said, equally direct.
The cold eyes surveyed her again, very intently. 'Why?'
She shrugged, her slender shoulders lifted in a hopeless gesture. There was
no point in trying to explain.He glanced around the beach. 'A paradise,' he
said. 'Where is the serpent, Eve? Is it myself?'
She couldn't help smiling, although the smile was weary. 'No, Sir Daniel.
Don't ask me any more of your clever questions please.'
'No cross-examinations?' His tone was as dry as her own. 'I rang you earlier,
but your maid said you were asleep. But I saw your husband swimming in
the hotel pool with Miss Campbell, so I deduced that that it would be quite
safe for me to come out here to see you.'
'We have nothing to say to each other, Sir Daniel.'
'Possibly not,' he said in his beautiful clear voice. 'I think we had a time and
place, but we missed it.'
Her eyes widened as she stared at him. What on earth did he mean?
His mouth twisted wryly. 'When you were sixteen I was thirty-six,' he said.
'I was on my way to getting my silk. I was a Q.C. when I was forty. I never
had much time for women. Not that I didn't enjoy their company, or desire
them occasionally, but I didn't wish to waste my energy in amatory pursuits
when I had a career to build. I'm not trying to say I fell in love with you
during those days in court, but I never quite got you out of my head. You had
an unusual purity of feature, a vulnerability, which I found moving.'
She flushed. 'Thank you.' The dry tone with which he paid the compliment
was touching.
'Had you been older, or I younger, I would have left no stone unturned to
find you,' he said casually. 'As it was I was half grateful that you were lost to
me. You would have been a distraction I couldn't afford.'
Selina laughed, her slanting green eyes filling with amusement. 'I think you
mean it as a compliment!'
He smiled, the cold eyes lighting up. 'If you knew me better you would
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