the market’s down. And he owns some pretty good horses.’
‘Why isn’t he married?’
‘Doesn’t believe in it. I think he got very badly burnt over some married woman several years ago. Always has the most fantastic birds, though.’
There was a pause. Then Steve went on, ‘But it’s Rupert you’re keen on?’
‘Yes I am,’ said Bella quickly.
‘Then why did you come here today?’
‘I wanted to lay a ghost. Steve, I must go.’
How idiotic those monosyllables sounded. She had to go home, change and go out to dinner with the Henriques, but she couldn’t move.
‘Darling,’ Steve said softly, ‘I know I behaved like a heel, walking out on you when you most needed me. But I owed bread everywhere. I’d have been arrested if I’d stayed in Nalesworth any longer.’
‘And what about all those other girls every night?’ Impossible to keep the shrill hostility out of her voice.
‘I was too young to be tied down. I’ve grown up since then. I wouldn’t cheat on you now, if that’s what you’re thinking.’
But she was only conscious of his big, sexy body lounging beside her, and the fact that she wanted him as she’d never wanted anyone else.
‘You’re no good for me, Steve. I want to marry someone nice and stable.’
‘And I’m just nice,’ sighed Steve. ‘One has to specialize so young these days.’
He sat back and let one of his knees rub against hers. She jumped as though she’d touched a live wire.
‘My, but you’re edgy,’ he said.
She laughed nervously.
‘When did you develop that laugh?’
‘What laugh?’
He imitated it, and Bella laughed again out of nervousness.
‘Yeah, like that.’
‘You haven’t changed a bit,’ she stormed. ‘You always enjoyed sending me up.’
‘Your voice has changed too,’ he said. ‘Stage school certainly ironed out all the Yorkshire accent.’
As she leapt to her feet, he grabbed her.
‘Let go of my hand,’ she choked.
‘Come on honey, don’t be mad at me.’
‘Let me go,’ her voice rose.
‘Keep your voice down. Everyone’s looking at us. Oh, come on!’ He pulled her down beside him.
‘Don’t you understand! I’ve come thousands of miles to get you back. I’m the one who knows all about you, darling. I bet you haven’t told Baby Henriques about life in the slums and your jailbird father, have you?’
‘Shut up!’ spat Bella, turning white.
‘And that’s only the beginning, as you well know. Now finish up your drink like a good girl and I’ll drop you off wherever you want to go. But from tomorrow the heat’s on. I’m not going to let the Henriques get their hands on you. You don’t want to get mixed up with them, darling; you’re batting out of your league.’
As the taxi drove towards Chichester Terrace, Bella frantically combed her hair and re-did her face.
‘Stop fussing,’ said Steve.
‘But I’m so unsuitably dressed,’ wailed Bella. ‘I had this lovely little black dress.’
‘You’re an actress. The Henriques would be terribly disappointed if you turned up looking straight. Just tell them Harry Backhaus kept you for hours, and only just let you go.’
They were driving along the Old Brompton Road now, the cherry trees dazzling white against the darkening sky.
‘It’s spring,’ said Steve, taking her in his arms. ‘Can’t you feel the sap rising?’
For a moment she kissed him back, aware only of the appalling rightness of being in his arms.
‘Don’t go,’ he whispered.
‘No, Steve. For God’s sake!’ She pushed him violently away and sat back trembling, unable to speak until the taxi swung into Chichester Terrace.
He wrote her telephone number down on a cigarette packet.
‘Don’t lose it,’ she was furious to find herself saying. ‘I’m ex-directory. Oh God, you’ve sat on Rupert’s mother’s flowers.’
Chapter Five
As she stood in the road, watching the taxi carry him away, she was overwhelmed by desolation. She ran past the big, white houses, set back from the road, their gardens filled with early roses and azaleas. Then she came to the whitest and biggest of all. Two stone lions with sneering faces reared up on either side of the gate. A maid answered the door, but before she could take Bella’s coat Rupert rushed into the hall, his face white and drawn.
How ridiculously young and unfledged he looks beside Steve, she thought.
‘Darling! What happened? It’s after nine o’clock!’
Bella was not an actress for nothing. Suddenly she was the picture of distress and contrition.
‘I’m so sorry! Harry Backhaus kept me waiting for ages, and then took hours over the audition, and then he made the most frightful pass at me.’ Her eyes filled with tears. ‘I wanted to phone, really I did, but it got so late it seemed more sensible to come straight here. I didn’t even have time to change. Please forgive me.’
Any moment a thunderbolt will strike me down, she thought wryly. But Rupert, at least, was convinced.
‘Poor darling,’ he said, seizing her hands. ‘Of course it doesn’t matter. Come in and meet everyone.’
They went into a huge unwelcoming room, a cross between a museum and a jungle, full of gilded furniture and elegant uncomfortable chairs. On the wall, appallingly badly lit, hung huge paintings with heavy gold frames. Potted plants were everywhere.
‘Poor Bella’s had a terrible time,’ Rupert announced. ‘The damned director’s only just let her go.’
‘I’m so sorry,’ Bella said, giving them her most captivating smile. ‘He kept me waiting for hours, and then. .’
‘We heard you saying so outside,’ said a large woman coldly.
‘This is my mother,’ said Rupert.
Constance Henriques was tall but not thin enough. Her face, with its large turned-down mouth and bulging, glacial eyes, resembled a cod on a slab. Her voice would have carried across any parade ground.
‘It’s nice to meet you,’ said Bella, deciding it wasn’t.
‘I thought you told Miss Parkinson we always dress for dinner,’ Constance said to Rupert.
Bella had had too many whiskies, ‘And I’ve undressed,’ she said, looking down at her unbuttoned shirt. And, almost unconsciously slipping into a mocking upper class accent, added, ‘I’m most frightfully sorry.’
There was a frozen pause, then someone laughed.
‘This is my father,’ said Rupert, grinning.
Charles Henriques must once have been very handsome, but had long since gone to seed. There was a network of purple veins over his face and great bags under his merry little dark eyes, which ran over Bella’s
‘How do you?’ he said, holding her hand far longer than necessary. ‘Rupert has talked about no-one else for weeks. But even he didn’t do you justice.’
He handed Bella a vast drink.
Rupert’s sister, Gay, and her fiance, Teddy, were a typical deb and a typical guards officer. They hardly broke off their conversation when Bella was introduced to them.
Bella couldn’t resist staring at Gay’s stomach. She didn’t look at all pregnant — nor did Teddy look capable of
