telephone rang. She heard Simon lift the receiver. Then there was a pause as he shut the bedroom door.
In some blind hope that it might be Cory ringing, she picked up the extension by her bed. Then she stiffened as she heard Noel’s voice: ‘How’s it all going, precious?’
Then Simon’s voice, petulant. ‘All right, but she’s not going to be the pushover you predicted.’
‘Well, you’ve got plenty of time. If you can’t have her eating out of your hands in twenty-four hours, you’re not the man you were last night.’
Simon laughed and growled wolfishly. ‘Good, wasn’t it? But then it’s always good with you. You — er — spur me on to greater endeavour.’
‘Well, close your eyes and pretend it’s me.’
‘God that it was! I do miss you, darling. You won’t get so hooked on Cory again so that you’ll forget me, will you?’
‘Darling,’ Noel’s deep voice was like a sedative. ‘I wouldn’t have angled you that part so I could spend all that time with you this summer, if I hadn’t been a tiny bit smitten, now would I?’
‘I suppose not.’
‘What do you think of your son and heir?’
‘Oh, pretty horrific. But then I’m not mad about babies. I thought you said he looked just like me.’
Noel started to laugh. Harriet put down the receiver and went into the bathroom and was violently sick. Then she stood trembling, leaning against the bathroom door, icy cold and sweating, wondering what the hell to do next.
She washed her face and went into the sitting room. Simon was lounging across the armchair.
‘Hello, beauty,’ he said amiably. ‘You look as though you’ve seen a ghost.’
‘I’ve been listening in on the extension. I heard all your conversation with Noel.’
Simon sighed. ‘Oh dear, you shouldn’t have done that. Surely you know by now that eavesdroppers never. .?’
‘Simon,’ she interrupted furiously. ‘Stop it! Stop it! Why can’t you be serious for once? How long have you been in love with Noel?’
‘I’m not in love with her.’
‘Well, how many times have you slept with her?’
‘Once, twice. What the hell does it matter? I don’t love her. It’s you I love.’
‘You couldn’t love me, the way you were talking to her.’
‘Oh, darling, haven’t you heard the expression “sleeping your way to the top”? Well, I want that film part, and if it means chatting up an old prima-donna like Noel that’s OK by me.’
Harriet stared at him appalled.
‘And you were prepared to try and make a go of it with me, while still carrying on an affair with Noel? I don’t understand you, Simon.’
He looked at her for a minute, mocking, his head on one side, his hands in his pockets.
‘Well, then, I can’t help you, can I?’
Then he started to laugh. ‘Oh come on, darling, see the funny side of it.’
Harriet shook her head. ‘I don’t think it’s funny. I want to go home.’
It was a clear night, the stars shone electrically blue, the moon came over the crags and reflected milkily in the river. As he drove, Simon turned to look at Harriet.
‘You’re making a mistake going back, darling. Noel fights very dirty — and, however much Cory likes you as a plaything, he’ll kick you out the moment she wants it.’
When they arrived at the house, Harriet let herself in and met Noel coming out of the drawing room.
‘Hullo, darlings,’ she said. ‘Had a lovers’ tiff already?’
Harriet took a deep breath. ‘I overheard your conversation with Simon on the telephone. I want to see Cory at once.’
Not a flicker of an eyelid did Noel betray her surprise. ‘My dear, he’s not here. He went out half-an-hour ago. I don’t know when he’ll be back. I think we’d better have a little chat together. Simon, angel, would you excuse us a minute?’
Shepherding Harriet into the drawing room, she shut the door behind them.
Harriet sat down on the sofa. Her knees wouldn’t stop trembling. Noel started pouring herself a drink.
‘How can I make you understand,’ she began, ‘that I really love Cory? I admit I behaved badly in the past. But now it’s different. I know he’s the only person for me, and I’ll do anything to get him back.’
‘Like bringing your latest lover up here to lure me away and offering him the bait of a big film part?’
Noel banged the whisky bottle down on the metal tray.
‘Oh, God!’ she shouted. ‘Grow up! I know you’re nuts about Cory, but he doesn’t give a damn about your stupid passion. I tried to let you out easily by getting Simon up here. He’s ambitious as hell, that boy. He needed a bit of incentive. But if you honestly think I’m intending to have a prolonged affair with him and give him the lead in my next film, you need your head examined!’
She spoke as though Simon was a nasty mark on a new dress that the dry cleaners would have no trouble removing.
Harriet ran a dry tongue over her lips. ‘I know Cory loves you, but he also likes me here looking after the children.’
‘Darling,’ Noel’s eyes were huge now and strangely gentle. ‘I did want to let you down easily. I admit I was the tiniest bit jealous of you. The children are wild about you, and so was Kit; and even Cory, who’s notoriously hard to please, regarded you with something close to approval. But I got a letter from him this morning, which really convinced me I’ve got nothing to worry about.’
She opened her bag and took out a sheet of thick azure writing-paper and handed it to Harriet. The black, almost illegible writing was unmistakable.
‘Oh, darling,’ she read. ‘I’m totally destroyed. Ever since you left yesterday, I know that it’s impossible for me to live without you any longer. I give in. Please, please come back, on any terms. I don’t care. The thought that you could feel jealous of that zombie who looks after the children would be ludicrous, if it weren’t tragic that something so trivial could keep us apart. I’ve got no complaints about her work, but she’ll leave tomorrow if it means your coming back any sooner.’
If you walk into a torture chamber and ask to be tortured, Harriet reflected, you can’t complain of the pain. Very carefully she folded Cory’s letter and put it on the table, and sat still for a minute.
‘And you’d like me to go now?’ she said numbly.
Noel nodded. ‘I think it would be better in every way. There’s no need to say goodbye to the children. It’ll only upset them. They need a mother and, from now on, I shall stay at home and look after them.’
‘May I leave a letter for Cory telling him I’m going?’
‘Of course you may,’ said Noel kindly.
Before Harriet left, Noel gave her a cheque for ?100. ‘We wouldn’t want you to starve.’
Harriet wished she were in a position to refuse.
Chapter Twenty-four
Harriet sat watching the smouldering log fire. She had been home with her parents a week now, and all was forgiven. But the peace and resignation she craved had not come. If it hadn’t been for William, she would never have had the strength to go on living. What’s going to happen to me? she thought in panic. I can’t lump a broken heart around for the rest of my life.
None of the loose ends seemed to tie up either. Why had Cory come to her bedroom that last evening and tried to persuade her not to go off with Simon? Why hadn’t he been home when she and Simon had returned later? One would have thought he’d be so delirious to have Noel back he’d never have left her side.
But as the days passed, it became increasingly obvious that she couldn’t go on without news of him, until
