As she waited for him to pour it for her, she felt a sharp p.r.i.c.kle of sensation at the base of her neck, a conviction that someone was watching her. Automatically she responded to it, turning her head to glance over her shoulder, and then she froze.
She was being watched, by Ritchie Lucas. She recognized him immediately, even though, unlike his cousin, his physical appearance had changed considerably in the fifteen years since she had last seen him.
At school, Ritchie had been considered good-looking by some of the girls, although personally she had never found his rather beefy blonde-haired looks in the least attractive.
To Rosie there had always been some thing slightly coa.r.s.e and uncontrolled about the way he looked which, she had subconsciously felt, reflected his personality, so that she had always felt repelled by him. Which was no doubt why he had decided to pick on her as a victim of his callous cruelty.
Now that coa.r.s.eness was very much more obvious, his skin burned a reddish brown by the Australian sun, his blond hair now more gingerish and very obviously receding. He had put on weight and, to judge from his physical appearance, was not particularly keen on exercise He was holding a can of beer, and as she looked at him he raised it towards her, acknowledging her presence, grinning at her, ignoring the faintly anxious glance the small dark woman at his side was giving him. Was she his wife? And those two boys with her, were they his sons? Jake Lucas was standing with them, and Rosie shivered, quickly putting down her gla.s.s, her drink untouched.
She couldn"t stay here now.
"Rosie, are you all right?" she heard Jim asking her in some concern.
"Yes... Yes... I"m fine... It"s just that I"ve remembered a phone-call I should have made..."
She was gabbling, she recognised, her manner causing Jim"s concern to increase as she desperately tried to find an excuse to escape.
"Business? Well, feel free to use the phone in the study.
You know where it is."
Her face burning with a mixture of guilt and anxiety, Rosie headed for the house. If she were lucky, she would be able to make her escape without anyone even noticing she had gone. She would have to phone Louise later, of course, and apologise for leaving without saying goodbye to her.
Feverishly planning what she must do, Rosie opened the French window and stepped into the cool darkness of the house.
The noise of the party receded, muted by the gla.s.s doors.
Thank goodness she had arrived a little late and had not parked on the drive, where she might have been blocked in by other cars.
She could hear voices in the kitchen, where Louise and her helpers were preparing to serve the buffet.
Feeling almost like a criminal, she held her breath and waited, hoping that no one would come into the sitting-room or see her leaving.
Her heart was beating too fast and un evenly her body"s physical reaction to her mental panic.
She started to walk across the room to the door which led into the hall. It would have been easier to go back outside and walk round the side of the house to the front, where her car was parked, but she was terrified of doing so in case she saw the Lucases again.
She was halfway across the room when she heard the French window open. Immediately she froze.
"Rosie... Not going yet, are you?"
Her heart lurched with fear. Ritchie Lucas. Had he seen her come inside and deliberately followed her, or was it simply a coincidence?
She heard him laugh. She had always disliked his laugh. He had laughed that night when she had tried to make him stop.
"Well, now, you sure have turned out fair d.i.n.k.u.m, haven"t you? I real beaut... I always did have a yen for you, you know, Rosie..."
He was, if not drunk, then certainly very close to it, Rosie recognised fastidiously as she watched him swaying slightly on his feet. He was sweating heavily, and she could smell the sour, rank scent of his body.
She wanted to turn away from him, to open the door and run, and yet at the same time she was terrified of taking her eyes off him, terrified of breaking that visual contact, clinging to it as though in doing so she was actually somehow physically keeping him at bay.
She was paralysed with fear, she recognised numbly; like an animal trapped in the beam of a car"s headlights, she simply could not move, was too afraid to move in case in doing so she somehow brought about the very thing she most dreaded.
"Little Rosie... Who knows what might have happened between us if I"d stayed around?"
Sickly Rosie watched as he lurched towards her.
Run... run, a voice inside her screamed frantically but she was incapable of obeying it.
He had reached her now, was stretching out his hand to touch her, the same hand which had once torn at her clothes, clawed at her skin, forced her hands behind her back while he had laughed at her efforts to escape.
She felt the panic building up inside her, and knew that everything she was feeling was clearly written on her face: the fear, the anxiety, the revulsion... "You"re not wearing a wedding ring... Good on you. Marriage is a mug"s game. Gets you landed with a nagging wife and a parcel of brats. You and I could have fun together, Rosie..."
Pun... Rosie felt herself gag as her stomach heaved. He was so close to her now that she couldn"t understand how he couldn"t see the revulsion on her face.
"Rosie... there you are, darling..."
Her head snapped back in shock as Jake walked into the room.
Darling... Jake had called her darling... What...?
At any other time she might almost have been cynically amused by the way Ritchie gave way to his cousin, stepping back from her as Jake stepped forward, moving aside so that Jake could stand next to her.
"I just came inside to cool down," she heard Ritchie bl.u.s.tering.
"Didn"t realise you and Rosie here had something going, Jake..."
"Naomi"s worried about Adam. She thinks he"s got a temperature. She wants to go back to the hotel."
When had Jake taken hold of her arm in that proprietorial, possessive manner? Rosie wondered numbly, as she watched Ritchie turn back to the French window in obedience at his cousin"s words.
She had started to tremble, small tremors of shock shaking her body. She tried to control them, knowing that Jake must be able to feel them, but the more she tensed her muscles, the more intense her shuddering became.
She knew what Jake must be thinking, of course, why he had laid claim to a relationship between them that never had and never could exist. No doubt he thought she had deliberately encouraged Ritchie to come in here after her... No doubt he thought she had deliberately planned the whole thing.
She turned towards him, intending to pull her arm free, but before she could do so the inner door opened and Louise came in, coming to an abrupt and obviously startled halt at the sight of them.
"Jake... Rosie..."
"We were just about to leave, Louise," Rosie heard him saying.
"Rosie isn"t feeling too well... Too much sun..."
Rosie could see the surprise and the speculation in Louise"s eyes. Her heart sank. Louise had a kind heart, but she was also a terrible gossip, and Rosie could see quite plainly the interpretation she was putting on finding them together, Jake"s hand resting so possessively on her arm, silently laying claim to an intimacy between them which did not in reality exist. And yet she seemed unable to drag herself free as Jake led her towards the open door and through it.
She was still trembling, still physically"re acting to what had happened and to her shock, she comforted herself for her lack of will power and for letting Jake take the initiative.
"You can let go of me now," she told him stiffly.
"There"s no need to march me off the premises like some kind of criminal. Whether you believe it or not, the last thing I want... the last person I want to be with is your precious cousin, so if you think I"m "So I saw."
Rosie stiffened at his curt tone.
"If you"re trying to be sarcastic she began, but Jake shook his head.
"Now you"re the one who"s jumping to conclusions he told her quietly.
When she stared at him, he explained grimly, "I saw your face, Rosie. I
saw the way you were looking at him. No one, but no one, could fake
that kind of reaction."
Was he actually saying that he believed her? That he didn"t think she had deliberately enticed Ritchie to follow her?
Rosie couldn"t believe it. Shock made her sway slightly on her feet, so that Jake"s grip on her arm immediately tightened. She heard him curse and then say under his breath, almost pleadingly, "Don"t go and faint on me, Rosie. Not here..."
Faint...? What did he think she was? Rosie wondered belligerently. Of course she wasn"t going to faint.
"I am not going to faint," she told him, grit ting out each word with separate emphasis.
"I"m glad to her it," Jake told her cordially.
"But as well as not fainting, do you think you could possibly start walking?"
"You don"t have to hold on to me," Rosie told him fiercely.
"Or to see me off the premises. My car is this way," she added as Jake
ignored her."And mine is this way."Rosie stared at him and then started to protest."I"m not letting you drive," Jake overruled her."Not in the state you"re in...""What state?" Rosie protested."I"m not in any kind of state..."Abruptly Jake stopped walking, turning her round to face him."No?" he said grimly.
"What is it, then? Malaria? That"s the only physical cause I know of for someone shaking the way you"re doing."
"I am not shaking," Rosie denied, but her face had started to burn with reaction and awareness of the fact that she was lying and that he knew it.
"You might as well give up, Rosie," he told her.
"I am not letting you drive home, even if that means physically carrying you to my car.
I wonder if Louise is watching us," he added speculatively.
Rosie couldn"t help it. Immediately she looked anxiously towards the house, and then realised that he was deliberately baiting her.
"Why did you do that?" she demanded shakily.
"Do what?"
She gritted her teeth.
"Why did you tell Louise we were leaving together as if... as though...?"
"As though what?" Jake prompted her.
Rosie shook her head, suddenly overcome with reaction. She didn"t have the energy to argue with Jake right now, or to demand an explanation of why he had implied to Louise that they were a couple, using that deliberately intimate "we"... nor why he had indicated the same thing to Ritchie, either.
"Come on ... let"s go..."
Too drained to argue, she turned mutely to follow him, and then tensed as he slipped his arm round her, pulling her firmly, protectively almost, against his body, as though he knew how weak and vulnerable she was feeling.
Instinct urged her to pull away, but obeying that instinct was too far outside the capabilities of her shock-exhausted muscles.
It was easier simply to stay where she was, to let him guide her towards his parked car.
She was muzzily pondering on why it should feel so comforting to be held so securely against him when she loathed and disliked him so much, when he suddenly stopped walking and cursed briefly under his breath.
She lifted her head automatically to look at him, forgetting how close to him she already was.
"It"s Ritchie and Naomi," he told her.
"They"ve seen us and they"re heading this way."
His breath felt coolly pleasant against her hot skin. He was smiling at her, she recognised with an odd, frantic skipped beat of her heart, his eyes suddenly soft and warm.
"Rosie..."
He had never said her name like that before, and she was startled to discover how different it sounded when he did.
She looked enquiringly at him, her brain, her emotions, her responses still not fully"re covered from the fear Ritchie had caused her to feel.
Jake bent his head towards hers; his free hand cupped her face, his skin cool and firm against the nervous heat of hers.
She looked at him questioningly, and then froze as she realised what he was going to do.
It was too late to avert her face and push him away. He was holding her too closely, the arm which had felt so protective and comforting now imprisoning her against him.
Anger took the place of her earlier numb shock. She opened her mouth to demand that he release her.