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can't talk to him in front of a crowd of people!' she protested, and
was given a look that perturbed her.
'That's the only way you are going to see him,' Vincent grimly told
her. 'Let me remind you yet again he is married. I only brought
you here because I hope that if you actually set eyes on him again
you'll stop being so obsessed with him. Frankly, I can't understand
what you ever saw in him, anyway; he's quite boring, you know,
even if he is an attractive enough male animal.'
He took her arm in a firm, compelling grip and headed for the party
on the croquet lawn, and Belinda was too stunned to argue or try to
break free. Vincent had surprised her yet again; he was always
doing that to her, making her rock back on her heels by doing
something unexpected. Being around Vincent Garrett was rather like
living with a jack-in-the-box which leapt out at you when you were
off-guard.
The players in their light summer clothes, some of the men in
.white, the girls in flimsy, fluttering dresses, strolling elegantly and
idly about with their mallets, glanced round towards the new
arrivals.
Belinda heard someone say, 'It's Vincent!'
Someone else said, 'But who's that?'
Her nervous eyes flashed around the faces, recognised those of his
parents, saw their alarm and disbelief. Then she saw Ricky.
He was turning slowly, smiling, but the smile vanished as he looked
at her and recognised her.
He turned pale, eyes rounding, the whites showing as they did on a
frightened animal. He dropped the mallet he had been holding.
Belinda had a feeling he was going to faint; he visibly swayed.
Seeing her was clearly a deep shock to him, and, although she was
prepared, it was still an equal shock to her to see Ricky. She went
cold, her heart beat slowly and heavily, her sight clouded.
She stopped in her tracks and stared at him, and Ricky just stood
there, his eyes eating her up, then he began to run towards her. She
shook free of Vincent and began to run too, half laughing, half
crying, her hands held out towards Ricky.
She felt Vincent make a movement, as if to pull her back,, but he
was too late, she was out of his reach.
'Bell!' Ricky called out before he reached her. 'Oh, Bell, is it really
you?'
Then he was there, in front of her, his hands out, touching her face,
her hair, holding her shoulders while he stared and stared. 'I thought
I was seeing things,' he said shakily. 'I thought I'd gone mad. I've
been so guilty about you, I couldn't be happy knowing that you...and
here you are, looking so -' He broke off, laughing, his eyes wet, his
blond hair tumbling down over his forehead. He put a hand to his
face, pushed the lock of hair back, rubbed his eyes, gave a choked,
embarrassed little laugh. 'Sorry, I'm being stupid, but you can't know
how I feel. To see you like this... when I didn't think I ever would
again, that you were lost forever, because of me... Oh, Bell, it's a
miracle!'
'You didn't know?' she asked slowly, although she was certain now
that he had not been told, and Ricky shook his head, still very pale.
'Know? Of course not, I'd no idea...when did it happen? I mean, how
long have you been... I can't get over how well you look, as if
nothing had ever happened!'
'I recovered consciousness weeks ago,' she said.
'Weeks ago?' he repeated, looking shaken. 'What do you mean,
weeks ago? How long ago?'
Quietly she told him the date, and Ricky gave a start, looking very
odd, the last vestige of colour ebbing away.
'But that was...'
'Was what?' she asked, and Ricky looked past her slowly, staring at
his brother, who was standing just behind them.
'Did you know she had come out of her coma?'
'It was me who brought her here today, wasn't it?' Vincent returned
in a level voice.
Ricky's jaw tightened and his eyes had darkness in them. 'You know
what I meant did you know on the day she came out of the coma,
or were you told later?'
'If I had known,' Vincent said coolly, 'what on earth would have
been the point of telling you and spoiling that day for you and Meg?'
Belinda had been puzzled for a moment, but suddenly she knew; oh,
she knew what had made Ricky go white and look so shaken.
She found it hard to breathe for a second as it hit her. She had come
out of the coma on Ricky's wedding day! Vincent had lied to her
about that, too. She hadn't recovered consciousness a week later; it
had happened on the very day of the wedding, and Vincent had been
told. He had known and he had kept the news to himself to make
quite sure that the marriage went ahead as planned. He had been
afraid, no doubt, that if Ricky knew he would not go through with
his wedding.
Vincent was watching her as she looked at him; his face was
unreadable, but she hoped he could read the icy contempt she felt
for him.
'How could you do that? I ought to kill you!' Ricky's face broke up
into violence as he dived towards Vincent, snarling, but his brother
grabbed his wrists and pulled his arms downwards, staring past him,
over his shoulder. 'Meg is coming. Pull yourself together!'
The whiplash of his tone made Ricky freeze. Vincent let go of him
and he stumbled back, confusion in his face.
'I'll never forgive you for this!' he muttered to his brother. 'You had
no right to keep it from me!'
Belinda wished she hadn't come here, she was in no condition to
face the woman who had taken Ricky away from her but she
couldn't run away, so she gritted her teeth and turned to confront
Ricky's wife, not sure what to expect, but ready to hate her.
Meg was not what she had been expecting. The glamorous, spoilt
rich girl of her imagination had been a very different creature from
this tiny, delicately built girl, with a great deal of soft browny gold
hair and shy blue eyes. She was not what you could call beautiful
her features were quite ordinary and her figure was slight but she
had a sweetness of expression that was uncounterfeited, a smile that
held warmth and gentleness. Belinda had hoped to hate her, but she
couldn't.
'Hello, Vincent!' she said as she joined them. 'I'm so glad you could
come, after all. It seems ages since we saw you, doesn't it, Ricky,
darling?' But her eyes kept darting at Belinda, curiosity in her face.
'Ages,' Ricky mumbled, eyes on the ground.
His wife gave Vincent a kiss on the cheek, standing on tiptoe to do it
because he was a head taller than herself. 'And you've brought
someone with you that's nice,' she said, holding out a hand to
Belinda. 'Hello. I'm Meg Garrett, Ricky's wife. We haven't met,
have we?'
Belinda slowly held out her own hand, wondering if the other girl
knew about her. Would her name make Ricky's wife turn pale?
Clearly, Meg had noticed Ricky's emotion on seeing her. Before she
gave her name, though, Vincent beat her to it, his voice calm.
'This is Belinda Hunt, Meg. You haven't met her before, but you'll
be seeing a lot of her in future because we just got engaged.'
Belinda's eyes dilated in shock. What had he said? She looked up at
him and Vincent's cold eyes ordered her not to say a word. She
would have ignored him, but she was so shattered that for the
moment she was dumb.
Ricky was equally stunned; he stared from her to Vincent and back [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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