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[ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ] me under her thumb.' 'So it was only for appearances, to save your own face?' Sara turned away again and leant back against the upholstery of the set. Why did she allow these stupid thoughts to intrude? - to lift her hopes when she knew deep down that not only did her husband lack interest in her, but he also disliked her intensely. She had shown him a side of her which he believed reflected her true nature, a side which she herself had firmly believed to be her real self. And now, no matter how she tried, she could never undo the harm she had done. 'Why am I worrying about it anyway?' she asked herself impatiently, for apart from anything else, there was Adele. Even if the time should ever come when Ralph did begin to like her, he would still be in love with Adele. 'To save my face?' Sara sensed the raising of his brows before he added, 'I don't need to save my face. I can show the Malverns - and anyone else for that matter - that I'm more than capable of managing my wife.' And he added softly, but in inexorable tones which Sara knew she would never dare to ignore, 'And that means that for the rest of our stay you will observe my wishes. If you go out it will be with me; if I decide to stay in then you will stay in too.' 'How did you go on last night? I expected to hear screams for help.' 'What do you mean?' Sara looked up from the newspaper she was scanning to frown at her brother. 'Ralph - he was in the devil of a rage when he left here. I went to bed; didn't fancy witnessing the row that was brewing. What did he say?' Sara coloured and shrugged, then asked a question of her own. 'Why was it so late when he came to fetch me? I rang Father much earlier.' 'We stayed up there playing billiards for quite a while. When we came down the old folks were just going to bed. Father said not to expect you in before the early hours as you were going to Rod's - to a party. Lord, you should have seen the expression on your husband's face! I honestly believed I'd be called out of bed to protect you.' 'Would you have done?' she asked, for a moment diverted. 'You bet! Wouldn't let a Lingard beat up my sister!' She had to laugh at that. 'He wouldn't beat me up, Barry, you needn't have worried.' 'I'm not too sure, not the way he was. Perhaps he'd cooled down some by the time he got to the hotel. What was worrying me was if you'd already gone. There'd have been some fun if Ralph had been forced to go to Rod's - can't you imagine it, the irate husband dragging his wife away from the home of her ex-fiancé? He grinned at her. 'You haven't told me yet what he did.' With a little sigh of resignation Sara described what had happened, whereupon Barry glanced at her curiously and asked how often she had to suffer these outbursts of jealousy from her husband. 'Not that it's surprising,' he added. 'You being so beautiful - and him being a Lingard. They're a wild lot and no mistake.' 'They're no worse than we are. Do you really believe he's jealous?' 'Not much doubt of that. Were I in your shoes, I'd practise a little more caution. No sense in deliberately riling a man like that. He might lose control one day and then you'll be sorry for yourself.' But Sara did not hear; she was thinking again of her own fleeting impression that her husband was jealous, that he really did care a little, enough at any rate to prevent her from going to Roddy's party. And now here was Barry emphatically maintaining that Ralph was jealous. ... 'He hasn't ever been jealous before,' she murmured, speaking her thoughts aloud. 'First time, eh? Perhaps you've never given him cause before - and if you take my advice you won't give him cause again. As I've said, he could just lose control and let you have it.' 'I'd give a good account of myself if he did!' she suddenly flared, unable to take that with apparent meekness. 'With anyone else I'd agree,' he chuckled, and added, 'but not with Ralph Lingard. They're all tough, but he has something so damned inflexible about him - don't know how you got yourself mixed up with him. You always said you'd never have a man you couldn't get all your own way with.' He paused, and then, after a long hesitation, 'How did you get mixed* up with him, Sara?' 'You know - how - it happened,' she whispered, lowering her head. 'You stayed the night with him, yes, but how did you meet him in the first place?' [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ] |