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Wild Melody
‘I think there's some mistake,’ Catriona said quickly.
‘What have I forgotten?’ He straightened, eyeing her.
Catriona pointed at the boxes. ‘They don't belong to me.'
‘Don't be a fool,’ he said curtly. ‘Of course they're yours. What earthly use could they be to me? And don't say I could give them to one of “my women” or I swear I'll turn you across my knee and give you the hiding you've been asking for since I met you.'
‘I wasn't going to say that,’ she said quietly. ‘But I can't accept these clothes. You must see that. I—I can't afford to pay for them just now either, as you know. I only took them to begin with because I thought that …’ her voice trailed away miserably.
‘You thought Jeremy would pay for them as your husband,’ he finished for her. ‘But as I told you, it's in the family. Of course——’ his voice took on that drawling note she had come to dread—‘if you insist on repaying me in some other way, I'm sure we can come to some arrangement.'
‘Please don't,’ she said with difficulty. ‘I want to thank you for everything, and you don't make it easy.'
‘I don't make it easy for myself either,’ he answered abruptly. He came over and stood looking down at her. ‘Thank me, then,’ he said, smiling faintly.
She lowered her eyes hurriedly to the faded pattern on the carpet. ‘I'm much obliged to you,’ she said eventually.
Jason gave a swift, impatient sigh. ‘Don't be,’ he said brusquely. ‘I'm sure Cinderella would never have said that to Bluebeard. Goodbye, Catriona. Keep in touch.’ And he was gone.
‘Now you see him, now you don't,’ said Sally cheerfully from the doorway. ‘Old Moira will certainly have to go some, if she intends pinning him down for life.'
‘Moira?'
‘Of course you don't know. Stupid of me,’ Sally sat down on a battered-looking armchair and sighed. ‘Moira Dane, I mean. She's playing the lead in the TV play I'm in, and at the moment she's hell-bent on letting us all know it. And now she's got her beady eye on Jason. She's been sticking to him like glue ever since casting.'
‘Does he produce plays as well as his other work?’ Catriona asked.
‘No-o.’ Sally looked at her oddly. ‘Didn't he explain? Well, perhaps not. Anyway, he's in and out of our rehearsals quite a bit for one reason and another, and I'm afraid one of the reasons could be Moira.'
‘I suppose she's very attractive,’ Catriona said.
‘Absolutely gorgeous. She's a redhead like me, but that's about all we have in common. We're supposed to be sisters in the play, so our colouring had to be similar, I suppose,’ Sally said. ‘It's a marvellous chance for me as long as I don't let Moira goad me into walking out or anything daft.'
‘Is she that bad?’ Catriona was sympathetic.
‘She gets us all down at times—except Jason. He doesn't let anyone, especially a woman, get to him to that extent,’ Sally said. ‘But she can be really nasty. I suppose she's the sort who would stand on your foot if she thought you had a corn.’ She got up briskly. ‘Now, I have a rehearsal in about an hour. I'd better show you our splendid kitchen.’ She whisked back a gingham curtain in one corner to reveal a miniature sink and cooker crammed into an alcove. ‘Food in left-hand cupboard, under fridge. Soap, cleaning stuff and everything else in the other one. Any questions?'
‘Is there any room for them?’ Catriona laughed.
‘Not really,’ Sally twinkled back at her. ‘I am glad you're here. Are you going to have a few days’ sightseeing and general enjoyment before you look for a job? I should.'
Catriona looked at her doubtfully. ‘If that's all right.'
‘Of course it is. I'll try and get you a pass to see round the TV centre too. Perhaps you could watch the dress rehearsal for the play. I'm sure Hugo wouldn't mind—he's the producer. I'll mention it to him.'
‘I don't want to be any trouble——’ Catriona began diffidently, and Sally grinned at her.
‘That's not what Jason said about you on the phone this morning. He said you were a permanent thorn in his flesh—a little Scottish thistle.'
‘And he,’ said Catriona clearly, ‘is quite the most arrogant, detestable—creature I've ever met.'
‘That's because you haven't met Moira,’ said Sally.
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