Passionate Winter

‘That’s all right, Dad. I—–’

‘When the two of you have quite finished!’ exploded Leigh, flicking her long hair away from her face. She walked angrily back into the room to glare at the two of them. ‘The two of you disgust me! But you, Mr Sinclair, you disgust me the most. Gavin can’t be expected to act any differently with you as an example. The only trouble appears to be that I’m not that type of person.’

Piers laughed tauntingly. ‘Oh, come on, girl! You mix in Gavin’s crowd, don’t you? And even the most shy innocent, which I’m sure you aren’t, couldn’t miss seeing where their scene is—where most young kids’ scene is nowadays.’

‘Not mine,’ Leigh denied vehemently. ‘I know very few of Gavin’s friends, and after today I don’t think I want to know any of them.’

‘You don’t have to defend yourself to me, Miss Stanton. I’ve already been there.’

‘That’s perfectly obvious!’ she said with disgust.

‘Dad, Leigh is—–’

‘Shut up, Gavin!’ Leigh snapped at him. ‘Your father isn’t in the least interested in what I am or am not. And I’m not sure it’s any of his business anyway.’

‘I should think there’s very little to tell. Most of Gavin’s friends are long-haired layabouts,’ he looked at her from head to toe, his nostrils flaring sneeringly, ‘and you seem to be no exception. If you want my opinion—–’

‘But I don’t! You see, your opinions don’t really matter to me,’ Leigh cut in angrily, aware by the tightening of his well shaped stern lips that Piers Sinclair wasn’t accustomed to being spoken to in this manner. This only made her feel better for being the one to do so. ‘Now if you don’t mind I really do have to go home,’ she smiled bitterly. ‘I won’t say it’s been fun, because that’s the one thing it hasn’t been.’

‘But you can’t go home now, Leigh,’ interrupted Gavin. ‘It’s very late. I’m certainly not taking you back at this time of night.’

‘I didn’t ask you to.’ And she had thought him a nice harmless boy! How wrong could she have been? If she had met his father before tonight she could possibly have guessed at his plans for her; no son of Piers Sinclair would ask a girl away for an innocent weekend. ‘I have two perfectly healthy legs and I’m sure some nice kind person will offer me a lift home.’

Piers Sinclair stood up, shrugging the sheepskin jacket back over his powerful shoulders. ‘You’re right—I will.’

Leigh’s eyes widened. ‘I wouldn’t exactly call you kind, Mr Sinclair,’ she told him rudely.

He released the case from her resisting fingers. ‘Is this all you have with you?’ he asked, ignoring her previous comment.

Leigh made an effort to retrieve her case but found all her efforts quite ineffectual against such stubborn strength. ‘Will you please give me back my property?’ she said stiffly.

He shook his dark head. ‘Sorry. I realise you probably hitch-hike all over the country, and get into all sorts of trouble by doing so, but I will not be held responsible for you travelling nearly a hundred miles in that manner at this time of night. That’s just asking for trouble, you may welcome it, I really don’t care. I’ll take you home and that’s that. My son doesn’t feel gentlemanly enough to return you to your home, a feeling I quite understand in the circumstances, so I feel obliged to carry out the task, with or without your co-operation.’

‘Don’t trouble yourself!’ Leigh told him tartly. ‘As you’ve just pointed out, I’m accustomed to hitch-hiking. You meet some very interesting people that way.’ In actual fact she had never hitch-hiked in her life and felt little inclination to do so now. She had heard too many stories of different girls being attacked and molested in such circumstances to ever contemplate such a reckless idea. Until now! But this wasn’t from choice, but necessity. Unless of course she accepted Piers Sinclair’s forced offer of a lift, which she had no intention of doing.

‘I’m sure you do,’ retorted Piers Sinclair dryly. ‘But not this evening,’ he flicked an indifferent look towards his son. ‘I take it you have no objections to my taking your—girl-friend home?’

Gavin shook his head sulkily. ‘Not if you want to take her.’

Leigh’s eyes glittered her distaste. ‘Quite the gentleman, aren’t you?’ she smiled bitterly. ‘And I actually liked you! And as for you—–’ she turned angrily on the older man, ‘I’d rather risk getting into some of that trouble you mentioned earlier than spend any more time in your company!’

‘You certainly know how to pick them, Gavin.’ Piers Sinclair viewed his son with narrowed eyes. ‘Quite the little spitfire, isn’t she?’

‘Would you mind not talking about me as if I weren’t here!’ snapped Leigh. Really! This man was the absolute end!

‘Oh, we know you’re here all right,’ he said with some humour. ‘I must say you’re quite an improvement on some of the girls Gavin has introduced me to.’

‘I don’t need your approval, Mr Sinclair. And if I never see you or Gavin again it will be too soon. I’ve never been so insulted in my life before as I have been by you and your son!’

‘Now that I find very hard to believe.’

‘But Dad, she really is—–’

‘Will you please keep out of this, Gavin!’ Leigh almost shouted in her anger. ‘You’re only making the situation worse—if that’s at all possible. Your father has already formed his opinion of me, and I’m certainly not going to disillusion him.’

‘I doubt very much if you could do that, Miss Stanton, that was done a long time ago, when you were only a baby. Now—if you’ve quite finished wasting time I’m ready to leave. I gather you live in London?’

‘Yes, but I—–’

‘Please, Miss Stanton!’ he said tersely, guessing she was about to protest again. ‘No more arguments. I’ve had a long day and am not really in the mood. They’re quite pointless anyway as I have no intention of leaving a kid like you to her own devices. I can well imagine what they might be.’

Leigh followed him out of the house, not bothering to say goodbye to Gavin; she felt sure he already knew that was what it was. ‘I’m not a “kid”, Mr Sinclair!’ She glared at him defiantly, for once glad of her height. This man was a positive bully!

She almost gasped out loud at the beauty of the car he led her to. That it was much more powerful than Gavin’s she had no doubt; as an ex-racing driver Piers Sinclair would obviously crave speed. Its deep green colour was also to be expected, as he was more conservative in his tastes than his son, and not as showy in any of his mannerisms.

Piers Sinclair viewed her admiration with amusement, deftly flicking open the door for her to enter before climbing in next to her. ‘You like it?’ he asked softly, turning to look at her.

Leigh looked with pleasure at the luxurious interior of the car, its smoky windows giving it an intimate atmosphere she found slightly claustrophobic with such a man. She was wholly aware of his warm compelling body so close to her own, and could smell the aftershave lotion he wore and the clean male smell of him.

‘It’s very nice,’ she told him primly, sitting as far away from him as it was possible to do in such close confines.

He laughed slightly, a deep pleasant sound, and not full of mockery as his humour had been earlier. ‘Very politely said. You don’t give much away, do you?’

‘Not much. What sort of car is it anyway?’ She relaxed back in her seat, finding his driving more efficient and self-assured than Gavin’s. Here was a man who had complete control of himself, and the car he drove. And the people in it, she thought wryly. She wouldn’t ever like to oppose this man, knowing he would be a formidable adversary for anyone, let alone her.

‘A Ferrari. Have you never driven in one before?’

She shook her head. ‘Contrary to your imaginings, Mr Sinclair, I do not idle my time away riding about in expensive cars and generally wasting my life. I do work!’

‘Oh yes?’ Arrogant amusement shone from his taunting eyes. ‘And just how did you meet my son?’

‘I met him at college, but—–’

‘And you call that work?’ he interrupted.

Leigh bridled angrily at the scornful mockery in his voice. Who was he to scoff at her when he had chosen racing driving as a career! ‘One has to learn before one can achieve,’ she said tautly.

‘Does one?’ he taunted, his long slender hands moving with expertise on the steering wheel. ‘Then why is it that Gavin doesn’t seem to have learnt anything? Not that I’m complaining, you understand. I’m sure he’ll find his vocation one day.’

Leigh didn’t miss the ring of steel in his voice and wondered if his father’s attitude had anything to do with Gavin’s behaviour this evening. It seemed to her that Gavin was trying to justify himself to his father in any way he could. But he surely didn’t imagine this evening’s episode was the right way to go about it! No matter what sort of morals his father had she felt sure they weren’t expected to be followed by the son.

She sat quietly beside him, willing the miles away and wishing she hadn’t been obliged to accept this lift. But then she hadn’t accepted it at all, but was ordered here by Piers Sinclair. He had already put her in the same category as his son, and he had nothing but contempt for him. But what gave him the right to judge other people? Nothing, if his attitude was anything to go by.

Leigh studied him under lowered lashes, noting the cruel hard set of his mouth, the unrelenting strength of his finely carved features. He wasn’t the sort of man that she thought she would ever want to become involved with. Not that she would ever be given the chance, but he was much too overpowering to ever be ignored, whatever the situation.

‘Satisfied?’ His eyes momentarily flickered over her before returning his attention back to the road.

‘Sorry?’

‘You’ve been staring at me for the last five minutes as if any second you expected me to attack you or something. I can assure you that my tastes run to something a little more sophisticated.’

‘I don’t doubt it for a moment.’

‘Then why the appraisal?’

‘Is that what it was?’ she asked coolly. ‘I thought it was more of a perusal.’ She gazed at him with wide violet eyes. ‘You don’t like me very much, do you, Mr Sinclair?’

‘Not much,’ he replied smoothly. ‘But then I think the feeling is reciprocated. If you were my daughter I’d give you a good hiding when you get home and keep a closer watch on you in future.’

‘But you aren’t my father.’

‘Thank God for that! As it is I intend to tell your parents about this evening and leave your punishment to them.’

‘Aren’t you being rather hypocritical? I mean, you’re all for Gavin gaining more experience.’

‘He’s a boy.’

‘I know that. But he can hardly get this experience on his own.’

‘Is that what you were doing? Gaining experience?’

‘Maybe,’ she lied.

‘You’re a mass of contradictions, young lady,’ he said disapprovingly. ‘First of all you deny that you knew of Gavin’s intentions, and now you say you were actually encouraging him. Which is it to be, Miss Stanton? The outraged virgin or a young girl looking for excitement where she can find it?’

Leigh coloured at his insulting words. ‘Neither. I wouldn’t think either of those descriptions fits me, both in part maybe. You’ll have to decide for yourself which parts.’

‘I think I can do that quite easily,’ Piers Sinclair replied shortly. ‘Why don’t parents keep a closer watch on their kids nowadays?’

‘Like you do?’ she enquired sweetly, and instantly regretted her impulsiveness as she saw his mouth tighten cruelly and his hands grip the steering wheel as if he might hit her if he didn’t hold on to something. After all, it was none of her business what his relationship with his son was like. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said quietly, unable to look at him.

Piers Sinclair pushed an irritated hand through his thick vibrant hair. ‘Don’t pay lip service to me, young lady. I’d rather you were candid, as you usually seem to be. And you should never apologise for stating the truth.’ He glanced about him at the still busy streets. ‘Now where do you live?’

Leigh saw with some surprise that they were already back in London. The journey had passed quickly, taking even less time than it had with Gavin, but then that was only to be expected. She gave him the directions to her flat, only offering extra instructions when he asked for them, his voice clipped and impersonal.

‘Right,’ he turned in his seat, one of his knees accidentally touching hers and causing her to recoil back into her seat. His blue eyes clearly mocked her reaction. ‘Would you mind getting out of the car now?’ he said bluntly.

‘You aren’t very polite, Mr Sinclair.’ She scrambled in-elegantly out of the low car and was amazed to see him already standing on the pavement beside her. He moved very quickly and quietly for such a large man. ‘You didn’t need to get out of the car,’ she told him nervously.

He firmly took hold of her arm and walked with her towards the house where she shared the top floor converted into a tiny apartment with Karen. ‘I want to have a word with your parents,’ he said sternly. ‘You’re much too young to be living the way you do.’

‘And just how is that?’

‘Rough,’ came the short reply.

Leigh looked at him resentfully. ‘I don’t live with my parents. And I’ll thank you to keep out of my life. I’ve managed perfectly well so far without any interference from you, and I’m sure I’ll continue to do so.’

‘I’m sure you will,’ he agreed coldly. ‘And as your parents don’t seem to care who you spend your weekends with, why should I?’

‘I didn’t say my parents don’t care about me, just that I don’t live with them,’ Leigh said crossly.

‘It amounts to the same thing.’

‘Is that the way you feel about Gavin living away from home?’

‘No, of course it isn’t. But then it isn’t the same thing at all. It just isn’t possible for Gavin to live with me all the time. I travel a great deal and it would be too unsettling for him if he lived with me. Although why I should be explaining myself to you I really don’t know.’

‘It isn’t possible for me to live with my parents either. They happen to live forty miles away and I need to live near my work.’

‘Ah yes, your work,’ he derided. ‘Well, as there seems to be no one I can tell to look after you better in future I may as well leave you to continue ruining your life.’

‘Goodbye, Mr Sinclair. I won’t bother to be hypocritical and say it’s been nice meeting you, because it hasn’t been that for either of us.’

‘Too true.’ With this he turned sharply on his heel and walked away. The last Leigh saw of him was as he accelerated the car down the road, overtaking all the cars in his way and breaking all the speed limits.

CHAPTER TWO

LEIGH sat morosely at the table, still tired after her almost sleepless night. She had found it impossible to sleep when she had crept into the house in the early hours of the morning, and not wishing to disturb Karen had sat in the lounge trying to doze in one of the armchairs. She was still smarting under the rudeness of Piers Sinclair, and felt sure that if she ever met him again she would tell him exactly what she thought of him. And it wouldn’t be very flattering!

She turned around as Karen emerged from their bedroom rubbing her eyes tiredly. She looked in astonishment at Leigh, her mouth falling open in surprise.

‘But what …’ she shook her head dazedly. ‘What are you doing here?’

Leigh grinned ruefully. ‘Waiting for you to wake up so you can tell me you told me so. Gavin turned out to be just as much of a rat as you warned me he’d be.’

‘Oh.’

‘Yes, oh,’ she couldn’t help smiling at Karen’s expression. ‘But don’t worry, I got out before anything happened.’

‘Oh!’ This time it was a sigh of relief, and Karen padded off to the kitchen to put the kettle on. ‘Then how did you get home?’ she asked as she came back into the room, tucking her legs beneath her as she settled in the other armchair.

‘I think I’d better tell you the whole story,’ Leigh sighed. She was suitably rewarded by Karen’s shocked face, and began to feel better herself after telling someone about the fiasco the previous evening had turned out to be.

‘And Piers Sinclair actually brought you home?’ exclaimed Karen, handing Leigh the steaming cup of coffee she had made during the recount of the story.

‘Mmm,’ Leigh sipped appreciatively at the hot brew. ‘He said he felt responsible for me.’

‘He did?’ Karen almost squeaked.

‘Yes, he did.’ She looked curiously at her friend. ‘Why the emphasis? Do you know something about the famous Mr Sinclair that I don’t?’

‘Well …’ Karen hesitated. ‘I don’t know if it’s the same Piers Sinclair, but it isn’t exactly a common name, is it? Was he a racing driver, do you know?’

Leigh nodded her head. ‘So Gavin says, and from the way he drove I’m willing to believe it.’

‘It’s the same one, then,’ said Karen excitedly. ‘Fancy him being Gavin’s father! Anyway, if I remember correctly, he had a rather bad accident a couple of years ago, injured his back, I think. It ruined his career and he had to give up competitive driving. He was very famous in his time.’

‘Strange, I don’t remember reading about it.’

‘You probably remember the scandal attached to the incident more. At the time of the accident he was supposed to be having an affair with the wife of his greatest rival, and it was reported that this other man had deliberately tried to kill Piers Sinclair. Of course, everyone denied it, including the three main characters, but the mud stuck and a few months later this other chap retired from racing and his wife began divorce proceedings.’

‘I think I remember now. I thought his name sounded familiar. What a charming family they are!’

‘Yes, you’re well out of that family. And it wasn’t very polite of Gavin to palm you off on his father, was it?’

‘Palm me off just about sounds right. Actually I don’t think he was feeling very polite after being caught in that ridiculous position. Well, would you?’ Leigh chuckled lightly. ‘You should have seen him, Karen, he looked really stupid lying there on that fantastic carpet.’

‘I wish I had seen him. I would have told him what I thought of him. He had no right to expect you to … well, to…’

‘I should have guessed really. He’s been making funny comments for the last few weeks, but innocent that I am, I thought he was suggesting we got married.’

Karen spluttered with laughter. ‘You have such a trusting nature, Leigh. It’s just unbelievable!’

‘Not after last night I don’t. I must have seemed like a complete idiot to Gavin; he seemed to think I knew what his plans were. From now on I don’t intend to trust anyone unless they prove they’re worthy of that trust. Well, no man anyway. I should have known better. I’ve always been a lousy judge of character.’

‘It isn’t very nice to find something like that out about someone, especially in that way.’ Karen looked more closely at Leigh. ‘Did you get any sleep at all last night?’

‘Not really. Is that a polite way of telling me I look terrible?’

‘Well, you do look a bit tired. Why don’t you go to bed for a few hours? I’m going out anyway, so I won’t disturb you.’

‘I can’t, I’m afraid. I promised Mum and Dad that if I was doing nothing else I would go home for lunch and tea today. And it seems that I now have nothing else of importance to do,’ Leigh grimaced.

‘What about the party this evening?’

‘Oh, I’ll be back in time for that, but I must go home. My brother is playing football for the local team this afternoon and I suppose he’ll expect me to be there to cheer him on. Not that I feel much like shouting myself hoarse, but I can’t let him down.’

‘You won’t be in any fit state to go to Angie’s party tonight.’

‘Oh, I don’t know, the fresh air may wake me up. I just hope Gavin doesn’t decide to put in an appearance. I think I may make a scene if he does, and I would hate to do that. He wasn’t going, that’s why we went to his father’s house, but he might have changed his mind and come looking for some other poor unsuspecting female.’ Leigh yawned tiredly. ‘I think I’ll take a shower and try to wake myself up.’

Leigh arrived at her parents’ house just before lunch, thankful that her old Mini hadn’t broken down on the way as it was wont to do. It wasn’t very reliable, but it did get her from A to B, maybe with a few breakdowns on the way, but get her there it did.

She gave her mother the huge bunch of flowers she had collected from a florists on the way, looking about her expectantly. ‘Where is everyone?’

Her mother breathed in the perfume of the flowers appreciatively. ‘You shouldn’t have bought me these, I’ve told you to save your money. But they are lovely.’ She kissed Leigh on the cheek, bending to get a vase out of the cupboard and began arranging the long-stemmed flowers in its length. ‘Your father is at work this morning, Dale is at Janet’s, and Christopher is out with some of his friends, probably deciding how they’re going to win the match this afternoon.’

‘Nice of them all to be here,’ Leigh said teasingly.

‘Well, the thing is, love, that we never know for certain if you’re going to get here—that car of yours is so unreliable. I don’t know why you don’t let your father help you buy a new one.’

‘You know why, Mum. I really had to save hard to buy the Mini, and it’s nice to know I bought it with all my own money. I nearly didn’t get home anyway. I was going away for the weekend with a friend, but it didn’t work out.’ Oh boy, how it hadn’t worked out!

‘Oh well, never mind, perhaps you can go another weekend.’

‘Maybe. Will Chris and Dad be back for lunch?’ She wanted to get off that subject as quickly as possible.

‘They should be.’ Mrs Stanton studied her daughter’s pale tired face. ‘You’re looking a bit peaky, love. Been having too many late nights, or are you working too hard?’

‘A little of both, I think. I’ll be all right with a nice peaceful weekend. I’m supposed to be going out this evening, but I don’t know if I feel like going.’ Leigh had no intention of worrying her mother with the events of the evening before. Perhaps at a later date when she didn’t still feel so raw. Anyway, it was over now, and there was no point in upsetting her mother unnecessarily.

Chris and her father came in at that moment and Leigh rushed over to give her father a hug, which was reciprocated in kind. Leigh, as the youngest child and also the only girl in the family, had been spoilt by her father, although it wasn’t an affection that excluded his sons.

‘Where’s mine?’ Chris teased her before being given the same treatment as his father. He held her away from him. ‘Are you getting skinny, or do my eyes deceive me?’

Leigh laughed at her brother’s candidness. ‘I’m supposed to be thinning in the right places instead of just being straight up and straight down like a beanpole. You’re supposed to notice how attractive I’m becoming, not making remarks about my loss of weight.’

‘Oops! Sorry.’

‘Chris is only teasing you, love,’ said her father, bending down to put on his carpet slippers. ‘It makes me feel old to see you all growing up so fast, although we had to expect that when you wanted to leave home, Leigh.’

‘I didn’t want to, Dad, you know that. But it’s too far for me to travel every day, and you know I would have had to move into town sooner or later. Are you coming to the match this afternoon?’ she asked him.

‘I suppose I’d better come along and see these youngsters get thrashed again,’ he replied, the twinkle in his eyes belying his words.

Her father was proved wrong later that day when Chris and his team beat their opponents four-nil. Leigh predictably cheered them on until she was hoarse, and Dale and Janet turned up to cheer them on too. Dale was the eldest out of the three children at twenty-one, Chris was nineteen and just a year older than Leigh. Dale and Janet were thinking of getting married next year and Leigh knew her parents were pleased at the idea. All the family liked Janet and she and Dale had been going out together since they left school.