Lady of Hay by Barbara Erskine (english love story books .TXT) 📗

some tea, and I told her what I was afraid of. She tried to regress me, but she couldn't. " Taking a deep breath, he grasped the top of the stone wall so tightly his nails splintered.

"I love you, Jo, " he whispered suddenly, his voice husky with despair. "Whatever happens, I want you to know that. "

The kitchen smelled of baking. "Well, you two weren't long, " Ann said cheerfully. "I thought you'd wait till the sun came out at least. " She glanced up and the smile faded from her lips. "What happened?"

Nick hung up his jacket on the back of the door and threw himself on the sofa. "You've got to help me, Ann. For pity's sake, help me!"

Ann glanced at Jo, who had walked to the sink and was running warm water over her hand, her back to them both. She took a deep breath. "I'll try again, " she said. "Jo, will you leave us alone? Take a couple of mugs of coffee out for you and Ben. He's in the cowshed. "

She waited until Jo had let herself out of the kitchen door, then she turned. "What happened?"

"Nothing. But it nearly did. I could feel him, Ann, inside me. Cold, calculating, angry, bitter. I knew that I—he— could do anything. Anything! I fought it this time but another time I might not be able to. "

"Sit down. Here. " She pointed to the kitchen table. "I'm going to light the oil lamp. You said Sam uses lights to induce hypnosis. There—now, look at the flame. Don't blink. Occupy your mind totally with that speck of fire. That's fine. " Her voice had lost its tension as she gained confidence. "Good, now relax. Relax, Nick, and listen. Just listen to my voice. Don't shut your eyes—you can't shut your eyes. Good. " She saw the strain on his face begin to fall away as he stared at the light. "Good, that's fine. Now, I want to go back in time, Nick, back to when you were a child... "

Ben looked up from the leg of the cow over which he had been bending. He ran his hand gently down it, then stood up and smacked the cow affectionately on the hindquarters.

"Is that my coffee? Bless you, my dear. "

Jo sat down on a hay bale, her own mug cupped between her hands. "Ann is trying to hypnotize Nick. "

"She told me she tried last night to no avail. " Ben sat down comfortably next to her. "What have you done to your hand?" His sharp eyes had missed nothing.

"I caught it against the wall, that's all. " She looked away from him. "Oh, Ben. What's happened to him?"

Ben patted her shoulder. "He confided in Annie last night, my dear, that he is very worried. If Ann cannot help him we both feel he should consult your hypnotherapist without delay. He is, after all, a professional, and he knows the background to your case. " He smiled. "I think it would be best if Nick went back to London, Jo. "

She nodded slowly. "I suppose so. " She was about to drink the last of her coffee when she lowered the mug again. "He thinks he's going to try to kill me, Ben. But why? Why should Sam do this to us? Why? He can't really believe he was Matilda's husband. And if he does, why should he want Nick to hurt me? It just doesn't make sense. "

"Things that make sense to the insane mind are seldom obvious to others, " Ben said soberly. "And it sounds to me as if Nicholas's brother must be insane. "

He put down the mug at his feet. He was about to stand up when from the house they both heard the sound of a frightened scream.

Ben was on his feet first. With Jo close behind him he raced toward the kitchen door and flung it open.

Ann was lying on the floor; there was no sign of Nick.

Ben flung himself on his knees beside her as she struggled to sit up, her face white. "Ann, for God's sake, are you all right? What happened?"

"I-I annoyed him, " she said shakily. She clung to the table leg for support. "It was my own fault. I shouldn't have attempted to regress him. I don't know enough about it—"

"What did he do, Ann?" Jo had gone cold all over. She stared at Ann for a moment, incapable of moving, then, galvanized into action, she found a cloth. After wringing it out under the tap, she knelt beside Ann, holding it gently to the bruise that was rising on her temple.

"He didn't attack me or anything. He just pushed me, that's all, and I slipped. I must have caught my head on the table or something. It was my own silly fault. " Ann took the cloth from Jo's hand and pressed it more firmly against her head. "I shouldn't have interfered. It was crass stupidity. I should have known his brother would be too clever for us, but I still thought I could somehow cancel out the hypnotic suggestion. I had Nick under—he was responding well and I took him back to his childhood. I asked him one or two questions about when he was little. He seemed to realize Sam's hostility when he was a child and he steered clear of him—worshipping from afar. Then I took him back further. I wanted to find out if the idea of his being King John came from deep within his own unconscious or from his brother's suggestion. " She shook her head. "He regressed easily. Once he was under he went into what seemed like total recall of a succession of lives. I wasn't prompting him. He was one man who lived around the turn of the century and who died at the age of twenty-four from typhoid. " Ann, still sitting on the floor, hugged her knees. "Then he said he