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

pause. Sam looked away. "I think that is unlikely. " He forced himself to laugh. "Nevertheless, it would obviously be foolish to put yourself deliberately at risk. "

For a moment Jo did not move, her eyes on his face. Then slowly she turned away.

It was dark when Dorothy Franklyn arrived at the apartment carrying an armful of roses. A tall, striking woman in her mid-sixties, she habitually wore tortoiseshell-rimmed glasses and immaculate Jaeger suits that made her look the epitome of efficiency. She was in fact always slightly disorganized and invariably late for whatever she was trying to do. Jo was enormously fond of her.

"Are you sure you don't mind me dropping in like this, Jo?" she said apologetically as she came in. "I came up for a matinee and then I had supper, but I wanted to leave you the flowers. " She eyed Jo surreptitiously. "You look tired, my dear. Would you rather I just left them and went?"

Jo shook her head. She caught the other woman's arm and pulled her into the room. "Sit down and I'll put the kettle on. You've just missed your son. That's why I'm tired, he took me out to dinner. "

Dorothy smiled, her whole face lighting with pleasure "Jo! I'm so glad. It broke my heart when you and he split up—"

"No—" Jo interrupted. "I meant Sam. "

"Sam?" Dorothy frowned. "I thought he was in Switzerland. "

"He was. He's stopped off in London for a few days— mainly to do a quick psychoanalysis of me, I think. " Jo grinned wryly. "He's staying at Nick's apartment if you want to see him. Nick's not there, of course, so the flat is free. "

She could feel the other woman's eyes on her face, bright with embarrassment and sympathy, and she forced herself to go on smiling somehow.

"How is Sam?" Dorothy asked after a long pause.

"Fine. He's been giving a paper on some terribly obscure subject. I was very impressed. He took me to tea at the zoo. " She laughed.

Dorothy smiled. "He always says the zoo teaches one so much about people. " She hesitated, eyeing Jo thoughtfully. "He has always been very fond of you, you know, Jo. I don't think you and Nick ever realized how much it hurt Sam when Nick walked off with you. Nick has always found it so easy to have any girl he wanted—I'm sorry, that sounds dreadful, and I know you were different—you were special to him. But you have been special to Sam too. "

Jo looked down guiltily. "I think I did know. It's just that we met under such strange circumstances. I was a guinea pig in one of his experiments. " She shivered. "Our relationship always seemed a little unreal after that. He was so concerned about me, but I always had the feeling it was a paternal concern, as if he were worried about my health. " She paused abruptly. "He was, of course. I know that now. Anyway, he was twenty-six or seven and I was only nineteen when we first met. We belonged to different worlds. I did rather care for him—" She was staring at the roses lying on the table. "If I'm honest I suppose I still do. He's an attractive guy. But then Nick came along... " She stood up abruptly. "Let me put these in water or they'll die before our eyes. "

"Is it serious, this thing with Judy Curzon?" Dorothy's voice was gentle.

"It sounds like it. She is much more his type than I ever was. She's domesticated and artistic and a redhead. " Jo forced herself to laugh. "Perhaps I should cultivate old Sam now. Better late than never, and we seem to have quite a bit in common after all. It might even make Nick jealous!" Scooping up the flowers, she buried her face in the velvet blooms, then she carried them through to the kitchen and dropped them into the sink.

After turning the cold tap on full, she turned and saw that Dorothy had followed her. She was frowning.

"Jo. Please don't just amuse yourself with Sam. I know it must be tempting to try to hurt Nick, but that's not the way to do it. There's too much rivalry between those two already. "

"Rivalry?" Jo looked astonished. "But they hardly see each other, so how could there be?"

"Sam has resented Nick since the day he was born. " Dorothy absentmindedly picked the petals off a dying rose and threw them into the trash. "I used to think it was normal sibling rivalry and he'd grow out of it. But it was more than that. He learned to hide it. He even managed to fool Nick and their father that he no longer felt it, but he never fooled me. As he grew up it didn't disappear. It hardened. I don't know why. They are both good-looking, they are both confident and bright. Sam is enormously successful in his own field. There is no reason for him to resent Nick at all. At least, there wasn't until you came along. "

Jo stared at her. "I had no idea. None at all. I thought they liked each other. That's awful. " Wearily she pushed the hair off her face. "I'm sure Nick likes Sam. He told me that he used to worship him when they were children, and I sometimes think that secretly he still does. Look at the way he turned to him when he was worried about me. " She stopped. Had Nick really turned to Sam for help, or was he merely using him cynically to take her off his hands? She closed her eyes unhappily, trying to picture Sam's face as he kissed her good night. It had been a brotherly kiss, no more. Of that she was sure.

Dorothy had not noticed Jo's sudden silence. With a deep sigh she swept on after a minute. "I used to wonder if it was my fault. There was a