Unspoken Desire. PENNY JORDAN

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СКАЧАТЬ you go with your parents, my dear?’ Aunt Maud pursued as she poured the tea. ‘Is there perhaps a young man in London?’

      Mischievously Rebecca deliberately pretended not to understand, frowning and looking quite as vague as her aunt as she asked innocently.

      ‘A young man? London is full of young men, Aunt Maud. Which one was it in particular?’

      ‘You know exactly what I mean, Rebecca,’ Aunt Maud interrupted her sternly. ‘Is there a particular young man in your life whose presence there made you prefer to stay in London rather than to accompany your parents?’

      Cautiously Rebecca hesitated, then said lightly, and not altogether untruthfully, ‘There isn’t one particular young man, Aunt Maud, but I do have several men friends whom I date from time to time.’

      ‘Date?’ snorted Aunt Maud. ‘What kind of word is that, and you an English teacher as well? These young men—are their intentions towards you serious, or…’

      Rebecca couldn’t help it—she burst out laughing.

      ‘They’re friends, Aunt Maud. People whose company I enjoy.’ She broke off as the sitting-room door opened and the twins came in. A complete metamorphosis appeared to have taken place, not only in their clothes but also in their attitude. Nothing could have been more friendly or appealing than the way they both welcomed her, Rebecca acknowledged, and perhaps because of that and because of what she knew she deliberately decided to punish them a little, waiting until Maud had performed the necessary introductions and the twins were settled with their milk and biscuits before opening her handbag and removing the handkerchief as though to blow her nose.

      When the shards of glass fell on to the floor, she looked at them in feigned surprise, meanwhile watching the twins’ faces. Peter’s showed a sharp stab of fear and guilt; Helen’s on the other hand remained impassive after one brief lightning look into her own face.

      ‘Rebecca, what on earth…?’Aunt Maud began.

      Rebecca quickly apologised, getting down on the floor to remove the glass and saying quickly, ‘Good heavens, I’d forgotten about that! I found it on the road. Luckily I’d stopped the car to look at the view—if I hadn’t I would have been bound to have run over it, doing heaven alone knows what damage to the car.’

      ‘Glass?’ Aunt Maud was frowning heavily. ‘How on earth could that have got there?’

      Peter shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Helen was made of sterner stuff; although her face had gone pale, she remained resolutely still.

      ‘Oh, I expect some tourists dropped it,’ Rebecca said lightly. ‘You know how careless they are. They wouldn’t have realised the potential danger they were causing—not just to cars, but to animals as well—you know how scatty Sophy is,’ she continued mercilessly. ‘She could quite easily have run down there and cut her paw.’

      She heard Helen gulp quite audibly and suppressed a small stab of remorse. She doubted that the child had even thought of the potential danger to anyone other than her, their victim, but a timely reminder of how easily somebody or something else could have been injured by the glass might not go amiss.

      ‘Well, I don’t know. So careless and thoughtless! As you say, it must have been trippers. Nobody local would have done something so stupid,’ said Aunt Maud.

      ‘Yes, that’s what I thought,’ Rebecca said gently, looking directly at the twins as she added, ‘It was just as well that I saw it in time.’

      ‘Just as well indeed,’ Aunt Maud approved, then, turning to the twins, she announced firmly, ‘There will be no more running wild for you two now that Rebecca’s here. She’s a schoolteacher and she’ll know exactly how to keep the pair of you occupied.’

      Rebecca’s heart sank as she listened to Aunt Maud’s admonishment. The very last thing she wanted was to be held up to the children as some kind of disciplinarian and ogre. Neither, however, did she want either of them to think she was going to deliberately court their approval, so she held back the words she had been about to say and instead, pursuing another line of thought, said calmly,

      ‘You said Frazer was going to be away for three months in all. I’m afraid I won’t be able to stay quite as long as that. Two and a half months is the very most I can spare,’ she fibbed, and added, ‘I’ve promised to go back to school two weeks early to help with the preparations for the new term.’

      She didn’t look at the twins as she spoke, but wondered a little grimly what they would make of her announcement, telling them as it did that she had no intention of staying on until Frazer returned. She hoped her statement had put at rest their concern that she intended to take Frazer away from them, but instead of reassuring them it seemed to bring an expression of extreme truculence to Helen’s face as she began sulkily, ‘But Frazer…’

      ‘Uncle Frazer, Helen,’ Great-Aunt Maud interrupted loftily. ‘You’re only a little girl and you must not address an adult by his or her Christian name. It’s not polite.’

      ‘But Frazer said I could,’ Helen persisted doggedly, only to be frowned down by a very cold stare indeed from her great-aunt.

      Rebecca, remembering the effect of that haughty stare, felt sorry for her, but Helen, it seemed, was made of far tougher material than she had been at that age, because she simply ignored the look being turned upon her and, putting down her glass and plate, got up unceremoniously.

      ‘Peter and I are going out to play.’

      Aunt Maud watched them go in grim silence, then turned to Rebecca and said, ‘You see what I mean about their needing discipline, Rebecca? I really am at my wits’ end. Frazer says we must be patient with them and take into account the unfortunate circumstances of their home background. He was never in favour of Rory marrying so young; neither for that matter was I.

      ‘I agree that it’s very unfortunate that neither of their parents seems to take a proper interest in their off spring, but I feel that Frazer is far too indulgent with them.’

      ‘And I’m supposed to remedy that?’ Rebecca asked her gently.

      Her aunt had the grace to look a little embarrassed.

      ‘Not remedy it, perhaps,’ she allowed with a small smile, ‘but maybe alleviate it, just a little.’

      She got up with a sigh, suddenly looking every one of her seventy-odd years. She patted Rebecca lightly on the shoulder and said surprisingly, ‘You always were a very kind child, Rebecca. Perhaps it’s wrong of me to have taken advantage of that kindness, but I really was at my wits’ end. I’m no longer physically capable of taking charge of two energetic eight-year-olds.’

      There was sadness as well as resignation in her voice, and Rebecca felt an upsurge of her earlier compassion, this time not for the twins but for her aunt as well.

      ‘I’ll do what I can,’ she promised her. ‘But it isn’t going to be easy.’

      CHAPTER THREE

      IT CERTAINLY wasn’t. Rebecca had been at Aysgarth for just over a week and so far had made absolutely no progress at all in winning the twins’ trust. They avoided her at every opportunity, and for the last two days the only time she had seen them had been at mealtimes and then later in the evening when, at her own insistence, СКАЧАТЬ