Worlds Apart. Kay Thorpe

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СКАЧАТЬ and then there were hands under her arms, lifting her back into her feet.

      ‘Thanks,’ she said wryly, trying to ignore the pain from her knee. ‘That was stupid of me.’

      Her voice died in her throat as she turned her head to glance at her rescuer, the apologetic little smile freezing on her lips.

      ‘Yes, it was,’ agreed Logan briefly. ‘You gave yourself a nasty crack. How does it feel?’

      ‘It’s nothing,’ Caryn assured him, recovering her tongue if not her equilibrium. ‘I’m fine!’

      ‘I’m sure,’ he returned with satire. ‘You’d better get in the car and I’ll run you home.’

      ‘I said I’m all right!’ she snapped. ‘I don’t have far to go, in any case.’

      ‘St Albans, isn’t it? We have to pass the end of your road.’ His tone was unequivocal.

      For the first time, Caryn became aware of the woman occupying the passenger seat of the silver blue Mercedes drawn into the roadside. Dark-haired like her son, Helen Bannister was well enough known by sight around the town, if not exactly on intimate terms with the general population. She was watching the scene now with a curious expression on a face that already showed signs of deterioration in health by its lack of colour and hollow cheeks.

      ‘I think you had better do as Logan says,’ she called through the opened window.

      Logan settled the matter by taking Caryn’s arm in a firm grasp and propelling her over to the car, leaving her with no alternative, short of causing a scene, but to slide into the rear passenger seat when he opened the door for her.

      ‘Put the belt on,’ he instructed. ‘It might only be a few minutes’ ride, but better to be safe than sorry.’

      Safe enough in body, perhaps, Caryn thought hollowly. Fate played some dirty tricks.

      Seated right behind Logan as he put the car into motion again, she was too close for comfort. The crisp, clean line of his hair across the nape of his neck made her ache with the longing to reach out and touch. Nothing had changed. Not where her senses were concerned. Everything about him made her ache.

      Helen Bannister half turned in her seat to offer a somewhat reticent smile. ‘Such a lovely day for a walk after all that rain!’

      ‘Yes, it is.’ Caryn could find nothing to add to the abrupt affirmative. None of this was Mrs Bannister’s fault, she reminded herself. The woman could have no idea of the underlying currents between her son and this stranger he had picked up from the roadside. So far as she was concerned, he was simply playing the Good Samaritan.

      ‘You must be in a lot of pain after a knock like that,’ continued the other. ‘Knees are always the worst places to injure.’

      Caryn forced a smile of her own. ‘It really isn’t hurting very much at all,’ she lied. ‘It was my own fault anyway. I should have waited for the green light.’

      Logan made no comment, but she could sense his glance through the driving mirror, imagine his sardonic expression. They were already approaching the turn-off from the main road. He took it without hesitation, as also the next turn into St Albans, drawing to a halt in front of the Gregory residence.

      ‘Here you are,’ he said. ‘Safe, if not exactly sound. You should get that knee seen to. You might have chipped the bone.’

      ‘I will,’ she affirmed, hoping no one happened to be looking out of the front windows at present. ‘Thank you for the lift.’

      ‘I’ll help you out,’ he said as she reached for the door-handle. ‘At the very least it will have stiffened up.’

      He was right, Caryn discovered, biting off an exclamation as she moved her leg. Perhaps not chipped, but certainly badly bruised. Fortunately her job didn’t call for a lot of walking.

      Logan came back to open the door and extend a hand. She took it with reluctance, relinquishing it again the moment she was out of the car and standing on the kerb. Turning her head, she directed a brief smile at the other occupant.

      ‘Goodbye—and thank you too.’

      Mrs Bannister nodded but didn’t speak. She looked, Caryn thought fleetingly, as if she scarcely knew what to say.

      Logan made no further attempt to touch her in any way. Wearing a soft leather jacket in light tan, and silky roll-necked sweater, he looked every inch the landed gentry. Only on the surface, though, she reminded herself. Underneath he was pure dross.

      ‘I need to talk to you,’ he said in low but urgent tones.

      Body tensed, nerves stretched, she said jerkily, ‘I don’t think we have anything to talk about.’

      ‘Yes, we do.’ He paused, added with purpose, ‘You wouldn’t want me to come to the house, I assume?’

      Her head lifted sharply. ‘No!’

      ‘Then meet me tonight on the beach. Seven o’clock. Same place.’

      He was gone before she could say yea or nay, rounding the car bonnet to slide back behind the wheel. Mrs Bannister lifted a hand in farewell as the vehicle moved off.

      Staring after it, Caryn wondered what on earth Logan could have to say to her that hadn’t already been said last night. Nothing she wanted to hear, at any rate, so he could wait in vain.

      On the other hand, he might very well keep his threat to come to the house if she failed to keep the appointment, and how would she explain that to her parents? She had no choice but to go, regardless of how she might feel about it. He had made sure of that.

      It was something of a relief to find that her arrival had gone unwitnessed. Her knee was painful, and as Logan had warned, already stiffening up, but she managed not to limp on her way upstairs to view the damage.

      Just badly bruised, she judged from a cursory inspection. It would probably be black and blue by morning, so short skirts were definitely out. Fortunately, fashion didn’t dictate any particular length at present.

      They ate at six, as they always did on a Sunday. Right up until ten to seven, Caryn was vacillating over keeping her appointment with Logan. She reached a final decision on the strength of curiosity alone—or so she told herself.

      Her announcement that she was going for another walk drew no particular comment. Her mother was ensconced in front of the television for her favourite situation comedy show, her father was still engrossed in the Sunday newspapers—the two of them settled into comfortable middle-age. Nothing wrong with that, Caryn supposed, yet tonight it somehow seemed indicative of everything she didn’t want for herself. Life was for living, not stagnating. It was high time she gave some serious thought towards exchanging one for the other.

      She was at the appointed place on the hour, to find the stretch of beach empty of all but the gulls. By ten past she had begun to think the whole thing had been Logan’s sick idea of a joke, although what possible entertainment he might get from that she couldn’t begin to imagine. She was on the verge of leaving when she saw horse and rider finally approaching.

      Logan came up at a fast canter, drawing to a halt far enough away to avoid СКАЧАТЬ