Anne Bennett 3-Book Collection: A Sister’s Promise, A Daughter’s Secret, A Mother’s Spirit. Anne Bennett

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СКАЧАТЬ that’s right,’ Molly said. ‘He must have a fine job, this friend of yours.’

      ‘I wouldn’t know what he does,’ Ray said vaguely. ‘A bit of this and a bit of that.’

      Molly thought it a funny sort of job, but she reminded herself that he was Ray’s friend and it really was none of her business. She contented herself with exploring the rest of the flat. There were two doors from the living room. One led to a sparkling kitchen that Molly knew it would be a pleasure to work in. At the other side of the room a door opened on to a small corridor with two further doors leading off that. The first was a bathroom and it had all manner of beauty products left there: body creams and lotions, even some cosmetics, as well as shampoos and soaps such as Molly had never seen in her life before. She wondered at the manner of woman, for it must have been a woman, who would leave all this behind, as if she had left in one hell of a hurry.

      She shrugged. That wasn’t her problem and she was more than glad the things were available when she caught sight of herself, for her face was coated with dust and dirt, which was even gilding her eyelashes. Feeling a little daring, she filled the basin with water, which was piping hot, washed her hands and face with the delicious-smelling soap and dried them with the soft, fluffy towels left behind the door. Then she tidied her hair with the comb that she found in the little glass-fronted cabinet on the wall.

      Feeling better and more refreshed, she went from there to the bedroom. The bed was very large and she noted the sheets were silk. The fact that they were black with cream edging was unnerving enough, but what really threw her were the mirrors on the ceiling and down the length of one wall. Then she knew that however lavish this place was, she would breath easier when she was away from it.

      Back in the main room, the men had opened a bottle of brandy that they said they had found in the cabinet part of the bureau and they had a glass filled for her too, diluted with lemonade. There was something else added to Molly’s glass, which would make her sleep like the dead, for Ray said he didn’t want to come back and find the bird had flown, though he would take the precaution of locking the door.

      Molly’s heart sank. She was incredibly tired and would have preferred to seek her bed, even with the black silk sheets, but she knew Ray and Charlie only meant to be kind.

      ‘I have never tasted alcohol,’ she said, lifting the glass and sniffing apprehensively.

      ‘Bout time you did then,’ Charlie said. ‘What age are you, anyway? Sixteen? Seventeen?’

      ‘I was eighteen in February,’ Molly said.

      ‘Then the brandy will do you no harm at all, and once you have it drunk you will sleep like a top.’

      ‘I think I would sleep well enough without the brandy.’

      ‘It’ll be better with, trust me,’ Charlie said. ‘Isn’t that right, Ray?’

      ‘It’s right,’ Ray said. ‘And when you have it drunk then we will leave you to sleep the sleep of the just. So let us toast the fact that we met up with you tonight.’

      Oh, Molly had no trouble toasting that. She didn’t dare think of what might have happened to her if she hadn’t met up with these lovely men. ‘Down the hatch,’ Charlie said as the glasses chinked. Molly took a large swallow and found she liked the taste, and accepted another when she found her glass empty.

      But when she had finished that one, she felt very peculiar. She knew Ray and Charlie were talking, but she wasn’t able to register what they were saying. Her head had begun to swim quite alarmingly and when she tried to speak, her voice was befuddled and she couldn’t remember what she had wanted to say.

      ‘I would say you are a wee bit drunk,’ Ray said with a smile.

      Molly tried to say she was sorry but her tongue seemed to have swollen to twice its normal size and what came out was just gobbledegook. Ray and Charlie laughed.

      ‘Come on,’ Ray said. ‘We’ll help you to bed and be on our way.’

      Molly tried to say she didn’t need help, but she was unable to form the words, and when she tried to stand, she found she couldn’t do that either. It was as if her legs belonged to someone else. The two men carried her to the bedroom and laid her on the bed, where her eyes closed of their own volition.

      ‘What are you doing?’ Charlie asked as Ray began easing Molly’s jumper up.

      ‘Undressing her.’

      ‘But, why?’

      ‘Well, I don’t want to leave her in her clothes all night,’ Ray said. ‘She won’t remember any of this. If we were that way inclined, we could both take her now and she’d be none the wiser. But she is more valuable to us as she is because I am positive she is a virgin and I have Collingsworth looking for just such a girl. He is willing to pay and pay well if the girl is untouched.’

      ‘So what are we doing this for?’

      ‘Because when she wakes tomorrow under the sheets and in a slinky nightdress, and we say we left her fully clothed, she won’t remember a thing about it and I have a feeling that will unnerve her a bit and that’s what I want.’

      Charlie shrugged. ‘You are a queer kettle of fish, mate,’ he said. ‘But I won’t argue with you because I think we are sitting on a little goldmine with this one, if we play our cards right.’

      ‘That is what I am counting on,’ Ray said. ‘So you just look in those drawers and get me the slinkiest, sexiest nightdress you can find.’

      And Charlie, with a grin, did just that.

       SIXTEEN

      Molly woke with a raging thirst. Her head felt as if it were made of cotton wool, and Ray was standing beside her bed, holding a cup of tea.

      ‘How are you feeling?’

      ‘Awful,’ she said, and her voice came out like a croak. She struggled to sit up and suddenly realised that she had a nightdress on that she had never seen before. ‘How did I get here and undressed and all?’ she asked, taking the very welcome cup of tea.

      Ray looked confused. ‘What do you mean?’ he said. ‘I told you to choose and left you to it.’

      Molly took a long gulp of the tea, for all it was so hot, before saying to Ray, ‘I can’t remember anything, not even getting undressed.’

      Ray smiled. ‘That doesn’t surprise me,’ he said. ‘Let’s say you were not yourself last night.’

      ‘Was I drunk?’

      ‘A little, I think,’ Ray said. ‘But that was made worse by tiredness and the upset and distress you suffered in the raid.’

      ‘I’m sorry.’

      ‘Don’t be,’ Ray said. ‘It happens to the best of us. Now, are you hungry?’

      Molly suddenly realised she was. ‘Starving,’ she said, ‘and when I have eaten, I will start the search for Kevin.’

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