Trent de Havilland leaned back. Can you count to six? he enquired. It seemed her apology was accepted, because, without waiting for her to reply, he caught her elbow in a firm hold and took her to the dance area.
Nervousness made Alethea fumble over the first few steps but, after less than ten seconds tuition, she was floating. Trent de Havilland was holding her firmly, neither too close nor too far away, his right hand steady at her back, his left hand clasping her right as he guided her elegantly over the floor.
Round and around they went, in perfect rhythm with the music. There was something magical about it. Alethea felt as if she were in another era, dressed not in some violet slip of a dress, but in some magnificent ball gown and bejewelled.
What Trent de Havilland was thinking or feeling she had not the smallest clue, because while other couples circling the floor were in occasional conversation, he didnt say a word.
Someone almost cannoned into them. Trent pulled her closer. She caught her breath again, indeed, felt the oddest difficulty in breathing at all as he held her against him for long seconds after he had drawn her out of harms way.
She looked up into his dark eyes. It was as if no one else existed, as if it were just the two of them. His eyes, those warm, dark eyes, seemed to search down into her very soul.
Some small sound escaped hershe didnt know what to say. Her lips parted and he transferred his gaze down from her eyes. She felt his hand on her back pulling her close to him, and her whole body tingled.
Then the music stopped. Alethea had been aware of it, but abruptly snapped out of her trance-like state.
She realised too that her partner was no longer holding her. He had taken a step away. She searched for something to saya murmured thank you would have done. But she felt too tongue-tied to say anything. A moment later she discovered that comments from her were not required. Because, without saying one word himself, Trent de Havilland once more touched a hand to her elbow and escorted her off the floor. Andstill silentwent striding from her view.
I didnt know you could Viennese waltz! Carol exclaimed, appearing from nowhere, while Alethea was still striving to come back to earth.
Your Charleston beat everything into a cocked hat! Alethea somehow found the wit to respond.
Alethea did not see Trent de Havilland again that evening. Not that she consciously looked for himit was just that he wasnt around. Perhaps hed just looked in out of courtesy, stayed for one dance, and then legged it out of there to follow his more normal Saturday night pursuits. Not that she was in the least interested, anyhow!
At midnight Carol asked her how she felt about leaving. Fine by me, Alethea replied, and, after exchanging a few pleasantries with their hosts, they said their goodbyes. Alethea dropped Carol off on the way to her own home.
Nice party? Maxine enquired the next morning. Thinking about it, Alethea realised that, yes, it had been. Very nice, she replied.
Anyone special there? Maxine wanted to know.
Why Alethea should have a sudden picture in her minds eye of tall, dark, sophisticated Trent de Havilland, she couldnt have said. But she did not have time to wonder for long, because her mother, acid in every syllable, butted in to chide, If by special you mean some man, then I hope to Heaven that Alethea has more sense!
There wasnt anyone special there, Alethea denied mildly. But, ridiculously, she found she wanted to smile as a voice in her ear reproached, How could you lie...?
The rest of the day passed off noisilywith only a short period of quiet when, exhausted, Polly had a nap. Aletheas two older nieces were quite interesting when they werent squabbling. But she was glad to see Monday. Somehow, for all that life in the office was most often hectic, it seemed more tranquil than home.
She drove to work musing, at first not very seriously, that perhaps she should consider moving out. Maybe find a flat somewhere. Then, staying with the notion, she realised that there seemed to be a lot going for it. Maxine had seen neither hide nor hair of her husband since she had left him. They were in telephone communication; she knew that. Maxine shed floods of tears when she rang Keith, often about the non-appearance of the maintenance money he kept promising but which never materialised.
But it was all of a month now since Maxine had left him and had she had any thoughts of going back to him, then Alethea felt she would have seen some sign of them by now.
Life at home went from her mind the moment she arrived at the office she shared with Carol. There was the usual buzz about the place and, as ever, they were busy.
Carol was closeted with Mr Chapman around mid-afternoon when Alethea looked at the Celebrations file she had opened to check what accounts might be outstanding. She came across the guest list.
Without fully realising what she was doing, she skimmed her gaze over the names. She halted at de Havilland. Halted, and paused for some moments, for while almost every other invitation had been sent to couples, the invitation to the man who had so elegantly waltzed her around the dance floor had been sent to Trent alone. Mr Trenton de Havilland, she readand was back in his arms, back on the dance floor, the music was playing, the...
Have you time to do this for me? Carol, who clearly had more than enough to do, if the paperwork in her hands was anything to go by, brought Alethea quickly back to earth.
Of course, she smiled obligingly, and went home that evening a little later than normal, but satisfied with her day.
She let herself in; the house was noisy. It seemed that the children were as boundlessly energetic and as vocal as ever. She earned herself another bruise as she knocked into a chest of drawers that stood in the hall simply because there was no other place to put itand found she was again thinking, a little more seriously this time, that perhaps it might not be such a bad idea after all to find somewhere else to live.
Despite Polly being such a bad-tempered child, there was something quite loveable about her. She had such a beam of a smile, that it had them all forgiving her every misdeed. But there was no sign of that smile about her later in the evening when, around eight-thirty, she was brought downstairs so as not to disturb Sadie and Georgia who were already asleep. Polly had decided that she wasnt going to go to sleep. She yelled and screamed, and held her breath, and quite terrified Alethea lest she never breathed again. So that when, at last, she finally exhausted herself and did fall asleep, the adults were feeling very much frazzled.
You must be hating like crazy the fact that we moved in and shattered the peace and calm of your life, Maxine opined as she flopped in a chair and gratefully accepted the cup of coffee Alethea handed her.
Nonsense! her mother decried stoutly. Alethea knew she never had wanted Maxine to leave home in the first place and was delighted to have her back again. Her mother was impervious, it seemed, to the chaos about her.
The phone rang and Maxine went to get up. Ill get it, Alethea volunteered, instructing herself to be polite if it was her uncaring brother-in-law calling to tell his wife why he wasnt able to pay her any maintenance this week either.
But the call wasnt for Maxine, nor was it for her mother. Hello, Alethea said, into the receiver.
She went hot all over when, after a moments pause, a firm voice answered pleasantly, Hello, Alethea, Trent de Havilland.
Shed known thateven though she could not believe it. She had just known that it was his voice. Oh, hello, she said lightly, and, feeling confused and jumbled up again and totally unlike her real self, asked, What can I do for you?
Perhaps he needed Mr Chapmans home number to ring and thank him for Saturday, or something of that sort.
That, it transpired, was not the reason for Trents call. Her unflappable self disappeared when he came straight to the point of his call: Id like you to have dinner with me tomorrow. Are you free? he asked.
Alethea opened her mouth. I... she began. Half of her head still believed this was a business call and she almost asked, In what connection? Rapidly she got herself together. Only he jumped in before she could formulate the words she wantedin truth she didnt know what they were!
Good, Trent stated, and, continuing every bit as if she had just accepted his invitation, he said, Ill call for you at seven.
Alethea came rapidly out of the confusion his call had instigated. Presumably you know where I live? she questioned faintly.
Goodnight, he said, and the phone went dead. Alethea stared at the receiver in her hand with astonishment. Had she just agreed to go out with the man who, it had to be admitted, seemed to have a knack of disturbing her previously unflappable self?
Apparently she had. Though, from what she could remember, he had given her very little chance to refuse.
CHAPTER TWO
BY MORNING Alethea had decided that she would ring Trent de Havilland and tell him that she was not going to go to dinner with him. She would tell him that she had been so surprised by his call, she hadnt had a chance to recall a prior engagement. Into her mind loomed the thought of another evening of Polly deciding she did not want to go to sleep and, what was more, she was never going to steepand if she wasnt ever going to go to sleep, the whole world was going to hear about it.
Hating herself for thinking that it would be quite nice to have a tantrum-free evening, Alethea took her mother a cup of tea and went to her office, where she found time during the day only to discover that Trenton de Havillands home phone number wasnt listed. With Mr Chapman dashing to various meetings, she had no chance to ask him if he had Trents number. Or, failing that, if Mr Chapman knew where Trenton de Havilland worked.
Bye, Alethea, Carol said when they parted in the car park twenty minutes after five.
Bye, Alethea smiled, and drove home with her tummy all of a flutter. She had been out on dates before, but only with men she had known for some whileand never with any man like Trent!
Dinner will be late, her mother greeted her. Weve had such a day of it.
Polly playing up? Alethea guessed.
Shes been as good as gold. Her mother purred as if the high voltage tot had never ever known a temper tantrum. We went to the houseit hasnt been sold yetand he was there.
Keith?
Who else? Hes been suspended.
SEC have found out about the missing money? Her mother nodded. Theyre investigating. I couldnt resist telling him a few home truths. He called me an interfering old bat! Can you imagine?
There was more in the same vein. Eleanor Pemberton only broke off momentarily when Maxine came into the room, looking as if shed been crying. Alethea guessed that her sister had heard more than enough of what her mother had to say on the subject of her husband, and broke in quickly, Actually, Im going out to dinner this evening, so I wont be needing
With Carol? her mother asked sharply, her thoughts swiftly taken away from the man her other daughter had married.
Noeraan acquaintance.
A male acquaintance? her mother fired at her before she could add more. You never did get round to saying who phoned last nightis it him?
Yes, actually.
Hrmph, her mother grunted. Do I know him? was the next question. Alethea had been through the third degree on several occasions before.
Ill introduce you; hes calling for me at seven, she replied, and quickly made her escape to go and shower and change, and to wonder why if, as she told herself, she did not want to go out with Mr Trenton de Havilland, she should feel so churned up; somehow she was very wary, yet at the same time she was experiencing a prickle of excitement at the prospect.
Alethea found it a rush to be ready on time. Sadie and Georgia came in to helpwhich added another five minutes.
A high-pitched squabble broke out between the two little girls when they both wanted to use her face powder at the same time. However, having separated them and placated them with a spray of perfume behind their ears, Alethea and her two helpers finally left her room with one minute to go before seven.
She knew that, good manners aside, there was no way in which she was going to be able to avoid introducing her escort to her family, but she was hopeful of making that introduction as brief as possible.
It was not that she was ashamed of her family in any way. It was just that Trenton de Havilland was a very sophisticated man. She wanted him out of there before her mother attempted to give him the grilling which had been the fate of her other escorts.
Aunt Alethea gave us a squirt with her perfume... The girls rushed ahead of her into the sitting roomand stopped dead.
A prickle of apprehension had already started along Aletheas spine as she followed them. She, too, stopped dead. Trent de Havilland had already arrived! The strained atmosphere spoke volumes.
How long he had been closeted with her mother and her sister and, for once, an angelic-looking Polly, Alethea had no idea. She hadnt heard his car, though perhaps with Sadie and Georgia squawking in her bedroom that wasnt so surprising.
Im sorry I wasnt here to introduce you. She smiled as she went into the room, trying to ignore the fact that her mother looked as if shed been on a diet of vinegar for a week. Maxine was looking much the samewhat on earth had been going on?
I was several minutes early. Trent had risen to his feet as, in a mustard-shade dress, shed entered the room. He paused to say hello to Sadie and Georgia, and started to come over to her. I introduced myself, he commented easily. But, for all his relaxed manner, he seemed not inclined to delay their departure. Shall we go?
They said their goodbyes, and Alethea led the way out into the hall, followed by her mothers sharp warning, Dont forget you have to be up early for work in the morning, Alethea!
Oh, grief! She skirted the chest of drawers and heard a thudding sound as Trent didnt, and just knew that the evening was going to be a disaster before it began.
Im sorry about that, she apologised tensely, already guessing that her mother had asked him some pretty pertinent questions and he was probably ready to call the evening off right then and there.
Sorry? he queried, opening the passenger door of a black, extremely expensive car that suggested that whatever job he did, he was well paid for it.
Loyalty to her family, plus a sudden realisation that, whatever had passed between him, her mother and sisterMaxine had been looking on the sour side tooshe did not want to know about it, made her say, At a guess, Id say you cracked your shin on that chest in the hall.