Crescendo

stand.

She believed he imagined he loved her for the moment. Even Gideon must have been affected by the bitter events of that day when she walked in and found Diana in his arms. She had lost her baby and been seriously ill for a long time. Gideon was not totally hard. He would have been guilty, disturbed. Maybe he had some idea of making reparation for all that had happened. Whatever his reason for tell­ing her he loved her, she would not, could not take it seriously. Gideon did not know what love meant.

CHAPTER EIGHT

MARINA heard a grating step behind her and swung, her pale face filled with immediate defiance, expect­ing to see Gideon. The young man behind her looked at her uncertainly, his fair skin flushing. 'Oh hello,' he muttered, not quite meeting her eyes.

'Hallo,' she said, relaxing. 'You haven't gone back to Birmingham yet, then?'

Tom Hutton shook his head, turning from her to look out across the sea in his turn.

'Still staying in the village?' Marina asked.

He nodded, then cleared his throat in an endear­ingly embarrassed fashion. 'Sorry I mistook your friend for your father the other day.'

She remembered Gideon's deliberate kiss, timed for Tom Hutton to witness, the hesitation with which Gideon had tried to find a way of making her stay away from him. She could have laughed if she had not been so angry with him. He had been trapped, unable to say openly why he objected to her friendly meeting with Tom. So, being Gideon, he had attempted to put a stop to any relationship by kissing her so that Tom should see it.

She smiled at Tom. 'That's all right. He is much older than me.'

He glanced at her in that uncertain way. 'I thought he was,' he agreed.

Marina sensed that he had not heard any gossip in the village about her. The people there might love to gossip, but only among themselves. Faced with a stranger, they closed ranks. Tom would not have picked up any of the truth about her from them.

They had been splendid during her long am­nesia. She had never got so much as a hint from them that everything was not normal. She looked back over the days of Gideon's visit, though, and picked up a dozen little moments when they had come close to betraying something of the secret. They had all known that Gideon was her husband, of course, they had met him during his visits here in the past. Yet they had carefully avoided giving away their knowledge of him except when their tongues slipped. She had known that there was some­thing odd about Gideon. It had never occurred to her that there was something odd about her.

Tom moved closer, staring at her averted, serious face. 'Are you engaged to him or something?'

Marina smiled drily. 'Something,' she said, not wishing to go into all the details.

The fair young face sobered again. 'Oh, I see,' he muttered with a slight shrug, and it was something of a comfort to see disappointment in his eyes as he half turned to walk away.

'Seen any good birds lately?' she asked, half- teasingly.

He laughed, gesturing to the binoculars round his neck. 'A few. I saw a goldfinch as I came along

through the village, and yesterday I caught a glimpse of a heron over the river.'

'You wouldn't need binoculars to see that,' she smiled.

'No,' he agreed. 'Quite unmistakable.'

'There's a heronry two miles from here,' she told him. 'If you go to Bindley you'll probably see several of them.' .

'I must remember that,' said Tom, his manner warming. 'I like watching the waders when the tide is out. They look so funny digging in the sand.'

'Like busy waiters, hurrying about,' she agreed, laughing.

'You're lucky, living here,' he sighed. 'You must see so much.'

'I was born here. You get used to seeing the sea and all the birds. You take it for granted. I think people who only come here once a year from the town get a lot more out of it than we do.'

'I often think I'll try to get a job in the country,' Tom said. 'The pay wouldn't be so good, but I'd get. a lot more out of life than I do now.'

'If you don't like town life you'd be mad to stay there,' she nodded, turning to go.

He fell into step beside her. 'Is your friend still here? Does he live here?'

She glanced at him and away. 'He's still here,' she admitted.