Andrea was looking at her curiously. ‘Anything wrong?’
‘No.’
‘Umm, you look as though you need a strong drink. Have this, David made it for me.’ She grimaced faintly. ‘He seems to forget that in my present condition alcohol isn’t a good idea.’
Automatically Jessica took the glass her sister proffered, downing the contents quickly.
Andrea’s eyebrows rose. ‘My goodness, things have changed,’ she marvelled. ‘I’ve never seen you do that before.’
The gin and tonic had been far stronger than Jessica expected, hitting her stomach so explosively that she had to lean against the wall momentarily as she followed Andrea into the kitchen.
‘Everything’s organised,’ Andrea told her. ‘This hot weather is an ideal excuse not to bother with any complicated menus. I’ve done a cheese soufflé to start with, and provided we get everyone sitting down at the right time there won’t be any problems there. David bought me a new ice-cream-maker a couple of weeks ago, so I’ve experimented with lemon sorbet before the main course—salmon baked in herbs and a selection of vegetables, and then homemade ice-cream with fruit for dessert, plus a cheeseboard. David’s got in some vintage port that ought to go down well with the professors, or so he hopes.’
There was enough satirical indulgence in her sister’s voice for Jessica to glance at her rather sharply.
‘Oh, it’s all right, it’s just that since your marriage I’ve come to realise that David isn’t the God he’d like me to believe. Frankly, Jess, I feel far more comfortable now that I realise that he’s human just like everyone else. I don’t feel that I have to try as hard for one thing.’ She fiddled with some plates, her back to Jessica as she said wryly, ‘I think I knew all the time that you weren’t interested in him, but I wouldn’t admit the truth to myself. I used you as a defence mechanism, I suppose. Our marriage may not be ideal but so far it has worked, and I intend to see that it goes on working.’
If her sister continued to behave in this new, more spirited, determined fashion Jessica suspected that it probably would, although it would not have been a situation she could have lived with happily. David would continue to be unfaithful to her, and Andrea must know that.
‘Would you go through and herd them all into the dining-room? I think the soufflé’s just about ready. I’ve put place cards out,’ she pulled a face. ‘Personally I thought it was a bit stuffy, but David wants to make an impression.’
Going back into the drawing-room Jessica caught David’s eye as she moved towards him. He was already pouring out a fresh drink for the man standing with him, and automatically started to pour one for Jessica.
‘G and T for you, and don’t refuse, I saw you gulping down your last one. Not like you, Jess. Not suffering from the strain of marriage already, are you?’ He laughed at his own wit, causing Jessica to grit her teeth and accept the full glass he gave her.
‘Andrea wants everyone to sit down. The soufflé is just about ready.’
Leaving David to organise the male guests, Jessica hurried over to Lyle who was still talking to the women.
‘My dear, your husband is the most fascinating man,’ the oldest of the trio commented to Jessica, smiling at her. ‘But then I must confess that we do have an interest in common. I practised as a GP myself for several years before I married. Alas, being the wife of an academic is something of a fulltime activity, and so reluctantly I had to give up my career when the children came along.’
‘Personally I find doctors the most fascinatin
g men,’ the blonde standing next to Lyle said softly. ‘Perhaps it’s because they have such an insight into the feminine mystique.’
Jessica had a childish impulse to say something extremely rude. It was plain to see that the woman was trying to strike up a flirtation with Lyle, while he, damn him, was doing absolutely nothing to discourage her—far from it! Where was the austere coldness she was so accustomed to?
‘Oh good,’ Janet Holmes cooed enthusiastically to Lyle when they went into the dining-room. ‘I’m sitting next to you.’
It was ridiculous for a woman of nearly forty to behave in such an obvious way, Jessica thought nastily, sitting down next to Lyle. She was still holding the drink David had given her, and rather than disturb Andrea’s carefully organised table, she emptied her glass quickly, hurriedly disposing of it on a nearby small table.
It was only as she sat down that she realised how strong the drink was, and how potentially dangerous on an empty stomach. She could see Lyle frowning slightly at her, but strangely that no longer seemed to matter. Instead she was conscious of a pleasurable haze that seemed to grow rather than decrease as she toyed with Andrea’s rich cheese soufflé, and drank two glasses of deliciously chill white wine.
It was when Andrea was serving the salmon that Lyle bent towards her and murmured curtly, ‘I suggest you don’t have anything more to drink.’
David was already on his way round the table with a fresh bottle of wine—chosen especially to complement the salmon, she heard him saying to Janet Holmes. Lyle had not suggested that she had had too much to drink, Jessica thought bitterly, and the other woman had consumed as much as she had herself.
Who was Lyle anyway to tell her what she might and might not do? Wilfully she allowed David to fill her glass, even raising it mockingly in Lyle’s direction before taking a sip. The evening was beginning to take on a relaxed glow she had never expected; indeed she could not remember when she had last felt this relaxed about anything. If only this underlying feeling of tension would go away, though.
But it didn’t, continuing to linger through the delicious ice-cream sweet and the cheese and biscuits which Andrea insisted she had, pointing out that the Roquefort cheese had been chosen especially with her in mind.
Of course it was impossible to refuse the glass of port David had poured for her, even though it did take a certain amount of owlish concentration for her to be able to lift the glass to her lips without spilling any of it.
Afterwards while they drank coffee and ate petits fours in the drawing-room, Jessica found that she still had a full glass of port.
As she blinked and studied it David said smoothly, ‘Oh come on, Jess, we might as well finish it off.’
He seemed amused about something, almost maliciously so, but Jessica had had far too much to drink to analyse what.