No More Lonely Nights

Mrs Cassidy at least, smiled, patting the sofa she sat on. 'Come and sit next to me, my dear. How do you feel this morning? Did you sleep well?'

'Yes, thank you,' said Sian, walking a little unsteadily as she crossed the room, because those unfriendly eyes were unnerving. There were four other people in the room—two strange men, an unfamiliar but very attractive girl, in a pink dress—and Magdalena.

It was Magdalena who radiated hostility, of course, and as Sian sat down she made herself look at the other girl, challenging her, the way she would have stared back at a threatening dog in her path. Sian wasn't going to be scared off or put down by Magdalena, but she was puzzled by that overt hostility. What had she ever done to Magdalena, for heaven's sake, that warranted these black looks?

CHAPTER NINE

Cass interrupted her thoughts by introducing the others. 'Sian, I don't think you've met my brother, Malcolm, have you?'

'Hello,' she said as the thin, dark young man smiled at her. He had a certain resemblance to Cass, but he lacked that visible aura of power. He seemed quiet and shy and a little unsure of himself, although he was quite attractive in his way, and the girl with him was very pretty indeed.

Cass introduced her, too. 'Andrea Hill, a friend of Malcolm's.'

Sian smiled; Andrea half smiled back, but with reserve. Sian got the impression that she knew all about the situation, and was firmly on the side of the Cassidy family. Andrea had possessive eyes and a determined jaw; she slid her hand into Malcolm's arm as if to make it clear he was her property. Malcolm, interestingly, looked startled; a bird taken by surprise by a cat.

'You know my sister, of course,' Cass murmured. Before Sian could look at Magdalena, he added, 'And this is her husband, Robert Shaw.'

Sian switched her smile to the third man, who began to smile back, then stopped as his wife turned angry eyes on him.

'Magda!' Cass said ominously, and she looked at her brother, biting her lip and scowling like a sulky child.

'Magda has something to say to you,' Mrs Cassidy chimed in suddenly, but Magda seemed in no hurry to say it.

'Malcolm, why don't you and Andrea go and check on the workmen?' Cass suggested. 'They should have finished by now, but I can still hear hammering.'

Andrea was in no hurry to be dragged away from this interesting conversation, but under those cool grey eyes she didn't quite have the nerve to stay. Cass was a very different proposition from his brother, and Malcolm was already on his way to the door, so Andrea had to go with him. When the door had closed behind them, Cass looked back at his sister encouragingly, one brow raised.

Magdalena swirled round suddenly to face Sian; she shot one look at her, then looked down. Very flushed, she burst out, as if in accusation, 'It was me driving the car, not Cass!'

'Oh, I see,' Sian said, not knowing quite how to respond, then there was a silence.

'And…' prompted Cass in a firm voice, watching his sister, not Sian.

'And I apologise,' Magda said through her teeth, looking up then, and eyeing Sian with hatred.

'Magda!' Cass said, but this time she ignored him. Turning on her heel, she ran out of the room, slamming the door.

Her husband sighed. 'I'll go and ta

lk to her.' He looked rather sheepishly at Sian. 'Sorry about this, she shouldn't have…she has this temper, and when she loses it she does stupid things.'

He went out and Mrs Cassidy groaned. 'What are we going to do with that girl? Cass, should I go too? Poor Robert can't handle her, he gives in to her too much.' She got up without waiting for an answer. 'I'll make her come back and do it properly this time?'

'No, please don't,' Sian said, appalled at the idea.

'Oh, I think she should,' Mrs Cassidy insisted at the door. 'She really must learn not to do such dreadful things. She thinks she can get away with anything, and one day she may do something really terrible. She could have killed you. I'm sure she didn't mean to, and I'm sure the whole episode has frightened her, but she can't be allowed just to get away with it. Not this time. She must face up to what she did.'

She went out and Sian stared at the window, watching the green sway of ivy on the wall, the dance of the wind through a maple tree at the edge of the lawns. Cass stood watching her, and she was very conscious of his nearness.

'I'm afraid Magda was spoilt,' he said. 'The only girl, and she was delicate as a child—we all spoiled her, from my father down. Robert adores her, too, he never denies her anything. She has grown up thinking she can do just as she likes.'

'Why didn't you tell me before?' Sian asked, still bewildered. She had said such terrible things to him; why hadn't he made her believe it wasn't him who had driven the white car?

'I did,' he said flatly. 'You didn't believe me.'

'You didn't really try to make me!' She thought back over the scene in the little wood, flushed and appalled by what she had said to him. 'You looked guilty!'

'Maybe that was because I felt guilty,' he said, his voice weary.