Island of the Heart by Sara Craven Read Free Book Online

ballads to my usual repertoire for the autumn.
    You'll find a selection in that green folder in the end cupboard. We'll
    do some exercises, then run through a few of them—see what might
    be suitable.' She gave Sandie a firm smile. 'Now, let's start, shall we,
    my dear? The morning is nearly over.'

    In retrospect, Sandie decided it was the most trying and demanding
    couple of hours that she had ever spent.
    Crispin's hint that Magda was not always easy to get on with proved
    to be more than justified. She let Sandie see that her nervousness
    and lack of experience were severe irritants, and she made few
    allowances for either of them.
    And because Sandie was so tense after that traumatic confrontation
    with Flynn, she found she was making more mistakes than usual—
    playing like an absolute tiro, she realised with dismay.
    She could not be thankful that neither the sound of her struggles nor
    Magda's strictures could penetrate the walls of the music room, or
    Flynn Killane would have something to sneer about in earnest, she
    thought unhappily.
    'Well, that was far from satisfactory,' Magda said at last, her face
    taut with displeasure. 'You are going to have to try much harder than
    that, my dear. Your sight-reading is poor in the extreme. I imagine
    your examiners have commented on it in the past.'
    Sandie bent her head, staring down at the keys. 'No,' she returned
    despondently, 'it's usually quite good. I—I must be a little on edge.'
    'Then I'd be grateful if you'd pull yourself together before our next
    session,' Magda said waspishly, and swept out of the room in a swirl
    of dragons.
    Sandie knew an overwhelming urge to put her head down on the
    keyboard and bawl like a baby, before going to the study and asking
    Flynn Killane to put her on the next flight to England. But I won't
    give him fhe bloody satisfaction, she decided savagely, thumping
    out a few discords to relieve her mangled feelings.
    Much to her relief, lunch was not a formal meal conducted en
    famille. Cold salmon and a variety of salads were placed on the
    sideboard in the dining- room, and people wandered in and helped
    themselves, buffet style.
    The twins returned from their ride, mercifully intact.
    'We're going for a swim this afternoon,' Steffie informed Sandie,
    helping herself lavishly to the strawberries and cream that formed
    the dessert. 'Do you want to come?'
    Sandie shook her head. 'I don't think I'd better.'
    'Well, you won't be wanted for anything else.' Steffie gave a giggle.
    'Crispin's gone off in the car in a towering rage. He won't be back
    till this evening. And Mother always rests in the afternoon.'
    'Come on down to the beach,' James put in. 'You may as well while
    you have the chance. O'Flaherty says it will be raining again
    tomorrow.'
    'All right, then,' Sandie accepted, trying to hide swift
    disappointment. She'd wondered all morning where Crispin was.
    She'd needed desperately for him to reappear and give her self-
    confidence a boost. The fact that he'd apparently stormed off
    without even knowing whether she was to go or stay was something
    of a blow.
    And it would undoubtedly be a relief to get away from the house
    and its pressures, she thought, and bit her lip. What a way to feel
    when she'd been there less than twenty-four hours!
    But it would all have been so different if only Flynn Killane hadn't
    returned, she told herself passionately. Oh, why couldn't he have
    stayed—a thousand miles away, as Jessica had said?
    The twins found her a bicycle, and an hour later she found herself
    cycling with them down the narrow lane that led to the sea. The
    wind had dropped, and the sun felt warm on her back, and almost in
    spite of herself, Sandie's spirits rose. She felt more cheerful still
    when they arrived at the beach—a perfect crescent of pale yellow
    sand, sloping gently into the cream- edged blue of the Atlantic.
    The twins threw their bikes down on to the short turf that fringed the
    sand, and charged off, leaving