Summer Lightning by Jill Tahourdin Read Free Book Online

now he prejudges all women because of Louise, Chloe thought flatly.
    “His mother has never stopped trying, since then, to get him to marry. He’s very eligible—plenty of money on both English and Maltese sides. And women seem attracted in spite of his indifference. I expect it acts as a sort of challenge,” Mark explained sagely.
    “You don’t think he’s still in love with Louise?”
    Mark shrugged. “Could be, I suppose.”
    “Where is her husband?”
    “In the Antarctic. He chucked the diplomatic service to go exploring, too. Must be in the blood. He hasn’t been lucky. His expedition’s been out of touch for about two years. You heard her say they’ve more or less been given up for lost.”
    “Oh, how terrible. Poor Mrs. Carlyon!”
    Mark looked skeptical.
    “Some of their friends say he went to the Antarctic to get as far from her as he could. She’s madly extravagant—and a bit promiscuous, too. I can’t help thinking she doesn’t mourn much for his absence. And her turning up here is mighty odd, don’t you think?”
    “Mrs. Vining seems very displeased about it.”
    “She is. She resents Louise on account of Dominic. I’m afraid there’ll be trouble sooner or later. All the same, I can’t help rather relishing the piquancy of the situation.” Mark spoke with the cheerful gusto that seemed to underlie his attitude to life. Behind the thick lenses his eyes gleamed amusedly. “Anyway, not to worry. And it’s had the good effect of making Dominic change his mind about keeping you here. Perhaps he felt he needed a chaperone.”
    Chloe nodded ruefully. Mark was probably right. If not a chaperone, a sort of buffer. There was nothing in that for her comfort...
    Mark began showing her the library.
    “Behind there—” pointing to a massive screen placed across an alcove “—are my desk, telephone, typewriter and so on, all for your use if you should need them. And behind that, in the paneling, is quite an efficient little darkroom for you.”
    He was showing her how the paneling swung open if a certain knot in the carving was pressed when Dominic Vining came in.
    Chloe felt her heart swerve. She told herself she’d better get over him. There was no future in loving him...
    “I see Mark is showing you the ropes. Is your room all right, Miss Linden?”
    “It’s quite delightful, thank you. Such a view!”
    “Good!” She thought he wore a look of strain she hadn’t noticed before. Perhaps he hadn’t quite recovered from the shock Louise’s arrival must have been to him.
    “We’ll talk over plans here, this evening. Then tomorrow we’ll take you around the dig. Will the darkroom do for you?”
    “Perfectly, thanks.”
    He smiled at her.
    “That’s good. We’ll have tea up on the terrace today—it’s warm enough. In a quarter of an hour, Mark will bring you up there.” He was thinking, as he talked, what a nice sensible girl Miss Linden seemed to be. She hadn’t made a fuss over his high-handed treatment of her. She was quiet, controlled and unprovocative.
    Unlike Louise. Louise aimed herself shamelessly at the male in a man. In his own case she seemed set on waking up desires long since forgotten.
    At the thought of her installed at Santa Clara for heaven knew how long, the dark shadow crossed his face again. He turned away and walked quickly out of the library. Chloe watched him go, with love and longing.
    Mark took her up to the terrace a few minutes later. “Here’s my pocket compass,” he said. “Now steer a course north-fifty-nine east and up four flights. Hope your wind’s good.”
    Chloe’s laughter—a sound as spontaneous and pretty as the splash of the fountain in the courtyard—reached Dominic as he followed with Louise.
    “Your Miss Linden is a fast worker, Dominic, my dear,” Louise commented, acid sweet. “First Robert— now Mark. Better be on your guard, my lamb.”
    “You never did care much for your own sex, did you?” Dominic observed mildly, and