Unknown by Unknown Read Free Book Online

for the next Summer Olympics, I'm sure,' he said. 'That is every sportsman's ultimate goal. I am hoping that my little girl will also be selected for the British team after the Canadian International.'
    Sonya visibly winced, and she was afraid Sven had noticed. He did not seem to miss anything.
    'As a soloist, I suppose?' he asked quietly.
    'Yes, the same as yourself.'
    'Ah, but this time I hope to enter as a pair.'
    'A pair?' Eliot was astonished. 'But why the change?'
    'It is not really a change. I won my first medal as one of a pair. It is the most difficult form of skating and the most spectacular. I feel it is a challenge.'
    'But so much depends upon your partner,' Eliot objected. 'I myself would rather rely upon my own skill. Doubtless your original one is still available?'
    'Unfortunately not. My sister Ingrid gave up skating in favour of matrimony.'
    'Has she given up altogether?'
    'She considers her family more important, she has children, and I am only a brother.'
    'And skating was only a pastime?' Eliot spoke harshly. 'Few women take sport seriously, but I've every hope that Sonya will put her career first for many years to come.'
    Both men looked at the girl, and she lowered her eyes to conceal the rebellion in them. That 'many years to come' awoke no enthusiasm in her.
    'As she is her father's daughter, I am sure she will,' Sven said, but there was a dubious look in his eyes which were fixed upon Sonya's mouth, the red, slightly sensual lips which Derek had speculated about and suggested her father's hopes were doomed.
    'I'm almost a woman,' she said almost pleadingly.
    'And a very charming one,' Sven declared gallantly.
    She shot him an inimical look. She had not tried to charm him, rather the reverse, and his remark seemed insincere.
    Eliot said suddenly, 'If you're looking for a substitute for your sister, why not try Sonya?'
    'But surely Mr Petersen has already selected his partner?' she asked, thinking of Thomasina.
    'Actually I have not decided,' Sven told her.
    'I'd be no good as one of a pair,' she insisted, 'I'm a soloist.'
    'That is for Mr Petersen to decide,' Eliot remarked.
    In his secret heart, Eliot Vincent was not too sure of his daughter's ultimate success. Van Goort, though unwilling to disillusion him, had thrown out hints. But if Sven Petersen were willing to take her in hand he was sure she would be made.
    'What does your team manager say about this change?' he asked. 'Wouldn't he prefer you to continue as a soloist?'
    'He would, but it becomes monotonous. I was originally a pair skater and at the International I am to be accepted as such. I am in a strong position to be able to please myself.' Sven spoke with lordly arrogance.
    It seemed to Sonya that it was an act of madness to choose a mediocre partner, not knowing that to Sven she represented an even greater challenge than to succeed as a pair. Jan had told him she was technically well trained, but there was something lacking. She needed stimulation. That he was confident he could supply. The girl was very young, used to discipline and still malleable. He would be her Svengali, her Pygmalion, recreating her as a perfect skater. The idea had been in his mind ever since he had met her, and that the suggestion had come from her father, who he had expected would oppose it, had been a pleasant surprise.
    'You've seen her skate?' Eliot asked.
    Sonya answered for him. 'He saw me doing some figures the other morning—he can't possibly judge from that.'
    'Oh, but I can,' Sven declared. 'I decided then that you were the girl for me.' His narrow gaze was fixed upon her with a slightly malicious expression as if he were aware of her reluctance and was determined to overcome it. Sonya wilted. Jan was on the whole a lenient taskmaster. He knew her limitations and did not try to push her too hard, but this man would have no mercy at all, and after he had discovered her faults, he would reject her as inadequate and, worst of all, betray her failure to her