Wild Melody by Sara Craven Read Free Book Online Page A

closed behind him, as the pillow, hurled with all the force
    Catriona could muster, thudded against it.

    Almost in spite of herself, Catriona found that she liked Sally Fenton on
    sight. Sally was small and red-headed with delicate mobile features and an
    impish smile. Her eyes were dancing as she flung open the front door of the
    flat.
    'Jason, angel!' She flung herself rapturously at him. 'You've saved my life.
    Ever since that idiot Jill went back to Birmingham, I've been desperate.'
    ' 'Careful, Sal.' Jason disengaged himself and sent a glinting look at
    Catriona. 'You'll be giving Miss Muir the wrong idea.'
    'Miss Muir? Oh, surely not. It's Catriona, isn't it, just like in Robert Louis
    Stevenson,' Sally said gaily, taking her hands. 'Please come in and say you
    like it and that you'll stay for at least a little while. I need the extra rent—not
    to mention the company.'
    'Don't tell her that,' Jason admonished, sitting on the edge of the table and
    lighting a cigarette. 'She's a Scot and intensely money-conscious.'
    'That's not true,' Catriona began indignantly, then subsided as Sally
    exclaimed, 'Oh, just ignore him. He says the most appalling things about
    everyone. But we have to forgive him because he's so important—aren't
    you, darling?' And she wrinkled her nose at him.
    'Not important to you, at any rate, Sally,' he said drily. 'I'll fetch Miss Muir's
    things from the car.'
    'And we'll make up the other bed,' Sally said. 'The bedroom's only tiny, I'm
    afraid. I hope you haven't got too many clothes.'
    Catriona swallowed. 'I've hardly got any,' she admitted.
    'Oh.' Sally swung round and regarded her for a moment. 'Well, that's super.
    We. can go shopping. Don't look so frightened—you don't have to spend the
    earth to create a good effect. And it will be no good applying to the agency
    I go to in jeans,' she added practically. 'A trouser suit, perhaps, but those
    have rather seen better days, haven't they?'

    It was impossible to take offence, Catriona thought amusedly, as she helped
    Sally unload sheets and covers from an old-fashioned blanket box that
    doubled as a window seat in the little bedroom. In spite of its size, it was gay
    with cheerful wallpaper and sparkling white paint and there were pretty
    turquoise curtains at the window.
    'Here's Jason with your stuff,' said Sally, tucking in a corner of the
    bedspread. 'Give him a hand while I empty a couple of drawers for you.'
    Catriona went back reluctantly into the living room in time to see Jason
    depositing her guitar case on the floor beside the table. Her rucksack was
    there already, and so were a pile of silver dress boxes marked with the name
    of the store they had visited the day before.
    'I think there's some mistake,' Catriona said quickly.
    'What have I forgotten?' He straightened, eyeing her.
    Catriona pointed at the boxes. 'They don't belong to me.'
    'Don't be a fool,' he said curtly. 'Of course they're yours. What earthly use
    could they be to me? And don't say I could give them to one of "my
    women" or I swear I'll turn you across my knee and give you the hiding
    you've been asking for since I met you.'
    'I wasn't going to say that,' she said quietly. 'But I can't accept these
    clothes. You must see that. I—I can't afford to pay for them just now
    either, as you know. I only took them to begin with because I thought that.
    . .' her voice trailed away miserably.
    'You thought Jeremy would pay for them as your husband,' he finished for
    her. 'But as I told you, it's in the family. Of course--' his voice took on that
    drawling note she had come to dread—'if you insist on repaying me in
    some other way, I'm sure we can come to some arrangement.'
    'Please don't,' she said with difficulty. 'I want to thank you for everything,
    and you don't make it easy.'

    'I don't make it easy for myself either,' he answered abruptly. He came over
    and stood looking down at her. 'Thank me, then,' he said, smiling faintly.
    She lowered her eyes hurriedly to