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.I shan't forget you when I'm married.You must spend your holidays with me.'Jan thanked her and was cheered by her cousin's tardy praise, but did not say that holidays with the Leandris family were definitely out.Renata would probably forget all about her invitation when she was caught up in her husband's social life.Jeremy grumbled about Jan's desertion but accepted the part-time typist she found for him, and was soon unaware of any change.Her aunt did not seem to notice her absence.Jan was working in the typing pool of a big multiple food buying concern, and since her work gave satisfaction there was every prospect of being permanently employed when the holiday period was over, but it was soul-deadening work and she resolved she must find something better when she had proved her efficiency.Both at the office and in the hostel she was mixing with young people of her own age, but they seemed shallow and frivolous to her, while the young men she encountered appeared to belong to a different species from Alex.He had spoilt her for all ordinary contacts.Since she was unable to wholly disguise her disdain she was labelled snooty and stand-offish, which she did not deserve.She was willing to be friendly, but could find no common interest with her associates.At first during the process of adapting herself to her new life, she had little time to repine for Alex, nor did she often visit her home, but from occasional phone calls she ascertained that he had not put in an appearance.This seemed ominous, and she began to wonder if he had decided to wash out the Reynolds family, or if his Athenian lady had relented.If the latter were the case, then Renata's hopes were doomed.Not that she seemed to be much concerned.Jan met her in the cloakroom belonging to a small restaurant where she sometimes went for a meal in the evening when she had been working late and would miss the hostel dinner.Renata was looking more beautiful than ever, exuding a soft glow so that Jan felt sure Alex must have arrived.She seemed a little disconcerted to see Jan.'I didn't know this was a haunt of yours,' she remarked.'I don't come here often, funds-don't allow,' Jan told her.'Are you alone?'It was a very ordinary restaurant and a place where Alex would scorn to entertain a girl-friend.'I'm with a friend,' Renata hesitated, then decided to be candid.'An old acquaintance,' she went on.'You've met him.''Him?' Jan looked her question.'Denis Wood,' Renata told her.'And you needn't look so shocked.I'm not engaged yet and at the rate things are going, I never shall be.Alex seems to have forgotten me.''You've not been back very long, and you know how tied up with business he always seems to be,' Jan tried to reassure her, while feeling considerably disquieted.'I'm more important than his stuffy old business,' Renata declared peevishly, while she touched up her make-up.She glanced round to see if anyone was listening, but no one was in their immediate vicinity.It was a large cloakroom with a row of wash basins, the place being a popular rendezvous.Jan was tidying her hair in the mirror next to her.'That short style suits you,' she observed absently, then dropping her voice: 'I don't know what happened on that trip of yours, but he's never been the same since.''Nothing happened.' Jan concentrated upon arranging her hair.'But he found it difficult to forgive you for letting him down.''Not allowing him to seduce me,' Renata snapped.'I've got some sense, Jan, and you see my refusal brought him up to scratch in the end.' She looked disconsolately at her left hand.'But he might have given me a ring.''Then he did actually propose?''In a roundabout way.' She glanced narrowly at her cousin.'Did he ever confide in you?''Can you see Mr.Leandris pouring his heart out to a stowaway?' Jan enquired lightly, for she must never betray to Renata the existence of.that other woman, which she hoped she would never discover.'No, he always regarded you as something between a half-wit and an unfledged adolescent,' Renata told her cheerfully.'No offence, Jan, but you knew that.''Yes, I did.' But he had not done so on that night in Istanbul.She put her comb in her handbag.'It's been nice to see you, Rena, but won't Denis be wondering where you are?''Oh, he knows I always spend hours titivating,' Renata dismissed his possible impatience.'You won't tell anyone I went out with him?' she added anxiously.Jan knew anyone meant Alex.'I'm no tell-tale,' she declared, 'but are you wise? If Alex did get to know, he might be nasty.Greeks are very jealous.''Then he should come and assert his claims,' Renata decided.'I wouldn't be surprised if he isn't having a final flutter before getting married, so he's no right to object to Denis.'Jan feared she was right.There could only be one explanation for Alex's tardiness; he was making a last appeal to the woman he said he loved.Perhaps it would be better for Renata if he did jilt her, for she was sure she was marrying the wrong man.'Rena,' she began earnestly, 'give him up, he isn't worthy of you.Money isn't everything, and you do love Denis, don't you?''Ssh!' Renata glanced round.Several women had entered in a laughing group.Under cover of their chatter, she almost hissed:'That would suit you, wouldn't it? I'm not blind, Jan, but even if I ditched him, he'd never look at you.' The green eyes were venomous, and Jan wished she would not reiterate the obvious.Much of her lack of self-confidence was due to her cousin's denigration.Renata went on more normally: 'I've told you before I can't live on a shoe-string, and things have gone too far now.I wouldn't want to break Alex's heart.'Jan nearly said, 'Who are you trying to kid?' but restrained herself.Renata was adept at self-deception where her vanity was concerned, but Alex's heart was no more involved than Renata's was [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]