Luke reached her side. He held out a hand to heave her to her feet. 'In that dress, Emily, no one's eyes stray as far as the skirt,' he assured her. His eyes were fixed unapologetically on the upper slopes of her breasts, which gleamed above the stark black fabric of her strapless gown.
'Not everybody has such a sordid mind as you,' she told him. The sexual innuendo was peculiar: nothing like that ever entered their relationship…friendship would be stretching it to breaking-point, though he wasn't always as unpleasant as he had been this evening. Luke sparred with her, baited her, tried and occasionally succeeded in shocking her, but nothing intimate. Even in her present state of miserable confusion she registered that she didn't care for that brief comment, made more to distract her than for any other reason, she was sure. Was that Luke's idea of kindness? His next words firmly contradicted this concept and made her catch her breath.
'If you find a healthy admiration of a good cleavage sordid, maybe that's why lover boy has looked elsewhere,' he suggested unsympathetically.
She felt torn between a strong desire to collapse into tears of pain, and violent outrage at the heartless comment. The brilliant blue regard was as cold and indifferent as ice; pride made her face him without a quiver in her voice, and a sense of self-preservation kept her hands firmly at her sides. The pleasure of striking him would be diluted by the fact that he would undoubtedly retaliate in kind; she'd tried that in the dim and distant past and some things never changed.
'My sex life is none of your business.'
'Just as well—I have such a lamentably low boredom threshold,' he said silkily.
'You're enjoying this,' she accused, her voice shaking. 'I have just…'
'Found out your boyfriend prefers the big sister,' he provided helpfully as she took several deep breaths. He gave a shrug of his broad shoulders. 'Why worry? You heard her about to make the supreme sacrifice on the altar of sisterly love.' He made a noise of disgust. 'I thought I was going to throw up. All you have to do is keep quiet.'
'You think I would?' she gasped incredulously.
He regarded her thoughtfully. 'Actually, I thought you would have waded in and thrown the odd left hook. You do have a very tactile temperament, Emmy,' he recalled reflectively.
Luke had an odd expression on his face that she couldn't decipher, but then, he was fairly expert at not revealing what he was thinking; he'd honed the craft over the years until he could easily blanket his emotions under a bland smile or a rock-like impassivity that could be infuriating. But then, it was usually intended to be just that…
Something about the way he said 'tactile' made a shiver run down her spine: his rough velvet voice managed to make the word sound oddly voluptuous.
'These days I actually think things out before reacting,' she replied huskily. This was all some extra amusement as far as he was concerned, a chance to see a Stapely suffer a little. Luke had never made any effort to hide his contempt for the entire family, and she couldn't suppose she was an exception.
'Pity, I always found your spontaneity abrasively refreshing. Possibly your Gavin has been encouraging all these latent and unattractive aspects of your character. An awful thought offers itself, infant; you could be turning into your mother.'
She listened impassively to his soft drawl. It occurred to her that it was bizarre that he was the one she'd called back in a moment of supreme crisis. It couldn't even be considered clutching at straws because, with Luke, a person could never be sure whether he'd hold you under or pull you out—his motivation remained a mystery even though she'd known him all her life. A sure sign of mental instability, she told herself with self-derision, actively to seek his company. Shouldn't she have flung herself in maternal arms? Actually she never had done; there was always the possibility that she might have messed Mummy's dress or mussed her hair. As for announcing that she was about to call off the engagement… Emily gave a laugh at the idea. Her mother would consider such an idea, for whatever reason, the height of insanity. What would people think…?
'What's so funny?'
Emily almost told him; he'd have appreciated the joke. Appearances must be maintained at all costs! But when she thought about it, it wasn't really funny.
'Life's irony?' she suggested, throwing her arms wide expansively. 'Well, at least it's all made your effort worthwhile. Think of the chaos when I announce a wedding will not take place!'
Luke sat down on a fallen tree and she realised for the first time that her flight had taken her as far as the riverbank; the house was a glitter of lights through the trees. 'You aren't even going to fight for him, then?'
'Fight?' she echoed. 'He wants my sister,' she reminded him in a choked voice. The reminder of this fact made her stomach churn; all the familiar landmarks of her life seemed to have disappeared, and the landscape seemed unfamiliar and frightening. Have I been blind? she asked herself. The anger, directed partly at herself, sent her adrenalin into overdrive. She began to pace restlessly over the damp grass. The lies, the deceit… What had been the truth? Had he ever cared for her?