Barbara Erskine 3-Book Collection: Lady of Hay, Time’s Legacy, Sands of Time

‘Oh no, I remember clearly. You ordered me to take off my clothes.’ Her voice shook. ‘You had given orders that no one come in, hadn’t you? I expect everyone in the castle knew what you had planned for me. Did that make you feel big, my lord? Did it? Is that how you get your pleasure?’

Jo scrambled across the bed away from him and stood up. She tightened the belt of the bathrobe. ‘What a shame that someone came!’

‘Dear God, she’s still in the past,’ Nick murmured. ‘Sam, it’s happened to her again. For God’s sake, wake her up properly!’

‘Jo?’ Sam ignored him. ‘Jo, calm down. Don’t you recognise me?’

‘Of course I recognise you!’ She pushed her hair back off her face. ‘You’re …’ She stopped short, groping for a name. A second later she put her face in her hands, shaking her head from side to side. ‘You’re not William,’ she whispered between her fingers. ‘You’re not William, you’re not … you’re not.’

Sam caught her wrists and pulled her hands away from her face. ‘Who am I, Jo?’ he said. His eyes held hers.

‘Sam,’ she whispered. ‘You’re Sam.’

‘And who is this with me?’ He was still holding her wrists.

‘Nick.’ Her reply was scarcely audible.

He released her. ‘Fine. I suggest we all have a cup of coffee. Nick, rather than snooping in here, perhaps you could do that much for us?’ He rounded on his brother harshly as Jo walked slowly over to her mirror and stood before it, staring at her face. Numbly she picked up her comb and began to draw it through her hair.

With a shrug Nick went into the kitchen. His hands were shaking as he picked up the kettle and held it under the tap.

Behind him he did not see Sam walk swiftly down the hall to the living room where he slipped the cassette into his pocket, and then picked up Jo’s dress and her bra and panties from the carpet and stuffed them behind a cushion on the sofa. When Nick appeared he was standing at the open French window staring out across the square.

‘How is she?’ Nick slid the tray onto the low table.

‘Confused and disorientated.’ Sam did not turn round. ‘Give her a little time and she’ll be fine.’

‘She needs help, Sam. If this is going to happen spontaneously, for God’s sake! She needs psychiatric help.’

‘You seem to forget, little brother, that that is what I’m here for,’ Sam said, turning at last to look at him. ‘I warned you both what might happen if she got involved in this. Now all I can do is help. And first I want to see to it she doesn’t go near that quack Bennet again.’

‘He’s in the States.’ Absently Nick picked up a cup and drank. His mouth tasted acid.

‘Good.’ Sam smiled enigmatically. ‘Long may he remain there.’ He raised an eyebrow. ‘You haven’t told me, incidentally, what you are doing here. I thought you were in Paris until the weekend.’

‘I changed my mind.’ Nick drained the coffee and picked up the coffee pot. ‘That was a pretty damn fool trick to play, sending Judy after me. What was the idea exactly?’

Sam sat down. ‘It was her idea, old son. I just gave her the name of the hotel. Where is she now?’

Nick shrugged. ‘I told her to get lost.’

‘I see.’ Sam’s gaze narrowed. ‘And you thought Jo would be interested to hear all this?’

‘I don’t give a damn if she’s interested or not. I was worried about her. I saw that article Pete Leveson wrote and I thought she must be going out of her mind to give him the story. You have seen it I suppose?’

‘I’ve seen it. And she didn’t give, Nick. He took.’ Sam stretched his legs out in front of him slowly. ‘I must say I think it was singularly naive of her to talk to him at all, but she’s not herself these days as we can all see. I want you to leave her alone, Nick.’ He sat forward suddenly. ‘Do you understand me? I want you to keep away from her. She can’t cope with any more hassle.’

‘I don’t think that’s for you to say, Sam.’ Behind them Jo had appeared silently in the doorway. She was wearing jeans and a deep-red silk shirt, unbuttoned at the throat. Her face was still very white.

Sam climbed to his feet. ‘Have some coffee, Jo.’

She accepted the cup coolly. ‘I keep getting the feeling you two are trying to run my life for me,’ she said. ‘I’m very grateful and all that, but I don’t need it.’

‘You do need help, Jo.’ Sam’s voice was gentle. ‘And I think you realise it. That was why you rang me this morning.’

Jo bit her lip. ‘I wanted someone to talk to. But full-scale analysis, no.’

Sam grinned back amiably. ‘You couldn’t afford me, love, not for full-scale analysis! But seriously, I do want to help you. I have to go home tomorrow. I’m giving a lecture on Friday and another on Monday at a post-graduate conference, but after that I can come back and I want you to agree to see me then, just to talk things through.’

She frowned. ‘I won’t need to, Sam. Really.’

‘If you really don’t need to, we’ll forget it, but if you have any more dreams, any more crying babies, then you must call me. Promise?’

Jo sighed. ‘All right, I promise.’

‘I’ll give you my number in Edinburgh so that you can reach me there as well. And I don’t want you to go back to see Bennet. He’s away anyway at the moment, I gather, but he’s not competent to help you, Jo. He doesn’t know how to cope with the reactions he’s getting from you and more to the point, neither do you.’ He sipped his coffee thoughtfully, not looking at her. ‘I know you’ll do the sensible thing.’

Jo grinned. ‘You’re the first person who has ever said that to me,’ she said. She reached forward and kissed him on the cheek, then she frowned. ‘What is that awful mark on your face?’

Sam glanced at Nick. ‘I scratched it on some wire,’ he said quickly. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll live.’ He put the cup down. ‘And now, I must go and get on with some packing. I’ll give you a lift back to the flat, Nick, shall I? I’ve got your car. It’s parked round the corner.’

‘Then I’ll have the keys.’ Nick held out his hand. ‘Perhaps you’d grab a taxi, Sam, if you don’t mind. I’ll come on later. I want to talk to Jo.’

‘It will be easier if we drive back together.’ Sam’s tone was insistent.

Stubbornly Nick shook his head. ‘I’ll be along later.’

‘Jo –’ Sam appealed to her. ‘You’re tired. You don’t want Nick here.’

‘That’s all right, Sam, thanks. But I do want to talk to Nick as it happens.’ Jo smiled almost apologetically. She stood on tiptoe and kissed him again. ‘You’ve been very sweet, Sam, thanks for coming.’

Nick closed the door behind his brother thankfully and stood for a moment staring at it. Mortice, Yale lock, chain and bolt. Why the bolt, in broad daylight when Sam was here? He shot it experimentally.

‘What are you doing?’ Jo was behind him; she looked apprehensive.

‘I was wondering why Sam found it necessary to bolt the door. Unless it was you, of course?’ He eyed her thoughtfully.

‘I never bolt the door. What are you talking about?’

The particular shade of burgundy silk she was wearing suited her exceptionally well. His eyes travelled to her breasts, outlined beneath the low-buttoned blouse. They seemed more prominent than usual. She was looking very beautiful. ‘Then Sam must have done it,’ he said. ‘Did you ask him to hypnotise you, Jo?’ He moved away from the door and picked up his empty cup. He stared at it absently.

She nodded. ‘I heard the baby crying again and Carl Bennet wasn’t there and I didn’t know what to do, so I rang Sam. He was marvellous, Nick.’

Nick put down the cup. ‘He is pretty good, so I’ve heard,’ he said cryptically.

Jo smiled. ‘You heard right.’ She raised an eyebrow. ‘So. How was France? I gather you had company while you were there.’

‘I thought Sam might just find it necessary to tell you she had come after me,’ Nick said cynically. ‘It was the end of us, if it’s of any interest. As far as I know, she’s still there.’ He glanced at her. ‘Jo –’