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nerve- ends screeching in frustration. She hated herself for wanting
what she shouldn't want. He was Jocelyn's man and Noah Seton was
not about to change that. He had told her so straight out.
The kiss they had shared meant nothing to him. Just a brief
aberration that he had obviously dismissed. Toni suddenly realised
why he had come close to her and touched her like that. He had
remembered her vulnerability to him and used it deliberately to
taunt her... putting her down in the only way he could., .his nasty
little revenge for the victory she had scored off him. The more she
thought about it, the more Toni fumed. Her only consolation was
that she had made him pay as much as he had, even to the
outrageous commission she had demanded. Although she still didn't
understand why he had given in to her claims without so much as a
protest, let alone an argument. There was something fishy about it,
as if he had a hidden joker up his sleeve, waiting to be dealt at a
later date. No matter how hard Toni tried to recapture a feeling of
triumph, it completely eluded her. Not even the telephone calls to
the four men could lift her spirits, although they were most
appreciative of what she had done for them.
She felt too disgruntled to enjoy painting any more. Noah Seton had
ruined that too. But she finished the pot, determined not to let him
disrupt her plans. Then she cleaned everything up, including the
minuscule paint-spot on her nose, and changed back into the clothes
she had chosen for her visit to Lillian.
She cast a look of satisfaction around her office before locking up,
wrinkling her nose in disgust at Noah Seton's description of 'homey'.
The improvements she had made were brilliant. Anyone who came
to her for help would certainly be lifted out of any depression
simply by soaking in the bright ambience of her office. Noah Seton's
problem was that he couldn't see further than his own interests.
He wouldn't be bothered putting his mind to solving the problem of
raising money for the deaf children. He would probably have no
idea of how to go about it anyway. People like him had little or no
originality at all. Perhaps a little. But on the whole they lived their
lives in controlled strait-jackets, their minds fixed in narrow one-
way lanes.
Toni embellished these thoughts as she drove through the city
towards the eastern suburbs. By the time she arrived at Lillian
Devereux's home at Pott's Point, she had managed to relegate Noah
Seton to a distant back-burner that would eventually be quenched.
Lillian herself answered the doorbell. The eagerness in her eyes told
Toni better than words that much was expected of this visit, even
though Toni had said very little on the telephone. She had only done
a selective bit of hinting to whet Lillian's interest.
'I knew you would think of something!' Lillian gushed excitedly as
she ushered Toni into the informal lounge-room so called, but not
anything like it in reality. Every feature furnishings, ornaments,
floral arrangements was precise, fussy, over- endowed. It bespoke
an exactitude of mind, an over- femininity, an obsession about
everything being just so. In a curious kind of way, it reminded Toni
of Mr Templeton's kitchen.
Lillian urged her into a chintzy armchair then moved quickly to a
small lace-covered table where she had placed a crystal decanter of
sherry and exquisitely dainty little glasses. 'You'll have a sherry with
me, won't you, Toni?' she invited pressingly. 'I always have one or
two at this hour.'
'Thank you, I will,' Toni agreed quickly. Lillian would probably
need a shot of alcohol once she heard the proposition Toni was
going to give her. Sherry was definitely a good idea.
As Toni accepted her glass and waited for Lillian to settle down, she
adjusted her face to its most solemn. What she had come about was
more than serious. She was going to tread on sacrosanct ground.
Lillian looked at her expectantly. 'So what is it?' she asked,
twinkling with anticipation.
'Mrs Devereux...Lillian...we need to begin at the beginning,' Toni
said earnestly. 'We are agreed we have to be that men on the
whole are vile creatures. Husbands are the worst. Essentially they
are pigs!'
Lillian's initial look of surprise faded into a shudder of distaste.
'Henry...' was all she said, but it was enough to indicate that the
memory of Henry did not sit pleasantly on her shoulders.
'I also, as you know, have had the most distasteful of life's
experiences,' Toni said cheerfully, feeling she was in total empathy
with the woman sitting opposite her. 'One that we women can
happily turn our backs on.'
Lillian nodded sympathetically.
This was going even better than Toni had expected. She hesitated
for dramatic effect. 'I've come up with an idea that will raise the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]