Free Dark Summer Dawn by Sara Craven Page A

had been downright rude to Celia on several occasions when the older girl had been more than usually patronising. Yet this evening Julie had been almost gushing, raving about Celia's dress, admiring what was, apparently, a new hairstyle.
    Curiouser and curiouser, thought Lisa, hoping that Julie would display similar tact when dealing with her new family, but somehow doubting it.
    When the three of them had returned to the drawing room when the meal was over and were waiting for coffee to be brought in, Celia said, 'Have you decided where you're spending your honeymoon yet?'
    Julie gave a faint shrug. 'We've discussed it. We haven't made any firm decision.'
    Celia gave the gurgle of laughter which Lisa had always loathed.
    'Well, a bed's a bed no matter where you are, darling. Anyway, honeymoons are terribly overrated. I know mine was. We went to Nassau and James got food poisoning rather typically.' She shrugged. 'So I went ahead and had a marvellous time water-skiing.'
    'It must have been very enjoyable,' Lisa said drily.
    Celia's pale blue eyes flicked over her. 'Well, there was little point in both of us being miserable.' She turned to Julie. 'So make sure, darling, that you find somewhere where you can be entertained even if the bridegroom turns out to be a washout.' It was said with a smile, but with an underlying sting in the words, as if Celia was indicating that she expected Tony to be a blundering, insensitive disappointment to his young wife, and Lisa waited for Julie to leap to his defence.
    But Julie remained silent, although Lisa saw two bright spots of colour that had nothing to do with the blusher she had applied had appeared in her cheeks, and that her eyes were stormily brilliant.
    Lisa got to her feet. 'Shall we have some music?' she asked hastily, moving towards the tall antique cabinet which housed the hi-fi unit and records.
    'If you wish.' Celia leaned back against the sofa cushions.
    'Any requests?' Lisa began to look through the racks of records.
    'Anything but Mendelssohn,' Celia murmured. 'All that dreary German romanticism…'
    'I like Mendelssohn,' Julie said abruptly. 'Put on "Fingal's "Cave", Lisa.'
    'I can't seem to find it,' Lisa said mendaciously, after a pause. 'Let's have some Ravel instead.' She set the turntable in motion and soon the room was filled with the passionately mysterious strains of 'Daphnis and Chloe'.
    It was a mistake, of course, and she knew it as soon as she heard the first of those evocative chords. Her hands were suddenly damp and her teeth sank into the soft underside of her lip. She hadn't been thinking when she had made that particular selection. All she had been concerned with was trying to take some of the tension out of the atmosphere, yet she had only succeeded in transferring it to herself.
    It was her record, one of the many things she had left behind when she had fled from Stoniscliffe, as she thought, for ever. It had been a seventeenth birthday present, and Dane had given it to her. She could remember her surprise and her pleasure when she had unwrapped it. Any gifts she had received from him in the past had been purely duty ones, token acknowledgements of Christmas and birthdays. This was the first time that he had seemed to deliberately choose something that he knew she wanted and that would give her pleasure. So, upon the heels of her delight had come the embarrassment of having to subdue her instinctive hostility and thank him, which she had managed with a certain amount of faltering.
    He'd smiled down at her, his mouth twisting cynically. 'Don't outrage your principles, Lisa,' he had advised coolly. 'It's pure selfishness on my part. I'd rather encourage your obvious penchant for the classics than have you fall into the hands of rock like Julie.'
    Julie had protested indignantly and it had all ended in laughter, but Lisa had wondered about it all for a long time afterwards. She had no idea that Dane was even aware of her preferences in music. She had