Marriage In Mind. Jessica Steele

just to say, Oh, by the way, the beautiful redhead’s my cousin. I’d feel a complete idiot. Besides which, with her ex-husband being such a Don Juan, the poor girl’s probably heard a dozen or more similar lines in her day, and wouldn’t believe me, anyway.’

      Astra saw the light. ‘But if I went with you to the theatre tomorrow night…’

      ‘I’d angle to be somewhere near Ellen during the interval—with you right there beside me, of course. Then I could say, casually You know my cousin, Astra, don’t you? and…’

      ‘Hey presto, you’ll hope your next phone call will be more favourably received. What time do you want me to be ready?’

      ‘You’re a darling. But I always knew that—despite that detached air you show everybody else.’

      Astra put the phone down after Greville’s call, hardly crediting the change that had come over her cousin. All through her life she had known him as kind and caring, and had also known him as sophisticated but sociable—though careful since the end of his marriage to never again let anyone get too close. But look at him now! He’d known in advance that Ellen Morton would be at the party, but as soon as he’d been in the same room with her—his normally clever brain had scrambled! He hadn’t even remembered to introduce his cousin as his cousin!

      If falling in love did that to you, and to Astra it sounded as if Greville was up to his ears in love, then she was glad she’d decided to have nothing whatsoever to do with that emotion.

      Though she did so want Greville to be happy. He had been through such a terrible time. By the look of it Ellen Morton had been on the same ghastly treadmill of broken marriage too. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Ellen Morton could learn to love Greville? Astra knew that her cousin had had many lady-friends since his divorce, but inside his marriage he had been faithful; none had been more trustworthy.

      There was a school of thought that said everything went in threes. Yancie had married, Fennia had married—perhaps Greville…Grief! Astra brought herself up short; she was getting to be a romantic! Her cousin hadn’t even managed to get a date with the woman yet, and here she was marrying them off!

      Even though Greville was early calling for her the following evening, Astra—wearing a straight dress of green silk—was ready. She sensed he was nervous, anxious and on edge, so purposely chatted calmly to him all the way to the theatre.

      The strain was starting to show even as they took their seats. ‘I do hope she’ll come,’ he said worriedly. And a few minutes later he remarked, ‘She sounded all right when I spoke to her on the phone, but there’s a lot of summer colds about.’

      ‘She’ll be here,’ Astra answered lightly, wondering how the dickens he was going to last until the interval when the performance hadn’t even started yet!

      Greville ‘accidentally’ dropped his programme, and in bending to pick it up took an ‘uninterested’ scan around. ‘She’s here!’ he mumbled in Astra’s ear as he bent to take his seat, and sounded so tense that for an awful moment she had a dreadful idea that his love was here with some other man.

      ‘Ellen’s here with her brother?’ Astra asked lightly, calmly, recalling how last Sunday Greville had said Ellen had been at the party with her protective brother.

      ‘She’s with Sayre and the Listers,’ Greville answered, keeping his voice low.

      Sayre! Astra felt her scalp tingle. It couldn’t be! ‘Sayre?’ she enquired, her light, calm tone threatening to escape.