Moreton's Kingdom by Jean S. Macleod Page B

the stairs. It would be hopeless to appeal to Morag, Katherine thought, while she so openly trusted Charles and was so eager to help him.
    ‘May I see Sandy?’ she asked at the top of the narrow staircase.
    Another quick glance passed between her hostess and Charles Moreton.
    ‘He’s sound asleep,’ said Morag as if at some unspoken command. ‘It would be a pity to disturb him. You’re near enough,’ she added. ‘I’ve put you in the room next door.’
    And where would Charles Moreton sleep? Somewhere not too far away along the same corridor, Katherine imagined, a grim guardian between her and the stairs.
    As soon as she was left alone in the small single room which was more than adequate for her needs she opened the door, making sure that the corridor was empty before she moved silently towards the door on her left. It was ajar and she pushed it open, to be immediately confronted by a pair of questioning grey eyes.
    ‘Were you looking for me?’ Charles Moreton enquired with a faint smile. ‘Or was it just for the quickest way of escape?’
    ‘Neither.’ Her cheeks were pink with embarrassment and a vague anger. ‘I was looking for Sandy’s room.’
    ‘To make sure I hadn’t spirited him away again?’ he queried. ‘Why are you so suspicious of my intentions, Miss Rivers? I told you he was safe enough.’ He came across the room to stand looking down at her. ‘We don’t exactly trust each other,’ he concluded, ‘and that’s quite natural under the circumstances, wouldn’t you say? How long have you really known Coralie?’ he demanded.
    ‘I told you we were at school together, but it was some time ago. Over six years ago, in fact. We met again at Millie Downhill’s party.’
    ‘Do you really expect me to believe that?’ he asked coldly. ‘When I noticed you it seemed that you were the best of friends.’
    ‘I don’t care what you thought,’ said Katherine. ‘I’m telling you the truth. I was coming north next day and I promised to take Sandy to his aunt in the Lake District.’
    ‘Because I was about to snatch him,’ he suggested. ‘I suppose that was what Coralie told you.’
    ‘Well, weren’t you?’ Her voice was suddenly harsh.
    ‘Not without discussing it,’ he declared. ‘I went to Millie’s party because I knew she would be there and she had been refusing to see me. She left rather hurriedly, you have to admit.’
    ‘She’d gone to meet someone—a business contact, I think—only he didn’t turn up and she felt she was wasting her time.’
    ‘But she hadn’t,’ he said carefully. ‘She’d met you and you’d promised to smuggle Sandy out of London early in the morning before anyone noticed.’
    ‘You did!’ she said. ‘You must have seen me leave my flat with Sandy in the car. Perhaps that was why you asked to see me home from Kensington the night before. It wasn’t really because it was raining and I might get wet, was it? It wasn’t even because you were—attracted by me as a person,’ she rushed on, remembering that disturbing kiss. ‘It was because you wanted to know where I lived so that you could check on my movements.’ The memory of the kiss he had pressed against her lips as a matter of course wouldn’t go away, the goodnight kiss he had imagined she would expect, and a bright colour flooded her cheeks. ‘You thought I was the kind of person you could cheat easily,’ she accused him, ‘fair game in your plot to take Sandy away from his mother, but you’ll find I’m not. I won’t stand idly by and allow you to kidnap him!’
    Charles held the door wide open.
    ‘To prove that my intentions are not as diabolical as you think they are,’ he said smoothly, ‘we’ll look in on Sandy now, but don’t forget he’s a very tired little boy you’ve driven over three hundred miles with hardly a stop in order to avoid me. He needs his sleep.’
    ‘How did you find my car?’ she asked, hesitating on the threshold of Sandy’s room.
    ‘It was an