Read Online Bond of Fate by Jane Corrie - Free Book Online

butterfly. It's too late to do anything about your hair, but that's as far as it's going, do you understand? I don't ever want to see you like that again. Your job was outlined to you, and I advise you not to overstep your position. I realise it's hard for you in this company, but I should have thought you would have had enough sense not to let things go to your head !'
    Melanie stared back at him. She was shocked to the core. He had never spoken to her like that before, and she really didn't think she deserved such treatment. Her only wish was to play her part, not to ingratiate herself with what he might just as well have called her `betters', but she said nothing, simply turned on her heel and went back to the bedroom to wipe off the offending make-up. She hadn't used much anyway, she thought dully, her mind still whirling from his hard words. Ought she to change her dress, too? she thought, as she stared down at the silky sheath that clung to her slim figure, but at that moment Julian's
     
    impatient voice asked her to hurry—he was hungry and wanted his dinner—so with a heavy heart she decided she had no choice but to wear the dress, and she rejoined him directly.
    As Melanie walked silently beside the man she had married barely a week ago, and stood at the dining-room door to be conducted to their table, her emotions were held on a tight rein. She had gone into this arrangement with open eyes, and it was small wonder that Julian had torn her off a strip. She had overstepped the mark, foolishly listening to a child of thirteen's advice against her better judgment. That was the last time that would happen, she thought firmly, and wished that she could somehow explain her actions to the stern-faced man seated opposite her, now studying the menu and ordering for both of them.
    She drew in a deep breath. He was in no mood for explanations, that was certain, and surely he had summed it up pretty accurately anyway, only he hadn't given her much benefit of the doubt that she had meant to be helpful and not to ape the society beauties around them.
    When the starter, a prawn cocktail, was placed before her, Melanie tried hard to put all thought of that devastating scene behind her, but she failed miserably, and her appetite deserted her. However, not wanting to cause any more tension between them, she struggled gamely on with it, and very nearly choked as it came to her that more could be read into Julian's anger than first met the eye. His cold advice against her not overstepping the line now had another and more intensely embarrassing meaning.
    No wonder he was furious, she thought unhappily as she managed to finish the starter and stared down at
     
    the plate of veal chops nestling in juniper, rosemary and vermouth sauce. The appetising dish would have awakened her taste buds were it not for the fact that she didn't see how she could be expected to enjoy a meal with a man who had thought fit to give her a lecture on keeping her distance, and who had told her that if she had any other ideas on improving her position, to forget it; she just wasn't in his class!
    In a desperate move to push these unwelcome thoughts away from her, Melanie glanced around the room, and caught the eye of Mrs Dalton, one of the socialites that Julian no doubt thought she was attempting to copy, and who had made an effort to join them at meal times, saying how much she hated eating alone. Julian had positively vetoed any such arrangement, but she was not so easily discouraged, and now waved a careless, heavily ringed, manicured hand in greeting towards Melanie.
    This small incident somehow underlined Melanie's position, and she looked away hastily after giving her a slight nod in greeting, not daring to give the woman an opportunity to find some excuse to join them, even though she would have preferred her company—any company, come to that—to this uncomfortable atmosphere she was forced to put up with from a man who seemed even more of a