Lady of Hay by Barbara Erskine (reading an ebook TXT) 📕

Jo stared at him. She felt suddenly cold in spite of the warmth of the room. "I don't think so. Someone tried to hypnotize me once, at the university. It didn't work. "

She looked into her glass, suddenly silent, aware that Walton was still watching her closely.

He shook his head. "You surprise me. Perhaps the person wasn't an experienced hypnotist. Although, of course, if you resisted as you did today, no one could—"

"Oh, but I didn't resist them. I wanted it to happen. " She remembered suddenly the excitement and awe she had felt on her way to Professor Cohen's rooms, the abandon with which she had thrown herself into answering all his questions before the session started, the calm relaxation as she lay back on his couch watching Sam standing in the corner fighting with his notepad while outside the snow had started to fall...

She frowned. How strange that the details of that afternoon had slipped her mind until this moment. She could picture Sam now—he had been wearing a brown turtleneck sweater under a deplorably baggy sports jacket. When they had been introduced she had liked him at once. His calm relaxed manner had counteracted Cohen's stiff academic formality, putting her at ease. She had trusted Sam.

So why now did she have this sudden image of his tense face, his eyes wide with horror, peering at her out of the darkness, and with it the memory of pain...

She shrugged off a little shiver, sipping from her glass as she glanced back at Walton. "It was about fifteen years ago now—I've probably forgotten most of what happened. "

He nodded slowly without taking his eyes from her face. Then he turned away. "Well, it might be interesting to try again, " he said thoughtfully. "Would you like to?"

"No!" She answered more sharply than she intended. "At least, not yet. Perhaps when my research is a bit further advanced... " Warning bells were ringing in her mind; Sam's face was there again before her eyes, and with it she heard Nick's voice: "There is something you don't know, something you don't remember... "

Shakily she put down her glass, aware of Tim's puzzled eyes upon her. Furiously she tried to get a grip on herself as she realized suddenly that Bill Walton was addressing her while he straightened some papers on his desk.

"And were you pleased overall with what you saw this evening, Miss Clifford?"

She swallowed hard. "It was fascinating. Very interesting. "

"But I suspect that you are going to debunk the reincarnation theory in your articles? My wife is a great fan of yours and she tells me your style of journalism can be quite sharp. "

Jo grimaced. "She's right. If she told you that it's very brave of you to be so open with me. "

"Why not? I've nothing to hide. As I told you, the hypnotism is real. The responses are real. I do not seek to explain them. Perhaps you will be able to do that. "

He grinned.

Jo found herself smiling back. "I doubt it, " she said as she picked up her bag, "but I daresay I'll give it a try. "

"Come on, Jo. There's something wrong, isn't there?"

Tim put a double Scotch on the table in front of her and sat himself down in the chair facing her.

Jo summoned up a tired smile. "I'm exhausted, Tim, that's all. This'll put me right. " She picked up her glass. "Thanks for arranging everything this evening. "

"But Walton worried you, didn't he, and not just because you thought he was a fake. "

She shook her head slowly. "He wasn't a fake. At least, I don't think so. A telepath perhaps—I don't know—" She was silent for a minute. "Yes, he did worry me, Tim. The stupid thing is, I don't know why. But it's something deep inside me. Something I can't put my finger on, floating at the edge of my mind. Every minute I think I'm going to remember what it is, but I can't quite catch it. " She took a sip from her glass and grinned suddenly, her face animated. "Makes me sound pretty neurotic, doesn't it? No, Tim, I'm okay. I think I've been letting Nick get to me more than I realize, with his fearsome warnings. He's a bit paranoid about hypnosis. He told me once that he has this fear of losing consciousness—even on the edge of ordinary sleep. I think he thinks hypnosis is the same—like an anesthetic. "

"And it is true he's been on to his brother about you?" Tim asked gently after a pause.

She drew a ring on the table with her finger in some spilled beer. "I could kill Judy. " She looked up at him again and gave a rueful grimace. "I wouldn't be surprised if what she said was true. Nick told me he'd been in touch with Sam. "

"You knew Sam well, of course. "

She nodded. "He became a friend after—" She hesitated. "After they tried to hypnotize me, he and his boss, in Edinburgh, that first time. But we were never lovers or anything. The coup de foudre came with his kid brother. "

Tim raised an eyebrow. "And the foudre has not yet run to earth, has it?"

"Oh, yes. After last night it has. Finished. Caput. Finis. Bye-bye Nicholas. " She bit her lip hard.

Reaching over, Tim touched her hand lightly. "Poor Jo. Have another drink. " He stood up and picked up her glass without waiting for her reply.

She watched him work his way to the bar, his tall, lanky frame moving easily between the crowded drinkers. She frowned. Tim reminded her of someone she had known when she was a child, but she could not quite remember who. Someone she had liked. She gave a rueful grin. Was that why she could never love him?

She held out her hand for her glass as he returned. "I've just thought of who it is you remind me. " She gave a quick