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

a door. Near them someone was shouting. She ignored the sound, her eyes on her husband's face, a flicker of mocking amusement showing in her expression as she saw him glance over his shoulder toward the rounded arch covered with a curtain that led toward the stairs. Abruptly he threw his mantle around her shoulders.

"So, " he breathed. "We are interrupted after all, but only for a while. You will forget this little incident until we have another opportunity to be alone, do you hear me?" He drew her to him, his hands locked in the embroidered border of his mantle, her body pressed against his, his eyes fixed on hers. "You will remember nothing about it, nothing at all, but when I order you to come to me again, you will come, Jo, do you hear me? You will come. "

"Jo!" Nick was banging on the door again. He tried the key a second time and cursed. "Jo? I know you're in there. Open the door!"

Outside the apartment upstairs a face appeared, peering over the winding bannisters. "She's in there all right. I saw her earlier. " Sheila Chandler came down a few steps. "It's Mr. Franklyn, isn't it?"

Nick gave her a brief smile. "She doesn't seem to be hearing me. "

"Perhaps she's asleep. What with the baby keeping her awake and everything. "

"Baby?" Nick stared up at her. He frowned with a sudden shiver of apprehension, mechanically taking in the immaculate wave of the woman's hair and her elegantly cut silk shirt, then he turned back to the door and thumped on it with his fist. "Jo, if you don't open this door I'm going to break it down!" His voice echoed up and down the silent stairwell and above him Sheila Chandler's eyes rounded. Silently her husband came to stand beside her, staring down.

When the door was unbolted at last they both craned forward. Only Sheila saw that it was opened by a man.

"Sam?" Nick stared at his brother. "What the hell is going on? Where's Jo?"

Sam stood back to let him in. He closed the door, and as he did so Nick caught sight of a long raw scratch on his brother's face. Sam was in shirt sleeves—two buttons from the front of the shirt were missing.

"What the hell has been going on here?" Nick repeated as he thrust Sam out of his way and strode into the living room. It was empty. From the stereo the lonely, monotonous sound of a flute wove a pattern into the silence.

"She went into some kind of spontaneous regression. " Sam was leaning against the wall, watching his brother closely. "She asked me to come over after she'd been having a series of nightmares about the baby—"

"The woman upstairs talked about a baby. " Nick frowned.

"That is the strange part. " Sam threw himself down on the sofa. "Apparently they've heard it wailing. Assuming the noises do come from this apartment, I can only put forward the hypothesis that the sounds come from Jo herself. "

"You mean she's crying?"

"Either that or the sounds are being created by the strength of her emotions. You've heard of poltergeists! Noises created by energy charges within an individual. " Sam wiped his face with a handkerchief. Noticing the blood on it, he frowned. "She... she flew at me when I tried to restrain her, " he said quietly, dabbing at the scratch. "No, don't worry. She's all right now. She's asleep. "

Nick gave him a long, hard look. Then he strode down the hall toward the bedroom. Jo lay on the bed wearing her bathrobe, her hair loose around her shoulders.

"Jo—" Nick sat down beside her and took her hands gently in his. "Jo?"

"Don't touch her. " Sam had followed him. His voice was sharp. "I was about to awaken her when you started trying to break the door down. May I suggest you go and pour us all a drink while I sort things out in here?"

Nick's eyes narrowed. "I'd rather stay. "

"I am sure Jo would prefer it if you did not. She would be extremely embarrassed to think you had seen her like this. " Sam walked to the bedroom door and held it open for him. "Wait next door, please. This won't take long. "

Nick hesitated, then with a shrug he walked through to the living room. He reached for the bottle of Scotch. It was empty, and he began to rummage in the cabinet, unconsciously straining his ears for the sound of voices. In the distance he could hear Sam's gently monotonous tones, and on impulse he tiptoed back toward the bedroom door and listened.

"Can you hear me, Jo?" Sam was standing over her now, looking down. "When you wake up you will remember nothing of what happened while you were hypnotized today, do you understand? You will remember that you asked me to help you, that is all. You will awaken calm and happy, but you will remember that next time I wish to hypnotize you, for whatever reason, you will agree. You will hear my voice and you will obey me. Do you understand me, Jo?"

Nick pushed open the door. "What the hell are you saying to her, Sam?"

Sam did not look around. "Do you understand me, Jo?" he repeated. "Now, when I count three you will wake. One. Two. Three. "

On the bed Jo lay quite still, then slowly she opened her eyes. She looked around her, completely dazed, her gaze going past Sam to Nick.

"You haven't answered my question, Sam, " Nick said furiously.

Sam smiled coldly. "Nor do I intend to. My methods of professional practice are none of your business. " He sat down on the bed next to Jo. "How are you feeling now? You had another little fainting spell, " he said.

"Fainting?" Jo hoisted herself up on her elbow. "I don't understand. What time is it?" She tried to sit up but Sam pushed her gently back against the pillows.

"Rest