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  Underneath, she had a sneaking feeling that Ruby might be more than able to help herself.

  She had just finished drying and combing her hair, impressed by a new rinse she had found, when the doorbell rang again. Had Ruby forgotten something? Not an unusual occurrence. Or it might be one of her other young men? Sometimes she made dates and forgot about them, leaving to Alex the thankless task of having to soothe ruffled feelings.

  Striving hurriedly to make herself appear respectable, Alex drew the sash of her satin robe tighter as she ran to the door, not realising how this emphasised the full, taut breasts above her narrow waist. Alex was all slenderness and, refinement, but nature had been more generous to her than most in this respect. A faint smile on her lips faded as she opened the door to a complete stranger. He was over six foot, with broad shoulders, but was lean and tough-looking rather than heavy. His hair was thick and dark, his features striking with a straight nose and deeply cleft chin. His eyes, a grey that seemed to deepen and then lighten as he glanced at her, were set under arrogant brows. Yet the sense of power that immediately struck her was more of personality. Or was it his mouth? Crazily her pondering thoughts veered. Never had she seen a mouth so strong-looking and wilful. Even the white teeth, bared in a conventional smile, looked capable of doing much more than what they were originally intended for. With a visible shudder she quite irrationally felt them biting into her soft skin and shrank back. 'Good evening,' she stammered, attempting to find enough breath to suggest he had the wrong address. Whatever would a man like this be doing here?

  Returning her greeting dryly, he continued to study her as closely as she had him. If he approved of her extremely slender frame, the fact that the top of her head barely reached his shoulder, he gave no indication. His voice was the only pleasant thing about him, Alex decided, but she was shaken when he asked coolly, 'Am I right in thinking a Miss Marshall lives here? Miss Ruby Marshall, my sister?' She might have known! Her cheeks colouring faintly, Alex almost exclaimed, 'Why, we've just been talking about you!' Fortunately she didn't. With a man like this one wouldn't indulge in such run-of-the-mill remarks.

  'I—you'd better come in, Mr-er-Marshall,' she choked. 'Ruby's out.' That didn't sound right and the colour in her cheeks deepened in a way she could see attracted his attention. 'I—' she was mortified to hear herself stammering again, like a schoolgirl, 'perhaps you would rather come back when she's in?' 'Naturally I will.' He walked past her, a flicker of amusement on his face at her obvious consternation. 'Are you hiding something in here you don't want me to see? A man, maybe?'

  Quickly Alex closed the door, blessing a devious fate for sending him at this particular hour. 'If I had a man here, Mr Marshall, there would be no need to hide him. Oh!' Suddenly comprehending, she glared with rage as he stared at her robe, a scrap of material against which her rounded curves pushed almost suggestively. Incredibly it seemed as though her body was responding blindly to a complete stranger. Thank goodness her mind still retained some degree of sanity. 'You don't imagine,' she spluttered, 'that I've got someone in my bedroom?'

  'I'll soon find out!' Ignoring her furious expression, he strode over the small hall to fling open bedroom doors. 'Ruby's room—yours?' As she nodded in helpless agreement, he cruised on, a human torpedo and just about as devastating. 'The kitchen, the bathroom and the lounge. Well, unless your boy-friend's hiding on the roof, you don't have one. Not here, anyway.'

  'Mr Marshall!' Feeling about to burst with an uncontrollable force of temper, Alex glared at him. 'I happen to share this flat with your sister, not half a dozen men. She lets me stay for very little, and I'm grateful, but that doesn't mean I have to put up with insults from her family!' Not the least disturbed by her anger, he said curtly, 'I haven't finished yet. You may not care for the way I go about things, but I certainly have a right to know what's going on! As I pay for the flat so I believe I have every right to ask questions.' He paused, his eyes glinting, 'I don't know what arrangements you and Ruby have between you, but I do know that last time I was here she was sharing with a middle-aged woman. Something I personally arranged, as I happen to feel responsible for my sister. Maybe you can tell me where this other lady has gone?'

  'My name is Latham,' Alex gasped, shaking, never having been spoken to in such a manner before. She could well believe Ruby's brother was everything Ruby said he was! 'You must mean Lillian Beck; who left before I came?'

  'Exactly.'

  How Alex hated the feeling that he was superbly if insufferably in control of the situation, while she, because she wasn't sure what Ruby would wish her to say, was floundering. 'I was told that Miss Beck met and married someone within a week, and has gone to live in Western Australia, not far from Perth.'

  'A whirlwind romance?'

  The cynicism in his voice came over clearly. Alex retorted, 'You obviously don't believe in such a thing.'

  'No way,' he agreed crisply, adding, if a little less savagely, 'Why wasn't I informed?'

  'I've no idea.' Alex's smile was deliberately provocative, meant to annoy. 'Do you have to be told everything, Mr Marshall? I don't think Ruby knew where you were.'

  ' She knows how to get in touch, and I'll have something to say to Miss Beck if we meet again. You're far too young for the job I entrusted to her and Ruby must know it.'

  Swiftly, Alex spoke. 'I'm not quite sure what you have in mind, but I'm nineteen.'

  'Really?' His frosty grey eyes sparkled, almost grazing the still slightly babyish fullness of her satiny cheeks. 'Am I supposed to be impressed?'

  He was eleven years older than Ruby, so he wouldn't be. If what he said was true then he must be entitled to lay down the law, but it didn't make her like him any better. Alex was surprised at the weight of her dislike, even allowing for his insults. It was making her feel quite violent inside, like a kettle boiling with no outlet for the steam. A little more and she might explode! Unable to trust herself, she made no reply to his last taunt, merely shook her pale golden head soberly.

  He was much cooler than she was when he spoke again. Have you any idea when Ruby is due back?'

  'Er—she's never very late.'

  The only response to this being a raised eyebrow, Alex wondered why he had bothered to ask. 'It might be better if you saw her tomorrow.' Surely he didn't intend waiting tonight? How would she entertain him? Her heart beat fast at the prospect. They both knew the dawn might beat Ruby in.

  'Tomorrow won't do. I'll be gone then and I have things to say.' Chase Marshall paused speculatively, as though dwelling on a matter which angered him. His jaw tightened as his eyes hardened. 'Things that won't keep,' he snapped.

  If he paid the rent, what could she do? 'Then make yourself at home,' she invited coldly.

  He said, softly menacing, 'There's nothing very welcoming in your voice, Miss Latham. You could try making it a little warmer.'

  Again she smiled sweetly. 'I'm sure you won't be losing any sleep over that, Mr Marshall. Why not forget I exist? After all, it's Ruby you want to see.'

  'Have you a drink?' he asked abruptly, adding with hard mockery, 'I'll need something, I'm thinking.'

  'because of me?'

  'Only your looks are saving you,' he muttered, 'from going over my knee. When you learn to smile at a man instead of provoking him with your tongue, you might get somewhere.'

  While not quite sure what he meant, Alex had the grace to feel ashamed, unable to say why he had the ability to make her act completely out of character. There was no reason why they shouldn't talk like polite strangers. No reason she could think of why she should be feeling so intensely antagonistic.

  'I'm sorry, I'll get you a drink.' Walking towards it rather blindly, she groped in the cupboard where Ruby kept it. Before she could do anything more, Chase was by her side, taking charge, running his eyes expertly over the various bottles. Removing a full bottle of whisky, he broke the seal. As he did so, his glance swivelled thoughtfully over Alex. 'Go and get some clothes on and I'll take you out to d
inner.

  It might be easier on us both than staying here.'

  Did he always talk in riddles? she wondered. Why was she not arguing? She did protest, but it wasn't the outright refusal she intended making. 'I can easily make you something here. There's no need…'

  'I quite agree, but I'm not acting out of charity or because you look as if you could do with a good square meal. I'm hungry and I feel like going out.'

  'You don't have to take me, though.'

  Chase ignored this, helping himself to more whisky, as though her contrariness was directly responsible for driving him to drink. He stared at her over the top of his glass and somehow she knew better than to go on opposing him.

  As she left him to dress Alex could feel herself trembling. The shaded blue silk would do very well. It was decorous, which might prove to Chase Marshall that she wasn't a girl to indulge frequently in this kind of outing with strangers. Behaviour and dress might express some things better than words. He should learn that the green satin dressing gown, over which he had cast several considering glances, was just not her.

  Yet, after she was ready, she wondered why the high rolled collar of the demure little dress failed to please her this evening. Frowning, she viewed herself in the mirror, without finding the answer. Perhaps the neckline could have been a little lower without offending anyone. Her mother had been with her when she had purchased it and she had never questioned her mother's impeccable good taste before. To do so now made Alex feel even guiltier than she had when she had fled from Sydney.

  Of course she had never met a man like Chase Marshall before. She felt nervous even to think of him.

  There were qualities in him of power and discipline, enough to make a girl far older than Alex take fright. Ruby had been right about the arrogance. It stood out a mile. It made the prospect of dining with him something to be regarded with sheer apprehension.

  He spoke very little until they were seated in a restaurant in South Yarra, one which Alex had heard was one of the best in Melbourne. It was discreet and comfortable without being ostentatious, and the food was good. Chase Marshall appeared to be well known. She noticed how the waiters appeared to spring to life when they walked in, and how they were at his side immediately, whenever he flicked his finger.

  His swift appraisal of her had held a certain hint of admiration, as she came out of her bedroom wearing a creamy fur cape around her shoulders. What had he expected? she wondered.

  After he had ordered he turned to her again, startling her completely when he said, 'You're young, very innocent, I imagine. Totally unsuitable for the position you're now occupying.' Once more his eyes went closely over her face. 'You look about seventeen.'

  Because she didn't care to be summed up and condemned so disparagingly, Alex countered with a matching attempt at frankness, If I do look two years younger than I actually am, I don't think I could say the same for you.' Deliberately, although it took some doing, she concentrated her eyes on the lines that carved his hard handsome face, the deep ones on his broad intelligent forehead, those running from his nose to the sides of his sensuous mouth. 'You look older.'

  'Which suggests you know exactly how old I am?'

  She fancied, with satisfaction, his cool tones hid some slight annoyance, perhaps a little male vanity.

  'Your sister has mentioned you occasionally, Mr Marshall. Thirty-six-or is it seven isn't so very old.'

  She might have been mistaken about the glint of anger, for he merely shrugged, very sure, apparently, of his own worth. 'My age hasn't proved a handicap yet, Miss Latham. But then I'm not a woman. You're nineteen, then. Almost twenty?'

  'No. I'm just past my birthday.'

  'My God!' It was softly but emphatically spoken and white teeth snapped. 'Why should Ruby imagine I would approve of a child like you as a chaperone?'

  Alex's gentian blue eyes widened. 'Do you have to, Mr Marshall? And does she really need a chaperone?'

  'Naturally.' He appeared astonished that she should question this. 'Miss Beck was ideally suitable, but you certainly aren't.'

  As far as chaperones went, he must be right, for Alex had never seen herself in such a role before. Ruby had never so much as suggested it when she had asked Alex to share the flat. Chase Marshall's disapproval, however, seemed to point at other things besides age.

  'While I realise your opinion of my capabilities doesn't amount to much,' she replied sharply, 'haven't you forgotten your sister's twenty-six? Surely old enough to make even the suggestion of a chaperone sound ridiculous?'

  His jaw tightened impatiently. He obviously wasn't used to having his motives questioned. 'It wasn't in the conventional sense.'

  'Oh, I see. You mean Miss Beck was supposed to spy and report?'

  'If you like.' He didn't turn a hair.

  'I think that's despicable!'

  'I'd be careful what you say, Miss Latham, if I were you,' his grey eyes hardened coldly. 'I can see you're a girl who's never learnt to think before she speaks, but allow me to know my own sister, and to know what's best for her. She has certain commitments at home that I won't allow her to wriggle out of.'

  Suddenly Alex wondered why she was bothering. Indifferently she shrugged. 'Well, I suppose you'll soon be seeing your sister and getting it all sorted out. It's really none of my business.'

  'Who has she gone out with tonight?'

  Alex sighed, giving up. Chase Marshall never would—he was that kind of man. She might only exhaust herself if she continued fighting him. 'A man whom I believe she's known for some time.' For Ruby's sake she did her best to make it sound a very proper friendship. 'I've met him, he's called Alexander Brown. It's rather strange that he should have the same Christian name as me, only mine's the feminine version.'

  'You're known as…?'

  'Alex.'

  'I see,' he smiled tightly. 'This gets more interesting. Do you know if she's very fond of this man?'

  Alex looked at him, remembering what Ruby had said about Chase wanting to get her married off. She must be careful — perhaps she had already said too much. 'I'm not sure how she feels about him,' she replied uncomfortably. I just know that she likes him.'

  CHAPTER TWO

  When Chase Marshall spoke again, Alex heard the insistence in his voice with a small qualm of fear.

  'This could be serious?'

  'Look, Mr Marshall,' she exclaimed, 'I have no idea. I've met Mr Brown he seems very nice and Ruby goes out with him, but more than that I can't tell you. And I do think we should talk of something else.'

  'We could do,' he agreed, but with a glitter in his eyes, for he was clearly used to dictating the conversation. Yet, to Alex's surprise, he was apparently as willing as she was to drop the subject. Her relief was shortlived, however, when he began concentrating on herself. Double-checking, she supposed, attempting to avoid anything more than the most casual answers.

  'Have you lived in Australia long, Miss Latham?' When she glanced at him enquiringly, he smiled sardonically. 'A slight difference in tone always gives people away.'

  ' Since I was ten,' she admitted.

  'And you're still very much an English rose.' His grey eyes concentrated on each of her features as he alluded to them. 'Hair the colour of English primroses in the soft spring rain, creamy skin, beautifully tinted with pink. Only your eyes are a deeper blue than your average English skies, and I believe I should have said a rosebud, rather than a rose?'

  His voice was too dry to be complimentary, so she declined to thank him. The creamy snuffle she was eating was delicious and she gave it her whole attention. She knew what he was hinting at, but refused to rise to the bait. Whether she was innocent or not was none of his business, and she would be no match for his expertise, no matter what field he decided to play in. Her only refuge lay in silence.

  Unperturbed by it, he continued idly, 'Why aren't you still living at home with your parents?'

  'Because they happen to live in Sydney.'

  'Really? I wonder they d
ared let you out of their sight.'

  'Not everyone's that possessive, Mr Marshall,' she retorted, then went white when she thought of her mother.

  His eyes narrowed, as if he would like to find out what bothered her. 'You'll be telling me next that women don't care for being protected, looked after!'

  'I wouldn't dare to presume to tell you anything, Mr Marshall. You obviously have a mind of your own.'

  Alex's chin set at a very delicate angle. 'The modern woman…'

  He put in ruthlessly, as she drew a reviving little breath, 'I hardly think that applies to you, Alex, on either count.'

  Softly she blazed back at him, unable to understand why she should feel mortally wounded, I may not be a woman yet, but I'm not sure that I'm missing much that I want to be. I've made up my mind…'

  'If I had time I could soon change it for you.'

  Unevenly her pulse jerked, began racing, even as she recognised him as insufferable sophisticated, stamped with his own self-confident authority. One day she hoped some woman would bring him low. I must just be grateful you haven't time for me, then,' she said sweetly.

  'You'd be very easy to make time for, Alex Latham.' He picked up his glass and raised it to her, his eyes mocking, 'If you were a little older I might seriously consider it.'

  She smiled, watching his eyes turn to silver. The smile on her softly curved lips was more wistful than she knew. 'I won't always be nineteen.'

  'The gap won't close, though.'

  'The one of age? No, it won't. I suppose girls of my age bore you.'

  'Only when they talk as you do.' His eyes stayed on her tremulous mouth before moving deliberately to meet hers. 'Tell me,' he probed gently, 'what does your father do for a living?'

  'He's a biochemist. He works for a firm in Sydney.' She gave the name and he nodded.

  'I know it. How long since you began working in Melbourne?'