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  Lee broke in angrily, trying to ignore a sense of guilt, 'I wish you'd remove that word from your vocabulary. I'm tired of hearing it!'

  Looking preoccupied, he took no notice of what she was saying. 'Why were you going out on your own at that time of night? Matt wasn't available. Had you arranged to meet someone else?'

  'How dare you!' she spluttered, longing to smack the contemptuous mockery from his face. 'I never had your insatiable appetite!'

  'God,' he breathed, 'time can't have distorted your memory as much as all that!'

  She flushed, a painful red. 'You exaggerate with your horrible insinuations. Anyway, why drag things up?'

  His eyes went as hard as the chiselled bones of his face. 'It's only for the sake of others that I'm dragging things up, as you put it. Matt could never match you.'

  Oh, she fumed inwardly, why was he doing this to her? Saying such things! Couldn't he leave her alone? 'You're trying to make out I was as bad as you were!'

  He stared at her, his hard mouth suddenly amused. 'Think about it when you get to bed.'

  'I'm going there,' she retorted furiously, 'as soon as you let me, but certainly not to think about you!'

  The lazy amusement went out of his face and he looked at her with savage anger, his eyes biting. 'I put my brand on you and never gave you permission to remove it. I'll be calling to see you very soon. You'd better be in and prepared to listen.'

  'What were you doing here today?' she asked, her mind spinning.

  Between his teeth he muttered, 'You saw me?'

  'I thought I did, this afternoon.'

  'You could have been right,' he replied shortly. 'I was in the vicinity. This evening I was on my way to see you.'

  Lee said bitterly, 'I had a date with Matt this evening, but he rung and told me he couldn't make it. He said you wanted to see him to discuss business. Did you also take the opportunity to tell him about us?'

  'No,' Slade looked at her levelly with a cold smile. 'I assumed you might have told him yourself, when he asked you to marry him. Anyway,' he shrugged, 'why should I risk alienating myself from Matt when there are other ways of achieving what I came for?'

  'Well,' she said carefully, staring at him suspiciously, 'if you didn't mention anything to Matt, how is it he didn't come straight to River Bend after your meeting was over?'

  'There are one or two things I want from him, first thing in the morning.' He ran a bland finger down her smooth cheek. 'I was sure you would understand.'

  The man was a monster! Lee knew another urge to strike him. He had deliberately prevented Matt from coming to see her. Looking into his face, she was sure that was true. He was impervious to all but his own desires, his face a mask of steely authority. The dark eyes held menace and unmistakable, unyielding willpower. But she wasn't beaten yet! Belligerently she ignored the shivery sensation creeping over the hot skin he so mockingly caressed. Jerking her head back, she said tersely. 'Listen, Slade! You can no longer interfere in my life, and I'll thank you to keep out of it.'

  He smiled, and her heart was suddenly racing as his mouth swooped to crush down relentlessly on her parted lips. For a moment, before she wrenched away from him, Lee, terrifyingly, lost all sense of what she was doing. The thick, warm darkness into which she fell was like going back in time and place. Something spiralled crazily inside her. She heard the intake of his breath as his arms jerked her to him and their bodies met in searing impact an instant before she forced herself from him.

  Slade's dark eyes had a glitter in them and though he made no attempt to stop her this time when she fled, the voice that followed her held more than a hint of triumph. 'You ask the impossible, Lee, and if you don't know it you soon will.'

  Lee almost beat her pillow to pulp that night before she got to sleep, and no sooner did she seem to close her eyes than Julia was there, waking her up.

  'You've overslept,' she said with a concerned frown. 'It's so unlike you that I felt I had to come and see if anything was wrong before I went to work.'

  'Oh!' Lee moaned as the events of the previous evening returned to overwhelm her. She stared at Julia blindly.

  'Something is wrong!' Julia exclaimed sharply.

  Swiftly Lee pulled herself together and somehow, after explaining briefly about the accident, managed to convince Julia that she was none the worse. 'I wasn't going fast, neither was the car, and the ditch was well padded with grass,' she ended with a wry grimace.

  Julia looked faintly intrigued. 'Who was this man who rescued you? Was he nice?' she asked.

  Lee, having inadvertently implied that Slade was a stranger, impulsively decided not to correct the impression. 'Not so you'd notice,' she replied shortly. 'He certainly wasn't sympathetic.'

  Julia guessed shrewdly. 'He blamed you?'

  'Naturally,' Lee returned tightly.

  'Some men can't bear to think they're at fault when a woman is involved,' observed Julia dryly. 'If no one was actually hurt, I shouldn't dwell on it too much.'

  Lee threw back the sheets. 'I suppose I'd better get up and go and rescue my poor old bike before someone reports it to the police.' She didn't want to talk about Slade any more than was necessary.

  Julia's glance went over her anxiously. 'Are you sure you're really fit enough? It can't have been much fun having a motor-bike landing on top of you, even one as light as yours.'

  'I do have a few bruises,' admitted Lee with a shrug, 'but that's all.'

  A car tooted in the drive below, interrupting their conversation. 'Nigel's getting impatient,' Julia's cheeks were suddenly slightly pink. 'My car isn't going too well, so he offered to run me to work.'

  'Ah!' grinned Lee.

  Julia retreated hastily from her teasing smile. 'See you later. Mind you…' she turned in the doorway, 'if you don't feel so good, after you're up, I should go back to bed, if I were you, and call your doctor.'

  Lee had no intention of following Julia's advice, but she was surprised to find how stiff she was. The parts of her that were bruised were sore too. Slade must have been right when he said she'd been lucky. She realised this, of course, and she might not have argued with him if he had been a little kinder. Her eyes filled with anger as she remembered he had given her many things in the past, but seldom kindness. He had been generous, but never with his affections. Passion was the only emotion she had ever aroused in him, that and possessiveness. He was a selfish swine. He had never pretended to care two hoots for her, yet he had been capable of becoming almost violent if she had so much as looked at another man.

  Aware that she was trembling and that her reflection showed her pale and heavy-eyed, Lee resolutely thrust all thoughts of Slade from her mind. For years she had managed not to think of him. It shouldn't be too difficult to forget him, this morning, even though he was back.

  Slipping on an old woollen dressing-gown, she went downstairs to make some tea. She loved having guests, but she also liked those hours of the day when she had the house to herself. The large old rooms were quiet, soothing to her pounding head, and she glanced through open doorways appreciatively as she made her way to the kitchen. Her grandfather had only had the house to leave her, but she would rather have had the house than anything else. She could have used some money to refurbish it, though. It grieved her that it was growing shabby through lack of funds.

  She had just switched the kettle on when Matt called. The front door wasn't locked and he walked straight in. Hearing him behind her, Lee turned with a start. 'You're early!' she exclaimed.

  He kissed her gently, noting the surprise in her eyes. 'I didn't knock,' he explained. 'I thought you might be in bed.'

  'In bed?' she echoed, clearly puzzled.

  His glance swept over her anxiously. 'Slade rang, first thing. He told me you'd had an accident.'

  'Good heavens,' Lee retorted impatiently, thinking Slade hadn't wasted any time and wondering tensely what he was up to, 'you could hardly call it that!'

  'Where's your motor-cycle?' he asked, so offhandedly,
she suspected he knew very well where it was!

  Her soft mouth tightened. 'In a ditch, about a mile along the road. You must have passed it.'

  Matt hesitated and looked hurt as she edged away from the arm he had laid around her shoulders. 'Slade didn't think you'd acted wisely, giving that boy a lift home, and I'm afraid I feel forced to agree with him, Lee.'

  'Why?' she asked, her blue eyes stormy. 'Surely it was enough for him that you jumped to do his bidding last night, without criticising your fiancée.'

  Reddening uncomfortably, Matt said hastily, 'He only pointed out, Lee, and again I'm inclined to agree with him, that you tend to be a little—er—headstrong.'

  Not the words Slade had used, she was sure! 'That sounds like criticism to me!' she retorted shortly, switching off the kettle with a snap as the water boiled and making a pot of tea.

  Matt ploughed on earnestly with little of the tact he normally employed in his business. 'He merely meant, if you cause any trouble it could be embarrassing for me.'

  Pushing two slices of bread in the toaster, Lee sat down mutinously at the kitchen table. 'How?'

  Matt lowered himself opposite carefully, his movements, Lee reflected, disparaging of him for the first time, exactly in keeping with his profession—he never did anything in a hurry. Because she knew that wasn't fair yet felt so mixed up, her hands trembled as she poured tea in their cups.

  Noticing, Matt used it to elaborate on what he was trying to explain. 'You see, darling, how the whole thing's affected you, so you can't be surprised that I'm worried about possible repercussions on my practice. The Mansfields are an unpredictable lot, at least she is, and the son isn't strong. If he's the least bit droopy today, she's going to blame you, and she's just the sort to make a drama out of reporting your antics to the media or the police—maybe both.'

  'B-but she couldn't!' Lee stammered hollowly, her anger changing to dismay as she stared at him. 'Could she?'

  'That remains to be seen,' Matt mattered gloomily. 'Even if she doesn't there'll be rumours, which might not do my practice much good.'

  'It didn't do me much good either,' she retorted bitterly, thinking she'd just about had enough of self-centred men. Slade, when he had forced her to live with him, had always refused to consider her side of their relationship, while Matt, for all he had learned she had had an accident, had yet to ask if she had been hurt or was recovered. He was more worried over any damage she might have done to his reputation!

  His manner changed, though, almost as soon as she spoke. 'Oh, sweetheart!' he groaned, reaching over the table to squeeze her hand contritely. 'You can't believe that I came here this morning only concerned for myself. When Slade rang and told me what had happened I got a terrible shock.'

  Lee felt like retorting that it wasn't very evident, but instead she attacked Slade. 'Slade Western has no business interfering in our affairs!'

  'He's just trying to be helpful, dear,' Matt protested, frowning on her hot face. 'He seems to imagine that a solicitor's wife should be beyond reproach. Of course that might just have to do with his being my cousin. He's always had a kind of chip on his shoulder regarding family respectability.'

  She didn't ask why, for once she had asked Slade himself and got no answer. 'Has it ever occurred to you, Matt, that Slade might not like me?' she asked.

  Letting go of her hand, Matt returned to his toast, munching worriedly. 'I'm sure he likes you. How could he not?' he added, with an astonishing lack of logic, 'when you're so beautiful.'

  'He might not consider that any recommendation!' she said tartly.

  Matt studied her, to her amazement as if he was actually considering this. 'You're very flamboyant,' he eventually muttered awkwardly, just when Lee was beginning to wonder what was coming. 'Even in that old robe you'd stand out in a crowd. Perhaps, while Slade is here, it might help if you could manage to look more—er—like—well, Sandra. Tone down a bit, you know?'

  Sandra always looked cool and remote, very dignified. Lee knew what Matt meant, but that didn't stop her from feeling furious. 'Slade's not been here five minutes, Matt, and already he's coming between us! And,' she added somewhat illogically, 'I don't see how he can criticise you when his own reputation can't be spotless.'

  Matt stirred uncomfortably. 'Well, he does have affairs—after all, he's thirty-six and unmarried, but they're always conducted discreetly…'

  Did Matt think he was telling her something she didn't already know? Angrily Lee glared at him, then calmed down. He admired Slade, and who was she to disillusion him? Slade's life was a human record of brilliant achievement. If there were any skeletons in his cupboards they firmly remained there; he guarded both his business and personal reputation almost fanatically.

  She sighed, realising suddenly that Matt and she were nearly quarrelling and she might be playing right into Slade's hands. 'I'll give Dulcie Mansfield a ring this morning,' she promised, changing the subject abruptly, 'and see how things are. If she threatens to make a fuss, I could point out that leaving an eight-year-old in the house on his own, night after night, isn't likely to be approved of by the authorities.'

  Matt's relieved expression was marred by a frown. 'You'd have to do it tactfully. I know you're fond of the boy, but Dulcie's his mother.'

  'You don't have to remind me,' Lee said wryly.

  Glancing at his watch reluctantly, Matt stood up. 'I have an appointment in half an hour—I must dash.'

  Lee watched him silently as he adjusted his jacket and ran a quick hand over his hair. In his own way he was as impressive as Slade, though not so tall or well built. He was older than Slade and their characters were completely different. Usually Matt was quiet and rarely made a move before he had thought it over, whereas Slade made decisions with a snap of his fingers and it was doubtful if he had ever worried over anything in his life. It was important, she thought desperately, that he shouldn't be allowed to hurt or damage in any way the harmonious relationship which Matt and she had so painstakingly built up.

  'Will I see you this evening?' she smiled, after Matt had asked a few searching if belated questions regarding her health.

  He nodded as he bent to kiss her briefly. 'Slade said you should rest, but I'll probably look in, in any case, just to make sure you are.'

  He did return that evening, though he was late and it had nothing to do with Slade this time. Not directly, anyway, he assured her. Slade had given him a lot to do, but once he managed to fit this in with the work he already had on hand, everything should be a lot easier.

  Matt looked so tired that Lee hadn't the heart to wonder aloud why Slade should suddenly discover he was apparently essential for the continued smooth running of his business. Slade had legal advisers all over the place, from what she could remember. As she had done earlier, she suppressed a mounting urgency to ask Matt if he knew how long Slade would be staying. It wasn't the question she was frightened of, it was the answer. She had no desire to hear that he might be here for a longer time than she might consider endurable.

  Having had a rather unsettling day herself, she was content to leave Sandra to fuss over Matt, serving his dinner, which they had kept hot, then coffee in the lounge. She wasn't even consciously aware of how Sandra continued fluttering tenderly around him, her eyes only leaving him occasionally to rest disapprovingly on Lee, who she had clearly decided was lacking in sympathy for her fiancé.

  After rescuing her bike which, contrary to her expectations, was little the worse, Lee had got out her car and paid the Mansfields a visit. She had wanted to see that Trigg was all right and felt she couldn't rely on what Dulcie might tell her over the phone.

  Dulcie, surprisingly, after her ill-concealed antagonism of the night before, had no complaints. Lee had expected her to be full of them. Trigg had gone off to school as usual, she said, while she and George had almost recovered from the shock they had received. George had made Trigg promise he would never go out by himself again after dark. It wasn't until Dulcie offered her a sherry and be
gan plying her with questions about Slade that Lee understood why she was being so pleasant. Somehow she had managed to cope brilliantly with Dulcie's curiosity, leaving her satisfied without giving much away.

  Returning home, she had been too nervous over Slade's threatened visit to settle down to work. Knowing her publisher was waiting for her next book hadn't helped to make her mind less blank. Eventually she had given up trying to write, and, ignoring her aching body, started to clean the house. Yet, though physical exertion brought a certain relief, the threat of a knock on the door had always been with her. Only now, with Matt and her friends all about her, did she feel comparatively safe.

  She was even beginning to relax when Nigel arrived home at ten. He had rung earlier and said he didn't know what time he would be in.

  'Sorry I'm late, folks,' he grimaced wearily, 'but maybe I'm lucky to be here at all. The big boss is back and it's been twelve hours of non-stop consultations. You'd hardly recognise the place—there's quite a different atmosphere.'

  You can say that again! Lee thought hollowly as he almost echoed her own words to Matt. She felt even more shattered as Nigel, enjoying the attention he was getting, continued, 'He intends staying until the new project we're developing gets under way, instead of keeping an eye on its progress as he usually does from abroad.'

  Lee, feeling herself growing cold all over, heard Julia ask curiously, 'Will he commute from London?'

  'I don't think so.' Nigel collapsed in a chair, accepting a cup of coffee from her with a grateful smile as he replied. 'I believe his mother's with him and they're re-opening the old family house on the river. Rumour has it that there's going to be a grand ball or barbecue or something, and we're all invited.'

  'How exciting!' exclaimed Sandra.

  'It is, all round,' he grinned enthusiastically, then sighed. 'It makes me wish I'd taken my holiday a week earlier instead of this weekend. Although,' he hastened, glancing happily at Julia, 'if I had taken it then, maybe you wouldn't have agreed to come with me.'

  If Julia's face had been pink that morning in Lee's room, it was red now. 'I was going to tell you,' she said defensively, glancing around the ring of surprised faces. 'I only decided a few hours ago.'