A Man To Tame - Rachel Lindsay (Roberta Leigh) (13 page)

‘Did you enjoy your walk the other
evening, Kate?'

She was so startled that she almost
dropped her fork, though afterwards she was not sure which had given her the
most surprise: his question or his calling by her Christian name for the first
time.

‘Did you—I didn't know you saw me.'

'I
was having supper at Felicity's. I was standing by the
dining room window when you walked
past.’

'
I
saw your car there.'

'Is that why you bolted off like a
frightened rabbit?'

‘I didn't bolt off,' she said
indignantly. 'But it’s rude to stand and stare at someone's house—particularly
if you know who they are.'

‘You should have come in.’

'I'm sure Miss Davis would have
made me very welcome.' She could not keep the skepticism from her voice and he
noticed it.

‘Why wouldn't she? Welsh people are
extremely hospitable. In the olden days there was always a kettle on the hob
for a cup of tea. Now it's whisky and soda’ but ‘ the
hospitality is still the same.'

‘You're generalising, Mr Howard. In
this particular instance I don't think Miss Davis would have welcomed my
intrusion.'

‘Why don't you like her?' he asked
abruptly.

‘What makes you think I don't?'

'Because of the
shuttered look that has suddenly come over those grey eyes of yours.' He leaned closer and kept his voice low. 'They're the most
beautiful eyes I have ever seen—but I'm sure you know that already.’

'It's always nice to be told,’ she
said calmly. ‘Most Women like to be complimented and I'm no different— even
though you think I am.'

'I don't think you are different,'
he said. 'I know
you
are.’

Leaving her to ponder the meaning
of this, he turned his attention to the man on his other side and was soon
engaged in a discussion on aerodynamics. ’Kate tried to follow it, but was soon
lost in the welter of technicality, and since the other men at the table were
involved in the conversation too, she had no recourse but to fall back on the
last thing Joshua had said to her. Had it not been for his liaison with
Felicity Davis she would have sworn he was flirting with her. Or perhaps he
really was flirting?

Because he was having an affair
with another woman did not preclude this, jealousy writhed inside her like a
hungry serpent, uncoiling to twist itself round her gut. It was impossible to
eat and she pushed her food from one side of her plate to the other and finally
set her fork down. No one was taking any notice of her and she pushed back her
chair and slipped from the room.

Nurse Evans was surprised to see
her back so early from lunch and Kate confessed that she preferred to eat in
the canteen.

‘But you get better food in the
directors' dining room,’ the nurse said.

I’d rather have a light lunch. Then
I can do justice to Mrs Pugh's dinner. She's a marvellous cook.'

Further conversation was
forestalled by Kate being called to attend a man who had had an accident on one
of the lathes, and by the time she returned to the surgery it was full.

For the rest of the day Kate had no
opportunity to think of anything except her work, and
only as she was driving home did her usual feeling of lassitude overcome her,
but this time with such overwhelming force that she was obliged to stop her car
and slump over the wheel. She had not experienced such a draining of energy
since immediately after the fire three months ago, and she was puzzled to know
what was causing her to react in the same way today. It could not be the
unusual number of patients she had seen today, for even her crowded surgery was
in no way as busy as her London practice. A grey car travelling in the opposite
direction caught her eye. It was larger and darker than the silver grey
Porsche, but it seemed to bring Joshua Howard to mind. The instant heat that
pervaded her body gave her the answer to the question
of a moment ago. It was not work that had caused this sudden draining of her
strength but the knowledge of her love for a man she had—until
yesterday—regarded as an enemy. Unrequited love, it seemed, was as disturbing
to one's psyche as a traumatic shock, reawakening deeply buried feelings of
childhood insecurity when the need for love was at its greatest.

'I've got to stop thinking about
him,' she said aloud, and her voice-r-seeming stronger in the confines of the
car—gave her the confidence to believe she could. It was .
only the newness of her emotion that made her keep thinking of the-man who had
aroused it; the newness and the knowledge that she had never been in love
before; 'But I'm not in love with him,' she thought positively. 'It's only
physical attraction because he's so masculine and sure of himself. In a few
weeks I'll have got over him.' Switching on the engine, she set the car in
motion again.

Entering the house, she found Mrs
Pugh waiting for her with a cup of tea.

Hear you had a bit of excitement at
the factory, dear.'

'Don't tell me you have a grapevine
too!' smiled Kate.

'Who else has got one, then?'

'Nurse Evans.'

Mrs Pugh sniffed. The Evans sisters
are the biggest gossips in town and they've got the right jobs to further their
nosiness, too. Still, Gladys Evans is one of the best cooks in Wales. If's probably why Mr Howard keeps her on. She's been with
him from the day he married.'

'Did you know the late Mrs Howard?'
Kate asked, perching on the arm of a chair to sip her tea.

‘Most of the people in Llanduff knew
her by sight Born and bred in the district she was. One of the landed gentry,
you might say. She was Janine Davis before her marriage.'

Kate was startled. Davis was a
common Welsh name, yet Felicity came instantly to mind. 'I met a Felicity Davis
a little while ago,' she said casually. ‘Would she be any relation?'

They were cousins. If I'm not
mistaken she was a bridesmaid at the wedding.' Mrs Pugh took Kate's empty cup
but made no move to go into the kitchen. 'It's a pity Mr-Howard has never
married again. But perhaps when you've been so much in love with a woman you don't
want to put someone else in her place in case it destroys your memories.'

‘Memories aren't meant to replace
life,' Kate said, feeling Mrs Pugh might be remembering her own husband. 'If
you try to build something new it doesn't mean you're minimising the happiness
you had in the past.’

'It’s
logical you're being now, Dr Gibson,' the woman said, ‘but
when you've loved someone it isn't easy to be logical.’

Kate found it hard to picture
Joshua pining for a wife dead these past six years. He might not want a second
Mrs Howard, but this didn't mean he lived the life of a celibate.

‘Were the two cousins alike?' she
asked, still casual ‘Miss Davis is very beautiful.'

‘They were as alike as two peas.'

Kate nodded. This could account for
Joshua being attracted to Felicity. In loving a seeming reincarnation of his
wife he did not feel so guilty. Yet if this were the case, why hadn't he
married her? She pushed the question aside and stood up, glancing through the
window as she did so and astonished to see two women walking round the side of
the house to the surgery.

'Good heavens, Mrs Pugh! I believe
I've got some patients.'

'After the patience
you've
shown,'
the housekeeper quipped, 'you deserve them!'

Hurriedly Kate donned her white
jacket and went into the waiting room to beckon the first woman in. By the time
she had dealt with the two patients four more were waiting and there were also
several telephone calls. By the time she returned to the dining room for dinner
her lethargy was once more forgotten in pleasurable excitement. She looked at
the table, surprised that it was not yet laid for dinner and was just about
to
ask Mrs Pugh what was the matter when she remembered that Dermot was
calling for her at eight’ o'clock to take her out. With a gasp she hurried to the
kitchen and found her housekeeper sitting over a bowl of soup.

'I'm sorry, Mrs Pugh,' she
apologised. 'I forgot to tell you ‘I’ll be out to dinner, though you obviously
know.'

’Mrs Hughes told me when I saw her
at the butchers this afternoon.'

'Does everyone know everybody
else's affairs in this town?' Kate asked with wry exasperation.

'Only the important people,' Mrs
Pugh said with a twinkle.

Thanks for telling me I rate among
the important ones!'

'A doctor always does.'

The telephone rang and Kate hurried
to answer it, almost dropping the receiver as Joshua Howard's deep voice came
over the line.

‘Why didn't you stay and finish
your lunch?’ he asked without preamble.

‘I wasn't hungry.'

'I hope you are having dinner
instead?'

‘With Dermot,’ she replied coolly.
'Did you call me for anything specific, Mr Howard?'

'Yes, Dr Gibson. To
invite you to a luncheon party on Saturday. My mother would like to meet
you.'

‘That's very kind of you, but——-'

‘You're not doing anything else,'
he interrupted crisply, 'and there will be other guests here as well, including
Dermot.'

'In that case I'll accept,' she
said equally crisply.

'Good. Make it twelve-thirty for
one.'

He hung up without giving her a
chance to do so first, which annoyed her so much that she banged the receiver
on the rest and stalked upstairs to change.

‘I
gather we'll be guests at the same party
on
Saturday,'
she told Dermot as she sat opposite him in the madhouse restaurant an hour
later. 'How dressed up should I get?'

'As if for
Ascot—but without the hat and the gloves I You could take a swimsuit too. There's a swimming pool and a tennis court and stables.’

'All mod cons.,’ she murmured. 'How
long does one stay there?'

'Until about six. .Sometimes he has
a.
house party for the weekend
and then luncheon guests stay all evening.'

'I can't see Mr Howard as a
convivial host. He strikes me as being too impatient and restless.'

‘You couldn't be more wrong,’
Dermot assured her. 'I once told you he's a man who works hard and plays hard.
I went to the States with him last year and we stopped off in Bermuda for a few
days' rest. He sunned himself by the pool from eight in the morning till six at
night, then he played chemmy
till three the next morning. Some rest,’ he added,
‘but
that was his way
of relaxing. In England he never goes near a gaming table. Even when he's taken
out to clubs by business associates I've never known him to place a bet.'

‘That only shows how inconsistent
he is!'

‘He's complex,’ Dermot corrected.
'At least until you get to know him,’

'I don't think I'll ever get to
know him,’ Kate admitted. 'He's alien to me,’

'Am I?' Dermot reached out for her
hand and, regretting that the conversation had taken this intimate tone, she
tried to bring it back to a lighter level.

You aren't alien at all. I know you
from cover to cover.

Then you know I'm in love with
you?'

Since this was exactly the
declaration she had hoped to avoid, she looked at him helplessly. 'Oh Dermot, no!'

'Oh Kate, yes, The
humour left his face as he saw her expression. 'Don't I stand a chance?’ he asked.

She hesitated, not sure if it was
wiser to let bin guess her answer or to be blunt and put it into words. But her
hesitation answered for her and he released her hand.

'Are you in love with someone
else?'

‘No,’ she said swiftly. 'Not unless
you count my profession.’

'In that case I won't give up.’

She longed to tell him that he
should, but thought better of it. She could not live in Llanduff without the
companionship of other people and this inevitably meant she would have to see
something of Dermot. She must just avoid seeing him too often. �

‘I’ll collect you on Saturday,’ he
said as he drove her home after dinner.

'Are you sure you want to?'

'Don't be silly. Forget what I
said' before, Kate. I wouldn't have told you so soon except that you looked
very lovely and I forgot my good intentions.’

'You're sweet, Dermot,’ she said
huskily, and was rewarded by a wry smile.

‘What a description! It's nearly as
bad as saying you love me like a brother!'

'I might say that too when I know
you better,’

'If you're trying to tell me
there's no hope for me, then forget it. I don't give
in easily and I'll still go on trying to make you change your mind,’

'I wish you wouldn't,’ she said
miserably. 'I don't want to have you on my conscience,’

'It's good to be on a good woman's
conscience. That’s one way of getting her sympathy.'

'But not her love,’ Kate responded.

'I'm not so sure,’ Dermot's glance
was quizzical. 'Anyway, I'm in your life and that's where I'm going to stay
till you marry someone else,’

CHAPTER NINE

Saturday dawned fine and clear with
the temperature in the! seventies. Kate could not
quell her excitement and was glad she had morning surgery to prevent her
counting the hours until she saw Joshua in his home. She had already decided
what to wear, having given the matter unusual thought. Nothing could make her
look sophisticated, so there was no point trying to compete with tall dark
beauties, but she would at least make the best of herself and play up her good
points for all she was worth. To this end she wore a frankly feminine dress in
pale green lawn, the material so fine that it resembled chiffon. The neckline
was lower than she normally wore, but though she was small she was perfectly formed, and the top of her breasts made a delightful curve
behind the soft frill that edged the low-cut collar. A wide belt of matching
fabric made her waist appear a hand's span, and the bias-cut skirt swung
provocatively round her knees yet at the same time clung to the rounded curve
of her hips. High-heeled sandals completed the picture and though she wore no jewellery
her eyes sparkled and made further adornment unnecessary. Nervousness had
brought a wild pink flush to her cheeks and agitation, as it always did, 'gave
her hair extra curl, making the feathery blonde ends appear even more feathery
as they lifted away from her ears.