A Man To Tame - Rachel Lindsay (Roberta Leigh) (14 page)

'You look sweet sixteen and never
been kissed,' Dermot said as he greeted her. 'I positively refuse to believe
you're a doctor.’

‘For that I've a good mind to bring
my stethoscope along!'

He laughed. ‘People will just think
you're playing at hospitals.'

‘That’s exactly what I used to do
as a kid.' She tot lowed him to the car. 'How far is
the Hall?’ she asks
as
he let off the brake.

'Over the hill
and far away!'

'Seriously,' she said.

‘Who wants to be serious on a day
like this? Relax, Kate, we're going to have fun.'

She tried to tell herself he was
right, but instead felt as tightly coiled as an over wound spring. What a pity
she had decided against taking a tranquilliser. Yet she had deliberately
refrained, wanting to know that she could control her emotions over Joshua
without recourse to drugs. Only then would she feel genuinely in command of
herself.

They reached Joshua's house sooner
than she had anticipated and it came upon her as a surprise: a low, rambling
stone manor with mullioned windows and a somewhat austere front softened by
glossy green creepers. It was not as large as she had expected, but inside was
infinitely more luxurious, with a patina of age and care on the exquisite
antique furniture.

There was no one in the hall to
greet them, but Dermot led her across the gleaming parquet floor and through a
low-ceilinged rectangular room set with settees and armchairs of rose brocade
to a creeper-covered terrace and thence to a lawn as lush as velvet and twice
as smooth. It was here that everyone was sitting, the
women in their bright coloured dresses looking like flowers dotted on the lawn,
the men no less colourful in vivid slacks and shirts.

In a first swift glance Kate saw
Felicity Davis close to Joshua, then he rose and came
forward to greet them. Like his guests he too was casually dressed, but all in
black, beautifully cut trousers and a wild silk shirt through which could be
seen the bronze gleam of his skin and the thick tangle of hair on his chest. It
was short sleeved and his arms were as strong and muscular as she had known
they would be. Her throat was dry and she swallowed, trying to see him as a
particularly fine male specimen and not as a man who overwhelmingly impinged on
her mind. He greeted her, but she was not aware of replying and felt his hand
come out to clasp hers as he drew her forward and introduced her to an elderly
woman—a smaller grey-haired version of himself—with the same piercing dark eyes
and strong features;

'So you are Dr Gibson.' Mrs Howard
patted the chair beside her for Kate to take it. 'You are exactly the way my
son described you.'

Kate longed to ask how this had
been and, glancing up at Joshua, saw from his sardonic expression that he had. read her mind. 'Do tell her, Mother, or she'll die of
curiosity!'

Mrs Howard's eyes twinkled as she
looked at Kate. 'He said he felt like Goliath to your David!'

'I have yet to fell him,' Kate
rejoined, and the laughter that greeted this remark lessened the tension and
made her feel that perhaps today was not going to be so bad after all.

'I think I'll have to amend my
description, though,' Joshua leaned slightly towards her. 'In that get-up you
look less like David and more like the Queen of Lilliput!'

'I do wish you wouldn't keep on
about my size,' she protested.

‘I can go on about things, but they
might embarrass you more.'

'Really, Mr
Howard!'

'Stop it, Joshua,' his mother
ordered. 'Can't you see you're embarrassing the poor girl?'

'A doctor shouldn't be embarrassed
by such things,' he replied unrepentantly.

'I'm going to be all woman today,' Kate said, and instantly regretted the words
as she saw his eyes narrow.

‘I’m glad to hear it I'll test it
out for myself later on.' With a lithe movement he moved forward to greet some
other guests, leaving Kate to look wryly at his mother.

'Don't let Joshua's teasing worry
you, my dear,’ the woman said. 'He'll get worse if he knows he's riling you.’

‘That much I've already learned
about him!'

'Good. I rather thought you had.'
Mrs Howard folded plump hands on her lap. 'How do you like living in Llanduff,
Dr Gibson?'

'I like it very much—and please
call me Kate.'

The woman nodded. 'If's better here
than it used to be, Before television people had
nothing to occupy themselves with except other people's business. If I———'
She turned as a child came running across the lawn from the direction of the
swimming pool, which lay like a vast blue sapphire on the lower lawn.

Kate knew at once that it was
Joshua's daughter, not because she looked like her father but because she could
have passed for Felicity's child.

'Come here, Janey, I'd like you to
meet someone,' her grandmother called, and the child approached them in a rush
and held out her hand politely.

dose to her, Kate saw she was too thin and heard the rasp of
her breathing.

'I think you stayed in the water
too long,' her grandmother said. ‘You're out of breath.'

'It isn't the water. Gran, it's the
pollen count It's high today.'

'Do you have hay fever?' Kate asked
casually.

‘Yes,' the child said, 'and it
makes my asthma worse.’

Poor child, Kate thought, and knew
this was the reason for her thinness. Unless she was misjudging the, signs, the
child was badly asthmatic. 'Do you have an inhaler?' she asked.

'I couldn't live without it.' The
reply was factual and not dramatic.

I’m sure you could,' Kate replied.
Think of all the people who had asthma before inhalers were invented.'

‘What did they do?' the little girl
inquired.

‘Don't get Dr Gibson talking about
her work, Janey.' Joshua Howard had come up unheard and he ruffled his
daughter's dark hair and then turned her to face the house. 'Get out of that
swimming costume and into something dry.'

‘But——'

Then you can come down and join us
for lunch,’ he interrupted.

'But——-'

‘But, but, but,' he said. ‘You
sound like a one-stroke engine! Now go and do as I say.'

Giggling, the child ran off and her
father looked at Kate. 'Come and see the pool,' he said abruptly, and pulled
her to her feet.

Standing, she was even more conscious
of him towering over her and she moved quickly ahead. He caught up with her in
one large pace and put his hand on the top of her arm. His fingers were
surprisingly soft and they moved lightly up and down her skin. They reached the
steps- leading to the lower level and he led her down them and across to the
pool, where a wide surround of mosaic was partially covered by gaily coloured
lounging chairs and several small tables with shady parasols.

'How lovely,’ she exclaimed. 'But
what happens when it rains?'

What a pessimist you are! At the
moment the sun is shining and all's right with the world.' His hand- slid down
her arm to catch her hand. 'Is everything all-right with your world, Kate, or
are you still running away from it?'

She glanced at him quickly and then
looked away. ’I don't know what you mean.'

'I think you do. Under the prim and
efficient aura you present to the world—which incidentally you are not
presenting at the moment, because right now you look as delicious as a
peppermint cream —- you're a frightened little girl.'

‘What nonsense you talk, Mr
Howard!'

‘Don't you think you know me well
enough to call me Joshua?'

‘Dermot doesn't,' she pointed out.

‘He isn't as beautiful as you are.

She couldn't help smiling and he
squeezed her fingers so tightly that her smile turned into a gasp.

‘You're hurting me!’

‘Because I'd like
to kiss you.'

‘Really!' she exclaimed.

‘Really,' he said, deliberately
misunderstanding her.

‘Don't flirt with me.' She pulled
her hand free from his grasp.'

‘Why do you object?' he asked,
falling into step with her as she moved slowly round the pool. 'I'm free, white
and over twenty-one, or am I too much over twenty-one?'

'Don't be silly. You're an
attractive man and I'm sure you know it.'

'I do,' he said calmly, 'though this
is the first time you've given any indication of noticing it yourself.’

‘You don't need
me
to notice
how attractive you are.'

‘But I do need you.'

A burst of laughter from the lawn
above him made him give an exclamation of irritation. 'I have to play host,
Kate. Will you forgive me if I take you back?'

‘I’ll forgive you much more than if
you stand, keeps talking nonsense.'

He gave a sharp intake of breath
and momentarily the softness went from his mouth. 'Not just a peppermint ice in
that green dress of yours. There's a touch of bitter lemon somewhere around.'

Before she could reply he caught
her hand again and pulled her along beside him. Although he was not walking
fast she had to run to keep pace with him, and she was breathless when they
reached the steps, so much so that he noticed the rise and fall of her breasts
and stopped, contrite.

I’m sorry, Kate. I didn't know I
was going so fast.’

‘You weren't going fast,’ she said
quickly, but I still tire quickly.'

‘Poor darling.' He squeezed her hand and then let it drop as he mounted
the steps to rejoin his guests.

Janey was back beside her
grandmother, this time in a bright cotton dress, and she sat cross-legged on
the grass . and watched
everyone in a speculative way, as if she were trying to analyse them. It was a
strange look for a child to have and Kate wondered if the child acted older
than her age because she was motherless or because she did not spend enough
time with youngsters of her own age.

'Come and sit next to me, Janey,'
Felicity Davis called, and Kate saw the little girl stiffen as if she wanted to
refuse, but she thought better of it and went slowly towards her cousin.

As Kate had expected, Felicity
commanded the scene, her vivid colouring and sophisticated clothes making all
the other women seem unfashionable by comparison: daisies and marguerites
competing against an orchid. From the comer of her eye Kate saw Felicity put a
suntanned arm over Janey's thin shoulders and at the
same time look over the child's head to Joshua who, poised by -the drinks
trolley, was watching the little cameo. Instinctively Kate knew the girl had
not called Janey over because she liked her but because she wished to create
the impression that she would make a good stepmother. Yet why should one
condemn her for doing that? If Felicity wanted to marry Joshua she had the
right to make herself as desirable as possible to him. Only the hardness in the
bright blue eyes spoilt the picture of devoted maternal affection, and seeing
the way Janey was still tense within the circle of her arms, Kate knew that
though Felicity might be fooling the father she was not fooling the child.

The chair creaked beside her and
she was glad to see Dermot, who suddenly seemed less complicated than her own
thoughts. 'Lovely house, isn't it?' he murmured.

'Lovely. And
beautifully cared for.’

The credit for that goes to Mrs
Howard. Left to his own devices our big white chief would be happy to live in
his office.'

Kate laughed, then
said curiously: ‘Don't you ever call him Joshua? I notice he calls you Dermot.'

'He's my boss and he can call me
anything,’ he grinned, 'but he's never suggested I drop the Mr mid
I
wouldn't
have the nerve to ask him.'

'I don't believe that.'

'It's true. Mr Howard isn't a man
who lets you get on to a Christian name basis with him unless he knows you in a
personal capacity.'

'But the other directors——-'

‘Have all known him since he was a
boy.'

She wondered what Dermot would say
when he learned that Joshua had asked
her to
call him by his first name,
and considered it prudent to hold her tongue. She had not called him by it yet
and could not imagine herself doing so. But how well the name
fitted him. Joshua —the leader—strong in his belief
that he was right and with the power to implement that belief. She tried
and failed to imagine him married and was curious to know more about the sort
of woman his wife had been. She had been killed before Dermot had come on the
scene, but he might know something about her.

'I understand the late Mrs Howard
looked very much like Felicity Davis,' she remarked off-handed!

'So I believe. But I gather Janine
was gayer and certainly younger.'

'Younger?'

Seeing Kate's surprise, Dermot
smiled. ‘She wouldn't be younger than Felicity then. But she was nineteen when
Mr Howard married her and twenty-four when she was killed. That would have put
her a few years younger than Felicity is today. She was very keen on hunting
and I rather think she liked horses better-than her daughter.'

'And Mr Howard?'

'He rides, but he isn't obsessed by
it the way his wife was.'

'And the obsession killed her,'
Kate commented, 'the way obsessions sometimes do.'

Then don't let work kill you.'

‘Work isn't my obsession,' she
protested.

‘You give the impression you aren't
interested in anything else—or could it be you just aren't interested in
me?'

She averted her eyes and he gave an
audible sigh and leaned back in his chair. Kate did the same, and still keeping
her eyes turned, saw Janey staring at her. The child was no longer standing
near Felicity and had moved to the edge of a flower bed where she was idly kicking
at the border. Kate stood up and surprised herself by going over to her. She
did not know why she did it. All she knew was a deep pity for Janey's aloneness.

‘You look as if you're bored with
all the grown-up chatter,’ she said lightly. 'Care to show me the garden?'