Tasmanian Tangle (13 page)

Her happy musings were interrupted by Kade. 'If you get any more invitations from that woman, turn them down,' he said abruptly.

It took a moment for Tanya to come out of the drowsy state and concentrate on his words. By 'that woman' she presumed he meant Mrs Saddler, and her interest was once again awakened. 'Why ?' she asked curiously.

'Because of her son, Lance Saddler, that's why!' he answered curtly. 'I don't want you mixed up in his company. No decent girl would be seen out with him. He's got an unsavoury record where women are concerned.' He stared at the road ahead of him. 'I blame his mother as much as anyone else,' he went on harshly. 'She didn't deny him a thing. Worships the ground he walks on, with the result that he's turned out to be a thoroughly unreliable waster who doesn't intend to do a day's work while he can wheedle money out of his mother.'

Tanya's eyebrows rose; he was certainly laying it on strong, she thought, and again she sensed the big brother act from Kade, but this time it didn't annoy her. 'I gather he's crossed off your list of suitable friends, then,' she said in a light teasing voice.

Kade glanced down at her swiftly, before he answered in a tone that said that he wasn't amused. 'Who said I had a list?' he barked out at her.

Tanya blinked at this unwarranted attack. She had only been joking. 'I was only joking, Kade,' she said swiftly, not realising that she had called him Kade, and not Mr Player, but Kade noticed it.

'Getting chummy now, are we?' he said sardonically. 'Am I allowed to call you Tanya now, and not Miss Hume?'

His rather cruel reminder of their earlier antagonistic attitude towards each other hurt her. So it was back to battle stations, she thought wearily, just when she thought it might be possible for her and Kade to get on. 'If you like,' she answered in a small tight voice, back to hating him for ruining the end of what had been a lovely evening.

They drove on for another mile or so, then Kade wrenched at his tie and loosened it. 'It was sure stuffy in that room,' he said quietly.

Tanya did not reply but gazed out at the road ahead. She felt rather than saw him glance at her as if seeking some comment on this, but she refused to satisfy him. Whatever she said would be wrong, so she might as well hold her tongue. She sensed that he was attempting to make some sort of apology for his bad humour and putting it down to the crowded dance room.

He needn't bother, she told herself bitterly. He had succeeded in spoiling everything for her. He must have known that she had thoroughly enjoyed herself and couldn't resist pricking her pretty balloon of memories. Her small teeth clenched together. How could he say that he wanted her to stay on, and then make life uncomfortable for her? What sort of a man was he?

She swallowed convulsively. A man who was loyal to his friends. He didn't care about her; but he had cared about her father.

There was another deep sigh from Kade as he gave her a swift glance and then looked back at the road. It was as if he had said, 'Well, I tried, didn't I?' to the heavy silence around them.

He was right, in a way, Tanya thought. He had tried, but how it must have gone against the grain. Her presence must be a thorn in his flesh. He thought of her· as a society drone, and although he had made a good try at forgetting her upbringing, he invariably referred back to it, particularly if they were having an argument, or if she had annoyed him in any way.

The rest of the journey was completed in the same oppressing silence, and Tanya for one was devoutly thankful when the car swept up the drive of Orchard House.

Her relief was shortlived, however, when Kade stood beside her at the back door, and at her quick annoyed glance up at him he said casually, 'There'll be a flask of hot coffee on the kitchen table, if I know Connie.'

That was all he said, but it was enough to show Tanya that he intended to share the flask with her, whether he was welcome or not, and it would have been the latter if she had had the choice. As it was, she could do no more than follow him with lagging steps towards the kitchen, fervently wishing that she had the courage to say that she was tired and would he mind if she went straight up to bed. He would mind, of course, she told herself wearily, and he would let her know that he did in no uncertain manner.

There was also the plain fact that he intended to try and make up for his lapse of humour on the return journey, and as before, Tanya could see no reason why he should bother.

The sight of the large flask set right in the middle of the kitchen table complete with two cups and saucers and a plate of biscuits made her even more depressed, as she had hoped that for once Connie had failed in what she would consider to be her duty. Even the delicious smell of the hot coffee wafting towards her as Kade filled the two cups did not lighten her mood, and her look was hardly grateful as she accepted a cup from him.

`Biscuit?' asked Kade, as he settled himself down on one of the kitchen chairs, and raised one expressive eyebrow at her refusal.

If he made one more remark about her needing to put on weight, then she would go straight up to bed and leave him to it, she told herself grimly as she stared back at him still holding the plate out towards her. `Well?' she demanded with a glint in her eye.

Kade's blue eyes sharpened perceptively as he met the challenge. 'I daren't say a word,' he said sardonically, as he put the plate down. 'Not even a nice one,' he added meaningfully. 'The trouble with you, Tanya, is that you're always looking for trouble, and that isn't going to be good for business.'

Tanya gasped audibly, and stared at him. Was he deliberately baiting her? she wondered, and decided that he was. She had spoilt his planned act of smoothing over her ruffled feelings and he hadn't liked that. 'No, it isn't, is it?' she replied smoothly, surprising herself with her cool answer. `So let's face it, shall we? I'm not cut out for it.' Her last words were not quite so firm, the tiredness she had felt earlier had suddenly overtaken her. 'Can you really see me as a business woman?' she asked him wearily.

Kade's narrowed eyes rested on her flushed cheeks and her bright hair whipped in a halo round her small features by the strong breezes coming in the car window on the way back. He could see her as anything but, but he had no intention of saying so. 'You're tired,' he said abruptly, and stood up. 'It's time you hit the sack... You'll be okay.'

Tanya blinked rapidly. He wasn't going to give in, and she was too tired to argue about it now. She stood up and turned tiredly towards the door. 'If you say so,' she said in a low dispirited voice, and turned to leave. 'Goodnight,' she added indifferently.

Kade was standing by the door when she reached it. 'Is that all I get?' he said softly.

Tanya looked up at him. Here was the big brother act again, she thought dispiritedly. Now he was sorry for her, he knew she was low and was trying to comfort her, much as a big brother might have done, or her father come to that. Because he had made the gesture she could not ignore it. Tomorrow they would fight again, but it would be churlish of her to refuse to accept the peace-offering.

Accepting the gesture in the spirit that it was given, Tanya automatically lifted her face towards him and offered him her cheek in the same way as she had done with her father. She felt Kade's firm lips on her cheek, and as she would have done with her father, she turned to say another goodnight before leaving him, but he had not moved away from her.

The next moment she found herself pulled none too gently into his arms, and receiving a very unbrotherly kiss that made her senses reel. The action was too fast and too sudden for her to take evasive measures, and

she just had to accept the kiss whether she liked it or not.

The shock had still not worn off when he released her, and she stood staring at him with wide eyes. Her stunned reaction caused him to take a deep breath, then swing away from her. 'I'm sorry, kid,' he said stonily. 'I guess I took more on board at that party than I usually do. No hard feelings, I hope?' he added, casually dismissing the event.

'No hard feelings,' Tanya answered, just as stonily, and this time was able to leave him.

IT was a long time that night before Tanya fell asleep. Her mind was in a turmoil and her thoughts were not inducive to sleep.

Having now absorbed the shock of Kade's hard forceful kiss, she was now left with the aftermath—an aftermath that had brought certain undesirable elements into their relationship. It was his casual 'no hard feelings' remark that was causing her most of her worry. As for his excuse of having taken too much drink—well, that was a non-starter, and although it had been a convenient excuse, he must have known that it was a pretty lame one, and that she would see through it.

Why then had he kissed her like that? She had given him no encouragement whatsoever. She turned over on her left side and bunched her pillows up under her head. So he felt sorry for her, but you didn't go about kissing folk you felt sorry for—at least not like that! It was plain that he had given way to an impulse and had immediately regretted it. His 'Sorry, kid' apology was proof enough of this. It was as if he had had to remind himself that she was totally inexperienced. Her reaction alone would have shown this, she thought.

Her smooth brow deepened into a frown. It wasn't like Kade—at least not like the Kade she thought she knew. Did she know him, she asked herself, or had she built up a completely false picture of the man who had dominated her father's business for all those years?

Hadn't her mother fallen into the same trap? Building him into a godlike figure, only to find that he had feet of clay. Had she, too, just found this out? Wasn't he just like any other man, with the same instincts and the same needs as other men?

She felt the tears gathering at the back of her eyes. She had trusted him. She had offered him her cheek and he had taken her lips. She might have expected this of any other man, but not Kade.

She closed her eyes as she felt a wave of bitter disillusionment flow over her. What right had he to order her to stay away from what he considered unsavoury types? What difference was there between him and the man he had spoken so disparagingly of in the car coming home? A tiny voice reminded her that Kade worked for his living and the other didn't, but she refused to listen to it. She was in no mood to accept the finer points of any such argument.

When she recalled his earlier disparaging remarks about his not hankering after kids, she wished she had had the presence of mind to slap his arrogant face after he had kissed her. For all his fine ideals it had not prevented him from taking advantage of her at the first opportunity offered!

There would never be another one offered, she vowed silently. To think she had been stupid enough to actually ask him to teach her the rudiments of the romantic side of life! Her soft lips twisted ironically; he had said she would regret it, hadn't he? And she did! Her lips now set in a purposeful line. Just let him make another advance on those lines and she'd let him know that she didn't hanker after older men either!

Whatever daydreaming she had done in the past

where he was concerned was now well and truly over. It had been over before their return journey back from the party, when she had admitted to herself that in thinking that she was in love with Kade she was just following the fashion. It had been different then, she told herself bitterly. She had still respected him, and still been a little in awe of him, but not now. She no longer trusted him. Her instinct to get out had been right, and Kade had known it all along, but hadn't cared how much hurt he inflicted upon her as long as he fulfilled his side of the bargain he had made with her father.

If he could fulfil his side of the bargain with so little regard for her feelings—then so could she. He could be as sarcastic as he liked, but she would not give him the satisfaction of knowing that he had riled her, even though this was not going to be easy. He had a nasty habit of getting under her skin and somehow she had to cure this tendency of hers to hit back at him. It wouldn't get her anywhere—at least nowhere that she wanted to go, she thought as she recalled a certain look in his eye whenever she had managed to score a point over him.

At breakfast the following morning, Connie wanted to know all about the get-together after the meeting, and who was there, and did Tanya meet the so-and-so family, and reeled off names.

Tanya did her best, but it was a poor best, and she knew it. Her earlier enthusiasm over her evening out had somewhat waned in the light of consequent events, and her thoughts were on the coming meeting with Kade after breakfast. She could see a miserable day ahead, with Kade seizing upon every opportunity

offered to lash out at her. He must have had some bad moments after his slip-up last night and no doubt would go all out to quash any romantic notions she might be harbouring on that score.

'Well, as long as you enjoyed yourself,' said a disappointed Connie, when the fact that Tanya's thoughts were obviously elsewhere finally penetrated through to her. 'You'll be getting some invitations now, you wait and see,' she promised her happily. 'No reason why you shouldn't accept them either,' she went on half-scoldingly. 'You could do with a few more parties, that's a fact,' she added, as she disappeared into the kitchen regions.

After breakfast Tanya slipped up to her room to collect the matching jacket to her dark blue tailored pants, and frowned at its immaculate cut. It wasn't really the sort of thing to wear on a fruit farm, but then none of her clothes were. She needed jeans and plain blouses, not the white and blue striped silk one that she wore at present and that belonged to the suit.