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A quizzical eyebrow lifted and in no way put out by her straight from the shoulder reply, Roy said, ‘Good! Now would you like to dance or shall I take you on a personally conducted tour of the bedrooms?’

At this Davina laughed outright. ‘If that’s on your mind, you’d better start looking for someone else,’ she advised in a teasing voice, and Roy gave a theatrical sigh and replied, ‘In that case, I’ll finish this and we’ll dance. At least that way I get to put my arms round you.’

By this time the room was crowded, but between them, Roy and Jim saw to it that Davina was never left alone. In fact the time passed more quickly than she realised, for when Rex appeared at her side and said, ‘It’s midnight—time we were leaving,’ she looked down at her watch in surprise. About to say she was enjoying herself and would get Roy to give her a lift home, after a glance at Rex’s face, she thought better of it. Collecting her coat, she thanked Jim, said goodbye and followed Rex outside.

Until they had passed through the dark and sleeping village, not a word was spoken, and when Rex broke the silence by asking, ‘Trying to get in well with the family?’ Davina jumped in her seat.

Her thoughts had been miles away, but his harsh, uncompromising question, coming like a douche of cold water, quickly brought her down to earth. ‘Pardon me if I seem stupid, but I’m afraid I’m not quite with you.’

‘Don’t play games with me,’ Rex warned. ‘You know perfectly well what I mean. You spent at least half the evening with the Squire’s elder son. It won’t do you any good. I understand his father has as good as disowned him.’

‘I can’t think why,’ Davina answered in a deceptively innocent voice. ‘After he got it through his head that I had no intention of sleeping with him he was perfectly charming.’

‘And more than half cut too, I noticed,’ Rex grated.

‘I thought he held his liquor rather well,’ Davina announced calmly, ‘but since you were monopolising the best-looking female in the room, I’m surprised you had time to notice what I was doing.’

‘Not jealous, by any chance?’ came the taunting accusation.

Davina was glad of the darkness in the cab. She could control her voice if not her expression. ‘Jealous? Me? But isn’t my motto supposed to be “love ’em and leave ’em?” Once I knew you’d only made love to me out of a wish to wreak retribution, you surely didn’t imagine I was going to nurse a broken heart?’ and she gave a trill of contemptuous laughter which sounded so genuine it even surprised herself.

As if this last had caught him on the raw, Rex put his foot down hard on the accelerator and replied harshly, ‘I had your measure correctly right from the beginning, it seems. Just remember, nothing’s changed.’

Encouraged by her success in getting under his guard for once, Davina said rashly, ‘If you’re referring to rumours about us, you might find it a bit difficult after tonight to convince people everything wasn’t completely above board at Nineveh. I wasn’t the only one who noticed you and Adele Wickham with your arms wrapped around each other all evening.’

At that moment the field came into view and Rex braked so sharply that she slid forward on the seat. ‘Thanks for the warning,’ he said, and his voice held a grim note as he got out to open the gate.

The following morning brought an unexpected answer to Davina’s problem about breaking the news to her family of her intention of spending Christmas at Camshaw. Mr Farr arrived as they were finishing breakfast with the mail, and this contained a letter from Davina’s mother.

‘You’ll be sorry to hear that your grandmother had a heart attack a few days ago,’ Mrs Williams wrote. ‘Giles flew out, and as soon as she is well enough to be moved, he’s arranged for her to be admitted to a London heart clinic. Of course this means there’s no question this year of a big family party at Christmas. In fact it’s Giles’s opinion that it was all the excitement over her birthday party which brought this on. I’ll let you know how she goes on,’ and Mrs Williams ended with a few comments about ‘making sure she kept warm and ate properly’ which made Davina smile.

But her face was grave as she folded away the letter to be answered when she could find a moment. Almost impossible to imagine her indomitable grandmother laid up, and after such an active life she would hate being made to stay in bed.

She suddenly became aware that Rex was watching her face with his steady, decidedly unnerving gaze. ‘Bad news?'

‘Grandmother’s had a heart attack.’

‘I’m sorry. Is it bad?’

No doubting his sincerity, Davina thought as she replied, ‘She’s not well enough to travel, that’s all I know. Mother says that when she is, Uncle Giles is going to bring her to London for treatment.’

‘At least that settles your Christmas,’ said Rex with one of his twisted smiles, ‘and speaking of that reminds me—I suppose you know it’s a tactical error to show your hand to your opponent?’

Still lost in troubled thoughts of her grandmother’s illness as she was, it was a moment before Davina saw the danger light was flickering in his eyes.

‘It was a mistake last night to point out that Adele’s name could be linked with mine, so tonight I’m taking you out to dinner—in the best frequented restaurant in the district. And just for good measure,’ Rex added, ‘we’ll start by going for a drink to the Shepherd and Crook. Be ready at seven,’ he ended.

‘But I don’t want to go out with you,’ Davina said promptly. ‘In any case, it’s Sunday. You’ll not find anywhere open.’

‘Don’t you believe it As a matter of fact Adele was only telling me last night of a spot only ten miles away which is very good and open seven days a week.’

‘And what’s she going to say when she hears you’ve taken
me?'
Davina asked in desperation, her back to the wall.

‘You can leave Adele to me,’ Rex said in a hard voice as he got up and came round the table. Taking her chin in his hand, he jerked up her head until she was looking reluctantly right into his eyes.

As she stared speechlessly, Rex’s hand travelled down to where the opening of her shirt gave a glimpse of the curve of her breasts. His fingers lingered for a moment, warm and vibrant, then he turned saying carelessly, ‘Better be ready. You know me well enough by this time to be sure I mean what I say!' and he strode outside—rather like an avenging Heathcliff, Davina thought resentfully.

And to think she’d gone to bed last night thinking she’d actually scored off him I What an impulsive fool she’d been to show him the pitfall in his path. It was too late now to wish she’d been wiser, kept her mouth shut. Talk about being between the devil and the deep blue sea!

And there was no doubting who the devil was. Davina’s hand went unconsciously to the spot his fingers had caressed. Were there no depths he wouldn’t plumb?

That evening she deliberately lingered over her dressing and it was almost seven-fifteen when she came down to the lighted kitchen. She found Rex sitting at the big table quietly reading a newspaper as if completely unaware of her unpunctuality.

She had put a coat on over her long black and white pleated skirt and black top, for the evenings were now really cold. As Rex arose, presumably to hold the door, he suddenly gripped her by the shoulder and swung her round to face the light.

Davina flushed, but more with anger than embarrassment as his eyes went over her. ‘Not bad,’ he announced, ‘but I think I prefer those velvet trousers you wear from time to time. They kind of do things to a man’s blood pressure,’ he ended with a mocking smile.

Davina’s flush deepened, but this time with genuine vexation, for it had not occurred to her the trousers were particularly sexy. She’d not wear them again, she decided, glad that she’d chosen to dress in a swirling skirt which gave no hint of the delectable curves beneath.

Her voice was cold as she stood, still held by the shoulder. ‘Are we going out, or do you intend to stay here discussing feminine fashions?* to which Rex responded by releasing her, giving a strange, almost reluctant laugh.

It was an unusual evening, but only the first of many, as Davina was to discover in the weeks that followed. Outside the house and especially in public, Rex treated her with an ostentatious gallantry which, while it might deceive others, only made her more aware that the ghost of Barr Patterson’s near-tragedy stood constantly between them.

The days were now much shorter, the weather much colder, and Davina was thankful for the portable heater in her bedroom. She had unearthed an old table big enough for her to write on, and since Rex made it plain that she was no longer welcome in the study, she slipped away to get on with her stories whenever opportunity permitted.

Not that leisure was all that easy to come by, for the days seemed hardly long enough to fit in all the jobs Rex found for her to do. He was busy trying to finish the shelters for the sheep before the first snows, and when Peter did not come up after school, Davina found herself on occasion even expected to muck out the horse and any ewes who had been brought up to pens in the barn for observation.

She and Rex also went down every Wednesday to join in the preparation of the play to be performed in the village church on Christmas Eve, and had become friendly with the young vicar and his mother. Davina only saw Adele on her rare visits to Nineveh, but she suspected that Rex and the gay divorcee might be seeing one another in secret. Folding away one of Rex’s thicker pullovers one morning, she had noticed several strands of long blonde hair caught in the weave.

Not that it was any of her business, Davina thought, but this piece of homespun philosophy did nothing to soothe the ache in her heart. If she ever began to think Rex was beginning to forgive and forget he would bring her back to earth with a bang. Like last night.

Her face burned as she recalled the rehearsal last night in the vicarage drawing room. Mrs Matthews had started the evening by announcing that owing to illness, the wife of the village postmaster would not be able to play the innkeeper’s wife, and asked for a volunteer.

Immediately Rex had pushed Davina forward and proffered her services, and red of face, Davina had found the script thrust into her unwilling hands. As the rehearsal began, he had met her angry eyes with a bland smile and she had longed to hit him.

But she had been forced to control her temper until they were alone in the Land Rover, when she turned to him and demanded, ‘You’re miscast, do you know that? You would make a perfect Herod!’

Rex gave a laugh in which there was a hint of cruelty. ‘Stop spitting like a little cat. I simply thought you’re tailor-made for the part of a shrewish tavern-keeper—and it seems I’m right.’ He glanced at her, and as they were passing the well lit Shepherd and Crook the cab was full of light.

‘You look stony-hearted enough right this minute to turn away even a pregnant woman,’ Rex went on, and Davina turned her head away, determined he should not know how his words had hurt her.

The first snow fell in early December and waking one morning to a white world, Davina stood at the window oblivious to the biting cold as her eyes took in the fairytale scene stretching out on every side. Snowflakes were still falling, like gentle blobs of cotton wool, and down the track Rex on horseback was shepherding about a dozen ewes.

For a few moments, admiring his easy seat and the lazy sway of his body to every movement of the animal beneath him, Davina forgot the feud which existed between them. As if he suddenly became aware of her fixed gaze, Rex looked up as he dismounted and catching sight of her standing at the window called up, ‘Put breakfast back by half an hour.’

Trust him to spoil a happy moment, she thought resentfully, as she dragged her nightdress over her curls and began to scramble into her bra and pants. He might just for once have said, ‘Isn’t it a lovely morning?’ or even, ‘Hello, have you slept well?’ Well, at least she wouldn’t need to hurry her morning wash, she thought thankfully as she ran into the bathroom.

She was brandishing a toasting fork as if it were a bayonet when Rex, having discarded his boots in the outer porch, came into the warm kitchen. ‘You look as if you wish you had me on the end of that,' he remarked with alarming discernment as he began to unzip his waterproof jacket, and at Davina’s immediate, ‘You’ve hit the nail right on the head!’ he burst into a shout of laughter.

‘What have I done now? You’re as cross as two sticks, and on a lovely winter morning too. The sun’s coming through, and the moor looks a picture,’ he said, taking his place at the table.

As she slid a loaded plate in front of him Davina was uneasily aware of an unexpected camaraderie in his voice and since anything even verging on a softer manner usually meant he had another bitter pill for her to swallow, she was immediately on her guard.

As he buttered a piece of toast he remarked casually, ‘I forgot to tell you yesterday, but we’ll be having a visitor for a few days next week. No need to clear out another room, though. He can have my room and I’ll sleep on one of the camp beds in the study.’

Nothing very sinister about a visitor, Davina thought, and her tense nerves relaxed again—but he might have told her who their visitor was going to be. But even in this unexpectedly friendly mood, it would be risking a snub to enquire. Rex had obviously told her all he thought it necessary for her to know by saying, ‘Pour me some tea, please. You’re forgetting your duties.’

The subject of the visitor was not mentioned again until the following Tuesday. As he got up from the breakfast table Rex announced casually, ‘That guest I told you about—he’s arriving this afternoon. I’m going into Carlisle this morning, so I shall pick him up and we should be here around four. Have the kettle boiling,’ and he was gone before Davina, speechless with surprise, had pulled herself together. Not that it would make any difference if she had been given time to ask for more details, she thought resignedly as she went upstairs to change Rex's bed and tidy the room. At least a stranger about the place would make a pleasant change in the daily routine and Rex would be forced into playing the easygoing, undemanding employer for a day or two.