Part 10 (1/2)

'No,' he said flatly. 'I prefer to bear my own name. But it wouldn't surprise me to learn that Conrad's trying to change Rachel's name to Wyatt, too.'

He was very bitter, thought Kate as he brought the Range Rover to a halt before the impressive entrance. But perhaps he had good reason. How would she have felt if Sean's parents had tried to take Joanne away from her? It hadn't happened, of course. Sean had never known his father, and his mother had died when he was just a teenager. Which perhaps explained why Kate's husband had had so little respect for his own marriage.

Kate wondered if Alex would expect her to stay in the car while he went and collected his daughter, but after pus.h.i.+ng open his own door and getting out he came round the bonnet to open hers. He'd put on a long dark overcoat over his jacket, and she couldn't help noticing how well it suited him. But he'd left it unfastened so that when she pa.s.sed him she smelt the clean male scent of his skin.

'Ready?' he asked, and she bit her lips to stop them from trembling.

'As I'll ever be,' she conceded, with more confidence in her words than in her voice.

'Good,' he said, and to her dismay he put a possessive hand beneath her elbow. 'Come on. You can take your cue from me.'

Which meant what? Kate looked up at him, aghast, but his attention was already concentrated on the house. His lean, dark features were harsh, and unforgiving, and she was very much afraid that Rachel would think so, too.

'Can I say something?' she asked in a low voice as he rang the doorbell, and she could tell by the way he turned to her that he half resented the distraction. But he nodded, albeit with some impatience, and she took a chance that he wouldn't bawl her out here. 'Lighten up,' she said.

'You don't want to frighten your daughter, do you?'

Alex blew out a breath. 'You don't know what-' he was beginning harshly, when the door opened to reveal a young woman in a maid's uniform, and he bit off the words.

The maid regarded the visitors unsmilingly. 'Yes?' she said insolently, and Kate waited apprehensively for Alex to put the girl in her place.

But to her astonishment he didn't, and she watched the change come over his face. 'Will you tell Rachel's nanny that her father's come to collect her?' he asked, with a polite smile. 'She is expecting me.'

Kate breathed out slowly, hardly aware she had been holding the air in her lungs until the maid flounced away. 'Didn't I do well?' Alex asked softly, and she was amazed to see that he was still smiling. 'Oh, and thanks for the advice. I do tend to let the Wyatts rattle my cage.'

Kate smiled back, aware that her attraction to this man was as strong as ever. What was wrong with her? she wondered. She ought to have cut her losses last week and run. Now that Joanne had been suspended from school, she was unlikely to be allowed to go on the skiing trip, which had previously provided a justification for being here.

The maid was coming back accompanied by a middle-aged woman dressed in a beige sweater and a brown pleated skirt. 'The nanny,' said Alex in an undertone, but there was no sign of the little girl. Kate practically felt him stiffening beside her, and she prayed he wouldn't blow it now.

'I'm afraid Rachel and her grandfather are still down at the paddock,' said the nanny politely, and to Kate's relief there was no trace of animosity in her tone. 'I don't think Mr Wyatt expected you so early. If you'll come in, I'll have someone go and tell him you're here.'

'We'll go and meet them,' declared Alex at once, his relief evident. And, before the nanny could voice any objections, he anch.o.r.ed Kate with a hand at her wrist, and strode away.

They went around to the back of the house, where the Wyatts' stables adjoined a walled garden.

It was not a professional operation like Alex's, but one or two horses nodded over the gates of the stalls. Apparently unaware that he was still gripping her wrist, Alex led the way down a path between the garden and a barn. As they reached the end of the path, Kate could see the paddock the nanny had mentioned, and a little girl, riding a sorrel pony, being led around the gra.s.sy enclosure by an elderly man with a deerstalker pulled down over his ears.

Alex's hand tightened around her wrist for a moment and then, as if realising he might be hurting her, he let her go. And, in the same instant, the little girl noticed them, and her excited cries of, 'Daddy, Daddy,' caused the elderly man to turn his head in their direction.

The look Conrad Wyatt bestowed on his son-in-law was full of malevolence, and Kate, who had tended to regard the explanation Alex had given her as an exaggeration until now, s.h.i.+vered. There was so much resentment in the old man's gaze and a hatred that bordered on violence. She could believe anything of him, she realised incredulously, and she looked at Alex to see how he would react.

But, to her relief, the younger man wasn't even looking at his father-in-law. His attention was focussed on his daughter, and, ignoring her grandfather's warning, Rachel swung her leg across the saddle and, releasing her foot from the stirrup, slid excitedly to the ground. Then, tossing her helmet on the gra.s.s, she ran towards the white railings, and Alex leant across the barrier and plucked her into his arms.

'h.e.l.lo, sweetheart.'

His voice was gentler than Kate had ever heard it, and the little girl wrapped her arms about his neck. 'I thought you were never coming!' she exclaimed, pressing her pink cheek against his neck.

'Grandpa said you'd prob'ly forgotten. Like you did last week.'

Kate saw Alex's expression darken. 'Last week?' he echoed ominously as the old man handed the reins of the pony to a waiting groom and came towards them, and Kate wanted to grasp his arm and warn him not to say anything aggressive.

'Yes. Last week,' Conrad Wyatt repeated maliciously. 'Last Tuesday, as a matter of fact.

Weren't you supposed to be coming to take Rachel out for the day?'

'He couldn't come,' broke in Kate, before Alex could answer him. Rachel had lifted her head from her father's shoulder and was looking at her now, and Kate gave her a big smile. 'Didn't your grandpa tell you?' she continued, much to the amazement of both men. 'Daddy phoned to say he was really sorry but he couldn't make it. It was my fault. I'm afraid I'd made an absolute mess of some work I was doing, and your daddy had to help me out.'

'Who are you?' asked Rachel, staring at her suspiciously, and her grandfather made a sound something like a hiss.

'Yes, who are you?' he snapped. 'And what do you know about it?' He sneered. 'Oh, yes. I suppose you're another of Kellerman's women.'

'She's my personal a.s.sistant,' put in Alex coolly, and Kate could tell from his expression that he understood exactly what she was trying to do. He looked at the little girl. 'I want you to meet Kate,' he said, gesturing her towards him. 'Kate, this is Rachel.' He cast a disparaging glance in his father-in-law's direction. 'My daughter.'

'h.e.l.lo, Rachel.' Kate bestowed another warm smile on the little girl. She was a pretty little thing, though slightly underweight for her age, Kate decided, her seal-dark hair the image of her father's.

'Do you live at my daddy's house?' the child asked curiously, and before Kate could reply her grandfather gave another contemptuous snort.

'Of course she does, baby, just like all the others. Your father always had more time for his-'

'Are you coming to see your daddy's horses?' broke in Kate, before Conrad Wyatt could provoke Alex into violence. 'You're ever so lucky that your daddy has a farm. I wish mine did.'

'Rachel lives here, Miss Whoever-you-are,' ground out the old man angrily. 'And I'll thank you not to interrupt when I'm talking to my son-in-law.'

'I thought you were talking to Rachel,' remarked Alex calmly, and Kate realised he had no intention of playing the old man's game. He swung his daughter up onto his shoulders and she screamed excitedly. 'Now, if you don't mind, we're wasting far too much time. Say goodbye to your grandfather, sweetheart,' he added, and with Kate at his side he started back along the path.

'Bye, Grandpa,' Rachel shouted back over her shoulder. Then, clinging to her father's neck, she settled down to enjoy the ride.

'Don't forget to have her back for five o'clock,' Conrad Wyatt called after them. 'Any later than that and I'll be in touch with the police, Kellerman.'

'You do that,' muttered Alex, his long strides quickly opening up a s.p.a.ce between them. Kate guessed there were other words he'd have liked to use to describe his feelings, but to her relief he kept them to himself.

'Where are we going?' demanded Rachel, after her father had settled her into the back of the Range Rover and secured her seat belt. She hesitated for just a moment. 'Jamaica Hill?'

'Eventually,' agreed Alex, folding his length behind the wheel. 'As it's a fine morning, I thought you might like to go and feed the ducks first. Then Kate and I can have a coffee at the snack bar, and you can have a chocolate milk shake.'

'Oooh, can I?'

This was evidently a treat and Kate found herself smiling as she looked out of the car window.

But she would not be sorry to leave Wyvern Hall behind. Its grim faade seemed to reflect the personality of the people who lived there, and as she looked up at the windows she saw a pale face sheltering behind the gla.s.s.

Rachel's grandmother?

Kate frowned. The face was too quickly withdrawn to be seen clearly. All she got was an impression of vague hostility, and as there was no one else likely to look at her in that way she decided it must be Alex's mother-in-law. Naturally, she wouldn't approve of him bringing a woman with him, however innocent their relations.h.i.+p might be, and she was glad when Alex spoke again and distracted her attention. She didn't like the feeling that shadowy face had left her with.

'You don't mind, do you?'

Kate forced herself to remember what Alex had suggested, but his words were barely audible over the roar as he gunned the engine of the car. Still they reminded her that she'd only agreed to come with him to pick up his daughter. Glancing at Rachel again, she thought how long it seemed since she and her daughter had done anything together. Was that why Joanne had turned to shoplifting? To gain her mother's attention?

'Do you mind?'