Part 3 (1/2)

The casual jeans and sweater he was wearing should have made him look less imposing, but somehow they didn't. He was a man who did not need expensive clothes to make one aware of his power, Heather realised, as she stepped back instinctively when confronted by him.

'Still the same old Heather,' he goaded softly. 'Still retreating into your own safe s.p.a.ce and giving off ”keep off” signs.'

'I've got the books ready for you,' she told him shortly, turning her back on him.

'What a welcome. Don't I even get offered a cup of coffee?'

He was already making his way toward the kitchen, and Heather felt the old familiar antagonism spike through her.

'I didn't think you'd want to waste time drinking coffee. Not when it was so imperative that you have the books tonight.'

'I told you, I want to go through them before we lunch tomorrow. Forget the coffee, if that's how you feel.” He shrugged, and as he moved Heather saw that he actually looked tired and strained.

Guilt attacked her. Kyle did love her parents, and his love was a stronger, more altruistic caring than her own. She knew that, and she hated the way he made her feel small-minded and mean.

'There's some made. I'll heat up some milk.'

Although he said nothing, she saw the tightening of his mouth at her curt response.

The moment he walked into the kitchen Meg greeted him with an ecstatic welcome. She obviously remembered him, and again Heather had to conquer a ridiculous surge of jealousy.

'Here's your coffee.' She put it down. 'I'll just go and get the books.'

When she brought them back he was stretched out in the chair, his eyes closed. What was it about seeing such a powerful-looking man so apparently vulnerable that brought an odd lump to her throat?

Hurriedly she cleared her throat, and immediately his head lifted. She handed him the folders and he put them down, quickly checking through them.

'There doesn't seem to be an order book here.'

'Oh, it's upstairs... I'll go and get it.'

It was in her room. She had taken it up with her last night when she'd gone to bed.

She didn't realise that Kyle had followed her upstairs until she opened the door to her room.

She had recently completed redecorating it, using oddments of fabric and wallpapers she had picked up at bargain prices. Stencils which she had designed and painted herself broke up the starkness of the plain walls, and she had experimented on her old furniture with dragging and marbling techniques to achieve what she rather proudly felt was an extremely effective up-date.

'I see you've still got Charles.'

Kyle's voice behind her made her jump and spin round, her whole body bristling with resentment at his intrusion into her own private sanctum.

Charles was her old teddy bear, and he still held pride of place on her dressing-table. She had kept him purely out of sentiment, but now, seeing him through Kyle's yes, she saw him as a symbol of a stupidly childish woman who refused to grow up. s.n.a.t.c.hing him up, she pushed him behind a curtain.

'I wasn't criticising,' Kyle told her. 'I've still got the first present your folks ever gave me. A football.'

'I remember it...' She did indeed. She could remember the day she and her parents had gone out to buy it. They had been so excited about the prospect of Kyle coming to live with them permanently, and she had been resentful and determined to be as difficult as possible.

They had wanted to buy him a fort, complete with toy soldiers, but had finally settled on the football. They had bought her a doll, which she had never touched, she remembered, sighing for the stubborn, difficult child she had been.

'Heather...'

Was that really diffidence she could hear in his voice? Abruptly she turned away, not wanting to hear whatever it was he was going to say.

'Here's the full order book. We'd better go down, your coffee will be getting cold. Or would you like to have a look at your old room while we're up here, just for ”old times' sake”?'

She bit her lip immediately she had made the sarcastic remark. What was the matter with her? Already she seemed to be doing her best to antagonise Kyle. She saw his mouth thin and tighten.

'Still the same old Heather, after all.'

The weary resignation she heard in his voice was so out of character that she stared at him. 'Kyle...'

'Forget it. I thought you'd finally grown up, Heather, but it seems I was wrong. I'll take all this stuff home with me and then we can discuss it over lunch tomorrow. How well do you know Bath?'

'Reasonably,' she responded, not sure where his question was leading.

'I own a property just outside the city. We'll meet there.'

Back in the kitchen he gave her the address and directions. Heather had a good idea where it was and a.s.sured him that she shouldn't have any problems in finding it.

'Good. I'll see you there about twelve.'

He got up and picked up all the files, leaving Heather to almost run after him as he headed for the door in long strides.

'Be careful when you're driving,' he warned her as she let him out. 'Frost and then more snow is forecast... just as well he decided to leave.'

The taunting note in his voice reminded her of Howard's hurried exit, and she demanded angrily, 'Just what exactly did you say to him?'

'What makes you think it was something I said? Perhaps he got scared and changed his mind. You've got a very hungry look about you, Heather. Some men might find that intimidating.'

'But not you, I suppose,' Heather challenged, too angry to watch her words.

'Are you trying to tell me that you actually want to find out?'

Of course she wasn't, and he knew it! This element of s.e.xual tension had never been there in their previous relations.h.i.+p of mutual antipathy, and she couldn't understand how it came to be there now. It confused and alarmed her. She wasn't used to indulging in this kind of riposte with Kyle, and when he made comments like that it threw her. As he fully intended it should do, she suspected angrily. While she hunted desperately to think up a suitably crus.h.i.+ng retort, he was already turning to leave.

'I'll see you tomorrow,' were his last words to her.

CHAPTER FOUR.

ODDLY, in view of her pending luncheon engagement with Kyle; Heather slept very well, but the moment she woke up her tension returned. Yesterday's headache was now just a vague nagging pain in the back of her neck and, while her concern over the financing of her father's operation had eased, she was now on edge in a different way.

She had told herself, from the moment she'd accepted that she would have to approach Kyle on her parents' behalf, that her memories of him were coloured by her own immaturity and jealousy, and that he could not be as all-powerful as she had imagined. It had been disturbing to discover how quickly and how easily he could make her feel fourteen years old again.

Today, though, he was not going to catch her off guard. She would be in full control. She would be calm and restrained, and they would talk about the business as though he was as remote from her personal life as her father's bank manager or accountant.

It worried her how quickly and easily he seemed to have slipped back into their lives. It was almost as though he had never been gone.