'What she means is,' said Tanya with a smile of toleration in her eyes as she looked at Connie, 'that I'm not much of a gourmet where food's concerned, and now she can show off her culinary talent.'
'Oh, go along with you!' exclaimed Connie with a faraway look in her eye, already planning the evening meal in her mind. `Kade doesn't like it too late,' she muttered, 'so we'll make it seven-thirty:
It was infuriating, thought Tanya, how even the mealtimes had to be fixed to accommodate Kade. 'I hope that's all right with you?' she asked Lloyd in an attempt to show Connie that Lloyd was the guest, not Kade.
'That suits me fine,' replied Lloyd, favouring Connie with a wide grin. 'My views are the same as Kade's. I guess, like me, he sometimes likes to catch up on his paper work in the evenings, and late dinners knock a hole in the evening.'
If Lloyd had been out to please Connie, he couldn't have chosen a better way than to agree with Kade's views, and Connie's answering smile proved this. Tanya knew that she would have her work cut out to put a dent in Kade's popularity stakes. She looked at Connie, now ascertaining Lloyd's likes and dislikes in the food line, and discovering he possessed no particular fads, he went up in Connie's esteem and joined Kade on that high pedestal that up until now she had reserved for Kade alone.
As there were now two for lunch, Connie asked Tanya if she would take Lloyd through to the lounge and provide him with a sherry while she laid the table in the dining room for their lunch.
Connie was definitely impressed by Lloyd, Tanya mused, as she carried out her orders, for usually she ate her meals with Connie in the kitchen, the dining room being reserved for evening meals only when company was expected.
It wasn't only the fact that Lloyd had expressed his approval of Kade's views. It was more than that, she thought, as she handed Lloyd a glass of sherry. Anyone could have expressed the same sentiments, but
Connie was not so easily impressed. Tanya had noted the way her sharp eyes had done their own summing up of the tall American, and knew that he came out on the credit side of Connie's theoretical balance sheet.
'I suppose I ought to have let you know I was coming,' he began apologetically as Tanya picked up her glass of sherry and sat down beside him on the chaiselongue. 'There wasn't all that time, though,' he went on. 'I just made up my mind on the spur of the moment, and here I am.'
Tanya smiled at him. 'I should have written,' she said. 'It's odd, really. To think I was writing to you only yesterday, and here you are! And I'm so pleased to see you, Lloyd,' she said mistily. 'I'm only hoping you can stay long enough for me to show you around.. I'm sure Kade will understand if I take a vacation,' she added, privately thinking that he couldn't very well refuse her request. The only snag being that he might take it upon himself to do the 'showing around', even though it was Tanya that Lloyd had come to visit.
'I guess I can spare a few weeks,' he replied with that same tolerant smile that somehow hurt her because she remembered how it was before. Then he was serious again. 'Of course I'm staying,' he said firmly. 'I want to find out how things are with you. From what I've learnt so far, the situation has changed from what you expected to find when you returned home.'
Tanya sipped her sherry slowly. She knew she had to be very careful here. Whatever she told Lloyd might inadvertently be passed on to Kade, for Lloyd was going to see a lot of Kade in the next few weeks. Kade was never slow on the uptake and it wouldn't be long
before he gave Lloyd his version of the differences between them. She could almost hear him saying to Lloyd, 'She needs time to settle down, so don't encourage her to move on,'—or words to that effect, she thought shrewdly, and Lloyd would listen to Kade, and her chance would be lost.
Her slim forefinger tapped the rim of her glass as she replied slowly, 'That's true enough. But remember that I didn't have much to do with the business side of the firm before. Father always dropped that end of affairs whenever I visited. It's only recently that I've been given an insight into that side of it.' She gave Lloyd a wry smile. 'I don't really know what I expected when I returned. The fact that Father—' she gave a light sigh. 'Well, one never expects that sort of thing, and of course it threw me. Kade,' she said carefully, 'tried to help by throwing me into the business, but the bald fact that it's his business now and not mine makes me feel an encumbrance on his goodwill.' She swallowed here. Goodwill was hardly the word, but she was determined not to give Kade any cause to fight her on this point.
'There's also the fact that he promised my father that he would watch out for me, and he's got a bit of a thing about it.' She gave a light shrug. 'Oh, he means well, I know, but it still makes me feel a bit awkward about things. But I suppose it will all settle down,' she ended lamely, realising a little too late that in spite of her determination to give Lloyd the chance of backing out of his offer to give her a home, she had done exactly the opposite, and he must now feel compelled to honour his pledge.
'And if it doesn't?' queried Lloyd, his earnest brown
eyes searching her grey-green ones. 'Will you promise me that you'll accept my offer of a home? That's the reason why I've come, Tanya. I got to remembering how it was when we last saw each other, and wasn't too sure that I'd got through to you. I guess I wasn't too coherent myself at that time. When I didn't hear from you I kept wondering how you were faring, and decided to take a little action, and I'm glad I did,' he ended quietly.
Tanya felt a surge of gratitude flow through her. She didn't deserve such a good friend, especially when she had practically forced him to make the offer. If she had been in any way doubtful of his sincerity, she would have found a way of refusing the offer without hurting his feelings, but she did not attempt any such gambit. She needed a bolthole, and Lloyd wanted to look after her.
There would be time enough in the future to look again at what life might hold in store for her. What that future contained she had no idea, she only knew that there was nothing but unhappiness for her at Orchard Farm—or at best, a happiness tinged with bitter sweetness, because she would go on loving Kade. He had once said that she had tried to make him notice her as a woman. In actual fact, it was the other way around. She had tried her best to keep their relationship on a business footing, but it hadn't worked; Kade had seen to that.
When she recalled the look of triumph in his hooded eyes when he had finished punishing her the previous day, she felt a wave of hopelessness wash over her, and her fingers clenched round her glass as she replied to the watchful Lloyd, 'I promise to come to you when
I've fulfilled my obligation to Kade.' She then told him about her agreement to stay on for six months. 'I'm not making a very good business woman,' she said quietly. 'But at least I can say I tried. And really,' she added thoughtfully, 'I think that's all Kade asks of me—to give it a try.'
In a way it was the truth, she thought afterwards. Kade wanted nothing more from her than that she should comply with his wishes on this matter. It was the method that he was using to gain her compliance that had frightened her.
Now that the question of her future was definitely settled in her mind, Tanya was able to concentrate on other matters, such as showing Lloyd around her home state, for this was his first visit to Tasmania.
Her worries that Kade might prove a trifle awkward, and insist on accompanying them on their sightseeing tours, proved to be unfounded, for no such suggestion was made at dinner that evening when the plan was discussed.
It took a little while for the fact to sink into the amazed Tanya that Kade was actually in favour of the proposal, even suggesting certain places of interest that they could visit, and went so far as to offer to provide Lloyd with a detailed map of the areas to be visited.
This state of affairs was extremely puzzling to her. She wondered just how long he intended to stand on the sidelines. It was not like the Kade she had come to know during the last few weeks of their stormy relationship, and she couldn't help wondering what was behind his complacent agreement to her removal from the work scene.
It could have been that he was trying to impress upon Lloyd the fact that she was free to do as she wished. He knew who Lloyd was, and must have worked out the reason behind his visit. Her bemused gaze lingered first on Kade and then on Lloyd, as she listened to them expounding on the intricacies of load-
ing charges, a side issue that affected both men, although one was a fruit farmer and the other a cattleman.
Kade ought to have taken umbrage at Lloyd's presence on the scene, not to mention why he had decided to make the sudden visit, but here they were in complete accordance with one another as though they had known each other for years.
Her gaze lingered on Lloyd, who at that moment was nodding in agreement with something that Kade had said, and she noticed a touch of silver at the side of his brown hair that lent him an air of seniority, and brought back memories of her father. Not that Lloyd and her father had anything in common. Her father might have had a stubborn streak in him, but he had been a quiet man who rarely disclosed his thoughts.
'Try some of that cream cheese on a biscuit,' urged Connie, breaking into Tanya's reverie. 'You didn't eat much,' she complained, as she put the coffee tray down on the table beside her.
Tanya looked up at Connie resplendent in her best black and white dress, and wearing an air of satisfied bustle about her. She could not say the same of the men's appetite, Tanya thought with an inward smile as she recalled the way they had done justice to her cooking, and their complimentary remarks when she had cleared the first course had left her in no doubt of their appreciation. Lloyd had added the crowning touch by asking her to provide him with her recipe for the chicken chasseur, saying it was the finest he had ever tasted.
Not wanting to put a damper on Connie's culinary triumph, Tanya complied with her request, although she had had sufficient to eat.
When Connie had served the coffee and returned to the kitchen quarters, Tanya went back to her musings and this time concentrated her thoughts on Kade.
His dark blue business suit and cream shirt with matching tie looked as if he had dressed for dinner, but Tanya rather suspected that it was the suit that he had worn at the convention and that he had not bothered to change back into his casual wear. She could not see him making an effort to impress anyone, it wasn't in character, although it could be argued that Lloyd's immaculate dark grey pinstripe might have had something to do with it, but Tanya doubted it.
Her silent assessment of the two men went on as they continued to discuss various aspects of their working areas. She was content to sit and listen to them. Lloyd's rather soft intonations were just as compelling to listen to as were Kade's deep authoritative-sounding comments.
They were very much alike, Tanya thought, for each played a leading role in their respective domains. If it came to a direct clash between them Tanya would have found it difficult to select a winner, for they were both instinctive fighters to whom defeat was not to be contemplated.
As these thoughts went through her mind her eyes rested on Kade's strong clean-cut features. Had he sensed that Lloyd would be a worthy opponent should
hostilities ever break out between them? Tanya was certain that he had, for in spite of their attitude of bonhomie towards each other, she had sensed a certain wariness between them as if they were circling around each other and assessing one another. It was not unlike the law of the jungle—caution first, then attack! Tanya gave herself a mental shake
at this thought. What on earth made her think that? Had Kade's calm acceptance of Lloyd's presence, and his almost eager agreement that she should absent herself from the business scene and entertain Lloyd, made her conjure up a situation that did not exist?
After another moment's thought she had to admit that this was a possibility. Womanlike, she had felt a little piqued at Kade's refusal to adopt an aggressive attitude towards the man who was intent on claiming responsibility for her future—a future that had nothing to do with Orchard Farm.
She sighed inwardly. It was all very strange and she wished she had the answers.
Tanya was to find that Kade's seemingly strange behaviour got stranger as time went on. The proposed trips were carried out with Lloyd armed with the maps Kade had provided, driving them to their destinations. Not once did Kade attempt to join them, not even at the weekends when he was free from work.
Only at the dinners in the evenings did he put in an appearance, and Tanya wondered why he bothered to make a point of this as he seemed determined to stay out of the picture and give Lloyd free access to Tanya's company.
The dinners were pleasant enough, with Lloyd commenting on the day's sightseeing and Kade listening with studious tolerance at Lloyd's appreciative remarks on the natural beauties of Australia's smallest state.
Lloyd did not, Tanya noticed with gratitude, expound on similar wonders in his own country, or attempt to underrate the scenic splendours by comparison to the wonders of his native land, although he
had once said to her how much he was looking forward to showing her around the States, but this was not in any way a boastful statement.