Authors: Unknown
Silently she climbed behind the wheel and started the engine. But before she could engage the gears, he demanded, ‘What did happen to you yesterday?’
She turned to meet the hard eyes, but a gleam in their depths hinted at the suspicion of an olive branch. Suddenly, she didn’t want to fight and her customary sense of humour got the better of her. With a dimple in her cheek she answered, ‘Ran out of petrol.’
There was resignation in Rex’s drawl. ‘I suppose I might have guessed. How like a woman! Anyway, you’re forgiven for having me worrying about you lying somewhere in a ditch,’ he ended, and his hand came down on the denim covering the thigh almost touching his own. Trying to make up her mind how to deal with this totally unexpected gesture, Davina was motionless, when suddenly the hand was removed and, ‘Are we going to sit here all the rest of the morning?’ Rex enquired in a harsh voice.
Back to normal, she thought, as she let the handbrake off. Rather to her surprise, however, Rex kept up a friendly conversation all the way back to Nineveh, their only unharmonious moment coming when Davina, with the ward Sister’s instructions in her mind, nipped smartly out to open the gate before he had time to uncoil his long legs.
‘I’m not completely helpless,’ he barked as she got in again.
‘No one said you were, but that leg must be a bit stiff still,’ she said in a gentle voice. With only a, ‘Don’t try and treat me like an invalid,' Rex let the episode pass, and he didn’t speak again until Davina braked outside the porch door.
Peter McKay was cleaning some of the horse’s tack and the old shepherd was placidly smoking beside a roaring fire, almost, Davina thought with amusement, as if they belonged to Nineveh Farm by right. As soon as the inner door had opened to reveal Rex, the boy sprang up with a light almost of hero-worship in his blue eyes as he ran round the table.
Rex put out a long arm and held him off. ‘Steady, young man! I’m not up to wrestling yet.’
‘Can I see your stitches?’ Peter demanded, in no way put out by being kept at arm’s length. Peter even grinned when Rex said dourly, ‘No, you may not,’ before turning to greet the old man.
‘Everything all right, Mr Farr? Stupid of me, wasn’t it, to come a cropper. I thought one of the ewes was in trouble and was turning back to have another look.’
The shepherd took his pipe out of his mouth and said, ‘I had the whole lot up for Mr Thomas to have a look at this afternoon. Seemed to me there wasn’t none missing. Only two in’t barn, that is. But you knew about them, Gaffer, afore you were took bad.’
‘That’s fine,’ Rex replied, and drawing out a chair, he sat down and stretched out his injured leg. As if this might be taken as a sign of weakness he looked across at Davina and said, ‘What about something to eat? I haven’t been offered a decent cup of tea for days,’ he finished, and as Davina turned she was smiling.
The sheer pleasure of seeing Rex occupying his usual chair had almost driven thoughts of Adele to the back of her mind, but now they returned and as she began scrambling eggs and making toast, she wondered what had happened to the gay divorcee. It was strange she had not put in an appearance— but then Adele was a law unto herself.
It was odd behaviour even by her standards, Davina decided, for surely collecting Rex and bringing him up to Nineveh was more important than arranging a celebration party. Perhaps Adele would be turning up later with, no doubt, a perfectly plausible explanation for her absence.
But the afternoon passed, supper prepared and eaten and Peter and the old man restored to their respective homes with still no sign of Adele Wickham’s sleek sports car, and it did not appear as if Rex was expecting her, for he threw a last cigarette away as the clock chimed nine and announced his intention of having an early night.
Pleased that she had the forethought to pull the curtains in his bedroom and turn on the portable heater before she went to start the Land Rover, Davina asked in a casual voice if he would like a last hot drink when he was in bed, and was unprepared for the sudden gleam which a Rex’s deep-set eyes.
‘Thanks, but no, thanks. I’d welcome a cup of tea in the morning around six, though.’
‘You’re never thinking of getting up at that hour?’ Davina asked before she could control her rash tongue, to be greeted with an impatient, ‘Don’t you start fussing, for heaven’s sake I’ Then as he was about to shut the door, ‘Anyway, the Florence Nightingale bit doesn’t suit your image.’
As she angrily began to tidy the kitchen and set a tray for the morning she thought how satisfying it would have been to have hurled something heavy in Rex’s direction, for that last remark had been said purposely to catch her on the raw. At least temper cured an urge to burst into tears, she thought as she sat down to write to her mother before getting ready for bed herself. Not for the first time since she had discovered Rex Fitzpaine’s relationship to Barr Patterson, Davina wished she could have wept out the whole miserable saga on her mother’s sympathetic shoulder. Helen Williams had thought Rex a charming man during the days he had spent under her mother’s roof. What would she think of him if she knew the kind of punishment he was meting out to her beloved elder daughter?
But when she carried in the tea tray the following morning and she caught a glimpse of Rex’s drawn face Davina was glad she had delayed awakening him until after seven. Expecting an abrasive comment, she was surprised to find he made no remark about ‘disobedient employees’, but simply sat up to take the cup she was holding out.
He drank the strong, hot brew with relish and as he held out the cup for a refill his eyes were on Davina’s damp curls. ‘Left me any water for a bath?*
‘I’d give it half an hour to get really hot again. Don’t worry —I don’t mind keeping breakfast back,’ and Davina picked up the tray and whisked herself out of the room, inordinately pleased by the small victory.
Rex lingered over his breakfast and showed no sign of being in any hurry to get back to his beloved sheep, until he saw Davina begin to put on her waterproof over trousers preparatory to going out. As his eyebrows shot up questioningly she said, ‘The track is negotiable for the time being, so I’m going to take a double lot of extra feed up for the sheep.’
‘My chore, I think.’ Rex twitched off her woollen cap with the words and put her anorak out of reach. ‘The leg’s quite up to driving this morning, so you stick to household chores. You can check the generator if you really want to help,’ he added as he shrugged into a parka and was gone.
Anxiously Davina watched him cross the yard, almost wishing Adele were there to make him behave with a modicum of common sense. What would that hospital Sister say if she could see her patient right this moment? At least he wasn’t limping today, she noticed as she turned to get on with her work.
All the morning, the sky grew steadily darker, and as well as checking the generator, Davina brought plenty of fuel into the outer porch and put a spare Calor gas cylinder in the larder in case of emergency. She was not surprised to hear as lunch was eaten that on the old shepherd’s advice, the sheep had been moved nearer the house. ‘You could be snowed in for days,’ Mr Farr informed them with all the relish of a Jeremiah, and his bright, knowing eyes switching from Davina’s face to that of the tall man sitting at the head of the table.
It was beginning to go dark as the first snowflakes began to fall. Wishing Rex would come in and rest, Davina made up the fire and then put on all the portable gas heaters, because if the old man was right, they were in for one of the coldest nights of the winter. She heard the Land Rover roar away down the lane and guessed Rex was taking the shepherd home before the road became impassable, and half an hour later her face lit up with unconcealed relief as she heard his return.
He came into the kitchen shaking snow in every direction. ‘You must be frozen,’ she said, and leaving the scone mixture she turned to put on the kettle. ‘I’ll soon have these in the oven,’ she began, then stopped as Rex threw down his coat and came to stand right in her path, a curiously triumphant expression on his face.
His long arms came out to imprison her as he said, ‘Now, Miss Williams, I’ve got you where I want you at last. We are about to be cut off for several days, by the look of things.’
So he
was
going to make the most of their enforced imprisonment and take up where he had left off the morning of his accident, Davina thought, and her anger lent her strength she didn’t know she possessed. Eyes sparkling with fury, she put two floury hands against his dark pullover and pushed him away, flinging back her head to ask, ‘And what is Adele going to say when I tell her how you behave behind her back?’
Surprise crossed Rex’s face, but he wasn’t startled enough to let Davina go completely. His hands closed over her upper arms and holding her firmly he gave her a small shake. ‘What’s Adele got to do with us?’
‘Everything, I imagine, since you’re engaged to be married.’ Apart from his brows twitching together, Rex was completely motionless after she had spat out her challenge. Then he looked down to ask in a deep, soft drawl, ‘Since when?’ Davina tried to pull away from the firm hold, but his hands were clamped firmly. Still a prisoner, she shrugged. ‘How should I know? You were holding hands with her the other afternoon, and Sister told me your fiancée was with you.’ Trying to sound supremely unconcerned as she replied to Rex’s laconic question, she was annoyed to find her voice wobbled ominously with the last words.
Rex gave a short laugh. ‘How typical of Adele! So that’s how she managed to get in to see me before visiting hours. I suppose I might have guessed. It never occurred to her that she might be complicating things for me.’
This was hardly the sort of thing one expected from a newly engaged man and Davina’s eyes opened wide. Rex looked down into them and for perhaps the first time since they’d met, his glance held a hint of apology.
‘I’ve been trying to get her to see sense and go back to that husband of hers for some time. She’s the kind of woman who needs the sort of life he can offer—a social round with no expense spared. She’s not the sort to rough it in the country and above all she needs a man around, preferably one who won’t stand too much nonsense. Wickham seemed to me to fit the bill and it was simply a case of getting Adele to see which side her bread was buttered, if you’ll pardon the expression. Apparently I got through to her—and just in time too. The day after she rang him up and asked him to take her back, she found out he’ll be getting a tide in the next Honours List. Adele was holding my hand simply by way of thanks. Strange, but the thought of being Lady Wickham is her idea of heaven.’
As she tried to absorb this information, Davina stood quite still until the spluttering of the kettle behind her caused Rex to say a soft ‘damn’ as he released her to lift it off the flame. He turned back to look down at Davina’s thoughtful face and say commandingly, ‘That reminds me, why didn’t you tell me your part in the rescue? Farr told me this afternoon that but for your quick thinking I’d have lost a lot of blood.’
‘One acts instinctively in an emergency,’ she hedged, but Rex swung her round so that the light fell full on her face.
‘Do you instinctively embrace all the people you administer to?’ Rex asked, and as she began to blush added, ‘Yes, it wasn’t cricket, was it, the old man giving you away like that. But he knows how I feel about you and he’s doing his best to play Cupid.’
The flush died as Davina looked a question. She said slowly, ‘How you feel about me? He can hardly know the truth or he’d be playing Mephistopheles, not Cupid,’ she ended bitterly.
To her surprise, Rex dragged her into his arms and his voice above her head held a note of remorse. ‘Oh, Davina, have you forgotten the morning I had my accident? What happened before I left the house? I thought I’d made myself plain.’
‘Plain that you found me physically attractive, yes.’ Davina’s voice was muffled.
‘Physically and mentally. Now I know why the police leave hostages alone with their captors. It becomes increasingly difficult to regard their feelings with indifference.’
‘Yet only a few days ago you brought your brother up here without warning me. Did you imagine I’d enjoy seeing his disability?’ Davina demanded, and struggled to escape his hold. Rex gave an odd laugh, pulled her even closer and laid his cheek on top of her head.
‘Try to understand.’ Davina stayed motionless, for he was actually pleading and she could hardly believe her ears. ‘Mother’s behaviour didn’t exactly give me a high regard for your sex and I’d been feeding my hatred of you as the cause of Barr’s attempted suicide for a long time. But you were not a bit as I expected, and the first hint I got from your attitude to your family that you were not just another heartless good time girl was borne out by the way you got down to tackling this place. I’d bought it mainly for its dilapidation and was expecting tears and recriminations, but not a bit of it. Even when I told you precisely why I’d brought you up here and forced you into staying, you still kept that firm little chin gallantly in the air. Though I wouldn’t admit it even to myself, you’d got right under my skin.’
Davina moved and as Rex raised his head, she looked up to meet his eyes. ‘No one would have guessed. You were hateful,’ she stated flatly, keeping every trace of feeling out of voice and look.
‘And I invited Barr here more to pinch myself than you,’ Rex went on, looking down at her from his great height. ‘But if I’d had any idea of how genuinely upset you’d be ...’ His voice trailed off as they stared into one another’s eyes.
Davina could not resist that look. She reached up and stroked his face. ‘Trying to make me believe that melted your hard heart?’
‘It had melted long before.’ There was a smile in Rex’s eyes. ‘The ice had been chipped away bit by bit by a chit of a girl I could break in half with one hand tied.’
As if to add weight to this statement, he wound one long arm round Davina’s waist and cupped her chin in his other hand. ‘I got so that I was afraid to be in the same room with you,’ he confessed,