wanted to tell him sharply that she didn’t need help, thanks, but her intrinsic honesty prevailed. She said quietly, ‘I have an aunt on my mother’s side, but she didn’t want her family involved—and who can blame her? Anyway, it doesn’t matter.’
‘Of course it matters,’ he said. ‘You’re a human being, although you do your best, most of the time, to pretend you’re some kind of robot.’ He stopped abruptly. ‘Oh, for God’s sake, I didn’t mean that.’ He paused. ‘Look, can I ask you something before I stumble into any more verbal disasters?’
‘If you want.’ Robot, she thought. Grey robot. That said it all.
‘Would you have dinner with me this evening?’
For the first time in her life, Chessie felt her jaw drop. ‘I—I don’t understand.’
‘It’s quite simple. It may not seem like it, but I’ve had a really good day. My agent has actually sold Maelstrom to Evening Star Films, and they want me to write the first draft of the screenplay, so there’s a slight chance of part of my original concept surviving.’
She saw his smile so seldom that she’d forgotten what a charge it could pack, lighting his whole face with charm, and turning his eyes to sapphire. Forcing her to startled acknowledgement of his attraction.
‘I’d really like to celebrate,’ he went on. ‘And as Maelstrom was the first book you were involved with, I’d be honoured if you’d join me.’
She continued to stare at him.
Finally, he said, ‘You do eat—don’t you?’
‘Yes—but …’
‘But what?’
Chessie moved her hands defensively. ‘It’s a kind thought, but I don’t think we should. After all, this is quite a small village.’
‘I was asking you to dinner,’ he said with studied patience. ‘Not to bed. If you want, I’ll put a notice to that effect in the parish magazine.’
Her face warmed. ‘I’m sure you find it all very parochial and amusing,’ she said. ‘But I’ve managed to establish that ours is strictly a working relationship, which is important as we live under the same roof. If I’m seen having dinner with you, people might assume—things have changed. And that could embarrass both of us.’
And I’ve lived through one lot of gossip and scandal, she added silently. I don’t relish the thought of any more.
‘I really don’t embarrass that easily.’ He sounded amused. ‘But I could always call in a builder, and have the communicating door between your flat and the rest of the house bricked up. That should silence the clacking tongues.’
‘I’m trying to be serious,’ she protested.
‘And, for once, I’m trying to be frivolous, not with any conspicuous success,’ he added drily. ‘Can’t you look on the invitation as an expression of gratitude—an additional bonus? Anyway—’ he cast her a frowning but all-encompassing glance ‘—you look as if you could do with a square meal. You could rent out your collar-bones as saltcellars.’
‘Thank you,’ Chessie said with something of a snap. ‘But I don’t think—’
‘Precisely,’ Miles interrupted flatly. ‘Don’t think. Do something on impulse for a change. It’s only a meal, for heaven’s sake.’ He paused, his face hardening. ‘Or do you find my physical appearance distressing? Because I can assure you all the worst scars are hidden.’
‘No.’ Her flush deepened. ‘That’s a terrible thing to imply.’
‘It happens,’ he returned. ‘I was living with someone before the ill-fated assignment. We’d talked about marriage—made plans. When I came out of hospital and she saw me without my clothes for the first time, she didn’t want to know any more.’ He paused. ‘And that is a matter of pure fact—not a plea for sympathy.’
‘You’ve made it more than clear that sympathy is the last thing you want, Mr Hunter.’ She hesitated. ‘But I will have dinner with you—if that’s what you want.’
‘Thank you,’ he said quietly. ‘Do you think you could bend another rule, and call me Miles?’
Chessie felt suddenly confused. This, she thought, is not right, and I should put a stop to it, here and now.
Instead, she heard herself say awkwardly, ‘Very well—Miles.’
He nodded gravely. ‘Absolutely the right decision. I’ll see you out by the car at eight.’
He limped across to the adjoining study and went in, closing the door behind him.
Chessie looked blankly at the computer. The screensaver had clicked on, and she was confronted by a series of coloured geometric patterns, endlessly changing shape as they whirled slowly in front of her.
I know, she thought, how they feel.
It was turning into a day for surprises, and she wasn’t sure she cared for any of them. Particularly the latest one.
Had she really committed herself to going to dinner with Miles Hunter? she asked herself incredulously.
She thought, Well, it’s too late to turn back now, and shivered as if she’d found herself on the edge of some nameless danger …
And that was a complete overreaction, she added flatly, probably brought on by reading too many thrillers by Miles Hunter. From now on, she’d switch to biographies about people who’d led very boring lives.
After all—and he’d said it himself—it was only a meal.
‘THE Ogre’s asked you out to dinner?’ Jenny looked blank with disbelief. ‘And you’ve actually accepted.’ She shook her head. ‘God, Chessie, you must be out of your tree.’
Chessie shrugged defensively. ‘I don’t see why. Something marvellous happened for him today, and he wants to celebrate.’
‘Don’t tell me,’ Jenny said derisively. ‘They’ve invented a mask for him to wear—like the Phantom of the Opera.’
Chessie stared at her, appalled. ‘What an utterly foul thing to say,’ she said slowly. ‘Miles is my boss, and we owe him a great deal, yet you can’t say one decent word to him, or about him.’
‘Owe him?’ Jenny’s face reddened. ‘What the hell do we owe him? He’s taken our home away from us, and he’s making us pay for it by treating us like drudges.’
‘Really?’ snapped Chessie. ‘Well, I haven’t noticed much drudgery from your direction. And if Miles hadn’t bought this house, someone else would have done so, and we’d have been out on our ears. There was no way we could keep it. Why can’t I get that through to you?’
Jenny looked mutinous. ‘Well, I
