he said simply.
She looked at him steadily. ‘Are we back to that? Because I still have some things to prove to you, Mr Stevensen. And one of them is that when I do walk away from Bramble your—scalp or whatever you like to call it won’t be attached to my belt.’
‘That’s a very rash statement, Chessie,’ he murmured.
‘Just wait and see.’
He considered for a moment, then said with a faint shrug and a wry little look, ‘Aren’t you at all afraid of the opposite happening?’
‘Opposite to what?’
‘Well. in light of my “unbelievable liberties”, quote unquote, mightn’t I have designs on your scalp?’
‘You know, I almost wish you would,’ she said thoughtfully, and there was a sudden glint of contempt in her eyes. ‘For the sheer pleasure of knocking you back as well as proving to you that you’re no better than the rest of them, despite the high moral tone you’ve taken with me. But in fact you’ll have to content yourself with this—one hint of any further liberties, even in anger, and I will leave you and your daughter high and dry.’
He gazed at her, then smiled suddenly. ‘It should be an interesting fortnight—but I give you my word; if you’re happy to leave me alone in that... er...direction, I shall be only too happy to do the same for you.’
The glint in Francesca’s eyes changed from contempt to anger, but Jess and Sarah came into the study at that point. And Raefe stood up to say, ‘Well, we’ve got Chessie for a while longer, at least, so why don’t you plan your trip to Brisbane, Sarah?’
CHAPTER THREE
‘I HOPE you don’t feel as if I’m—imposing,’ Sarah said that afternoon. Francesca was helping her to pack and Raefe had taken Jess for a drive to inspect stock and fences.
‘Why should I think that?’
Sarah gazed at her. ‘I just thought I detected a slight restraint in you.’
Francesca bent over the suitcase on the floor and laid a linen skirt neatly in it. ‘She’ll be fine with me, I promise you.’
‘It’s strange,’ Sarah said after a moment, ‘but I’ve got the feeling I know you, Fran. I’ve had it since we first met—silly, of course, because I’ve racked my brains and I know we haven’t ever met.’
Francesca sat back on her heels, pushed her toffee hair back and considered. Then she said, ‘You’ve probably seen me on what your brother so scathingly calls the “social pages”.’ She turned to Sarah and added levelly, ‘I’m afraid I’ve misled you.’ And she told Raefe’s sister the bare bones of how she’d come to be at Bramble Downs.
Sarah sat transfixed for half a minute as it all sank in, then she said in an awed voice, ‘You didn’t—I mean, you did, obviously, but how brave!’
Francesca grimaced. ‘Not so much brave—I have an awful temper, and impossibly high-handed ways at times—but what really annoyed me was his assumption that I was a glamorous but useless and spoilt little rich girl.’
Sarah blinked.
‘Perhaps 1 shouldn’t have told you—if it’s going to worry you,’ Francesca said after a pause. ‘But I’ll tell Jess my real name and I do promise I’ll take great care of her, I won’t let it affect her.’
Sarah came to life. ‘I’m quite sure Raefe wouldn’t do anything to affect her adversely either—she’s so precious to him. No, I’m consumed with admiration. Raefe’s got such a mind of his own—has had since he was a baby,’ she said wryly.
‘You’re not wrong,’ Francesca agreed drily.
‘You’ll probably find he admires you underneath it all,’ Sarah suggested after a moment’s thought.
Francesca stood up and smiled down at this sometimes sad woman she’d come to like a lot. ‘I wouldn’t bank on it.’
‘But-that is what you’ve set out to prove, more or less, isn’t it?’
Francesca had turned away, and was glad she had because Sarah’s words unearthed a strange feeling at the pit of her stomach. But she managed to say slowly, ‘Not to make him like me, if that’s what you mean—I don’t think we could ever see eye to eye as much as that. It’s just...’ She stopped and sighed suddenly.
‘It’s not that easy to avoid publicity with a high-profile name like mine. A lot of it is speculation—although, I have to admit, there are times when my...’ she hesitated ’...temperament leads me into falling into traps of my own making. But—oh, well...’ She shrugged.
‘And people, particularly men, can be quite dense sometimes, can’t they?’ Sarah said sombrely.
Francesca grimaced. ‘They’re certainly quite prone to believing the worst of me.’
She turned back to Sarah and they suddenly exchanged smiles of understanding that gave Francesca an oddly warm feeling.
Early the following morning a helicopter from Banyo Air landed on the lawn and Sarah left for Cairns and eventually Brisbane. Raefe, Francesca and Jess waved her off.
It was Francesca who noticed that Jess, as the little craft rose, hovered then flew away like a noisy bird, seemed to droop.
‘Why don’t we go for a swim?’ she said casually. ‘We can try some more backstroke—and don’t forget I promised to build you the biggest sandcastle in the world today!’
Jess brightened immediately, and Raefe Stevensen said, ‘Yes, why don’t we?’
Francesca turned to him abruptly with her nostrils pinched, her mouth set in a grim line, but Jess was so obviously delighted to have her father along as well that she turned away immediately and schooled herself to behave as normally as possible.
She would have been even more annoyed, although not entirely surprised, had she been able to read his mind. Because Raefe Stevensen was watching her taut back at the same time as he found himself thinking, nearly got you there, Chessie Valentine—it’s not going to be as easy as you think, is it, my beautiful termagant? I wonder how many men you have driven out of their minds with your wilful ways and that gorgeous body?
‘I can do it! I can do it!’ Jess sang excitedly, then stopped and sank as she swallowed a mouthful of water.
Raefe brought her up, spluttering. ‘The trick is probably not to talk while you’re doing it—don’t you agree, Chessie?’
Francesca nodded, and did some backstroke herself while Raefe patiently took his daughter through the motions again. The water was like pale blue glass as it stretched away to the horizon, and the sky was the same blue, while the air was starting to shimmer with heat. It should have been a pleasant experience, this swim, she mused, before the fierce power of the sun turned the water tepid. But she felt uncomfortable and tense.
Mindful
