I don’t think you’d believe it if I said I didn’t.’
‘Of course I wouldn’t,’ she answered. ‘It wasn’t only economics I learned at college, you know. I understand that men have to—gain experience of life.’
‘Such worldly wisdom in one so young,’ Rhys mocked, making her blush and punch his arm.
‘You know what I mean,’ she scolded.
He smiled down at her, a look of tender affection in his eyes. ‘Yes, urchin, I know what you mean. And have you gained some experience of life?’
The colour in her cheeks deepened. ‘No. It’s different for girls.’
‘Not all girls.’
‘Perhaps not,’ she admitted. ‘But it’s different for me—because of you.’
Rhys gave a gasping sigh. ‘Alix! You shouldn’t do this! You’re putting too much onus on me.’
She gave him a steady, earnest look. ‘Do you want to marry someone else, Rhys?’
‘No, but——
‘Not Donna Temple?’
His brows drew into a frown. ‘Who told you about her?’
‘Everyone knows about you and her. Do you want to marry her, Rhys?’
The frown deepened for a moment, then cleared, and there was a definite note in his voice as he said, ‘No, I don’t.’
‘Or anyone else?’
Amusement was coming back into his eyes. ‘Or anyone else,’ he agreed.
Alix gave a smile of pure happiness. ‘So that’s OK.’
‘Is it?’
‘Of course. You promised to marry me over sixteen years ago, and I’m going to hold you to it. Besides, if you don’t want to marry anyone else, then you might as well marry me. Everyone thinks it’s about time you settled down.’
‘“Everyone” being my parents, I take it?’ he guessed shrewdly.
‘And me.’
‘But what if you meet someone else and fall in love?’
She shook her head in absolute certainty. ‘I won’t. I’m in love with you.’
That made Rhys frown again. ‘And what if I meet someone and fall in love with her?’
Alix gazed at him for a moment, then let a mock-savage look come into her face. Stretching her hands like claws, she said, ‘Then I’ll tear her eyes out and scratch her to pieces. I’ll boil her in oil and grind her bones to dust.’
‘Ugh! Nasty.’ Rhys shook his head as if in horror, but there was amusement in his face. ‘I take it you’d be jealous?’
‘Of course I would.’ She grew suddenly serious. ‘You remember the last time we saw each other, when I was eighteen?’ He nodded. ‘Do you remember what you said then?’
Rhys gave her a wary look. ‘No, but I’ve a feeling it was probably something as unwise as that incautious answer I gave to a four-year-old imp who pushed her way into my garden—and my life.’
She smiled, liking that, and leaned towards him so that he put his arm round her. ‘I wanted you to marry me, then—when I was eighteen, I mean, but you said I’d got to wait until I was no longer a teenager and ask you again. Well, I’m not a teenager any longer, Rhys.’
He pursed his lips, sighed and nodded. ‘I was right; it was an unwise thing to say.’
‘But you did say it.’
‘So I did.’
She looked up at him, her eyes soft and radiant as stars. ‘So will you marry me, Rhys?’
For a long moment he didn’t speak, then bent to lightly kiss her parted lips. ‘You’re very special to me, Alix—but when I want to marry a girl, I’ll do the asking.’
Alix sat back, deep disappointment in her eyes, but then she frowned and said, ‘Well, I must say you’re taking a hell of a long time about it. A girl could die of frustration waiting for you to come home, you know.’
Which unexpected riposte made him give a crack of laughter and completely eased the situation again. His arm was still round her and he gave her a spontaneous hug. ‘Urchin, you are something else.’
Which she rightly took as a great compliment. Wisely, then, she changed the subject, asking him about Australia, which lasted until they reached their village.
‘Can you drop me off outside your house and I’ll walk round to mine?’
‘Don’t you want to go through the gate?’
Alix shook her head. ‘No, your parents will want you to themselves for a couple of hours.’
He raised an eyebrow. ‘Only a couple of hours?’
She grinned mischievously. ‘We’re all having dinner together at my place.’
Rhys gave a mock groan but leaned forward to tell the driver to stop. ‘I might have known. What else have they got lined up for me?’
‘Well, there’s the welcome home party, and your grandparents are coming to visit, and then——’
Rhys raised his hands in protest. ‘Enough! Enough. I can’t take any more.’
‘Well, it’s your own fault,’ Alix pointed out prosaically. ‘You shouldn’t be such a lovable hunk.’
‘“A lovable hunk”!’ Rhys gave her an outraged look. ‘I’ve been called some things in my time, but that…Get out of the car, woman; I’ll see you later.’
Alix did so with a chuckle, and walked home whistling; for the first time Rhys had called her woman instead of urchin, which to her mind was a tremendous step in the right direction.
He was home that time for over six weeks, and to Alix it was wonderful because she saw him not only when he came to Kent, but often in London, too. He drove her back to the office on Monday morning, using his own car this time, but she didn’t see him for the rest of the day. Her own office seemed to be extra busy all that morning as several members of staff seemed to visit it for little reason. One of them was Donna Temple. She had her dark hair down today, sleekly combed behind her ears and turning up at the ends. And she was wearing a dress that would have cost a whole month of Alix’s salary, but which was well worth the money, the way it stressed the length of Donna’s legs and curved in to show the narrowness of her waist. Alix was smartly and neatly dressed, but she hadn’t yet found her own style, and she knew a moment of envy for the older girl’s sophistication.
Donna’s eyes swept over Alix when she came into the room, but she talked for several minutes to one of the men about some papers she had with her, and turned to go before apparently noticing
