wet.’
‘So am I,’ he retorted, and then, with an impatient glance back towards the house, he bundled her into the car and got in beside her, forcing her to scramble over into the passenger seat.
The Renault was a small car, hardly big enough to accommodate a man of his size, and with the rain drumming on the roof outside and running in a concealing shroud down the windows, Catherine felt a suffocating sense of constriction. Their combined breathing clouded the windows, concealing them behind its enveloping mist, and she shifted as far away from him as the narrow confines of the car would allow.
‘Now …’ Rafe rested his elbow upon the steering wheel and pushed back his hair with a weary hand. ‘Let’s get one thing straight, shall we? No decision has been made, whatever my wife may have said—–’
‘I don’t believe you!’
‘Why not?’
Catherine bent her head. ‘Why should your wife lie, Mr Glyndower?’
Rafe sighed. ‘She wasn’t lying—–’
‘There you are, then!’ Catherine was indignant.
‘—she was—anticipating.’
‘In other words, she knows what your decision is going to be!’ declared Catherine, sniffing as drops of rain trickled down her nose from the dampness of her hair. ‘You’re splitting hairs, Mr Glyndower.’
‘I’m speaking the truth,’ he retorted, turning his head to gaze impatiently at the clouded windows. ‘For God’s sake, I don’t know why I’m telling you this. Like Lucy says, this has nothing to do with you, Catherine.’
‘I think it does, Mr Glyndower.’
‘And for God’s sake, stop calling me Mr Glyndower.’
Her breath caught in her throat. ‘What would you have me call you, Mr Glyndower? Rafe? I don’t think your wife would like that.’
He turned to look at her then, and she flinched beneath the cold contempt in his eyes. He had the longest lashes of any man she had ever known, but they did little to conceal his antagonism at that moment, and she shrank back in her seat, half afraid he was about to strike her.
‘My wife is not my keeper,’ he enunciated harshly. ‘Whatever you may have heard to the contrary.’
Catherine flushed then. ‘I—I didn’t say she was.’
‘No.’ He conceded her protest. ‘But I’m not a fool. I know what people think, but they’re wrong. Do you understand?’
Catherine shrugged. ‘It’s nothing to do with me.’
‘No, it’s not. But it may help to remember that when the decision is finally taken.’
Catherine licked her dry lips. ‘You—you are going to allow mining in the valley, aren’t you?’
‘Oh, God!’ He rested both elbows on the steering wheel then, cradling his head in his hands and hunching his shoulders. ‘I don’t see what else I can do,’ he muttered heavily. ‘The estate’s almost bankrupt as it is.’
Catherine caught her lower lip between her teeth. ‘Can’t you—can’t you borrow money? From—from a bank or somewhere?’
He looked at her pityingly. ‘On what collateral? A crumbling manor house and a few uneconomic acres of land?’
Catherine hesitated. ‘But I thought—that is—isn’t Mrs Glyndower’s father—I mean—–’
Rafe’s mouth thinned. ‘You mean isn’t Hammond Redvers a wealthy man?’ Catherine inclined her head a trifle awkwardly, and he nodded. ‘Yes, Redvers has capital. And he’d invest it in Penwyth if he had the chance.’
‘He would?’ Catherine was confused and showed it.
‘Oh, yes.’ Rafe shifted his long legs uncomfortably. ‘Would you like to know what he has in mind?’ He raised dark eyebrows, and gaining her silent assent, explained: ‘He would like to sell the valley to one of those leisure consortiums. You know what I mean? Some kind of holiday complex, with swimming pools and sporting facilities, pony trekking, a marina—you name it, he’s thought of it.’
Catherine was horrified. ‘A—holiday camp?’
‘Well, I understand that designation doesn’t appeal these days. Complex, is the word they use. But generally speaking, they mean the same.’
‘With cabins, and things?’
‘Accommodation would be provided,’ Rafe agreed dryly, watching her growing concern.
‘That—won’t happen,’ she exclaimed. ‘Will it?’
‘Not as long as I have any say in the matter,’ Rafe declared shortly. ‘So now do you understand my position?’
Catherine made a negative gesture. ‘Surely—surely, as this valley means so much to you …’
‘No.’ Rafe shook his head. ‘Hammond Redvers didn’t get where he is today by philanthropising.’
‘But he’s your father-in-law!’
‘Yes. Well, he thinks I’m not realistic, and I think he’s a financial leech. We don’t exactly see eye-to-eye in these matters.’ He shook his head. ‘Although why I should admit that to you, I can’t imagine.’
Catherine met his gaze reluctantly. ‘Thank you, anyway,’ she murmured, half afraid of the penetration of those clear blue eyes, so unusual in someone so dark. ‘I—I do see your dilemma. I just wish there was some way …’
‘So do I,’ he retorted, with a return of abrasiveness, and thrusting open the door behind him, he levered himself out of the car. ‘Thank you for listening to me. Goodbye, Catherine.’
‘Goodbye—Rafe,’ she answered, although her tentative use of his name was drowned in the brisk slamming of the door.
THE bar of the Bay Horse was half empty at this hour of a Friday evening, and Catherine led the way to a table in the corner, near the crackling log fire. Seating herself on the banquette, she accepted Robert’s offer of a Scotch and soda, and warmed her hands at the blaze as he went to get their drinks. It was an attractive room, and her eyes strayed over the hunting trophies and horse brasses that decorated the walls. There had been a hostelry on these premises almost as long as there had been a manor at Penwyth, and she couldn’t help thinking that Josh Evans would not complain at the increase in trade a development in the valley might bring.
Robert came back, carrying two glasses, and she transferred her attention to him. A little over medium height and stocky, with a fair complexion and drooping moustache, he was an amusing companion, and she forced a smile to her lips as he seated himself on the banquette beside her.
‘Cheers,’
