would be brave weather that would dare interfere with his arrangements, she thought bitterly as she went into the bedroom to close her case. She tugged russet suede boots on over her slim-fitting cream cord jeans, and pulled a matching coat, warmly lined, on top of her cream Shetland sweater. She had left her hair hanging loose round her shoulders as she had worked and packed, but now it was a moment’s task to sweep it into a smooth coil and anchor it securely on top of her head. It was a severe style, but it suited her, highlighting the line of her cheekbones and her smooth curve of jaw.
She picked up her case and the weekend bag that matched it and went into the living room. Dane was standing by the window looking down into the street.
‘Is that all you’re taking?’ His glance ran over her luggage.
‘It’s enough,’ she returned shortly. ‘I’ve learned to travel lightly.’
‘But not alone.’ There was a barb in the smooth words which angered her, but she decided to ignore it. The journey ahead was going to be trying enough without a constant sparring match going on between them.
Dane picked up the cases. ‘I’ll put these in the boot while you see to any locking up you need to do.’
She was fastening the safety catches on the windows when the phone rang.
‘Lisa?’ Simon Whitman’s voice sounded plaintively down the line. ‘Jos has just told me you’re off up north for an unspecified time. What’s going on?’
Her heart sank at the note of grievance in his voice, which she had to admit was fully justified. Before the West Indies assignment, she and Simon had been seeing quite a lot of each other. She had met him some months before through her work, because he was a young and promising executive with an advertising agency which often used Jos’s photographs. They had got on well almost immediately, and she had accepted the invitation to dinner from him which had speedily followed. They were starting to be spoken of as a couple, to be invited to places together, and although Lisa wasn’t sure that was entirely what she wanted, she was happy enough with the arrangement to allow it to continue unchallenged as long as Simon didn’t start making demands she couldn’t fulfil. Up to now, he had shown no signs of this. On the contrary, he had seemed quite happy to keep their relationship as light and uncommitted as she could have wished, but just then she had heard a distinctly proprietorial note in his voice.
She said, ‘A family emergency of sorts.’ She should have let him know, she thought. He should have been on her list ahead of Dinah and Mrs Hargreaves really, but the truth was she had never even given him a thought. She went on, ‘It’s been landed on me so suddenly, I haven’t really had a chance to contact anyone.’
‘I didn’t think I was just anyone,’ Simon said, and there seemed no answer to that, so Lisa didn’t make one. After a pause, he said ‘Will you be gone for very long?’
‘I hope not,’ she said. ‘For as long as it takes, and no longer. I do have my living to earn, and as Jos reminded me, they have short memories in the fashion world.’
‘They’ll remember you.’ His voice warmed, lifted a little. ‘I can’t get you out of my mind, night or day.’
That troubled her a little, but she found herself smiling. ‘It would be nice if the other agencies in town felt the same. Do you think you could become contagious?’
She was aware that Dane had come back into the room and was standing by the door, silently watching and listening. Anyone else would have had the decency to withdraw out of earshot, she thought bitterly as she turned a resentful shoulder on him.
She could hardly hear what Simon was saying. She had to force herself to concentrate on his words because she was too conscious of that other dark and disturbing presence behind her.
Simon said with that special note in his voice which belonged to almost everyone who had spent their entire lives south of Potters Bar, ‘It will be awful in the north at this time of year, and they reckon there’s bad weather on the way. You’ll take care, won’t you, love?’
Lisa said, ‘I can take care of myself.’ And froze as she realised what she’d said, the words acting like a key to unlock the secret place in her mind and unleash the nightmares which lurked there. She found she was gripping the phone until her knuckles went white. She answered Simon in monosyllables ‘Yes’ and ‘No’, praying that each response was the right one because he might have been talking so much gibberish.
Eventually she said with a kind of insane brightness in her voice, ‘Look, I really must go now. I’ll see you when I get back.’
Simon said goodbye in his turn. He sounded disappointed, as if for all his warnings about the weather he had hoped she might give him the address she was going to, the telephone number so that he could make contact.
She replaced the receiver on the rest with unsteady fingers, and turned slowly.
Across the room, Dane’s eyes met hers, cold and watchful, and she knew that her words had triggered off memories for him too and for an endless moment the past held them in its bleak trap.
If she backed away, he would come after her, a jungle cat stalking his prey. But she had no reason to back off. Because this time what she said was true. She could look after herself, and she would. Neither Dane nor anyone else had the power to harm her.
And sitting beside him in silence, as the car devoured the miles on the motorway, Lisa found herself repeating those words over and over again as if they were an incantation that would keep her safe.
THEY had been travelling for over an hour and a half when Lisa realised that Dane had signalled his intention of turning off the motorway.
‘Where are we going?’ she asked sharply.
‘To eat. There’s a pub I often use not far from here.’
‘Must we stop? I’m not particularly hungry.’
‘I intend to stop, yes,’ he said coolly. ‘If you don’t want to join me you can always wait in solitary splendour in the car.’
Lisa compressed her lips angrily. She had no intention of doing anything of the kind, as he was perfectly aware.
The village they eventually came to was charming, with well tended houses clustering round a green and a duck-pond. The inn, set back from the road, was a long low building, whitewashed and spruce, and there were already several cars parked at the rear.
Lisa fumbled with the catch on the passenger door, trying desperately to release it while Dane attended to the security on the driver’s side, but it resisted all her efforts, and to her annoyance Dane had to come round and open the door from the outside. For a moment she was afraid he was going to help her out. She didn’t want him to touch her, and she scrambled out with none of her usual grace, bitterly aware of the slight mocking smile which twisted his mouth.
As they walked towards the inn door, a large Alsatian came round the corner of the building. He paused when he saw them, his ears cocked inquisitively, the long plumy tail beginning to wave slightly.
‘What a beauty!’ Lisa exclaimed impulsively, and put out her hand. The dog came up and sniffed at her fingers, then allowed
