crestfallen, Kevin rallied to ask, ‘will you come to Manton Square tomorrow for lunch? Mother would like to meet you.’
Not sure how she could get out of going, and not even sure that she wanted to, Raine answered politely, ‘Thank you, I’d love to.’
‘Then I’ll pick you up about twelve.’ Kevin looked relieved, and Raine felt a sudden conviction that the invitation had been issued so that she could be vetted as a suitable companion for Lady Somersby’s only son.
Such was the case.
The next day she found herself greeted with the utmost courtesy by a regal lady with a cast-iron hairdo, several strings of pearls and pale eyes like gimlets.
After an excellent lunch, having been politely but minutely grilled about her background and social standing, Raine was given what was evidently the seal of approval when Lady Somersby suggested that Kevin might take her to see the family portraits.
The following evening, after a phone call to Martha had reassured her that Nick had returned to the States, Raine told Kevin she would be going home the next day. His obvious disappointment was somewhat alleviated when she added, ‘You’ll be very welcome at White Ladies any time you care to call.’
‘Have you a car in town?’ he queried.
‘No, I came by train.’
‘Then perhaps I could drive you home?’
‘That’s very kind of you,’ she said automatically, ‘but won’t you be at your office?’
‘I have some days due to me,’ he announced firmly. Raine found herself wondering what her father would think when she arrived home with a strange man in tow. But after some consideration she decided it was the ideal solution. Kevin’s presence would prove that she wasn’t mooning over Nick, and it should help to smooth over what might otherwise have been an uncomfortable homecoming.
Safe in the knowledge that no matter how vexed he was with her, her father would be polite and pleasant to any guest, she suggested, ‘If you have nothing planned for the evening, perhaps you’ll stay for dinner?’
Kevin gave her his charming smile. ‘Thank you, I’d like to.’
From then on he became a constant visitor, and early in the spring, with due ceremony, he proposed to her.
Raine had seen it coming, and she didn’t need to think about it. With Kevin, everything would be ordered and placid. He would never tear her apart emotionally and leave her bleeding to death. It might not be the most exciting of marriages, but they were happy and comfortable together. They wanted the same things out of life.
She said yes.
He bought her a discreet diamond solitaire and they began planning the wedding and their future together. In the following months there were only two things they disagreed on—working wives and where to live.
Raine wanted to continue with her job, at least for a time, but Kevin proved to be unexpectedly obdurate about it.
The contentious topics were shelved several times, and then, on Friday evening in September, as they strolled through the garden at White Ladies, Kevin reintroduced them.
‘It’s time we came to a decision, old thing,’ he said, and then, almost as though it clinched matters, ‘I have to tell you that Mother strongly disapproves of these modern marriages where the wife keeps working to the detriment of family life. And in any case,’ he continued, ‘my flat is too far away to make commuting every day feasible.’
‘I’d rather hoped not to have to leave Dad,’ Raine replied. ‘He’s looked after me ever since Mum died, and I’m all he’s got.’
Seeing Kevin frown, she added persuasively, ‘There’s a large, self-contained apartment here at White Ladies, and, with your office situated where it is, it wouldn’t be any further for you to travel to work than you’re travelling now.’
But once again he was adamant. ‘I’ve always felt that a wife should move into her husband’s home, not the other way around.’
‘But what would I do all day, cooped up in a London flat?’
His pale grey eyes looked hurt. ‘I hope we’ll entertain quite a bit when we’re married, and there’s voluntary work and committees and things... Mother will be pleased to help and advise you. And we’ve agreed we want to start a family.’
She seized on that. ‘Surely a town flat isn’t the ideal place to bring up children?’
‘When the time comes we’ll look for a house in the country,’ he promised. ‘Agreed?’
She nodded, and said reluctantly, ‘Very well. I’ll tell Dad I won’t be going back to work after the wedding.’
Having got what he wanted, Kevin was willing to be gracious. ‘If you’d like to be close to your father, when we do buy a house we can try to find something within a reasonable distance of White Ladies as well as London.’
He kissed her cheek. ‘I must go. I’m taking Mother to a charity function in the morning and then on to lunch, but I should be here some time in the afternoon. By the way, we’ll be dining in Lopsley. I’ve booked a table at that new place you said you wanted to try.’
Disarmed by his thoughtfulness, his attempt to please her, she accompanied him to the door and waved him off.
The old walled garden was a suntrap. Eyes closed, head pillowed on her discarded woolly, Raine lay flat on her back on the smooth, green expanse of turf in the centre while she waited for her fiancé.
The late afternoon sun shone redly through her eyelids. She could hear the bees buzzing around the lavender and autumn roses, and smell the various pungent herbs. A baby breeze patted her cheek and ruffled her wispy half-fringe.
Calib sat on her stomach, blinking sleepily while he contemplated nothing in particular. Applying a pink tongue to a velvet paw, he began to wash leisurely behind one ear.
His hearing was more acute than his human companion’s, and he looked up and paused in his ablutions a second or two before the door in the high pink-brick wall opened.
Raine heard the steps cross the crazy-paving path that meandered past the flower-borders, and felt Calib’s easy spring as he abandoned his perch. He always absented himself when Kevin came, determinedly repulsing all his attempts to make friends.
Her fiancé’s shadow falling over her face momentarily blotted out the sun. Keeping her eyes shut, she murmured a lazy hello, and smiled a little invitation.
When he sat down beside her and leaned over to let his mouth lightly brush hers, she reached up to put her arms around his neck.
Rather to her surprise she felt him stretch out beside her. Normally Kevin wasn’t one for lying about on the grass. Even the touch of his lips seemed different. Less deferential. More disturbing. Much more disturbing.
All thought was suspended as, making her heart start to race with suffocating speed and sending a swift surge
