‘Hope I’m not disturbing you,’ he began, unconsciously echoing Vera’s words on her arrival. ‘But we’ve got the printed detail sheet for the house back now, and I wondered if I could pop round later to show it to you.’
She ached to say no, to blot out anything that would stop her from re-living over and over again the previous night, but she forced herself to fight down the impulse, saying instead, ‘Yes, of course, I’d like that.’
‘The thing is it will have to be this evening, say about nine-ish? I’ve got to call and view a house at eight, so with a bit of luck I could call on you on the way back.’
Agreeing to his suggestion, Kate replaced the receiver. Vera was watching her with unabashed interest.
‘Just the estate agent,’ she told her, wondering why on earth she sounded so defensive.
Vera grinned. ‘So I gathered. Sue thinks he’s fallen for you.’
‘Sue’s a committed romantic,’ retorted Kate, grimacing faintly. ‘She’s been trying to get me married off for the best part of the last six years.’
‘But you’ve obviously never been tempted?’ Vera looked openly curious, and Kate felt her heart contract in pain. She had no wish to offend Vera, but there was simply no way that she could confide in her. Without realising it her eyes had darkened with pain, betraying something of her feelings.
‘Forgive me, Kate,’ Vera said gently, ‘I’m prying and I shouldn’t. It’s one of my worst traits, but I’m afraid that like Sue, I’m a hopeless romantic too. Mind you, I’m often way, way off target.’ She made a rueful moue and said lightly, ‘You won’t believe this, but the first time I saw you and Dominic together, I couldn’t help but think what an attractive couple you made.’
Kate disguised her sharp gasp of anguish by bending down as though she had knocked herself against the telephone table. Fortunately she had been able to turn her face away from Vera’s, and the other woman was still chattering blithely to her, thankfully oblivious to her traitorous response to the sound of Dominic’s name.
It was just gone five o’clock when Vera left, explaining that she had promised to pick Ian up from the station. Which must mean that Dominic was not returning to the village, Kate thought painfully.
She told herself that she ought to be pleased…relieved that she was not going to be obliged to see him. It was far better that there should be a clean break like this, rather than the torture of a fully fledged affair, ending when Dominic ultimately tired of her. Yes, she was lucky that his desire for her had been quenched so swiftly, otherwise she might tonight be finding herself in the position of having to lie to him and pretend that she did not want him.
Instinctively she knew it would be very hard to swerve him from a path once he had set his foot upon it, and feeling about him as she did, she doubted that she would have the strength of will to send him away, should he have decided that one night with her was not enough.
And yet the longer she allowed herself to be involved with him, the more helplessly she would become enmeshed in the web of her own feelings for him.
She was a little surprised that she had heard nothing from Sue, she reflected wryly. Her friend
must surely be curious to know what effect her revelations had had on him. Unless, of course, Sue was deliberately keeping a low profile, anticipating her anger at being betrayed.
She was just pondering over this when the phone rang. As soon as she registered Sue’s cautious, ‘Hi…’ Kate wondered if there could possibly be such a thing as E.S.P.
They chatted for a few minutes, neither of them mentioning Dominic. Kate felt as though her nerves were being stretched on fine wires and that they now just needed the merest touch to snap them completely.
When Sue eventually mentioned Dominic, she froze, thankful that her friend could not see her face.
‘I’m afraid I lost my temper with him yesterday,’ Sue confessed. ‘And what’s worse, I blurted out to him the truth about your marriage to Ricky. I don’t know which of us was the more shocked! You know what I’m like when my temper explodes. I don’t suppose you’ve seen anything of him?’
If she told Sue that Dominic had been round to see her, her friend would want to know what had happened. She knew Sue of old, she would not rest until she had prised every last detail from her, and that was something she could not bear, no matter how well-meant Sue’s curiosity might be, so instead of telling the truth she lied, squashing the feelings of guilt stirring uncomfortably inside her.
‘Ought I to have done?’ she asked lightly. The receiver slid stickily in her hand, tension making her shake.
‘Maybe not… It’s just that I thought he might have hot-footed it round to your place to apologise. It certainly gave him one hell of a jolt.’
‘I expect it did. No one likes having their judgment proved wrong, but it was all over a long time ago, Sue.’
‘Not for you it wasn’t,’ Sue contradicted her. ‘His rejection of you left painful scars, Kate, we both know that. I… Oh damn,’ she cursed, ‘someone’s just come to the door. I’ll try to come over and see you tomorrow, Kate. Must go now… ’Bye!’
Grateful to whoever Sue’s visitor was for her reprieve, Kate replaced the receiver and wandered back into the study. She had hardly touched her work today. Damn Dominic! She didn’t want him intruding in her life, in her thoughts in this far too pervasive way.
She worked for close on an hour knowing, when she had finished, that most of what she had done was completely worthless, and neither had she been remotely successful in banishing Dominic from her thoughts.
The sound of a car outside made her glance at her watch and frown. It was a quarter to nine. Martin Allwood was early. She got up and hurried into the hall, opening the door at his first ring, but the pleasant smile she had forced on to her face faded as she saw not Martin Allwood, but Dominic standing outside.
He was in the hall before she could even think of closing the door on him, the dark business suit and contrasting white shirt he was wearing immediately reminding her of the very first time she had seen him.
He looked tired, she noted painfully, his mouth drawn tight in uncompromising anger as he demanded harshly,