Gentle Tyrant Page 3

  CHAPTER THREE

  IT was such a lovely morning the following day and Laurie wa,s up early, musing on the idea of going for a -ride before starting work. There would be plenty of time, because she did not start until nine o'clock and it would perhaps do something to banish the rather restless feeling she had this morning. Her grandfather raised a brow when she spoke of it at breakfast time, but he made no comment. Now that she had to spend so much of the day in-doors she could not ride during the day as she was used to doing, and riding always made her feel better when she was even slightly out of temper. She was reticent about seeing Quin McAdam again this morn- ' ing, but that, she thought, could hardly account for the restlessness. The gesture he had made when they parted last night could hardly be called a kiss, but it had disturbed her self-confidence more than she cared to admit and her grandfather had witnessed it with a smile she did not care to interpret, but he made no comment, and for that at least, she thanked heaven. Later on, while she was saddling Brownie, she ; noticed that the grey was already missing from his j stall and pursed her lips in surprise. It would seem 44 ' j hat she was not the only one with an inclination to jride early'this morning Quin was abroad too. I The thought crossed her mind that she might meet glim while she was out and she paused momentarily, hen a moment later shrugged her shoulders. Even if he did meet him, which was not inevitable, it was no leason to allow herself to be deterred from her own tide. ' The sun was already quite warm and promised another lovely day with not a sign of cloud in the sky. She wore no jacket nor had she anything on her. head, but revelled in the mellowness of the morning as she jrode, allowing the peace of her surroundings to work its magic on her as it usually did. She took Brownie at a gentle trot out towards the loch, although she had no time to go all the way there Jthis morning, but the mare needed little or no guidance pver such familiar ground, and she could daydream to her heart's content. ; She wondered briefly where Quin could have gone o so early in the day, but immediately shrugged him (out of her mind. It was too nice a day to think about (anyone as disrupting as Quin McAdam. They went fjust about half-way to the loch and then she turned the jmare for home again, although she did so with reluctance when she saw the cool darkness of the water just tirring in the soft, warm wind. I As she expected it would, the ride banished most of tier restlessness and she felt much more relaxed as she rode back, taking it as easily as time allowed before she jwas needed for the day. She was within a couple of hundred yards of Clach Aros when she saw a grey 45 horse coming towards her from the right, and recognised Hamish, the mount Quin always rode. J She frowned curiously, for although the rider was tall in the saddle and fair-haired she was pretty sure it was not Quin McAdam, and it could not be Russ. This man rode well, but not as well as Quin, and she smiled wryly to herself for admitting that. I He seemed to increase his pace when he saw her, t and came at a gallop, apparently intending to join her, i so that she reined Brownie to a halt to wait for him. He I was a younger version of Quin, she saw when he got nearer, and quite a lot younger, she guessed, probably '; not much more than her own age. i His hair was not quite so bleached fair by the sun i and it grew much longer, and his eyes were a less ' startiing light grey in the tanned face. His face too was j much less tanned and weathered than Quin's, but there could be no mistaking a relationship and she knew she was looking at Rod McAdam. Instinctively she smiled and he brought the grey right up close alongside Brownie, his gaze unashamedly interested, an appredative gleam taking in the freshness of her complexion, and the bright, deep blue of her eyes set in dark lashes. 'Hello,' he said, returning the smile with interest. Laurie nodded. 'Hello.' He was, she realised, much more conventionally good-looking than either of his brothers, too. 'Don't tell me,' he said. 'You're Laurie Miss Blair.' 'I'm Laurie Blair,' she agreed, and proffered a hand which he took and- held for rather longer than was 46 necessary, his fingers curled tightly over hers. 'Rod McAdam,' he said, confirming her guess. : 'You'll have been told I was coming, I expect.' ; She nodded. 'Rather earlier than you were expected, I believe,' she told him, and he smiled, bobbing his i-head in a curiously old-fashioned manner, reminiscent of a bow. I 'I'd have come much sooner if I'd realised what was in store for me here,' he vowed, with outrageous but Mattering earnestness, and Laurie thought wildly that ! .he was a young man who wasted little time with prepliminaries. I She remembered, as he gazed at her with a rather Idreamy expression in his eyes, that Quin had said he [was a romantic, and it was not difficult to believe it, [having seen him. He certainly looked the part, problably intentionally. His long fair hair came well below the collar of a I pale blue shirt that was nothing Like the practical, open-necked variety his brother wore. It looked as if sit was made of some soft, silky material and had long l.points to the collar which was turned up a little at the baek. He did not wear a tie but had a silk scarf tied at this throat and flowing down over his chest. The sleeves of the shirt he wore to their full length and fastened at I the cuff, not rolled up as Quin did. He was less prac tical and, she had to admit, much more romanticlooking, and she Liked him. He was also very attractive land probably knew it. , 'Do you always ride in the mornings?' he asked, and Laurie shook her head. I 'Not usually as early as this,' she told him. 'But unit ' 47 til yesterday I could ride any time I Liked during the day.' She smiled wryly. 'Now I'm a working girl I have to fit it in as I can.' He frowned then, and looked at her with soulful eyes, so that she was reminded that Quin had also said Rod was a lot more conscience-stricken about taking over Clach Aros than either he or Russ were. 'I feel rather awful about your home,' he said. 'Please believe how sorry I am. Miss Blair.' 'Oh no, please,' Laurie begged, embarrassed as well as feelling rather tearful at being reminded. 'It it was something that had to happen, and I know you and your brothers will look after the old place.' 'We most certainly will,' he assured her earnestly. 'I promise you. Miss Blair.' 'Laurie,' she told him with a smile. 'Your brothers call me by my Christian name because it was easier if I used theirs, to save confusion with the three of you. Quin said sauce for the goose, etc....' 'Quin would,' he observed dryly, his eyes still watching her dreamily, so that she glanced at her watch hastily, rather disconcerted by his attention. 'I'd better hurry back,' she said with a laugh.-Td hate to be late on only my second day.' 'Oh, I shouldn't worry too much about it,' he advised blithely. 'Russ isn't a slavedriver, and ,you do work for him, don't you?' He smiled, looking at her from the corners of hi? eyes in conspiratorial fashion as they moved the horses off towards home again. 'Now ifit was Quin you worked for,' he added, 'that would be a different story altogether.' The remark only echoed her own sentiments, but 48 she wondered at him being quite so forthcoming on such short acquaintance. 'It probably would,' she said non-committaly. He glanced at her as they rode towards the stables, his expression curious and, she thought, a little amused. 'How do you get along with Quin?' he asked, and she wondered again what prompted the question. 'Fairly well,' she allowed cautiously, and he laughed. 'A little better than that, isn't it?' he said, and she stared at him uncomprehendingly. 'Oh?' Rod McAdam smiled knowingly. 'I'm just going by the signs, that's all,' he told her. 'I guessed, for in-stance, that you would be something pretty special.' 'Did you?' It was difficult to know quite how to respond to such obvious flattery, and he laughed again. 'Well, for one thing,' he explained, 'he confirmed Russ's opinion that you were beautiful, and that in itself is rare enough to raise brows.' He turned those dreamy-looking eyes on her again. 'Now that I've met you, of course,' he added, 'I can see why.' Laurie found the idea of Quin McAdam saying anything as personal and flattering as that about her, rather hard to believe, and she was incilined to think that this rather attractive and unsettling man must have read the signs wrongly. So she made no comment on it, but merely smiled. When they arrived back he insisted on unsaddling Brownie for her while she went back to the lodge to change out of her riding clothes and get ready for the working day. She put on the same navy blue dress she had worn yesterday, but after a brief study of herself 49 in the mirror,
decided to leave her hair loose about her shoulders. Although she told herself it had nothing to do with the fact that Rod McAdam would almost certainly prefer it that way; When she got to the house this time there was no sign of Quin to let her in, but she rang the bell and an elderly housekeeper admitted her. Laurie thought the woman looked vaguely concerned about something and it took her only a couple of seconds to realise what it was. Angry voices were being raised behind the office door. Or more accurately, one angry voice and one defensive one. She had no difficulty in recognising Quin's as the angry one, and she guessed the one on the defensive would be Rod, evidently having fallen foul of his brother's temper. The quiet soothing voice that joined the group a second later she recognised as undoubtedly belonging to Russ, but what on earth could be causing such a fracas at this time in the morning she could not even guess. She had not, until now, visuallised the brothers quarrelling among themselves, although when she thought about it she supposed there were bound to be occasional outbursts. While she still hesitated she heard Quin's voice again, harsh with anger, so that she could all too easily imagine how icy hard his eyes looked, and shivered in sympathy with his youngest brother. 'Just don't take ;Hamish again without asking me first,' Quin told him, evidently far from pacified, despite Russ's efforts. Laurie, an unwilling listener, realised then that it was because Rod had taken the horse he always rode 50 when he was working, and she was forced to admit that his objection was reasonable enough in the drcumstances. Although she still felt sorry for Rod for having incurred his wrath. 'Couldn't you have taken Brownie for this morning?' she heard Russ ask, his quieter voice only just audible through the thick wooden door, and she bit her lip when she realised that she too had inadvertently contributed to the quarrel. 'I could have if Laurie hadn't taken her,' he retorted. 'Oh, I see.' 'Not that I'm blaming Laurie,' Quin added, unexpectedly charitable. 'She couldn't have-known I'd want the mare this morning because Rod hadn't any more sense than to take out the one and only horse to go traipsing around on.' 'I wasn't traipsing around,' Rod defended himself, and Laurie almost jumped out of her skin when the housekeeper's voice spoke beside her. 'Ye can find ye're own way in, can ye not?' she ' asked. Laurie looked at her doubtfully. 'Do do you think I should?' she asked, and the woman nodded, smiling at her. 'Oh aye; she told her. 'It'll be all right.' Laurie glanced at the office door again, her eyes uncertain. 'I don't know,' she demurred. 'I don't Like to interrupt.' The woman shook her head and smiled again, sounding very sure of her facts. Oh, it's no as bad as it sounds. Miss Blair, don't ye worry.' 'But I I don't think I should just go in,' Laurie 51 said, not at all anxious to be caught up in the seemingly violent emotions on the other side of the door. 'I mean, shouldn't I wait until someone comes out?' 'Don't let the hot words worry ye,' the woman told her. 'They soon get over it, and all the sooner for someone going in there.' 'But ' Laurie still hesitated, unwilling to be the one who broke in on a family quarrel, especially as Quin was involved. 'They'll be as right as rain in a couple of hours,' the housekeeper assured her with a smile. 'An' not a sulk between them, either. That's the truth, ma dear.' Laurie looked at her curiously, intrigued by her certainty. 'You seem very sure about that,' she said. 'You sound as if you know them very well.' The housekeeper nodded. 'That I do,' she told her. 'I've been with the McAdam family ever since Mr. Russ was a laddie. I know these outbursts, they never last very long, and your going in there will stop them all the sooner. Ye take ma word for it. Miss Blair.' Laurie smiled warily. 'If you think so,' she said. 'But I feel a bit Like Daniel going into the lions' den.' The woman's homely face beamed encouragement at her, and Laurie walked across to the office door and raised a hand to knock. A very brief and telling silence followed her knock, then someone spoke. 'Come in!' The order was brief and peremptory, and she guessed it came from Quin. When she opened the door, after taking a very deep breath, three pairs of grey eyes turned on her at once and she only just resisted a -temptation to turn and run out again. Russ smiled at 52 her, however, apparently the least distxcbed of the three and she went right into the room. 'Come in, Laurie,' he told her, and flicked a barely perceptible glance of warning at his brothers. 'I'm afraid we haven't noticed the time. What's more, I'm ashamed to confess that I'd even forgotten you were coming.' 'Oh well, I can ' she began, but Russ waved a hand and shook his head. 'No, no, my dear, please stay.' She hesitated for only a second longer, then walked over to her own desk and put down her handbag, very much aware of Quin's icy gaze as she did so. 'I hope I'm not too early,' she ventured, looking at Russ, as the most Likely one to encourage her. 'I mean if I've interrupted anything im ' 'Nothing important,' Russ assured her, and glanced at his youngest brother with a smile, determined to restore, normallity. 'I understand you've met Rod already,' he said, and Laurie nodded, responding to Rod's smile. 'Yes, I have,' she said. 'We were both out riding early this morning.' 'Taking the only two available horses,' Quin said tartly, before anyone else could speak, and she looked at him and blinked, wondering if, despite his earlier defence of her action, he was going to quarrel with her too. Tm sorry,' she told him, sounding much more meek than in fact she felt. 'But I didn't realise Rod had taken the grey, not until it was too late.' 'Would it have made any difference if you had?' 53 She felt the colour grow in her cheeks as she fought with a rising temper. 'I expect it would,' she said shortly. 'But I didn't realise you'd need Brownie.' 'I needed a horse,' he informed her shortly. 'I could have made do with Brownie, if she'd been there.' 'Well, I'm sorry,' Laurie told him. 'But as you said you can't really blame me.' He cocked a curious brow at her and his mouth crooked in to a dry smile. 'So you heard that, did you?' Laurie glared at him. 'I couldn't help hearing, the way you were shouting,' she retorted. Tm sorry you were left without a mount, but it won't happen again, I promise you. I won't ride either of your horses again without your express permission, Mr. McAdam.' For a moment he said nothing, only looked at her, though with rather less surprise than his brothers did, then he laughed. 'O.K., O.K.,' he said. 'You don't have to make the big sacrifice, Laurie. And for heaven's sake, don't look so long-suffering.' 'I wasn't intending to be long-suffering,' Laurie informed him. 'But Rod has more right to take out one of the horses than I have, and I'll just make sure that you're never left without one in future, that's 'all. After all, they are yours now; not mine.' ' 'Oh, for God's sake, you little idiot!' The light eyes showed signs of returning anger. 'Stop acting the martyr, Laurie, I don't want the mare. She wouldn't be much good to me, anyway, because she hasn't enough stamina to take me around all day, as Hamish does. Whether Rod wants her for his early morning jaunts is something you'll have to work out between you I've got work to do.' 54 Russ sighed, with relief Laurie guessed, and leaned back in his chair. 'Yes, we all have,' he said. 'Can you get on with something, Laurie, while I have a word with Rod for a few minutes?' Laurie nodded, sitting down at her desk and pointedly ignoring Quin's speculative gaze fixed on her. Rod moved over to discuss some matter with Russ and, after a brief hesitation, Quin came over and stood in front of her desk, looking down at her, a faint smile on his face, willing her to look up. 'Laurie.' She did not look up, but carefully sandwiched carbon and paper together and wound them into the typewriter, her voice cool and distant when she spoke. 'Yes, Mr. McAdam?' ' A large hand clamped down on the roller and prevented her from doing anything else, and she looked up at last, reluctantly. He was leaning over her desk, a glitter in his eyes that challenged her to object, a small tight smile round his mouth still. 'I don't Like being ignored when I'm carrying the flag of truce,' he told her, soft-voiced. 'And if you call me Mr. McAdam Like that just once more I shall deal with your pigheaded discrimination in no uncertain way. Understood?' 'Pigheaded discrimination?' she echoed, and he nodded. 'If you.called Russ, Mr. McAdam too, in deference to his years,' he said, 'I'd forgive you, and I can understand you being informal with Rod because you're much of the same age and he's very obviously smitten with you, as I expected he would be. But if you can 55 give both of them the friendly treatment and n
ot me, the man in the middle, then I object.' 'You ' Laurie began, but he raised a commanding hand, and silenced her. 'I don't see why you should have your knife in me,' he went on relentlessly, 'to the extent that you use that cool, toffee-nosed Mr. McAdam, as if I was something the tide washed in.' For a moment she said nothing, then she met his eyes and, for some inexplicable reason, felt like laughing. It bubbled up inside her and showed in her eyes, bright and unmistakable, and Quin leaned further over the desk and put a hand under her chin. 'So,' he said softly. 'You find that idea appeals to your sense of humour, do you?' His fingers gripped her chin hard and she hastily lowered her eyes to hide the betraying laughter. 'The idea that you're something the tide washed in?' she asked. 'Yes, I do rather, Mr. McAdam.' - 'Why, you little ' He laughed suddenly and withdrew his hold abruptly, straightening up and running his fingers through his hair, as if he was suddenly aware that there were other people in the room. 'One day,' he vowed, sotto voce, 'I'll know what you're all about, Laurie Blair in the meantime I've got work to do.' 'So have I.' He grinned down at her. 'Take it easy on Rod, won't you?' he said, still too quietly for his brother to hear what he said. 'He's very susceptible.' 'He's very attractive.' She wasn't quite sure what made her say that, but 56 he held her gaze for a moment longer, then smiled wryly and nodded his head. 'Yes, I thought you'd think so,' he told her, and turned and walked out of the room without a backward glance. By the time Laurie had been working for Russ McAdam for two weeks, she was quite accustomed to the different routine it entailed, and found she enjoyed it far more than she had expected to. Her employer was always polite and considerate and she found that Rod McAdam was even more charming on closer acquaintance. He had ensured that neither of them had to do without their rides or incurred Quin's anger again, by buying a beautiful black Arab horse. It was a stroke of extravagance that Laurie was to learn was typical of Rod, if not of his brothers. Several times they had ridden together, both before and after working hours, although Brownie was poor competition for the new: comer when it came to speed. Rod appeared to divide his working time between his ''. two brothers, more or less equally, although she knew i he preferred to be with Russ. Partly, so he told her, : because when he was in the office with Russ he was also i; with Laurie, but his preference was also influenced, she suspected, by the fact that Russ had a great deal more I patience with him than Quin had. It was with some surprise that she found Rod wait-I ing in the hall for her one morning when she arrived, Jfeand looking rather more serious than usual, although [he smiled when he saw her. 'Good morning, Laurie.' He took her hand and looked down into her eyes in the 57j way he always did, but there was an air of something different about him and she looked at him curiously. 'Is there something wrong?' she asked, and he shrugged. 'Not exactly wrong,' he told her, leading her back to the front door with a hand under her arm. 'Just a bit strained. We have an unexpected visitor and I don't think Russ'll be wanting you this morning. Not yet awhile anyway.' He took her back out of the house and down the steps to the gravel driveway where he stopped and took both her hands in his. 'Why don't you go and change,' he suggested, 'and we'll go for a ride while we have the opportunity?' Laurie looked at him doubtfully, although the idea appealed to her immensely. 'But wul it be all right?' she asked. 'I mean, shouldn't I be here in case Russ wants me for anything?' Rod shook his head. 'Better not,' he told her, and Laurie frowned. 'It all sounds very mysterious,' she told him. 'Have you got a V.I.P. staying here that I mustn't see?' 'Not quite that,' Rod smiled. 'But I should give the house a wide berth for the moment I'm going to.' 'Oh, I see.' She was curious, but it would hardly be polite to probe any further, although she thought he realised it from her manner. 'You go and change,' he told her. 'And I'll see you here in about twenty minutes. O.K.?' 'O.K.,' she agreed. Her grandfather looked at her in surprise when she returned, and her brief explanation for the reason intrigued him too, and he pursed his lips thoughtfully. 58 'It's odd,' he said. 'But maybe it's something to do with that woman I saw arriving last night.' 'A woman?' Laurie paused on her way upstairs, her interest quickened. The old man nodded. 'I only had a glimpse of her from the window as she drove past,' he said.. 'But it looked Like a woman and a child. I suppose it's some family business that Rod doesn't want to mention.' 'Maybe,' Laurie agreed thoughtfully, wondering who on earth the woman could be, and which one of the two elder brothers she was there to see. Obviously it was not Rod she had come to see, for he was, as he put it, giving the house a wide berth, so it must be either Russ or Quin, or perhaps both of them. Anyway, she shrugged her shoulders, it did not concern her which one of them it was. It was rather sooner than the appointed time when Laurie arrived back at Clach Aros and there was no sign of Rod yet, but as she approached the house the front door opened and Quin came down the steps. He was- dressed as he always was, in riding breeches and an open-necked shirt with the sleeves rolled up above the elbows of his strong brown arms, and since he was leaving the house, the visitor was evidently not his. He looked at her for a moment with cool, curious eyes, then walked down the last few yards of the driveway to meet her, smilling in a way that made her feel horribly self-conscious. She looked slim and cool in cream trousers and a light blue cotton shirt, but she had never felt so self-conscious about the way she was '. dressed as she did now with those light, expressive eyes watching her. ;: 59 'I see you've given yourself a day off,' he said, without preliminary greeting, and Laurie blinked indignantly at the suggestion. 'No, I haven't,' she argued. 'Rod said I wouldn't be needed this morning. It wasn't my idea at all.' 'I see, so you're riding instead.' Before she could explain further he smiled at her. 'Well, keep me company as far as Glen Cummin, will you ?' ' She hesitated, wondering if Rod would be blamed for encouraging her to take advantage. 'I I promised to meet Rod here,' she explained, and he elevated a brow into the thick fair hair on his forehead. 'Oh, I see, he's slacking too, is he ?' 'We're neither of us slacking,' Laurie denied indignantly. 'I can quite easily go and change again if I'm wanted.' She half turned and would have walked off back to the lodge, but a hand on her arm restrained her. 'Whoa! Don't be in such a hurry to grab the wrong end of the stick. You're not wanted.' He qualified that with a smile. 'At least not for secretarial duties, but Rod is supposed to be coming with me this morning.' 'Oh, I see.' The ice-grey eyes watched her musingly, his hand Still on her arm as if he was afraid she might walk away again. 'Of course I can see his point in preferring to go riding with you,' he told her. 'I didn't encourage him.' She had no idea why she should have been so insistent about that, but he smiled knowingly. 'Maybe not,' he said. 'Although you'd do it without realising it, wouldn't you? You know you only have to 60 roll those big blue eyes at Rod and he goes weak at the knees.' 'Oh, that's ridiculous!' She glared at him uneasily. 'If Rod was supposed to be coming with you he must have have forgotten or something.' 'Or something,' he echoed dryly. 'Rod's a moral coward. He'd sooner keep out of the way when family upheavals like Rose appear on the scene.' She had no idea who Rose was, but assumed it was the woman her grandfather- had seen arriving. 'I I guessed something was wrong,' she said, her curiosity aroused again, and Quin laughed shortly. 'You could put it like that.' They stood on the drive, several yards from the house, but from the corner of her eye Laurie saw the front door open again and wondered if it was Rod, ready at last. She turned her head, but had time only for a brief glimpse of a tall, slim woman with brown hair before Quin reached out suddenly and pulled her into his arms. The move was so unexpected that she did not even protest when his mouth covered hers with a hard relentlessness that set her pulses racing wildly as she was crushed against him. She heard two sounds as one, indistinctly, what seemed like hours later. One was Rod's voice sounding more surprised than indignant, and the other was the front door banging shut, and ; when she at last managed to free herself she closed her eyes for a moment on the dizzying sensation in her I'brain. ERod was beside her when she opened her eyes again, but the woman who had appeared so briefly in the 61 doorway had disappeared, presumably behind that
angrily slammed door. 'What's the idea?' Rod asked, mildly annoyed, and Quin did not answer him for a moment, but stood looking down at Laurie, those ice-grey eyes far from cold-looking. 'Isn't there a song?' he asked lightly, at last. 'Girls are made to love and kiss, and who am I to interfere with this?' He laughed softly, a sound that trickled along Laurie's spine like an icy finger. 'You shouldn't keep a beautiful girl waiting, Rod. I was trying to lure her into coming with me instead.' 'Hard luck,' Rod told him. 'She's coming with me.' Quin looked at him meaningly, one brow raised. 'And yoM; he reminded him, 'were supposed to be coming with me over to Kilie Sloe or had you forgotten?' She might just as well, Laurie thought dizzily, not be there at all, and she stuck out her chin determinedly, her deep blue eyes sparklling. 'If you're supposed to be working. Rod,' she told him, 'please go. I'd rather you didn't neglect your work for me, and I don't mind riding alone.' 'Well, I do mind you riding' alone this morning,' Rod said, his eyes on his brother. 'Oh, look, Quin, it isn't that important that I come with you this morning, is it?' Quin glanced at Laurie, then shrugged carelessly. 'It makes no difference to me,5 he told Rod. 'If you're more interested in your girl-friend than in your job, that's up to you.' Laurie would have objected to his choice of noun, 62 but before she could do so Rod protested, though not about the same thing. 'You hadn't exactly got work on your mind when I came out of the house just now,' he pointed out. 'And it was my girl you were kissing too, so don't be sarcastic, Quin.' 'Your girl?' Now that Rod had used the term he seemed bent on doubting it. Laurie too would have Liked to make her opinion known on that point, but it seemed she was to be given little or no chance to say anything at all, between the two of them. 'My girl,' Rod insisted, and Quin looked at Laurie with a small, slow smile that did nothing to placate her. 'True, Laurie?' he asked softly, and she lowered her eyes uneasily. 'As far as I'm concerned I don't belong to anybody,' she informed him. 'And I strongly object to both of you treating me as if I've been purchased with the rest of the property!' 'Laurie!' It was Rod, of course, who protested so reproachfully, and she instinctively looked up at him and smiled. 'I'm sorry. Rod, but I don't Like being talked about as if I was either not here or was some some inanimate object.' 'I'm sorry.' He took her hands in his and she made no effort to free them, although Quin was watching her , with that slow meaningful smile still on his face. ' 'Oh; she shrugged, 'I suppose it wasn't meant Like r - that. Maybe I'm too sensitive about it.' 'You are,' Quin assured her, before Rod could reply, and his brother glared at him darkly. 63 'I wish you'd stay out of this,' he told him. 'I'm going for a ride with Laurie, so there's no point in you waiting for me.' 'I see.' He said nothing in protest about the way he was more or less being dismissed, but Laurie could see he did not altogether Like it and there was a hint of ice in those tell-tale eyes again. 'Rod, if you're supposed to be working,' she began, and glanced at Quin, that small crooked smile tilting one corner of his mouth and making her feel uneasy still. Rod too glanced at his brother, but with a look of defiance, it seemed to Laurie. 'I don't have to,' he told her. 'And I'd much rather ride with you.' 'Then I'll leave you to it,' Quin said, before she could reply. 'Some of us have work to do.' She felt that he was making the jibe for her benefit as much as Rod's and she shook her head hastily. 'I'd rather not go if you're supposed to be working. Rod, really.' Surprisingly it was Quin who answered her, the cool, ice-grey eyes holding hers for a moment, and he smiled. 'Oh, don't stay on my account,' he told her. 'You go for your ride, I can manage to struggle along without Rod.' He raised a hand in a careless salute and turned to walk off. 'Be good,' he admonished softly. . Laurie watched him stride off round to the stables, her eyes uncertain, then Rod put an arm round her shoulders and they followed at a more leisurely pace. She was still curious about the strange woman in me doorway, and most of all about Quin's hasty and dis64 concerting reaction to her appearance. 'Penny for them.' Rod's voice close to her ear startled her out of her reverie, and she smiled as she shook her head. 'I'm afraid it's just plain, common or garden curi-osity; she confessed, and Rod tilted an eyebrow at her in an expression oddly reminiscent of Quin. 'I I can't think why Quin' she shrugged 'behaved the way he did just now.' Rod made a wry face and laughed. 'That was a bit out of character, I admit,' he said. 'He usually shows a bit more finesse than that, but the reason was obvious enough.' 'Not to me,' Laurie told him. 'Unless that that woman had something to do with it. The one I caught sight of just before before he grabbed me.' Rod laughed shortly. 'Oh, she was the reason,' he told her. 'He did it for the sheer hell of showing Rose what he thought of her. She was livid!' The slamming door had been evidence of that, Laurie thought, but was still puzzled as to just who the woman was. 'Rose?' she asked, and Rod looked at her from the comers of his eyes, as if he speculated on her reaction. ; 'Rose,' he said, 'is Russ's ex.' 'Oh, I see.' I, It was a surprise, she had to admit, although there was no earthly reason why all of them shouldn't be j: married, and probably were for all she knew. Russ par-J ocularly was in his late thirties, and Quin was thirtyour, so he had informed her grandfather in a burst of (sonfidence, so it was quite probable they were married 65 even if Rod wasn't. Rod's fingers squeezed her arm gently. 'Puzzled?' he asked, and she nodded. 'She's ostensibly here to bring Colin, their son, to see Russ, but ' He spread his hands and lifted his shoulders, leaving the rest of the sentence unsaid. 'You mean she hopes for a reconciliation?' Laurie asked, but could not imagine, in that case, why Quin's kissing someone else had made Rose McAdam lose her temper as she had. Rod laughed again. A short, humourless laugh that sounded most unlike him. 'Not a reconciliation with Russ he told her. 'It's Quin she's after, as always and she'll manage it too one of these days, I wouldn't be surpised.' 'Oh, I see.' Laurrie said no more, but she felt a cold sensation when she thought of what could happen if she should even have the misfortune to meet Rose Mcadam. That kiss of Quin's must have given her heaven knew what ideas about them. 66