Painted Wings Read online

she was thankful he had come, even if she was not i g prepared to admit it. 'It sounds as if it's coming in g somewhere,' she said. 'I was just on my way to invesj, tigate when you came.' 'Then you'd better carry on,' he told her, running fingers through tousled hair in lieu of a comb. 'We'd ! better take a bowl and a bucket or something too. g: It leaks in two places.' ' 60 ' Deryn frowned.'How do you know that?' 'Gwyneth warned me when she told me about the cottage,' he said. 'Didn't Ivor do as much for ?you?' ' 'No, he didn't, and you could have told me before this,' she complained, taking the washing up bowl from the sink and a bucket from beneath it. He looked pained. 'I am telling you,' he said. 'Closing the stable door,' Deryn retorted, relin.quishing possession of the bucket. 'I didn't want to worry you about it unless It got really bad,' he explained reasonably. 'And when it did get bad, I thought twice about coming out in 'it, I can tell you.' 'Thank you!' Her sarcasm did not go unnoted, and he grinned. 'We'd better get these things upstairs,' he told her. 'Before the rain starts coming down through this ceiling too. I'll give you a hand.' 'I can manage, thank you,' she said shortly, but he followed her to the stairs, a hand in the middle of her back. 'I knew you'd be ungracious about it,' he told her. 'It'd serve you right if I did leave you to it.' She made a grab at the bucket, annoyed because he was still smiling. 'Do she said haughtily. 'You might just as well, now.' 'You ungrateful little devil!' 'I don't want your help now the damage is done. I can manage on my own.' 'Oh, go on, for heaven's sake!' he instructed, pushing her in front of him up the narrow staircase. 'We could have the whole place afloat while you're 61 arguing the pros and cons.' Left with little alternative, Deryn went on up, .5 I groaning dismay when she walked into the bedroom and saw the big wet patch on the bedroom ceiling, and the steady stream of rainwater coming through. in two places, thudding on to the boards. So far,j fortunately, it had missed her bed, but that was little consolation when there were puddles all over the floor. , : I Dominic set the bucket under the worst of the water and gave her instructions where LO put the bowl for the best effects, while the thunder roared j and rumbled overhead and Hound howled dismally I i v Idownstairs. 'What is the matter with him?' Deryn asked anxiously, a trickle of rainwater running down her forehead. 'Is he hurt, do you think?' I . 'He's not hurt, he just doesn't like storms.' 'Oh, poor old Hound!' 'Never mind poor old Hound,' he retorted. 'We I j shall need something more than this to catch the water if the rain keeps up much longer.' "But there isn't anything else,' Deryn told him. 'Oh, damn, damn, damn! Why did this have ,to I happen?' . . 'Because it's raining and the roof leaks,' he said unsympathetically. 'And no amount of that sort of damning is going to help. Get a mop or something I and see if you can find another bowl or a bucket : there must be something else down there.' It occurred to her briefly to argue, to tell him that she objected to being ordered around like a skivvy '! g in what was, for the moment, her own home, but I 62 . ! stead she obediently went downstairs in search what was required, without saying another word. She murmured sympathy for Hound as she looked ound and he looked at her hopefully. The only ing she could find that would serve any purpose is an old mop that more resembled a rather dirty of old string, but she took it anyway, and the ly utensil suitable for catching rain in was the ic bath that she used in the mornings. With a sigh of resignation she lifted it down from nail behind the kitchen door and hauled ifacross the stairs, clanking it over the tiles, followed by Hound, who found the incident a momentary relief grom howling his dislike of the storm. When he saw her going back upstairs again, however, he giecided against being left alone again and dashed past her as she heaved the bath and the mop slowly upwards, one step at a time. I She had gone no more than three or four steps svhen Hound pushed his way past, tipping the awkwardly held mop and causing the handle to ptch between her ankles, so that with a clatter that drowned even the storm, she went backwards, the (mop and the bath following, her cry more surprised than frightened as she .bumped down. 'Dom!' Her head came in contact with the wall and she felt a bit dizzy for a moment, but not so much that 'she did not hear him running, curtly ordering Hound out of his way. A moment later he was beside her on one knee, with an arm supporting her head and the other hand gently brushing back her hair. His voice sounded like a cross between scolding and 63 laughter, but for the moment she raised no objec" tion, only laid her head back against his shoulderi and closed her eyes. 'Deryn! Are you all right?' ' 'I think so.' She experimentally straightened '"' one arm. 'Yes, I'm all right.' 'Haven't you any more sense,' he asked, 'than to try carrying that thing upstairs yourself?' 'Shut up,' she murmured hazily, and the hand i brushing her hair was laid tentatively on her fore I head. . f ' 'Are you sure you're not hurt?' he asked, 'Quite sure,' she said, opening her eyes and look a. ing at him speculatively. 'I bounced, but it's no thanks to that mad dog of yours that my neck isn't broken.' 'I'm sorry if he tripped you, but if you'd called me to come and fetch that bath, it wouldn't have happened.' I Deryn sat up on her own, her legs stretched out ' in front of her, with the bath laid across them and the mop still in one hand like a staff. "I knew you'd blame me,' she told him resignedly. 'It was in evitable.' He was still crouched beside her and, before he ' straightened up, he laughed softly and kissed her ,: lightly on her forehead. 'Absolutely inevitable,' he agreed. . i She looked up at him, an incredibly long way above her now. 'I don't think I like you,' she in formed him matteroffactly, and he laughed again, ", reaching down to help her to her feet. 'Come on, little yellow bird,' he said. 'Let's get oa 464 I with the mopping up operations.' He never failed, Deryn thought as she allowed herself to be pulled up, to notice the colour of her clothes or to make some remark about them that compared her to the birds she painted. He went upstairs carrying the bath with annoying ease, and she followed with the mop, Hound waiting for them at the top of the stairs, anxious to join in whatever else they had planned so that Deryn hadn't the heart to scold him. 'The storm seems to be getting less,' she observed as they mopped up the bedroom. 'And thank heaven the rain's eased.' 'Not enough to get complacent about yet,' he told her. 'Are you using this bedroom?' The evidence, she would have thought, spoke for itself, but she nodded. 'I was,' she said. 'I shall have to move house now, though.' 'House or room?' he asked, a wicked gaze catching her eyes when she glanced at him. 'You're very , welcome to share our meagre shelter ,if you don't mind roughing it.' 'No, thanks,' she told him coolly. He laughed. 'O..K., yellow bird, have it your way.' 'I intend to!' He regarded her for a moment, standing in the , middle of her bedroom, his hair still wet and untidy, the poor light in th&room giving a shadowy, almost sinister look to his dark face. Feet apart, he looked about ready to pounce his arms loose at his sides, I he reminded her of some half primitive man. S. 'You always have things your own way, don't 65 you, Deryn?' he asked softly. 'Mostly.' She felt defiant and uneasy and a warning trickle slid along .her spine like an icy finger when she tried to meet his eyes and couldn't without feeling strangely and dangerously elated. 'One of these days,' he said softly, 'you won't.' ' I don't see why not,' she said huskily, sloshing the wet mop about on the boards. 'Now can we get on with the mopping up?' He said nothing, but smiled in a way that made her feel more uneasy than ever when she glanced at him briefly from the corner of her eye. Hound was snuffling around hopefully, less worried now that the storm was abating and he had managed to inveigle his way upstairs where the company was. The mop proved a popular distraction and he barked at it furiously while she used it, darting at it, then retreating again. 'Isn't your boyfriend coming over today?' Dominic asked suddenly, pushing the bath under where the bucket had been and standing the full bucket to one side. 'If you mean Gerald, I wish you'd say so,' Deryn told him, and he grinned. 'All right I mean Gerald.' She shook her head, wielding the mop with more vigour than dexterity. 'I don't expect him to come over when the weather's like this,' she said. 'Not with that walk from the road.' 'I thought he was going back to London.' She looked at him, now perched on the sill of the tiny window, watching her, his expression passing silent opinion of her skill, or lac
k of it. 'He did go 66 back for a couple of days to settle some publishing business,' she told him. 'Now he's back here.' He laughed softly to himself, running a hand through his hair as he looked at her meaningly. 'He doesn't trust you alone, eh?' 'It isn't me he doesn't trust,' Deryn retorted, and he was still laughing. 'I think I'm flattered,' he told her. She slopped the mop viciously over the wet boards, and refused to look at him. 'You shouldn't be,' she said tartly. 'I doubt if you're in much doubt about your your ' 'My what?' he asked softly, and laughed again. 'You weren't going to say sex appeal, were you, Deryn?' She merely glared at him. 'Get your feet out of the way,' she said. 'Oh, do go on, Deryn,' he teased. 'I dare you to say it. It has such a lovely, oldfashioned sound to it these days, and you consider yourself very up to the minute, don't you?' 'If you don't stop making fun of me,' Deryn threatened darkly, 'I'll hit you with this wet mop, I swear it.' 'Hound would eat you if you did!' 'I'd even chance that to shut you up.' He merely laughed again, and she glared at him. 'I will hit you, Dom, if you don't shut up ' 'You wouldn't dare ' She looked at him, frowning, the mop held threateningly in her hands, lifting it off the floor as if she meant to carry out her threat, but the one small step back she took was her undoing. She 67 collided with the full bucket of water, knocking it over, and then dropped down into the resultant puddle with a splash as she lost her balance. ' 'Oh no!' she wailed. 'Now look what you've done!' I 'Me?' For a moment he simply stood and stared at her in disbelief, then he began to really laugh, and Hound, seeing a new game in progress, splashed around her happily in the spilled water, barking at her, and encouraging her to do it again. I 'Stop it I' Deryn yelled, her fists clenched tightly, tears of frustration running down her cheeks. 'Stop it, the pair of you. Stop it ' She was so angry with them both that she could have screamed, and she fought instinctively against i the hands that lifted her to her feet, and the arms that pulled her close and held her while he still 5 laughed softly against the untidy mop of her hair. Then, suddenly, she was still and quiet, and dizzily aware of the way he was holding her, and the way her heart was thudding wildly in her breast as she stopped struggling and laid her face against him and closed her eyes. One hand ruffled gently through her tumbled hair, and his cheek rubbed slowly back and forth on her forehead. 'Deryn t' She murmured something soft and wordless and his mouth pressed for a moment on her brow. 'Deryn, Deryn ' It was Hound who brought them back to earth by barking furiously at this new and much less active game, and Deryn drew away swiftly, her head shaking as if to deny the moment before. Dominic let her go, then looked at his dog with an expression of fcfesigned amusement and bent to pick up the mop. 'I shall have to kick you some time. Hound,' he ptold the prancing animal and, despite the chaos of her thoughts, Deryn only just suppressed a laugh. (fit isn't fit to live in,' Gerald declared, when DerynI'.told him about the leaking roof and the effects of the storm. She was careful to omit reference to any t side issues that might have proved unpopular, having no wish to add strength to his argument that she should leave the cottage. "' 'Of course it isn't,' she told him, shrugging off the incident. 'It isn't serious.' 'I wish you'd give it up and come back to town,' he said. 'I shan't be happy until you do, Deryn.' . 'And I shan't be happy if I do,' she said tartly. I'm perfectly all right, Gerald, please don't fuss. I've changed bedrooms now, and this one doesn't t leak.' 'Just the same,' he said, 'it isn't healthy living in a place that leaks every time it rains.' ! 'Well, it's fine again now.' 'Oh, I give up ' He sighed deeply and resignedly. . 'It can't stay fine all the time, darling, and then what happens?' 'I stick the bucket, the bowl and the bath underm ith the place where it leaks and hope for the best and a short shower,' she told him. Then reached up and put a gentle and consoling hand to his face. 'Don't worry about me, Gerald. I'm fine, really.' 'I don't like you being here on your own,' he said, his brow creased in a frown. 'And there's Gregory too. I don't like the idea of him being so so close L 69 at hand.' 'Well, at least it means I'm not completely isolated,' Deryn pointed outi 'And Hound's a very efficient watchdog.' 'Who for?' Gerald asked. 'He's no good to you, down there in the summerhouse, and anyway he's not likely to raise the alarm on his owner, is he?' Deryn sighed. 'Are you still worrying about that aspect?' she asked, and felt the faintest prick of conscience at protesting when she remembered how she had responded to Dominic's embrace. Her compliance, her ready submission disturbed her, and the more she thought about it the more it bothered her. She knew Gerald would have been furious about it had he known, and it was an incident that must never be allowed to happen again. 'I can't help worrying about it,' he insisted. 'I know you take a a less inhibited view of that sort of thing than I do, Deryn, but even you must see that this situation leaves itself wide open to misinterpretation.' . 'I suppose it does,' Deryn allowed. 'But as long as I know there, nothing to misinterpret, and as long as you know, there's no need for us to worry is there?' Gerald looked unconvinced, but he shrugged, putting an arm around her shoulders and kissing her brow. 'No,' he said, 'I suppose not.' 70

  CHAPTER FIVE

  GERALD was in London again, a couple of days later, and Deryn was forced to admit that she missed him, although she had always made a point of remaining uninvolved in anything serious. Sooner or later, she sometimes supposed, she would meet someone and feel like settling down, but it would not be for a long time yet. She was quite happy to carry on as she was, and her career was going very well, everything was perfect. There had been no more rain so far, although it had clouded over once or twice and looked as it it might be wet. Today in fact it looked darker than ever, and Deryn did not anticipate being able to work outside for very long. They had eaten lunch and Dominic was about to leave, when he stopped, turning in the doorway to smile at her. It was a small, speculative smile and she wondered what it foretold, so that she responded to it cautiously. Suspicion warned her that it was probably something she would not like very much. His words, however, took her quite by surprise and she was rather disturbed to find herself nodding almost before he had finished speaking. 'Will you have dinner with me this evening, for a change?' he asked. 'In Glanreddin?.' 'I'd love to. Thank you.' He looked faintly surprised, she thought, but he smiled his satisfaction as she came to join him by the 7i door. 'Good. I'm glad you didn't just turn me down fiat.' She arched a brow. 'Did you expect me to?' He smiled again, looking at her for a moment in silence before he answered. 'I don't really know,' he confessed. 'I thought you might.' ' see.' She studied the toes of her left foot, curling them back and forth on the cool, redtiled floor. 'Are you sorry you asked me now?' He laughed and raised her face with one finger. "That's a silly question and you know it,.,' he told her quietly. 'I'll try not to look too much like a hippie and disgrace you.' 'You ' He laughed softly and shook his head. "I'll overlook that remark.' he told her, and glanced out at the scudding clouds coming in across the valley. 'It looks as if it might rain some time today,' he added. 'You'd better leave the bath, etc., in position just in case. Then we can eat with an easy conscience.' She glanced at the labrador, waiting patiently by the door. 'What about Hound?' she asked. 'What about him?' 'Well, do we take him with us, or leave him?' 'We leave him, of course,' he said. 'He'll be all right down in the summerhouse.' 'Are you sure? It seems rather mean to go off and enjoy ourselves while he's left behind.' He laughed, one finger lifting her chin again, while he studied her mouth with an intensity she found incredibly disturbing. 'He's only a dog,' he told her solemnly, "not a human being, and as such 72 " I he stays at home. It's his allotted role in life doing .as he's told.' Deryn looked up at him reproachfully. 'Oh, you are hardhearted,' she said. 'Much more hardhearted than you say I am. Poor old Hound ' He smiled, bending his head to kiss her lightly on her mouth. 'Poor old Hound,' he echoed softly. 'He knows when he's well off, which is more than most humans do. Now stop worrying about him, and don't let him spoil your evening out, or I'll disown the pair of you. O.K.?' ,. 'O.K..' He nodded satisfaction, and strode off down the garden with Hound bounding ahead, while Deryn watched them go, her eyes distant and ft
thoughtful, her mind already busy with the quesH tion of what to wear. Glanreddin was not a teeming metropolis, it was a small Welsh country town, so she had no need to worry about the lack of anything very formal in her available wardrobe, but at the same time she must ' take care not to wear anything too flamboyant so g that she would be conspicuous. Her final choice fell. on a short, fullskirted dress I in deep turquoise with long full sleeves and a decorously high neck a soft, pretty and very feminine dress that suited her very well. It would be formal enough, she thought, without looking too ostentatious for small town dining out. She was not quite sure why it was that she decided to alter her hairstyle and try to put it up, for she had never attempted it before. She managed it now only by tying it tightly on top of her head with a ribbon and letting it fall to her shoulders. It was 73 not strictly up, she realised, but it looked quite a bit 3 shorter than usual and the severity of being pulled''!! so tight away from her face made her look just a 3 glittle older. . "I She answered the door and smiled, a little anxiously, when Dominic looked at her. He said ?! nothing for a moment, but smiled and, when she'. asked him in, he spoke of only practical things. I 'We'd better put out the pots and pans,' he said. 'It's going to rain for sure, and you don't want to find yourself flooded out when you get back.' I Deryn nodded, not a little disappointed, she I admitted, that he had made no comment on her appearance. She fetched the bowl and the bucket and left the bath to him as they went up to the bedroom. 'What happens if they get full?' she asked as they came down again, and he laughed. I 'You're a pessimist,' he told her. 'If they get full, I then you'll be flooded anyway. But it'd take a mon soon to fill that bath I shouldn't worry about it.' I 'I'd better bring a coat, hadn't I?' 'You'd better,' he agreed, 'although I've got a raincoat in the car if we do get caught, so it's up to I you.' I. 'Then I'd better bring one, because you'll need 8 the raincoat.' He grinned. 'Oh, I'm used to monsoon weather,' he told her. 'Don't you worry about me.' I" In the doorway she hesitated again. 'Gerald might be back today,' she told him. 'I wonder if I should leave a note.' . Again he shook his head. 'Don't fuss,' he told her with a grin. 'The whole idea of this trip is to .' 74 just drop everything and enjoy yourself and that includes Gerald.' He stemmed the halfformed protest she would have made, with a finger over her lips, then he smiled, his gaze going to her severely tied hair. 'One thing I must do before we go,' he said, 'is get rid of that oldmaidish scrape.' 0h no!' She tried to duck when his hands reached out for the ribbon on top of her head, but too late. The ribbon was tugged free and her hair cascaded down, tossed and tumbled in it more usual carelessness. 'Oh, Dom I Now I'll have'to do it all over again ' 'No, you won't,' he said airily. 'It seeds a' quick brush, that's all.' 'I did it specially I' He grinned, a wry, knowing grin. 'Trying to look older in deference to my grey hairs,' he said quietly. 'I know, Deryn, but you don't have to. I don't mind a few raised brows, if you don't.' She gazed at him, wideeyed, wondering if that really had been the reason she had bothered to alter her hair, however unconscious the gesture may have been. 'I it wasn't because of that,' she told him. 'Maybe not he allowed, but she could tell he was unconvinced. 'But wear it loose, to please me, hmm?' 'You like it better?' He nodded, one hand smoothing her hair back from her face. 'I like it better,' he said softly. The restaurant he had chosen was a better class one than she had expected to find in such a small town. It was quite small, but it looked expensive and it wasn't really much of a surprise to discover that 75 their table had already been booked. It would not really occur to Dominic Gregory that his invitation would be refused, and for a moment the idea irri 'I tated her, and she looked at him as if she would give 3 voice to her objection to being taken for granted. : He looked so much more distinguished, dressed ,' formally, as he was now. A beautifully cut dark grey suit and a white shirt gave even more depth to his tan, and it must have been her imagination, she thought, that saw the grey streaks in his black hair as more prominent than usual. ' I He had the appearance of a very successful barrister or .business man, and very, very attractive, so that feminine eyes followed his progress surrep titiously as "male eyes followed Deryn. It startled .. her a little, too, to realise that she had no idea what he did for a living, or even if he did anything at all. 'I have the feeling,' he said at last, while they II waited for their meal to arrive, 'that you're deep in I thought and that possibly ' He paused, grey eyes curious and almost certainly amused. 'Yes, I think I'm safe in assuming that I'm the subject of your i reverie. Am I right?' ' If she could have believed he was being conceited in his assumption, she would not have hesitated to say so, but she knew he wasn't. It was purely and sf simply an accurate guess, and she smiled ruefully at i being caught out. 'In a way,' she admitted. ' ' 'Should I be flattered?' She laughed softly, responding instinctively to the ageold challenge she saw in his eyes. 'It de , pends.' ' 76 He sat with his elbows on the edge of the table, his hands clasped together under his chin, watching her steadily. 'Oh? On what?' She laughed again, watching for his reaction from under her lashes. 'On how conceited you are.' For a moment he said nothing, then he shook his head slowly. 'You could be very cruel, couldn't you, Deryn?' he said softly. 'You could be quite ruthless and cruel, and I pity poor Gerald.' 'Gerald?' She looked startled. The accusation was both unexpected and out of character for the man she thought she knew. 'Why Gerald? It was you we were talking about, not Gerald.' He smiled, that oddly crooked smile that seemed to speak volumes and made her feel horribly uneasy. 'Oh, we needn't worry about me,' he said with an air of quiet confidence that took her breath away. 'I can handle you easily. I doubt very much if Gerald can.' 'You you are conceited I' she managed at last, annoyed to find that her hands were trembling and that there was a strange feeling of elation in the pit of her stomach. 'Possibly.' He turned to give his attention to the winewaiter, and she was left for a moment to ponder seriously on the effect he seemed to have on her. The men in her own circle were uninhibited enough to speak freely about how they felt, and more than one had found her desirable and not hesitated to say so. She was used to frank and open discussion about feelings and desires, but no one had ever come so close to touching on her own secret emotions as this man did, and it was something she 77 fought against instinctively. He belonged to a different world from hers, and she had no intention, or desire, of allowing herself to be influenced in any way. 'Still deep in thought?' he asked as the man departed, and Deryn frowned. 'I'm not sure it was a very good idea coming out with you,' she told him. 'Why? Because you can't tie me round your little finger the way you do Gerald?' he asked, and laughed softly, holding her gaze until she bit on her lip and sought refuge in taking a sip from her wine glass. It was a light, white wine and it tickled her palate, making her wrinkle her nose. 'What's wrong?' he asked. 'Don't you like it?' 'Yes. Yes, I like it very much.' She took a longer drink this time to prove it, and wrinkled her nose again. 'Wine always makes me screw up my nose. It tickles when it goes down.' He was laughing quite openly now, and again that curious, lilting sensation rippled through her as she looked at him, her expression half way between reproach and appreciation of his amusement. 'You are a funny little creature,' he told her. 'And I'm very glad you didn't turn me down flat.' 'I'm beginning to wish I had,' Deryn retorted. 'You've done nothing but make rude personal remarks and laugh at me, so far.' 'I'm sorry.' The apology did not sound too serious, and he still looked amused. 'Are you? I don't think I believe you.' 'Why not?' She lowered her eyes and sought for reasons, wish78 ing she felt more of her usual selfconfidence and less like one of the fluttery, romantic girls she had always despised so much. 'Because I don't think you say anything or do anything, for that matfer, without knowing exactly what you're doing and why you're doing it.' He smiled. 'That sounds very profound, do you know what you mean?' 'Of course I do!' Deryn flashed. 'And you know how I hate being talked to as if I was a rather stupid child. Don't do it I' ' 'Again I'm sorry. Or don't you believe me this time, either?' 'I think you're still laughing at me, and since you have no reason to laugh at me, you're not only being r
ude but but unbearably patronising as well.' 'Deryn ' He spoke softly and put a hand over one of hers as it lay on the table, in a tight little fist. 'Don't look so angry or somebody will think well, who knows what people think when they see a beautiful girl looking so obviously angry?' His fingers squeezed hers gently, and she could feel that tingling sensation again, trickling along her spine and making her hands tremble. 'Don't spoil our evening, Deryn, it's such a pity to waste it.' For a moment she said nothing, but simply sat there with her hand in his, trying to decide if she was still angry or if it was some other emotion that was causing such upheaval in the region of her heart. Then at last she looked up at him and half smiled, her eyes still reproachful but prepared to call a truce. 'All right,' she said, making no attempt to with79 draw her hand. "I'll let you get away with it this time because I'm hungry and I don't want to walk out on you and forfeit my dinner.' He laughed and raised her fingers briefly to his lips. 'Mercenary as well as beautiful,' he said. 'I might have known it ' They had almost finished their meal when she allowed her curiosity about him to show itself, and possibly a rather too generous indulgence in that palatetickling wine had something to do with her loquaciousness. She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table, the wine glass twirling between her fingers, her eyes bright but,at the moment, hidden by the dark sweep of her lashes. 'Dom.' 'Hmm?' He too leaned forward, as she did, but his eyes studied her slightly flushed cheeks and the smooth line of her throat and neck, where it swept up from the highcollared dress. 'Are you being solemn and profound again?' She looked up and smiled. 'No just curious really.' . . 'Oh?' She nodded. 'I expect you'll tell me to mind my own business,' she said ruefully. 'I doubt it.' She looked at him for several seconds in silence, then shook her head suddenly and sipped some more wine. 'I have no right to quiz. you,' she told him. 'And I shouldn't have said anything.' He reached for her hand and held it, his fingers tight around hers, and encouraging her to go on. 'Ask me,' he ordered softly. 'Ask away, little bird, and I'll do my best to answer.' Deryn hesitated briefly. There were'so many things she was curious about, concerning him, but most of them were not things she could ask him outright, although the wine made her a little unsure of just what was permissible and what was not. 'Do you still love that American girl?' she asked. It was doubtful if his reaction to the question was any more stunned than her own, if as much, for she had no idea what had prompted her to put that into words. Her intention had been to ask him nothing more personal than what he did for a living the question of the heiress he had chased around half the world with had been only vaguely in the back of her mind, a mere indefinite curiosity, too personal to be mentioned. She expected to feel his reaction via the hand that held hers, but there was no change in the pressure of his fingers, and he did not even release her hand. Only a brief, breathless silence acknowledged the unexpectedness of it as she sought desperately for other words to cover her mistake. 'Dom, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to ask that, honestly. It it just slipped out.' 'And better out than in,' he said wryly. 'I really am sorry.' He still held her hand, and he was smiling, even if it was that crooked, slightly rueful smile she was beginning to recognise. 'The answer is no,' he said quietly, and caught her uneasy gaze, his grey eyes amused still if a little surprised. 'But I'd love to know why you asked,' he added. 'I didn't mean to ask that.' 81 'Oh?' He released his hold at last, and refilled both their glasses. 'That makes it even more interesting.' 'Dom, please don't don't sneer at me.' 'I wasn't,' he promised solemnly. 'Why did you ask me that, Deryn?' "I don't know. I honestly don't,' she insisted when he raised a doubting brow. 'I just don't know what made me ask that.' 'Could it be that. you're interested?' he suggested softly, and once again Deryn resorted to the wine glass for evasion. She said nothing for quite a while, but he made no attempt to prompt her, merely sitting watching her, and sipping from his glass, slowly and appreciatively. ' I was going to ask you what what you did for a living,' she told him at last, hoping he would allow the other question to be forgotten. 'That interests you too?' he asked, and she looked up hastily, sensing another possible misinterpretation. 'Only in the the normally curious way,' she told him. 'I see.' 'You don't have to answer, of course,' she assured him hurriedly. � I just wondered, that's all.' 'Uhhuh!' He studied the wine left in his glass for a second or two, then looked across at her and smiled. 'Would adventurer sound too disreputable?' he asked then. 'It might if I knew what it meant,' she told him, after a moment or two. 'Somehow it sounds ' 'Oldfashioned?', he suggested softly, and she hastily shook her head. 'Not that,' she said firmly. 'I could quite easily forget those grey hairs, Dom, if you'd let me.' He shook bis head slowly, a warmth and depth in his eyes that she found dangerously exciting. 'I think you could,' he agreed with that crooked smile in evidence again. 'But I find them more difficult to forget, Deryn.' It was a subject that she felt could become dangerously involved if they continued with it, and she held his gaze for only a moment longer, then pushed back her hair from her face and smiled as she held out her glass to be refilled again. 'Tell me what an adventurer is in this day and age,' she told him. He shrugged, pouring wine into her glass with a hand as steady as a rock. "Roaming around the hotter climes, doing anything and everything that comes to hand,' he said. 'Hard work, easy work, sometimes slightly ' He shrugged and grinned at her meaningly. 'You name it, I've done it somewhere south of the Equator.' 'Did you enjoy it?' He thought for a moment, then nodded, smiling again. 'Yes,' he agreed at last, 'I've enjoyed it.' 'Now you're home to settle down?' He laughed at that, a soft, slightly cynical sound that she did not particularly like the sound of. 'Maybe,' he said, cautiously she felt. 'That remains to be seen.' 'Anyway, you won't be gallivanting off again yet.?' He regarded her with a quizzical look for a moment, then smiled. 'If I didn't know you better,' he said. 'I'd think you sounded as if you didn't want 3 me to go gallivanting off again, but I know that can't be true because you're still hoping to get Llanwellon to yourself again, aren't you?' She nodded. 'Yes, I am.' 'Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I have every intention of having my two months' holiday, so you'll just have to put up with us me and Hound for a while yet.' "Oh, I don't mind Hound in the least,' she assured him with malicious relish. 'He can stay as long as he likes.' "' 'By the way,' he said, his gaze suddenly drawn to some point behind her, and a small, slow smile touching his mouth, 'how long is Gerald going to be hanging around the cottage?' Deryn looked a little startled, then frowned curiously. 'I couldn't say,' she told him. 'As long as I'm there, I expect. Why?' He was shaking his head. 'I think you could be wrong he informed her. 'He's spotted us and he's coming this way, looking far from pleased.'