Tasmanian Tangle (14 page)

When she was ready she gave herself a critical look in the mirror, and saw with annoyance that her hair was not behaving itself, and refused to stay neatly in position. She gave an exasperated sigh and on an impulse plaited it, securing the ends with two tightly twisted elastic bands. The result somewhat surprised her, for her hair was not long enough to achieve the desired neat appearance but stuck out on either side of her head, making her look not much above sixteen.

Kade's words came to her as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. 'Kid', he called her, she thought grimly—well, she certainly looked the part now, and that, she told herself firmly, ought to settle any worry of

his about her nurturing any romantic notions where he was concerned.

To add to the illusion she wanted to create, she took off her jacket; the day would get much warmer later on and she would only end up carrying it around. Next she let her blouse hang loose around her waist instead of leaving it tucked under the waistband of her pants. When she had finished she stood back and surveyed the result and gave a nod of approval. She couldn't see anyone mistaking her for Kade's wife now—his daughter, maybe, she thought with grim satisfaction.

A hoot on a horn made her hastily snatch up her shoulder-bag and rush for the door. She had no intention of giving Kade a stick to beat her with that early in the morning by being late on parade!

The car door was open on her side when she reached it, as if Kade was impatient to get going, and she got in hastily thinking that it looked as if her earlier presumption of his being in a bad mood was correct.

Kade started the motor as soon as she had slammed the car door behind her, and gave her a quick odd kind of assessing look that she could not interpret, but there had been a look of amusement in his eyes before he gave his attention to the road again.

If this was so, then it must have been the hairstyle that had amused him, thought Tanya sourly, but she had no intention of giving him an opportunity of commenting upon it. She ought to have known better!

'It did upset you, didn't it?' he said in a slow amused voice. 'It proved that I was right, though, didn't it?' he added casually.

Tanya looked straight ahead of her but was unable to prevent the flush of delicate pink staining her cheeks

and was certain that he had taken full note of her discomfort. 'If you're referring to last night,' she replied coldly, 'I'd rather forget it, if you don't mind. I'm surprised you brought it up,' she added tartly, 'I should have thought you'd have been terrified of my overreacting to what was obviously meant to be a comforting action on your part.'

'Comforting?' queried Kade with a slight frown. 'Is that how you saw it?' he asked curiously.

Tanya's eyes left the road and she looked at him. 'You felt sorry for me, didn't you?' she said bluntly. 'I'm just telling you that I understand how you felt, but I'd far rather you'd actually said so instead of—doing what you did.' She hesitated on the last few words, not wanting to say 'kissed me as you did'.

To her amazement and fury Kade gave a low chuckle as he darted a quick sideways look at her. 'Has it ever occurred to you that I did precisely what I wanted to do?' he asked softly, making her cheeks turn a shade deeper pink.

'Yes!' she bit out at him, furious at his autocratic assumption that he could do as he liked with her. 'But I prefer to incline towards my explanation rather than look on you as a womaniser!' Now chew on that! she thought tartly.

She saw his brows go up at this, then to her further fury she saw an amused smile playing round his firm lips. 'You've a lot to learn, kitten,' he drawled maddenningly. 'But I'll give you ten out of ten for trying,' he added meaningly.

It was Tanya's turn to frown. Did he mean taking the rise out of him? She gave a slight shrug. She would never understand him, and perhaps it was better that

way. She ought to have picked him up on the 'kitten' label, though, but all things considered it was better that he saw her as a young girl rather than a woman. Better for both of them and decidedly safer for her!

Their destination that day was the distribution centre situated on the outskirts of Hobart. It reminded Tanya of London's old Covent Garden. There was just as much activity and she found that she had to dodge out of the way of loaded trolleys being manoeuvred into position by busy porters intent on moving the various commodities handled, in the shortest possible time.

It was from here that the produce was sent directly to the shipping lines to be despatched to their ultimate destinations. With the bustle and the shouts of 'Mind your back!' Kade had to shout to make himself heard as he explained the routine carried out at this stage of the business. There was never any lull in the centre, for loaded trucks were either arriving or leaving in continuous activity.

Kade's popularity here was just as noticeable as it had been on the farm with the seasonal workers, and he was hailed on all sides as they toured the depot. Tanya came in for the same amount of curious attention as she had received at the farmers' meeting the previous day.

'Taken to guided tours now, have you?' commented one wag with a grin, as he eyed her with frank curiosity.

Kade grinned back at him. 'We'll have a little more respect from you, Jack Hailey,' he replied. 'This is John Hume's daughter, and my business partner, so mind your p's and q's.'

Tanya saw the man's eyebrows shoot up and a large hand was thrust out towards her. 'Beg pardon, miss,' he

said hastily. 'Right pleased to meet you.'

As she took the proffered hand, Tanya felt a spurt of satisfaction at being addressed as 'Miss'. Her 'disguise' had obviously had the desired result and had foiled any attempt Kade might have made at her further discomfiture, as she was convinced he had done before. She was even more convinced when she caught Kade watching her with a certain look in his eye that told her that he was well aware of her thoughts and was deriving some amusement from the fact.

It was a relief to her when they moved on to the office section of the depot. For one thing it was much quieter there, and it was not necessary to shout to make oneself heard. Tanya was shown where the paper work came in, and recognised the now familiar pink export forms being processed ready for export.

As Kade went through the procedure with her, outlining every stage with studious attention to detail, she caught several envious glances darted her way by the office female staff, but mostly their attention was directed at the tall bronzed man by her side, dressed now in a blue checked shirt and grey tapered slacks. They must, she mused, look an extremely odd pair, Kade every inch a man of the world and she—? A gawky schoolgirl? she thought with some amusement, as she recalled the way her hair stuck out at odd angles on either side of her head.

'I think that's enough for this morning,' said Kade, breaking into her musings. He then thanked the head Berk for the use of the office and steered Tanya out of the offices and through the still busy depot, and out to the parking lot where he had left the car.

'I noticed that you didn't ask any questions,' he said,

as he held the car door open for her, giving her an interrogating look that warned her to be careful as to how she answered this unspoken accusation.

'I didn't need to,' she answered quietly. 'You were so explicit,' she tacked on, darting a quick glance at his profile to note his reaction to this blatant flattery.

She saw his strong jaw tighten, then relax into the familiar mocking smile. 'Determined to be a brilliant student, are you?' he drawled, as he negotiated the car out of the car park and out on to the main road.

'Isn't that what you want me to be?' she asked quickly, having a nasty feeling that he had seen through her master plan to keep him happy until she could walk out on him.

'It's what you want that matters, though, isn't it?' he shot back at her. 'And there are times when I suspect that we might not be working for the same ends,' he added significantly, and Tanya caught a glint in his blue eyes as he took a swift glance at her before concentrating on his driving.

Even if he had guessed what she was up to, there was nothing he could do about it, she told herself comfortingly, as she answered complacently, 'Well, I suppose only time will tell,' and left it at that.

To her relief he did not comment upon her ambiguous answer, and they drove for a few miles in silence. 'I've some paper work to catch up on,' Kade said, as they approached the home boundary, and Tanya's inward sigh of relief that he was going to give her the afternoon off was rudely shattered by his next words : 'You might as well give me a hand. It's management business. It's a pity you can't type. We'll have to fill in those interminable forms by hand. There's a lot of

paper work connected with any business, but ours involves many side issues.'

Tanya noticed that he said 'ours' and not 'mine', and she wondered if he was taking a leaf out of her book and trying a little duplicity on his own account.

When he stopped the car outside his quarters and asked in a matter-of-fact way if she had any objection to a cold lunch, she stared at him. Was he inviting her to take lunch with him there? His mocking look and twisted gr
in said it all for her. He was !
And his drawled, 'I promise not to bite,' made it worse for her, particularly as she knew that he was referring to what had happened the previous evening. What an irritating man he was, she thought crossly. As if she was likely to give him another chance like that.

'Besides,' he teased, lightly touching one of her pigtails with a lean forefinger, 'I've got the message!'

Tanya's slight flush acknowledged this blunt comment and her teeth were clenched together tightly as she followed his broad back towards the rear of the chalet.

The kitchen quarters were small, but adequate enough for a bachelor's establishment, Tanya thought, as she gazed around her, noting with a spurt of surprise how clean and neat everything was. Kade must be a model of perfection, she thought, as there was no sign of crockery or cutlery in sight on the well-scrubbed table. However, his next comments explained this.

'Charlie looks after the place for me. He used to work in the stables, you might remember him?'

Tanya nodded abruptly. She had a vague impression of a tall sparse man who had started work there shortly before she and her mother had left Orchard Farm. This

memory was tinged with bitterness. The stables had been mainly for her mother's use since her father had not been keen on riding.

As if sensing her feelings Kade went on casually, 'We only keep two horses now, and there's not enough to keep him busy there, so he took on the job of keeping me straight.'

Tanya watched Kade open the door of the refrigerator and peer inside, but her thoughts were still on the past. She had made only one visit to the stables since her return home, and the sight of the empty stalls and the sheer inactivity of the place had saddened her, and made her wish that she could put the clock back. She had not made another visit.

She gave herself a mental shake and saw Kade bend down and take a bowl of salad out of a lower shelf, then a plate of cut ham. It was a well-stocked refrigerator, she noted, and one of the large modern models.

'Good old Charlie,' commented Kade with a satisfied smile. 'I always said he'd missed his vocation. He should have been a chef. Even Connie was surprised how he adapted to the houseboy job. I suppose,' he added thoughtfully, as he placed the bowl of salad and the plate of ham on the table and collected cutlery from a

drawer beside the gleaming stainless steel sink unit, 'it

makes a difference if you've had to shift for yourself as he had always done. He'd plenty of cooking practice in the past.'

He placed the cutlery on the table and then produced two plates from a wall cupboard, and inclined his head towards the table indicating that she should be seated.

As she did so, Tanya felt very self-conscious, and

vaguely wondered what on earth they would have to talk about during lunch. So far, he had kept the conversation going on mundane subjects, but how long this pleasant state of affairs would last depended entirely upon his motivation. For her part she was willing to go along with his what appeared to be recent rejuvenation of their relationship, but by experience she had found him to be a very complex character, liable to break out of his complacency when she least expected it, and always to her discredit.

With these thoughts in mind, she decided to play it cool and not say one word that might cause dissension between them. If the going became sticky, she could always ask him questions about the business as it looked as if he had expected her to do after their visit to the depot. The trouble was, she thought with slightly narrowed eyes, what aspect of the business should she choose for further enlightenment?

Her concentration on this knotty problem was broken by Kade handing her the bowl of salad. She accepted it with an absentminded air, and vaguely noticed as she held out her hand to accept it that she had a tear in the sleeve of her blouse and a thread of the fine silk material hung loose.

'You should have worn a cotton top,' commented Kade, looking at the torn thread. 'The depot's no place for fine clothes. There's too much traffic in crates.'