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Only she would know how false it was, Davina thought as she baked two big tarts and got everything prepared for the evening meal. There was still plenty of time to spare by hurrying over the last chores for her to wash and change and she was putting the last touches to her make-up when she heard the Land Rover approaching the farmhouse.

She ran downstairs two at a time and had put the kettle on when the outer door opened and she turned to greet Rex’s visitor. As he came in, her mouth went dry and her hand instinctively grasped a chair back as she felt the blood draining from her face and the familiar kitchen begin to spin round her.

She felt rather than saw Rex step forward quickly, and pulling a chair forward thrust her into it. As a big hand on the nape of her neck pushed her head down between her knees and she heard a familiar voice say accusingly, ‘You never let me come here without warning her, King? Have you got some brandy? She looks like death!'

But Davina’s vision was clearing and gathering all her courage she forced herself to sit upright. The hand on her neck was instantly withdrawn as she smiled faintly into Barr Patterson’s anxious face as he looked down at her.

‘Sorry about that, it was silly of me. Just the shock of seeing you so unexpectedly when I thought you thousands of miles away. But please, no brandy. I’d much rather have a cup of tea.’

Was that really her own voice, so weak and shaky? Davina thought, and cleared her throat nervously as Barr walked over with a pronounced limp to where the kettle was boiling furiously. ‘Where do you keep the tea caddy?’ he asked, and smiled, a smile she noted which had lost its former half apologetic suggestion of shy withdrawal.

Before she could answer Barr, a voice spoke harshly from behind her, and Rex strode over to the cupboard and began the business of warming the pot. Davina had for a second forgotten his presence, forgotten he was the author of this latest piece of vindictiveness, but as he busied himself with the tea making she saw his face was like a block of granite. She looked away quickly, met Barr’s eyes and said the first thing that came into her head.

‘What are you doing in England? Have you come to spend Christmas with …' she had been about to say Rex and had stopped, unwilling to have to explain to Barr why she called his brother by what would appear to be a nickname.

‘Yes, with the girl I’m going to marry,’ Barr put in as she hesitated. ‘I daresay King’s told you I’m living at Penderoo Station with him and Uncle Fitz now, trying to learn farming. Well, I met Pam shortly after I got there. She’s a nurse and was staying on a neighbouring station. Rex got her to come and help me get back on my feet and we found we’d a lot in common. When I popped the question, she wouldn’t say yes until she’d been back to England to see her parents— she’s English, you see, so it will mean a big change for her. I decided to come too, so her mother and father could judge for themselves what sort of guy Pam was considering hitching up with, and we’ve decided to get married right after Christmas so we can be back in Australia for New Year. I came up to tell King and ask him to be my best man. You could have knocked me down with a feather when he told me you were working for him. I hope he doesn’t bully you. King can be quite a slavedriver when he likes,’ and Barr cast an impish smile at his brother’s expressionless face.

‘Stop talking so much and give the lady her tea,’ Rex ordered, and his voice was as expressionless as his face. Barr gave him a quick look, then turned to pour milk and tea into a cup and push it along the table towards Davina.

‘Drink up. What have you been doing with yourself since I last saw you?’ he asked. Then he added, ‘Whatever it is, you’re not so brown and fit as you were in Sydney.’

‘Put that down to an English winter,’ Davina answered quickly. ‘Don’t forget I was on holiday and the sun was shining the last time we met.’ This was dangerous ground and she hurried on with, ‘Tell me more about your Pam. And congratulations. I hope you’ll be very happy.’

Barr needed little encouragement to extol the virtues of the absent Pam, and as he talked, Davina wondered what Rex was thinking. Had he known Barr was to become engaged? That his brother was no longer an object of pity? Or was he sc obsessed with revenge that only punishing her was important to him?

Glancing at the stern face as Rex sipped his tea and smoked a cigarette, Davina knew it needed someone a good deal more acute than herself to work that one out. Despite the success of his plan to walk in on her with his brother, he looked anything but pleased by the outcome. He had retired behind a seemingly impenetrable barrier, and knowing he was unlikely to let down his guard while she was present, Davina suggested as soon as the teapot was emptied that the two men should go and talk in the study and leave her to get on with the cooking.

Not until the following morning did she find herself alone with Barr. Rex had gone to put out extra feed for the stock and she was setting the breakfast table when Barr came into the kitchen.

‘Sit down, I’ve got some tea on the go. I was going to let you sleep. We breakfast early.’

As she gave him the cup, Davina saw Barr was studying her thoughtfully and as he took the tea he caught her unawares.

‘Is King giving you a bad time? I know what a thorny devil he can be, and when I found out he hadn’t told you I was coming and saw the way you reacted to my arrival I began to wonder if he was making you a target for his eye-for-an-eye philosophy. Uncle Fitz is a hard man and he’s raised King to be the same. My brother can be the best friend in the world, but he makes one hell of an enemy.’

Davina turned her back as she added more rashers of bacon to the pan. ‘It could be he thinks you got a rotten deal, Barr. He’s told me what happened to you after I left Australia. I’m sorry, truly I am.’ She turned to face him. ‘I wouldn’t like to have it on my conscience as being truly at fault.’

Barr got to his feet and limping round the table captured her hands. ‘You’re not to blame yourself,’ he ordered, and Davina blinked at the firmly commanding note in his voice, so at variance with all her recollections of him. Barr went on crisply, ‘What happened was a build-up over several years, and you mustn’t blame yourself because I chose to act like a fool. It taught me a lesson, and when I look back, I’ve come out of the mess a good deal better off than perhaps I deserve. I’m training now for what I’ve always hankered to do, and as a bonus, met the kind of girl I always dreamed about. So no more hang-ups, self-recriminations? For either of us,' and with these last words he leaned forward and pressed an unexpected kiss on her lips.

Just at that particular moment, Rex pushed open the door and came in. ‘Is this a private party, or can anyone join in?’ he asked with all his old mockery in voice and face, but letting go of Davina’s hands Barr smiled at his brother and replied, ‘That was merely a kiss between friends. Now as soon as we’ve eaten, how about showing me what you’re up to? Uncle Fitz says your letters tell him nothing.’

Rex shot his brother a keen, analytical look before he turned to wash his hands, but to Davina’s relief he made no further reference to the scene he had interrupted. Surely he must realise by now that Barr bore her no ill will, so perhaps he would give up his plan to make her stay until the six months were up.

The men were out all day, but as Rex had arranged for them to eat out in the evening, Davina was able to put in the whole afternoon on her own work. So far eight stories had been completed and with the exception of some minor alterations in two, all had been accepted. As she sat, pen in hand, staring out over the fields, she wondered what had happened to the fairy story Rex had appropriated. She was getting just a little tired of dreaming up romance for the younger readers, perhaps because she had discovered for herself that in real life, true love does not run smoothly—in fact, very much the reverse. Would things have turned out differently had she met Rex under happier circumstances? she wondered, and a long sigh escaped as she bent over her work again.

Dinner was to be a foursome, she discovered, when on arrival at the country club where Rex had taken her the first time they dined out, they found Adele Wickham waiting in the bar. She exerted herself to be charming as soon as she discovered that Barr was Rex Fitzpaine’s half-brother, but she was so patently possessive that several times during the meal, Davina noticed Barr Patterson’s gaze flitting from Adele’s face to that of his older brother.

Lying in bed later that night, Davina reached a decision. No matter what Rex might think, this was the end of the road for her. Barr was settled and no longer the ‘ship without a rudder’ he had been when she first met him. Adele at least seemed not to care that the world knew who she’d chosen to be her second partner in the matrimonial stakes, and that being so, Catrin’s future happiness no longer hung on a supposed association between herself and Rex.

There was absolutely nothing now to stop her shaking the dust of Nineveh Farm off her shoes and when Barr left, she would go too. But the following morning the old shepherd arrived at the house while Davina was only at the stage of relighting the kitchen fire and he was carrying a telegram in his hand.

‘Mrs Wicks at the Post Office asked me to bring this up early,’ he explained as Davina picked it up and saw it was addressed to Barr. He came into the kitchen at that moment, freshly shaved and already dressed, so silently she held it out to him.

Tearing the envelope open, Barr read the three lines and asked, ‘Where’s the nearest telephone?’

‘Down in the village,’ Davina answered as he handed her the telegram to read. ‘Take the Land Rover. Here are the keys. Mr Farr will show you where to telephone,’ and Barr slipped on one of Rex’s anoraks, picked up the keys and pushed the old man out before him.

They had been gone some fifteen minutes when Rex returned to the house, and he had hardly finished reading the telegram when the roar of an engine heralded Barr’s return. For a man with an artificial limb he could be pretty nimble, Davina noticed, as he swung out of the cab and began to walk towards the house.

Rex tapped the telegram. ‘It just says there’s been an accident. Did you get through to Pam? How bad is it?’

‘Not too serious, I’m glad to say,’ Barr answered quickly. ‘Pam hasn’t got a scratch, but her mother has a black eye, she says, and her father a broken leg and slight concussion. We’ll have to postpone the wedding, of course, until he’s up and about again. Look, can you run me into Carlisle as soon as we’ve eaten? I can tell it’s shaken them all up, and even if Pam isn’t hurt, I feel I ought to be with her.’

There was no time to weep over a lost opportunity as Davina hurried to get the meal on the table, cut sandwiches and helped Barr collect his belongings before with a hasty goodbye kiss he was getting into the Land Rover beside Rex. Somehow she’d have to get to a station under her own steam, and what better occasion than now, when Rex was out of the way for two hours at the very least. She would have to leave a letter of explanation, of course, ask him to send on the trunk and her suitcase, but perhaps, in the light of recent events, Rex would be relieved to return and find her departure a fait accompli.

She worked fast. The trunk was packed and locked and her suitcase filled in record time. She was in the middle of stripping the bed when a voice immediately behind her demanded, ‘And what, may I ask, do you think you’re doing?’

She knew that particular note in Rex’s smooth voice and her inside began to tremble. She lifted a defiant chin. ‘I should have thought that was obvious,’ she answered quickly.

Her mouth went dry as leaning one shoulder against the door frame Rex turned a deliberate gaze on to the trunk and suitcase standing side by side. There was a wealth of meaning in his insolent drawl as he said, ‘How very unfortunate for you that I met Adele on her way to Carlisle. As soon as she heard about the accident, she offered to take Barr with her and save me a journey. I imagine all this,’ he waved a hand towards the packing, the half stripped bed, ‘means that while my back was turned, like the Arabs you intended folding your tents and silently stealing away?’

Davina could meet the hard eyes no longer and she looked away. ‘It seemed the best plan,’ she said in a low voice.

‘What makes you think anything’s changed?’

She looked up quickly. ‘But of course it has. Barr has no hard feelings, why should you? What’s more, he’s happily engaged.’

‘No thanks to you,’ Rex replied. ‘And you ought to know by now that I haven’t a very forgiving nature like Barr.’ He pushed himself off the door frame and strolled towards her. ‘Now in his shoes I most certainly wouldn’t have given you the kiss of peace. If you’d jilted me the way you did him, I’d more than likely have kissed you like this,’ and he reached out to grasp her.

Seeing his intention, Davina backed hastily away, completely overlooking the fact that the bed was right behind her. As the edge caught her behind the knees, she overbalanced in a tangle of arms and legs and seconds later felt the weight of Rex’s body as he lay down beside her.

The mocking eyes were only inches from her own as he said provocatively, ‘On occasion you can be a most accommodating girl,’ before hard lips came down on hers. From the moment his mouth met her softly parted lips the battle was lost, and when at last he took his lips away it was only to say in grim smiling tones, ‘Have everything back where it was by lunchtime,’ before he got up and went away.

Davina sat on the edge of the bed and wiped away the slow tears coursing down her face. She knew miserably that she would do exactly as she was told. Not because she was afraid of Rex, not because she wanted to safeguard Catrin’s future, but simply because she was so much in love, she did not want to leave the cause of all her recent misfortunes. To her eternal shame, Adele or no Adele, she knew she would stay at Nineveh until Rex had no further use for her.

Still
feeling sick with misery, Davina slowly undid her trunk, going over the scene which had just taken place. After her enthusiastic response to his lovemaking, Rex could be under no misapprehensions whatsoever about her feelings towards him and no doubt would take full advantage of her weakness. She, Davina Williams, who had always secretly despised girls who considered the world well lost for love, was just as foolish, it seemed, when it came to the crunch.