Seductive Stranger

'No, but she's trained to obey, and her master left her to defend you, so if she thought you needed defence against me, she'd attack me.'

'Don't tempt me!' sighed Prue, half smiling, and got a grimace from him.

'I thought we'd established that that was the last thing on my mind?'

'Well, what a relief!' Prue said, half irritated by his mocking voice,

'Don't let me keep you! You'll find my father working—I'm not sure where. Take Meg with you, she'll find him.'

He shook his head. 'She wouldn't come with me.'

'Oh, she doesn't like you, either? A dog with taste, obviously!'

He went on smiling, his white teeth showing. 'She won't leave you until your father says so. She's a one-man dog.'

'Bitch, to be precise!'

'Oh, let's be precise—a one-man bitch,' Josh said, looking at her with angry black eyes. 'Quite a phenomenon.'

From the kitchen, at that moment, they heard the slam of a door, and Prue said quickly, with relief, 'My father!'

Josh turned on his heel and vanished down the stairs, and she went back into her room and stood by the window staring out at the thickening dusk. Her reactions to Josh Killane were odd; whenever she saw him she felt angry and be

lligerent, and that wasn't how she ever was with other men—with David, for instance! She was never aggressive with David.

Josh had a violent chemical effect on her. She couldn't deny that there was a sexual element involved; why bother to lie to herself? She didn't like the man, but she couldn't help being aware of him—on a purely physical level. It wasn't attraction, she hurriedly told herself.

Far from it! She wasn't attracted by that overpowering masculinity; that was what made her want to slap him, yet something inside her reacted explosively to something in him, although she hadn't yet worked out what happened to make her feel this way whenever she saw him.

She stood at the window, brooding, until she saw Josh and her father come out of the house. They stood talking on the drive, beside Josh's red car, and Prue watched them. She would have had to be blind and stupid not to see the affection between them, the casual trust and friendship. Her father liked Josh Killane, even if she didn't, but then, her father was another man, he judged Josh by very different standards.

Josh drove away and Prue turned from the window and went into the bathroom to freshen up before going downstairs. She found her father in the kitchen; the kettle singing on the stove and cups laid out on the table. He looked round to smile at her.

'Had a good sleep? A pity Josh woke you up.'

it doesn't matter. I'd slept long enough.'

Jim Allardyce poured the boiling water on to the tea in the fat-bellied, yellow earthenware pot. 'You seem to have more colour, anyway!'

Prue's flush deepened; she was glad he had his back to her. 'Thank you for leaving Meg to guard me,' she said, sitting down at the table.

Of course, Meg hadn't barked at Josh Killane; Meg was another of his fans!

Her father joined her, covering the teapot with a hand-knitted tea-cosy. 'Meg's a good watchdog, inside and out.'

He offered her a plate of small, home-made biscuits. 'Try one of these; they're very good. Betty Cain made them. She works in the house three mornings a week. You'll meet her tomorrow.'

Prue gingerly tasted one while her father watched. 'Very good,' she said, taking another, and he grinned in satisfaction.

The situation was so ordinary—a family taking tea in a kitchen—yet she felt like someone trying to walk on eggshells. It was important that she and her father get to know each other again, learn to like each other! But what should have been a gradual, everyday thing had become an uphill struggle. Was it too late for them to get to know one another?

'Prue. ..' he said, in an uncertain voice, glancing at her while she poured the tea. 'About having dinner at Killane House…'

His eyes pleaded, and Prue resented that, for her mother's sake.

Couldn't he spend one evening away from Lucy Killane? Or was he hoping that she and Mrs Killane would become friends? Whatever the truth, one thing was blatantly obvious—her father badly wanted to have dinner at Killane House that evening.

'Was that why Josh Killane was here?' she asked flatly. 'Did his mother send him to make sure we were coming?'