Seductive Stranger

A secret whispered at one end of the valley at breakfast had reached the other end by lunch time; no doubt wildly distorted!

Did they all know, or at least guess, about her father and Lucy Killane? And if not, how on earth had the two of them kept their affair a secret for so many years? Or was it simply that everyone took their relationship for granted after so long? Had time made it respectable?

Her father dropped her off half a mile from the Killane house. He had wanted to drive her all the way there, but Prue was early and preferred to walk the rest of the way, to arrive exactly on time.

'Sky looks nasty,' her father said, glancing upwards at the mass of cloud moving their way.

'It won't rain before I get there!' Prue said firmly, and he shrugged.

'Maybe,' he conceded. 'Give us a ring and I'll come and fetch you after tea.' He re-started his engine, then looked at her a little pleadingly.

'Enjoy yourself,' he said, but what he really meant was . . . be nice to Lucy Killane!

She smiled without promising and he drove on. Prue was in no hurry to cover the half a mile of meandering lane. She walked slowly, admiring the sculpted contour of the green and brown hills which made up the skyscape; the line of them rather like the outline of a woman lying down, the proud peak of a breast here, then the deep hollow of the waist in a green valley, rising softly to the smoothly undulating hip, and all of them cut clear and sharp against the sky which was gathering clouds; grey, misty, thickening with rain.

Closer at hand the countryside was starker: the rough pasture veined with grey drystone walls, sheep ambling in them, very few trees and most of them bare black skeletons rattling in the rising wind. Thorn trees bent in agonised attitudes from a lifetime of the prevailing wind; all one way, their long fingers scratching the sky. The colours here were all quiet, muted, with the faded harmony of the furniture in her father's house.

She stopped to watch a ewe scrambling up the wall, only to tumble back again. They were always escaping on to the road, she knew from her father. Stupid creatures, sheep,' he said, every time he got a call that some of his sheep were straying, or had had some sort of accident. 'I don't know why I don't just give up on them and breed budgerigars!'

Prue didn't look at her watch until she was within sight of the Killane house, and then she was surprised to see how long it had taken her to walk the half-mile from where her father had dropped her. She was going to be late! She quickened her steps just as a car came shooting down the drive, heading her way. Recognising it, Prue felt a jab of pure nerves. She had hoped Josh would be out, but this was his car.

He pulled up with a squeal of brakes and leaned over to open the passenger door. 'Get in!'

Prue resented the brusque tone. 'I can walk, there's no need to stop for me. You're obviously in a hurry to get somewhere.'

'I was in a hurry to find you!' he snapped. 'As you hadn't arrived, I rang your home and your father told me he had dropped you at the crossroads and you

should have got to our house by now. Where the hell have you been?'

'I was enjoying the view!'

'And in no hurry to arrive!' he accused.

'I just didn't notice the time!'

'Is this the way you keep your promises? To the letter, but not abiding by the spirit?'

She bridled. 'What about you? Have you kept your promise? Have you talked to your sister?'

'Yes,' he said, tight-lipped.

Prue frowned at his glowering expression. 'Did you convince her?'

He gestured impatiently. 'Look, get in, will you? My engine is idling away here, wasting fuel. We can talk as we drive.'

She reluctantly climbed into the car; and Josh at once reversed and drove back to the house at around sixty miles an hour.

'Lynsey was in a very difficult mood when I talked to her,' he said, staring straight ahead.

'Well, that seems to be her usual mood, so I'm not surprised,' Prue said, grimacing. 'But did she seem to believe you?'

'Frankly, no,' Josh said tersely.

'What did you say to her? Did you tell her…'

'I told her what you wanted me to tell her—a lot of lies!' said Josh.

'Oh, well, if you weren't even trying to sound convincing—' Prue scornfully said.