'Oh!' She felt like stamping, but controlled herself. It would only confirm him in his self-conceit.
He surveyed her with mocking amusement. 'It was a brainwave to get Edie, all the same. Thank you. I was very reluctant to give Amanda a foothold in this house. She's an inch-taker.'
'A what?' She looked puzzled.
'Give her an inch, she takes a mile,' he said. 'She's been trying to worm her way in here for months.'
'Why, you conceited…!' Emma was almost dumb with scornful disgust.
He grinned. 'Oh, I don't lay it at my personal door. I don't labour under the illusion that I'm irresistible!'
She was baffled, and stared at him, frowning. He stared back, his eyes searching her face. A little smile hovered at the corners of his lips. 'Your face is like wellwater,' he said. 'Clear and guileless!'
'Do you imagine that that's a compliment?' she asked, her tone filled with insulted irritation. 'It is to me,' he said. 'I'm sick of masks.' His face had a sudden cold, clear anger, that she did not understand, but which worried her. Why did he believe that Amanda wanted to get into his house, if she was not in love with him? And what had Amanda meant by her cryptic remarks earlier? There was something here that Emma did not understand.
CHAPTER THREE
'Where are the nearest shops? I need to do some shopping—Tracy needs new hairclips and I need some tights. I gather there's no shop in the village.'
'Mrs Pat sells odd items,' Ross informed her, then gave her a thoughtful look. 'But I imagine you could do with a break. Why not come into Dorchester with me today? I've got surgery at nine. If you can get the children ready by half past eight you can all come. You can have lunch there, make a day of it. It might amuse the children to look round the Dorchester Museum. It specialises in country objects—old tools and cart wheels, horse harness…that sort of thing.'
'It sounds fascinating,' Emma agreed enthusiastically. 'It would be ideal for me, too. I can do some of my sketching while I'm there.'
'Of course,' he said slowly. 'I forgot—you have a commission to fulfil.' His grey eyes narrowed on her face. 'You must be a pretty good artist to get such a commission.'
She shrugged. 'I was lucky.'
His left eyebrow flipped upwards ironically. 'Modest, too.' His tone was mocking.
'I was being honest,' she said sharply. 'I can't pretend that I'm a great artist. I'm capable, that's all. And I've been lucky all along with these commissions out of the blue. A successful career is often part luck, I suspect. Mere talent isn't enough.'
'You enjoy your work?' he asked, crunching the last of his toast with obvious enjoyment.
'Enormously.' She cleared the table, called the children from the garden, where they were playing some sort of game. 'Get ready to go. We're going into Dorchester with your uncle.'
'I'll help Donna,' said Tracy, seeing Emma's glance resting on her little sister. She seized Donna's resisting hand and marched her off. Donna gave the two adults a comical look of resignation.
'What about marriage?' Ross asked, standing up, his broad shoulders looking broader than ever in a shaggy tweed jacket.
Emma was startled. She lifted wide eyes to his face. 'What? How do you mean?'
'Will you continue working after marriage?' he asked lightly. 'So many women do these days.'
'And you don't approve, I suppose?' Remembering what his sister had said about his autocratic, chauvinistic attitudes Emma was ready to flare. 'Until the children arrive I don't see why a woman shouldn't go on working. Young married couples need all the money they can earn. How else can they buy a house, furnish it, have holidays?'
'You do jump to conclusions, don't you?' he said coolly.
'Your sister said…'
'Oh, my sister!' He grimaced. 'Judith and I have always been at odds. You mustn't believe every-thing she tells you.'
The children galloped towards them. Robin's coat looked lopsided, Emma knelt down to unbutton it and re-button it. 'You started with the wrong button, darling,' she told him gently.
'Tracy did it,' Robin said, bored and distasteful. 'I told her, but she wouldn't listen.'
Tracy looked furious. Ross took her hand and smiled down at her with a charm that dazzled and astonished Emma. That charm had never been turned on for her, she thought; oddly, foolishly almost jealous of Tracy's good fortune. 'Some people are never grateful, are they, Tracy?' Ross asked the little girl sympathetically.
Tracy gave Robin a toss of the head, smiled at her uncle, showing a sudden gap enchantingly to the left side of her mouth. 'I lost a tooth last night. See?'