interested in her and that she should concentrate on her
fiancé?
Of course, he did not know, and she would never tell him,
that she had decided to break her engagement.
She had faced this decision days ago. It had been a
mistake to become engaged to Peter. It was fortunate that
she had realised it in time. It would have been a disaster if
she had married him and only then discovered their total
indifference to each other. Marc had been so right when he
said that Peter did not love her, nor she Peter. But,
believing that, why had he brought Peter here now?
A flash of intuition came to her and she bit her lip. Of
course! He was trying to protect his sister. He thought that
she was interested in Jean-Paul and he had brought Peter
here in order to put a stop to all that.
Dully, she dressed in her plain green linen dress and
went downstairs. She found the lounge empty. Sophia
bustled past and stopped to tell her that Peter was in
Marc’s office and the others all down at the beach.
The storm had again left the weather golden and sunny.
Kate stood on the verandah staring up at the bright blue
sky. It seemed cruel that the world should be in such a
holiday mood when she was so miserable and depressed. It
ought to be raining all day.
Then she laughed at herself. What a conceited, self-
obsessed thought! As if she was the only person in the
world!
Peter erupted on to the verandah beside her, his fair hair
wildly standing on end, his eyes furious.
“Kate,” he began hotly, “you must go and talk some sense