The Sex War

The door opened and Daniel came in, wariness in his face. 'Sorry about that,' he said quickly, his glance skimming across the room towards her.

'I'm sure you are,' Lindsay smiled, ice in her eyes.

'She was uptight about the contract she's signing with us,' he said, pretending not to notice the glacial nature of the smile.

'Just business?' she asked, her tone sarcastic. 'It looked pretty personal to me.'

'Carolyn calls everyone darling,' he shrugged, getting himself a glass of whisky. 'She's an uninhibited girl.'

'So I noticed, she must be very popular.' With men, Lindsay added mentally; the blonde girl had apparently, found other women invisible, she hadn't so much as glanced in Lindsay's direction.

Daniel turned, smiling drily. 'I must be crazy,' he said, looking at her with raised brows, 'getting involved with you again—red hair, green eyes, a temper like blazing oil, and a nasty, suspicious little mind.'

'I didn't imagine the way she hung on your neck and oozed sex appeal,' Lindsay snapped, then thought back over what he had just said and added tersely: 'And nobody asked you to get involved with me again.'

He drank some whisky, watching her over the glass, his eyes brooding. 'When I eat lobster I come out in

a rash,' he said irrelevantly, and she stared, lips parted in bafflement, until he added with a wry grimace: 'But I can't resist the stuff, although I know what will happen if I give in to temptation.'

Lindsay coloured, her throat beating with an over-rapid pulse. It wasn't very flattering, being compared to lobster, but what he had actually said hadn't mattered so much as the dark, brooding stare with which he had said it.

He took a step towards her and she shrank, trembling, afraid of the expression in his eyes.

There was a light tap on the door and a second later Mrs Henshaw came in, smiling, to tell them that lunch was ready. Over the meal, Lindsay asked Daniel: 'Have you talked to Stephen yet?' and he nodded.

'It's all settled. I'm becoming his partner, he'll still be running the factory, but he'll be answerable to me. My people will work out the details. I'll put somebody in there to work with Stephen, my accountants insist on that, we're investing a lot of money and they want safeguards.' He gave her a brief, dry smile. 'But your brother's pride won't suffer too much, I promise you. Anyone who bailed him but would insist on similar terms.'

Lindsay kept her eyes on the plate in front of her, she was having trouble eating the delicately flavoured Chicken Bretagne which Mrs Henshaw had served with saffron rice and fresh peas. It was a dish which Lindsay had always liked; Mrs Henshaw's memory was good.

'Have you told Stephen…' she began, faltered, then added: 'That I…' And broke off again, unable to think of a way of phrasing it.

'That you're coming back to me?' Daniel asked softly, and she felt his eyes on her flushed face. 'No,' he said. 'I thought we would be subtle about that, it might look suspicious if the two pieces of news came together. We'll wait a week or two before we tell him, I think.'

'How tactful,' Lindsay said bitterly. 'Is that for your sake or mine? Stephen might be angry if he knew how you'd blackmailed me;'

'He's stiff-necked,' Daniel said. 'I'm sure he'd refuse my help if he found out.' His voice taunted her. 'Of course, if you choose to tell him…'

'No!' she exclaimed with violence.

'Somehow I thought you wouldn't,' Daniel murmured.

'That's what you're relying on,' she flung back at him. 'You wouldn't want anyone to know how low you'd stoop and you're banking on the fact that I'd hate my brother to know what you've forced me to do!'

'Everything has its price,' he said, his voice cool, but there was nothing cool about his eyes, they glinted like hot metal, because he had not liked what she said, he hadn't liked the voice she used as she said it. Daniel might be using blackmail remorselessly, but he did not want her to keep underlining that fact. He preferred the truth kept out of sight.

'Our deal is just between the two of us,' he said. 'Nobody else is involved.' He watched her, his fingers curled around his wine-glass, their tips lightly tapping the stem of the glass. 'And that includes Aston Hill.'

'I don't intend to tell Aston! I'd hate him to know, too. He would be horrified, I'd feel sick if I had to tell him.'

Daniel frowned, his mouth straight, dark red running along his cheekbones. Lindsay kept her eyes on him, hoping her pointed remarks were making him angry. She wanted to hurt him, to prick that thick skin of his, she was still raw from the memory of seeing the blonde actress hanging round his neck and calling him 'darling' in those honeyed tones. Last time she had run away because loving him hurt so much, and she couldn't live in a ceaseless atmosphere of doubt and jealousy. Nothing had changed, Daniel was still the same man, she had to be stupid to let history repeat itself. Somehow she had to keep a wall between them, she had to learn not to care what he did, who he was with, how he felt. During their separation she had built up a satisfactory life of her own, she had learnt so much about herself and about life since she left him and she was determined not to make the mistake of letting her emotions take control of her, not this time. She would just have to keep him at arms' length.

Mrs Henshaw served their coffee and Lindsay glanced at her watch. 'Look at the time! I'll have to be going soon—I've got a mountain of work to get through before I can leave tonight.'

'Drink your coffee and I'll drive you back to your office.' Daniel looked at his own watch, shrugging. 'I'll have to get back to work myself.'

In the car, he asked: 'Dinner tonight?' and Lindsay shook her head.

'I'm having dinner with Aston.'