A Masterful Man

inwardly. 'Something like that,' she murmured.

'No children?' the old lady asked autocratically.

'No children,' Davina agreed.

Lavinia was silent for about two minutes as she chewed some chicken thoroughly and apparently chewed the whole matter of Davina's divorce over at the same time, until finally she said, 'Well, I don't hold with it much, I have to be honest, but on the other hand it would be… unchristian to deny that people do make honest mistakes and they shouldn't be penalised for them for the rest of their lives. Someone as lovely as you, too, Davina, would be rather at the mercy of unscrupulous men I would imagine. So-have there been any other men since?'

Davina breathed deeply and put her knife and fork together. 'Mrs Warwick, I must protest-'

'No, there haven't,' Steve Warwick interrupted.

'And how do you know that, Steve?' his grandmother asked of him haughtily.

'I-er-made the same enquiries of Mrs Hastings when she first arrived,' he replied.

'Well, then,' Lavinia said almost genially after a moment's thought, 'I think we can close the subject, Davina. Yes, I think we can. Of course, I'd prefer it not to have happened, but-' she shrugged '-one can't always have everything. Would there be any of that delicious chicken left?'

Davina caught herself staring at the old lady with her mouth open and the thought running through her mind that perhaps all the madness she'd noted a few days before was infectious.

'I would just go with the flow,' Steve remarked barely audibly at that point, and Loretta, who had followed everything with an odd little twinkle in her eye, said, 'Oh, I agree.'

Davina started to say something along the lines of, If I knew what you were all talking about it might help-but she shrugged slightly instead and rose to offer everyone second helpings of the chicken.

It was during dessert that Davina suddenly became aware of who Loretta was. The conversation had, thankfully, become generalised until Steve asked Loretta how business was going.

'Loretta is a dressmaker, Davina,' Lavinia supplied.

Loretta looked at her ruefully. 'I always rack my brains for a way to refute that, but of course it's true.'

'You don't actually make them yourself now, though,' Steve said wryly.

'No-'

'Not… Loretta C?' Davina said suddenly, her eyes widening.

Loretta glowed. 'How marvellously gratifying-and you are quick on the uptake, Davina!'

'I've worn some of your clothes-although not lately,' she said. 'Your ballgowns are stunning.'

'Thank you! I think so too, but it's lovely to hear others say so.'

'They also cost an arm and a leg,' Lavinia said primly.

'Quality tends to be expensive.'

'And before we start exchanging hostilities again,' Steve said, rising, 'thank you for a wonderful meal, Davina.' He also had the gall to add, with a perfectly straight face, 'Would I get something thrown at me if I asked for some coffee in my study?'

Loretta came into the kitchen just as Davina had finished cleaning up for the night. From the sounds she could hear, Lavinia and Candice were watching television in the den and Steve was apparently still working in his study.

'Is it too late to make myself a last cuppa?' Loretta asked. 'Not at all!' Davina smiled at her. 'I'm not some ogre of a housekeeper.'

Loretta grinned back. 'Why don't you join me, then? It's such a balmy night we could sit outside.'

That's what they did, and after some idle conversation, Loretta said, 'I'm really glad you're not an ogre of a housekeeper because I do need this break and, as you may have noticed, I've spent a lot of it sleeping so far. I have to admit,' she said ruefully, 'that given the opportunity I can be a right slob!'

'Well, I think that's partly why I'm here…uh.' Davina grimaced in the darkness. 'I mean to say, at least I can take Candice off your hands a bit.'

'Darling, that was beautifully diplomatic,' Loretta replied with a gurgle of laughter, 'but we all know Steve thinks I'm a lousy mother and unfortunately, in some respects, he's right.'

Thinking, What can you say to that? Davina preserved a tactful silence. She'd also been gradually making the discovery that it was hard not to like Loretta.

'Mind you,' Loretta went on, 'you could have knocked me down with a feather when he presented us with you- had you two not known each other at all, before?'

'Not at all,' Davina said with another, hopefully hidden, grimace.

'Strange,' Loretta murmured, and raised her arms lazily above her head. 'You do realise Lavinia is sizing you up as wife material for Steve, don't you?'

Davina all but dropped her cup. 'What do you mean?' she said in an oddly strangled sort of voice.

Loretta chuckled. 'Darling, Lavinia has two main ambitions in life-one, to find Steve a wife, and two-to make sure it isn't me.'

'But…but…that's unbelievable!' But as soon as she said it, a lot of little things fell into place. 'So that's what she was on about over my divorce and everything else, and he knew….' She stopped abruptly.

'Exactly. I really felt for you when you looked so mystified. It must have been rather like the Mad Hatter's tea- party.'

'But surely you can't make those kind of decisions on such a short acquaintance? Lavinia's known me for barely five days.'

'Lavinia can, believe it,' Loretta said drily. 'What's more, once she's made them, she never changes her mind. Contrary to what they all might tell you, I made her son exceedingly happy in the short time we had together- oh, yes, I did spend quite a bit of his money, but mainly to set myself up as a dress designer and I'm now earning it back very nicely. Nor did I wear him into an early grave; the condition he had that ended his life was there before we ever met. But none of the aforementioned has ever persuaded Lavinia that I am anything but a slut.' 'Did he make you happy-I'm sorry, that was unforgivable.'

But Loretta merely smiled. 'As a matter of fact, he did. But I'm an honest person, unfortunately, I sometimes think, and I'm no good without a man in my life. I've neither attempted to stay celibate since he died, nor could I conceive of doing so in the future.'

'Why…why does she think you…want Steve?' Davina said after a long pause.

Loretta thought for a while. 'Well, let's be honest again,' she said at last. 'Few women in their right minds would not want Steve, and I have to confess there've been times when I've thought-there's no law against it. But, of course, I could never be the woman Steve wanted and not only because of his father.' 'Why not, apart from that?'

Loretta glinted a fleeting white grin across at her and said gently, 'I don't think you're an inexperienced little girl, Davina, for all that we may be quite different types apparently. Falling in love with Steve Warwick,' she went on deliberately, 'would be part heaven, part hell, don't you think? Unless you were prepared to be owned body and soul-I'm not that kind of woman.'

'Who is?' Davina said very quietly, and felt a tremor pass through her.

'Oh, I think it can happen, although not often. Those kind of all-or-nothing love-affairs, I mean. You're probably a little cynical after your divorce,' she added, and sent Davina an uncharacteristically acute little glance.

'Aren't you?' Davina queried. 'A little cynical, I mean? Isn't that what you've been saying, up to a point?'

'No,' Loretta mused, 'I've been trying to be honest. In other words, I know myself rather well.'

Davina was silent for a long time, then she made an effort and said, 'I still can't believe his grandmother could seriously-well, want to promote anything between us. She really can have no idea whether I'm a… heaven alone knows what!'

'Ah, well.' Loretta shrugged. 'I'd be surprised if you were.'

Davina took a breath and made a swift decision to try to lighten things up. 'Don't you start,' she said with an attempt at light, wry humour.

Loretta raised her hands. 'Wouldn't dream of it-by the way, I must thank you for winning Candy around the way you have. I was beginning to think it wasn't possible!'

'It was actually surprisingly easy, but then I think it often is with children, for outsiders.'