A Masterful Man

CHAPTER SEVEN

'They sent all this?'

'They did indeed.'

Davina was unpacking a carton of food in the kitchen and she hadn't responded to what he'd said only a few minutes ago about how long she would like to stay. Nor had he pressed her. He'd simply taken her hand as he had a habit of doing, and led her back to the kitchen, and then he'd brought their bags and this carton which she hadn't noticed in from the Land Rover.

And her stunned mind had only been able to come up with one thing-perhaps I can make myself useful. But as she unpacked and stowed foodstuffs, eggs, meat, vegetables, bread, fruit, cheese, some of her sausage rolls, biscuits, flour, salt and pepper, butter and cream, even vinegar, mustard, some herbs and spices and several bottles of wine, she said involuntarily, 'There's enough here for a month-' She broke off and bit her lip, then added, 'Well, not really, but-how did they manage in such a short time?'

'Both Loretta and Lavinia, each in their own way, are very determined, capable people. Loretta packed your bag and Lavinia did the food. Candice reminded me to bring your camera.'

'Poor Candice-was she upset?' Davina queried.

'Well, she wasn't absolutely thrilled to be left on her own with those two, but I promised her we'd pick her up and take her swimming and take her out to Ball's Pyramid in the next day or two. She always loves a trip out there.'

'I think she's quite fond of you.' Davina bent down to a cupboard to put some things away and when she'd straightened he was in the kitchen beside her opening a bottle of wine.

He said, 'And you-how about bread and butter, cheese and your sausage rolls? I'm not that hungry. Are you?'

'No…'

'Nor did you drink much,' he added, reaching for a couple of wine glasses. 'Barely a full glass.'

'How do you know?'

'I was watching you,' he said with a faint smile and offered her a glass of wine. 'Go and curl up on the sofa. I'll bring the rest-unless you'd like to change into something more comfortable?'

Davina looked down at the violet dress and swallowed. 'Later, perhaps.'

He said nothing, but there was a wicked little gleam in his eyes that she knew well. So she took the glass and went down the other end of the room and made a pretence of examining the paintings.

'Do you know what I'd like?' he said about ten minutes later as he brought the warmed-up sausage rolls and a plate of bread and cheese to the table in front of the fireplace.

Davina turned away from a rather good water-colour of Mount Gower. 'No.'

'I'd like to think you trusted me enough to tell me some more about it.'

'You mean my life with Darren?' she said jerkily and moved to sit down with a sigh. 'I don't even want to think about it,' she added barely audibly.

'OK.' He sat down beside her and turned to face her with his arm along the back of the sofa behind her. 'Then should we take up where we left off?'

Davina laid her head back and trembled. 'I…still have some reservations about that.'

'Tell me.' He didn't say it impatiently, but quietly, and reached across and picked up the plate of sausage rolls to offer her one. 'You didn't eat anything, either.'

Davina relaxed a little and bit into one of her feather-light rolls, finished it and took another saying ruefully, 'I didn't realise I was hungry-Steve, do you believe in love?'

He thought for a bit. 'The until-death-do-us-part kind?'

'Yes,' she whispered.

'Yes, but I don't know if it hits you on the head, so to speak,' he said slowly and with an oddly searching look. 'Do you?'

'I… don't know…'

'Don't believe in it or don't know if this is it?'

She shrugged and sipped some wine. 'Both, perhaps but it's…what I have a longing for, despite any impressions I might have given to the contrary.'

'I guess we all do.'

'Do you?' She looked at him over the rim of her glass.

He laid his head back. 'To be honest, it's been there, yes, but it hasn't been a blight on my life. I think it's rather contingent on finding the right person. I thought I had, once,' he reflected. 'She thought otherwise.'

'How do you mean?' Davina asked.

'Well-' He grimaced. 'In the sense that she told me she could no more live most of her life here than she could fly.'

'And that broke you up?' Davina said a little incredulously.

He looked at her wryly. 'It's a fairly major sort of schism, don't you think?' 'But…'

'Are you wondering whether a wife shouldn't automatically cleave unto her husband wherever it is as they did in the bible? I don't think wives quite see themselves that way any more-and it's probably a good thing. Saves a bit of heartache later on.'

Davina drank some more wine. 'What about the girl in red?' she said slowly and decided to be quite honest. 'Loretta told me she was a 'contender' and she looked as if that was how she saw herself.'

He said, with a hint of amusement, 'So you were watching me.' Davina sighed gently. 'Obliquely, yes.' He said musingly, 'I've known Mary Hargreaves all my life. She was born here, too, although she left the island for a few years and has only recently returned.' He lifted his eyebrows. 'And returned rather changed.' 'How?'

'She's a lot smarter, a lot more sophisticated, but one thing hasn't changed. She loves Lord Howe.' 'Have you ever considered-falling in love with her?' 'No,' he said briefly. 'Poor girl,' Davina said softly. 'I haven't ever led her on, so to speak.' You don't need to, Davina thought but didn't say. 'And there's been no one else?' she said instead.

She thought he looked at her rather drily before he said, 'There've been a few affairs down the years; I'm not a monk but neither am I a compulsive womaniser.'

'Steve,' she said slowly, 'why did you-you did try to leave me alone for a while, didn't you?'

'Yes,' he agreed. 'You may have noticed, I'm not the most patient, sympathetic sort of bloke, and I thought… the way I am might not be what you needed- among other things. Like a slightly dented ego,' he said, quite gravely, but she knew he was laughing at himself. 'The thing was,' he went on, 'I found it impossible to live in the same house with you and not to-be able to have you. I'm sorry if that sounds crude, or whatever, and I'm aware,' he said in a different voice, 'that to you it might put me in the same league as Darren Smith-Hastings, but there is at least one difference. I think the feeling is mutual between us.'

'And that's something,' she said in a subdued voice, 'I just can't deny.'

He said no more but took her free hand and pressed her fingers gently.

Davina felt tears sting her eyelids but she battled them and said huskily, presently, 'Thanks for being so honest, anyway. Perhaps I can be the same. I… the thought of having someone like you… to look after me and take charge of my life for the time being, and it has been pretty barren for years now, is almost irresistible. The thought of how I feel when you hold me and kiss me- is the same. But it's almost impossible for me to think beyond that and I have to say that while I long for love and tenderness I'm also a mass of insecurities. I just don't know if I could be any good in bed with anyone now,' she said as lightly as she could. 'So-'

'Why don't you leave that up to me, Davina?' 'But,' she said tensely, 'I feel… tainted, sort of. I feel used and old sometimes, you saw it yourself. I… he…' 'Don't. I can imagine. Can I tell you something?' he said gently, and got rid of her wine glass so he could draw her into his arms. 'On that memorable occasion when I first saw you, when I behaved so badly, it was mainly because my first impression was-how absolutely stunning you were.'

'But you also told me with your eyes-' she breathed '-I mean you might as well have told me I was beddable but that's all.'

'I know,' he said wryly. 'I think I must have had some sixth sense about you. An intuition what a thorn in my flesh you were going to be. I also-' he paused thoughtfully '-never like to give way to those very physical first