'Haven't you?' he replied, looking at her sadly, 'What about the grey desert of loneliness you're preparing for yourself?'
'But I'm safe,' she said pleadingly.
'And I want you to take risks, because there's no safe place in love, darling.'
Once he grew angry and reminded her that he too had fears that grew out of the past. His were the reverse of hers. He dreaded that she would travel so far with him, then turn aside, leaving him lonely again.
He was still writing his columns, which appeared twice a week in a tabloid newspaper and once a month in a magazine. Lee had started reading them and was delighted with their wit and sympathy. It was like having Daniel there before her, for he wrote as he talked. Even here he was able to surprise her, as she discovered when she found Sonya chortling over the paper one morning. Her eyes were alight with fun as she pushed it over for Lee to read.
Daniel had headed the piece The Woman who Exposed my Secret Self, and it was a hilarious account of their first meeting in the rain and darkness, subtly angled so that the joke was against himself. He hadn't identified Lee. 'Jane', as he called the anonymous woman, existed only to reveal to him his own hidden side. He concluded cheerfully.
I've been fooling myself all along. Put me behind the wheel and I'm no different from the rest of my miserable sex: ill-mannered, unreasonable and, as Jane so rightly put it, 'straight out of the ark'.
From here the piece slid into a neat plug for Women, Beware Men. Lee read it with admiration. It was funny enough to make her laugh out loud, yet she recognised the serious man who was always there behind the comedy. Daniel was honest enough to accept the worst Lee had said about him, generous enough not to resent her for it and professional enough to transmute it all into good copy for his column. She wondered if she would ever discover all his facets.
At the height of summer they took a cruise down the Thames. On the return journey Lee leaned on the rails, sipping a drink and watching the setting sun turn the water red. It had been a blazing hot day and the air was balmy. A languorous warmth pervaded her limbs, and she had only to turn her head to see Daniel's adoring eyes on her. Cocooned by his love, she felt a blissful happiness that she'd never known before in her life.
Her hand tightened on the rail to control the impulse to touch him. It would have been so easy to reach out and brush her fingers against his neck, and if they'd been alone she would have done so.
It's ridiculous, she thought wryly. You're a woman of twenty-nine. You're falling in love with this man and you're scared. What's the matter with you?
Daniel turned his head suddenly and looked straight into her eyes. At once he drew in his breath with a sharp sound, and she knew he must have read her feelings in her face. Her heart began to thump. She could tell from his expression that he felt the same as she did at this moment.
'Don't move,' he said in a quiet voice. 'Keep absolutely still, darling.'
She obeyed, and he reached out a gentle hand towards her face. She felt the soft brush of his fingers sliding down her neck, then his face tightened suddenly, he gave a sharp exclamation and pulled away from her.
'Got it!' he said triumphantly.
Lee stared at his hand, where a tiny insect was squirming between his fingers. Daniel released it onto the deck.
'It was climbing your collar,' he explained. 'I know how you hate creepy-erawlies so I- Lee, whatever's the matter?'
'Was that why you were staring at me?' she demanded.
'Was I staring? I was trying not to alarm you into moving in case it slid down the inside. Lee, please, don't get hysterical. It's gone now, I promise. Lee- please-'
Lee was almost weeping with laughter. She clutched herself and rocked back and forth as the fractured tension released itself in wave after wave of mirth. Daniel scratched his head and regarded her in bafflement.
'Darling,' he said, joining in her laughter without knowing why he did so, 'for heaven's sake, tell me what's so funny.'
'I can't,' she said, wiping her eyes. 'I'm sorry, but I really can't. Not yet. I'll tell you when we're old and grey.'
'Well,' he said ruefully, 'that has a nice, cheerful sound. It's the first time you've ever mentioned being old and grey with me.'
'It was just a manner of speaking,' she prevaricated.
'Don't be unkind. Leave me my illusions. I didn't know I'd got that far.'
To her relief he didn't mention the subject again. Instead he started to talk about Phoebe's approaching sixteenth birthday party, with which Lee was helping him. They strolled up to some seats in the bow of the boat, and settled themselves.
'There's something I've got to tell you,' she said. 'Phoebe dropped in at the studio yesterday. She wants to hire me to take some photographs of her.'
'What did you say?'
'I told her I'd do it for free, as a birthday present. You know what she wants, don't you?'
'Yes, she wants you to make her look like a model. I'd hoped she was getting over that. Ah, well, maybe when she has the pictures she'll be happy. Thank you, Lee. It was a sweet thing to do.'
'You're not annoyed?'
'Did you think I would be?'
'A bit-yes.'
'But that didn't stop you?'
'Of course not. Why should it? This is between Phoebe and me. It has nothing to do with you.'
He grimaced slightly. 'I suppose I brought that on myself. You don't know how hard it is to exercise a little fatherly authority after all the things I've said and written. The other day I dared to suggest, in the mildest possible terms, that she might keep her stuff in her own room and not drape it all over the house. The little wretch quoted one of my own columns back at me-something about allowing the creative instinct to flower.
'I tried to explain that this didn't translate into the right to break my neck by leaving her heated roller on the stairs, but I don't think I got through.'
'You probably never said it at all,' Lee mused. ' expect she made it up and counted on your not remembering.'
'Oh, no. I got the piece out and checked. She'd quoted me word for word. Phoebe's memory is superb.'
'I can see why you're so certain she'll pass all her exams.'
'Exactly. That's why I wish she'd get rid of this bee in her bonnet about modelling. But I'm glad you're taking these pictures for her. I know my daughter's stubbornness. If you'd refused she'd have gone to someone else, and I'm happier if it's you. Don't encourage her, will you, darling?'
'I won't be sending her pictures to any model agencies, if that's what you mean, but if she asks me outright whether she's any good I'll have to give her a truthful answer,' Lee said firmly.
His mouth tightened with a look of displeasure that she hadn't seen before. 'And the truthful answer has to be 'yes', does it?' he said.
'Of course it does. She's beautiful, she's fantastically photogenic, she moves well and she's got personality.'
'She also has a brilliant brain that ought to be used in her career.'
'But surely that's up to her?' Suddenly Lee's eyes gleamed with fun. 'Didn't you once write a piece called Bigger and Better Choices that said-?'
'Never mind that,' he interrupted hastily. 'If you're going to start quoting me as well my life won't be worth living.' He growled at her in mock ferocity. 'Get back in the kitchen and start planning little savoury things for Phoebe's party. That's women's work!'
He jumped as a bony female finger jabbed him in the back. A large, angry-looking woman sitting immediately behind him had heard his last remark.
'Here, you,' she denounced him loudly. 'Haven't you heard it's the twentieth century?' Ignoring Daniel's stunned face, she leaned across to Lee. 'I don't know how you put up with him, dear.'
Carefully avoiding Daniel's eye, Lee assumed a mournful face and nodded to the woman.
'Well, you've got to be reasonable, haven't you?' she said with a sigh. 'He buys me a new apron now and then,
