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No wonder her sailor patient had not wanted to lose sight of her, Davina thought as James’s laughing, ‘Better take that preoccupied look off your face, Dav. It’s a dead giveaway,’ brought her back to where she was. ‘You’ve been singularly unobservant where Catrin is concerned,’ he went on in a low voice. ‘She’s growing up to be the star of the family where looks are concerned. Why do you think Miranda’s such a pig to her? She saw long ago that she’d have to look to her laurels one fine day.’

Davina turned her head and looked down to meet James’s gaze. ‘Now who’s being a pig? Not that it will harm Miranda to stop imagining she’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. She’s been queening it over us ever since we were children —which reminds me, what time is Paul due here?'

‘What made you ask that? Let me guess. Association of ideas? You’re right, of course, Paul’s the only one of our generation who can take Miranda down a peg or two. Let’s hope he’s on form if Miranda arrives tomorrow in one of her more off-putting moods.’

Davina sighed. ‘We’ve been warned that all is to be sweetness and light during the birthday celebrations.’

‘Aunt Helen’s suggestion, I would guess,’ James replied. At Davina’s nod he went on, ‘In that case we must all be on our best behaviour and I’ll tell Paul to hold his fire however obnoxious Miranda is. After all,’ he added with a butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-his-mouth expression, ‘she’ll keep. Like us she’ll be staying over for a few days after Grandmother’s birthday.’

As Davina burst out laughing Catrin asked, ‘What are you two plotting? They’re the
enfants terribles
of the family,’ she explained to Rex as he raised questioning brows. ‘I bet you they’re up to something.’

James threw out his arms in a gesture of surrender. ‘Acquit us this time, Catrin. We were merely discussing the fair Miranda. In a purely cousinly way, of course,’ he added.

‘Shouldn’t imagine there’d be anything pure about it, but you’re forgiven. Who’s for another dip before we dress for dinner? You know how Gran hates us to be even a minute late.’

She got up and took a header into the pool, followed almost immediately by James. Davina sat up on the lounger, arms clasped around her knees, and had decided she’d be better employed washing and setting her hair than swimming when she suddenly became aware that Rex had got up to come and stand beside her.

She had to tip her head right back to see his face and as he reached a hand down the muscles rippled across immense shoulders. Fascinated by the sheer power in this simple movement, she blinked when he said abruptly, ‘Come along. Upstairs for a rest before you titivate. Judging by your efforts in the pool earlier, I would guess you’re a bit out of shape— in a sporting sense, of course.’

He pulled Davina off the lounger and on to her feet as he spoke, draping a towel round her shoulders as if he took her obedience for granted. She still had a long way to look up, as her head barely topped his shoulder, and a glance into his expressionless face did little to help her decide if he’d been making a two-edged remark or not. She decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. ‘Too many late nights and snack meals,’ she admitted. ‘It will do me good to live in the country again. No temptation to sit up late there.’

‘Not if you’ve to be up and dressed to get a meal on the table for a hungry man by seven a.m.,’ Rex agreed, then at Davina’s look of astonishment he asked, ‘You did volunteer to come and be my housekeeper, didn’t you? It’s no good lying in bed when you’ve a flock of sheep to attend to, and I can’t be in two places at once. Not that I ever did believe in keeping a dog and doing my own barking,’ he added as he turned away to dive into the green-tinted water.

Davina’s mouth all but dropped open. He really was the most extraordinary man! Though apparently oblivious of her presence during the last half hour he had yet observed her reluctance to follow the example of her sister and cousin and take another swim before dinner. Yet his apparent consideration might have an ulterior motive. He’d require a fit and healthy housekeeper if breakfast had to be ready by seven, and by the look of him, a pretty substantial breakfast at that. As she went slowly upstairs Davina grinned to herself as she visualised Rex Fitzpaine’s reaction if she gave him the sort of thing with which she started the day. It would be a plateful of bacon and eggs he’d expect, and not half a grapefruit and a cup of coffee.

Dinner that evening was a quiet family affair, Rex being the only person not actually related to the benevolent matriarch sitting at the head of the long polished table. Davina watched her grandmother with affection as with her sons on either side she skilfully directed the course of the dinner table conversation. Without her grandmother to put a diplomatic stop to his discourse, Uncle Giles would have held forth endlessly on his current aversion. Davina much preferred her younger uncle. Martin Brehm did not lack his own brand of brain and drive, but his approach was quieter and more subtle.

Pity Uncle Martin and Aunt Marjorie had no children, Davina was thinking, when James muttered in her ear, ‘Woolgathering again! That’s the third time I’ve asked you to pass the gravy.’

Her apology was interrupted by the arrival of James’s elder brother Paul, who strode in to kiss his grandmother and add, ‘Sorry to be late. The plane was delayed in Athens.’ Old Mrs Brehm accepted his apology with an affectionate smile, but as she signalled to Wilhelm to bring Paul his first course she said, ‘You should have come by land as your grandfather always did. We never found the cross-continental express running late.’

Paul grinned as he helped himself from the plate Wilhelm was holding, but he did not, Davina observed, reply to Mrs Brehm’s remark with the cutting rejoinder he would have snapped back at anyone else criticising his mode of travel. Like his father, Paul Brehm’s tongue was in general sharp, but never towards his grandmother, with whom he was on the best of terms.

After dinner, Giles Brehm suggested a game of bridge and soon two tables had been set up leaving Davina, Catrin and James to find their own entertainment. They decided to explore the old basement games room where in wet weather they had spent many happy hours as children.

It looked neglected and desolate and running a finger over the dusty edge of the billiards table Davina said idly, ‘I don’t believe anyone’s been in here for months. Not even to clean.’ Catrin, sorting through one of the big cupboards and emerging with the table tennis bats, replied, ‘Well, what can you expect? This is a big house and Wilhelm and Frau Wilhelm aren’t getting any younger. When I was making tea this afternoon they were telling me how difficult it is these days to get help, especially this time of year. Most of the village girls prefer to work in hotels. Because of the tips, I suppose.’

Catrin threw one of the table tennis bats in her cousin’s direction. ‘Come on, James. Bet you’re so out of practice I can beat you!’

Davina hid a smile as James, never one to refuse a challenge, took off his jacket and picked up the bat. She listened to the ping of the ball and the panting efforts of the contestants as she wandered around the big room discovering old favourites in the toys and games, but her interest soon waned as she came to the door leading out into the garden.

A stroll down to the lake would be preferable to remaining in the musty atmosphere of the long-closed-up room, Davina decided, and flicking the master switch which controlled the outdoor lighting, she opened the door to climb the four shallow steps leading to the gardens. She drew in a deep breath of the sweet air before walking slowly down to the water’s edge, gazing at the lights across the lake twinkling like a thousand glowworms.

She sat on a convenient bench wondering idly what the people in the houses could be doing at such an hour. Watching television, doing the last household chores of the day, perhaps even preparing to have an early night? She was startled out of her private thoughts by a slight sound and turning her head, she discovered Rex Fitzpaine had joined her and was standing rolling himself a cigarette.

The hand which had involuntarily grasped the arm of the bench unclenched. ‘You must walk very quietly. I thought I’d got the garden to myself.’

Rex lit the cigarette before he replied. ‘I’m sorry if I alarmed you. I mistook you for Catrin.’ Then mockingly he looked around. ‘No James?’

‘No Catrin either. Sorry to disappoint you,’ Davina snapped, for the tone of his voice had made her hackles rise. ‘We’re not inseparable, you know.’

Without invitation, Rex sat down beside her. ‘Aren’t you? I’d rather begun to think you might be. I take it they’ve deserted you?’

‘The boot’s rather on the other foot. They’re having a cutthroat game of table tennis and I felt like a breath of fresh air. What about you? Bridge over?’

‘Far from it—which reminds me, I’d better be getting back.’ Rex got up as he spoke and extinguished his cigarette. ‘I stole a few minutes to have a smoke while I was dummy. I’m playing with your grandmother and judging from her expression she had every intention of giving our opponents the trouncing of their lives. It wouldn’t even surprise me to find she’d made a grand slam,’ and he walked away in the direction of the house.

Davina was left staring thoughtfully at his retreating figure. He was completely different from the Australians she had met on her birthday trip with Uncle Martin and Aunt Marjorie, but their itinerary had not included what Davina thought of as the ‘real' Australia. In air-conditioned hotels and mingling mostly with business people she felt she had missed out. Rex Fitzpaine gave her a feeling of a different and perhaps a rougher existence where all the conveniences of modem man were not taken for granted.

She was in bed when Catrin returned from the bathroom to get out her face cream. ‘Your Rex Fitzpaine interests me,’ Catrin observed, and Davina put down the magazine she was reading to glance enquiringly at her younger sister.

‘In what way?’

‘Well, to start with, he listens. Hadn’t you noticed? He asked me all sorts of questions about the family when we were having tea this afternoon and he seemed genuinely interested in my replies, not as if he was simply making conversation. And his manners are so beautiful. He’s quite won Gran over already, and the aunts, even Mum herself—well, they’re practically eating out of his hand.’

Catrin paused with the pot of face cream in one hand and Davina said nothing to interrupt her sister’s amazing confidences. ‘Yet I feel there’s something more,’ Catrin went on thoughtfully. ‘My guess is that under that beautiful, smooth exterior he’s really a pretty tough cookie.’

‘Any grounds for that masterful summing up?’

Catrin wiped her face with a tissue. ‘Not really. Just a feeling I have which I hope is wrong for your sake. He’d be a marvellous person to have at your back in a tight corner, but the very devil when crossed, and won’t be easy to work for.’

‘I’ll have to watch my step then, won’t I?’ Davina replied lightly. ‘Come along, Morgan le Fay. Put away your crystal ball and come to bed. I don’t know about you, but I’m flaked out.’

But despite Davina’s assertion that she was tired, long after her sister’s steady breathing told her that Catrin was sound asleep she found herself staring into the darkness and mulling over the words of warning to which she had recently listened. They brought to mind Rex’s remark by the pool that afternoon. ‘I don’t keep a dog and do my own barking.’

Well, if he did prove to be a hard taskmaster at least she was committed for only a short time. Surely she should have no difficulty in looking after his temporary home. Though she would never win a medal for either cooking or housekeeping, from necessity she had always helped her mother, and while no perfectionist she was capable of producing an excellent meal.

Snuggling down into her pillow, Davina made up her mind not to anticipate trouble. She seemed hardly to have closed her eyes before a hand shook her by the shoulder and Catrin’s voice said, ‘We’ve overslept and breakfast is in fifteen minutes, so get a move on, Dav. Look, I had the bath last time. You take the tub while I shower. Gran’s coming down early as it’s her birthday and we don’t want to blot our copybooks by being late.’

It was a scramble, but the girls were ready with two minutes to spare and as they dashed downstairs two steps at a time James in the hall below asked mockingly, ‘Where’s the fire?’

Davina was about to reply in kind when she suddenly noticed that Rex Fitzpaine, behind her cousin, was taking in every detail of their fresh cotton dresses, bare legs and sandals, and there was colour in her cheeks when she stepped on to the marble-floored hall as much from resentment at the Australian’s frank inspection as from the speed of their descent.

As Catrin caught at James’s arm and said, ‘At least we’ll not be last in the dining room,’ Davina was left to accompany Rex. She gave him what she hoped was a casual, ‘Good morning. Did you sleep well?’ only to be warned by the look in his eyes that he was well aware his scrutiny was making her feel curiously uncomfortable.

His, ‘Thank you. I always sleep well,’ was conventional enough, but Davina felt an unaccustomed unease as she preceded Rex to where some members of the house party had already assembled, secretly relieved that after wishing her grandmother the customary birthday greeting she could slip into a seat at the table well away from the Australian visitor’s disturbing vicinity.

But
as she sprinkled sugar liberally over her grapefruit, Davina found her gaze inexplicably drawn to Mrs Brehm’s seat at the head of the table just in time to see Rex Fitzpaine hand over a beribboned box. Davina’s grandmother opened it to reveal a shawl woven in such fine wool that it looked like lace.

Hastily, Davina averted her gaze as the incongruity of the big, outdoor man and the gift he had selected hit her. He simply did not go with feminine fripperies of such elegance. Fortunately the arrival of Paul broke into these troublesome thoughts, and Davina was only too happy to push them into the back of her mind as her cousin wished their grandmother ‘many happy returns’.