he retorted crisply, his dark eyes fiashing. ‘Because I can’t stand women who start snivelling at the drop of a hat.’
‘You have no right to do this to me!’ Estelle declared frantically, totally at a loss as to how to stop him leading her firmly in the direction of the house, apart from resorting to drastic measures like screaming and kicking. ‘No right at all!’
‘Be quiet,’ he commanded, ‘and follow me! You knowingly trespassed on my property and now you are going to have to face the consequences.’
Estelle despaired as the eyes of his many guests turned and burned into her fragile figure as she was escorted across the lawn towards the terrace. They had, she detected through lowered lashes, risen from the long, crystal-laden table and were now standing or sitting in various informal groups watching her. with expressions that ranged from one of intrigued amusement to frank astonishment.
‘Stop treating me like a criminal!’ Estelle hissed desperately. ‘I’ve done nothing wrong. You can’t do this to me!’
‘You’ve trespassed and I’m doing it,’ Hunter replied with not a trace of remorse. ‘Now be quiet.’
He ignored his guests and led Estelle firmly by the arm in through the side of the house, along an elegant, wide hallway with a polished wooden floor, through a door into a large kitchen.
‘Mrs McCormack?’ The deep voice was still as terse and uncompromising as ever, although the comfortable-looking woman who removed her head from a cupboard and bustled over to the two of them with an enquiring, homely smile didn’t, Estelle noted, seem in the least perturbed by it. ‘Mrs McCormack,’ Hunter repeated, ‘would you be so kind as to keep your eye on this lady until I return? My guests are about to leave, so I’ll be back shortly. If there’s anything she wants in the way of food or drink you may give it to her, but don’t allow her to leave. On second thoughts,’ he added with a grim expression, glancing at Estelle’s mutinous face, I’ll lock the door. That way there will be no possibility of escape.’
Estelle stood for several seconds in stunned silence after the door was firmly clicked shut and a key was noisily turned in the lock, hardly able to believe that this was actually happening, that this man had actually dared to do this to her.
She glanced disbelievingly across at Mrs McCormack, who was watching her astonished expression with a certain amount of sympathy. ‘I don’t...’ Estelle shook her head, almost lost for words. ‘Is he always like this?’ she asked faintly.
‘Well, he does have his moments.’ The elderly woman gave a little chuckle, and gently stroked Joseph’s soft cheek with a gnarled finger. ‘But don’t worry, my dear,’ she added knowingly, ‘his bark is much worse than his bite.’ She cooed over Joseph for a moment and then released a short sigh and glanced thoughtfully at the closed door. ‘Mind you, he hasn’t been in too good a humour for a long while now,’ she murmured, almost to herself. ‘His father died a bit back, you see,’ she explained, glancing across at Estelle, ‘and there have been business and family pressures and such like for him to contend with... girlfriend problems too, I’ve no doubt.’ The woman glanced guiltily away, placing a hand to her mouth. ‘Oh, but listen to me,’ she muttered, shaking her head. ‘I’m talking too much as usual, and you a perfect stranger.’ She moved over to the glossy red range and continued with her cleaning. ‘Well, whatever it is you’ve done, my dear, you seem to have put him in quite a temper, that’s for sure.’
‘But I haven’t done anything!’ Estelle placed a weary hand across her eyes and moved to one of the chairs tucked around the large oak refectory table that dominated the room. ‘Or at least nothing that merits the humiliating treatment he’s imposed on me now!’ She sat down, glad of the chance to rest her and Joseph’s weight for a while, and tried to think of what she could possibly do to get herself out of this dreadful mess.
‘But you must have done something,’ Mrs McCormack insisted, moving to the sink to rinse her cloth. ‘I know he’s got quite a temper on him, but Hunter’s not the sort to persecute innocent young women. Especially such a pretty thing as yourself.’
‘Oh, no?’ Estelle shook her head. ‘Look, all I did was nip over a bit of a wall and peep through some bushes for a moment or two. I didn’t mean any harm. Heavens, if I’d have known he would react like this...!’ She raised pleading eyes to the old woman’s face. ‘I was trespassing, I know,’ she added quietly, ‘but he’s practically accused of me of casing the place for a future robbery! And that’s absolutely ridiculous! Is the man totally paranoid or what?’
‘For your information I am not in the least paranoid. Just suspicious.’
His deep, gravelly voice startled her. Estelle jerked her head around and saw that Hunter was observing her from another doorway at the far end of the room, leaning nonchalantly on the jamb, watching her with an expression that was still full of cool dislike.
‘Have you someone waiting for you at home?’
‘No!’ Estelle’s voice was as clipped and cold as his own.
‘You live alone?’ He moved into the room and indicated with a brisk nod of his head that Mrs McCormack was free to go.
‘Maybe.’ Estelle eyed him suspiciously as he sat opposite her and wished she hadn’t revealed her position quite so swiftly. ‘Look, you can’t keep me here like this,’ she added bravely, ‘just because I made the mistake of wandering on to your property! I have to get home; Joseph will want to be fed soon—’ Her valiantly determined voice halted abruptly and she glanced self-consciously down at the angelic face. She hadn’t meant to even so much as refer to Joseph in this man’s presence and here she was already blurting out his name, drawing attention to the child!
The thought of this man ever finding out the truth filled her with horror now, whereas at one time—this morning, even two hours ago—she had, in her desperation, considered revealing all, asking him for help... I must have been mad, she thought bitterly, all too aware of the ruthless masculine presence just a few feet from her—absolutely mad! To tell this man he’s Joseph’s father? Estelle released a nervous breath. Even thinking that fact now, here, right in front of him, left her weak with worry. A ruthless man such as this would either disown the whole idea and have nothing to do with it or—and this was what made Estelle really feel nervous—or he would take complete control, find some way to remove his son and heir from the guardianship of a young, single girl such as herself. The fact that she was Joseph’s aunt, the fact that she had been caring for the child for the last three months, would mean absolutely nothing...
‘Hardly wandered.’ He reclined back in his chair, surveying Estelle with eyes that rooted her to the seat, as she focused properly on what he was saying. ‘As I pointed out before, the incline up from the road is pretty steep; I’m sure wandering didn’t come into it.’
Estelle struggled to keep her thoughts under strict control and thanked the lord that mind-reading hadn’t yet been conquered by the human race—or at least she hoped it hadn’t. ‘OK, so I’m incredibly nosy!’ she shot back snappily. ‘I fancied seeing how the other half lives for a change. But that still doesn’t give you the right to hold me here like this as if I’m a criminal.’
‘Where do you live?’
‘What?’ Her green eyes narrowed suspiciously.
‘You heard me—I asked where you live. Locally, I presume, if the bicycle and the baby are anything to go by.’
‘Why do you want to know that?’ Estelle enquired nervously, put off, as he surely intended her to be, by the sudden change of tack. ‘What’s that got to do with anything—whether I live locally or not?’
Hunter pulled- back his cuff and a flash of gold was revealed at his wrist. ‘It’s almost ten and it’s getting dark,’ he drawled. ‘You’re going to need a lift home.’
‘From you?’ Estelle’s expression showed surprise, followed swiftly by a mixture of panic and concern.