tell them whatever I please, and—’
He interrupted her to say, ‘I’ve got another idea. Why don’t you stay for a couple of weeks?’
‘Oh, no. Oh, no! How can you possibly—?’
‘Perhaps we could start again,’ he said smoothly.
‘Start again? You’ve got to be joking.’ Her glance was withering.
‘No, I’m not.’
‘And neither am I. You seem to forget that all I did was take exception to being kept waiting for so long—the first utterly arrogant action in this duel if you ask me—’
‘I was on the phone,’ he said mildly.
‘And you surely don’t believe what I said was anything more than a retaliatory tactic?’ she shot back. ‘Whilst you...you insulted me, kissed me against my will and this morning took the unbelievable liberty of—of undressing me with your eyes, which is to put it very mildly. No. And don’t bother to offer to pay me either, Mr. Stevensen. This—baggage—would rather you owed her one.’ She turned on her heel.
‘There wasn’t a lot of you left to undress,’ he said. ‘But—I apologise for that.’
Francesca looked over her shoulder. ‘Only that? Oh, well, I didn’t think you had it in you to do even that. It won’t get you anywhere, though. Good day to—’
‘I apologise for the rest of it, then. Perhaps I did rather overreact.’
Francesca paused, then swung around. ‘You must rate me as really cheap, Mr Stevensen,’ she said gently. ‘That won’t do it either.’
‘All right, Chessie.’ He narrowed his eyes. ‘What would do it?’
‘Nothing that I can think of—so you might as well get right on to Joyce Cotton at Acme, although I must tell you she was at her wits’ end until I turned up.’
She watched and waited, and saw his frown deepen as he studied her. Then he said abruptly, ‘Look, it so happens I really need you for the next couple of weeks. And, since it would appear that you have been both an excellent governess and cook, I would be much obliged if you would help me out. I take back the “useless” tag unreservedly.’
Francesca was silent for a moment, because she wasn’t sure that she believed him entirely, nor was she altogether sure whether she should be doing what she was doing. Then she discovered that she still had a few things to prove to Raefe Stevensen.
‘OK, I’ll do it. For two weeks.’
‘I thought you might,’ he said drily.
‘What do you mean?’ She blinked.
‘You heard Sarah this morning, didn’t you? It’s just occurred to me we had that conversation on the lawn virtually outside your window. And, accordingly, you knew I’d be fairly desperate. I’m only surprised you didn’t ask me to grovel at your feet.’
A faint tinge of colour came to Francesca’s cheeks but she didn’t deny the charge. ‘Yes, I heard. And, yes, I decided to milk as much of an apology out of you as I could. You’re welcome to sack me for it.’
‘Why?’ he said simply.
She looked at him steadily. ‘Are we back to that? Because I still have some things to prove to you, Mr Stevensen. And one of them is that when I do walk away from Bramble your—scalp or whatever you like to call it won’t be attached to my belt.’
‘That’s a very rash statement, Chessie,’ he murmured.
‘Just wait and see.’
He considered for a moment, then said with a faint shrug and a wry little look, ‘Aren’t you at all afraid of the opposite happening?’
‘Opposite to what?’
‘Well. in light of my “unbelievable liberties”, quote unquote, mightn’t I have designs on your scalp?’
‘You know, I almost wish you would,’ she said thoughtfully, and there was a sudden glint of contempt in her eyes. ‘For the sheer pleasure of knocking you back as well as proving to you that you’re no better than the rest of them, despite the high moral tone you’ve taken with me. But in fact you’ll have to content yourself with this—one hint of any further liberties, even in anger, and I will leave you and your daughter high and dry.’
He gazed at her, then smiled suddenly. ‘It should be an interesting fortnight—but I give you my word; if you’re happy to leave me alone in that... er...direction, I shall be only too happy to do the same for you.’
The glint in Francesca’s eyes changed from contempt to anger, but Jess and Sarah came into the study at that point. And Raefe stood up to say, ‘Well, we’ve got Chessie for a while longer, at least, so why don’t you plan your trip to Brisbane, Sarah?’
CHAPTER THREE
‘I HOPE you don’t feel as if I’m—imposing,’ Sarah said that afternoon. Francesca was helping her to pack and Raefe had taken Jess for a drive to inspect stock and fences.
‘Why should I think that?’
Sarah gazed at her. ‘I just thought I detected a slight restraint in you.’
Francesca bent over the suitcase on the floor and laid a linen skirt neatly in it. ‘She’ll be fine with me, I promise you.’
‘It’s strange,’ Sarah said after a moment, ‘but I’ve got the feeling I know you, Fran. I’ve had it since we first met—silly, of course, because I’ve racked my brains and I know we haven’t ever met.’
Francesca sat back on her heels, pushed her toffee hair back and considered. Then she said, ‘You’ve probably seen me on what your brother so scathingly calls the “social pages”.’ She turned to Sarah and added levelly, ‘I’m afraid I’ve misled you.’ And she told Raefe’s sister the bare bones of how she’d come to be at Bramble Downs.
Sarah sat transfixed for half a minute as it all sank in, then she said in an awed voice, ‘You didn’t—I mean, you did, obviously, but how brave!’
Francesca grimaced. ‘Not so much brave—I have an awful temper, and impossibly high-handed ways at times—but what really annoyed me was his assumption that I was a glamorous but useless and spoilt little rich girl.’
Sarah blinked.
‘Perhaps 1 shouldn’t have told you—if it’s going to worry you,’ Francesca said after a pause. ‘But I’ll tell Jess my real name and I do promise I’ll take great care of her, I won’t let it affect her.’
Sarah came to life. ‘I’m quite sure Raefe wouldn’t do anything to affect her adversely either—she’s so precious to him. No, I’m consumed with admiration. Raefe’s got such a mind of his own—has had since he was a baby,’ she said wryly.
‘You’re not wrong,’ Francesca agreed drily.
‘You’ll probably find he admires you underneath it all,’ Sarah suggested after a moment’s thought.
Francesca stood up and smiled down at this sometimes sad woman she’d come to like a lot. ‘I wouldn’t bank on it.’
‘But-that is what you’ve set out to prove, more or less, isn’t it?’
Francesca had turned away, and was glad she had because Sarah’s words unearthed a strange feeling at the pit of her stomach. But she managed to say slowly, ‘Not to make him like me, if that’s what you mean—I don’t think we could ever see eye to eye as much as that. It’s just...’ She stopped and sighed suddenly.
‘It’s not that easy to avoid publicity with a high-profile name like mine. A lot of it is speculation—although, I have to admit, there are times when my...’ she hesitated