up, someone I urgently needed to meet would be passing through London for just a few hours.’
‘Oh, you idiot!’ she breathed.
‘I guess I am, but I didn’t see it then. I always thought there was time to put things right.’
‘Yes, we always think that,’ she murmured. ‘There never is.’
‘You sound as though you really know.’
‘I guess we all know one way or another.’
‘Sure, but the way you said it sounded as though—’
‘The thing is—’ she interrupted him quickly ‘—that you have to find a new way to put things right. Concentrate on that.’
‘All right,’ he said, retreating before the warning she was sending out. ‘But how? One minute I thought I was in control. The next minute they were all gone, and if I was a hopeless father before I’m even worse now. When we talk on the phone I can sense them trying to get away. I’m becoming an irrelevance to them.’
‘Then do something about it,’ she said urgently. ‘Put a stop to it now. Never forget that cunning is better than aggression. Above all, don’t lose heart, don’t even think of giving in. Remember, you’re a match for anyone.’
‘If you’re going to start on that “mighty man of business” stuff again I’m out of here.’
‘Don’t worry,’ she said wryly. ‘I can’t take it seriously any more.’
‘Thanks. That about says it all.’
‘Friends have to be frank with each other,’ she reminded him.
‘I know.’ He suddenly became more urgent. ‘Harriet, I wish I could make you understand how much I need your friendship. From the moment I stepped onto that beach I knew I was in a different world, and now I know that it’s your world. All the vital things that have happened to me since I came here are connected with you.’
‘You never know what fate has in store.’
‘Yes, after we got off to such a bad start, who could have guessed that you’d be the one who’d save me?’
‘Be fair. It was Kate who really saved you, not just by raising the alarm, but by explaining that you’d probably gone to the wind farm, so that we knew where to look.’
‘I know that, and I’ve shown her my gratitude.’
Harriet nodded. Kate had told her about the huge bonus he’d given her.
‘And I didn’t pull you out of the water on my own. There were a few hefty fellers there, doing the heavy work.’
‘I know. But yours was the hand that stretched out to me first, the hand that I clasped, and when I think of that moment that’s what I see.’
It was also what he felt in the night, feeling a firm, reassuring grip on his hand, knowing it was her in the last moment before he awoke to find himself alone. Only a dream, yet his hand still seemed to tingle.
‘I’ve just become a sort of symbol, that’s all,’ she told him.
‘If you say so.’
‘But if you want a friend, you’ve got one in me.’
‘Promise?’
‘Promise. Call on me any time.’
As long as you’re here, she thought. But how long will that be? Are we a financial asset to you, or a financial disaster? And won’t it be the same in the long run?
It would have been sensible to say this outright and remind him of the reality of the situation, yet something held her silent. There was an intensity in his eyes that she’d never seen before in any man—not the passionate intensity of a lover, but the desperate yearning for help of a man who needed friendship. It had been her hand he’d first seized in the water and that had set matters between them for all time.
‘You may regret saying that,’ he said. ‘I’ll call on you more often than you think.’
‘I’ll never regret saying it. I’m here for you.’
‘Shake on it?’
She took the hand he offered, and felt her own hand engulfed. She could sense the power, as she’d sensed it that other time when he’d held her against her will to study her face. But now she also felt the gentleness deep within him, knowing instinctively that few people were ever allowed to know about it.
He touched her heart—not as a lover, she assured herself. That part of her life had died a year ago. But his need spoke to her, making it impossible for her to turn her back on him.
‘Shake,’ she said.
A couple of days later she resumed bathing on his beach. After splashing around with Phantom for half an hour she gasped, ‘All right, boy. Time we were going.’
But as she turned towards the shore she was halted by the sight of Darius, striding onto the beach wearing a dark blue towel bathrobe, which he stripped off, showing his black bathing gear beneath.
Instead of tight-fitting trunks he wore shorts, looser and less revealing, leaving many of her questions still unanswered. Even so, she could see that he was more powerfully built than a mere businessman had any right to be. If there was any justice in the world he would be scrawny, not taut and lean, with long muscular arms and legs.
He saw her and waved. Next moment he was running into the water and powering towards her. She laughed and swam away, swerving this way and that until he caught up, reaching out his hands. She seized them and he immediately began to back-pedal, drawing her with him. As they reached the shore she slipped away, laughing, and he chased her up the beach to where he’d dropped his bathrobe next to her towel.
Phantom galloped after them, delighted at the prospect of a rematch, but this time Darius was ready for him, dropping to one knee, greeting his ‘opponent’ with outstretched arms and rolling on the sand with him.
‘I reckon that’s about even,’ he said, getting up at last.
‘Now you really are a mess,’ she said, regarding the sand that covered him.
‘Yes, I am, aren’t I?’ he agreed with something that sounded suspiciously like satisfaction. ‘All right, play’s over. Time for the serious stuff. See you tomorrow.’
So it went on for several days—pleasant, undemanding friendship with almost the innocence of childhood. It seemed strange to think of this man in such a light, but when she saw him fooling with Phantom it was hard to remember his harsh reputation, and the power he held over them all.
Then he vanished.
‘He just took off without a word,’ Kate said when they bumped into each other while shopping. ‘He was sitting at the computer when I took in his morning coffee. I don’t know what he saw there but it made him say a very rude word. Then he made a phone call. I got out fast but I could hear a lot more rude words.’
Walter, who also happened to be there, said, ‘Only rude words?’
‘I heard him say, “I don’t care; it mustn’t be allowed to happen,” and “Do you realise what this would mean if—?” and “When I get my hands on him I’ll—” and then more rude words.’
‘Sounds like a disaster,’ Walter observed.
‘Nah,’ Kate said. ‘Not him. He’s too big for disaster. You mark my words, they can’t touch him.’
‘That’s not what the papers say,’ Walter insisted. ‘This “credit crunch” thing has hit all the big shots. Next thing you know he’ll have to sell this place and we’ll have someone new to worry about.’
‘Oh, stop panicking!’ Harriet said, trying to sound amused and not quite succeeding. ‘He’s better