‘Tennis?’ she queried absently, and felt Daniel look at her sharply.
‘She should have,’ he put in quickly, and grimaced. ‘I would have enjoyed it more if I’d won.’
His uncle raised one dark brow in Keira’s direction. ‘So you outplayed my nephew, Mrs Strong?’ he remarked blandly enough, but the expression in his eyes embroidered his innocent observation.
‘Outplayed me? More like slaughtered me.’ Daniel grinned good-naturedly. ‘And the worst part about it is, I think she took it easy with me.’
‘I assure you, Daniel, I didn’t,’ Keira told him sincerely. ‘You were a very worthy opponent.’
‘Perhaps we could have a game some time,’ Eden put in, and Keira forced a smile.
‘Perhaps,’ she said just as casually. Not likely, Mr Top Gun Cassidy, she declared under her breath, her eyes meeting his. And she suspected he knew exactly what she was thinking.
Eden glanced at his wristwatch, the flash of gold gleaming in the filtered sunlight, once again drawing Keira’s attention to his strong, tanned hand. ‘Megan must have been held up. Daniel, could you go in and check with her? She may prefer Burton to take her something on a tray to have in the office.’
Daniel frowned slightly and glanced quickly from Eden to Keira before he stood up and did as he had been bidden. For once Keira wished Daniel had defied his uncle because now she was left alone with Eden Cassidy. Again.
‘Taking rather a chance, weren’t you?’ His deep voice made her start.
‘A chance?’ she repeated uncomprehendingly.
‘Of wounding Daniel’s fragile adolescent male ego by beating him on the court,’ he elaborated without intonation.
What a colossal chauvinist the man was. And how disparaging towards his nephew. Keira made herself take a mouthful of succulent ham before she replied with equal indifference.
‘I think once again you’ve underestimated your nephew, Mr Cassidy. Surprisingly, Daniel doesn’t have a problem with his self-image, which is quite amazing, considering…’ Although Keira didn’t complete the sentence the words hung as provocatively in the air as if she’d voiced them. Considering the fact he has a fatherfigure like you.
Eden set down his cutlery and sat back in his chair. ‘Considering?’ he prompted through narrowed eyelids.
So he was calling her bluff.
Keira shrugged. ‘Considering the pressures put on young people today,’ she finished levelly, and had to suppress a surge of exhilarating excitement.
If she were honest she’d have to admit part of her was enjoying this verbal sparring.
One corner of his mouth twisted in a faint wry smile, his eyes acknowledging the point was hers. ‘Oh, yes. Peer pressure,’ he conceded.
‘Peer pressure. Familial pressure. The pressure to succeed,’ Keira expanded. ‘It must be a great weight to bear sometimes.’
‘No doubt,’ he agreed. ‘But I think other generations have had just as much pressure. The pressures might have been slightly different but they were just as demanding. Didn’t you suffer from as much social stress when you were Daniel’s age?’
Keira glanced at him, trying to decide whether his reference to her age was a further slight on her relationship with his nephew. But she could glean nothing from his level expression.
‘I guess I did. And I suppose the pressures were different,’ she confessed. ‘The desire to conform seems to be universal.’
‘I can’t somehow see you as a conformist, Mrs Strong.’ He watched her like a jungle cat toying with his prey and Keira smiled wryly.
This prey would ensure she was more than a match for this particular predator. ‘You’re mistaken again, Mr Cassidy. By no stretch of the imagination could I be called a rebel.’
He raised one dark brow sceptically and Keira took a sip of cool water.
“I was boringly average and commonplace.’
Eden also swallowed a mouthful of water and his lips quirked. ‘Every parent’s dream child, hmm?’
She shrugged lightly. ‘I suppose so, depending on what you feel my parents would have expected of me.’
‘To find a young man, marry him and raise a family?’ His gaze met hers in a silent challenge.
‘Actually, they did,’ she said evenly, knowing it wasn’t far from the truth. Her parents were in their early forties when she had surprised them by being born. They were both conservative in their outlook on the roles of men and women in society.
‘And you went along with that?’
‘In part.’ Keira dabbed her lips with her napkin. ‘I was married when I was twenty.’ And it was the biggest mistake of my life, she could have added. She had been so unworldly in some respects, torn between her yearning for a career and her parents’ acceptance that she should marry Dennis. If she hadn’t been so naïve—
‘And talking again of marriage,’ Eden broke in on her tortured thoughts, ‘you still haven’t filled me in on what the obviously trusting Mr Strong thinks about your weekend away with a male friend, a so much younger male friend?’
Keira blinked him back into focus. When Cassidy-Ford Publishing had bought out Natural Life magazine she had still been technically married to Dennis Strong. She’d seen no need to make any comments to anyone about their separation. Or Dennis’s sudden death two years later.
‘Dennis? He—’ She stopped.
‘Let me guess. He’s a modern man. He understands,’ Eden Cassidy finished caustically for her, his lips twisting disparagingly. ‘Quite cosmopolitan and progressive. Or does he have his own distractions to keep him occupied?’
Their eyes met across the table and Keira held his gaze.
‘My husband’s dead, Mr Cassidy,’ she said evenly. ‘I’ve been a widow for three years. So,’ she continued when he made no immediate comment, ‘I suppose that makes my association with Daniel even more suspect. I mean, on past accusations I’d say you’d be the first to imply a frustrated widow on her own would have to be on the loose. Let’s all lock up our sons.’
What he would have said in his defence, if he’d elected to defend himself, that was, Keira would never know for Daniel chose that moment to rejoin them.
‘Burton’s taken Megan a tray. She’s waiting for a return call. Have you finished your lunch, Keira?’ he asked, and she nodded unsmilingly.
Daniel’s gaze went from Keira to his uncle and back to Keira. He had to feel the tension that Keira knew arced between them, the incendiary vibrations that filled the air.
‘OK. What say we walk off all this food?’
‘Fine by me,’ Keira agreed. Anything to get away from Eden Cassidy.
‘Great. Let me just make the rest of this into a sandwich and we can be off.’
‘Mrs Strong may prefer to ride,’ his uncle suggested easily, and Daniel turned to Keira.
‘Would you? I can have a couple of horses saddled in no time.’
‘No, thanks, Daniel.’ Keira stood up. She hadn’t been on a horse since she was a child and didn’t fancy putting her rusty skills to the test today. She could just see herself falling off. With her luck it would probably be at Eden Cassidy’s feet. ‘I’d prefer a walk.’
‘Fine. Let’s go, then.’ Daniel took her arm and headed her down the steps past the glistening turquoise water of the swimming-pool.
And until they disappeared from sight