Rita looked put out, but still pulled a face and murmured, ‘Oh, darling, such a fuss about nothing!’
Kate was standing with her back to Jake, and the hair on the back of her neck prickled atavistically as she heard him murmur so quietly that only she could hear, ‘But you’re not, are you, Kate … free, that is? Are you lovers, Kate?’ she heard him ask.
She whirled round, not caring if anyone saw her, or what interpretation they might put on her behaviour. ‘It’s none of your damned business,’ she ground out through compressed lips.
‘Oh, but it is,’ Jake assured her smoothly. ‘You’re still my wife, remember? But you give yourself away, my little Cat,’ he added smoothly, ‘scratching instead of purring. Whatever our good doctor does give you, it isn’t satisfaction.’
‘Jake darling, are you ready?’ Jake was holding her hand and he raised it to his lips as an old-world gesture of courtliness that deceived everyone but Kate, pressing his lips lightly against her vulnerable palm, leaving her so intensely aware of their roughly warm imprint on her skin that she had to fight not to admit the memories that brief touch brought surging to life.
CHAPTER THREE
‘HEAVENS, I’d better rush, Matt will be here in half an hour. What are your plans for the weekend, Kate?’ As she spoke Meg put down the cloth she had been using to dry their breakfast dishes and rushed distractedly towards the door.
Sunday mornings were always a panic because invariably they slept later, and Kate obligingly moved to one side to let Meg through the door. ‘Kevin and I are going fell-walking. He’s been promising to take me for weeks. We did quite a bit of walking during the spring and summer, but the terrain changes so much during the autumn with all the bracken that Kevin thought it might be a good idea if we went out again. Besides, there probably won’t be many more weekends fine enough now that we’re into November.’
‘That’s true,’ Meg agreed, ‘and once the snow comes to the high ground you’d be mad to try.’
Kate acknowledged the wisdom of her comment. Matt, like Kevin, was a member of their local rescue team, and both of them had heard enough from the men to be fully aware of the dangers awaiting the inexperienced foolish enough to venture out on to the Dales during the winter months.
‘How did the dinner go, by the way?’ Meg asked conversationally. ‘I didn’t get the opportunity to ask last night and on Wednesday I must have been asleep when you came in.’
Meg had been spending a couple of days up at Matt’s farm which they were busy decorating in preparation for their marriage in the summer, and Kate grimaced slightly. ‘Oh, it wasn’t so bad, although Rita made a big thing of suggesting that Kevin and I were lovers.’
‘Oh no! But then that’s typical of her,’ Meg exclaimed. ‘But tell me about her new man. Is he as gorgeous as she said?’
‘He’s certainly very handsome,’ Kate agreed with a touch of acerbity, ‘but handsome is as handsome does. If you want my real opinion, they’re very well matched. Both of them are takers, if you know what I mean.’
‘Umm. It seems the two of you didn’t hit it off. Now that’s funny,’ Meg mused with a grin. ‘Mary was in here yesterday choosing a sweater—Alan’s promised to buy her one for Christmas, apparently. She said that our new Director of Operations couldn’t keep his eyes off you.’
‘Oh, you know Mary,’ Kate said weakly. ‘She dislikes Rita so much she tends to let her imagination run away with her.’
‘But he did follow you out into the kitchen when Rita upset you,’ Meg pressed.
Inwardly fuming, cursing Mary’s too sharp eyes and too ready tongue, Kate said lightly, ‘I suppose he thought it only good manners, although I wasn’t actually on my own. I was with Lisa. You’ve got fifteen minutes before Matt arrives,’ she reminded her friend. ‘If you stay here cross-questioning me much longer, you’ll never be ready.’
When Meg had gone Kate went to her own room and dressed slowly in her fell-walking gear. It could be cold out on the fells, especially when the temperature dropped sharply as it had a habit of doing and she dressed warmly in thermal top and tights, both in a pretty pink and white candy stripe which hugged her body revealingly—a far cry from the old-fashioned ‘combinations’ from which the thermal underwear had been derived. On top she wore a thin checked shirt and a sweater plus a pair of heavy jeans. Her quilted parka with its fur-trimmed hood lay on the bed, and as she bent down to lace up the sturdy boots Kevin had insisted on her buying she heard the phone ring.
Every time she had heard it since that fatal dinner party her stomach had lurched. Each time she picked up the receiver she dreaded hearing Jake’s voice. Some time they would have to talk, she hated the deceit she was practising on her friends, and besides, it was high time they talked about their divorce. With Jake openly squiring other women about he no longer had any reason to refuse to accede to it. Oh, her lawyer had told her that he could make her wait the full five years if he wished, but what was the point? Their marriage was over and she, for one, only wanted to cut away from the past completely—and how could she do that when she and Jake, while masquerading as perfect strangers, were in reality still man and wife?
She picked up the receiver with nervous fingers, expelling a faint sigh of relief when she heard Kevin’s voice. ‘Kate, I’m so sorry,’ he apologised, ‘but I’m going to have to cancel today. Laura Braithwaite’s gone into labour. The midwife’s already with her, but I’ll have to stand by. She’s insisting on having this baby at home, but I want to be on hand just in case there are any problems.’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ Kate assured him.
‘While you’re on I ought to tell you that Jake has set up a meeting at the station to look into the safety standards and I’ve been invited to attend.’
‘Marvellous!’ Kate knew she sounded less than sincere, but she didn’t care. It seemed that all her friends were enthusing about Jake, and absurdly she felt like a small child excluded from a particularly exciting birthday party.
Kevin rang off, and she paced the flat moodily. Outside the sun shone pale golden yellow from an ice blue sky, and restlessness stirred in her blood like wine. She didn’t want to spend the day indoors. She wanted to be outside, breathing in the cold, pure Dales air. Why shouldn’t she go for her walk alone? She wouldn’t go far. She hunted along the bookshelves until she found the book of local walks she had bought when she first came to the Dales. There was one that didn’t look too arduous and wasn’t too long, which looped round the Dale and brought her back into the village again. The book had been specifically written for keen walkers, and various small crosses marked the spots where shepherds’ huts had been turned into emergency rest-halts. The walks were picked out in differing colours to indicate their varying degrees of hardship, and the one Kate had picked was one of the easier ones. The time set for the walk was three hours, which meant that she should be back before dusk. Picking up the sandwiches she had made and her thermos, Kate tucked them into the pockets of her parka and zipped it up.
Half an hour later she was congratulating herself on her decision as she forded a small sluggish stream and followed one of the ancient drystone walls up towards the top of the hill. From its summit she surveyed the village spread out below her, carefully checking her map, knowing from Kevin how easily it was to lose the right path along these upland tracks. The air was so cold and pure that it stung her lungs and Kate gulped great breaths of it, feeling the tension ease out of her as she walked steadily along the track, pacing herself carefully as Kevin had taught her. One of the first faults of the amateur was to walk too quickly too soon, thus exhausting himself, he had explained to her on their very first walk, and as she climbed higher and higher through the Dale Kate paused regularly to look down the way she had come and to study her map. Because she was on her own she had decided against any fellwalking, knowing that if she did slip and sprain her ankle she would be completely alone, but she was still glad of the warm protection of her thick