She straightened slowly and turned apprehensively to look towards the bathroom. Max Hendrick was standing in its doorway, his hands on his hips. He was smiling a little, but his smile was not pleasant, and as his cold grey eyes went over her Ginny wished suddenly that her jeans did not fit quite so closely to her rounded hips, or her sweater cling quite so revealingly.
He’d shaved, she noticed inconsequentially, so he looked fractionally less like a vagabond, but it was a very small fraction. He still looked dark and dangerous, and the opposite of a conventional tenant for a quiet country house. She remembered Kathy’s phrase that he was ‘all man’ and felt at last that she understood what Kathy had meant—although the older woman had presumably never encountered him as Ginny was seeing him now—black hair falling damply across his forehead, and his only covering a towelling bathrobe, opening in a deep vee over the mat of dark hair on his chest, and reaching only to mid-thigh length.
She swallowed nervously, and saw him note her reaction and his amusement deepen.
‘What’s this?’ he asked coolly. ‘A broad hint that you’re not Toby’s exclusive property? Do you come with the house, as it were?’
‘In a manner of speaking, I suppose I do.’ Ginny struggled for composure. ‘But not in the way you obviously think,’ she added in haste as she saw his brows lift mockingly.
‘I’d have said you were the one who was being obvious,’ he remarked. ‘I asked you to clear up the mess in the kitchen and leave—yet here you are in my bedroom. And you were clearly all lit up for a weekend of love when you barged in just now,’ he added, his mouth twisting cynically. ‘If I’ve deprived you of your lover’s company this weekend, the least I can do is offer you a replacement. I’m sure you’d find me a more than adequate substitute.’
He took a step towards her and Ginny recoiled instinctively. The edge of the bed caught her across the back of the legs as she moved, and she collapsed on to it.
‘Very flattering,’ he drawled. ‘Must it be at once, or can you restrain your feminine ardour until I’ve eaten?’
‘You insulting swine!’ Uncaring now of the need to placate him, Ginny levered herself off the bed and faced him, her eyes bright with angry tears. ‘You have the most monstrous ego of anyone I’ve ever met in my life! For your information, Toby is not my lover, but even if he were, what makes you think you could ever take his place? As a matter of fact, Mr Hendrick, I find you not only abominably conceited, but totally resistible as well.’ She paused for breath. He had halted, and was staring at her, his dark brows dancing together in an ominous frown. ‘As for being in your bedroom, believe me, it’s duty that brings me here, not desire. I’m your housekeeper.’
‘Oh no, you’re not,’ he said flatly.
‘I can assure you I am. If you contact Mrs Lanyon, she’ll confirm it for you.’
‘I shall be contacting Mrs Lanyon right enough,’ he said grimly, ‘but not to confirm anything.’
‘What do you mean?’ Dismay clutched at her.
‘Do I have to spell it out?’ he asked rather wearily.
‘You mean—you don’t want me as your housekeeper?’
‘I don’t want you in any capacity.’ His eyes were like ice. ‘As I mentioned, I’ve come here for peace and quiet in order to get on with some work. My idea of a housekeeper is someone capable and unobtrusive. You fail on both counts. I can’t imagine what possessed Mrs Lanyon to engage you in the first place.’
There was a long silence, then Ginny said with some difficulty, ‘Mr Hendrick, I know I’ve given you a rather poor first impression of my abilities, but …’
‘There are no buts,’ he cut across her incisively. ‘Even if you carried out your instructions to the letter, I still wouldn’t have been prepared to keep you on.’
‘But that’s very unfair,’ she protested.
‘It’s an unfair world. Didn’t you know?’ he returned shortly. ‘You’re young, inexperienced and volatile—and that’s a mixture I need like a hole in the head. But don’t worry, I’ll simply tell Mrs Lanyon I’ve been forced to make other arrangements. I won’t tell her about the shambles here tonight. You’ll get your reference.’
She stood staring at him, all the colour drained from her face. Only an hour before, life had been happy and settled. She’d been on top of the world, but now after a few careless words from this man, she was facing disaster again. And if it was only herself, she thought numbly. How was she going to tell Tim and Aunt Mary of this sudden reversal in their fortunes?
Max Hendrick said abruptly, ‘There’s no need to look as if you’ve seen a ghost. You’ll get another job easily enough.’
‘It isn’t the job,’ she said mechanically. ‘It’s the flat—my family. I don’t know what we’re going to do.’
‘You have a family?’
‘My great-aunt and my young brother. My parents were killed in a road accident three months ago.’
He said incredulously, ‘Are you trying to tell me that you’re the breadwinner?’
She said defiantly, her mouth trembling a little, ‘They’re my family. They’re all I’ve got. I—I had to keep us together. That’s why a residential job seemed ideal, although the money was poor, but I was going to do some part-time typing to earn extra cash.’
Max Hendrick said slowly and very wearily, ‘Oh, my God!’ There was a silence, then he sighed, pushing his hair back from his forehead with an impatient hand. ‘I’m going to put some clothes on. Go downstairs and wait for me. Make a pot of coffee—strong coffee. You know how to do that?’
She flushed. ‘Of course, but …’
‘As I said before, no “buts”,’ he told her drily. ‘Can’t you even carry out a simple instruction without an argument?’
‘Yes,’ she said, hating him.
‘Then prove it.’ He took her by the shoulders and turned her towards the door.
Her mind was in ferment as she made the coffee. It seemed by his sudden change of attitude that she might be given another chance. But did she really want one? she asked herself. Was the fragile security they now enjoyed at Monk’s Dower really worth the cost of having to work for such an arrogant brute? She sighed, watching the coffee filter through into the jug beneath. Only time would tell—and did she really have a choice, anyway? Could she justify making Tim and Aunt Mary homeless again merely because of a clash of personalities?
She was standing by the window staring into the darkness when he came in. He looked at the jug of black coffee on the table with its attendant cream jug and sugar basin, and the single pottery mug, and his brows rose.
‘Won’t you join me?’
She shook her head. ‘Coffee in the evening keeps me awake.’
As if she was likely to sleep anyway, she thought bitterly.
He gave a slight shrug, then poured himself some coffee, tasted it and gave a slight nod. ‘Well, your coffee’s drinkable, so that’s one point in your favour at least.’
‘I’m sure all the minuses cancel it out,’ Ginny said quietly. ‘I’m sorry the house wasn’t ready for your arrival. It—it won’t happen again.’
‘I know it won’t,’ he said in a dry tone. ‘Because I intend to be here for quite some time. The question is—will you?’
‘That’s up to you.’ She would not meet his gaze, but stared down at the quarry-tiled kitchen floor.
‘And that’s tie devil of it,’ he said, half to himself. He was silent for a moment, then said abruptly, ‘Tell me about yourself.’
Taken