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  better, guessed that something was amiss, and she cast a reproving glance in the

  older woman's direction.

  'We're wrong to tease, Tante Maria,' she said firmly. 'Jessica will find the right

  man all in good time.'

  Tante Maria accepted this with a silent nod, oblivious of the look that passed

  between the two younger women. Olivia had somehow sensed Jessica's

  unhappiness, and Jessica was eternally grateful to her for her remarkable

  understanding.

  'I think you'd better take Logan,'Jessica said at length, placing the wriggling

  child in Olivia's arms. 'I'd like to have a few words with Megan.'

  Jessica strolled to where she had seen Megan and Frances only moments

  before. Dane was standing among the men who were grouped around the fires,

  his broad back turned towards her, and his head tilted slightly at a listening angle

  while Bernard spoke to him. He looked relaxed without his jacket, and his shirt

  sleeves were rolled up to above his elbows, but even at that distance she sensed

  an alertness, a flexing of the muscles as if in preparation for action, and

  everything within her seemed to reach out to him with a longing so intense that

  the breath stilled in her throat. He turned suddenly, almost as if he had known she

  was there, and his compelling glance captured hers, holding it for a few

  heart-stopping seconds before she managed to free herself and continue her

  search for the children.

  'Hello there, you two,' she said moments later, interrupting their imaginative

  exploration among the trees and shrubs, and placing an arm about each of

  them, she asked, 'How does it feel to be Megan Leigh O'Brien?'

  'I'm so happy, Dr Jessica.' Wide blue eyes gazed up at Jessica, and in the light

  of the distant fires she could not miss the happiness and contentment lurking

  there. 'Now I know that I never have to leave here again.'

  Jessica glanced down at the long-limbed, dark-haired daughter of Bernard

  King. 'How do you feel about it, Frances?'

  White teeth flashed in a wide smile. 'It's super having a cousin, and during the

  December holidays I'm going to teach her how to ride a horse.'

  'That would be nice,' Jessica agreed, hugging them both.

  'I can't wait!' Megan announced, bouncing excitedly beside Jessica.

  'What can't you wait for, young Megan?' Dane's deep voice asked directly

  behind Jessica, and it took every ounce of will-power to maintain her

  outwardly calm appearance as she released the children and turned to face him.

  'Frances is going to teach me how to ride a horse,' Megan explained, smiling

  up at Dane in an easy, unrestrained manner which Jessica envied at that

  moment.

  'Do you ride well, Frances?' Dane turned his attention to the more reserved of

  the two children.

  'Yes, I do,' Frances replied at once. 'My father taught me, and he's an

  excellent horseman.'

  'Do you ride, Doctor Jessica?' Megan wanted to know, and Jessica shook her

  head.

  'I'm afraid not.'

  'Olivia can't ride either, but my father says that if you're nervous of horses

  then it's best to stay away from

  them,' Frances intervened knowingly. 'Animals are ultrasensitive, you see.'

  'There are humans who are equally ultra-sensitive,' Dane remarked drily, and

  Jessica felt his mocking gaze resting on her when he added softly, 'I can think of

  one in particular who shies away from reality like a frightened filly.'

  His bare forearm brushed against hers, sending a spark of awareness shooting

  throughout her entire body, and she stepped away from him jerkily.

  'If you'll excuse me,' she said abruptly, glancing beyond him with a measure of

  relief, 'I think Vivien wants to have a word with me.'

  Her excuse to escape his subtle reference to herself was valid, but nevertheless

  she felt his mocking eyes following her as she crossed the garden to where

  Vivien awaited her.

  'I've been wanting a private word with you ever since your father arrived here

  yesterday with the adoption papers,' said Vivien, drawing Jessica a little aside

  from the laughter and activity around the fires. 'We have you to thank for this,

  Jessica, and I don't really know where to begin.'

  'Don't say anything, Vivien,' Jessica interrupted hastily. 'Just be happy.'

  'Oh, we are!' Vivien sighed, a suspicious-looking mois ture filling her dark eyes

  as she gripped Jessica's hands. 'Tremendously happy.'

  'Then that's enough for me,'Jessica assured her gently.

  'Talking of happiness,' Vivien laughed a little shakily, brushing her tears away

  unobtrusively, 'Dane doesn't look too happy these days. Do you think he's having

  problems with that woman of his in Pretoria?'

  Jessica stiffened, refusing to let her glance follow the direction Vivien's had

  taken. 'I really wouldn't know.'

  'It wouldn't surprise me if he's fallen in love at last,'

  Vivien laughed. "He has that look about him, and it would serve him right if that

  Summers woman turns him down flat.'

  Jessica found herself murmuring something appropriate, but she felt raw inside.

  Was Dane still seeing Sylvia Summers? She tried to tell herself that it was none

  of her business, but the question gnawed away at her until she felt like screaming.

  For the remainder of the evening Jessica avoided Dane as much as was humanly

  possible, but she could not avoid noticing that he spent a considerable amount of

  time in the company of her parents. They liked him, she could see that, and she

  was aware of her mother's curious, enquiring glances when she refused to

  respond to her mother's silent entreaty to join them.

  CHAPTER TEN

  'NICE chap, that Dane Trafford,' Jonathan Neal remarked that night when they

  had returned to Jessica's cottage after the braai. 'And he's clever too.'

  'I found him utterly charming,' Amelia added enthusiastically, then she eyed

  her daughter thoughtfully. 'By the way, Jessica, I invited him to join us for dinner

  tomorrow evening.'

  'Oh, Mother!' Jessica sighed exasperatedly.

  'Well, why not?' Amelia demanded indignantly.

  'Did he accept?'

  'He said he would be delighted.' Jessica groaned inwardly at her mother's reply,

  and some of her displeasure must have shown on her face, for Amelia turned on

  her at once. 'Really, Jessica, I can't see what you could possibly have against him.

  He's charming, good-looking, and much too masculine for you to put him on that

  mental slab of yours. No woman, not even you, Jessica, could look at him

  without something totally unclinical stirring in your breast.' ,

  Jessica would have found her mother's remark amusing at one time, but the

  amusing side of it escaped her at that moment. 'You're right, Mother. He's all the

  things you say, but '

  'But what?' her mother prompted.

  'We don't get along so well, that's all,' she added lamely, biting down hard on

  her Hp.

  'But why not, for heaven's sake?'

  'Perhaps it's a chemical reaction,' her father intervened irritably. 'Put two

  chemicals together, and they either repulse each other, or they set off a

  responsive spark.'

  Amelia glanced sharply at her husband. 'I've always disliked your chemical

>   theories, Jonathan, but on this occasion it makes sense.' Now it was Jessica's turn

  to encounter the sharpness of her mother's glance. ‘ Which is it, Jessica? Do you

  and Dane Trafford repulse each other, or is there a responsive spark, as your

  father puts it?'

  'Leave this inquisition, Amelia,' Jonathan grunted, correctly interpreting the

  silent entreaty in his daughter's glance. 'It's late, and we're all tired.'

  Amelia opened her mouth to say something, but Jessica leapt in first with a

  quick 'goodnight' before she escaped to her own room.

  She slept very badly that night, and she was in a waspish mood on the Sunday

  at the prospect of Dane's visit that evening. It absolutely grated her to listen to her

  mother humming merrily to herself while she planned the evening meal, but,

  against her will, she finally became inveigled into the preparations.

  They were in the kitchen that evening, putting the finishing touches to the

  salads, when there was a sharp knock on .the front door.

  'That will be Dane,' Amelia said excitedly, wiping her fluttering hands on her

  apron, and eyeing Jessica expectantly.

  'Probably,' she agreed, shrugging carelessly.

  'Well, aren't you going to let him in?' Amelia persisted hopefully.

  'Daddy's in the lounge, so I presume he'll let Dane in.'

  'Well, really!' Amelia exclaimed indignantly. 'You could at least go in there

  and say good evening.'

  'You invited him, Mother,' Jessica replied tritely. 'You go in and say good

  evening.'

  Amelia Neal shook her head, unable to fathom the workings of her daughter's

  mind as Jonathan's voice reached their ears.

  'Come in, Dane,' he said pleasantly. 'Come in.'

  'I hope I'm not too early,' Dane's deep voice contained a hint of apology.

  'Not at all,' Jonathan assured him, 'The women are in the kitchen, and I dislike

  drinking alone.'

  There was a brief silence during which Jonathan obviously took Dane into the

  lounge, and it was during this silence that Amelia removed the apron about her

  waist, then she glared at her daughter and said reprovingly, 'Well, if you've

  forgotten your manners, Jessica, then I certainly haven't forgotten mine.'

  Left alone in the kitchen, Jessica tried to prepare herself in some way for her

  meeting with Dane, but it was difficult concentrating on what she was doing

  when every particle of her being was concentrated on what was happening in

  the lounge. She heard the clink of glasses, and the murmur of voices, and she

  wished suddenly that this night was at an end.

  She was adding a decorative slip of parsley to a bowl of salad when Dane

  walked into the kitchen, and he instantly dwarfed it with his size.

  'I believe you'll have a sherry,' he said calmly, extending a glass towards her.

  'Thank you,' she murmured, almost spilling some of the liquid when his

  fingers brushed against her own.

  She took a sip of sherry to steady her nerves while his cool, assessing glance

  travelled over her, and she knew that nothing missed those razor-sharp eyes;

  not the trembling of her hand, nor her displeasure at his presence.

  'I gather you don't like the idea that I was invited for dinner.'

  'You gather correctly,' she said, realising that there was no point in denying

  how she felt.

  'Why?' he shot the question at her.

  'We work together, but I see no reason why we should mix socially as well.'

  His perfectly chiselled mouth tightened into a harsh,

  thin line. 'You don't believe in beating about the bush, do you?'

  'I could say the same for you,' she said coldly, her challenging glance meeting

  his, and she saw that familiar gleam of mockery leap into his eyes.

  'That's right,' he said. 'I believe in speaking my mind, and right this minute I'd

  give anything to have you alone to myself in one of Chief Cedric's guest huts.'

  His coldblooded reference to those moments of intimacy they had shared sent a

  heated wave of anger and humiliation surging into her cheeks, and her hands

  clenched the bowl before her as she experienced the desire to throw something

  at him, but he seemed to read her mind in that diabolical way of his. 'Don't ruin

  a perfectly good salad, Jessica,' he warned quietly.

  'I think it's despicable of you to remind me of that night,' she said in a voice

  that was husky with the effort to control her anger, and she turned from him to

  hide the tears of frustration and despair which began to hover on her lashes.

  'I've never denied that I'm a despicable character, but you can't say that I've

  ever left you in doubt as to what's on my mind.'

  There was some truth in that, she had to admit to herself as she felt him come

  up behind her, and the touch of his hands on her shoulders was a sweet agony

  she longed to surrender to, but she knew that she dared not.

  'If you don't mind, Dane, I

  '

  'A truce?' he interrupted with an unexpected suggestion, turning her to face

  him, but she kept her eyes lowered to the hand he extended towards her. 'We'll

  call a truce for tonight only, if you like, and tomorrow I'll give you permission

  to call me all the names you may care to.'

  Jessica hesitated, wary of his suggestion, then she placed her hand in his.,

  'Very well,' she sighed, 'but please understand that I'm only doing this for my

  parents' sake.'

  'I understand perfectly,' Dane assured her with that familiar hint of mockery in

  his voice, and when his fingers tightened about hers she knew that it had been a

  mistake giving him her hand, for he had no intention of releasing it as quickly as

  she would have wished. 'You have such small, beautifully shaped hands, Jessica.'

  He turned her hand palm upwards into his left hand, and with the fingers of his

  right hand he traced the lines across her palm. There was something so sensually

  erotic in what he was doing that her pulses leapt in a wild response, and a familiar

  yearning surged through her until her limbs trembled.

  'Don't do that!' she managed at last, her voice a hoarse whisper as she jerked her

  hand free and stepped away from him.

  'My apologies,' he bowed cynically. 'Bring your sherry with you, and join us in

  the lounge for a few minutes.'

  'It will have to be a very short few minutes,' she agreed, regaining her

  composure with an effort. 'The dinner will spoil if it's left too long.'

  The rest of the evening passed somehow without a hitch. Dane's interest in

  neuro-surgery gave him and her father a great deal in common to talk about, but

  Dane was tactful enough not to linger too long on the subject for her mother's

  sake. He was a perfect guest to the very last detail, and neither did he outstay his

  welcome, for it was not yet ten o'clock when he announced that it was time for

  him to leave. Amelia, naturally, tried to persuade him to remain longer, but Dane

  was adamant.

  'It's still reasonably early, I admit,' he said, 'but you have a long journey ahead

  of you tomorrow.'

  Amelia agreed with him reluctantly, and a few minutes later Jessica somehow

  found herself accompanying Dane out to his car.

  A tense silence seemed to settle between them, and she wondered why. They

  had managed to behave pleasantly enoug
h towards each other in the company of

  her parents, but quite suddenly there seemed to be nothing to say.

  In the darkness beside his Mustang, he took her hands in his, and something in

  the way he said, 'Goodnight,' sent a warning flashing through her mind. The truce

  was over, she realised, and pulling her hands free of his, she stepped away from

  him, breathing a little easier with a reasonable distance between them.

  'Goodnight, Dane,' she said with rigid politeness, watching him slide behind

  the wheel of his car, but before he drove away she heard his soft, mocking

  laughter, and it drifted towards her on the scented night air to hover about her as

  she watched his car disappear down the street,

  'I thought you said you didn't get along with Dane?' her mother demanded

  accusingly when she joined them in the lounge moments later.

  'We do get along sometimes, but not always,' Jessica replied cautiously.

  'I think he's an extremely nice man. Don't you, Jonathan?'

  'Nice isn't quite the adjective I would use to describe Dane, Amelia,' he replied,

  grinning as he clenched his pipe between his teeth.

  'How would you describe him, then?'

  'Oh, I don't know,' Jonathan shrugged. 'I've never been good with words, you

  know that.'

  'What about above-average intelligence with just the right touch of arrogance

  to get what he wants out of life?' Jessica intervened.

  Her father raised his eyebrows a fraction. 'I sense a touch of animosity there,

  but I would say you've described him perfectly. He's certainly extremely

  intelligent, and a man needs a certain amount of arrogance to cope with life.'

  'You're probably right,' Jessica sighed.

  'I hope you'll invite him over next time we're here?' Amelia said, her eyes

  intent upon Jessica.

  'If you like him that much, then I'll make a point of it,' Jessica replied with a

  cynical smile curving her mouth.

  'I really don't understand you,' Amelia sighed exasperatedly. 'Dane Trafford is

  the most magnificent specimen of manhood I've seen in a long time.'

  'I agree with you.'

  'Well then?' Amelia demanded expectantly.

  'Well then, what?' Jessica questioned evasively.

  'Why don't you do something about it?'

  Jessica eyed her mother contemplatively with a hint of mischief in her dark