The Passionate Winter
Carole Mortimer

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

‘WELL, I still think you’re making a mistake,’ repeated Karen, her youthful face pensive. ‘You’ve only known Gavin a couple of months.’

‘Long enough to know he isn’t quite the rake you’re making him out to be,’ Leigh grinned at her friend, grateful for her concern but hoping it would be needless. ‘Honestly, he’s quite harmless.’

She only hoped that she believed what she was saying. Gavin was harmless, at least she hoped so. She was now beginning to regret her impulsive acceptance of his invitation to stay at his father’s country home for the weekend. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now she wasn’t so sure. After all, Karen was right, she didn’t know Gavin that well. She was prevented from saying any more by the arrival of the boy she had just been talking to Karen about.

As usual Gavin looked perfectly relaxed and casual in a tee-shirt and tight-fitting jeans, making Leigh think how silly her thoughts had been. At eighteen, the same age as herself, Gavin was rather handsome in a boyish sort of way. Long dark brown hair grew low to his collar, a firm slightly immature chin jutting out purposefully below a constantly curving mouth that gave the impression of good humour, and laughing blue eyes, all added up to a very attractive picture indeed.

‘Hi,’ he smiled at the two girls before seating himself in one of the only two armchairs they possessed. ‘Ready?’ he asked Leigh.

‘If you are.’ Leigh picked up her tiny overnight case. She had only packed a spare tee-shirt and extra underwear, being assured by Gavin that she wouldn’t need anything else.

‘Be good,’ warned Karen as she let them out of the flat she shared with Leigh.

‘Of course,’ replied Leigh, wishing Karen wouldn’t keep making comments like that. She had felt perfectly relaxed about this weekend until Karen began giving her doubts.

Gavin opened the passenger door of his bright red Spitfire and helped Leigh into the low car. Leigh looked about her appreciatively at the low leather seats and the highly technical-looking dials. This was certainly nothing like her old Mini. The car had been an eighteenth birthday present to Gavin from his father and it was the first time Leigh had seen it.

‘What a super car!’ she exclaimed as Gavin climbed agilely in beside her.

Gavin flicked on the ignition before answering her. ‘It is, isn’t it?’ he grinned. ‘Dad picked it out for me.’

They were now driving through the busy streets of London and Leigh for one felt glad to be leaving the rush and bustle for a couple of days. At the moment, with Christmas only three weeks away, everyone was in too much of a hurry to consider other shoppers and Leigh was usually one of the people to get trampled underfoot.

‘The insurance must cost you a fortune for a car like this at your age.’ There was no doubt about it, this was a beautiful car, and Leigh knew it must have cost a small fortune.

Gavin shook his head, changing gear smoothly and efficiently. ‘Not me—Dad. He included the insurance as part of the present. I could never afford to pay it on my allowance.’

‘You must have a very wealthy father,’ she said, completely without guile, settling more comfortably into her low black leather bucket seat.

He grinned at her as they left the London traffic far behind them. ‘He is,’ he said without conceit. ‘Very much so.’

‘And he spoils you.’

‘No,’ Gavin replied slowly, ‘I wouldn’t ever say that. Oh, I know he bought me this car, but that was only because it was my coming of age birthday. He isn’t usually as generous. I mean, if I were spoilt would I bother to go to college so that I can learn a profession? Now would I?’

Leigh snorted with laughter. ‘You call art a profession?’

‘It is if you’re good enough.’

‘And are you?’ she asked mischievously, her violet-coloured eyes twinkling with amusement. ‘Good enough, I mean.’

Gavin looked slightly sheepish, some of his brash self-confidence deserting him for a moment. ‘I wish I were, but I’m afraid I’m going to be a failure at that as well as everything else I’ve ever tried to do.’

Leigh laughed lightly at his woebegone expression. ‘You’re only eighteen, Gavin, you can hardly have tried that many things.’

‘You think not?’ he grimaced. ‘Well, you’re wrong. I tried to get into university, and failed—Dad is paying for this course for me. I also tried racing driving, and failed.’

‘Racing driving!’ echoed Leigh, astounded at the thought. ‘Whatever for?’

Gavin glanced sideways at her. ‘That’s what Dad did. Didn’t I tell you? I thought I had.’

She shook her head. ‘I would certainly have remembered something like that. A racing driver! Was he really?’ she asked disbelievingly.

‘Mmm. And he was good at it too. I wasn’t.’

‘I should hope not!’ Leigh said in a disgusted voice. ‘That’s no profession for anyone, let alone someone your age.’

‘Dad was even younger when he started competitive driving.’

‘Your father had no right to push you into a profession he’s too old to compete in himself.’

Gavin laughed out aloud at her outrage. ‘Dad isn’t old. And he didn’t force me into anything—in fact he warned me against it.’

Leigh smiled knowingly. ‘So you instantly wanted to try it,’ she turned to look out of the window. ‘I know the feeling. My mother warned me against secretarial college, said I would be bored within a few weeks—and she was right too. It’s very disconcerting, isn’t it? Parents always seem to be right, don’t they?’

‘Well, Dad didn’t rub it in, if that’s what you mean. But to tell you the truth, I think he was quite relieved it didn’t work out. But then, so am I. Not at the time maybe, but I am now. It’s a very rough life.’

‘But exciting?’

Gavin shrugged his shoulders. ‘I suppose so. But my mother didn’t think so. She walked out and left Dad when I was three years old. Thank God she didn’t take me with her!’

Leigh made no comment, sensing an underlying bitterness at his mother’s early rejection of him. But had it been rejection? His mother might have just thought he would be better off with his father, although Leigh found this hard to believe. Who in their right mind would imagine that a three-year-old boy would be happier with a father who was constantly risking his life as a racing driver, a sport that seemed totally pointless to Leigh anyway, than with a mother who could look after him properly? It didn’t seem a very feasible explanation to Leigh, and yet what sort of woman could leave a little boy of three to such a fate?

‘Will it take long to reach your father’s house?’ she asked, changing the subject to something less painful to Gavin.

‘No,’ Gavin replied shortly. ‘About another hour now.’

‘But two hours in a car like my father’s,’ Leigh retorted dryly. ‘You did tell your father that I’d be with you, didn’t you?’

‘Of course,’ he replied evasively.

Leigh looked at him sharply, her earlier feelings of nervousness returning. ‘Gavin? You did, didn’t you?’

‘I said yes, didn’t I?’ he said abruptly, a frown marring his otherwise handsome features. ‘Why should I say I have if I haven’t?’

‘I don’t honestly know,’ she shook back her long dark hair from her face. ‘But I hope you aren’t lying to me, Gavin.’

He sighed angrily. ‘I told my father, I promise you.’ He looked sideways at her as he drove. ‘What did your parents say about this weekend? You said they wouldn’t approve.’

‘I didn’t tell them.’ Was it her imagination or had Gavin actually smiled when she said that? ‘I thought about it for a while, and then decided it seemed pointless to worry them when I was only going away for the weekend with a friend. I’ve done it dozens of times before, and just because you happen to be a male friend it shouldn’t make any difference.’

Actually Leigh felt rather guilty about this omission to her parents. Usually she told them everything, but as she wasn’t romantically involved with Gavin this weekend seemed quite harmless. She wasn’t sure her parents would have felt the same way, though. She wasn’t even sure she did now.

‘Well, it does to me,’ Gavin laughed. ‘A great deal of difference.’

‘Gavin!’ she said reproachfully. ‘I told you, I’m not interested in you that way. You’re just a friend, that’s all. Anyway, we’re too young to be thinking of marriage.’

Gavin looked startled. ‘Marriage! Who said anything about marriage? I certainly didn’t.’

‘Gavin!’ Leigh half turned in her seat to look at him. ‘If you weren’t talking about marriage, just what were you—–? Oh!’

He laughed as she broke off in confusion. ‘It certainly wasn’t marriage,’ he chuckled. ‘Don’t look so shocked, Leigh. Stop being such a prude. Don’t you know it goes on all the time?’

‘Not with me it doesn’t!’ she said indignantly, crossing her arms protectively across her chest. ‘I think I’ve changed my mind about this weekend, Gavin. I didn’t realise what you had in mind when I agreed to come.’

‘Relax,’ he said abruptly. ‘We’re nearly there now anyway. At least see what the place looks like before talking of going home.’

‘I’d rather not if you don’t mind,’ she said stiffly.

His only reply was to put his foot down harder on the accelerator. Not that Leigh had for one moment been contemplating jumping out. She wasn’t that stupid, or that hysterical. She just felt an absolute fool. How could she have got herself into such a situation? Karen had warned her, her own subconscious had warned her, but as usual she had ignored all the signs. And now she was stranded in the middle of nowhere with a boy she hardly knew, she could admit that now when it was too late, and she had no way of getting herself out of this mess.

And Gavin knew it! This was what annoyed her more than anything, and at this precise moment she could cheerfully have hit him. But that would get her nowhere—except perhaps crash the two of them into the nearest ditch! Ooh, she could scream, she felt so helpless. And Gavin’s behaviour in this affair was absolutely disgusting. She looked at him again. All right, so his behaviour was disgusting and he was a powerful boy, but he couldn’t actually force her to go to bed with him. Even the thought of it made her shudder. No, she should be able to protect herself. Hadn’t she had plenty of practice at fighting boys with her two older brothers?

Gavin glanced quickly at her pale set face. ‘For God’s sake!’ he snapped impatiently. ‘Just calm down, will you? We’ll be at the house in a moment and I don’t want to have to try and force a near-hysterical female inside. Anyway, you might find it isn’t so bad once you get there.’

‘And I might find it’s worse!’

Gavin’s mouth tightened angrily and he remained silent until he turned into a long driveway, only speaking to her when he had at last drawn up in front of the house and turned off the ignition. He got out of the car, locking the door his side before coming round to open Leigh’s door for her. Leigh had thought of locking the door against him, but as he had the key the idea seemed rather pointless.

‘Come on.’ He pulled at her arm until she stumbled blindly out of the car. ‘And don’t make too much noise.’

‘Why?’ she whispered, their feet crunching noisily on the gravel of the driveway. ‘Is your father here after all?’ she asked hopefully.

‘No, he isn’t!’ Gavin snapped. ‘But we do have a housekeeper and her husband who’s the gardener. They live in the basement flat and I don’t want you waking them up.’

Leigh’s spirits lifted a little. So there was someone in the house. Perhaps—–?

‘No,’ Gavin shook his head as if guessing her thoughts. ‘The Nichols are very broadminded. They have to be in this house.’

‘I’m not surprised!’ Leigh said tartly, tugging at the firm painful grip he had of her arm. How could she have ever thought he was nice! Her mother had always said her trusting nature would get her into trouble one day. Why was her mother always right?

‘I was referring to my father, not myself.’ Gavin walked with long strides into the house, dragging the reluctant Leigh behind him.

‘Your father!’ The more she heard of Gavin’s father the less she liked him.

‘Sure,’ he grinned at her. ‘Have you never heard of Piers Sinclair? I told you he was a racing car driver—well, now he designs them. Surely you must have heard of him, I thought everyone had.’

Leigh shook her head slowly, stopping suddenly. Yes, she did remember reading an article about someone of that name. Now what had it said?

‘Probably a bit before your time,’ remarked Gavin, flicking a switch in the entrance hall and instantly throwing the huge reception area into a radiant flood of light. Reflections of light hit different corners of the hallway from the chandelier set in the ceiling high above them and Leigh couldn’t hold back her gasp of admiration. It was like something out of the glossy magazines she occasionally flicked through looking for her dream house—deep pile carpets thick enough to sink your feet into, and all the expensive luxury she had never expected to see out of those glossy pages. She hadn’t realised Gavin came from such a rich background; he never seemed to have any more money than the rest of them and dressed just as casually.

Gavin had now thrown open the big double doors that led into a room Leigh assumed to be the lounge. The decor in here was in autumn browns and golds and even in her discomfiture she could appreciate the elegant beauty of it.

Gavin put down her small overnight case which now seemed rather incongruous in this magnificent house. Walking confidently over to the drinks cabinet, that Leigh felt sure must be a genuine antique, he poured out two glasses full of liquid and handed one out towards her.

‘No, thanks.’ Leigh put her hands effectively behind her back so that she couldn’t be made to take the glass. ‘I don’t drink,’ she said in an effort at lightness. The atmosphere between them had become too tense for comfort, besides that she had the feeling she was going to need all her wits to get out of this situation. ‘Remember?’

He still held out the glass. ‘Make this an exception,’ he said insistently.

Leigh shook her head again. ‘I don’t want it,’ she said firmly.

‘Take it!’ Gavin ordered. ‘It will help steady your nerves.’

‘They don’t happen to be unsteady!’ She glared at him with dislike. ‘And I don’t like alcohol, you know that.’ She brought one of her hands forward to brush back her dark swathe of long hair, and Gavin, thinking she had relented, pushed the glass at her in a triumphant gesture. The amber liquid upset all over her dark blue jeans and the coldness of it made her gasp.

‘Ooh!’ She brushed frantically at the fast soaking in liquid, wrinkling her nose delicately at the stickiness of her legs.

Gavin pulled out a handkerchief and began mopping up as best he could, bending down on one knee to gain better access to the largest of the wet patches on her jeans.

Leigh, seeing her chance of escape, pushed him over, and not waiting to see any more she ran blindly to the door. She found herself in an unfamiliar darkened room and realising her mistake turned to re-enter the lounge, only to be stopped in her tracks by the harsh anger of a voice she didn’t recognise.

‘Gavin! What the hell are you doing on the floor?’

Leigh resisted an impulse to chuckle at the ridiculous picture Gavin must make lying on the floor, unwilling to draw this man’s attention to herself. She wondered how Gavin was going to explain himself to this obviously angry man.

‘Dad!’ Gavin exclaimed, and Leigh shrank back against the door. Piers Sinclair! And from what his son had mentioned about him he certainly wasn’t going to help the situation in any way. ‘Why are you here?’ he asked his father lamely.

‘I happen to live here. I take it you have no objection to my staying in my own home?’ the voice asked scathingly. Leigh had to admit that she felt rather curious about the man that went with that voice, its deep tone husky and attractive.

‘Er … no … But I…’

‘Yes? God, it smells like a brewery in here! How much have you had to drink, Gavin? And where’s Lee?’

So he had told his father he was bringing her here after all! She felt some of the tension leaving her rigidly held body, or did that man assume, as Gavin had, that she intended sleeping with his son! If so, Gavin was right and the Nichols’ must have very broad minds to tolerate such behaviour from their employer. But if the money was right, who were they to complain?

‘Leigh is …’ Gavin hesitated. ‘Leigh is in your study.’

‘In my—–! What the hell is he doing in there?’

Before Leigh could move further back into the room the study door was flung open and she stood in the sudden glare of the lights staring at the silhouette of the man she only knew as a name, her violet eyes huge and terrified. The man before her took a step forward and pulled her effortlessly into the lounge.

Leigh stared up into a pair of deep blue eyes set in a ruggedly handsome face. At the moment his features were grim and forbidding, but even so Leigh found him completely devastating. It was perfectly obvious that this was Gavin’s father, the likeness between them was too great to be any other. But whereas Gavin’s face was still young and boyish, this man’s was hard and cynical, as if he had seen all life had to offer and found it wanting. He was aged between thirty-five and forty and Leigh found herself trembling at his nearness.

No man had ever affected her like this before and she found it impossible to look away from his narrowing eyes. Dark brown hair, almost black, flecked with grey at the temples, grew low on his collar and the sideburns low down his jawline. He was dressed in close-fitting black trousers and a black silk shirt unbuttoned almost to the low waistband of his trousers, and looked very lean and attractive. Over these he wore a thick sheepskin jacket, and Leigh found herself wishing he would take it off so that she could see him better. No wonder Gavin’s mother had left such a man! Any woman would have difficulty holding and keeping him by her side.

He dropped her arm, stepping back to survey her tousled dark hair and dishevelled appearance before turning his mocking eyes on his now standing son. Gavin was studiously brushing down his denims, effectively avoiding his father’s eyes. ‘Well?’ Piers Sinclair demanded, his expression deceptively lazy. To Leigh he had the look of a sleepy feline, a black panther perhaps.

‘Well what?’ Gavin asked evasively.

Gavin was playing for time and Leigh knew it, unfortunately for Gavin, so did his father. But he had told his father about her—or at least, he had told him something. Whatever the information had been she felt sure Piers Sinclair had not expected her to be here. Then why had he asked about Leigh? It was all too puzzling for her and she sighed deeply.

Piers Sinclair looked at her with cold indifference. ‘As my son doesn’t seem forthcoming perhaps you wouldn’t mind supplying a few simple answers to a few simple questions. Like, who the hell are you? What are you doing here, if that isn’t a rather too stupid question,’ he added enigmatically. ‘And why do you smell like a whisky bottle? Unless of course you’ve drunk the contents of one, which wouldn’t surprise me—your eyes look over-bright and your appearance isn’t exactly perfection.’

Leigh gasped in disbelief. Somewhere along the line she had come out of this as the person in the wrong, how she didn’t know, but she felt her temper rising at this man’s unwarranted rudeness. ‘My name, Mr Sinclair, happens to be Leigh, Leigh Stanton.’ She saw dawning realisation in his eyes and carried on, her voice stilted with disapproval at his attitude. ‘I’m here because your son chose to bring me here. And I smell of whisky because Gavin tipped a whole glassful down my jeans. And may I add that after meeting you I understand his actions much better than I did.’

‘Really, Miss Stanton?’ His voice had softened dangerously, and Leigh saw that even Gavin was beginning to shift uncomfortably. ‘It this true?’ Piers Sinclair demanded of his son.

‘Yes, I suppose so,’ mumbled Gavin.

‘Don’t ever lie to me again, Gavin!’ his father said harshly. ‘You know it’s the one thing I will not tolerate, not after your mother.’

‘But I—I didn’t lie.’ Gavin’s eyes, so much like the older man’s, began to look pleading and Leigh began to feel sorry for him. ‘I did tell you I was bringing Leigh here for the weekend.’

She glared accusingly at Piers Sinclair. So he actually condoned his son’s outrageous behaviour. How dare he! No wonder Gavin behaved in this fashion with such a father for an example.

As if reading her thoughts Piers Sinclair smiled with mocking amusement, and walking lazily over to the drinks cabinet helped himself to a liberal amount of whisky before turning to face them again. At the moment his not undoubted anger was directed towards his son, but Leigh was tensing in anticipation of his attention turning on her, as she surely knew it would.

Piers Sinclair looked coldly at Gavin. ‘You told me you were bringing someone called Lee here, knowing full well that I would think it was that boy Lee you share your flat with,’ he put up a silencing hand as Gavin tried to speak. ‘All right, I accept that you didn’t lie, but you certainly didn’t tell the truth either. You omitted to mention the most important fact, that Lee was—no, is a female.’

‘It had the female spelling, L-E-I-G-H,’ she put in resentfully.

Those blue eyes flickered over her contemptuously. ‘We didn’t actually go into the spelling of it during our telephone conversation.’

Leigh picked up her case and marched purposefully towards the door. ‘I couldn’t give a damn what you talked about during your telephone call. If you and your son will excuse me, I am going home.’

‘Don’t let me spoil your little weekend,’ put in Piers Sinclair smoothly, discarding the thick sheepskin jacket in the warmth of the room. ‘Just try and forget I’m here.’

It was something Leigh knew she could never do under any circumstances, let alone now when she was alone here with him and his son. In every way that Gavin was still a boy this man was very much a man. Her eyes were drawn again and again to the dark sensual face of Piers Sinclair, the power of his body clearly outlined in the close-fitting trousers and shirt he wore, the shirt clinging to his hair-roughened chest.

Leigh drew herself to her full height, and being a tall girl she was usually on a level or near level with most of the men she knew, but Piers Sinclair was at least a head taller than she was and she felt at a distinct disadvantage. ‘I don’t know the type of person Gavin usually mixes with, Mr Sinclair, but let me tell you now that if I’d known what Gavin’s plans were for this weekend I would never have come here.’

He sat down in one of the soft leather armchairs, resting the ankle of one leg on the knee of the other, his eyes veiled and mocking. ‘It pretty obvious to me that you were progressing very satisfactorily until I arrived,’ he gave a nod to Gavin. ‘A fact for which I now apologise. If you’d explained the situation to me earlier, Gavin, I wouldn’t have burst in here and broke up your evening.’

‘That’s all right, Dad. I—–’

‘When the two of you have quite finished!’ exploded Leigh, flicking her long hair away from her face. She walked angrily back into the room to glare at the two of them. ‘The two of you disgust me! But you, Mr Sinclair, you disgust me the most. Gavin can’t be expected to act any differently with you as an example. The only trouble appears to be that I’m not that type of person.’

Piers laughed tauntingly. ‘Oh, come on, girl! You mix in Gavin’s crowd, don’t you? And even the most shy innocent, which I’m sure you aren’t, couldn’t miss seeing where their scene is—where most young kids’ scene is nowadays.’

‘Not mine,’ Leigh denied vehemently. ‘I know very few of Gavin’s friends, and after today I don’t think I want to know any of them.’

‘You don’t have to defend yourself to me, Miss Stanton. I’ve already been there.’

‘That’s perfectly obvious!’ she said with disgust.

‘Dad, Leigh is—–’

‘Shut up, Gavin!’ Leigh snapped at him. ‘Your father isn’t in the least interested in what I am or am not. And I’m not sure it’s any of his business anyway.’

‘I should think there’s very little to tell. Most of Gavin’s friends are long-haired layabouts,’ he looked at her from head to toe, his nostrils flaring sneeringly, ‘and you seem to be no exception. If you want my opinion—–’

‘But I don’t! You see, your opinions don’t really matter to me,’ Leigh cut in angrily, aware by the tightening of his well shaped stern lips that Piers Sinclair wasn’t accustomed to being spoken to in this manner. This only made her feel better for being the one to do so. ‘Now if you don’t mind I really do have to go home,’ she smiled bitterly. ‘I won’t say it’s been fun, because that’s the one thing it hasn’t been.’

‘But you can’t go home now, Leigh,’ interrupted Gavin. ‘It’s very late. I’m certainly not taking you back at this time of night.’

‘I didn’t ask you to.’ And she had thought him a nice harmless boy! How wrong could she have been? If she had met his father before tonight she could possibly have guessed at his plans for her; no son of Piers Sinclair would ask a girl away for an innocent weekend. ‘I have two perfectly healthy legs and I’m sure some nice kind person will offer me a lift home.’

Piers Sinclair stood up, shrugging the sheepskin jacket back over his powerful shoulders. ‘You’re right—I will.’

Leigh’s eyes widened. ‘I wouldn’t exactly call you kind, Mr Sinclair,’ she told him rudely.

He released the case from her resisting fingers. ‘Is this all you have with you?’ he asked, ignoring her previous comment.

Leigh made an effort to retrieve her case but found all her efforts quite ineffectual against such stubborn strength. ‘Will you please give me back my property?’ she said stiffly.

He shook his dark head. ‘Sorry. I realise you probably hitch-hike all over the country, and get into all sorts of trouble by doing so, but I will not be held responsible for you travelling nearly a hundred miles in that manner at this time of night. That’s just asking for trouble, you may welcome it, I really don’t care. I’ll take you home and that’s that. My son doesn’t feel gentlemanly enough to return you to your home, a feeling I quite understand in the circumstances, so I feel obliged to carry out the task, with or without your co-operation.’

‘Don’t trouble yourself!’ Leigh told him tartly. ‘As you’ve just pointed out, I’m accustomed to hitch-hiking. You meet some very interesting people that way.’ In actual fact she had never hitch-hiked in her life and felt little inclination to do so now. She had heard too many stories of different girls being attacked and molested in such circumstances to ever contemplate such a reckless idea. Until now! But this wasn’t from choice, but necessity. Unless of course she accepted Piers Sinclair’s forced offer of a lift, which she had no intention of doing.

‘I’m sure you do,’ retorted Piers Sinclair dryly. ‘But not this evening,’ he flicked an indifferent look towards his son. ‘I take it you have no objections to my taking your—girl-friend home?’

Gavin shook his head sulkily. ‘Not if you want to take her.’

Leigh’s eyes glittered her distaste. ‘Quite the gentleman, aren’t you?’ she smiled bitterly. ‘And I actually liked you! And as for you—–’ she turned angrily on the older man, ‘I’d rather risk getting into some of that trouble you mentioned earlier than spend any more time in your company!’

‘You certainly know how to pick them, Gavin.’ Piers Sinclair viewed his son with narrowed eyes. ‘Quite the little spitfire, isn’t she?’

‘Would you mind not talking about me as if I weren’t here!’ snapped Leigh. Really! This man was the absolute end!

‘Oh, we know you’re here all right,’ he said with some humour. ‘I must say you’re quite an improvement on some of the girls Gavin has introduced me to.’

‘I don’t need your approval, Mr Sinclair. And if I never see you or Gavin again it will be too soon. I’ve never been so insulted in my life before as I have been by you and your son!’

‘Now that I find very hard to believe.’

‘But Dad, she really is—–’

‘Will you please keep out of this, Gavin!’ Leigh almost shouted in her anger. ‘You’re only making the situation worse—if that’s at all possible. Your father has already formed his opinion of me, and I’m certainly not going to disillusion him.’

‘I doubt very much if you could do that, Miss Stanton, that was done a long time ago, when you were only a baby. Now—if you’ve quite finished wasting time I’m ready to leave. I gather you live in London?’

‘Yes, but I—–’

‘Please, Miss Stanton!’ he said tersely, guessing she was about to protest again. ‘No more arguments. I’ve had a long day and am not really in the mood. They’re quite pointless anyway as I have no intention of leaving a kid like you to her own devices. I can well imagine what they might be.’

Leigh followed him out of the house, not bothering to say goodbye to Gavin; she felt sure he already knew that was what it was. ‘I’m not a “kid”, Mr Sinclair!’ She glared at him defiantly, for once glad of her height. This man was a positive bully!

She almost gasped out loud at the beauty of the car he led her to. That it was much more powerful than Gavin’s she had no doubt; as an ex-racing driver Piers Sinclair would obviously crave speed. Its deep green colour was also to be expected, as he was more conservative in his tastes than his son, and not as showy in any of his mannerisms.

Piers Sinclair viewed her admiration with amusement, deftly flicking open the door for her to enter before climbing in next to her. ‘You like it?’ he asked softly, turning to look at her.

Leigh looked with pleasure at the luxurious interior of the car, its smoky windows giving it an intimate atmosphere she found slightly claustrophobic with such a man. She was wholly aware of his warm compelling body so close to her own, and could smell the aftershave lotion he wore and the clean male smell of him.

‘It’s very nice,’ she told him primly, sitting as far away from him as it was possible to do in such close confines.

He laughed slightly, a deep pleasant sound, and not full of mockery as his humour had been earlier. ‘Very politely said. You don’t give much away, do you?’

‘Not much. What sort of car is it anyway?’ She relaxed back in her seat, finding his driving more efficient and self-assured than Gavin’s. Here was a man who had complete control of himself, and the car he drove. And the people in it, she thought wryly. She wouldn’t ever like to oppose this man, knowing he would be a formidable adversary for anyone, let alone her.

‘A Ferrari. Have you never driven in one before?’

She shook her head. ‘Contrary to your imaginings, Mr Sinclair, I do not idle my time away riding about in expensive cars and generally wasting my life. I do work!’

‘Oh yes?’ Arrogant amusement shone from his taunting eyes. ‘And just how did you meet my son?’

‘I met him at college, but—–’

‘And you call that work?’ he interrupted.

Leigh bridled angrily at the scornful mockery in his voice. Who was he to scoff at her when he had chosen racing driving as a career! ‘One has to learn before one can achieve,’ she said tautly.

‘Does one?’ he taunted, his long slender hands moving with expertise on the steering wheel. ‘Then why is it that Gavin doesn’t seem to have learnt anything? Not that I’m complaining, you understand. I’m sure he’ll find his vocation one day.’

Leigh didn’t miss the ring of steel in his voice and wondered if his father’s attitude had anything to do with Gavin’s behaviour this evening. It seemed to her that Gavin was trying to justify himself to his father in any way he could. But he surely didn’t imagine this evening’s episode was the right way to go about it! No matter what sort of morals his father had she felt sure they weren’t expected to be followed by the son.

She sat quietly beside him, willing the miles away and wishing she hadn’t been obliged to accept this lift. But then she hadn’t accepted it at all, but was ordered here by Piers Sinclair. He had already put her in the same category as his son, and he had nothing but contempt for him. But what gave him the right to judge other people? Nothing, if his attitude was anything to go by.

Leigh studied him under lowered lashes, noting the cruel hard set of his mouth, the unrelenting strength of his finely carved features. He wasn’t the sort of man that she thought she would ever want to become involved with. Not that she would ever be given the chance, but he was much too overpowering to ever be ignored, whatever the situation.

‘Satisfied?’ His eyes momentarily flickered over her before returning his attention back to the road.

‘Sorry?’

‘You’ve been staring at me for the last five minutes as if any second you expected me to attack you or something. I can assure you that my tastes run to something a little more sophisticated.’

‘I don’t doubt it for a moment.’

‘Then why the appraisal?’

‘Is that what it was?’ she asked coolly. ‘I thought it was more of a perusal.’ She gazed at him with wide violet eyes. ‘You don’t like me very much, do you, Mr Sinclair?’

‘Not much,’ he replied smoothly. ‘But then I think the feeling is reciprocated. If you were my daughter I’d give you a good hiding when you get home and keep a closer watch on you in future.’

‘But you aren’t my father.’

‘Thank God for that! As it is I intend to tell your parents about this evening and leave your punishment to them.’

‘Aren’t you being rather hypocritical? I mean, you’re all for Gavin gaining more experience.’

‘He’s a boy.’

‘I know that. But he can hardly get this experience on his own.’

‘Is that what you were doing? Gaining experience?’

‘Maybe,’ she lied.

‘You’re a mass of contradictions, young lady,’ he said disapprovingly. ‘First of all you deny that you knew of Gavin’s intentions, and now you say you were actually encouraging him. Which is it to be, Miss Stanton? The outraged virgin or a young girl looking for excitement where she can find it?’

Leigh coloured at his insulting words. ‘Neither. I wouldn’t think either of those descriptions fits me, both in part maybe. You’ll have to decide for yourself which parts.’

‘I think I can do that quite easily,’ Piers Sinclair replied shortly. ‘Why don’t parents keep a closer watch on their kids nowadays?’

‘Like you do?’ she enquired sweetly, and instantly regretted her impulsiveness as she saw his mouth tighten cruelly and his hands grip the steering wheel as if he might hit her if he didn’t hold on to something. After all, it was none of her business what his relationship with his son was like. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said quietly, unable to look at him.

Piers Sinclair pushed an irritated hand through his thick vibrant hair. ‘Don’t pay lip service to me, young lady. I’d rather you were candid, as you usually seem to be. And you should never apologise for stating the truth.’ He glanced about him at the still busy streets. ‘Now where do you live?’

Leigh saw with some surprise that they were already back in London. The journey had passed quickly, taking even less time than it had with Gavin, but then that was only to be expected. She gave him the directions to her flat, only offering extra instructions when he asked for them, his voice clipped and impersonal.

‘Right,’ he turned in his seat, one of his knees accidentally touching hers and causing her to recoil back into her seat. His blue eyes clearly mocked her reaction. ‘Would you mind getting out of the car now?’ he said bluntly.

‘You aren’t very polite, Mr Sinclair.’ She scrambled in-elegantly out of the low car and was amazed to see him already standing on the pavement beside her. He moved very quickly and quietly for such a large man. ‘You didn’t need to get out of the car,’ she told him nervously.

He firmly took hold of her arm and walked with her towards the house where she shared the top floor converted into a tiny apartment with Karen. ‘I want to have a word with your parents,’ he said sternly. ‘You’re much too young to be living the way you do.’

‘And just how is that?’

‘Rough,’ came the short reply.

Leigh looked at him resentfully. ‘I don’t live with my parents. And I’ll thank you to keep out of my life. I’ve managed perfectly well so far without any interference from you, and I’m sure I’ll continue to do so.’

‘I’m sure you will,’ he agreed coldly. ‘And as your parents don’t seem to care who you spend your weekends with, why should I?’

‘I didn’t say my parents don’t care about me, just that I don’t live with them,’ Leigh said crossly.

‘It amounts to the same thing.’

‘Is that the way you feel about Gavin living away from home?’

‘No, of course it isn’t. But then it isn’t the same thing at all. It just isn’t possible for Gavin to live with me all the time. I travel a great deal and it would be too unsettling for him if he lived with me. Although why I should be explaining myself to you I really don’t know.’

‘It isn’t possible for me to live with my parents either. They happen to live forty miles away and I need to live near my work.’

‘Ah yes, your work,’ he derided. ‘Well, as there seems to be no one I can tell to look after you better in future I may as well leave you to continue ruining your life.’

‘Goodbye, Mr Sinclair. I won’t bother to be hypocritical and say it’s been nice meeting you, because it hasn’t been that for either of us.’

‘Too true.’ With this he turned sharply on his heel and walked away. The last Leigh saw of him was as he accelerated the car down the road, overtaking all the cars in his way and breaking all the speed limits.

CHAPTER TWO

LEIGH sat morosely at the table, still tired after her almost sleepless night. She had found it impossible to sleep when she had crept into the house in the early hours of the morning, and not wishing to disturb Karen had sat in the lounge trying to doze in one of the armchairs. She was still smarting under the rudeness of Piers Sinclair, and felt sure that if she ever met him again she would tell him exactly what she thought of him. And it wouldn’t be very flattering!

She turned around as Karen emerged from their bedroom rubbing her eyes tiredly. She looked in astonishment at Leigh, her mouth falling open in surprise.

‘But what …’ she shook her head dazedly. ‘What are you doing here?’

Leigh grinned ruefully. ‘Waiting for you to wake up so you can tell me you told me so. Gavin turned out to be just as much of a rat as you warned me he’d be.’

‘Oh.’

‘Yes, oh,’ she couldn’t help smiling at Karen’s expression. ‘But don’t worry, I got out before anything happened.’

‘Oh!’ This time it was a sigh of relief, and Karen padded off to the kitchen to put the kettle on. ‘Then how did you get home?’ she asked as she came back into the room, tucking her legs beneath her as she settled in the other armchair.

‘I think I’d better tell you the whole story,’ Leigh sighed. She was suitably rewarded by Karen’s shocked face, and began to feel better herself after telling someone about the fiasco the previous evening had turned out to be.

‘And Piers Sinclair actually brought you home?’ exclaimed Karen, handing Leigh the steaming cup of coffee she had made during the recount of the story.

‘Mmm,’ Leigh sipped appreciatively at the hot brew. ‘He said he felt responsible for me.’

‘He did?’ Karen almost squeaked.

‘Yes, he did.’ She looked curiously at her friend. ‘Why the emphasis? Do you know something about the famous Mr Sinclair that I don’t?’

‘Well …’ Karen hesitated. ‘I don’t know if it’s the same Piers Sinclair, but it isn’t exactly a common name, is it? Was he a racing driver, do you know?’

Leigh nodded her head. ‘So Gavin says, and from the way he drove I’m willing to believe it.’

‘It’s the same one, then,’ said Karen excitedly. ‘Fancy him being Gavin’s father! Anyway, if I remember correctly, he had a rather bad accident a couple of years ago, injured his back, I think. It ruined his career and he had to give up competitive driving. He was very famous in his time.’

‘Strange, I don’t remember reading about it.’

‘You probably remember the scandal attached to the incident more. At the time of the accident he was supposed to be having an affair with the wife of his greatest rival, and it was reported that this other man had deliberately tried to kill Piers Sinclair. Of course, everyone denied it, including the three main characters, but the mud stuck and a few months later this other chap retired from racing and his wife began divorce proceedings.’

‘I think I remember now. I thought his name sounded familiar. What a charming family they are!’

‘Yes, you’re well out of that family. And it wasn’t very polite of Gavin to palm you off on his father, was it?’

‘Palm me off just about sounds right. Actually I don’t think he was feeling very polite after being caught in that ridiculous position. Well, would you?’ Leigh chuckled lightly. ‘You should have seen him, Karen, he looked really stupid lying there on that fantastic carpet.’

‘I wish I had seen him. I would have told him what I thought of him. He had no right to expect you to … well, to…’

‘I should have guessed really. He’s been making funny comments for the last few weeks, but innocent that I am, I thought he was suggesting we got married.’

Karen spluttered with laughter. ‘You have such a trusting nature, Leigh. It’s just unbelievable!’

‘Not after last night I don’t. I must have seemed like a complete idiot to Gavin; he seemed to think I knew what his plans were. From now on I don’t intend to trust anyone unless they prove they’re worthy of that trust. Well, no man anyway. I should have known better. I’ve always been a lousy judge of character.’

‘It isn’t very nice to find something like that out about someone, especially in that way.’ Karen looked more closely at Leigh. ‘Did you get any sleep at all last night?’

‘Not really. Is that a polite way of telling me I look terrible?’

‘Well, you do look a bit tired. Why don’t you go to bed for a few hours? I’m going out anyway, so I won’t disturb you.’

‘I can’t, I’m afraid. I promised Mum and Dad that if I was doing nothing else I would go home for lunch and tea today. And it seems that I now have nothing else of importance to do,’ Leigh grimaced.

‘What about the party this evening?’

‘Oh, I’ll be back in time for that, but I must go home. My brother is playing football for the local team this afternoon and I suppose he’ll expect me to be there to cheer him on. Not that I feel much like shouting myself hoarse, but I can’t let him down.’

‘You won’t be in any fit state to go to Angie’s party tonight.’

‘Oh, I don’t know, the fresh air may wake me up. I just hope Gavin doesn’t decide to put in an appearance. I think I may make a scene if he does, and I would hate to do that. He wasn’t going, that’s why we went to his father’s house, but he might have changed his mind and come looking for some other poor unsuspecting female.’ Leigh yawned tiredly. ‘I think I’ll take a shower and try to wake myself up.’

Leigh arrived at her parents’ house just before lunch, thankful that her old Mini hadn’t broken down on the way as it was wont to do. It wasn’t very reliable, but it did get her from A to B, maybe with a few breakdowns on the way, but get her there it did.

She gave her mother the huge bunch of flowers she had collected from a florists on the way, looking about her expectantly. ‘Where is everyone?’

Her mother breathed in the perfume of the flowers appreciatively. ‘You shouldn’t have bought me these, I’ve told you to save your money. But they are lovely.’ She kissed Leigh on the cheek, bending to get a vase out of the cupboard and began arranging the long-stemmed flowers in its length. ‘Your father is at work this morning, Dale is at Janet’s, and Christopher is out with some of his friends, probably deciding how they’re going to win the match this afternoon.’

‘Nice of them all to be here,’ Leigh said teasingly.

‘Well, the thing is, love, that we never know for certain if you’re going to get here—that car of yours is so unreliable. I don’t know why you don’t let your father help you buy a new one.’

‘You know why, Mum. I really had to save hard to buy the Mini, and it’s nice to know I bought it with all my own money. I nearly didn’t get home anyway. I was going away for the weekend with a friend, but it didn’t work out.’ Oh boy, how it hadn’t worked out!

‘Oh well, never mind, perhaps you can go another weekend.’

‘Maybe. Will Chris and Dad be back for lunch?’ She wanted to get off that subject as quickly as possible.

‘They should be.’ Mrs Stanton studied her daughter’s pale tired face. ‘You’re looking a bit peaky, love. Been having too many late nights, or are you working too hard?’

‘A little of both, I think. I’ll be all right with a nice peaceful weekend. I’m supposed to be going out this evening, but I don’t know if I feel like going.’ Leigh had no intention of worrying her mother with the events of the evening before. Perhaps at a later date when she didn’t still feel so raw. Anyway, it was over now, and there was no point in upsetting her mother unnecessarily.

Chris and her father came in at that moment and Leigh rushed over to give her father a hug, which was reciprocated in kind. Leigh, as the youngest child and also the only girl in the family, had been spoilt by her father, although it wasn’t an affection that excluded his sons.

‘Where’s mine?’ Chris teased her before being given the same treatment as his father. He held her away from him. ‘Are you getting skinny, or do my eyes deceive me?’

Leigh laughed at her brother’s candidness. ‘I’m supposed to be thinning in the right places instead of just being straight up and straight down like a beanpole. You’re supposed to notice how attractive I’m becoming, not making remarks about my loss of weight.’

‘Oops! Sorry.’

‘Chris is only teasing you, love,’ said her father, bending down to put on his carpet slippers. ‘It makes me feel old to see you all growing up so fast, although we had to expect that when you wanted to leave home, Leigh.’

‘I didn’t want to, Dad, you know that. But it’s too far for me to travel every day, and you know I would have had to move into town sooner or later. Are you coming to the match this afternoon?’ she asked him.

‘I suppose I’d better come along and see these youngsters get thrashed again,’ he replied, the twinkle in his eyes belying his words.

Her father was proved wrong later that day when Chris and his team beat their opponents four-nil. Leigh predictably cheered them on until she was hoarse, and Dale and Janet turned up to cheer them on too. Dale was the eldest out of the three children at twenty-one, Chris was nineteen and just a year older than Leigh. Dale and Janet were thinking of getting married next year and Leigh knew her parents were pleased at the idea. All the family liked Janet and she and Dale had been going out together since they left school.

‘Are you coming home for Christmas, Leigh?’ her mother asked.

They were all seated around the fire after tea and Leigh was loath to leave the warm, comforting atmosphere.

‘Try and stop me,’ she grinned. ‘You know I love Christmas at home. Karen is probably going home too, but if she isn’t can I bring her here?’

‘Of course you can. One more at Christmas makes no difference, we always have plenty of food and drink. And you know Karen is always welcome here. Especially by Christopher,’ her mother added teasingly, laughing at her son’s red face. ‘Sorry, love, I was only playing.’

‘You have to get used to being ribbed like this, I’m afraid, son,’ grinned his father. ‘Dale’s had to put with it in his time, from you mainly, I might add, so now it’s your turn.’

Leigh finally made a move, standing up in preparation for leaving. She glanced at her watch. If she left now she would just have time to drive home and change for the party. ‘I’ll have to go now, but I’ll be home again in the week or next weekend. I’ll telephone and let you know for sure.’

‘Now you know this is still your home, Leigh, and you’re welcome at any time,’ gently scolded her mother. ‘You don’t need to telephone first, there’s always someone at home.’

‘Okay, Mum.’ She hugged her mother tightly, knowing that she didn’t like her living away from home and missed her terribly. As the only two females in the family the two of them had always been very close. ‘And no loading me up with food and things this time.’

‘That’ll be the day your mother doesn’t do that!’ scoffed her father. ‘She thinks you starve yourself at that flat.’

His wife looked at him reproachfully. ‘I’ve only cooked an apple pie and a chocolate sponge, and you know they’re your favourites,’ she said to her daughter.

‘You spoil me, Mum. I’ll put pounds on if you carry on doing this. But you know I can’t resist your cooking.’

‘I have to make sure that you have some solid food inside you. I’m sure you don’t feed yourself properly.’

‘I do, Mum, it’s just that I don’t like cooking very much. Anyway, I’m not that thin.’

‘Well, take them anyway.’ Her mother packed the cake and pie into a tin and gave them to Leigh. ‘Now take care of yourself driving in the dark. You know how your dad and I worry about you.’

‘I’ll be careful,’ she promised.

It took Leigh longer than usual to start the car and she breathed a deep sigh of relief when at last the engine fired into life. She was afraid her mother was right, she would have to get a different car in the near future.

The car was being very temperamental on the way home and she wasn’t altogether surprised when five miles from her flat it came to a grinding halt. Swearing and cursing to herself, she jumped out of the car and began poking about under the bonnet, not that she knew anything about engines, but perhaps if she moved a few things about it might start again.

After five minutes she realised that she wasn’t going to be successful, and locking up the car decided to walk to the nearest garage and get professional help. Not that she thought anyone would want to steal her car, it simply wasn’t worth it. And the garage bill would probably cost more than the car was worth.

She trudged wearily along the darkened road, refusing the offers of a lift that she received. She didn’t have far to go now, and she wouldn’t have accepted any of them anyway.

Yet another car passed by and Leigh moved swiftly to the side of the road as the powerful car swished past her at great speed. Roadhog! she fumed silently, looking up with some surprise as the car came to a screeching halt some way down the road, and began reversing towards her. Leigh stepped back again on to the side of the road as the car drew up beside her.

The window moved down by the press of a button, the driver leaning over to speak to her. ‘Can I be of any assistance?’ asked a familiar deep masculine voice.

Oh no! Leigh just didn’t believe it! Her luck seemed to have run out on her this evening. ‘Do you make a habit of picking up young girls, Mr Sinclair?’ she asked icily.

Silence. She heard his sharp intake of breath before he answered. ‘Not as a rule, Miss Stanton.’ So he actually remembered her name! ‘But you seem to be in some sort of trouble, and I thought an offer of help wouldn’t come amiss. Needless to say, I didn’t realise it was you when I stopped.’

‘And now you do?’

‘My offer of help still stands.’ He flicked open the door from the inside, leaning over her to press the button to close the window after she had seated herself next to him. Instantly Leigh became aware of his warm male-smelling, body, and the nearness of his thigh to her own. He turned in his seat to look at her, switching on the interior light so that he could see her better. ‘Would it be too much to ask what you’re doing wandering about on a deserted road at seven o’clock in the evening? Don’t tell me it’s a repeat of last night? You surely didn’t change your mind again when it actually came to the point?’

There was no missing the scorn in his voice. ‘Is that Gavin’s explanation of yesterday?’ she asked angrily.

Piers Sinclair’s mouth tightened. ‘I haven’t seen Gavin since we left him last night. I stayed at my apartment in town after I left you. Satisfied?’

‘You don’t owe me any explanations, Mr Sinclair. And if you really want to know what I’m doing here I can quite easily explain that. My car has broken down a couple of miles down the road and I was looking for a garage.’

‘You drive?’

‘Well, I didn’t push it here, if that’s what you mean,’ Leigh said tartly. He probably thought her incapable of driving a car.

‘Okay, cut the witty comments.’ He backed the car up and turned it round in a gateway. ‘Is your car very far back?’

‘A mile or two, but I have no idea what’s actually wrong with it.’

‘Women rarely do.’

‘And that is a typical male patronising comment, Mr Sinclair. Just because you were a racing driver and know how a car works, that doesn’t mean everyone has to. I might be quite knowledgeable on some subjects you know very little about.’

‘I’m sure you are. Now tell me how we get to your car, I don’t remember seeing it as I drove along.’

Leigh almost missed seeing her car herself, having pushed it to the side of the road out of the way of other traffic. Thank goodness it hadn’t been a big car or she would have just had to leave it standing on the road.

Piers Sinclair got swiftly out of the car, putting his hand out wordlessly for the car keys, before lifting up the bonnet of her old battered Mini. After a few minutes he slammed the bonnet back down and climbed into the car. Leigh stifled a chuckle at his imposing figure sitting so incongruously in her tiny car. It still wouldn’t start and she tried hard to hide her smug smile at his inability to find the trouble. That would teach him to be so sure of himself all the time!

He got out of her car without a word and began looking through the boot of his own car. A second later he came back, a large petrol container in his hand. ‘Didn’t you bother to check the petrol gauge, or are you in the habit of letting it run dry?’

Leigh blushed a fiery red. ‘I … er … I didn’t think. I’m so used to it breaking down that I didn’t think about checking the petrol.’ She moved nervously from one foot to the other. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said dully.

‘Don’t apologise to me.’ He wiped his oily hands un-caringly down his dark trousers. ‘I’m not the one who walked two miles for nothing.’

‘No. I am.’ She felt so embarrassed. And she had thought him sure of himself! She shouldn’t have been so smug. ‘Please … please don’t make your clothes dirty because of my stupidity. Here,’ she handed him a clean handkerchief from the pocket of her jeans.

‘What’s the matter?’ he asked softly. ‘Are you frightened I might send you the cleaning bill?’

‘You can if you like,’ she smiled at him cheekily. ‘Although whether or not I can pay it is a different matter.’

She saw a flash of white teeth as he smiled in the darkness. ‘Another broke student, huh?’

‘I’d hardly call Gavin that,’ she scoffed.

‘Is that why you went out with him? Because he has money?’ His voice had hardened to anger.

Leigh stiffened. ‘I didn’t know your son had money. I went out with him because I liked him. I don’t have to take your insults, Mr Sinclair. Yesterday you accused me of being …’ she hesitated. ‘Well, you know what you accused me of. And now you as much as call me a gold-digger. Have you quite finished insulting me, or do you have something else to say?’

‘Nothing else for the moment.’ He handed back her car keys. ‘It should be all right now, but I should have it checked over all the same, just to be on the safe side.’

‘Is the car worth it?’

‘Not really.’

‘Thanks very much!’ She marched over to her own car. ‘We can’t all afford flashy cars.’

Piers Sinclair moved with a speed that surprised her, gripping her arms so tightly it made her wince with pain. He swung her roughly round to face him, towering darkly above her. ‘You asked my opinion, Miss Stanton, and I gave it. It’s hardly my fault if you didn’t like that opinion. And I was not being patronising when I said that about your car. I genuinely don’t think you should be driving it.’

‘I’ll bear your opinion in mind. Thank you,’ she said in a stilted voice, shaking off his restraining hand. ‘Mr Sinclair, you’re hurting my arm.’

Instantly she was set free, overbalancing slightly at the suddenness of it. ‘Goodnight, Miss Stanton,’ he said curtly.

Leigh didn’t know if she was relieved or disappointed that the car started the first time she tried it. Trust that man to be right! She found her dislike of him increasing, although she couldn’t deny that her heart began beating erratically at his slightest touch, and she was always very much aware of him as a man.

No man had the right to be so blatantly sexually attractive, his deep husky voice affecting her senses in a way she didn’t care to admit, not even to herself. Not that he deliberately drew attention to himself, but Leigh knew that no matter where he was he would instantly demand attention and command respect.

But she hated him! Hated him as she had never hated anyone or anything before in her life. How dared he think such things about her morals when he didn’t know the first thing about her!

‘What happened to you? As if I need to ask,’ joked Karen when Leigh finally let herself into the flat. ‘Car break down again?’ she asked sympathetically.

‘As usual,’ grumbled Leigh. ‘I’m sorry I’m so late,’ she glanced at her watch. ‘Give me ten minutes and I’ll be ready.’

‘Don’t worry, Leigh. Keith said he’d call for us on his way and you have another half an hour yet, no need to hurry. How did you get the car started this time? Call a mechanic?’

Leigh grimaced. Piers Sinclair could hardly be called a mechanic. She’d been expecting this question and didn’t like to admit that she had had to accept that man’s help yet again. Why did it have to be him anyway? What had he been doing driving in that area—it was in completely the opposite direction to his home. Perhaps he had been visiting one of the numerous women she felt sure he must have in his life. A man of his obvious masculinity wouldn’t be able to live without some woman to satisfy his bodily needs.

She sighed. Now who was making snap judgments? For all she knew Piers Sinclair might have a steady girl-friend, but she knew there had to be at least one woman in his life. Maybe it was that other racing driver’s wife—or ex-wife, as she was now divorced from her husband. It didn’t say a lot for Piers Sinclair’s morals if that were the case, but then from what Gavin had said about his father he didn’t seem to have any.

‘You’re never going to believe this, Karen, I’m not sure I do myself, but I received an offer of help that I just wasn’t able to refuse. Much as I would have liked to.’

‘You mean—you mean some man forced you to accept his help?’

‘Not just any man—Piers Sinclair.’ The last was said with a grimace.

‘What, again!’

Leigh began stripping off her clothes in preparation for her shower, throwing her discarded clothes on her own single bed. ‘Yes, again. You can imagine how embarrassed I felt, especially when he discovered that all the trouble was that I’d run out of petrol. Just my luck.’

‘Oh no!’ chuckled Karen.

‘Oh yes! You should have seen the smug look on his face. He made me feel positively violent!’

‘You certainly don’t seem to like him very much. I think he sounds absolutely fascinating, from what you’ve said about him.’

‘Mmm.’ Leigh grabbed a towel from the linen cupboard and pushed her hair under her flowered shower cap. ‘Like a panther. Sleek, powerful, and utterly lethal.’

‘Really? That sounds even more interesting.’ Karen gave a satisfied smile to herself.

‘Don’t you believe it. He probably eats little girls like us for breakfast.’

‘What clothes are you wearing this evening?’ Karen decided it was time to change the subject. ‘I’ll get them out for you if you like.’

‘Don’t make yourself late because of me. I can always call a taxi to take me later.’

‘It’s all right, I only have to change now and I’ll be ready. It won’t take me two minutes and it’ll save you time.’

‘Okay, thanks. My velvet trousers and the cream smock top. I don’t feel like wearing anything too smart this evening.’

Leigh luxuriated in the steaming hot shower, soaping herself all over in the delicious perfumed soap she always used. Her thoughts weren’t as relaxing as they ought to be, though; Piers Sinclair’s arrogant face insisting on invading her mind and conscience. It seemed impossible to think a man she had only met twice in her life had the power to so disturb and disrupt her in this way. But he had! He made the boys she would meet at the party this evening seem juvenile in comparison. She mentally berated herself. Surely a man of his calibre wasn’t worth wasting her time thinking about. Not a man who wasn’t averse to flaunting his affairs in front of his son.

She wrapped the towel around her still damp body and went into the bedroom, smiling gratefully at Karen as she saw her clothes neatly laid out on the bed. Karen was already dressed by this time and she couldn’t help thinking how nice she looked.

‘You look lovely,’ she told her friend. Which in fact she did, her blonde hair styled in bubbly curls that suited her small heart-shaped face. She was wearing a long flower print dress in dark blue and white and it showed off her small dainty figure to perfection. ‘Who’s all this for?’ teased Leigh. ‘Keith?’

Karen coloured prettily. ‘No, although I do like him a lot. Not seriously, though,’ she turned around as she heard the, doorbell ring. ‘That’ll be him now.’

Leigh released her hair from the shower cap, and began cleansing her face before applying fresh make-up to her glowing cheeks. She always felt about ten years old with her face all clean and shiny like this and she smiled cheekily to herself in the mirror.

Karen looked flushed and breathless when she rushed back into the bedroom and Leigh smiled teasingly. ‘What’s happened to you? Has Keith been flirting with you again?’

‘No, it’s—oh dear!’ Karen began to look even more flustered. ‘It’s—Oh, there’s someone in the lounge to see you. It wasn’t Keith at the door at all.’

Leigh frowned. ‘Then who was it?’

‘I don’t know, he didn’t give a name, simply asked to see you.’

‘He?’ Leigh hitched the towel more securely about her and walked into the lounge, her feet padding wetly on the carpet. She came to a halt as she saw her visitor. He was standing with his back towards the room, staring out of the window, but Leigh had no doubts about his identity. No other man she knew had such thick vibrant hair and such broad shoulders.

‘Good evening again, Mr Sinclair,’ she said politely.

Piers Sinclair turned slowly round to face her, his eyes narrowing at the challenge in her own. ‘Good evening, Miss Stanton,’ he returned. His eyes slid insolently over her towel-wrapped body and Leigh clutched protectively at its soft folds. If anything the insolence in his look deepened. ‘Are you in the habit of greeting your visitors in this fashion, or are you trying to start a new trend in clothes?’

‘Oh, come, Mr Sinclair, surely you’re accustomed to seeing women in bath towels. After all, you must have had plenty of opportunity.’

‘Perhaps. But then you aren’t a woman.’

‘I’m sure many of my … friends would hasten to disagree with you.’ For the first time Leigh became aware of the fact that she and this man were in the room alone, Karen, for some reason, having stayed behind in the bedroom. She had probably guessed who it was by now.

‘Don’t pretend experience you simply don’t possess,’ he said coldly, still appraising her through narrowed eyes.

Leigh’s eyes sparkled angrily. ‘And how do you know that? Just because I didn’t sleep with your son it doesn’t mean I haven’t done so with other people.’

‘And have you?’ he demanded harshly.

She turned away, freeing herself from the physical attraction of this man, dressed elegantly in a white dinner jacket that fitted tautly across his shoulders giving them a width Leigh knew owed nothing to artifice. The black trousers he wore moulded against his long muscular legs and she found his appearance breathtaking, even though she knew he was probably aware of the effect he had on the female sex. The deep lines of experience and cynicism on his face were evidence of that. And just look at how poor Karen had reacted!

‘I don’t think that’s any of your business,’ she began coolly, only to. be cut off in mid-sentence by the arrival of Keith. He walked into the room, his usual cheeky grin on his face.

‘The door was open,’ he explained. ‘Hello, kitten,’ he hugged her to him before suddenly becoming aware of the other person in the room. He looked expectantly at Leigh.

Leigh felt sorry for Keith. If Piers Sinclair had looked down his arrogant nose at her like that she would have wanted to run away and hide; as it was she had no other choice but to introduce them. ‘Keith, this is Mr Sinclair, Gavin’s father. Mr Sinclair, Keith Manders.’ She watched as the two of them shook hands, neither of them altogether sure of the purpose of the other’s visit.

Karen must have heard Keith arrive because she came hurriedly out of the bedroom, taking hold of Keith’s arm and giving them all a shy smile. ‘Shall we wait for you, Leigh, or will you follow later?’ She looked pointedly at Piers Sinclair.

Leigh started visibly. She had no wish to be left on her own with this man. But she could hardly delay Keith and Karen any longer as it was already quite late. ‘You two go ahead,’ she told them, trying hard not to show how nervous she actually felt. In a group of people Piers Sinclair made her feel nervous; what would she feel like when she was left alone with him in the flat? ‘I’ll probably be along later, but if I’m not you’ll know I’ve decided to have an early night.’

She looked nervously at her silent companion after Karen and Keith had left, noting his disapproving look. ‘What’s wrong now?’ she sighed wearily as she sat down. ‘I can tell by the look on your face that I’ve done something else you don’t approve of.’

His dark eyebrows rose haughtily. ‘I wouldn’t have thought my approval mattered to you particularly, Miss Stanton. But if you would really like to know the reason for my displeasure it’s because I didn’t like the way that young man walked in here as if he owned the place and acted as if it was perfectly normal for him to see you dressed only in a towel!’

Leigh glared at him defiantly. ‘Perhaps it is normal for him! He’s a very good friend of mine.’ Which in fact he was, the two of them becoming firm friends from the time Leigh first moved to London. And it was perfectly normal for him to see women in a state of undress, because he was training to be a doctor. The sight of a half-naked body was no novelty to Keith and Leigh knew it; unfortunately Piers Sinclair didn’t. And she certainly wasn’t going to tell him! Let him think what he liked.

Piers Sinclair stepped forward into the light, gripping her arm tightly, his long slender fingers digging painfully into her soft skin. Leigh felt tears of pain and frustration well up in her eyes and she looked up pleadingly into his harsh face, feeling at a distinct disadvantage in her bare feet and dressed only in a towel. If he only knew it she felt much more nervous of him dressed like this than she ever would of Keith.

‘Please,’ she begged at last, trying to pry his fingers loose, unable to look away from the glittering anger in his eyes. ‘Please—you’re hurting me.’

‘I’ll do more than that if you don’t explain that young man’s familiarity,’ he told her between clenched teeth.

Leigh’s eyes opened wide with surprise as he jerked her close against him, and she felt him tense with an emotion she didn’t understand. He was so close to her that the hard length of his thigh touched her own bare legs and his soft breath caressed her hair. ‘Keith is a—a friend,’ she said breathlessly.

Piers Sinclair pulled her even closer against the lean hard length of his body, his grip on her arm tightening. ‘How much of a friend?’

‘Just a friend.’ She felt his hold on her wrist loosen and she thankfully pulled herself away from the drugging sensation of his body, rubbing her arm as the blood began to flow through to her hand again. ‘You didn’t have to hurt me. Are you usually this violent?’

‘Not usually, no.’ His face relaxed and he studied her with intent eyes. ‘Only when something is important to me.’

‘And does my virginity fall into that category?’ she couldn’t resist asking.

Piers Sinclair sat down, calmly taking a cigarette from his gold case, offering her one before igniting it with his matching lighter after her refusal. ‘Strangely enough,’ he said huskily, ‘it does. You’re only a child, and much too young to run about with the crowd Gavin mixes with.’

‘And he isn’t?’

‘Gavin is a boy and quite able to make his own decisions, rightly or wrongly.’

‘So you’re a male chauvinist, Mr Sinclair,’ she taunted softly. ‘How quaint in this day and age! Don’t you realise this is the time of equality?’

He took the ashtray from her outstretched hand, placing it on the arm of his chair. ‘Not for a child like you. You have to grow up a lot more before you can think of flaunting your independence, and going to college won’t help you one little bit. It’s too much like being at school. What are you training to be anyway?’

‘A professional layabout?’ she queried sweetly.

‘There’s no need to be sarcastic,’ he rebuked softly.

‘I’m sorry, I thought that was the answer you were expecting.’ She was beginning to feel slightly cold and was unable to suppress a shiver.

He stood up. ‘I’m sorry, you must be getting cold. If you would like to go and dress I’ll wait here for you.’

‘What for?’ she asked rudely.

‘Just go and dress like a good girl,’ he said impatiently.

Leigh needed no second bidding. It didn’t take her long to don the wine-coloured velvet trousers and fine lawn smock-top, brushing her hair back until it was a glistening black cloud about her slim shoulders. She quickly applied a light make-up before putting on her shoes, the extra height giving her more confidence. She left the bedroom feeling more able to stand up to this domineering man.

‘Very nice,’ he said approvingly. ‘You’re a very beautiful girl.’

‘I am?’

‘Yes, you are, if you weren’t so damned obstinate all the time.’ He put his hand inside his jacket pocket and pulled out the handkerchief he hadn’t bothered to use when she had given it to him earlier to wipe his oily hands. ‘Yours, I believe.’

Leigh took the handkerchief out of his proffered hand, staring at it as if she had never seen it before. ‘You came here just to bring this back to me?’

‘Disappointed?’ he asked softly.

‘No, of course not!’ Leigh denied vehemently, maybe too vehemently. ‘It just seems strange for you to bring back a little thing like this. I didn’t expect you to return it.’

‘I didn’t say that was the reason I came here. I came to see if you had arrived home safely.’

‘You did? Whatever for?’

‘I felt responsible for you. You’re the type of helpless female that needs protecting from herself, and as your parents don’t seem to give a damn—–’

‘Now you have gone too far!’ Leigh stood angrily in front of him, her eyes almost spitting her dislike of him. ‘My parents care for me very much, in fact it was as I was returning from visiting them that my car broke down. I can assure you that no one could worry more about me than my mother and father do.’

‘They have a very funny way of showing it, letting a kid like you live in London and mix with the crowd you do.’ He saw her face colour up. ‘Unless of course they don’t know about your so-called friends,’ he guessed shrewdly. ‘Could that be the case?’

Leigh studied her painted fingernails, avoiding his gaze, which was much too penetrating for comfort. ‘There’s nothing to know. They know I have quite a few friends in London, and they’re only too pleased that I’ve made these friends so easily.’

‘But you haven’t told them that most of these kids sleep around and a lot of them experiment with drugs. Have you?’

His tone demanded an answer. ‘No,’ she agreed reluctantly. ‘But they know I have more sense than to get involved in any one of those scenes. I’ve seen drug addicts and the state they’ve been reduced to, and let me tell you that nothing would induce me to take drugs. What is it with you anyway? You should be telling Gavin all this, not me.’

‘Gavin is perfectly capable of taking care of himself,’ he told her coldly. ‘Like you, he’s seen drug addicts. That’s the one thing I know he would never become involved in.’

‘Okay, okay,’ she said resignedly. ‘Now you know that I’ve arrived home safely you can go on to your engagement. I wouldn’t like the lady to be kept waiting.’

‘I’m not answerable to anyone for my movements, young lady, and at the moment I’m perfectly comfortable where I am.’

‘Well, I’m not! I’m supposed to be going out, not trying to humour you.’

Piers stood up. ‘Very well, I’ll take you out.’ He straightened one snowy white cuff.

‘To the party? You’ll give me a lift?’

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