‘So you never saw much of him, then?’
‘No, not really,’ said Rosanna, glad that the short journey gave Jane no opportunity for more questions.
Rosanna felt unutterably weary as she went down the stairs to the flat. She unlocked the door, hoping that Louise wasn’t in a talkative mood, then stood rigid, staring in outrage at the man waiting for her.
‘What are you doing here?’
‘Your friend let me in,’ said Ewen.
‘Where is she?’ demanded Rosanna fiercely, brushing past him, but Ewen barred her way.
‘In her room. But don’t rush in after her, please. She didn’t want to let me in, but I persuaded her I had something important to say to you.’
Rosanna suddenly reached the end of her tether. The entire day had been a nightmare of tension, and to find Ewen here at the end of it put paid to her self-control.
‘I don’t want to hear it,’ she spat at him, trembling with anger. ‘I’m amazed you can show your face in here.’
Ewen frowned. ‘I admit we parted on unfriendly terms, Rosanna, but that’s why I’ve come. To put matters right, if I can.’
She glared at him, incensed. ‘Unfriendly terms! That’s the understatement of the year. Did you honestly think I’d even want to breathe the same air, you—you pervert?’
‘Pervert?’ Ewen advanced on her, suddenly as angry as she. ‘What the hell are you talking about? I admit I jumped to conclusions about the pregnancy, and there were one or two things I didn’t make clear—’
‘Oh, you made yourself clear all right,’ she said with passion.
‘No, I damn well didn’t,’ he retorted. ‘A stupid mistake for an author, I know, but I used the wrong words.’
‘On the contrary, they were very much to the point!’
They stood glaring at each other, then Rosanna pointed to the door, which still stood open. ‘Just go.’
‘Not until I’ve had my say!’ he said tightly.
She ground her teeth in fury. ‘Get on with it, then. I’m tired. Though thank heavens I don’t have to work tomorrow. Otherwise, courtesy of my link with you, I’d be the main topic of conversation in the staffroom.’
‘It didn’t come from me,’ he said curtly.
‘I know,’ she admitted grudgingly. ‘Dr Lonsdale had a chat with me the day I started and I mentioned I’d done some temping for Charlie Clayton—and you.’ She frowned. ‘Is that why she asked you to speak?’
Ewen eyed her warily. ‘Actually, no. I volunteered. If I can just close the door, I’ll explain.’
Rosanna crossed the room and closed the door herself, then stood against it, arms folded. ‘So?’
‘Beaumont’s on the list of schools my editor’s looking at for her daughter. You remember Harriet, of course?’ he added, raising an eyebrow. ‘When she went to the school for an interview with Dr Lonsdale I told her to drop a hint. I was asked to give a talk at my old school not so long ago, which gave me the idea.’ Ewen looked at her levelly. ‘I hope you’re proud of what you reduce me to, Rosanna. I couldn’t see any other way of getting to you.’
‘And you know why,’ she said icily.
‘Actually,’ he said with exaggerated patience, ‘I don’t. And I take strong exception to the word “pervert”, Rosanna. What the hell was all that about?’
‘What else would you call a man who seduces school-girls?’ she threw at him.
Ewen stared at her, thunderstruck. ‘What?’
‘You may have forgotten that day at the cottage, but I haven’t.’ She shuddered. ‘I still can’t think about it without wanting to throw up.’
He stood very still, a white line around his mouth. ‘I’m sorry you remember it that way. For me what happened between us was a rare, beautiful thing—’
‘I’m not talking about that!’ she said desperately. ‘I mean the last time I was there. When you sent me packing.’
‘I did what?’ he demanded, astonished.
‘You mean, you’ve forgotten?’ She gave a mirthless bark of laughter. ‘I haven’t.’
‘Rosanna,’ he said very quietly. ‘Until that day at the book signing, I hadn’t laid eyes on you since we said goodbye in this room.’
‘You didn’t actually see me on the day I’m talking about,’ she said bitterly. ‘Sally answered the door, stark naked under one of your dressing gowns. She went up to your bedroom to tell you I was there. I heard you talking to her, then she strutted back to tell me—with enormous relish—that you were too busy to see me.’
‘What?’ Ewen swore colourfully and at length. ‘The spiteful little devil! I don’t know who the hell she had up there but it certainly wasn’t me. She’s fifteen years old, for God’s sake.’
Rosanna came away from the door. ‘You weren’t there?’
‘Damn right I wasn’t. I make sure I’m out of the house when Sally’s cleaning. I’m not a total fool, no matter what you think.’ His eyes narrowed. ‘It must have been when I went back up to London for a meeting with Harriet. I spent a couple of nights with my parents for once. Bob Todd told me Sally cleaned up while I was away.’ His lips twisted with disgust. ‘I’d like to know who the hell she had in my bed, the little witch.’
As long as it wasn’t Ewen Rosanna didn’t care a jot who it was. She looked at him in silence, feeling a great knot of ice dissolve inside her. ‘Want some coffee?’ she asked at last.
Ewen let out a deep breath, his taut face relaxing slightly. ‘Yes, please. Do you have any of those biscuits you keep giving me? I haven’t eaten yet.’
‘Neither have I.’ She smiled diffidently. ‘I could make sandwiches.’
His eyes locked with hers. ‘First, Rosanna, tell me you believe me. Where Sally’s concerned.’
‘Yes, I do.’ She shrugged. ‘It would be so easy to prove, anyway.’
‘I suppose it would.’ He gave her the familiar, lop-sided smile. ‘Do you think you should let your friend out of her room?’
Rosanna clapped a hand to her forehead. ‘I forgot about Louise!’
Once Louise had been persuaded out of hiding, there was no more opportunity for private talk. But Rosanna and Ewen were so obviously not at daggers drawn any more, a deeply relieved Louise helped make sandwiches and coffee, shared them, then got up the moment she’d finished eating.
‘I must wash my hair or I’ll never get to bed.’ She smiled. ‘Goodnight, Ewen. I’m glad I’ve met you properly at last. I hope I’ll see you again.’
‘I hope you will too,’ he assured her, and looked at Rosanna. ‘Put in a good word for me.’
‘I don’t think I need to,’ Louise told him happily.
‘Was she right?’ asked Ewen when she’d gone.
‘I suppose she was,’ admitted Rosanna. ‘Now I know you weren’t in bed with Sally I feel less hostile, certainly.’ She yawned. ‘Sorry. This has been a very tiring day.’
Ewen subjected her to a long, appraising scrutiny that Rosanna endured unwillingly, conscious of her unadorned navy wool dress and tightly coiled hair.
‘You’ve lost more weight,’ he said at last.
‘I run to school and back every day.’
‘You’ll soon have to give that a miss now the nights are darker.’
‘I know.’ She eyed him questioningly. ‘You had other things you wanted to say?’
‘Yes, but not tonight. You’re too tired.’ Ewen stood erect. ‘And I’d like my name cleared before I say any of them. Rosanna, come down to the cottage with me tomorrow. Please. I’d like to confront Sally in person.’
The idea appealed strongly, for more than one reason. Rosanna pretended to think it over then nodded, knowing she was saying yes to a great deal more than a trip to the country. She wasn’t quite sure what, but if it involved Ewen it was enough for now, whatever it was. ‘Thank you, I’d like that. I haven’t been anywhere much since term started.’
Ewen got up. ‘I’ll pick you up at ten, then. We can have lunch in the village pub again.’
‘
Sounds good,’ she said, brisk to hide her tension as she wondered if he’d kiss her goodnight.
But at the door Ewen merely thanked her for supper, and said goodnight without even shaking her hand. Even so Rosanna went to bed in a happier frame of mind than she’d known for months.
She woke next morning feeling as though a great black cloud had been blown away from her life. The weather reflected her mood, sunny and unusually warm for the season, and she dressed in jeans and deck shoes, pulled a plain white cotton T-shirt over her head, and left her hair loose to frame a face glowing with anticipation for the day ahead.
‘Good morning. You look—different,’ said Ewen, when she opened the door to him. He was wearing the light tweed jacket and jeans of their first meeting, the same look of startled appreciation on his face.
‘I slept well,’ she said cheerfully. ‘Want some coffee? Or would you rather not leave the car abandoned out there?’
He grinned. ‘Got it in one.’
Rosanna called goodbye through Louise’s bedroom door, picked up her tote bag and navy blazer, and went off with Ewen into the bright October morning, feeling vastly different from any morning since she’d last seen him.
Cocooned against the wind by the Morgan’s hood, Rosanna enjoyed the journey a great deal more than her own trip to Long Ashley.
‘I was a lot slower getting to this point than you,’ she commented as they turned off the motorway. ‘My mother’s car protests if I try to speed.’
‘I wondered how you got here,’ said Ewen as they began winding through the familiar Gloucestershire landscape. ‘Long Ashley’s not very accessible by public transport.’
‘Does Sally know you’re coming today?’ asked Rosanna curiously.
Ewen shook his head, his mouth tightening ominously. ‘I made sure she’d be working in the house, but I said I was probably coming tomorrow.’
Rosanna was almost sorry for the girl, until they turned in at the cottage entrance. Memories of her last visit came flooding back, and Ewen sensed her recoil, holding her hand tightly as they walked up the gravel path to the door. He strode ahead of Rosanna into the hall then stood, arms folded, to confront the girl who came running down the stairs. Sally stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of them, her eyes like saucers.
‘Hello, Sally,’ he said menacingly.
The girl swallowed, her eyes darting guiltily in Rosanna’s direction, then back in frightened appeal at Ewen. ‘Mr Fraser—I didn’t know you were coming today. I haven’t finished yet.’
‘No problem. I’m taking Miss Carey down to the pub for lunch. You can finish while we’re out. In the meantime, come through to the kitchen, please.’
The girl eyed Rosanna in trepidation, then scuttled through past Ewen, casting another scared look at his forbidding face. Ewen ushered Rosanna ahead of him then stood in the kitchen doorway, his brows drawn together in a daunting scowl.
‘Miss Carey’s given me an account of her last visit here, Sally. Why did you lie?’
Sally burst into noisy tears, knuckling her eyes like a child. ‘I’m ever so sorry. Please don’t tell my dad, Mr Fraser. He’d kill me!’
‘I doubt that. And stop that noise, please.’ Ewen tore off a length of kitchen towel, and handed it to her. ‘Now tell me who you had here, and why the devil you told Miss Carey it was me.’
‘It was my boyfriend,’ she sobbed, and blew her nose, hiccuping.
‘Does he know how old you are?’ demanded Ewen.
‘Course he does. He’s in the same class in school,’ said Sally indignantly.
Rosanna avoided Ewen’s eyes, her ribs aching with the effort to control her mirth.
‘I see,’ he said severely. ‘It doesn’t excuse the fact that you invited some stranger into my bed—’
‘He’s not a stranger, Mr Fraser, he’s my boyfriend!’
‘I don’t care who it was, you were out of order!’ barked Ewen. ‘And what the hell were you playing at when you told Miss Carey it was me?’
At which Sally began sobbing so hysterically, Rosanna asked Ewen to leave them alone together. ‘You’re frightening her.’
‘I should damn well hope so!’ he snorted, and strode from the room in disgust.
‘Now then, Sally,’ said Rosanna, in her best schoolmarm tone, ‘stop that noise. At once, please. Wash your face with cold water.’
Sally obeyed blindly, splashing her face so liberally, her hair was wet at the front when she raised her streaming face from the kitchen sink. Rosanna handed her a towel and waited until the girl mopped herself dry.
‘Right then, Sally. Confession time. Why did you lie to me?’
‘It was Wayne’s idea. But I was jealous, too,’ said the girl miserably. ‘You dress too plain, but you’re so pretty, miss, and I—well, I—’
‘You like Mr Fraser,’ said Rosanna gently.
The girl blushed to the roots of her hair. ‘Don’t tell him, miss, please,’ she implored. ‘Wayne said to lie to make you go away, because you caught us together.’ She sighed tragically. ‘Do you think Ewen—Mr Fraser—will sack me now? I was saving up so hard.’
‘What were you saving for, Sally?’
‘The school trip. They’re going to France, and my dad said I could go if I paid a little bit towards it out of my wages.’ The girl’s red eyes blazed with entreaty. ‘If I get the sack Dad won’t let me go on the trip. And Wayne’s going,’ she added with a wail.
Rosanna promised to put in a good word with Mr Fraser, but in turn extracted several promises from the penitent Sally, who by that stage was ready to agree to anything.
‘Sally was very chastened. What did you say to her?’ said Ewen soon after as they strolled to the pub for lunch.
‘I gave her a lecture. Not that it did much good. She hasn’t a clue about the harm she caused.’
‘No,’ he said grimly, and took her hand in his, clasping it tightly. ‘I thought I’d lost you for good.’
‘You can understand how I felt, surely?’
‘Of course I do—now!’ He turned to look at her. ‘But did you really think I’d sent you away, Rosanna?’
‘The evidence was against you.’ She thrust back her hair with her free hand. ‘Don’t let’s talk about that any more. One thing you can be sure of, anyway. Your house will be gleaming when we get back, today and for the foreseeable future. Sally was terrified you’d give her the sack.’
‘If she’d been anyone else’s daughter I would have,’ said Ewen grimly. ‘Bob would take his belt to her if he knew the half of it.’
‘Sally’s well aware of that. She’ll be good as gold from now on. Except where Wayne’s concerned, I’m afraid.’
‘Who the blazes is Wayne?’
‘The boyfriend.’ Rosanna giggled suddenly. ‘I gave her some pretty frank advice about her relationship with the enterprising Wayne. I won’t make you blush with the details.’
‘As long as she keeps him away from my bed she can do what she likes!’ said Ewen, laughing.
This time they ate large portions of chicken and ham pie, served with fresh vegetables supplied, said Ewen, straight-faced, by Bob Todd.
Rosanna gave a choke of laughter, and put down her laden fork. ‘Out of your garden by any chance?’
‘Probably.’ Ewen grinned, and sat back with a sigh when he’d cleared his plate. ‘After all the drama back there I was starving.’
‘I was ready to eat a horse myself,’ she admitted.
‘Which wouldn’t do you any harm,’ he said, eyeing her. ‘You’re too thin, Rosanna.’
She pushed her plate away and sat back, arms folded as she looked at him. ‘Does that mean you don’t fancy me any more?’
His eyes kindled. ‘You know damn well it doesn’t, but I’d rather not discuss it here.’
‘Let’s go and discuss it at home, then,’ she said casually, and Ewen leapt to his feet with alacrity.
‘You said “home”,’ he remarked as they walked back.
‘Figure of speech.�
��
‘I hope you meant it.’ He took her hand in his. ‘Talking of which, this is as good a time as any, I suppose.’
‘For what?’
‘To say what I came to say the other night. But once I heard about Sally I felt I needed total exoneration before I brought the subject up again.’ His fingers tightened on hers. ‘My mother requested my presence not so long ago. She wanted a little talk with me, she said. An opening which made me nervous, big strong chap though I am.’
Rosanna looked up at him, intrigued. ‘What did she say?’
‘She informed me that she was very taken with your parents when they came to lunch, and couldn’t understand why I was letting you slip through my fingers, so to speak, when it was obvious to everyone, my grandmother included, that I was crazy about you.’
‘Oh.’
‘Yes. Oh. So I told her I’d asked and been rejected. And then she enquired as to the exact nature of my question and showed me the error of my ways. I’d talked about wanting you and moving in together—’
‘Exactly. It smacked of the temporary to an old-fashioned girl like me.’
Ewen eyed her ruefully as they turned in through the gate. ‘Then I must have got my syntax snarled. I meant that life is short and we can’t tell how much of it we’re allotted, but what there is of it I want to spend with you. Until death us do part.’
‘Oh,’ said Rosanna again, her voice unsteady this time.
‘Can’t you say anything but “oh”?’ he demanded.
Rosanna turned to him in the gleaming, immaculate hall. ‘I could say “yes”, if asked the right question.’
The sudden light in Ewen’s eyes almost dazzled her.
‘I’ve got a few,’ he assured her. ‘First, will you marry me, second, will you stay to supper, or better still— because I assume you need to be back for school on Monday—will you stay here with me until Sunday night?’
Rosanna was so overcome with emotion for a minute, she clasped her hands together and put her head on one side, pretending to think it over.
‘Well?’ he said impatiently.
‘Yes to all three,’ she said at last, and he hauled her into his arms and kissed her until her head reeled.
The Temptation Trap Page 15