The barking increased to decibels a rock band would envy. If she had not been clinging desperately to the trunk of the tree, Katie would have put her hands over her ears. She could only pray that the touchy millionaire was not at home. Or her tenancy of the house would be over in less than twenty-four hours.
‘Hush,’ Katie hissed.
The dog took no notice. The tree seemed to sway. She grabbed. She heard an ominous cracking.
The dog backed off and began to charge the wall. He gave the impression, thought Katie sourly, that he had not had a game like this in months. The tree swayed further.
‘Shut up, you stupid animal,’ she yelled.
Peering through the branches, she tried to quell the dog with a basilisk glare. It was a bad mistake. The ground was much too far away. Her branch dipped towards it.
‘Stay-calm,’ she told herself. Her shaky tone belied the heartening words.
The dog thudded rhythmically against the wall. The tree creaked. Katie gave a squeak of pure terror and shut her eyes.
Haydon gave up the unequal struggle. He opened his eyes. Something was pounding in his head. He should not have let himself fall asleep in the chair like that. At least, not on an empty stomach and a week’s jet lag, he thought muzzily. He could feel the beginnings of one of his infrequent but devastating migraines.
He regarded the extravagance of early summer with blurred indignation. The garden was deserted. In the windless air, the branches were still. A few early bees buzzed. The guard dog his insurance company insisted on was chasing one along the wall. But that was all.
Or was it? He stood up, rather unsteadily, and went to the summerhouse entrance. Bracing himself against the lintel, he tried to focus.
The Great Dane was flinging itself up the wall, barking. Either the target bee had no sense of self-preservation at all or something strange was happening. Haydon’s eyes narrowed. Yes, there was definitely something wrong with the lilac tree next door. In spite of the windless day its blossoms were waving wildly.
Haydon was a scientist. It cost him a wince, but he swung round to check the apple trees, just to be certain. He liked to be in control of his facts. Yes, he was right, the branches of his own trees were as still as stone. So there had to be someone in that lilac tree.
Haydon came suddenly and sharply alert. He forgot his incipient migraine. He stood very still, listening.
Was it her imagination or was the tree beginning to tilt into the wall? Katie opened her eyes and scanned the neighbouring garden feverishly. The bully might have gone about his business, the millionaire might be away—she prayed that he was—but was there not supposed to be a couple who looked after him? What she needed here was a friendly man with a long ladder. If—
The tree definitely lurched. Katie stopped thinking.
‘Help!’ she yelled.
The sound sliced through his brain. Haydon swung back to the tree. He was suddenly, blindingly angry. He began to run.
Katie was clinging like a monkey to the wildly dipping branch. Her foothold had gone; the dog was hitting the garden wall with the regular thump of a pile-driver; she felt sick.
And then, out of nowhere, a furious voice shouted. It was shockingly close. And everything seemed to go into slow motion.
The branch touched the ground. Her grazed hands began to slip. Katie flung her weight forward desperately. But it was too late. With what seemed to her incredible slowness, the branch splintered. It broke.
Katie hurtled to the ground. On the wrong side of the wall.
Frantically, she tried to remember from long-ago gymnastics classes the best way to fall. Don’t brace yourself. Was that it? And roll when you hit the ground.
So Katie was rapidly turning herself limp as a rag doll when she received another, deeper shock. A pair of muscular hands took her round the waist as she whooshed past. And then there were two of them rolling as they hit the ground.
Katie forgot all about gymnastics classes and trying to minimise the physical damage. She yelled like a banshee.
Her captor brought their headlong tumble to an abrupt halt.
‘This,’ he said in tones of barely controlled fury, ‘is too much.’
For a moment Katie found herself on top of a deeply rising chest, staring down into the bluest eyes she had ever seen. The bluest and the most coldly angry. Then he gave a lithe twist and she was underneath him. For a shattering moment Katie breathed in the hot scent of his skin. Then his head blotted out the sun.
As a kiss, it was more like a declaration of war.
‘No,’ said Katie.
Or at least that was what she tried to say. It did not come out quite like that. To her fury it sounded, even to herself, like a groan of surrender.
Her tee shirt had rucked under her as she landed. Now one hand found her naked skin. Normally just the touch of alien fingers on her waist would have had Katie cold with horror. But she was beyond thinking about her normal reactions. And she was certainly not cold.
She felt his hand splay out against her spine: hot as fire, strong as steel. Then he was lifting her effortlessly against him. He was not brutal. But the sheer power of the movement made her tremble. Not with fear.
She groaned again. It did not sound like a protest this time either.
The man’s mouth lifted. Katie knew vaguely that she ought to wrestle her way out of his arms. Get to her feet. Escape.
She did not move.
It was as if the unaccustomed hand on her skin had scrambled her brains. She was all sensation. Hot and cold and utterly bewildered. With a little sigh her head fell back.
Haydon stared down at his captive. He was shocked at the primitive fury that had shaken him. Even more shocked at the no less primitive feelings that had succeeded it. They surged through him now. The girl was not even trying to get away. Suddenly he wanted—oh, God, he wanted. . .
Katie felt oddly remote. She was helpless to resist the magnetisation of her senses and she knew it. It gave her a pleasant sense of irresponsibility. She lay there, delighting in it, every nerve quickened in expectation. Her eyes drifted shut, her lips parted—
Haydon hauled himself off her and stood up in one furious leap.
Katie’s eyes flew open in shock. The tall figure was blocking the sun, hands on hips. Against the glare of the summer sky, his face was in shadow. But there was no doubt of his feelings as he looked down on her. He was incandescent with rage. Her remoteness evaporated. She came back to the present with a bump.
‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ His voice was harsh with strain and he flexed his hands as if he did not know what to do with them.
Katie hardly noticed. She was too shocked. Coming back to the present was like walking into a cold shower. Instinctively her hand went to her midriff and encountered bare flesh.
For a moment she was absolutely still with horror. Her tee shirt was tangled under her armpits. He would have seen. He had to have seen.
Distress held her immobile for a moment. Then she gave a little sob and jack-knifed upright. She was shaking so much she had trouble hauling her tee shirt back into place.
The man said nothing. That made it worse. She bent her head so she did not have to see the disgust in his eyes.
But disgust did not seem to be uppermost in his mind. He was ferociously angry. More than angry.
‘Nice try.’ He flung at her. The irony was biting.
Katie was bewildered. So bewildered she almost forgot her distress.
‘What?’
Haydon was bringing himself under control. He was still furious but it was a colder, more deliberate fury.
‘Diversionary tactics,’ he said. ‘Brilliant.’
‘Diversionary—?’
Katie was so confused she forgot she was not going to look him in the face. She tilted her head, shading her eyes against the sun.
He hunkered down beside her as if they were having a friendly conversation.
‘I’ve met some skilled operators in m
y time. But you are up there with best,’ he told her pleasantly.
Katie shivered. She did not like his tone.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
And he was much, much too close. She leaned away from him as far as she could. She winced. The sun was beginning to make her eyes water.
‘Oh, well done,’ said the hateful voice softly.
Katie stared. He touched a finger along her cheekbone. It was very gentle and quite unbelievably insulting.
‘Real tears,’ he mocked.
Katie made a discovery. She might have come back to her senses but her instincts were still out there, humming with response. And that insulting touch reignited every one of them.
‘Oh, hell,’ she said faintly.
Haydon’s eyes narrowed in triumph. ‘So you admit it?’
Katie made another discovery. Now that she was thinking clearly again, she recognised him. He was the vigilante who had challenged her and Andrea this morning. The one with the blonde girlfriend. Her dismay gave way to dawning temper. She scrambled to her feet. The man made no attempt to help her.
‘Thank you for your concern,’ she snapped.
She ignored him, running her fingers through her tangled hair. The man stood up and Katie retreated a pace. Holding his eyes defiantly, she checked quickly that her tee shirt was in place. It was. Perhaps he had not seen after all. She began to feel better. And hotly indignant.
‘That dog should be chained up,’ she flung at him. ‘I could have broken something falling off that wall.’
He watched her cynically. Then shrugged. ‘Every trade has its risks.’
Katie was brushing twigs off her shorts. She looked up at that, glaring.
‘What trade, for heaven’s sake?’
‘At a guess, I’d say breaking and entering,’ her adversary said coolly.
‘Breaking—?’ She was incredulous. ‘You’re out of your mind.’
He raised one eloquent eyebrow. The ruins of the lilac branch lay some distance away. The dog was gnawing at it happily. Katie realised with a shock that if the dog had not had the branch to play with he would in all probability have piled in to take part in their undignified tussle. It made her even more furious.
‘You can’t think I fell out of that tree deliberately?’ she said hotly.
He seemed to consider that. ‘No,’ he allowed at last. ‘I don’t imagine you wanted to attract my attention.’
Unwillingly, Katie remembered exactly how much of his attention she had attracted. Rather too vividly. It imposed a constraint on her righteous anger. Embarrassed, she looked away.
‘I was trying to pick a branch of lilac,’ she said hurriedly.
This time he raised both eyebrows.
‘I wanted to paint it,’ she flung back in the face of that patent disbelief.
‘Sure.’
‘I did.’
He crossed his arms. ‘And who let you into the Mackenzies’ garden?’
‘No one. I mean, I did myself, of course. I—’
He nodded as if that was exactly what he’d expected. ‘So you broke into their garden as well as this one?’ He reached out a hand and took her by the elbow. ‘Come on.’
Katie jumped. He was mad. But his touch was an all too eloquent reminder. She had nearly surrendered to that terrible throbbing magnetism. Was it only minutes ago? Andrea had seen it coming, too. What was it she had said about hormones?
Furious with herself, Katie shook his hand away.
For a second his eyes flared. She’d been right, she thought. They were the most brilliant blue she had ever seen. Their expression shocked her. Then, in a blink, it was gone and he was shrugging again.
‘OK. Then you come into the house under your own steam.’
‘What?’
His voice was dangerously calm. ‘I am not letting you out of my sight.’
All Katie’s nerves leaped into tingling awareness again. She swallowed. ‘Why?’ she managed.
‘Oh, I like the innocent bewilderment,’ he congratulated her blandly. ‘It’s even better than the tears. You’re very good, you know. It’s just your misfortune I’m not the protective type.’
She shook her head, confused.
‘Don’t bother,’ he told her, his voice hardening. ‘If you think I’m leaving you alone to make your escape, you’re not using that sharp brain of yours.’
‘But—’
‘Forget it. I’m going to the police. You stick by my side until they get here.’
‘The police?’ Katie’s voice rose to a squeak.
He gave her a cool, surprised look. ‘Of course.’
‘But I haven’t done anything.’
It did not move him an inch. ‘Because I was here and able to prevent you,’ he said pleasantly. ‘That doesn’t change your intentions. They should interest the police.’
‘Look,’ Katie said feverishly, ‘I’m house-sitting for the Mackenzies.’
Her adversary looked bored.
Her voice rose several tones. ‘I am. I told you this morning. Don’t you ever listen?’
He was certainly not listening now. His face was like granite. ‘Tell that to the police.’
He gestured towards the house. Katie hesitated. But there was no help for it. One look at his face told her he was not going to move until she went inside. And she really did not want him touching her again. She bit her lip and went towards a large open French window.
The dog stopped chewing the branch as she went past. It raised its head in mild interest.
‘Good dog,’ said Katie sarcastically.
‘It is indeed,’ agreed the man. He was following altogether too close on her heels. To Katie’s ears he sounded disgustingly pleased with himself. ‘If the dog had not barked, I might not have known you were breaking in until it was too late.’
Katie stopped, and turned so abruptly he almost walked into her.
‘Listen to me, you complacent bully,’ she said with heat. ‘You can call the police if you like, but you’re only going to look like an almighty fool when I prove who I am.’
He did not like that, she was glad to see. His brows twitched together. He did not exactly back off but it did seem to give him pause. He scanned her face for a long, unnerving moment. Something in her outrage must have got through to him at last, Katie thought.
‘All right,’ he said after a minute. ‘Convince me.’
She let out an explosive sigh of relief.
‘Well—’
‘Inside,’ he interrupted.
‘I’d rather—’ Katie began.
But he had put his hand between her shoulderblades to guide her indoors. At once she felt a wave—no, a blast—of sensation. It was shocking and unwelcome and it made her forget everything she had been going to say.
Katie swallowed. And went without another word.
In the shadowed room he waved her to a deep sofa. Still shaken, Katie sat down without protest. She looked at him from under her lashes. If he had felt that zing of electricity when he touched her, he was hiding it well. The face he turned to her was utterly non-committal. She straightened her spine.
She said crisply, ‘I really am house-sitting while the Mackenzies are away. I answered an advert in The Times.’
He considered it. ‘All that proves is that you have good information. So you know the Mackenzies are away. Fine. But you must see that there are other ways you could have found out than by them pressing the key into your hand. And—I’m afraid you’ll have to forgive me—I find that less than reassuring.’
He had a point. Katie was fair-minded enough to admit that—at least to herself. She did not, of course, tell him so.
Instead she muttered, ‘Lisa Harding—er—engaged me.’ She added resentfully, ‘I told you that this morning too.’
He looked at her for a long moment. You could not tell from his expression whether he knew what she was talking about. Certainly there was no sign of recognition in the cold eyes.
; He sighed. ‘This morning I had other things on my mind. Tell me about this deal you have with Lisa. What references did she take?’
Katie stopped being fair-minded. Her temper flared. ‘What’s it got to do with you?’
‘It’s my responsibility to make this place secure. And keep it that way.’
‘Oh.’
Lisa Harding had been desperate. She had checked with the school that Katie was who she said she was, but she had not asked for references. And she had given Katie only the sketchiest breakdown of her task. Neighbours had barely figured. All Katie knew about the next-door house was that it was owned by a millionaire who was a fanatical anti-noise freak but fortunately was seldom in residence. A security expert had not been mentioned.
Katie looked doubtfully across at the man. He did not look like anybody’s staff.
She said slowly, ‘How do I know that?’
‘What?’ She had disconcerted him.
‘You might be pulling a double bluff,’ she pointed out. ‘Perhaps you are the intruder.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘Burglary,’ said Katie, warming to her theme. ‘I fell out of the tree and disturbed you.’
‘You did that all right,’ he muttered.
Katie decided not to hear him.
‘Saturday must be the perfect day. Especially if the old boy who owns the place is away. So you start accusing me while I’m still disorientated. Before I can ask you what you’re up to,’ she finished triumphantly.
The man appeared to be speechless. Katie found it exhilarating. She beamed.
He said curtly, ‘This is nonsense and you know it.’
‘You would say that, wouldn’t you?’
He gave her a look of acute dislike. ‘You may have observed that the dog knows me. Stupid though the creature undoubtedly is, it is a trained guard dog. Its job is to challenge intruders. As you found.’
Catching Katie Page 4