A Masterful Man

by Lindsay Armstrong

  Mr Warwick? None of us ran your boat aground-'

  'And aren't you taking just a little too much upon yourself, Mrs Hastings?' He overrode her swiftly. 'You're only the damned housekeeper, as you so often persist in reminding me!'

  By a huge effort of will, as their gazes clashed and a wave of colour came to her cheeks at the insolence and mockery she saw in his eyes, Davina restrained herself and did the only other thing possible. She turned on her heel and walked out, leaving the tea with him, and even managed to look rueful but calm as she walked back into the den. 'Not a good idea?' Loretta queried.

  'No. He's still behaving like a spoilt child,' she said cheerfully, and thought privately that she deserved an Oscar. 'We'll just have to ride it out.'

  It was Lavinia, after staring at Davina particularly thoughtfully for a moment, who said, 'He does have an awful temper sometimes, but once it's over it's over. He doesn't bear grudges.'

  Ah, but I do, Davina thought to herself later. Thank heavens! I'm back to hating him…

  Lavinia's prediction was correct, however. The next day he was back to normal, although he didn't apologise to anyone, but it was at dinner that evening that another bombshell exploded.

  The meal commenced with a fight.

  Loretta sent Candice up to change into a dress rather than the T-shirt she had simply added to her swimmers, causing Candice to tell her mother roundly that she hated her and Lavinia to tell Loretta that it was her duty to see that her only child was correctly attired before they came to the table.

  But, just when things looked as if they could get out of hand, Steve, who had been delayed by the telephone, arrived, took stock of the situation and said coolly and cuttingly, 'You'll do as you're told, Candice, and you two will stop squabbling because I'm running out of patience, I warn you.'

  Everyone subsided and Davina dished up fragrant, delicious lemon chicken on a bed of fluffy white rice.

  'You're just a marvellous cook,' Loretta said warmly to her, halfway through the course.

  'I have to agree with you there,' Lavinia said, and said it only slightly grudgingly.

  Steve murmured, 'Glory be!' but only audibly to Davina who was opposite him. He also smiled into her eyes, the tiniest, wickedest little smile that was gone before anyone could take note of it, at least Davina fervently hoped so because it acted rather like an electric shock on her nerve-ends.

  It was Candice who then unwittingly dropped the bombshell. 'How come, if you're a Mrs, you haven't got a ring or a husband, Davina?'

  'She's not a Mrs!' Lavinia said decisively.

  'She is-Steve called her Mrs Hastings the other day, didn't you, Steve?'

  'Here we go-she is actually, she's divorced,' he said mildly to no one in particular, but then sat back and watched his grandmother's reaction.

  'Divorced!' Lavinia said right on cue. 'My dear girl! How come?'

  Davina stopped eating and wished herself a hundred miles away again, as well as feeling a flicker of annoyance-why was it anyone's business? Why on earth should it be affording Lavinia such consternation? Why, above all, was Steve actually enjoying this? 'It was a mistake,' she said coolly. 'We were… completely ill-suited, as it turned out.' And she resumed eating as if to say, and that's that.

  That wasn't that. 'Were you very young?' Lavinia queried.

  'Twenty,' Steve said gravely.

  'Did he sweep you off your feet-was he a lot older?'

  'I…' Davina looked fleetingly into Lavinia's eyes that were the same hazel as her grandson's and sighed inwardly. 'Something like that,' she murmured.

  'No children?' the old lady asked autocratically.

  'No children,' Davina agreed.

  Lavinia was silent for about two minutes as she chewed some chicken thoroughly and apparently chewed the whole matter of Davina's divorce over at the same time, until finally she said, 'Well, I don't hold with it much, I have to be honest, but on the other hand it would be… unchristian to deny that people do make honest mistakes and they shouldn't be penalised for them for the rest of their lives. Someone as lovely as you, too, Davina, would be rather at the mercy of unscrupulous men I would imagine. So-have there been any other men since?'

  Davina breathed deeply and put her knife and fork together. 'Mrs Warwick, I must protest-'

  'No, there haven't,' Steve Warwick interrupted.

  'And how do you know that, Steve?' his grandmother asked of him haughtily.

  'I-er-made the same enquiries of Mrs Hastings when she first arrived,' he replied.

  'Well, then,' Lavinia said almost genially after a moment's thought, 'I think we can close the subject, Davina. Yes, I think we can. Of course, I'd prefer it not to have happened, but-' she shrugged '-one can't always have everything. Would there be any of that delicious chicken left?'

  Davina caught herself staring at the old lady with her mouth open and the thought running through her mind that perhaps all the madness she'd noted a few days before was infectious.

  'I would just go with the flow,' Steve remarked barely audibly at that point, and Loretta, who had followed everything with an odd little twinkle in her eye, said, 'Oh, I agree.'

  Davina started to say something along the lines of, If I knew what you were all talking about it might help-but she shrugged slightly instead and rose to offer everyone second helpings of the chicken.

  It was during dessert that Davina suddenly became aware of who Loretta was. The conversation had, thankfully, become generalised until Steve asked Loretta how business was going.

  'Loretta is a dressmaker, Davina,' Lavinia supplied.

  Loretta looked at her ruefully. 'I always rack my brains for a way to refute that, but of course it's true.'

  'You don't actually make them yourself now, though,' Steve said wryly.

  'No-'

  'Not… Loretta C?' Davina said suddenly, her eyes widening.

  Loretta glowed. 'How marvellously gratifying-and you are quick on the uptake, Davina!'

  'I've worn some of your clothes-although not lately,' she said. 'Your ballgowns are stunning.'

  'Thank you! I think so too, but it's lovely to hear others say so.'

  'They also cost an arm and a leg,' Lavinia said primly.

  'Quality tends to be expensive.'

  'And before we start exchanging hostilities again,' Steve said, rising, 'thank you for a wonderful meal, Davina.' He also had the gall to add, with a perfectly straight face, 'Would I get something thrown at me if I asked for some coffee in my study?'

  Loretta came into the kitchen just as Davina had finished cleaning up for the night. From the sounds she could hear, Lavinia and Candice were watching television in the den and Steve was apparently still working in his study.

  'Is it too late to make myself a last cuppa?' Loretta asked. 'Not at all!' Davina smiled at her. 'I'm not some ogre of a housekeeper.'

  Loretta grinned back. 'Why don't you join me, then? It's such a balmy night we could sit outside.'

  That's what they did, and after some idle conversation, Loretta said, 'I'm really glad you're not an ogre of a housekeeper because I do need this break and, as you may have noticed, I've spent a lot of it sleeping so far. I have to admit,' she said ruefully, 'that given the opportunity I can be a right slob!'

  'Well, I think that's partly why I'm here…uh.' Davina grimaced in the darkness. 'I mean to say, at least I can take Candice off your hands a bit.'

  'Darling, that was beautifully diplomatic,' Loretta replied with a gurgle of laughter, 'but we all know Steve thinks I'm a lousy mother and unfortunately, in some respects, he's right.'

  Thinking, What can you say to that? Davina preserved a tactful silence. She'd also been gradually making the discovery that it was hard not to like Loretta.

  'Mind you,' Loretta went on, 'you could have knocked me down with a feather when he presented us with you- had you two not known each other at all, before?'

  'Not at all,' Davina said with another, hopefully hidden, grimace.

  'Strange,
' Loretta murmured, and raised her arms lazily above her head. 'You do realise Lavinia is sizing you up as wife material for Steve, don't you?'

  Davina all but dropped her cup. 'What do you mean?' she said in an oddly strangled sort of voice.

  Loretta chuckled. 'Darling, Lavinia has two main ambitions in life-one, to find Steve a wife, and two-to make sure it isn't me.'

  'But…but…that's unbelievable!' But as soon as she said it, a lot of little things fell into place. 'So that's what she was on about over my divorce and everything else, and he knew….' She stopped abruptly.

  'Exactly. I really felt for you when you looked so mystified. It must have been rather like the Mad Hatter's tea-party.'

  'But surely you can't make those kind of decisions on such a short acquaintance? Lavinia's known me for barely five days.'

  'Lavinia can, believe it,' Loretta said drily. 'What's more, once she's made them, she never changes her mind. Contrary to what they all might tell you, I made her son exceedingly happy in the short time we had together- oh, yes, I did spend quite a bit of his money, but mainly to set myself up as a dress designer and I'm now earning it back very nicely. Nor did I wear him into an early grave; the condition he had that ended his life was there before we ever met. But none of the aforementioned has ever persuaded Lavinia that I am anything but a slut.' 'Did he make you happy-I'm sorry, that was unforgivable.'

  But Loretta merely smiled. 'As a matter of fact, he did. But I'm an honest person, unfortunately, I sometimes think, and I'm no good without a man in my life. I've neither attempted to stay celibate since he died, nor could I conceive of doing so in the future.'

  'Why…why does she think you…want Steve?' Davina said after a long pause.

  Loretta thought for a while. 'Well, let's be honest again,' she said at last. 'Few women in their right minds would not want Steve, and I have to confess there've been times when I've thought-there's no law against it. But, of course, I could never be the woman Steve wanted and not only because of his father.' 'Why not, apart from that?'

  Loretta glinted a fleeting white grin across at her and said gently, 'I don't think you're an inexperienced little girl, Davina, for all that we may be quite different types apparently. Falling in love with Steve Warwick,' she went on deliberately, 'would be part heaven, part hell, don't you think? Unless you were prepared to be owned body and soul-I'm not that kind of woman.'

  'Who is?' Davina said very quietly, and felt a tremor pass through her.

  'Oh, I think it can happen, although not often. Those kind of all-or-nothing love-affairs, I mean. You're probably a little cynical after your divorce,' she added, and sent Davina an uncharacteristically acute little glance.

  'Aren't you?' Davina queried. 'A little cynical, I mean? Isn't that what you've been saying, up to a point?'

  'No,' Loretta mused, 'I've been trying to be honest. In other words, I know myself rather well.'

  Davina was silent for a long time, then she made an effort and said, 'I still can't believe his grandmother could seriously-well, want to promote anything between us. She really can have no idea whether I'm a… heaven alone knows what!'

  'Ah, well.' Loretta shrugged. 'I'd be surprised if you were.'

  Davina took a breath and made a swift decision to try to lighten things up. 'Don't you start,' she said with an attempt at light, wry humour.

  Loretta raised her hands. 'Wouldn't dream of it-by the way, I must thank you for winning Candy around the way you have. I was beginning to think it wasn't possible!'

  'It was actually surprisingly easy, but then I think it often is with children, for outsiders.'

  'That could be true,' Loretta said slowly. 'I must say it amazes me that the actual fact of motherhood doesn't automatically equip one with all the right responses. Still, I do keep trying. You know, I would love to dress you, Davina,' she added, changing the subject completely. 'You have the most divine figure, you're tall enough to carry most clothes-how tall are you?'

  'Five foot eight-I thought one had to be a bit taller-'

  'No, no, there aren't many Jerry Halls out there; five foot eight is fine. For what I had in mind for you,' she said mischievously.

  'The problem would be paying for them,' Davina said wryly.

  'Did you not get anything from your ex-husband?' Loretta enquired curiously.

  Davina smiled. 'Not a cent. He was declared bankrupt, you see. I was only lucky I wasn't involved in any of his ventures, otherwise I could have met the same fate, so-‘

  'Oh, I wouldn't expect you to pay for them! Just wear them, as an advertisement kind of thing.'

  'That's very kind of you-'

  'No, it's not!' Loretta protested vigorously. 'Believe me, it happens all the time and it's good business sense.'

  'Well-' Davina hesitated, a bit taken aback as she perceived that Loretta was deadly serious '-but then there's the problem that I don't go anywhere where anyone would see me.'

  'Ah.' Loretta lay back and chewed her lip, but not for long. 'People will see you here, though.'

  'Here?' Davina regarded her quizzically.

  'It's amazing how many very interesting people come to Lord Howe, despite its laid-back aura, Davina,' Loretta said seriously. 'Because it's so unique, you see. In fact, it's a seriously trendy sort of place to come if you want to prove you're into the untrendy… if you know what I mean. World heritage stuff and all that kind of thing. I've seen premiers and even one Prime Minister here, television, film and radio stars-you'd be amazed how many well-known people come here-'

  'Stop!' Davina said with a laugh. 'I believe you. But you seem to forget, I'm only the housekeeper, so I'm still not going to be seen where all these seriously untrendy trendies gather-'

  Loretta sat up. 'You don't know Lavinia!' she said earnestly. 'She is, among all the other things she is, a great socialiser. I think she also regards herself as the Queen Mum of Lord Howe. Give her a few more days and she will have winkled out enough people to have a party, if not many parties!'

  'Oh, God,' Davina murmured with genuine reverence. 'The mind boggles.'

  Loretta chuckled. 'I know what you mean.'

  'But all the same-' Davina stood up '-I'm still only the housekeeper and I don't suppose you came armed with a wardrobe full of clothes for me, so, look, thank you,' she said warmly, 'I appreciate the thought, but it just couldn't work.'

  Loretta subsided. 'A problem,' she admitted.

  'Well, I think I better take myself to bed, it sounds as if I'm going to need to conserve my strength. Goodnight.' Davina got up and stretched, but asked then, curiously, 'Why doesn't Lavinia live here if that's how she feels about the place?'

  'The winters are too severe for her; it can be pretty cold and windy. She lives in Queensland now, where they're very mild. She also likes to terrorise some of the other family operations on the mainland.'

  'So…' Davina stopped, but Loretta read her thoughts.

  She said, 'Yes, Steve's father left him quite an impressive empire and Candice a slice of it all, too. There are also a couple of manufacturing plants that Lavinia actually brought into the family, which is why she regards them as her prerogative.' Loretta grimaced. 'I often think that's why Steve lives here, although he has to spend a lot of time over there, of course. But this is undoubtedly his favourite home. His father used to tell me how he loathed being sent away to school. And that's another thing.' She sat up again. 'They're great believers in higher education, the Warwicks-the finest schools and so on, and I can feel the pressure building up for me to send Candy away to boarding-school soon. I can't help feeling,' she said with a sigh, 'that that might alienate Candy from me forever. You know it really would solve a lot of my problems if Steve married and had kids of his own-I'm sure Lavinia would get off my back then!'

  'I'm definitely going to bed now,' Davina said ruefully.

  'Oh, well, there are other contenders, and one right here on the island, I'll have to get to work on her,' Loretta said humorously. 'Night!'

  But be
d wasn't what she really wanted, Davina decided, once she was in the privacy of her chalet, because once again she felt restless and keyed up-probably from all the revelations of the evening-and would toss and turn for a while, she just knew. She sighed, then took her trusty torch from her camera-bag and decided to see if a walk would help.

  It was a magnificent starry night and she crossed the road and walked through a paddock to its grassy edge above the beach on the lagoon side where the tide lapped gently against the sand and rocks. She'd noticed a bench there from the road during the day and swung her torch to locate it. She did, about twenty feet away, but there was someone there before her, someone who stood up and revealed himself as Steve Warwick.

  'Oh, no,' she said wearily. 'I mean-sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you. I'll go-'

  'You aren't. Disturbing me, and there's no reason for you to go. I always find it's particularly relaxing to have a stroll before bedtime and to enjoy the peace and quiet. I should imagine it's been quite an evening for you.'

  'You're not wrong there,' she murmured, but still standing as if poised for flight.

  He smiled slightly in the torchlight. 'Put it out and sit down, Davina, I'm not going to eat you.'

  She hesitated then sat and he sat down beside her. But she was as taut as a piano wire and it was impossible to project any other image.

  'What's wrong?' he said after a few moments.

  'I…nothing really.'

  'Sure?' He raised an eyebrow. 'You haven't been having any further discussions with my grandmother on your suitability as-a bride for me?'

  Davina shuddered and turned to him. 'You knew,' she accused. 'And laughed!'

  He shrugged his broad shoulders. 'I have to confess I found it rather amusing in the light of what had happened between us. Wouldn't you-if you could be a fly on the wall?'

  'Would that I could,' Davina said bitterly. 'I still don't understand why. She must make your life hell if she… goes about doing this all the time.'

  He grinned briefly. 'I have a thick hide-if it's any consolation she was probably spurred on this time by Loretta's presence. She has an absolute horror of… that happening. So you have been talking to her again?'