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‘Slade, no!’ she protested, her desire abating as self-revulsion swamped her

‘Damn you,’ he swore hoarsely, ‘you can’t tell me “no” now! God knohen I knohat you are, but I want youtihtly, studying her pale outline and watching the movement of his own hand as it moved over her skin Chelsea shivered, shocked that even now her body see to his touch

‘Slade…’

The sudden shrill ring of the phone shocked her into silence Slade swore, and for a nore it, but eventually he got up and left, closing the door behind hialvanised into action

Her dress lay on the floor, but she ignored it She daren’t waste ti up her bag as she slid’ into her shoes, praying that Slade’s caller would keep hih for her to escape Another door led off the bedroom into an inner hall which as she had hoped opened into the marble foyer

Her fingers trembled over the latch, made clumsy by her desperation, but at last the door was open Not daring to slam it behind her in case the sound alerted Slade to her escape, she fled downstairs and into the cold darkness of the night

By fortunate chance she was able to pick up a taxi just outside the apart Slade she was inserting her key in her own front door

Once inside she locked and barred the door, quickly stripping off everything that she had been wearing and hurrying into the bathroo with distaste as she tried to banish from her mind her fevered response to Slade’s touch

By the tied to persuade herself that she had over-exaggerated her own response, and that far fro pleasure in Slade’s arms what she had actually felt was revulsion How could she feel anything else when not even Darren had been able to arouse her to desire? She stifled an hysterical laugh as she dwelled on Slade’s reaction to finding that she had fled, leaving merely her dress That dress—she shuddered If she never saw it again she would be more than happy Thank God Slade didn’t know her address He had been so determined to make her pay for the pleasure of his company that she wouldn’t have put it past hi that they take up where they had left off It was ridiculous really, but just before the phone rang she had had the impression that he resented her He had told her that he ‘wanted’ her, but men were notorious for their purely physical desire Sickness welled up inside her and she raced to the bathroo suddenly as reaction set in Dear God! To think it could have been Kirsty in her place tonight Knowing that ht as sleep clai north and that there was scant chance of her ever ain Lutons was only one of the companies he owned, and once the takeover had been sorted out to his satisfaction Ralph was doubtful that Melchester would see very oodness!

The i of the telephone penetrated the deep layers of sleep blanketing her, and Chelsea reached muzzily for the extension phone at her bedside

‘Chelsea—thank God, for atwice already I thought you weren’t there’

‘I’m fine, Ann,’ she lied numbly If Slade Ashford had had his way she wouldn’t have been, unless it was his practice to send his women home once he had finished with them

‘Thank heavens for that!’ her sister breathed ‘Ralph was furious withyou leave with Slade He told ht Slade ht that you wanted to spend the night with hi’

‘I’ain She had no wish to reer in Slade’s eyes when he had touched her body Disgust for her own behaviour flooded through her She had never thought of herself as sexually repressed, ‘sex-starved’ to the point where she would respond physically to any experienced ht…

‘How’s Kirsty?’ she asked her sister, trying to obliterate Slade Ashford from her mind

‘She seems fine,’ Ann told her ‘In fact she see off with Slade Perhaps she’s just trying to put on a brave front—I don’t know, but I do know one thing—she’s going out with Lance Jaht, to some disco All we have to do now is to make sure that the rift becomes permanent I don’t suppose you…’

‘No way,’ Chelsea told her firmly ‘I’ve doneat the end of the week’

‘Ralph says I’ that Slade wasKirsty He says a man like Slade doesn’t need to chase after seventeen-year-old schoolgirls, no ht?’ Ann persisted ‘You sound strange Look, why don’t you come over…’

‘Ann, I’ht behind her it was easier to convince herself that she erated her body’s response to Slade’s skilled love

With a sudden start of horror she relived her flight fro with distaste as she recalled the way she had been dressed Her dress! Hysterical laughter bubbled up inside her What was more important—the loss of a dress, or the loss of her self-respect? Besides, so told her that she would never have been able to wear it again, because at the back of her e that it was tainted for her by the way she had behaved while wearing it

For Slade Ashford it had been nothing more than simply another brief sexual encounter; an automatic male response to an available woman; a casual acceptance of a way of life which was totally alien to her

CHAPTER THREE

IT seemed impossible to believe that she had been at Darkwater for nearly a rown lane which led fro out to be one of theshe had ever undertaken, but instead of depressing her, the restoration work on the tapestry pro that even the problee rather than a chore

The National Trust officials who had been working on the house had now completed their work—as it had been inhabited until the death of the owner very little had needed to be done, and Chelsea knew that the Trust had high hopes of opening the house to visitors the following summer

Because Darkwater was so reh—Chelsea was staying at the Dower House The nener, whoht-lipped fashion as ‘Mr Harold’s neas apparently away—Mrs Rudge had grudgingly informed her that he had considerable business interests which took hiood deal

‘Not that we ever saw much of him at all before he inherited,’ she had told Chelsea that ht up in the South, he was Mr Harold’s sister married one of them stockbrokers It would break Mr Harold’s heart if he kneas going on with the house an’ all’

‘It’s probably for the best,’ Chelsea had told her gently, guessing that the housekeeper’s feeling towards her late e from resentment at what she saw as a callous indifference to his fa on their ho it to the Trust will ensure that it’s preserved’ She knew that the Trust very rarely took on houses unless the donors were prepared to include a substantial sum of money for upkeep, which hy so many people were forced to sell their homes to developers, to be converted into f

lats and hotels

Her walk took her past a newly ploughed field Mist clung to the hedgerows as the ground dipped away; a faint ri her that it was less than a month to Christmas

The red tractor in the distance executed a neat circle, its driver lifting a checked shirt-clad arm

Chelsea waved back, her lips curving into a warh Meadohich had once been the home farm, had made her very welcome, especially Tom, the son of the fa in New Zealand when his father had suffered a heart attack, and as he ruefully told Chelsea, it was so one’s own life to return to the parental roof

Chelsea had found his mother to be a h she had been surprised when Chelsea told her what she was doing in the Borders

‘Restoring a tapestry?’ she had … a firescreen, is it?’