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Clare had expected her to throw herself at her father then, since after all the object of the exercise had been to get his full attention, but Tamara had taken one look at his weary face, full of shock, sadness and disappointment, and launched herself instead at a startled Clare When her father had touched her she had actually flinched, and Clare had instinctively cradled her protectively closer David hite under his olive skin and his eyes revealed a chilling pain that iftly superseded by a resentful resignation that Clare had no difficulty in interpreting Ironically, with this last gesture of futility, Tamara had achieved her aim She had rendered her father powerless He was jealous Whatever the difficulties between them, he was her father, and it should have been to David that she turned in tireatest woe

It took Clare an hour to calm Tamara dohile David reluctantlyIt all poured out, how ashamed David was of her, how heup his life Her wild, thoughtless sche to her side had backfired horribly She destroyed everything she touched Her father would never love her the way he used to He couldn't She had humiliated him once too often, failed him too many times

'Funny, that's just what he said—that he had failed you,' Clare told the sobbing girl as she guided her into a hot bath 'He's not perfect, you know, just because he's an adult He feels the same kind of hurt and confusion that you do And you're both wrong, anyway You can't talk about love in terms of success or failure It's not an exa And you certainly don't try to use it to control those you love The only person you can really control is yourself, and you did pretty well out there, Ta stupid but you faced up to it; you didn't try to run away People respect that Maybe you've learnt that running away only presents you with a new set of problems to face And maybe you'll soon realise that your father isn't so who can solve all those problems for you He's as much a victim of circumstance as you are Think about it'

She left Ta into the newly redecorated suite that they had moved into a few days before Miles's return

'She's in the bath,' said Clare huskily 'I've ordered her some soup and a hot drink—'

'So have I I a after her physical needs, at least,' he said curtly He hadn't even stopped to shave that ression to his tense features Clare forgave hi, grey hours of nail-biting anxiety and heard hi Tamara when he knew she was upset, for his ih concessions to her youth and vulnerability Clare hadn't dared to offer any easy platitudes, silently accepting his raging self-contempt as a way to keep his worst fears at bay Like a wounded bear in a trap, he would blindly lash out at any atte was probably couilt He needed to vent it before he faced his daughter

'Of course you are,' said Clare carefully She wanted to ease the burden, to tell him it was instinctive to seek sympathy from one's own sex 'But—'

'But you don't trust ine what's going through yourto me So much for ratulating yourself that you didn't letyou and Tim Tamara almost died because she felt that I had abandoned her,' he said jerkily

'David, about Tim…' Amid the tense exciteently break the news Although he was still dubious about living with stranger

s, his mind had been eased when Clare explained that, naturally, she would beto Auckland, too, if the school accepted Tiated the possibility further The if had been a clincher Tim's stubbornness reared its head It became a matter of Malcolm pride that he not suffer the mortification of rejection

'Forget it, Clare Forget everything I ever said Now, if you'll excuse ether I want her to relate to er's sy tomorrow'

Forget everything! Clare was still choking on that the next e Did he er, in that casual, dismissive voice That was a lethal bloice she had offered hiood excuses at the time, but maybe they were just a way to avoid the e her down flat!

'Clare?' She shied David was hovering on the steps to the lodge His wary expression changed to shock as he saw the damp patches on her track-suit, her wet hair, and the towel in her hand 'Did you fall in the lake?'

As if he cared if she drowned! 'I've been swi'

'In the lake? In the middle of winter? You must be crazy!'