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The stuff ofthe trees A of rich pink cle down behind it from an old half-dead apple tree which looked as if it had been struck by lightning and no longer fruited

Sian made for it and sat down sideways, her knees clasped by her two hands and her feet on the end of the seat, propped on the elegant curled ironwork armrest

Cass was a ruthless man He had used her without scruple whenever he felt it necessary—to distract theup what his sister had done It didn't bother hi that it had been he who had forced her off the road and then driven on without stopping

Did thatin love with him? Or s for his own purposes without caring what that did to her?

She closed her eyes, then angrily opened theered one flower, played with the petals unthinkingly, shredding therass—soft, velvety, pink drifts a the whiskery stems

He was a mystery, a shadowed maze into which she had wandered, in which she was lost She didn't understand him at all, nor did she think he wanted her to!

She ought to leave now, right aithout seeing hi to ly difficult to believe he had ever been in love He didn't act like a man in love; he had made passes at her ever since they had met; and when he talked about Annette he didn't sound like a enuine excitement in his voice when he talked to her In fact, he spoke about Annette kindly, patiently, as if she were a child he was responsible for—even his fury over her flight had not been quite in keeping with the way a jilted bridegroom would feel It had been more the exasperation of someone who has beenher back only for her father's sake Had he seen her since the day he'd driven Sian back to London from the hospital? Had he tried to see her? If he had, he hadn't mentioned it, but then, he was a secretiveif he could avoid it

Athe treesto see Cass and steeling herself to send him away

It was athe leafy branches, but it wasn't Cass For an instant Sian had a primitive flash of terror She was alone and the unknown seemed sinister

Then he calade, and with a start of incredulity she recognised him

'Louis?'

'Hello,' he said, strolling over, very London-dressed in a srey tie slashed with pink stripes He looked totally out of place, totally wrong

'What on earth are you doing here?' Sian asked

'You don't seem too pleased to see , but she was long past the stage of placating him and she answered shortly

'I don't knohy you're here I wasn't expecting to see you'