CATHERINE GEORGE - Reform of the Rake

She was halfway through the first chapter when a knock on the outer door brought Lowri bolt upright. She sprang off the bed, startled, and went out through the office, certain it must be Sarah or Rupert with some emergency. She unlocked the door then screeched in fright as Guy Seton pushed her back inside the office, slammed the door shut and stood with his back to it, a wild look about him which scared her rigid.

‘Now, now, Lowri,’ he said menacingly. ‘This isn’t at all friendly, is it? I need some comfort, some tender loving care, sweetheart.’

‘Well, you won’t get it from me!’ she snapped. ‘You shouldn’t be here.’

‘Why not? I asked if I could see you home. And here you are, and so am I. Let’s party!’ He stalked towards her, the restless, feverish aura about him now so pronounced that Lowri could have kicked herself for not recognising the cause sooner. Her unwanted visitor was obviously high on something a lot more dangerous than champagne.

‘Guy, please,’ she said, backing away. She tried to smile. ‘It’s late and I’m tired—’

‘Then come to bed,’ he said hoarsely, and reached for her.

Lowri fought him off savagely, but despite his slim build Guy Seton was strong; deceptively so. He managed to drag her, kicking and struggling, into the bedroom and on to her bed. Beside herself with rage, Lowri twisted and turned like an eel, her nails raking down his face, her teeth sinking into the mouth crushing hers, and Guy let out a howl and drew back, face contorted, clenched fist raised. Then suddenly he was flat out on the floor, felled by a savage blow from Adam Hawkridge, who stepped over the unconscious man without a second look, and hauled Lowri into his arms.

‘Are you all right? Did that bastard hurt you?’ he barked.

Her teeth were chattering so much Lowri found it hard to reassure him that apart from the odd bruise and the fright of her life she was fine.

‘How—how did you know—?’ she gasped.

‘Caroline was ready to go home and insisted her blasted brother go with us. When I couldn’t find him I made an educated guess. Thank the lord I did,’ he added harshly, and tipped her face up to his. ‘Were you saying the truth? He didn’t—harm you?’

Lowri’s face flamed. ‘If you mean did he rape me, no! And I didn’t lead him on, either—I swear I didn’t.’ Tears of reaction slid down her face. ‘I just don’t understand it. He stuck to me like glue all evening. In the end I got so fed up I escaped and came back here.

But—’ she gulped. ‘He followed me. That’s it, you know the rest.’

Adam held her close, patting her as though she were Emily. ‘There, there, it’s all over now. Shall I fetch Sarah?’

‘No! And for heaven’s sake don’t say a word to Rupert, either.’ She grimaced at the thought. ‘His explosion threshold’s a bit low, as you know. Let them finish the party in peace.’ A convulsive shudder ran through her. She swallowed a sob and Adam’s arms tightened.

He cursed under his breath and turned her face up to his. ‘Don’t, little one,’ he said urgently, ‘you’re safe now.’

As her tear-wet eyes met his Lowri’s heart gave a sudden thump and she breathed in sharply. For a moment they were utterly still, then Adam bent his head involuntarily to kiss her, the inflammatory effect of the contact so unexpected it took both of them by surprise. Lowri’s lips parted to the sudden seeking of his tongue and Adam’s arm tightened, his free hand cupping her head to hold her still as he kissed her with a fierce heat quite different from the comfort she knew was all he’d intended.

When he let her go, several earth-shattering moments later, Lowri almost staggered.

‘Hell and damnation!’ he said bitterly. ‘I’m no better than Seton.’

Lowri blinked, dazed, trying to smile. ‘Don’t say that. You—you were just comforting me.’

Adam’s eyebrows rose. ‘Was I, Lowri?’

She flushed, and looked away, biting her lip in sudden disgust as she caught sight of Guy Seton, still out to the world on her bedroom floor. ‘Ugh! What shall we do about—about that?’

For answer Adam bent down and slung the unconscious man over his shoulder with negligent ease. ‘I’ll just dump him in the back of the car and collect Caroline. I’ll have to put her in the picture, I’m afraid, but no one else need know.’ He manoeuvred Guy Seton’s body through into the office, motioning Lowri to open the outer door. ‘Is the coast clear?’

She peered around outside, nodded, then smiled up at him ruefully. ‘I’m deeply grateful to you, Adam. I rather fancy you saved me from a fate worse than death.’

Adam gave her a sombre look. ‘I feel responsible. I brought the bastard here tonight, after all. I’m very sorry, Lowri. For everything.’ He paused a moment, a sudden, irrepressible gleam in his eyes. ‘Well perhaps not quite everything,’ he amended, grinning, and hefted his unconscious burden more securely, waved his free hand, then made his way down the outer stair and disappeared through the gate in the wall.

When he was out of sight Lowri locked her door and shot the bolts into place, then stripped her bed and put clean sheets on it, thrusting thoughts of Adam’s kisses from her mind by concentrating fiercely on the debt she owed him. Without his timely appearance there could have been a great deal more to put right in her life than a mere change of bedlinen.

AFTER a restless night Lowri slept late next morning, and awoke at last to loud knocking on the office door. She jumped out of bed, pulling on her kimono.

‘Coming!’ she called, wincing at the pounding in her head, and went to the door to admit Dominic.

‘Mum says will you come over? You’ve had a telephone call.’ He eyed her in surprise. ‘Gosh, Lowri, what a shiner! How did you get that?’

Since Lowri could barely see out of one eye, the question came as no surprise. ‘I bumped into something,’ she said with perfect truth. Guy Seton’s elbow had rammed her eye while she was fighting him off. She smiled at Dominic. ‘Tell Mum I’ll be there as soon as I’ve dressed. I’ve been lazy this morning.’

One look in the bathroom mirror told her that trying to keep last night’s events from Sarah would be a complete waste of time. The truth, Lowri thought, resigned, will out whether I want it to or not. She frowned, realising she’d forgotten to ask Dominic who’d rung her.

Later, dressed in jeans and an old checked shirt, Lowri put on dark glasses to shield her eye from the bright sunshine and crossed the garden to join Sarah and Rupert in the kitchen.

‘Good morning,’ she said, smiling brightly. ‘Where’s Emily?’

‘Dominic’s keeping her amused until you’ve told us about the black eye,’ said Sarah promptly, pouring coffee.

Rupert plucked the glasses from Lowri and whistled. ‘Hell’s bells!’ his eyes narrowed dangerously. ‘Right. Tell me who did that, Lowri—now!’

‘First tell me who rang,’ she said quickly to divert him.

‘It was Adam,’ said Sarah, ‘He’s coming round later to take you out to lunch.’ She eyed Lowri militantly. ‘But never mind that—how on earth did you get that shiner?’

Lowri, trying to appear unaffected by the news that Adam intended taking her out, drank some coffee and gave a terse account of the encounter with Guy Seton. ‘So you don’t have to do battle for me,’ she told an incensed Rupert at the end of it. ‘Adam knocked Guy Seton cold last night on the spot. The man probably looks—and feels—far worse than I do this morning.’

‘I should bloody well hope he does,’ said Rupert savagely.

‘Is the eye the only damage?’ demanded Sarah urgently.

‘Yes. Adam arrived on the scene before Guy could have his wicked way with me.’ Lowri held out her cup for more coffee. ‘But it beats me why the wretched man should have been so intent on getting it. I’m not the type who drives men wild, now am I!’

‘You obviously appealed to Seton.’ Rupert scowled. ‘He took one look and kept sniffing round you all night. I would have done something about it, but he’s quite attractive, I suppose. You might have wanted it that way.’

‘I told you she wouldn’t,’ said Sarah with scorn. ‘Guy Seton’s bad news where women are concerned.’

‘Another heartbreaker, like Adam Hawkridge?’ asked Lowri slyly.

‘Adam would never be so crass as to assault anyone,’ said Sarah indignantly. ‘Guy was in school with Adam, I admit, but otherwise he’s not in the same class.’

‘Beats me what he was doing here at all.’ Rupert’s jaw set. ‘I’ll have a word with Adam, find out why the devil he brought the chap along in the first place.’

‘Caroline’s idea, probably—Adam seems fairly smitten in that direction from what I could see,’ said Sarah, and pushed a toast-rack towards Lowri. ‘Eat something.’

‘I’m not hungry.’

‘Possibly not, but if you drink any more black coffee on an empty stomach you’ll rattle like a castanet.’

Lowri gave in, and felt a little better afterwards, though angry with a fate which gave her a black eye for her lunch date with Adam Hawkridge. Any other time she’d have been on Cloud Nine at the mere thought of it. Even if he was smitten with Caroline.

‘Go and change your clothes, slap on some lipstick,’ advised Sarah, reading her mind. ‘You’ll soon feel more enthusiastic.’

Duly attired in a newish pair of cream denims, long pink cable sweater and dark glasses Lowri both looked and felt a great deal better by the time Adam arrived. She opened the office door to his knock, her smile wobbling slightly at the sudden, vivid memory of his kisses the night before.

‘Hello, Lowri,’ he said, smiling, and took her hand. ‘I’ve rather press-ganged you into this, I’m afraid, but I wanted time alone with you to explain the drama last night.’

‘It’s very kind of you to take the trouble,’ she said sedately, and took her time in locking the door to the flat.

‘I’ve had a swift word with Sarah and Rupert to put them in the picture.’ He ran down the stairs in front of her then turned at the bottom to hold out a steadying hand. ‘Not unnaturally, Rupert feels responsible for you. He came down on me like a ton of bricks about my part in the affair.’

‘But I told him you came to my rescue,’ Lowri assured him as they left the garden by the side door.

‘Rupert pointed out that if I hadn’t brought Guy Seton no rescue would have been necessary. And he’s right.’ Adam’s wide mouth twisted in disgust, then he smiled at her. ‘Let’s say goodbye then make for the open spaces. I’ve brought a picnic.’

Lowri gave him a delighted smile. ‘What a brilliant idea!’

Adam suggested Runnymede, and a quiet spot near the river for their picnic lunch.

‘The “banks of the sweetest river in the world” according to John Evelyn,’ he told her later. He spread a rug for her, then opened a picnic basket to serve her with smoked trout pâté, cold chicken savoury with rosemary and garlic, a small bowl of green salad and crusty fresh rolls to eat with fierce farmhouse cheese.

‘How did you manage all this on a Sunday morning?’ asked Lowri, impressed. ‘I bet King John didn’t do nearly as well the day he signed the Magna Carta here.’

Adam’s eyes danced beneath the heavy, straight eyebrows. ‘My mother saw to it. I told her I needed to feed a very charming young lady from Wales. When she’d expressed her surprised approval—my usual female company tends more to smart nightspots than riverside picnics—she gave me some of the goodies intended for my father’s lunch. Don’t worry,’ he added, as she gave him a startled look. ‘There was more than enough left over—for them and several others. My mother’s catering is generous.’