A Masterful Man. Lindsay Armstrong

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      CHAPTER THREE

      ‘I ALWAYS say to people that Mr Warwick is a lovely, lovely man. I know! I know he can be a bit hard to handle sometimes, but he’s really dependable.’

      Davina drew a deep breath and stared a little helplessly at Steve Warwick’s cleaning lady, who resembled nothing so much as a talking, walking beach ball, from her round red face to her round, brightly clad figure. ‘Well, I wouldn’t know yet,’ she murmured.

      ‘Take it from me, luv,’ Maeve confided. She had not, in fact, stopped talking since they’d met an hour ago. ‘Now, is there any china you’d like me to get out and dust off? Mrs Warwick—that’s his grandmother—she’s got an eye like an eagle. She could see a speck of dust on them rafters.’ Maeve looked upwards and pointed. ‘So—’

      ‘No, no thank you,’ Davina said hastily and looked around a little wildly. ‘Uh—oh, yes, I’d like their bathrooms to be polished up if you wouldn’t mind, Maeve. Then perhaps you could start the ironing. I’ve aired some sheets for them on the line, I’d like them to go through the Elna Press.’

      ‘Certainly!’ Maeve said with a wide smile. ‘I love that machine. Takes an awful lot of the slog out of ironing. See what I mean about him, Davina? Mr Warwick? It’d be a lucky wife who got him; there’s not a thing to make housekeeping easier he hasn’t thought of!’ And with this further paean of praise she rolled upstairs with bucket and mop and an assortment of cleaning agents.

      Davina breathed a sigh of relief and made herself a cup of coffee. She also darted a barbed thought at Maeve’s Mr Warwick who could have warned her beyond simply wishing her good luck, she felt—added to all the other things she felt about him. But, as the day wore on, she got more used to Maeve’s ways and found that as long as she wasn’t given anything too delicate to do, she was a tower of strength. She even cleaned and shone the barbecue which had been neglected since its last use with vigour and much good will.

      All the same, when she left at three o’clock, the peace and silence was like a blessing. Davina walked around the house and decided it was nearly perfect and also decided that she was hot, it was a beautiful day, and she’d like nothing more than a swim. So she put her togs on beneath short white shorts and a shirt, stowed a beach towel in the carrier of the bike she chose, donned a helmet and set off towards Blinky Beach.

      It was sheer magic pedalling through the golden afternoon with green, green grassy fields leading down towards the lagoon on one side and wooded hills rising on the other. She passed a dell of agapanthas and had to stop and simply gaze at their blue and white heads tossing gently in the breeze. She also couldn’t help but feel glad that Steve Warwick had chosen the almost deserted southern end of the island for his house because the feeling of space and aloneness didn’t disturb her at all now.

      Past the airport she discovered a swamp full of birdlife alongside a paddock of contented cows and she made two resolutions: never to leave home without her camera again, and to buy a book so that she’d be able to identify all the birds.

      There was the inevitable bike rack at the bottom of the steps that led over the grassy slope to Blinkys, with several bikes in it and she added hers to it with a slight smile. The beach, she discovered, was perfect. A long crescent of fine sand beneath the almost limitless blue sky, bordered at each end by rocky outcrops and with a decent surf rolling in. The few people on it looked tiny and insignificant and she wasted no time.

      The water was delicious, cold and bracing at first but, once you were in, marvellously refreshing. She was a good swimmer and enjoyed surfing and she must have spent half an hour playing in and under the waves before she caught a roller back to the beach, and stood up with water cascading off her and wiping it out of her eyes to come face to face with Steve Warwick.

      ‘Why, Davina.’ His hazel eyes laughed at her. ‘I thought it might be you!’

      She took in, in one swift look, his bare chest, his black board-shorts, the freckles on his arms and legs, his lean, hard physique, and said the first thing that came to mind, ‘What are you doing here?’

      ‘The same as you, my lovely mermaid, the same as you,’ he drawled, but there was nothing swift in the way his gaze lingered on her figure beneath her pink swimsuit and he smiled as his eyes met hers again. ‘I’ve come to cool off in other words. I often do on the way home in the afternoon. Although, you’re looking at me as if there should be a law against it,’ he mused.

      ‘There should be a law against the way you’re looking at me,’ she retorted fiercely.

      ‘Sorry,’ he murmured, but his eyes laughed at her again. ‘I think we’ve been through this before, I’m talking about the—er—men will be men syndrome. Is that a good way of putting it?’

      Davina opened her mouth but decided to storm off instead, something she was unsuccessful in simply because he put out a hand, took one of hers in it so that she couldn’t free herself, and said in a different voice entirely, ‘No, let’s not ruin a beautiful afternoon like this, Davina. Come in and have another swim. I need a break and I wouldn’t be surprised if you did too.’

      She tightened her mouth but out of the corner of her eye noticed that a couple strolling along the beach had stopped and were watching them interestedly. ‘Damn,’ she muttered, and then, ‘All right, but you don’t have to hang on to me as if I was a prisoner.’

      So she had another swim and was perversely pleased that she was able to go out as far he did and do everything he did but of course, pride often comes before a fall she was to remember later. Her downfall came in the form of a dumper which caught them both by surprise but he reacted faster and, with all the strength he was capable of, grabbed her just as she was about to cartwheel into the sand and held her safe in his arms as the wave surged beneath them. He then coasted gently into the shore, still holding her. They lay together in the shallows as she spluttered a bit and took some deep breaths to restore air to her lungs.

      ‘Davina?’ he said after a few moments.

      ‘Mmm...?’

      ‘OK?’

      ‘Yes,’ СКАЧАТЬ