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‘Are you all right? You sound a bit distracted.’
‘Someone’s ringing the doorbell; I’d better go and see who it is. It’s probably only some sleazy door-to-door salesman trying to palm off something cheap and nasty that nobody in their right mind would want,’ she said, aiming the gritty words directly at Duncan. ‘Yes, yes—of course I’ll be careful, Stephen. Bye!’
‘Very smooth,’ said Duncan as she flipped off the ‘talk’ button, and propped the phone on the narrow ceramic pipe that she used as an umbrella stand. ‘Do you think he believed you?’
She planted her hands on her hips, and herself squarely in the centre of the doorway.
‘What are you doing here?’
He was wearing another pair o
f jeans, this time white, and a multicoloured woven waistcoat over a collarless white Indian cotton shirt—a striking combination that made Kalera, in her plain blue denims and ribbed pink top, feel very ordinary…but then that was no different from usual!
What was different was the way that her heart was knocking in her chest—not with apprehension, but in fizzing anticipation of another stormy clash.
Duncan eased his foot from the door and, when he saw that she wasn’t going to budge, composed his handsome face into sober lines.
‘I came to say I’m sorry for last night,’ he said quietly, with the ease of a man who was as open about his faults as he was frank with the rest of his emotions. ‘I lost my temper and said some things that I shouldn’t have…rude, crude and hurtful things that you had every right to treat with bitter contempt. I abused your hospitality and sullied a precious memory of sweet rapture by throwing it back in your face as an insult. My only explanation—because I know it’s not an excuse—is that I was overwhelmed by genuine, strong feelings that were just too big for me to keep inside…
‘I hope you can forgive me and give me another chance—I don’t want to lose our friendship…’
Kalera’s attention, which had briefly snagged on that ‘precious memory of sweet rapture’, caught up with what he was saying. She didn’t trust him when he was being meek and humble and yet she knew him well enough to recognise when he was truly sincere. That sincerity tugged at her heartstrings, even though she noticed that he wasn’t apologising for his deeds, only his words.
She folded her arms across her chest. She had forgiven him so many times in the past for his fiery displays of temperament that perhaps he was justified in thinking that all he had to do was ask.
‘I’ll think about it.’
His boot edged tentatively back up onto the doorstep. ‘Perhaps we could go inside and talk it over—sort out where we go from here…’
Panic flared in her eyes. ‘I was just going out.’
His gaze wandered down to where her bare toes curled against the doormat and his mouth twitched at the sight of her frosted pink toenails. ‘Like that?’
‘I was just about to put my shoes on and get my bag when the phone rang—’
‘Where are you going?’ He interrupted her earnest efforts to sound convincing. ‘Shopping?’
‘Why?’
He shrugged. ‘Perhaps I could come with you and we can talk at the same time.’
‘No, we can’t. I’m going over to my parents’ place for lunch.’ Kalera was getting so good at lying she almost believed herself!
‘Oh.’ He glanced over at her car, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully. ‘I remember meeting them briefly at Harry’s funeral,’ he murmured. ‘Perhaps I can give you a lift. Where do they live?’
‘Not far,’ she evaded. If she gave him an address he was quite capable of turning up there himself. ‘But I want to take my own car. Look—I’ll be late if I don’t get a move on…’ She glanced pointedly at her watch.
He leaned on the door jamb. ‘OK. I’ll wait here while you get your things.’
Oh, no! ‘For God’s sake, why?’ she blurted.
‘My mother drilled into me that a gentleman always walks a lady to her car,’ he replied glibly. ‘Go on…I promise I won’t sneak inside as soon as your back is turned.’
If he suspected her of lying he had just effectively called her bluff.
Trapped, Kalera had no choice but to do as he had bid. If she had to go out to get rid of him she might as well turn fiction into fact and play the dutiful daughter, she thought, digging in her handbag for her car keys as she returned to the front door.
Duncan offered his elbow to her and grinned when she responded with a frosty cold shoulder. Not even Stephen was so ridiculously punctilious that he insisted on escorting her to her own car parked in broad daylight on her own property!
