'You're not-sniffing glue, or anything like that?' he asked unwillingly, choosing the least likely option he could think of, and she gasped.

'No, I'm not,' she told him shortly. 'I'm not stupid, Mr Kellerman. And I don't do drugs either, even though I have been offered them.'

Alex was horrified. To hear that this child had already been offered drugs at her young age filled him with anger. Dear G.o.d, he thought, where was it all going to end? When were children allowed to be children, for pity's sake?

'I'm glad to hear it,' he said now, making an effort to hide his real feelings. 'And if it's not drugs I don't think you have anything to worry about.'

'That's all you know,' she muttered rudely, getting out of the Range Rover and hauling her bag out after her. 'You try telling Mum that I didn't want to go shoplifting last term.'

He suspected she hadn't meant to tell him, and judging from her expression she regretted it as soon as the words were out. But she didn't say anything in her own defence. She probably thought she'd be wasting her time, he reflected, watching her a little ruefully as she clumped off across the yard.

He was going to have to leave her to it. He prepared to do a three-point turn to go up to the house. But before he could accomplish this it became obvious that she didn't know which way to go, and, stifling the voice that was warning him not to get involved, he turned off the engine and swung out of the car.

'Hey!' His initial yell didn't attract her attention, and, slamming the car door, he tried again.

'Joanne!' He used her name this time. 'Where are you going? The office isn't along there. It's over here.'

She halted, turned, and came back to him with obvious reluctance, the st.u.r.dy Doc Martens she was wearing giving her long legs a stalk-like appearance. In that respect she resembled her mother, too, he conceded. One of the first things he'd noticed about Kate was her long legs.

But before she could reach him the door that led to her mother's office flew open, and Kate herself emerged looking dismayed. 'Joanne!' she exclaimed, ignoring Alex for the moment in favour of her daughter. Then, acknowledging his presence with a nervous glance, she went on, 'What on earth are you doing here?'

'Mum-'

'Shouldn't you be in cla.s.s?' Kate didn't wait for her to finish before examining her watch. 'It's only eleven o'clock.' Another quick glance in Alex's direction, and then she said, 'Nothing's wrong, is it? Your grandmother hasn't-'

'Nan's fine,' Joanne said flatly, trudging nearer.

'Then why is Mr Kellerman-?'

'I met her at the gate.' Against his better judgement, Alex sauntered up to them, noticing Kate was shivering inspite of her ankle-length skirt and woollen cardigan. 'Hadn't you better go inside, before you catch a chill?'

'What?' She looked up at him almost blankly for a moment and he realised she was more upset than he'd thought. 'Oh, yes.' Dark lashes shadowed her grey eyes as she directed her daughter towards the lights of the office behind her. 'I've just made some tea, Joanne. Go and pour us both a cup.'

Alex's lips twitched. 'That's very civil of you after yesterday.'

'Oh-' Once again, he saw a trace of anxiety in her face. 'I didn't mean-' He knew exactly what she'd meant, but he didn't make it easy for her. 'That is, if you'd like to join us, Mr Kellerman, then naturally-naturally you'd be very welcome.'

'Would I?'

He regarded her quizzically. It was so easy to disconcert her, he thought, and he knew an unexpected feeling of regret that she was married and therefore out of his reach. With the experiences he'd had, there was no way he'd put any other man through what he'd had to go through, but nevertheless he had to admit he was intrigued by his newest employee.

'Of course,' she said now, squaring her shoulders, and he realised she expected him to accept.

'Some other time,' he said, nodding towards the open doorway Joanne had just pa.s.sed through.

'And go easy on your daughter, hmm? I think she's having a tough time at the moment.'

'You think what?' Kate stared at him coldly now and he guessed she resented his remark. 'I don't think the way I treat my daughter is anything to do with you, Mr Kellerman.' She straightened her spine, and then added with some vehemence, 'I don't think you're in any position to judge, do you?'

That stung, particularly this morning with the memory of Conrad Wyatt's latest tactics still sticking in his throat. 'Perhaps not,' he conceded coolly, choosing not to argue with her. 'I was merely offering an opinion. If I were her father-'

'But you're not,' she broke in heatedly. 'Joanne's father is dead, Mr Kellerman. He was killed in a car crash when she was barely two years old.'

'I'm sorry-'

Alex felt chastened, but this time Kate made a gesture of defeat. 'I'm not,' she told him flatly.

'And if that sounds hard to you, well-that's how I feel.' She took a breath. 'You see, he wasn't alone in the car when he died.'

'Ah...'

Alex nodded, and his understanding seemed to bring a change of heart. 'If I was rude just now,'

she murmured, 'I'm sorry.' She glanced over his shoulder. 'Is your daughter waiting in the car?'

'My daughter's not coming,' he informed her firmly, not at all surprised that she should know where he'd been. The grapevine at the stables was quite efficient, and he hadn't hidden his delight at the prospect of seeing Rachel again from Mrs Muir, or Sam Guthrie, for that matter.

'Oh.' She actually looked sympathetic. 'There's nothing wrong, is there? Is she coming another day?'

'Not if my father-in-law has anything to do with it,' remarked Alex pleasantly. Then, because the temptation to confide in her was too inviting, he rocked back on his heels and turned towards the car. 'I like your daughter,' he added, as a parting observation. His lips twisted. 'You must have been a teenager yourself when she was born.'

CHAPTER FIVE.

'I'M NOTsure your father would approve of what you're doing, Kate.'

Ellen Ross confronted her daughter across the supper table that evening, primed, no doubt, by Joanne that her investigation at the stables wasn't as straightforward as she'd have had them believe.

'I don't know what you mean, Mum,' Kate protested now, giving Joanne an irritated look. 'And if someone hadn't been playing hookey we wouldn't be having this conversation.'

'No, that's probably true.' Ellen Ross turned her attention to her granddaughter now, as Kate had hoped she would. 'I can't believe you behaved so recklessly, Joanne. What were you thinking of?'

Joanne hunched her shoulders. 'I just got caught up in it,' she said defensively. 'I didn't know what they were planning to do until I got there.'

"'There" being Daltons department store,' put in Kate dryly. 'You realise you're going to have to tell Mr Coulthard what's been going on?'

'Oh, Mum!'

'Well, there's no other way to handle it,' declared Kate reasonably. 'If you own up, I doubt if Daltons will bring a charge.'

'Bring a charge!' Joanne was horrified. 'Mum, I only took a lips tick, nothing else.'

'It's still shoplifting, Joanne,' replied her mother firmly. 'You knew it was wrong. That's why you stayed away from school.'

'I stayed away from school because-because they expected me to go with them again.' Joanne grimaced. 'He won't expect me to gra.s.s on the others, will he?'

'Gra.s.s!'

Her grandmother was appalled. 'Joanne, where do you get your expressions from?'

'Television,' said Kate flatly. 'And Mr Coulthard will ask you who was with you.' She bit her lip.

'I suppose whether you tell him or not is up to you.'

Joanne slumped over the table. 'Oh, G.o.d,' she groaned, 'I can't go back to that school again.'

'You don't have any choice,' said Kate, getting up to clear the dishes. 'Joanne, you're going to have to face those girls and tell them you're not a thief. You made a mistake, that's all. If they don't like it-well, it's not the end of the world. You'll make new friends who don't think you're a wimp because you don't get your kicks at other people's expense.'

'That's easy for you to say.'

'Actually, it's not easy for me to say,' replied her mother, running hot water into the sink. She cast Joanne a rueful look. 'As a matter of fact, it's very hard. I don't like the idea that you've got to deal with something like this in your second year at Lady Montford. But I'm sure you wouldn't like me to fight all your battles for you.'

'I suppose not.' Joanne straightened up reluctantly. 'But you will come with me to see Mr Coulthard tomorrow, won't you?'

'If I can get the time off,' agreed Kate, realising she'd have to ask Mr Guthrie. He might not be very pleased. As with Alex Kellerman, she'd never mentioned having a daughter to him.

'Will you have to ask Mr Kellerman?' asked her daughter at once, and Kate was reminded of her employer's remarks about Joanne. But before she could comment the girl turned to her grandmother. 'He's drop-dead gorgeous, Nan. Have you seen him?'

Ellen Ross's lips turned down. 'I've seen his picture in the newspaper,' she said dismissively.

'And "gorgeous" isn't an expression I'd have used.'

'Well-sort of brooding, then,' amended Joanne. 'And s.e.xy. I bet Mum's noticed that, if nothing else.'

'Joanne!'

'That will do, Joanne!'

The two women spoke inunison, and Kate felt an added twinge of anxiety at her daughter's words. 'You never did tell me what he said to you,' she added tautly. 'Or how you came to speak to a man you didn't know.'

Joanne pulled a face. 'Honestly, talk about the inquisition! I met him, right? I was hanging about at the gates when he drove in. He asked me what I was doing, and I told him I was looking for you. He gave me a ride down to the stables, and that's it.'

'You got into his car?' exclaimed her grandmother in an appalled tone, and Joanne looked to her mother for support.

'You knew that,' she said. 'And you didn't say anything about it.'

'Because I thought at first that his little girl was with him,' put in Kate shortly. 'And you don't need me to tell you my views about accepting lifts from strange men.'

'He isn't a strange man. He's your boss,' protested Joanne indignantly. She flung herself off her chair. 'In any case, I think he's really nice.' Her jaw jutted. 'He talked to me. He really talked to me, you know? Like I was an adult, not some dumb kid!'

'I don't talk to you like you're a dumb kid,' objected her mother at once, wondering what Alex Kellerman could have said to evoke this kind of response from her daughter. 'And-' she cast her mother a hopeful look '-perhaps we are overreacting a little bit. You were on Mr Kellerman's land, after all.'

'Even so...' began Ellen Ross, but Joanne wasn't listening to her.

'You do like him, don't you?' the young girl asked, giving her mother a sly look. 'I could tell.'

'You're talking nonsense!' exclaimed Kate hotly, plunging her hands into the soapy water in an effort to avoid any further discussion of Alex Kellerman. 'Come on. You can dry. Your grandmother can go and sit down for once.'

But later that evening, after Joanne had gone to bed, Ellen Ross returned to the subject of Kate's temporary employer. 'I still think taking a job at Jamaica Hill was going too far,' she declared.

'You don't really know anything about that man, and I don't like the idea that he's influencing Joanne now. How do you know he wasn't responsible for his wife's death? Somebody had to have put those horses into the wrong stalls, so why not him?'

Kate sighed. 'I think if Alex Kellerman had wanted to kill his wife he'd have chosen a more certain way of doing it,' she replied quietly.

'What do you mean?'

'Oh, Mum.' Kate shook her head. 'You know as well as I do that the chances of someone being killed by a fall from a horse are fairly slim. People fall from horses all the time without any serious injury. Or she could have been paralysed, brain-damaged, even. Neither of which would have achieved what he's supposed to have wanted to achieve.'

'Since when have you become such an expert?' asked her mother huffily. 'It seems to me that both you and Joanne have been taken in by Alex Kellerman's "s.e.xy" manner.' She used her fingers to denote the quotation marks, and then grimaced. 'Well, just be careful, Kate. You're not infallible and Alex Kellerman is a very clever man.'

Didn't she know it?

But Kate made no comment. She preferred not to have to explain her own reasons for thinking so to her mother and the knowledge that what the older woman had said was probably true didn't help. Not least that despite what she'd heard-and the warnings she'd given herself-she still found her employer an intriguing enigma. Not s.e.xually attractive, she a.s.sured herself, but fascinating nonetheless.

Kate went into her office early the next morning.

She made a point of calling in at the agency every two or three days to read her messages and check the post. Susie wasn't in that early, of course, and she and Kate usually kept in touch by phone. For the time being, Susie was in nominal charge of the office, and she had orders to try and postpone any enquiries and sign cheques for any service bills that came due in her employer's absence.

Today, Susie had left a couple of letters for her attention. One of them was from the insurance company who generally used her services in their inquiries, asking if she was free to accompany their a.s.sessor on a visit to see a claimant in Bath. The other was from the garage that serviced the Vauxhall, reminding her that it was due for its next road test at the end of the month.

More expense, thought Kate gloomily, appalled at how much of the two thousand pounds Henry Sawyer had given her she'd already spent. She'd earned some of it, of course, but she doubted he would think she was any further forward, and playing fencing games with Alex Kellerman wasn't getting her anywhere.

She studied the letter from Lingard's Life a.s.surance one more time before scribbling a note refusing the offer for Susie to type up when she came in. She thought ruefully that she would have liked nothing better than to be able to accept such an undemanding job. But insurance investigations didn't usually pay very large dividends, and in any case she was committed to her present client for the next two weeks at least.

She decided the letter from the garage could wait until later. Despite its age, the car was running reasonably efficiently at the moment, even if it did spend all its days and nights in the open air.

When her father was alive, and they'd all shared the house in Edgecombe Crescent, it had enjoyed the luxury of a garage. But the apartments where they now lived provided only parking s.p.a.ces, and Kate had had to invest in an alarm to protect the car.

She checked to see that there were no further messages on the answering machine, and then, after straightening the papers on her desk, she walked reluctantly towards the door. But she paused and took a last wistful look around the office. She missed the familiarity of these surroundings, she thought. She missed the antic.i.p.ation of what each new day would bring. But most of all she missed being herself. She simply wasn't cut out to live a lie.

Which was defeatist talk, she chided herself severely as she rattled down the stairs again and crossed the street to where she'd left the car. She was letting the slow progress she was making influence her thinking, when it took time to gain the confidence of her fellow employees. She had to find a way to talk to Billy Roach again. She was fairly sure he knew more about Alicia Sawyer's disappearance then he'd said. But, first of all, she had to see Mr Guthrie and ask him for some time off this morning. She doubted he'd be very pleased to hear that she was a single mother, let alone that she was going to have to try and find some way to explain her daughter's misdemeanours to her head teacher.

Her confidence received something of a blow when she arrived at Jamaica Hill to find Alex Kellerman's mud-spattered Range Rover parked at the stables. She looked about her rather apprehensively as she pulled into the s.p.a.ce beside the other vehicle. But to her relief there was no sign of her employer. Only Billy, and one of the other apprentices, hosing down the yard.

She acknowledged their greetings, but now was not the time to look for answers. She guessed Kellerman was with Sam Guthrie, and until he left her request would have to wait. It was just her hard luck that he'd chosen to visit the stables this morning. Still, she had plenty of time. Her appointment with Mr Coulthard was not until ten o'clock.

When she opened her office door, a pleasing wave of warmth enveloped her. It was a bright morning, but it was cold, and she was glad Mr Guthrie had remembered to turn on her fire. He didn't always do so and sometimes the room felt as cold as charity. She hoped it was an omen. He must be in a good mood.

She had loosened her tweed jacket and was unwinding the green chenille scarf from her neck when Mr Guthrie's office door opened. Half expecting it to be Alex Kellerman, Kate managed not to look too dismayed when he appeared. At least he was leaving, which was good news. But although she waited for Mr Guthrie to follow him out Alex appeared to be alone.

'Good morning,' he said, his lean dark face far too knowledgeable for her liking. 'I thought you'd like to know that Sam won't becoming in today. His wife rang to say he's not feeling so good.' He shrugged his shoulders. 'She thinks he might be getting the flu.'