Will He Ask Her to be His Bride?. Trish Wylie

course not. Mother was delighted to meet you again.’

      ‘I had the feeling you were not.’

      ‘I was surprised,’ she said sedately, as the car glided into place beside Sam’s in the garage. ‘I was expecting Sam.’

      ‘Would you have preferred that?’ he questioned hastily.

      Hester eyed him in surprise as she got out of the car. ‘Not particularly.’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘You disapprove of fraternisation among the hired help?’

      Connah threw back his head and laughed. ‘So there is some fire inside that cool shell. Come off it, Hester. You don’t look on yourself and Sam as hired help any more than I do. To me, Sam is both friend and employee, while you—’ he paused, thinking it over ‘—I’m not sure how to categorise you, exactly. I find it difficult to think of you as either nanny or housekeeper.’

      She eyed him in alarm. ‘You mean my work isn’t satisfactory?’

      ‘God, no, quite the reverse.’ Connah leaned on the roof of his car, eyeing her across it. ‘You take good care of my child, you cook well and you’re not only easy to look at, I’m very comfortable in your company. The hard part is thinking of you as an employee.’

      ‘Nevertheless, I am,’ she said matter-of-factly, ‘and right now I must do what you pay me for and put your daughter to bed.’ She turned as he followed her up the stairs to Sam’s level. ‘Once she’s settled for the night, I need to talk to you.’

      ‘Why do I get worried when you say that, Hester?’ he said, sighing. ‘All right. Do what you have to do, then come down and have a drink. And this time don’t say no. Serious discussion goes better over a glass of wine.’

      Lowri’s reception was so warm that Connah laughed as he reminded the child she’d been parted from Hester for only hours, not weeks.

      ‘It seemed like a long time. And I would have so liked to go with Hester to see her mother and Robert,’ said Lowri, sighing heavily.

      ‘They sent their love, and said they look forward to seeing you when you get back. And while you’re at the villa perhaps you’d like to send them postcards of the local scenery to show where you are,’ said Hester, and smiled at Connah. ‘Thank you for the lift.’

      ‘My pleasure. Goodnight, sleep tight, Lowri.’

      ‘Goodnight, Daddy.’ Lowri gave him a careless wave and slipped her hand into Hester’s. ‘Will you watch some television with me for a while? It’s early yet.’

      ‘It’s not early, young lady,’ said her father, ‘but Hester can stay with you for half an hour after she takes you up. But then you must get to sleep or you’ll be too tired to travel tomorrow.’

      Lowri brightened and jumped to her feet, full of questions about Hester’s parents as they made for the door.

      ‘Half an hour,’ called Connah. ‘Then I need Hester myself.’

      His choice of words had an unsettling effect that Hester couldn’t get rid of as she sat on her usual chair by Lowri’s bed to show her the wedding photographs she’d brought. Of course Connah hadn’t meant the words literally. But it would be good to be needed by someone like him as a woman, instead of as someone suitable to look after his daughter. Not just good—wonderful. And as much a fantasy as any of the dreams she’d woven about him when she was seventeen. Hester shook herself out of her reverie when she saw Lowri had fallen asleep.

      She went downstairs to knock on the study door and found Connah reading the Financial Times, a half empty glass on the table in front of him. He got up with a smile and went to the drinks tray.

      ‘What will you have, Hester?’

      ‘Tonic water, please. Lowri fell asleep quite quickly, by the way.’

      ‘No prizes for guessing why. Once you were there to settle her down, she was fine.’ Connah poured the drink, added ice and slices of lime and handed it to her, his eyes sombre. ‘She’s going to take it hard when you leave us.’

      ‘She’ll soon adjust when she’s back in school. She likes it there, she told me.’

      ‘Yes, thank God. Now sit down and tell me why you need to speak to me.’

      Hester described the incident outside the pharmacy. ‘It was the same man who asked directions the other night.’

      ‘Was it, by God?’ Connah’s face set in grim lines. ‘What did you do?’

      ‘I refused his help politely and stood my ground until he moved off. I would have liked Sam to get a look at him, but I couldn’t risk letting him anywhere near Lowri.’

      ‘Maybe it was quite innocent and the man was just trying to pick you up,’ said Connah and smiled, his eyes gleaming. ‘Who could blame him?’

      She flushed. ‘Possibly. But he looked familiar, which worried me. Though I’m sure I’d never seen him before the other night, unless he is the man in the park. I didn’t get a good enough look that day to be able to tell.’

      ‘But if you met this one again, you’d recognise him?’

      ‘Definitely. I was so pointed about not moving until he did, I had time for a good look at his face, also of his back view as he walked away. He was wearing casual clothes, but they were the expensive, designer kind, like his shoes. And he wore a Rolex watch,’ added Hester.

      Connah gazed at her with respect. ‘You’re very observant.’

      ‘In this case only because I thought it was necessary. I doubt I’d have noticed any of that in ordinary circumstances.’ She gave him a worried look. ‘I’m really glad we’re going away tomorrow. Whoever this man is, we’ll be out of his reach.’

      ‘Which was part of my reason for organising the holiday.’ Connah finished his drink, then sat back. ‘Right then, Hester, with that thought in mind, I want you to forget about the man and relax while we’re away. The house is a mile or so from the village, so there aren’t many people around to bother us. It has a private pool, a maid to do the housework and shopping, so you have nothing to do except keep Lowri entertained. No small task, as I know to my cost, even though you make it look easy.’

      ‘In my last post I looked after three-year-old twins,’ she reminded him. ‘After my stint with Seb and Viola, sweet children though they are, taking care of Lowri is a breeze.’

      ‘A theatrical household must have been interesting,’ he commented, leaning back.

      ‘It was.’

      ‘Did you meet many famous thespians?’

      ‘One or two, yes. But Leo and Julia, the twins’ parents, were on stage in different theatres during the last few months I was there, so I spent most of my time with only the twins for company.’

      ‘Quite a responsibility.’

      ‘True,’ agreed Hester, ‘but it’s what I was trained for. I was in at the deep end right from the start of my first job. I had to complete nine months of satisfactory work with the children of the first family who engaged me before I could actually qualify as a Norland-trained nanny.’

      ‘Which you did, of course, though I can’t remember your CV in detail. Were you with the first people long?’

      ‘Three years, until the family went to Australia. Beforehand they had recommended me to their friend, Julia Herrick, and I went straight to Julia a month before she gave birth to the twins.’

      ‘And when you leave us you’re going off to Yorkshire,’ said Connah, his eyes sombre. ‘I’m already dreading the day you part with Lowri.’

      So was Hester. ‘As I said before, it’s the part of my job I don’t enjoy.’ She finished her drink and stood up. ‘But now I’d better finish packing.’

      Lowri was fast asleep,