Susan Stephens Selection. Susan Stephens

must come to the cottage and visit me.’ She took the old lady’s free hand in a firm grip and squeezed it encouragingly.

      ‘I never leave the château,’ the Countess explained apologetically, shaking her head. ‘I don’t feel safe—not since the accident.’

      ‘You’ll feel safe with me,’ Kate promised fervently.

      ‘We’ll see,’ the Countess said wistfully. ‘Will you take me back now, Guy? Come with us, Kate. Guy will take you home when he has seen me to my room.’

      On impulse, Kate lifted the Countess’s hand to her lips. ‘I’ve missed you,’ she said shyly.

      The Countess stroked her hand down Kate’s hair as she studied her face with a still clear gaze. ‘And I’ve missed you, my dear Kate. More than you know.’

      ‘You look as if you’ve lost a penny and found a pound,’ Megan exclaimed as they clashed pots together in the sink the next morning.

      Kate touched her hands to her cheeks, remembering her visit with the Countess that had more than made up for her lapse of control with Guy. Fortunately, with his mother uppermost in both their minds, she had been spared his teasing on the drive home. Megan’s face lit up at the news of Kate’s encounter with the Countess. ‘It might not be much,’ she said wisely when Kate explained how short and unusual her visit had been, ‘but it’s the first small step towards recovery. Now we have to persuade her to visit us here at the cottage.’

      ‘How’s your migraine?’ Kate enquired, although Megan looked as fit as a fiddle.

      ‘Never mind that. Do I detect a feverish glow in those emerald eyes of yours?’ Megan countered. ‘And don’t tell me that’s a love-bite on your neck?’ she said, furiously working the wire wool over the frying pan.

      ‘I don’t know what you imagine, but I can assure you that Guy has no romantic interest in me whatever. And, as for a love-bite—’ Fat chance! Kate thought ruefully. ‘I just rubbed myself too hard with the towel this morning after my shower.’

      ‘If you say so—’

      ‘I do say so.’

      ‘Ah, well then.’ Megan sighed. ‘But did my little ruse work?’ she demanded, keeping her eyes fixed resolutely on her task.

      ‘Your little ruse?’

      ‘That’s right,’ Megan said as she lifted her head to quiz Kate. ‘You see, I thought that if I just left you with him…’

      ‘You left me on purpose!’ Kate exclaimed incredulously. ‘How could you do that? How could you leave me alone with Guy?’

      ‘I made such a mess of everything earlier—scattering those paint brushes—I just thought if I left the two of you alone together it would solve all your problems.’

      Kate’s facial expressions ran the gamut from surprise and then on to amusement as she realised what Megan was getting at. ‘What? Buy him off with my body, you mean?’

      ‘It’s a thought…’

      ‘Megan! If it was anyone but you…’

      ‘Well, it isn’t,’ Megan said gruffly.

      ‘I know,’ Kate said, giving her a hug. ‘You’re as bad as ever.’

      ‘I certainly hope so.’

      ‘But, for your information…’

      ‘Yes?’ Megan prompted eagerly.

      ‘Nothing happened,’ Kate said flatly. And that was all she was prepared to admit, even if Megan was giving her one of her special narrowed eyes looks. And it was thanks to Guy’s self-control rather than her own shaky willpower that she was able to make that proud assertion at all, she realised ruefully.

      ‘Pity.’

      ‘You’re impossible, Megan O’Reilly.’ Kate sighed with exasperation. ‘Sleeping with Guy isn’t the answer.’

      ‘Not for you, maybe, but for every other woman on the planet.’

      ‘He doesn’t want me, I’ve told you that already,’ Kate asserted, determined to shoot Megan’s grand plan out of the sky once and for all. ‘He’s only playing games with me—just like he always has done. And, if following some extreme lapse of judgement I did sleep with him, how do you think he would react when he found out that I had pulled the wool over his eyes?’

      ‘And you really think you can do that?’

      ‘What?’

      ‘Pull the wool over his eyes,’ Megan said, clearly unconvinced.

      ‘Well, I can try,’ Kate said, feeling dejected too suddenly as she contemplated the enormity of the task she had set herself. It was one complication she could certainly do without.

      ‘Have you not tried to talk him round?’

      ‘There’s no point,’ Kate said. ‘He’s absolutely adamant.

      ‘Ah, well then.’ Megan sighed with a frown. ‘If direct confrontation won’t work, we’ll just have to let him get used to the idea slowly.’

      It was perhaps as well Megan had no idea what they were up against, Kate thought. Even without Guy’s disapproval, it was one thing expecting Megan to see her way around the cottage with candles in the evening, but it was quite another to expect paying guests to do the same. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll work something out,’ she said, hoping to sound more confident than she felt.

      ‘That’s my girl.’

      As she gave Megan a quick hug, Kate remembered how much was at stake for her friend. ‘I’ll show you,’ she promised fiercely.

      ‘Of course you will,’ Megan murmured soothingly. ‘Of course you will, my pet.’

      The single imperative bleep of Kate’s mobile phone drove them apart. ‘I don’t suppose you’d like to answer that?’ Kate suggested wryly.

      ‘Not a chance,’ Megan retorted, matching her mood with a lopsided grin.

      Kate hesitated a moment and then picked up the phone.

      ‘Well?’ Megan demanded after a lengthy period of thoughtful hums from Kate, mingled with some muted agreement. ‘Who was it?’

      ‘Madame Duplessis,’ Kate revealed in a voice taut with surprise and pleasure. ‘Madame le Comtesse has asked whether she might pay us a short visit…’

      ‘I told you,’ Megan broke in excitedly. ‘She’s going to take the first step to recovery, thanks to you.’

      ‘That’s overstating my involvement,’ Kate said. ‘It was Guy who brought us together.’

      ‘But it’s up to us now to do all we can to help her,’ Megan pointed out.

      ‘I know,’ Kate agreed.

      ‘That poor woman hasn’t been out of doors since the accident,’ Megan went on, ‘and that’s more than six months ago now.’

      ‘I’m as anxious about her as you are.’

      ‘It’s up to us to heal her spirit—bring her here and then…’

      Megan’s eyes were dancing with enthusiasm and Kate hated to bring her down to earth. ‘Take her into our confidence?’

      ‘Yes, why not?’ Megan agreed passionately. ‘Maybe she can talk Guy round for you.’

      ‘No,’ Kate said firmly. ‘The last thing Guy’s mother needs is to be drawn into a dispute between us.’

      ‘She’s made of stronger stuff than you think,’ Megan said directly.

      ‘I’m not prepared to risk upsetting her,’ Kate said. ‘And, whatever you say to try and