Sweet Surrender (The Dysarts) (5 page)

‘I keep very busy,' she assured him. ‘Teaching is no nine-to-five job. And apart from the usual routine I run the after-school science club, help out on school trips and various fund-raising events, co-produce the school plays. Socially I see a film or share a meal in Hereford with colleagues, and so on. In summer I like grubbing
about in my cottage garden, and in winter I belong to the village dramatic society—'

‘How about men?' he asked abruptly. ‘The one I saw the other day, for starters?'

Kate shrugged. ‘Alasdair's an old college friend. He's just returned from the States to work in this country.'

He shot her a searching blue glance. ‘Does that mean he'll be monopolising your social life from now on?'

Deciding it was a waste of time to object to this man's bluntness, Kate shook her head. ‘I don't let any one person monopolise my social life, Mr Spencer—'

‘Jack.' He smiled at her. ‘Go on. It's very easy to say. Try it.'

She smiled back. ‘Jack, then.'

‘Much better,' he said with satisfaction, and held out his cup for a refill. ‘Besides this Alasdair, are there other men in your life?'

‘Two I go out with occasionally at home. Separately, of course,' she added demurely.

Jack Spencer grinned, then sat back in his chair, his keen blue eyes challenging hers. ‘Right. I now know a little about you. But you haven't asked me anything about myself. Does that mean you're not interested?'

‘No.' She returned the look squarely. ‘Just polite.'

He shrugged the impressive shoulders his suit jacket had obviously been custom-made to fit. ‘In which case I'll supply answers to the questions you're too polite to ask.'

‘You don't have to,' she said hurriedly, but he leaned forward, invading her space. ‘I'm single, solvent, thirty-nine last birthday, and I build houses. That's about it.'

‘And you're Abby's uncle,' she reminded him, as he sat back.

‘True.' He raised a quizzical eyebrow. ‘Does that help my case?'

‘What case exactly?'

‘I like you, Katharine Dysart.' He smiled crookedly. ‘And I want you to like me. Do you?'

Kate stared at him for a moment. ‘Are you always this direct?'

‘No. I can be as devious as the next man when necessary,' he assured her. ‘But where you're concerned I'm playing it straight. Will you have dinner with me tonight?'

Her eyes opened wide for a moment, then she began to laugh. ‘Which question shall I answer first.'

‘If you say yes to dinner I shall take it for granted you like me!' The blue eyes gleamed with amusement Kate found disarming. And she rather wished she could say yes.

‘Sorry. I'm going out with a friend.'

‘The college friend?'

‘No. A different one.'

He thought for a moment. ‘I'm involved in a working dinner tomorrow night. Thursday's the only evening I've got free otherwise. How does that suit you?'

‘Sorry. I'm seeing Alasdair on Thursday.'

‘Busy lady,' he said lightly, and fixed her with a steely blue look. ‘Or are you just letting me down lightly, Miss Katharine Dysart?'

‘Not at all. Friends call me Kate, by the way,' she added.

‘Then so shall I.' He looked at his watch. ‘Time up, Kate. I'll drive you back to Dysart's.'

After he'd negotiated the centre of town she directed him into the auction house car park just as Adam was
emerging from his car, with eyebrows raised when he spotted his sister with a stranger.

‘This one of the friends?' muttered Jack, as he retrieved Kate's bags from the back seat.

‘No, my brother.' She called Adam over. ‘Adam, this is Jack Spencer. Uncle of one of my pupils.'

The men shook hands, sizing each other up, and, to Kate's amusement, appeared to approve of what they saw.

‘I must come along to one of your auctions some time,' said Jack after greetings were exchanged. ‘I need some furniture in keeping with a cottage I'm doing up.'

‘What period?' said Adam, interest caught at once.

‘Early nineteenth century.'

‘Come and have a browse round any time,' said Kate. ‘Dad's the furniture man.'

‘I'd be happy to,' said Jack, and handed over a pile of bags to Adam. ‘Your sister's shopping. Good to have met you.' He turned to Kate. ‘I hope I'll be luckier next time.'

She smiled. ‘Thanks for the coffee.'

Adam watched the Jeep out into the street, then grabbed Kate by the elbow. ‘What did he mean by that?'

‘He wanted me to have dinner with him, but I'm going out tonight,' she said, shaking him off irritably. ‘Preferably free of bruises.'

‘What about Alasdair?' he demanded.

‘What about him?'

‘Is he your date for tonight?'

‘No. I'm seeing him on Thursday. Tonight, just so you're completely up to date, I'm going out with Toby.' Kate grinned. ‘Close your mouth, brother dear. Gaping doesn't suit you.'

‘How long have you known this Spencer chap, then?' asked Adam, as they went inside.

‘Since last Friday.'

‘He seems pretty friendly after such a short time!'

‘How long did you know Gabriel before you felt “friendly”?' she countered.

Adam paused outside his father's office, frowning. ‘Are you serious about this man, then?'

‘Not in the least. I'm not serious about Toby or Phil, either. Not even Alasdair.' Kate shook her head at him. ‘I know this social whirl is a little unusual for a sober schoolmarm like me—'

‘I don't think of you that way,' he said indignantly.

‘No. But Fenny does. And she's right. So I've decided to turn over a new leaf and become a social butterfly instead!'

F
RANCES
D
YSART
was astonished when she heard that in the short time since parting with her daughter Kate had not only managed to run into Jack Spencer, but have coffee with him at the Chesterton.

‘Take her straight home, Frances,' said Tom Dysart, chuckling, ‘or who knows what else she might get up to.'

Kate blew him a kiss, then asked her mother to drive on the way back to Stavely. ‘Can't have Toby thinking I look like a hag tonight.'

‘Where's he taking you? The Forrester's Arms? No, I suppose not, if you're going there with Alasdair on Thursday. How about tomorrow? Anyone lined up for that, or will you grace the family table?'

‘Unless I get a better offer!'

‘You should have let me buy you another dress for your dinner with Alasdair,' scolded Frances.

‘The one I've got will do very well,' protested Kate. ‘I'm told it's flattering.'

‘Very flattering,' said her mother darkly. ‘A good thing you're small.'

‘If you mean it clings a bit, it's meant to.'

Frances sighed, impatient with herself. ‘I'm an idiot. I worry that you lead too quiet a life in Foychurch, and now I'm fussing because your social life's gone up a gear. But Toby's an old friend, Alasdair too, so I don't have to worry about them.'

‘Mother, you don't have to worry where Jack
Spencer's concerned either. Quite apart from the fact that he's related to one of my pupils, Adam liked him,' Kate reminded her.

‘So he did,' said her mother, brightening, and overtook a heavy goods lorry with panache.

 

‘How was Toby?' said Frances next day, over the lunch they'd invited Gabriel to share with them. ‘Was it a good film?'

‘Toby was the same as usual—pleasant, relaxing company—likewise the film.' Kate grinned at her mother. ‘And, yes, he kissed me goodnight, and, no, I'm not seeing him again this half-term, but I probably shall when I'm home next.'

‘I'm just interested,' said Frances, unrepentant, and held out her arms for her grandson. ‘Alasdair rang last night, Kate. Said he couldn't get you on your cellphone.'

‘I left it at home for once. What did he want?'

‘Officially to confirm dinner with him tomorrow night. So he said.' Frances smiled smugly over the baby's head. ‘But I think he just wanted a chat with you.'

‘So what did you tell him?'

‘That you were out with a friend. I asked if I could take a message, and he told me to say he'd call for you at seven tomorrow.'

Kate raised an eyebrow. ‘We'd already arranged that.'

‘Aha, he's keeping tabs on you. I hope you said Kate was with a
male
friend, Frances,' said Gabriel, laughing.

‘I thought I'd better leave that to her!'

Kate glanced at Gabriel's heavy eyes. ‘Tuck Hal up in his buggy and I'll take him for a stroll now it's cleared up a bit. Go home for a nap. Auntie'll take over for a couple of hours.'

Kate was very thoughtful, later, as she pushed the
buggy down a quiet lane in an afternoon bright with sunshine now rain had washed the snow away. She found it increasingly hard to believe in this new, persistent Alasdair who rang her so often. In their Cambridge days he'd treated her with affectionate indulgence, as though she were a clever child rather than an attractive female, with a full set of the normal feelings and needs that implied. Yet now that he apparently did see her as an attractive woman, she was no longer starry-eyed about him. Nor about any other man. Kate smiled down at the small sleeping face just visible above the covers in the buggy. Amazing that all men were as cute and helpless as this to start with. Even Alasdair.

This was hard to believe when Alasdair Drummond presented himself prompt at seven at Friars Wood the following evening. In a khaki crew neck sweater and black denims, a khaki reefer jacket hanging loose from his shoulders, he looked tall and tough and anything but helpless. Or cute.

‘Hi. Are you ready, Kate?' He gave her the familiar bone-dissolving smile as she beckoned him inside.

‘You're on time, Alasdair. Have a chat with my father while I get my coat.' She left him with Tom Dysart in the study and went to the kitchen, where her mother was humming along to the radio while she put the finishing touches to the evening meal.

‘Alasdair's here,' Kate announced. ‘He seems anxious to get going.'

Frances eyed her, frowning. ‘I thought you were going to wear the gold dress again.'

Kate shook her head. ‘It's cold, and the Forrester's is only a pub, no matter how good the food is, so I thought I'd be comfortable.'

In actual fact she
had
put the dress on at first, then
changed into jeans and a cinnamon wool sweater which clung even more than the dress. And instead of leaving her hair down she'd twisted it up securely, but with the odd curling tendril left to look as though it had escaped by accident.

‘You look very pretty just the same,' conceded her mother. ‘What coat are you wearing? Surely not the windbreaker you wear for school?'

‘Why not?' said Kate carelessly. ‘Come and say hello to Alasdair while I fetch it.'

 

‘Did your mother tell you I rang the other night?' asked Alasdair, when they were on their way.

‘Yes. I was out with a friend.'

‘The man I saw at your place the other day?'

‘No. A different friend. Son of my mother's bosom pal. Toby's the junior partner with a firm of local accountants.'

Alasdair drove in silence for a while, then cast a frowning glance in her direction. ‘Harking back to the man I ran into at your place—you said he was important. How important?'

‘I don't know yet. I haven't known him long.'

‘Has Adam met him?'

‘Yes.'

‘Does he approve?'

Kate gave him a hostile glance. ‘It doesn't matter whether Adam approves of Jack Spencer or not, but as it happens he does.'

‘So why didn't you ask the man along on Sunday?'

‘Because it was a family thing.'

‘
I
was there,' Alasdair pointed out.

‘Not by my invitation.'

He threw a hostile glance at her. ‘I'm beginning to think this was a mistake.'

‘We could always turn back.'

‘Is that what you want?'

She shrugged. ‘Not particularly. I'll have missed dinner by now.'

‘So you'll bear with my company as long as I provide you with food?' he said with sarcasm.

Kate felt sudden contrition. ‘Alasdair, if I've been unfriendly I'm sorry. But last time we met—by which I mean years ago, when you wiped the floor with me for wasting my so-called talents—we parted on bad terms. Did you really expect me to welcome you with open arms when you turned up again out of the blue?'

‘If I did I was out of luck,' he said morosely, and sighed. ‘Look, Kate, I miscalculated by turning up at your school last week without warning. I know I should have got in touch first, but I was feeling pretty low after my grandmother's funeral. There was an early hotel lunch for the mourners afterwards so my parents could drive back to Scotland straight after it. I couldn't face the empty house on my own for a while, so on impulse I drove to see you.'

‘And got a cold shoulder for your pains,' said Kate wryly.

‘You could say that. There's a sign ahead,' he added. ‘Do I turn here?'

‘Yes. The pub is a little way down on the right.'

The Forrester's Arms was popular, and Alasdair had to nudge his way through the crowded bar to clear a way for Kate. She waved at several familiar faces, then in response to a beckoning hand took Alasdair over to meet Chris and Jane Morgan, from the farm near Friars Wood.

‘Squeeze in here with us. We're going in for a meal shortly,' said Chris. ‘How are you, Kate?'

‘Fine,' she said, smiling, and introduced Alasdair. ‘Adam recommended this place, but I didn't know it was so busy mid-week.'

‘It's the new chef—his way with pastry is out of this world,' said Jane, smiling at Alasdair. ‘I hope you booked.'

He confirmed that he had, then went off to buy drinks, leaving Kate to answer questions about the newest Dysart arrival for a while.

‘So is this Alasdair the current boyfriend?' asked Chris, with the familiarity of someone who'd known Kate all her life.

‘Friend, not boyfriend,' she corrected. ‘We were students together for a while, back in the mists of time.'

‘Listen to the old lady,' mocked Jane, eyeing Alasdair's back view with approval. ‘
Very
nice, Kate. Ah! Mrs Jennings is waving a menu at us, Chris. Our dinner must be ready.'

Her large husband leapt up with alacrity. ‘Great, I'm starving. Nice to see you, Kate.'

‘You, too. Thanks for your table.' Left to herself, Kate gazed into space for a while, deep in thought, and decided it was time to change her attitude towards Alasdair. She could have said no to the evening, she knew very well. But because she had agreed to it she might as well be civil, if only in return for the money he was laying out on her meal.

A young girl rushed up with a menu, and explained that because they were so crowded it might be a while before they were actually served with their meal.

‘Dinner may be a little late,' Kate informed Alasdair when he joined her.

He handed her a glass of something long and ice-filled, and sat down beside her to drink his beer.

‘I can see why; it's like a rugby scrum at the bar!' He cast an eye at the menu she was studying. ‘Maybe you should choose something
en croûte
, if the chef is a genius with pastry. There's no alcohol hiding in that, by the way,' he added, indicating her glass. ‘Just fruit juice and lemonade.'

‘I'm not averse to alcohol, Alasdair. Just wine.'

‘You used to drink a glass or two now and then in the old days.'

She shrugged. ‘I've changed since then.'

He gave her a wintry look. ‘Damn right you have. I just wish I knew why you'd changed so much towards
me
. We got on well together once.'

She smiled. ‘I grew up.'

‘So you keep telling me.' Alasdair applied himself to the menu again. ‘I think it's the Gressingham duck for me.'

‘I'll have the bacon and egg pie,' she announced, and giggled at his look of astonishment. ‘Why not? I like that kind of thing.'

After Alasdair had given the rushed little waitress their order he leaned back in his seat, eyeing Kate challengingly. ‘So. Do I detect a slight thaw in the atmosphere?'

‘Yes.' She gave him a friendly smile. ‘I keep telling you I've grown up, so it's time I started behaving that way. Tell me about your new job.'

He looked down his nose at her. ‘You don't have to be polite just because I'm buying dinner.'

‘I'm interested. I really want to know.' she assured him, and listened, fascinated, while Alasdair described his job with Healthshield, and told her that the phar
maceutical international had appointed him as operations director of their new UK branch after his successful research into a mania-controlling drug.

‘So I wasn't far out about a miracle cure,' said Kate, impressed.

‘It's not a cure,' he said quickly. ‘But if my brainchild merely improves life in certain cases I'll feel I've done something worthwhile.'

‘I'll drink to that.' She raised her glass to him.

‘By the way,' said Alasdair casually, ‘the man I met at your place—what does he do for a living?'

‘Jack? He's a builder.'

Alasdair looked taken aback. ‘Oh, right. What does he build?'

‘Houses.'

Alasdair grinned. ‘He builds houses and his name is Jack?'

Kate laughed. ‘I hadn't thought of that.'

The lighter mood prevailed as they did justice to the meal, and for the first time since they'd met again they began to talk with the ease of old. As the evening progressed Kate thought they might almost have been the two students from the past. This time, however, there was one great difference. Alasdair was making it clear he found her desirable, and, though the less cerebral side of her liked that—and Kate had to admit she found him more physically attractive than ever—she was no longer desperately in love with him. Which made things a great deal more comfortable all round, she thought with satisfaction.

‘So where did you go the other night?' asked Alasdair, over the coffee they'd elected to drink at the table rather than fight for a place back in the bar.

‘To Bristol for a meal and a trip to the cinema.'

He frowned. ‘But it snowed like the devil. It must have been tricky driving back.'

‘We made it across the Severn Bridge safely enough in Toby's four-wheel drive. And as usual Adam was lurking when we arrived, to make sure little sister got home in one piece.' Kate wagged an admonishing finger. ‘So don't you start, Alasdair. One brother's more than enough.'

The grey eyes lit with an unholy gleam. ‘Believe me, Katharine Dysart, the last thing I feel towards you is brotherly.'

‘You did once.'

‘Ah, yes. But, as you've taken pains to point out to me so often, you've grown up since then.' He smiled. ‘You were a clever, skinny little kid in the old days, all eyes and hair. You're a woman now, Kate, and a good-looking one at that. But, just as it was back then, half your appeal for me is the brain behind those gold cat's eyes of yours.'

‘Cat's eyes!'

‘A sexy Persian cat,' he assured her, and stood up to hold her chair for her.

The precarious rapport between them held on the journey back right up to the point when Alasdair startled his passenger by turning in to a layby a couple of miles short of Friars Wood. They were out in the country on a minor road with no streetlights, no other houses in view, and at this time of night no traffic passing by—a factor which won Alasdair a look of dark suspicion from Kate.