Loves moves in mysterious ways

chapter 7

I'll have to go.But we were supposed to be going to view these houses with the others,

exclaimed Kirstin, who had persuade her father that she did not want to go alone. Well, you can't still go.

Give James a ring and tell him that you'll need a lift after all,or if you don't want to do that,

you ca always take your mother's car,her father added diplomatically, seeing the look on her face The roads are still slightly icy,

though and you'll have to take care. I shouldn't be surprised if we have more snow before the month out.

Given the choice of lowering her pride and bigging James for a lift or driving her mother's car,

there was really only one option she could go for Kirstin though acidly.

It would have to be her mother's car.It was just her luck that her father should get called away urgently like this, but there was absolutely nothing she could do about it.

Knowing that because of his detour to pick up Frau Samantha,

James would have to set out early, Kirstin waited until she had seen his car go down the lane before she went out to the garage that housed her mother's small BMW.

Luckily the started first time,

and was relatively easy to handle. Even so, she took extra care as she drove down lane, dreading the sensation of feeling control of the vehicle slide away from her.

It was a bitterly cold day, with an east wind blowing that could have cut glass.

The sky was grey with lowering clouds, and she was glad that she had brought along the hooded fox jacket that Mariel and John had given her the previous year as a Christmas gift.She glanced at it as she negotiated the narrow streets of Roteskruez. She should have guessed then what John had had mind.

It was a very extravagant present for a mere secretary, no matter how highly thought of,

but although the present had surprised her,it had never occurred to her that it was to be the prelude to John's covert courtship.

She found the houses easily enough and parked the Seat at the side of the road hudling into the fur before getting out.Gir comfort she had worn a pair of stretch cords in a soft butterscotch colour and black boots she had bought in a sale from a department store.

The gold pelts of her leather jacket, its hood pulled up against the wind set off her creamy redheads skin to perfection.Shivering in the icy blast, Kirstin looked the car, and curled her hands into her pockets before hurrying towards the buildings.

The General Greg Davis and Romel Rodriguez were already there, and greeted her with varying degrees of warmth as she explained her father's not will be able to come.

A solicitor who's prepared to work on a Sunday, Eh? Romel Rodriguez commented.Sounds like a man after my own heart.I shall have to see if we can't put some of my business his way,eh! Greg?

Romel Rodriguez was looking at her in a way she had learned to recognise during her years in Germany,

but she fielded it with a pleasantly distancing smile and stepped back from him, straight into James, although when she first felt we wall of solid muscle against her back she had no idea who he was.

She whirled round in instinctive shock, the words of apology dying on her lips.

The wind caught her hood and blew it back, her hair tangling widely round her face.

She lifted an impatient hand to push it away,and found she was standing so close to James that one more step would have brought their bodies into physical contact.

Beyond him she could see the Frau Samantha ang Jessa, the latter glaring at her with compressed lips and icy eyes.

Kristin told herself that it was the cold that was making her shiver so much, her balance suddenly ridiculously insecure.

Are you alright?

Even through the warmth of her coat she could feel the pressure of his fingers on her arms, steadying her.

She took a deep lungful of air and nearly choked on it.Gor some reason it was impossible for her to meet his eyes, and equally impossible for her to drag her own away from his face.

He had cut himself slightly shaving, and her fingers itched to touch the small wound.

Her mouth had gone terribly dry.She licked her lips nervously, instinctively shielding her eyes from him by dropping her lashes.

That's a beautiful leather jacket you are wearing, Kirstin. " Thankfully Kirstin stepped back from him as Frau Samantha's voice broke the spell that had held her transfixed to the ground. Yes...... yes...it was a present.

from your parents Jessa questioned with what Kirstin though was rather rude curiosity.

Always brought up to be honest, it was impossible for her not to say, No.. no ..actually.

I was given it by my ex boss

And his wife, she had been about to say, but she wasn't any opportunity to do so,because Jessa's sharp brown eyes had rounded spitefully and before Kirstin could finish her sentence she was saying,

My goodness, he must have thought and awful lot about you!Of course one hears about bosses who buy their assistant fur coats, but I always thought they were just a joke."

There was a small unpleasant silence,

when Kirstin would have given the world not to have to look into James's face.

She read the condemnation in his eyes with a kind of sick awareness of what he was thinking, that was in no way mitigated by her own knowledge that he was wrong. What made it worse was that Jessa's unpleasant allegation had at least some basis for truth.

John had wanted to make her his mistress, but she had been yo naive to release it, until at least as far as her leather jacket went it was too late to do anything about it.

Perhaps if she hadn't worked so much that autumn she might have queried the expenses of such a lavish present.

But John and Carol were both extravagantly generous, and so she had simply accepted the present at face value.

But she could hardly explain all of this to James,

and anyway, why should she wanted to she asked wrathfully of herself as she stepped away from him and went over to joint the others,

who hadn't heard their conversation. What on earth did it matter to her what James Sampson though of her?

James,let's get inside, its freezing out here.

Slipping her hand through his arm, Jessa swept past Kirstin's motionless figure with triumphant smile.

Once they were inside the house,

Kirstin put James out of her mind and tried to concentrate on her role as a secretary,She had brought her things paper with her and listened attentively as James explained his plans for the two buildings.

It would be impossible for us to do everything we wanted to do all at once, but the escope is here.

There is over half an acre of land with these houses, enough for a car park and extension. "

They toured both houses from top to bottom while Kirstin made keep writing notes.

James knew exactly what he wanted and had the knack of putting it across in a way that the layman could easily understand, and almost against her will Kirstin found herself being fired with some of his enthusiasm for his plan.There was no doubt that it qasa worthwhile one,and the others evidently thought so too.

Busy with her notes, Kirstin didn't realise that she and James were alone in one of the rooms until she glanced up and saw him watching her with a curiosity pensive, almost brooding expression.

He must know you very well to have chosen this for you.His fingers reached out and touched the soft fur of her leather jacket.

I'd never thought you'd grow up to sort of woman who would be content playing second fiddle Kirstin.I thought you'd have to much pride."

Her teeth ached from the strain of stopping herself from telling him that he was wrong and that she and John weren't lovers.

But he was right about one thing, she did have to much pride far too much to make any explanations to any man and especially to him.

Ah,there you are James honey.

My Auntie ready to leave. You must stay dine with us. I'm simply fascinated by what you're planning to do here, although really you're wanted in a small place like this.You should be practising in Garden Street.

Chattering animatedly, Jessa led him away. Despite her fur leather jacket she was feeling intensely cold too cold, Kirstin though shivering with a mixture of shock and outrage.Her fur embraced her body like a shroud like a prison! condemming her,and suddenly she felt as though she loathed it.

In point of fact James had been wrong about one thing.Carol and chosen the coulor not John.

He had told her later that he had wanted to buy her a leather jacket, brown but Carol had protested that with her vivid colouring Kirstin should have the red.

Tiredly she followed the others outside.The temperature seemed to have dropped even further,

and already it was dark. She unlocked the door car and slid inside starting the engine.James's car had already gone.She drove home slowly,

wound up with a nervous tension that affected her ability to give her all attention to what she was doing.

She turned into to the lane and signed with relief, only to feel the breath lock in her throat as the car wheel spun savagely out of control and, as though it had been wrenched from her hands by an unseen grip,the steering wheel seemed to develop a mind of it's own and the car careered of the road and plunged down into a ditch.

It took several a minutes to release what had happened, and then what seemed like another lifetime to struggle with the seat belt in a vain attempt to free herself.

Horrible images of cars bursting into flames tormented her mind, and then shockingly,

the door was wrenched open and hard hands were reaching for her ,unlocking the tangled seat belt and dragging her out of the car.

She looked up at her rescuer hazily, unable to differentiate between hallucinations and reality, his name leaving her lips on a husky whisper.James what""?

Don't try to talk not just now. His hands move expertly over her body,

clinically exactly in their movements, and only when he had assured himself that nothing was damaged did some of his tension seem to relax.

The car skidded I"" I' know what happened. His voice sounded terse.I was right behind you.

My God you know haven't broken anything, at least. Did you hit your head at all? No.... no I don't think so'"".

I'll take you back to my place, and check you over properly. "

No,I want to go home.

Looking like that?His voice was scathing. What do you think is going to do you do right now?

She glanced down at herself in bewilderment and then lifted her eyes to meet his.

Don't argue with me Kirstin".But the car,.."I'll arrange for the garage to come and collect it.Now come on lets get out of this dammed wind.

She made to walk, her breathing suspended as ho swore under his breath and lunged forward,

picking her up as easily as though she weighed next to nothing.

James,saved it,he advised her tersely. His car was parked only yards away from her own, slewed across the road as though he had stopped abruptly.

He opened the rear and bundled her on to the back seat. She looked over his shoulder and saw that it had begun to snow.

It's snowing.

" Her mind seemed to be clogged with the cotton wool, making it impossible for her to do more than utter the merest banalities. So it is.

She could understand why he sounded so sarcastic, but that didn't stop the tears burning against the back of her throat. She was suffering from shock,

she told herself, but the information didn't seem to penetrate past the barrier of pain lodged around her heart, and she shrank back from him as he leaned over her,

much as he might have shrunk from a would be attacker.

She heard him swear again and then the car door slammed.

She closed her eyes,

willing herself not to burst into tears. The drivers door opened, the car rocking slightly as he got in.The engine purred into life,

and she felt herself tensing as James slipped it into gear. He was a far more able driver than she was herself, she acknowledged as a big car move steadily over the icy lane.

She saw the father is car parked outside the house as they drove past,

but James made no attempt to stop and she felt too weak to protest. She could hear the gravel drive to the personage crunching beneath the car wheels as they drove up it,and then the car stopped.

She sat up and reached for the door handle. Leave it,

James snapped, turning in his seat to frown bleakly at her.I don't want you putting any weight on your legs until I've checked you over properly. I'll carry you inside.

nine years ago Kirstin would have been delirious with delight at the thought of being in his arms.

Now all she felt was apprehension, and a fine spear of pain that seemed to have no logical reason for springing into being.

I thought you were supposed to be having supper at the Manor.

As he bent to lift her out of the car she was overwhelmed by her own awareness of his proximity. A feeling of acute panic raced through her body and she had to force herself to breathe normally.

Then you thought wrong, didn't you.His abrupt tone warned her not to pursue the subject.

She could feel icy cold flakes of snow stinging her exposed skin as he carried her to the house. He paused to unlock the door,

shifting her in his arms so that briefly her face rested against his neck.

She could smell the warm male scent of his skin. Her body tensed instantly against her awareness of him, her face drawn into lines of rejection which he obviously mistook for pain as he pushed open the door and switched the light on.

His" What wrong?

fanned a warm breath of air against her skin, making her shiver wildly.

It wasn't possible for her to speak, only to shake her head, denying that anything was the matter.

James strode through into the library,and set her down on the black leather sofa.