Old Desires/A Stranger's Kiss (2-in-1 edition) Read Free Page B

He grinned. ‘Though I don’t suppose she’ll remember me.’
    Holly had laughed automatically at his joke, but underneath she had boiled. How dared Joshua Kent presume to interfere in her life? And why couldn’t Harvey have been awkward for once?
    No chance. He was the kindest man in the college.
    David’s attitude had been rather more mercenary. ‘You’d better go, Holly,’ he’d said as he prepared to leave for work. ‘The old dear might have left you a few thousand.’
    ‘There’s no reason why she should,’ Holly had snapped, ‘and she wasn’t old.’
    As a lodger, David Grantham was fine, she’d thought crossly, sorting through her wardrobe for something suitable to wear. As a human being? She had occasional moments of doubt about him on that score.
    When she had decided to share the house, in an effort to cut down the running costs, a friend had advised her to take in a man. Someone who could mend fuses, clear the guttering and put up shelves when occasion demanded.
    She hadn’t taken the advice seriously — she was perfectly capable of doing all those things herself — but David had answered her ad, taking advantage of his job on the local newspaper to get in before she was inundated with other applicants.
    They had discovered they had met once before when he had written a feature about her for the local paper, he was easy to get along with and in the main it had worked well enough.
    She sighed and stared out of the car window. They had already left the motorway far behind and Holly tried to concentrate on the countryside. She had never been to Devon before and she was surprised how advanced everything was. The hedgerow was already beginning to quicken with life, with occasional dark patches of violets amid the gaudy celandines. Then she caught sight of a rabbit bounding panic-stricken along the road, and cried out a warning.
    ‘I’ve seen it,’ Joshua said sharply, slowing until the creature dived into the safety of the hedge.
    ‘I’ve never seen a wild rabbit before,’ she said, feeling a little foolish.
    ‘You’ll see plenty about here. They’re pests.’
    ‘In that case,’ she retorted, ‘I’m surprised that you didn’t simply run it over.’
    ‘Perhaps, Miss Carpenter, I’m not blessed with your ruthless streak,’ he said smoothly.
    ‘Don’t underestimate yourself, Mr Kent.’ He threw her a venomous glance and then slipped a CD into the car’s stereo system. Mozart flooded the sound vacuum, indicating in no uncertain terms that conversation was at an end.
    Half an hour later she caught her first glimpse of the sea as the hills dipped away and an involuntary exclamation of pleasure escaped her lips.
    ‘Do you like the sea?’ The totally unexpected sound of his voice made her jump.
    ‘Yes,’ she admitted, oddly reluctant even to grant him this small insight into her thoughts.
    A slight tightening of his lips might almost have been a smile. ‘How fortunate.’
    ‘Fortunate?’ It seemed an odd choice of words. ‘I don’t see how. This isn’t exactly a treat for me.’
    ‘Isn’t it?’
    She turned quickly, hardly believing her ears. ‘What did you say?’
    ‘It’s all right, MissCarpenter. There’s no need to pretend with me. I know who you are. Why you’re here. You can keep the act for those who’ll appreciate it.’
    ‘Do you, Mr Kent?’ Her voice mocked him. ‘I know why I’m here when I’d rather be almost anywhere else in the whole world.’ Because, despite her horror of funerals, and despite everything Joshua Kent might think, in the end she had known that she would never forgive herself if she didn’t pay her last respects to Mary Graham. ‘But I’d bet a hundred pounds that you haven’t a clue.’
    ‘If you had a hundred pounds to bet,’ he said, ‘I would take you up on that.’
    Before she could think of a suitable response he had slowed to turn through a pair of ornate gates, driving her half a mile or so before pulling up in front of a