Catching Katie Read online

  He had brought a long extending ladder with him. From its pristine appearance it was not used very often. Or else it was part of his job to keep the ladder in the same state of polished perfection as the garden. Katie allowed her lip to curl.

  He saw, as she had intended he should. His eyebrows rose. A distinct gleam came into the blue eyes.

  ‘I’ll see the lady home, Andrew,’ he said firmly.

  Which left Andrew with nothing to do but mutter a flustered farewell and watch as they went down the garden.

  ‘I see you boss everyone around. Not just unfortunates who get stranded,’ Katie said chattily.

  His long stride had her trotting to keep up with him as he made his way back to the lilac tree. It did nothing for her dignity or her temper.

  He looked down at her.

  ‘Everyone,’ he agreed. ‘I’m known for it.’

  It was her turn to raise her eyebrows. ‘Really? I didn’t know gardeners were such tyrants.’

  Just for a moment his face went perfectly blank. Then he gave a soft laugh. ‘I guess anyone can be a tyrant given the right circumstances.’

  ‘And I gave you the right circumstances?’

  His eyes skimmed her breast. ‘You certainly did,’ he agreed, amused.

  She flinched. But fortunately she was too angry to be embarrassed, or worse. In fact, if he had not been going to help her back over the wall, Katie would have hit him.

  As it was, she counted to ten and then asked sweetly, ‘And how does Andrew Davison get to be bullied?’

  That did not discompose him either. He shook his head at her reproachfully.

  ‘I wasn’t bullying Andrew. I was giving him an exit route. He’s an old-fashioned type. You embarrassed the hell out of him.’

  This time Katie forgot to count to ten. ‘I embarrassed him?’ she gasped in outrage. ‘Oh, you’re impossible.’

  They had reached the lilac tree. He stopped and propped the ladder against the wall.

  ‘And you,’ he said coolly, ‘are very ungrateful.’

  The blue eyes gleamed. Katie thought, He’s going to kiss me again.

  She shot up the ladder so fast that she pulled the top of it slightly away from the wall. Behind her he flung himself against the ladder and held it firm, even as she gasped in alarm.

  ‘Steady,’ he said, a laugh in his voice.

  She scrambled onto the top of the wall.

  ‘Thank you,’ she said. She might be out of breath and balancing precariously on a wall one brick thick, but Katie did her best to sound crushing.

  The man she had come to think of as the enemy was, predictably, not at all crushed. He even leaned against the ladder and looked up at her. His expression, she thought, was one much like a zoologist might use to look at a rare species of monkey.

  ‘It’s been a blast,’ he said cordially.

  Katie was hot with indignation. ‘It’s been—’

  He raised an enquiring eyebrow. She bit off what she had been going to say. Losing your temper only gave men like this one an advantage.

  ‘Thank you for your help,’ she said, in a tone to freeze an erupting volcano.

  It had no visible effect.

  ‘I look forward to the next time,’ he said.

  Katie lost her cool sufficiently to give a gigantic snort. He began to laugh. She gave him one disgusted look and launched herself into the lilac tree. Even if she crashed straight to the ground, it would be better than facing his mockery one moment longer.

  She could still hear him laughing as she marched into the house.

  Haydon lost his smile the moment Katie disappeared over the wall. He hoisted the ladder under his arm and took it back to the garage with the precision of extreme annoyance. When he let himself into the kitchen through the communicating door, Andrew Davison was brewing coffee and rifling through his refrigerator. Without much success, as he pointed out.

  ‘Where’s Alicia Bates?’ said Haydon, furiously. He did not apologise for the lack of provisions. ‘Just ask her.’

  Andrew sent him a curious look. ‘She and Bates have gone. They said you knew about it.’

  Haydon ground his teeth. ‘Oh, damn. I forgot. They’re off for a few days with his brother.’ He found a new cause for annoyance. ‘Why didn’t Mrs Bates remind me this morning?’

  ‘I gather you were pretty occupied this morning,’ Andrew said maliciously.

  Haydon curbed his temper. ‘Have you come back from your God-forsaken jungle to spy on me?’ he demanded, wounded.

  ‘Well, at least there would be something to spy on for once,’ Andrew remarked. He chuckled. ‘Silicone Woman for breakfast, according to Mrs Bates. Orphan Annie from next door for lunch. And I saw that with my own eyes. What’s happened, Harry? I thought you were a womanhater.’

  ‘My luck must have changed,’ Haydon said drily. ‘Why don’t you try the freezer? Mrs Bates leaves me things I’m supposed to microwave.’

  Andrew closed the fridge and grinned. ‘Now I know I’m back. Microwave. Wonderful.’

  He pulled open the freezer door and began to run his finger down Mrs Bates’ neat list of contents. He moaned with pleasure. Haydon watched him with amusement, anger evaporating.

  ‘I thought doctors disapproved of fast food.’

  Andrew looked over his shoulder. ‘Listen,’ he said with fervour, ‘for the last year I’ve lived on beans, beans and more beans. Sometimes a dash of goat. I’ve had natural whole food up to my eyebrows.’ He unwrapped a foil dish and put it reverently into the microwave. ‘Ah, civilisation. If I ever try to go into the jungle again, have me kidnapped, ’ he said.

  Haydon laughed. Andrew programmed the machine and leaned against the countertop.

  ‘So,’ he said, considering his friend. ‘How’ve you been?’

  Haydon shrugged. ‘Getting richer all the time.’ He sounded weary.

  Andrew was unimpressed. ‘I can take some of that off you. Santa Teresa could do with an operating theatre.’

  The air of disillusion dropped from Haydon like a used teatowel. His eyes gleamed. ‘Opportunist.’

  ‘Filthy capitalist,’ retorted Andrew without rancour. ‘Still, I suppose you can’t blame a man with your responsibilities.’

  Haydon raised his eyebrows. All of a sudden the expression in the blue eyes was not kind. ‘Are you talking about my employees or my alimony?’ The irony bit.

  Andrew winced. ‘Well, I was thinking of the Tremayne Institute, to be honest. But, since you mention it, how is Carla?’

  The sarcasm faded. ‘Fighting fit,’ said Haydon drily.

  ‘Still?’ Andrew did not bother to hide his astonishment. ‘But you must have been apart longer than you were married. ’ He thought about it. ‘By a fair margin.’

  ‘Three times as long,’ said Haydon, the meticulous researcher.

  Andrew calculated rapidly. ‘Well, you married a month after my twenty-first birthday. And broke up when I was in Borneo. Which must have been four, five years later?’

  ‘Four years, two months and ten days,’ said Haydon. ‘The decree was made absolute twelve years ago.’ Meticulous but bored.

  Andrew pursed his lips in a silent whistle. ‘Twelve, by golly. Time gets away from you, doesn’t it?’

  ‘If you let it.’

  ‘Are you saying you don’t? After twelve years and still unmarried?’

  ‘For some experiments,’ Haydon said firmly, ‘once is enough.’

  Andrew did not comment on that one either. He had been best man at the wedding. None of Haydon’s friends had been surprised when the marriage finally broke up. Andrew was too tactful to say so.

  Instead he said carefully, ‘Carla still comes around, though?’

  ‘She protects her interests.’ Haydon was dry. ‘We get together once a year.’

  Andrew disapproved, and did not attempt to disguise it. Haydon chuckled.

  ‘No need to look like that. On my lawyer’s advice.’

  Andrew’s disapproval moderated somewhat
, but he was still suspicious. ‘Why, for heaven’s sake?’

  Haydon shrugged. ‘She’s a shareholder in Tremayne’s. Don’t want her selling her stock out of pique. Dinner once a year keeps her sweet. Or it has done up to now,’ he added, frowning.

  Andrew was not interested in his friend’s ex-wife. ‘So who’s the playmate of the moment? Silicone Woman? Or the pretty neighbour?’

  At once Haydon’s black eyebrows twitched together in an angry frown. He looked thoroughly put out.

  ‘The “pretty neighbour” looks like she’s becoming an unmitigated nuisance,’ he said with feeling.

  ‘Oh, yeah?’ Andrew was amused. ‘It looked like it.’

  Haydon was irritated. ‘Don’t let your imagination run away with you. I’d never met the girl until today.’

  ‘Wow,’ said Andrew. ‘Fast work.’

  To his surprise, Haydon flushed slightly. ‘Watch that imagination,’ he said warningly.

  Andrew made a mocking face. ‘What did I say? You’re over twenty-one and unattached. Enjoy!’

  In spite of himself, Haydon’s lips twitched. ‘Thank you,’ he said gravely. ‘However, I don’t enjoy reckless schoolgirls. ’

  It was on the tip of Andrew’s tongue to point out that the scene he had witnessed earlier indicated the reverse. But there was a dangerous look to Haydon.

  Instead he said wistfully, ‘She looked quite toothsome to me.’

  Haydon’s reaction was robust. ‘You’ve spent too long in the jungle. Anyone would look toothsome to you.’ He added unkindly, ‘Even an adolescent with twigs in her hair.’

  Andrew was indignant. ‘Adolescent? She was old enough to turn you on.’

  ‘She did not,’ said Haydon in his most precise voice, ‘turn me on.’ His precision slipped. ‘If you want to know, she made me bloody furious.’

  Andrew chuckled. ‘Nothing wrong with my eyesight, Harry, my lad.’ He gave him a matey buffet to the shoulder. ‘A good thing if you’ve stopped living like a monk.’

  Haydon considered him with weary patience. ‘I see your subtlety hasn’t increased,’ he remarked.

  Andrew grinned, unabashed. ‘Why look a gift horse in the mouth? The new neighbour is a definite addition to the local amenities.’

  ‘That,’ said Haydon grimly, ‘is a matter of opinion.’

  Katie did not think it was a matter of opinion. Katie had no doubts. The man next door was detestable. And dangerous.

  She stalked back into the house, muttering. How dared he?

  She was not proud of herself. But that did not excuse his behaviour one whit. His kisses had set her every nerve on fire. And, what was worse, he had been all too aware of it. And then he laughed.

  She ground her teeth. He could have done any damned thing he wanted with me, she thought. And he knew it. He as good as said so.

  Remembering, Katie shivered. Only once before had she let sexual excitement overtake her. And what a disaster that had been.

  She had been eighteen then, but she had never forgotten it. Mike had been twenty. He had claimed to love her. But in the end—Katie shut her eyes. The look on his face was still vivid in her memory. He had tried not to recoil but the damage had been done. She had seen his horror.

  She’d promised herself then she was never going to make another man struggle to hide his instinctive revulsion. For six years, every time she was attracted to someone, she had remembered. And when she remembered she was not even tempted.

  Her mother thought she was dedicated to her art and was pleased. Her father said acidly he was glad to see that she was intending to earn her own living instead of marrying a meal ticket. So no one asked her why the only men in her life were friends. Enemies sneered. Friends like Andrea remonstrated. Some of it hurt. But none of it affected Katie’s determination in the slightest.

  And yet today she had come close to abandoning her self-imposed celibacy. Without thought. For a man she had only just met. Hell, she did not even know his name.

  She was still shaken when she left for school on Monday morning. In fact she did not come out of the house until she had seen an athletic figure in running shorts disappear in the direction of the park.

  He moved easily, powerful arms pumping. Katie walked rapidly to the bus stop, trying to put the picture out of her mind.

  Trying to forget, too, her own response.

  It was impossible. Just a distant glimpse of that lithe, powerful body and she was shaking like a schoolgirl.

  What is happening to me? thought Katie. How can I have turned into such a fool?

  CHAPTER FOUR

  THE staff room was crowded. The Head addressed them on Monday morning. Douglas Grove was the sort of headmaster who took note of anyone who failed to turn up.

  Normally Katie got there early and aimed to stay unnoticed. Douglas Grove was also the sort of headmaster who picked on junior members of staff. And in Katie’s case his barbed remarks had an edge to them which Katie was finding increasingly difficult to handle.

  So her heart sank as she realised that the meeting had already started.

  With a murmured apology she shuffled along the wall and sat on the windowsill. The Head’s eyes lingered on her long legs. Katie tried not to notice it.

  ‘Good morning, Katie.’ He gave her a wide, false smile.

  ‘Good morning, Mr Grove,’ Katie said in a subdued voice.

  He looked at his watch. ‘School getting in the way of your social schedule again?’

  ‘No, Mr Grove. The bus was held up. I’m sorry I’m late.’

  He stopped baiting her. But there was a glittering look in his eyes which said it was only a pleasure postponed.

  ‘I won’t keep you long,’ he said to the staff room at large. ‘Just a few points.’

  His eyes lingered on her legs again. Katie set her teeth and tried to look interested.

  Liam Brooker lent into her shoulder. ‘Welcome to this morning’s monologue,’ he whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

  Startled, Katie gave a choke of laughter. She caught it back at once. If he had not been watching her, Douglas Grove could not have picked it up. But he had been, of course. He halted and gave her a wide, encouraging smile. ‘Katie?’

  She recovered herself hastily. ‘N-nothing, Mr Grove.’

  ‘I thought you wanted to speak.’

  She ducked her head down. ‘No, thank you, Mr Grove.’

  I sound like one of the kids, she thought, despising herself. She bit her lip.

  ‘If you’re sure—?’

  There was a faint rustle of sympathy. Douglas Grove was not a popular head. Most of the teachers had been on the receiving end of his sarcasm at one time or another.

  Katie said quietly, ‘Quite sure. Don’t let me interrupt your few points.’

  There was another ripple of restrained reaction. This time it was amusement. So Katie Marriott was fighting back. Dangerous, but her colleagues were with her.

  Douglas Grove’s expression darkened. He turned back to his notes and rapped through them at twice his normal speed. When he had finished he looked round at them all.

  ‘Any questions?’

  There were two. He dealt with both and closed his file decisively.

  ‘I hope we all have a constructive week,’ he said. It sounded menacing.

  ‘Katie—can I have a word?’

  Here we go, thought Katie. Reluctantly she unwound her legs from the cold radiator and squeezed past Liam. He patted her encouragingly as she did so.

  ‘He’s got assembly in ten minutes,’ he muttered in her ear as she passed. ‘Can’t talk you to death in that time.’

  Katie smiled perfunctorily. It was not Douglas’s monologues that worried her. Liam did not know that, of course. None of her colleagues did.

  The only person Katie had told had been a professional counsellor whose advice she was trying hard to put into practice. ‘Stay professional at all times,’ the woman advised. Katie tried. But it was getting increasingly hard.

 
Grove held the door open for her. The old-fashioned courtesy was a mockery and they both knew it. She went into the corridor and turned to face him. It was full of arriving children and so relatively safe.

  ‘Yes, Mr Grove?’

  ‘Not here.’

  Barely looking at her, he marched down the corridor to his office. Katie followed him perforce. She thought ruefully of the advice the unworldly counsellor had given her. ‘Don’t let him get you alone. Stand your ground.’ How?

  He did not hold open the door to his study for her. Once inside, he turned on her like a fury.

  ‘I will not have this muttering behind your hand every time I speak to the staff,’ he said.

  He was so angry that he did not remember his usual tactics. Katie was grateful. Usually his approach was one of phoney sympathy. He knew she was young, he would say. He knew it was her first job. Why didn’t she tell him all her problems? Straightforward hostility was much easier to deal with.

  Nevertheless, she retreated behind a small chair. It was a position which left her route to the door unimpeded. That was important. A number of these private interviews in the headmaster’s study had demonstrated that.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she said with genuine regret. ‘I wasn’t really muttering. Just—’

  ‘Just flirting with Brooker.’

  Katie sighed. ‘No—’ she began patiently.

  But he would not let her finish.

  ‘Let me make it plain once and for all, Katie. I know this is your first job in teaching. I am willing to help you in every way I can.’ He paused.

  Oh, it sounded so noble, thought Katie. He clearly expected her to thank him. She could not bring herself to do it.

  ‘But you have got to stop this childish behaviour. You are twenty-four. Not some silly fifth-former. You have got to take this job seriously if you want to keep it.’

  And if I reported that to the governing body, they would not see anything wrong with it, Katie thought. There was nothing wrong with the words. What was wrong was in the bullying tone, the way he enjoyed bullying her. And the way his eyes slid over her, lingering at her breasts. The secret pleasure in Douglas Grove’s look made her skin crawl.