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tweaked with sharp, reproachful pangs
    when she laid eyes on the food she'd put away earlier.
    She nearly leaped out of her skin when, without looking up, Francis said mildly, 'I don't
    suppose you're going to come out from behind there and discuss reason. Madwomen
    don't, I hear.'
    'I can be perfectly reasonable when I want to!' Unfortunately her snapped response
    wasn't planned. It had just fallen out of her mouth, in angry reaction against how with
    apparent ease he had regained his former dangerous calm, and afterwards Kirstie could
    have bitten out her tongue at the way it sounded.
    'Ah.' He nodded as if she had confirmed some kind of conclusion he had reached and
    took another bite of his sandwich. For all the attention he paid her, he might have been
    talking to the wall. 'I notice some key words there. The question is, of course, whether
    you want to or not. Are you going to sit down and have a sandwich, or hover around the
    corner all night?'
    Eat supper across the table from him? It would be like breaking bread with the devil.
    The thought was enough to turn her hunger into nausea. And where was his anger? To all
    intents and purposes, it seemed to have completely dissipated, but she wasn't enough of
    a fool to believe that. Kirstie scrutinised what she could see of Francis Grayson, and
    what she saw had her very worried indeed.
    She knew, by his disorientated outburst by the lake, that, for all his formidable command
    over himself, she had knocked him off balance earlier today. She had threatened him,
    fooled him, drugged and angered and shocked him, and now there was no evidence of
    reaction whatsoever. His total control made her go cold all over. That this man was
    dangerous she hadn't doubted, but she was beginning to appreciate just how dangerous
    he was, and it put her present position in a distinctly unfavourable light.
    What was he planning? What form would his revenge on her take? How would he make
    her pay for what she had done to him?
    He had given her two choices: stay where she was or confront him. She wouldn't hover,
    and she didn't have the courage to face whatever lay underneath this present facade.
    There was a third alternative, and after a moment of consideration Kirstie took it.
    Without a word she walked into the main bedroom and, though it seemed such a flimsy
    defence, she locked the door behind her. Then she forced her tired body over to the
    dresser, shook out a pair of sheets and quickly made the bed.
    Her sister had been right about the man. Kirstie should never have entertained even that
    one moment of terrible doubt. She could just imagine what he had been like with Louise,
    persecuting and suffocating her, manipulating her into going out with him and
    hammering at her to call off her wedding with Neil. Louise was too gentle. She didn't
    know how to handle men like Francis Grayson.
    Kirstie was honest enough with herself to know that she, too, didn't know how to handle
    Francis Grayson. He had taken control ever since setting foot on the mountain, and he
    was calling all the shots. He acted as if he was the original irresistible force. She
    punched a pillow violently into a linen case. Well, he might be able to direct the action
    in this scenario, she thought grimly, but she was holding the trump card, because today
    he had met an immovable object.
    Whenever that happened, there was bound to be trouble.
    With a chill premonition, she looked back on her life. How uncomplicated her past
    seemed, in the light of this battle of wills that could destroy everything. She felt, as she
    had never felt before, as if she was saying goodbye to the sunny, madcap teenager she
    had been, the cheeky prankster secure in the knowledge that, no matter what she did to
    the various members of her tolerant family, she would always have their affection and
    support.
    As a quieter, more restrained adult, she had returned that loyalty to her family threefold.
    People were either on the inside or the outside of