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standards are observed.'
    'My God!' she exclaimed derisively, 'What are they used to—the Hilton? Let
    me tell you my father spent a fortune on this block, and it's regarded as a
    model.'
    'Oh, I've no real criticism to make. All too often lads are allowed to shift as
    best they can while the horses get the five-star treatment.'
    'You don't approve of that either?' she demanded tartly.
    'I think there's reason in all things,' he returned.
    She glanced at her watch. 'Perhaps we should move on. The lads usually go
    down to the snooker club in the village this afternoon, and they'll be back
    shortly. With your passion for privacy, you'll understand they may not care
    to find us snooping round their sleeping quarters.'
    His mouth twisted slightly. 'Then let's go on with the tour.'
    'You mean you're actually going to let me tell you about the horses?' she
    marvelled. 'I'm honoured!' She paused, a small frown puckering her brow.
    'But I don't usually go into the yard empty-handed.'
    'We won't today,' he said. 'I begged some carrots from your stepmother. I left
    them in the tack room.'
    As they walked back under the arch, Natalie was bitterly conscious of Eliot's
    presence beside her, looming over her, a shadow in her personal sun. He
    must have gone very hungry a lot of the time to keep his weight to a
    reasonable level for his height, she thought vindictively.
    She hated the way he looked around him as they walked along. It
    was—proprietorial, as if he'd already taken charge.
    Well, he could be in for a shock. He was only the junior partner, and he
    would find, unless she missed her guess, that Grantham had every intention
    of remaining firmly in the saddle.
    Eliot said, as if he'd broken in somehow on her thoughts, 'Your father has
    made quite a name for himself in schooling difficult horses.'
    'Yes,' she agreed. 'He's fantastic with them.'
    'I'm sure he is,' he said. 'What a pity one can't apply the same techniques to
    difficult women.'
    He opened the tack room door and motioned her ahead of him with a faintly
    mocking gesture. He was smiling.
    But not for long, she thought.
    'Tell me, Mr Lang,' she said, poisonously sweet, -are those teeth your own?'
    'Indeed they are, Mrs Drummond,' he said gravely. 'Would you like me to
    prove it by biting you?'
    She saw the bag of carrots on a shelf, and was glad of an excuse to move
    away from him. 'No, I wouldn't.'
    'What a pity,' he said. 'Because it's time someone made a mark on you,
    sweetheart.' He'd followed her, and as she reached for the carrots, he took
    her by the shoulders and turned her to face him, picking up her slim, ringless
    left hand and studying it, brows raised. 'Because the unfortunate Tony
    doesn't seem to have left much of an impression, in any way.'
    Outraged, Natalie tried to pull away from his grasp. 'Let go of me!'
    'Why?' he jeered. 'Because you'll die if I touch you?' He mimicked a falsetto,
    and smiled cynically as her lips parted in a soundless gasp. 'Well, let's risk it
    and see.' -
    She tried to say 'No', but her protest was stifled as his mouth descended on
    hers. He was thorough, and not particularly gentle. All the antagonism
    between them was' there in the kiss, but charged, explosive with some other
    element she could neither recognise nor analyse.
    When at last Eliot released her, flushed and breathless, she took a step
    backwards, leaning against a cupboard, aware that her legs were trembling
    so much she was in real danger of collapsing on the floor.
    Eliot's hand reached out, half cupping her breast, his fingers seeking the
    place where her heart hammered unevenly against her ribs.
    'You see?' he said drily. 'You survived, after all.'
    Was this survival, Natalie thought dazedly, this crippling confusion of mind
    and body? This strange quivering ache deep inside that she had never known
    before? And all this for a kiss that hadn't been a kiss at all, but some kind of
    punishment.
    Mutely she stared up at him, seeing the mockery fade suddenly from