The Man in Possession Read Online Free PDF Page B

months. ’
    He gave her another of his looks and she feared he might ask her what she had been about to say when she broke off, but all he said was:
    ‘ You make very good coffee. ’
    She smiled. ‘These things are very much a matter of individual taste. I ’ m glad I made it as you like it. ’
    He regarded her for a moment or two in silence, then asked: ‘Have you made up your mind yet about staying on? ’
    ‘ Yes. ’ Suddenly she knew that she had.
    ‘ And? ’ he queried, before she had time to carry on.
    ‘ I ’ d like to stay—if you still want me. ’
    He put down his cup. ‘Then that ’ s settled. Now. I notice our first bookings are end of March and beginning of April. That gives us roughly four weeks before we start getting busy. ’
    ‘ We shan ’ t be in full swing, of course, until May, although naturally July and August are the busiest months. ’
    ‘So between now and May we ’ ll have time to get the office looking a little less like a gardener ’ s shed and the whole place tidied up a bit. ’
    ‘Tidied up? ’ she queried suspiciously.
    ‘The grass cut, a few tubs of flowers around and some sort of order in the sheds. ’
    She suppressed a sigh. ‘If I may say so, tubs of flowers would only be in the way. ’
    ‘We won ’ t put them where they ’ ll be in the way, ’ he answered firmly. ‘As a woman I ’ d have thought you ’ d like to see the place looking decorative. ’
    ‘It depends what you mean by ‘decorative ‘ . ’ She resisted the temptation to remind him that this was a boatyard, not the entrance to some palatial suite of offices in the middle of London or New York. ‘ To my mind, a boatyard has a charm all its own, and nature supplies all the embellishments that are necessary. ’
    There was a silence. ‘Nature can always be improved upon or given a helping hand. You should know that, ’ he answered.
    Julia wanted to come back at him again, but felt any further reply on the subject would constitute an argument. He would soon find out, she thought, that tubs of flowers along the water ’ s edge—if that was what he had in mind—would be very much in the way when boats were being pushed off or coming in to moor.
    He thanked her for the coffee and rose, and she imagined she saw a faint smile of triumph on his face. He departed, and when she had washed the cups and saucers she went back to the office and answered the mail. When she returned there after lunch she saw that he had signed the ones she had left on her desk for him.
    She looked at the clear, neat signature. Roger Leighton. Roger. She decided it suited him without asking herself why.
    He came into the room where the radio and television sets were stored just as she was carrying one of them out.
    ‘ Where are you going with that? ’ he asked.
    ‘T here ’ s a space in the linen store. I thought they could go in there. ’
    ‘And you were going to carry all this lot yourself? Give that to me. You can bring the transistors—though they look a poor lot—and I ’ d have thought most people had their own. ’
    She hid a smile as he took the television set from her. It wasn ’ t really heavy. All the sets had only twelve-inch screens. Obviously, he was used to pampering women. Or bossing them. She heard him call out to Andy, and the youth came and began carrying the sets from one place to another. Soon the room was empty.
    ‘I ’ ll have those down, too ,’ the new boss said, indicating the duckboard shelves. ‘They ’ re hideous. ’
    ‘For an office, perhaps, but ideal for storage of goods like linen or paper—anything, in fact, which is capable of taking in moisture from the atmosphere. ’
    ‘ The atmosphere in places where those sort of things are stored shouldn ’ t have moisture in it, ’ he answered dogmatically. ‘ Store-rooms should be warm and dry. ’
    Julia suppressed a sigh. It was all very well to say what should or should not be. Most boatyards started out modestly, their