Unknown Read Online Free PDF Page A

knew that she was.
    When she could bear his silence no longer, she leaned forward a little and cleared her throat.
    “Could you tell me how to get to Chaddoxboume?” she asked him.
    For an instant his eyes met hers. “Chaddoxboume?”
    “Y-yes. It’s a village near here ”
    “Have you got a car?” he cut her off.
    She nodded helplessly. “It’s in a car park. The one by the theatre.”
    To her surprise his lips parted in a faint smile. “Well,” he drawled, “if you manage to get it out of the car park still intact, you turn right at the main road, go across the island and on through the lights. Turn left about a mile out of town and then follow your nose.”
    Sarah blinked, realising that she hadn’t listened to a single word of his instructions. “I drive quite well!” she heard herself say.
    The man grunted. “I doubt it, unless you show a better judgement of space and distance on the road ”
    “I have apologised for jogging your arm,” she interposed.
    His lips parted into another, rather bleak smile. “So you have.”
    For an impossible moment, Sarah wished that she was as pretty and vivacious as her stepmother instead of knowing herself to be completely ordinary and never likely to dazzle anyone, certainly not this man in front of her.
    “I ought to apologise all over again,” she said aloud. “I didn’t listen to your directions. I meant to, but I was looking at your shirt.”
    “Let’s hope all my clients don’t do the same all afternoon,” he said dryly.
    “I suppose you haven’t time to go home to change?”
    “To Chaddoxboume? Hardly!”
    She flushed with sudden pleasure. “Do you live in Chaddoxboume too?”
    The man gave her a long, level look and her enthusiasm died away, leaving her exposed and vulnerable to his thoughtful gaze. She made an effort to recover, wondering whatever could be the matter with her. She sat back in her seat, pretending an interest she was far from feeling in the menu in front of her.
    “What are you doing in Chaddoxboume?” the man asked her suddenly.
    Sarah started. “It’s my father,” she explained, immediately confused again. “He isn’t very well. He has asthma and has to get out of London. I’m coming to look after him.”
    “Where’s your mother?”
    Sarah put the menu down and took a deep breath. “My stepmother couldn’t get away just now,” she said.
    He frowned at her. “And what about you? Haven’t you a job to keep you in London, or wherever it is that you come from?”
    “N-nothing important.”
    He looked sterner than ever. “Just filling in until you get married?”
    “N-not exactly,” she managed.
    He gave her an impatient look. “What is that supposed to mean ? If you don’t want to talk about yourself, why don’t you tell me to mind my own business and have done?”
    She took in her breath in an audible gasp. “Oh, I wouldn’t do that!”
    “Why on earth not?” he demanded, looking amused.
    “Well, it’s kind of you to be interested. M-my father is Daniel Blaney,” she added inconsequently.
    “Kind?” he exploded. “My dear girl, I’m not in the least interested. It so happens that I live in Chaddoxbourne and I thought we might be neighbours and that it might be awkward if I were still glowering at you for spilling soup all over me for the next year or so—”
    Sarah gulped, chuckled, and broke into a wide smile of sympathy. “What a horrible fate!”
    She was unaware of how her smile changed her whole face. In repose there was nothing at all remarkable about her face, indeed sometimes she could look thoroughly sulky, but she had only to smile for her whole being to light up, giving her a fleeting beauty that was all the more remarkable for being transient. She became aware now of the faint answering flicker of a smile on the man’s face, making her heart lurch in the most uncomfortable way.
    “Are you—are you Robert Chaddox?”
    It was his turn to be at a disadvantage. His eyes narrowed a fraction