'Yes. I'm sorry. I must admit, I did wonder-'
'If I was making a very good living out of women while secretly laughing at them? It's what most people think. I don't mind the others, but I'd like you to believe me.'
'I do,' she said. 'I'm glad you've told me all this.' She smiled. 'Talking to you is like peeling an onion.'
'You mean I make you want to cry?' he asked in alarm.
'No,' she laughed. 'Layer after layer. There's always something unexpected underneath. You don't look like an academic. You look like-well, like a television star. How did a double first student turn into a chat show host?'
'You mean how did I come to sell out?' he asked with a grin.
'No, no,' she disclaimed hastily. 'I didn't mean that.'
'Why not? It's a fair question. It was an accident, really. I was on one of those late-night TV shows that get watched by three people and a cat. I cracked a few jokes and found myself invited onto an early evening programme. I got onto my hobby horse about how schoolgirls are always ahead of schoolboys at the same age. Before I knew where I was I was talking about my own family, cracking more jokes, and it all seemed to go down well. Suddenly the world was full of people who wanted to pay me ridiculous amounts of money to pontificate on subjects I knew nothing about.'
'What do your family think about you "selling out"?'
'My mother loves it. Jean quarrels with everything I say, and Sarah calls me up after each show to complain about my tie.' He made a slightly wry face. 'I
enjoy it while it lasts. One day people will get fed up with my face and then I'll return to my roots. And I'll be perfectly happy-if you're there with me,' he added on a suddenly deeper note.
His words, and especially his intense tone, gave her a stab of alarm. 'Don't rush me, Daniel. For me- we've only just met.'
'You're worth waiting for,' he said quietly. 'I think I understand you. You missed out a whole stage, didn't you? You married without playing the field, the way Phoebe's doing, the way a young girl ought to.'
She hesitated. He was right, but she couldn't tell him that there was something else that troubled her. She feared his charm because Jimmy had taught her to distrust charm. It was foolish, Lee told herself. There was no real likeness between this strong, mature man and the feckless, selfish Jimmy. And yet she wasn't ready to place her heart unreservedly in Daniel's hands.
Suddenly he looked at his watch and made an exclamation.
'It's past midnight,' he said. 'The dance ended at twelve.'
He summoned the waiter while Lee stared at her own watch in disbelief. It felt as if it were only a few minutes ago that they'd sat down together but, entranced by his company, she'd failed to notice the minutes pass.
In the street he took her hand and they hurried the short distance. As their destination came into view they could see the car park, almost empty. Daniel's car stood isolated, and beside it were the two young people, talking and laughing together.
In the darkness of the trees Daniel pulled her into his arms. 'No one can see us,' he said, 'and I don't know when I'll be able to kiss you again.'
His kiss was quite different from the earlier one. That had been a little tentative, as though he was introducing himself and wasn't sure of his welcome. This embrace had a triumphant quality, as though he was full of happiness and certain of his ultimate victory. The crushing strength of his arms, the firm pressure of his lips on hers, were a promise for the future.
But her caution cried out a warning. He was taking her along too fast. Instinctively she stiffened, and he released her at once.
'You're right,' he agreed with a sigh. 'Let me straighten my tie, and we'll walk sedately back.'
CHAPTER FOUR
That summer was the most perfect Lee had ever known. It was the idyll she'd been denied as a young girl, the blissful enchanted time when love was at its most romantic. There were no problems in those magic days. There was only this summer, this wonderful man, this ideal love.
Daniel's television show was taking its summer break. He'd insisted on a few weeks off each year to allow him time to write, but this year he gave his time to Lee, asking nothing from her but her company.
He squired her about as innocently as a boy with his first love, claiming no more than kisses. She knew he was playing a waiting game, and that later he planned to demand everything from her-passionate love, marriage, children. But for the moment he was courting her gently, giving her space in which her confidence could grow.
Lee refused to look ahead. It was unthinkable to part from Daniel, but equally unthinkable to launch her little boat onto another uncharted sea, however small the waves might seem now.
'I took a terrible battering from Jimmy,' she said once to Daniel. 'I never knew what was going to happen next, discovering that he'd been stealing, finding him drunk, with other women. Since we divorced I've had peace, because 1 don't have to pay the penalty for anyone else's mistakes and weaknesses. I know I can depend on myself, so I haven't anything to worry about.'
'Haven't you?' he replied, looking at her sadly, 'What about the grey desert of loneliness you're preparing for yourself?'
'But I'm safe,' she said pleadingly.
'And I want you to take risks, because there's no safe place in love, darling.'
Once he grew angry and reminded her that he too had fears that grew out of the past. His were the reverse of hers. He dreaded that she would travel so far with him, then turn aside, leaving him lonely again.
He was still writing his columns, which appeared twice a week in a tabloid newspaper and once a month in a magazine. Lee had started reading them and was delighted with their wit and sympathy. It was like having Daniel there before her, for he wrote as he talked. Even here he was able to surprise her, as she discovered when she found Sonya chortling over the paper one morning. Her eyes were alight with fun as she pushed it over for Lee to read.
Daniel had headed the piece The Woman who Exposed my Secret Self, and it was a hilarious account of their first meeting in the rain and darkness, subtly angled so that the joke was against himself. He hadn't identified Lee. 'Jane', as he called the anonymous woman, existed only to reveal to him his own hidden side. He concluded cheerfully.
I've been fooling myself all along. Put me behind the wheel and I'm no different from the rest of my miserable sex: ill-mannered, unreasonable and, as Jane so rightly put it, 'straight out of the ark'.
From here the piece slid into a neat plug for Women, Beware Men. Lee read it with admiration. It was funny enough to make her laugh out loud, yet she recognised the serious man who was always there behind the comedy. Daniel was honest enough to accept the worst Lee had said about him, generous enough not to resent her for it and professional enough to transmute it all into good copy for his column. She wondered if she would ever discover all his facets.
At the height of summer they took a cruise down the Thames. On the return journey Lee leaned on the rails, sipping a drink and watching the setting sun turn the water red. It had been a blazing hot day and the air was balmy. A languorous warmth pervaded her limbs, and she had only to turn her head to see Daniel's adoring eyes on her. Cocooned by his love, she felt a blissful happiness that she'd never known before in her life.
Her hand tightened on the rail to control the impulse to touch him. It would have been so easy to reach out and brush her fingers against his neck, and if they'd been alone she would have done so.
It's ridiculous, she thought wryly. You're a woman of twenty-nine. You're falling in love with this man and you're scared. What's the matter with you?
Daniel turned his head suddenly and looked straight into her eyes. At once he drew in his breath with a sharp sound, and she knew he must have read her feelings in her face. Her heart began to thump. She could tell from his expression that he felt the same as she did at this moment.