Daniel and Daughter

'I think I'd better not answer that,' Lee said, feeling the waters beginning to close over her head.

'That's all right,' Phoebe said wickedly. 'Some people take silence to mean consent.'

'Phoebe, why don't you just become a lawyer?' Lee pleaded. 'I'm beginning to think it's exactly what you're cut out for.'

Phoebe laughed-the young, confident laugh of someone who knew she could make the world dance to her tune.

That's what Dad says,' she said serenely. 'But I know what's right for me and I'm going to have it, no matter what he thinks. Thanks a million, Lee.'

When she'd gone the studio seemed quiet, as though a whirlwind had hit it and passed on.

'Were you ever that young and that sure?' mused Gillian.

'Yes,' Lee said. 'And it was a disaster. But then, I wasn't a genius.'

CHAPTER FIVE

Lee had no leisure to think of Phoebe for the next few days. Sonya was leaving to spend part of her summer holidays with Jimmy, and Lee's time was taken up with supervising her preparations. Mother and daughter enjoyed a final shopping trip together, during which Lee splashed out on a new dress for herself. When they got home she paraded in it before the mirror. It was blue silk, highlighting her eyes, and cut so that it clung to her dainty figure.

She commended herself for choosing something so classically restrained, until Sonya blew this self-deception apart with the frank comment, 'Jolly good, Mum! It's about time you bought something sexy.'

'Don't be vulgar, darling! It's elegant and simple.'

'Of course it is. Elegant, simple and sexy.'

'Sonya!'

Sonya placed her hands theatrically over her mouth. Lee surveyed the gown in dismay, seeing the truth at last. It was sexy. It was the most frankly provocative garment she'd ever worn with Daniel.

Sonya's train left at midday. Lee drove her to the station and they sat over a cup of coffee. As always on these occasions Lee's stomach was churning with conflicting feelings. She was determined never to interfere with Sonya's love for her father, but the sight of her going off to visit Jimmy roused painful sen-sations. Now she was uncomfortably aware that she was babbling.

'I don't know how you manage to fit in so many activities, darling. After you've seen your father you're going on that school camp-that's the twenty-third, don't forget-and then you'll…'

'Mum…' Sonya briefly laid her hand over Lee's, and her eyes were kind. 'I'm coming back, I promise,' she said gently.

Lee let out her breath, her heart thumping. 'I'm really transparent, aren't I?' she asked shakily. '

'Well, whenever I go off to see Daddy you remind me of all the things I'm booked to do when I get back. I'd have to be a lot stupider than I am not to guess why.'

'And you're not stupid,' Lee said with a little smile.

'I wish you'd stop worrying. I love Daddy, but I wouldn't want to live with him. His latest fad is to want me to call him Jimmy,' she added wryly.

'What? Why?'

'For the same reason he's started wearing trendy clothes and pulling his stomach in. He's nearly forty and he hates it. It drives Erica mad.' Erica was Jimmy's second wife.

Sonya's wisdom had made her seem mature, but suddenly she changed, becoming again a thirteen-year-old girl, gleefully winding her mother up.

'I tell you what, Mum,' she said with elaborate casualness, 'I won't go after all. I'll stay here and you and I will spend this next week together having a wonderful time-just the two of us.'

Lee gasped with dismay before she could stop herself. Meeting her daughter's eyes, she found them brimming with fun. Of course, Sonya knew Lee was planning to see a lot of Daniel. No one had told her but she knew.

'I think it's time you got on the train,' she said firmly.

'But shouldn't I stay here and keep you company-?'

'Get on the train, Sonya.'

'I just hate to think of your being all alone-'

'Get on the train before I take you by the scruff of the neck and put you on.' She joined in Sonya's laughter. 'I'm not going to pass up the chance of getting rid of you for a week,' she said. 'It's your father's turn to suffer.'

At the train door they hugged each other vigorously. 'Be good,' Sonya said, and hopped on board before Lee could protest.

Daniel had been out of town for a few days, but they were to see each other that evening. Lee prepared with great care, putting on the beautiful dress, then taking it off, and finally putting it on again. At last she spoke to herself firmly. It was time to stop being nonsensical. She was a grown woman and she'd made up her mind, finally, definitely, once and for all. At least-she thought she had.

Daniel pulled open the door as she ran up the steps of his house, and no sooner had it shut behind her than she was in his arms being hungrily kissed in a way that made her head spin.

'I haven't kissed you for a hundred years,' he murmured when they paused for breath. 'Has it occurred to you that this is the first time we'd ever had total privacy?'

'Not really,' she gasped. 'I've spent evenings here before, when we were quite alone.'

'Yes,' he agreed between kisses, 'but that's not quite the same thing.'

Suddenly there was a violent hissing noise from somewhere in the background. Daniel jerked free with an appalled cry of 'Ye gods!' and vanished into the kitchen. Lee followed just as he opened a window, frantically flapping at the smoke.

'Is the dinner ruined?' she asked cheerfully.

'No, that was an early stage-a minor disaster and easily remedied. Here-' He poured her a glass of red wine and made her stand clear.

'Can't I help?' she protested.

'Menial tasks only. Women shouldn't really be allowed in kitchens. You're all rotten cooks.'

When she saw how at home he was in his gadget-filled kitchen, she had to concede his point.

'You're a fraud,' she laughed as they stood watching bubbling saucepans. 'You told Phoebe she had to go to Paris out of politeness, but you were actually getting rid of the poor girl.'

'She really did have a long-standing engagement with the Bressons,' Daniel protested, 'and it would have been rude to break it. But I must admit I'm glad to have the house to myself for a week.'

'Yes, I know exactly what you mean,' Lee said. 'I felt the same when I was finally alone. Perfect freedom from inquisitive, adolescent eyes.'

'But haven't you still got Mark with you?'

'Not any more. He announced yesterday morning that he felt like taking a driving holiday, and by evening he'd gone.'

'In that thing?' Daniel asked hilariously. 'He's mad. Where does he think it's going to take him?'

'He was very cagey about his destination, but he couldn't meet my eye and his passport's missing.'

'You're trying to tell me that he's gone to Paris, aren't you?'

'I think it's likely.'

Daniel sighed. 'What it is to be young! Only besotted love could explain his taking that contraption on a long journey and actually expecting to get there. Thanks for telling me. I'll phone Madame Bresson and warn her to look out for an English boy with a moonstruck expression.'

While he tended his saucepans Lee left the kitchen, meaning to make herself useful by setting the table. But on the threshold of the dining room she stopped, riveted.

Everything was prepared, including a small round table for two, covered with a cloth that swept the floor all the way around. It was exquisitely laid with silver and crystal. Silver candelabra stood waiting to be lit, and by one of the place-settings was a tiny vase bearing a single flower.

Lee's eyebrows rose a fraction and her mouth moved in a tender smile. Whoever had gone to so much trouble over this room had meant to be taken seriously.

When the meal was ready Daniel loaded it onto a heated trolley and wheeled it in. He made Lee sit while he served her, and smiled as he saw her looking at the rose. When her starter was before her he lit the candles and went to switch off the electric light. The room was immediately thrown into romantic dimness, lit only by the dancing flames.