Daniel and Daughter

"That's enough!' said Lee, quelling the incipient riot. 'Sonya, if you can't be any more helpful than that, try keeping quiet.'

'Sorry, Mum.' Sonya subsided, cheerful at having added her mite to the proceedings.

"That car is safe,' Mark said furiously. 'The gearbox is almost new, and the brakes never fail-'

'I shouldn't think they get the chance if you can't start it,' Sonya observed cheekily.

'I'm just saying those brakes never let me down. One touch and they're solid.'

'That's probably why you can'; start it. The brakes are still on-'

'Now look, you little brat-'

'Shut up, the pair of you!' Lee said in exasperation. 'There's no point in going on about this now. Mark, think about that offer. Three thousand pounds is all you need. In the meantime, when Phoebe comes back, if you want to take her out, you can borrow my car.'

She was guiltily aware that her fuse had shortened abruptly because she was miserable. She missed Daniel desperately. Offering her car to Mark had been an act of pure self-interest. The thought of Phoebe remaining home every evening, never allowing her a moment alone with Daniel, was unendurable.

I wonder if it'll be like this until she goes to university? she thought. And even then, now Sonya's home, it's going to be a terrible problem getting some time alone together. Unless…

Unless she married Daniel. Then everything would become simple. She managed to push the decision aside for the moment. She wasn't yet ready to take that final step. But she knew she'd moved one important stage nearer.

If she'd had to define what was holding her back Lee would have said that Daniel was too perfect. His charm never failed him, his good humour was never seriously disturbed, his manners were delightful.

She knew she was being illogical, since the first time she'd met him he'd been in a raging temper, but, as Mark had said, that was 'driverism' and in a special category. It didn't tell her what she wanted to know.

All his life Daniel had been favoured by the gods. His brains, his looks, his personal magnetism had combined to create for him a climate in which he generally got what he wanted-often because people were falling over themselves to give it to him. Even the battle for Phoebe, painful though it had been at the time, had finally gone his way. Phoebe herself was a daughter any man might be proud of. Why shouldn't Daniel Raife be charming?

Only when his delightful surface had been shattered by something more serious than a dented car would she know if she could live with him.

She longed for the courage to match Daniel's whole-hearted willingness to commit himself to her. But she'd learned caution in a hard and bitter school, and it was too late to free herself of it now.

One afternoon, when Phoebe and Daniel had been home a week, Lee was getting through her work as briskly as possible. She and Daniel were going out, and she wanted to leave the studio promptly. But at the last minute the phone rang. The caller turned out to be Brenda Mulroy, the senior partner in the model agency Mulroy & Collitt.

'Hello, Brenda. What can I do for you?'

'You've already done it,' boomed the other woman's deep, cheerful voice. 'You really do have a genius as a talent-spotter, Lee. Bless you for sending her to us.'

'Sending who?' asked Lee, bewildered.

'Phoebe Raife, of course. Those pictures are fantastic'

'What?'

'Don't tell me you've already forgotten giving her our address?'

'Brenda, please-I don't know what you're talking about.'

'Didn't you take those pictures of Phoebe Raife?'

Lee sat down abruptly. Some glimmering of the awful truth was getting through to her, but her mind refused to accept it. 'Yes, I took the pictures,' she said. 'Tell me what's happened. How did you get them?'

'They arrived in the post. When we saw them we couldn't believe our eyes. I phoned her and she came in this morning. Phoebe Raife is now represented by Mulroy & Collitt.'

'Do you mean she's actually signed something?' Lee asked, feeling her mouth go dry.

'No point, my dear. She's a minor. Besides, I don't like to feel our models only stay with us because they're tied up with legal strings. Trust is nicer.'

That was true, Lee thought, frantically clutching at straws. If there was one crumb of comfort in this business it was that Phoebe could hardly have gone to a better agency.

'Anyway,' Brenda boomed on, 'I thought you'd be pleased, seeing as you brought it all about. A little bird tells me you're practically part of the family.'

'I'll be the skeleton in the cupboard after this,' Lee said frantically. 'Brenda, this is awful. Phoebe's going to Oxford.'

'Not according to her.'

'But you can't do this. I took those pictures as a birthday present for her. It was entirely private. They weren't meant to be used professionally.'

'You mean you didn't send her to us?'

'Of course I didn't. I don't even know how she knew that you- Oh, ye gods! Yes, I do!' Lee covered her eyes as the memory of Phoebe studying Roxanne's picture came back to her. 'Brenda, please, it was an accident. You mustn't take her on.'

'Lee, dear, I don't want to be obnoxious, but that's really between Phoebe and me. Whatever you meant her to do, she was free to come to us if she wanted. And modelling is obviously what she does want.'

Lee tore her hair. Brenda was right. She had no jurisdiction over Phoebe. And in different circumstances she would have congratulated the girl on her marvellous luck in being taken on by one of the best agencies in the business.

But none of this counted with Lee beside the inner conviction that Daniel was going to blame her.

She pulled herself together long enough to bid Brenda goodbye. As she replaced the receiver her eyes fell on a scrap of paper on the desk. It was a message in Gillian's writing.

.40 p.m. Daniel Raife phoned. Change of plan for tonight. Go straight to his house. Urgent. He said you'd understand. G.

Gillian returned at that moment. 'Oh good, you got it. I asked him if he wanted to talk to you, and he said. "No, just tell her!"'

'How did he sound?'

'Not friendly, to be honest. You two haven't had a row, have you?'

'Not yet, but it's coming.'

Daniel's front door opened as soon as Lee arrived, showing that he'd been waiting for her. He was scowling. 'Now see what your interference has led to,' he snapped.

'My-? Now wait a minute, Daniel. I knew nothing about this until half an hour ago. Phoebe sent the agency those pictures herself.'

'And how did she know where to send them?'

'She saw one of their posters on my studio wall.'

'I seem to remember your promising me that this wouldn't happen,' Daniel said, tight-lipped.

'I promised that I wouldn't send the pictures out, but I had no power to stop Phoebe doing anything she wanted.'

'You could have taken the poster down. Then she wouldn't have known how to go about this mad caper."

Lee groaned. 'Honestly, Daniel, I don't understand how you can know so little about Phoebe. Or rather, you do know her but you don't use what you know.'

They'd gone into the front room. Despite his temper Daniel poured Lee a glass of her favourite dry sherry. As she began to sip it he said, 'Are you going to explain that cryptic remark?'

'You told me yourself how determined Phoebe is. She's just like you as you must have been when you were fighting to get custody of her. Any other man would have given up, but not you. Not with that chin. Well, have a look at Phoebe's chin some time. You'll find it's like looking in the mirror.'

Daniel gave a faint grunt of laughter. He suppressed it at once and the scowl returned to his face, but Lee knew the comparison hadn't displeased him.

'What Phoebe wants, she wants,' Lee resumed. 'And what she wants is to be a model. You'd have to lock her up to stop her.'