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Reed reached them seconds later, his keen grey eyes raking Antonia’s face with growing concern. ‘What’s wrong?’ he asked, his hand beneath her elbow that much more demanding than the older man’s had been, and her erstwhile knight-errant turned to him with relief.
‘Your young lady’s feeling a little faint,’ he declared, clearly identifying Reed as someone he could relinquish his responsibilities to. ‘She says she’s hungry. Perhaps you should see she gets something to eat right away.’
‘I’ll do that,’ said Reed smoothly, the pressure of his fingers on her arm warning her not to contradict him. He looked down at her with apparent indulgence. ‘Sorry I’m late, Antonia. I had some difficulty in parking the car.’
Antonia’s jaw quivered with a mixture of impotence and frustration, but when Reed’s fingers compelled her to move on, she had little choice but to go with him. She was not strong enough to fight with him, not right now, and besides, a weakening feeling of inertia was sweeping over her. She was tired, and hungry, and the effort of simply sparring with him had robbed her of most of her resistance.
‘Why are you doing this?’ she exclaimed wearily. ‘You know someone might see us. And besides, doesn’t it mean anything to you that I don’t want to eat lunch with you?’
‘If I thought that, I wouldn’t be here,’ Reed responded, with brutal arrogance. ‘Now, I’ve parked the car in the carpark at the back of here. I suggest we go and find it and …’
‘No!’ With quivering determination, Antonia pulled herself away from him. ‘No, I won’t go with you!’ She shook her head. ‘I don’t know where you’ve got the idea from that I might like to have lunch with you, but it’s mistaken, believe me! Now, please—go away and stop bothering me!’
‘Antonia …’
‘Mrs Sheldon!’
‘All right, Mrs Sheldon then.’ His lips tightened with the effort to be civil. ‘Can you deny that you’re in no fit state to be left on your own …’
‘Because of you!’ she interrupted him unsteadily, and he politely inclined his head.
‘If you say so,’ he conceded, neither denying nor admitting the charge. ‘Even so, I’d be one hell of a bastard if I walked off and left you now. So I suggest we find somewhere you can sit down, and I’ll buy you a drink or a sandwich or whatever it takes to put some colour back into your face.’
Antonia took a deep breath. ‘I’m not leaving here.’
‘I’m not suggesting you should.’ He glanced round. ‘How about that pub over there? They’re bound to serve bar snacks at lunchtime. Let me buy you a drink and a ham roll or something.’ He paused. ‘Just to prove I’m not the villain you seem to think me.’
Antonia sighed. ‘And if someone sees us?’
Reed’s lips twisted. ‘Are you ashamed of being seen with me?’
‘You know what I mean!’
‘Someone I know?’
‘Yes.’
‘So what?’ He shrugged. ‘I’m only buying you a drink. Where’s the harm in that?’
Where indeed? Antonia pondered uneasily, reluctantly following Reed into the bar of the pub. Except that she should have been more positive, instead of giving in to what could only be regarded as a reckless impulse.
The Black Lion turned out to be a favourite haunt of students from the institute, Antonia discovered, and she saw several familiar faces as she made her way to the comparative anonymity of a corner booth. She hoped no one recognised her. As yet, her features were not well known outside Mr Fenwick’s domain. But she had not taken into account the fact that as a newcomer she had inspired a great deal of interest among the male fraternity. Tall and slim, with the full breasts she so abhorred, she had attracted a considerable amount of admiration, and more than one of the trainees had expressed the aspiration to be the focus of her long, faintly Oriental eyes.
The booths were all occupied, but the one in the corner had two vacant seats on a banquette, facing a young couple who were evidently engrossed in one another. Antonia chose this, sliding on to the cool vinyl pad with some relief. In spite of her reluctance to spend any longer with Reed than was absolutely necessary, she was grateful for the chance to sit down and recover her self-possession. And surely now she had an opportunity to make him see he was wasting his time by pursuing her?
Reed had got their drinks, and she lifted her hand to let him see where she was. He came across carrying the two drinks in one hand and two ham and salad rolls in a paper napkin in the other. Setting the drinks on the table, he slid on to the banquette beside her, and although she had moved to the farthest extremities of the booth, his thigh brushed hers as he took his seat.
As usual, he looked perfectly at home in what must be, for him, unfamiliar surroundings. Swallowing a mouthful of the glass of lager he had bought for himself, he surveyed the busy environs of the bar with casual interest, apparently unaware that the girl opposite had transferred her attention from her boyfriend to him.
‘What is this?’ Antonia asked bleakly, to distract the girl’s assessing gaze, and Reed turned his head to look at her. This close, the disruptive influence of his darkly fringed eyes was devastating, and forcing herself to concentrate on the glass in front of her, Antonia made her meaning plain.
‘It’s brandy,’ Reed told her, putting down his glass and pushing hers towards her. ‘Drink it. It will do you good. You look as though you need it.’
Aware that their conversation was being monitored by the young woman opposite, albeit that she had been obliged to return her attention to her boyfriend, Antonia felt her indignation rising. ‘What do you mean by that?’ she enquired, barely audibly, but Reed’s expression revealed he had heard.
‘Pale,’ he said, lifting his hand and running his knuckles down her cheek, and although she flinched away from him, she could still feel his touch long after it had departed.
Deciding she needed the raw spirit after all, Antonia took a sip of the brandy, catching her breath as it forged its way down into her stomach. But he was right. It was warming. And she took another sip before examining her sandwich.
‘They only had ham and salad,’ Reed remarked, biting into the crisp roll he had bought for himself. ‘I hope you like it.’
Antonia made no response, but she did nibble at her own sandwich, meeting the eyes of the young woman opposite with rather more confidence than before. After all, she could hardly blame her for looking at Reed, she thought. He was good to look at. And nor could she blame her if she was wondering what he was doing with someone like her.
‘Is it okay?’
Reed emptied his mouth to take another drink of his beer, and Antonia nodded vigorously. ‘Yes, thank you,’ she answered politely, not responding to his evident desire for her to look at him, and he turned back to his roll with rigid application.
Antonia could not eat all her sandwich. It wasn’t easy eating any of it with the twin disadvantages of Reed, and the girl opposite, observing her progress. But the brandy was soothing, and by the time her glass was empty, she was feeling more herself.
Reed, too, left half his roll, his appetite only lasting so long as Antonia was making an effort. However, without asking her permission he took their empty glasses back to the bar and returned with them filled, his eyes challenging her to refuse him when his presence on the banquette prevented her escape.
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