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Huge double doors were opened into the garden at the other end of the informal room, and it was the girl seated behind the piano who held Ryan’s attention. She couldn’t be any other than Mark’s sister; she had his rich dark hair, kept short and boyish, her eyes, as she stared sightlessly into the garden, were the same hazel colour. She was a pretty girl, extremely so, and her pale lilac dress suited her dark colouring.
The butler coughed rather pointedly, and although the girl’s shoulders stiffened slightly she made no effort to stop playing, her fingers flowing fluidly over the piano keys. Ryan had no sense of music, modern or old, but she thought this playing was probably good.
Suddenly the girl crashed all ten fingers down on to the keys and turned to face them, her eyes flashing. ‘What is it, Shelley?’ she snapped in a haughty voice, totally ignoring Ryan as she stood beside him.
The butler appeared unperturbed by her abruptness. ‘Miss Ryan Shelton,’ he announced.
Cool hazel eyes were turned on Ryan, who withstood the appraisal very well in the circumstances. This girl was very insolent, nothing at all like the easygoing Mark.
‘Thank you, Shelley,’ she said dismissively, not even looking at him. ‘You may go.’ She stood up, a tall girl; her lilac dress was very elegantly styled, her legs long and shapely, the heels high on her matching sandals. ‘So you’re Ryan Shelton,’ she mused slowly. ‘My brother’s little friend from college.’
Ryan bit her lip, not taking to Amanda Montgomery at all. She only hoped first impressions were wrong! ‘Mark and I are at college together, yes,’ she answered calmly, feeling her untidiness more against this young girl’s sophistication. She looked much older than the eighteen Mark had said she was! As for the two of them being company for each other—the only thing they had in common was their youth!
‘My name’s Mandy.’ The other girl began to thaw a little, humour lightening her eyes. ‘You aren’t what Grant was expecting at all,’ she commented.
‘No?’ Ryan frowned.
‘No. You see, he—–’ Mandy broke off as a man strode into the room, a man who instantly held Ryan’s attention.
He had to be Grant Montgomery, that much was obvious once again by his dark colouring, but that was where all similarity to Mark ended! This man was incredibly tall, well over six feet, with the powerful physique of an athlete, his shoulders wide, a flat hardened stomach, muscular thighs and long legs all shown to advantage in the checked working shirt and close-fitting faded denims.
But it was his face that held her attention. It wasn’t just that he was so much older than she had expected, at least ten years Mark’s senior, it was also that he was so incredibly good-looking, in a harsh way. His hair grew long and dark over his ears and collar, his face was tanned a dark teak colour from the wind and sunshine he worked in, his eyes were the colour of emeralds, the nose long and hawkish, the top lip of the firmly compressed mouth thin and uncompromising, the lower lip fuller, sensually so. His jaw was firm and strong, the top two buttons of his shirt were unbuttoned to reveal an equally tanned chest.
Those green eyes flickered over her with a keen intelligence, his brows lifting slightly in surprise. ‘I didn’t know you had a friend coming over this afternoon, Mandy.’ His voice was deep and gravelly, sending shivers of awareness down Ryan’s spine.
His sister’s mouth twisted. ‘I haven’t.’
The green eyes narrowed now. ‘Then who—–’
‘Ryan Shelton,’ Mandy supplied with obvious relish.
He drew in an angry breath. ‘Another of Mark’s little jokes, I take it?’ he rasped, his voice no longer pleasurable to listen to in his displeasure.
Ryan listened to the exchange between brother and sister with a sinking heart. It didn’t sound as if she was exactly welcome here! And Mark had sworn he had arranged everything! She should have known. She would kill him when she got back to—–
‘Please excuse us, Miss Shelton,’ Grant Montgomery spoke to her directly now. ‘When Mark informed us of your visit he omitted one thing.’
At least it was only one!
‘The fact that you’re a girl,’ Grant finished in a derisive voice.
Ryan swallowed hard, as the sinking feeling returned. ‘He did?’ she grimaced. What did it mean? Wasn’t she welcome if she was a girl?
‘Yes,’ Grant Montgomery bit out, his eyes icy now, derogative as he looked her up and down. ‘He merely said it would be a friend called Ryan.’
‘Does it make a difference?’ She chewed on her bottom lip.
‘To your visit here? No,’ he shrugged dismissively. ‘Although I’m a little surprised at your interest in art.’
‘Interest?’ she echoed sharply. ‘It’s more than an interest, it’s my career,’ she defended, sensing his criticism.
‘Oh yes?’ he scorned. ‘And what do you intend doing with it?’
‘Well, I—–’
‘Because unless you have an exceptional talent,’ which his tone seemed to imply he doubted, ‘or intend going into advertising or teaching, art is a complete waste of time, especially for a woman.’
Ryan flushed. ‘Maybe I have an exceptional talent,’ she snapped, her chin at a challenging angle.
‘Maybe,’ Grant Montgomery drawled. ‘And now you have the use of an exceptional studio. But not of the cottage, I’m afraid,’ he added with a frown.
‘No?’ She tried to remain calm in the face of what looked like being a wasted journey. Even supposing Grant Montgomery did let her have the use of the studio, she doubted if the village had a hotel. If it didn’t have a taxi it was highly unlikely to have a hotel!
‘No. You see—–’ He broke off as a strange noise sounded through the house. ‘What the hell—–!’ He strode off through the open patio doors to the back of the house where the noise appeared to be coming from.
Ryan followed more slowly. She already knew what the strange noise was. Ragtag howling. …
CHAPTER TWO
HE was still howling when the three of them reached the back of the house, sitting in the cobbled yard with his head raised to the clear blue sky, howling soulfully, as if his very life depended on it.
Grant Montgomery came to an abrupt halt, staring incredulously at the scruffy dog. ‘Good grief,’ he blinked, as if his eyes had to be deceiving him. ‘What on earth is that?’
Ryan bridled at his scornful tone, and Ragtag stopped his howling long enough to growl at the tall imposing man who looked down at him so disdainfully.
‘It looks like a dog,’ said Mandy in amusement.
‘It is a dog!’ Ryan moved to Ragtag’s side, going down on her haunches to have her face licked ecstatically by her new canine friend. She glared up at the brother and sister. ‘My dog,’ she told them angrily.
Grant’s brows rose arrogantly. ‘You’re expecting him to stay here too?’
‘You said I couldn’t use the cottage,’ she reminded him, standing up, but keeping the now quiet Ragtag at her side.
‘At this moment, unfortunately not. Some of the roof tiles have come loose during the winter storms, something that wasn’t discovered until yesterday when the cottage was opened up for you. I have a man working on it now, but until such time as the repairs are completed and the cottage is aired for you you’re welcome to stay in the house.’ He looked down at Ragtag. ‘The dog is not.’
She looked down at Ragtag too, seeing what Grant Montgomery must see, a dirty unbrushed mutt, desperately in need of a good cleaning. But she also saw the trust in his deep brown eyes as he watched her, the almost stupidly loving expression on his face, his tail wagging goodnaturedly. If what Peter Thornby said was truth, that Ragtag was probably a stray, then there was no reason why he shouldn’t become her dog.
‘I have two dogs of my own,’ Grant Montgomery added before she could make any comment. ‘Two Golden Labradors. I doubt they would welcome—–’ he paused pointedly.
‘Ragtag,’ she mumbled at his prompting.
‘How appropriate,’ Mandy taunted.
Ryan flashed her a look of dislike. ‘That’s what I thought.’
‘Yes, well,’ Grant Montgomery’s mouth showed signs of a smile, although it never materialised, ‘Rex and Riba don’t like strange dogs in their home. But that isn’t to say your dog isn’t welcome to stay, as you are,’ this last seemed to come out rather grudgingly. ‘Would you mind if he slept in the stable until the cottage is ready? It will only be for a couple of nights.’
Considering Ragtag was probably used to sleeping under the stars, a stable would probably be a luxury to him. And yet Ryan was aware that Grant Montgomery was only making a token show of seeking her approval, that it was the stable or nothing. Her mutt mustn’t be allowed to mix with his purebred Labradors!
‘I realise he needs a bath—–’
‘That’s an understatement,’ Mandy mocked.
Again Ryan looked at her with dislike. Snobbish little cat! ‘We happen to have travelled a long way,’ she flashed. ‘Both of us got rather dusty on the walk from the station.’
‘You walked?’ the other girl gasped.
She stiffened. ‘Of course.’
Grant Montgomery was frowning, the problem of Ragtag forgotten. ‘You came by train?’
‘Why else would I be at the station?’
His eyes hardened as he met the anger in hers. ‘Mark didn’t tell us you would be coming by train.’
‘Does it matter?’ she dismissed, becoming more and more disenchanted with this situation.
‘Not at all,’ he answered coldly. ‘Except there was no need for you to have walked all that way. A telephone call and one of us would have come and got you.’
She shrugged. ‘I managed to get a lift in the end.’
‘Oh yes?’
Ryan sensed his disapproval. However, she was twenty-one, not twelve, and she certainly didn’t have to ask this man’s permission to accept the offer of a lift! She didn’t relish the thought of being a guest in his home for the next few days either. Staying in a cottage on the estate was one thing, living in the house, if only for a couple of days, was something else completely. It meant she would be thrown into close daily contact with both Grant and Mandy Montgomery. And what she had seen of them so far didn’t endear them to her.
‘With the vet,’ she told them casually. ‘A very nice man. He sent his regards.’
‘So you’ve met Peter,’ Mandy said slowly.
Ryan looked at her curiously, sensing a deep interest behind the casual question. The other girl had a delicate flush to her cheeks, a glow to her eyes. Could it be that she was more than a little interested in the local vet? If she were it was obvious from Grant Montgomery’s haughty expression that he knew nothing about it. Would he approve or not? Peter Thornby was a lot older than Mandy, but then the girl was headstrong, maybe maturity was what she needed.
She firmly dismissed the other girl’s interest from her mind. It was none of her business who Mandy—or Grant, for that matter—fell in love with. She was just here to paint, and the sooner she could move into that cottage the better it would be as far as she was concerned.
‘Yes, I met him,’ she nodded. ‘He was in a hurry, though, so he couldn’t stop.’
Mandy’s mouth tightened angrily. ‘He never can!’ She turned on her heel and walked back into the house.
More than interested, Ryan would say. An unreturned interest, by the look of it.
Grant Montgomery looked taken aback by his sister’s behaviour, an emotion he quickly masked as he turned back to Ryan. ‘I’ll show you where the dog can sleep,’ he said abruptly, leading the way over to the stables.
She slowly followed him, aware of the power he exuded, his strides long and purposeful, muscles rippling beneath his shirt as he swung the door open.
‘One of the stalls should be all right,’ he told her.
Ryan had the feeling he would like to allocate her to one of the stalls too! It really hadn’t been a good idea to come here, it wasn’t working out at all as she had expected. So far there had been none of the peace and quiet she wanted.
‘Yes, fine,’ she agreed dully, the stable pristine clean.
Grant Montgomery looked down at her. ‘If you would rather he came up to the house—–’
‘No, it doesn’t matter,’ she dismissed curtly. ‘I think he needs a bath first—like me,’ she added ruefully, blatantly aware that even though Grant Montgomery had supposedly been working on the estate all day he was much tidier than she was, and the heated smell of his body was rather pleasant to the senses. Potent, was a much more appropriate word.
He really was an attractive man, magnetically so, somewhere in his mid-thirties, she would have guessed. Mark had told her that his brother wasn’t married, and now, having met him, she found that surprising. Some lucky woman should have snapped him up long ago, maybe then he wouldn’t have adopted this arrogant air of condescension. Although she wouldn’t have counted on it! He had the look of a man who had always had supreme self-confidence.
He nodded now, not disclaiming her comment. ‘I’ll get Shelley to show you to your room. You can get some food for your dog in the kitchen once you’ve freshened up.’
Ryan was relieved he had mentioned that. She had been wondering what to do about feeding Ragtag, especially as it already seemed she had to accept the Montgomerys’ hospitality for herself for several days.
‘Thank you,’ she accepted.
‘Perhaps you would like to settle the dog and then come up to the house,’ Grant suggested distantly. ‘I have to get back to work, but Shelley will be only too happy to help you should you run into any difficulties.’
‘Er—–fine,’ she said. ‘I-I’ll see you later, then.’
‘At dinner,’ he nodded tersely.
Ryan’s last view of him was as he strode off to climb in behind the wheel of his Land Rover, a grey one this time, as opposed to Peter Thornby’s green one, then Grant Montgomery drove off towards the fields at the back of the house. Considering the amount of sheep she had seen on her way here it was natural to assume the estate farmed them.
Mark hadn’t really told her much about his family, least of all their complexities. Mandy was a strange girl, old beyond her years in some ways, still very young in others, and Grant Montgomery was too full of complexities to even begin to fathom him. And she would bet that a lot of women had tried.
‘Interesting man,’ she told Ragtag as she looked for a comfortable spot for him in one of the stalls. ‘Oh, I know you didn’t like him,’ she smiled, ‘but then he didn’t seem too keen on you either. Ah, here we are,’ she had found a stall full of fresh-smelling hay. ‘Now you settle down here,’ she instructed. ‘And I’ll bring you some food down soon. And just between you and me, Ragtag,’ she said in a whisper, ‘I don’t think the haughty Mr Grant Montgomery liked me either!’
It had been there from the beginning, an antagonism that was not of her making, almost as if he suspected her motives for being here. Oh, how she wished that cottage had been ready for her when she arrived, or that she had known of the delay and could have come a couple of days later. In the meantime she would have to make the best of it.
‘I’ll be back soon,’ she absently assured the dog, and went back into the house to seek out the butler.
The bedroom they had given her was as elegantly furnished as the rest of the house, the carpet cream and fluffy, the deep pink bedspread and velvet curtains at the windows matching perfectly, the furniture a light pine.
Her suitcase had already been placed on the ottoman at the bottom of the double bed, with her canvases propped against it, reminding her of her reason for being here. Tomorrow she would be able to start work, that would compensate for all the difficulties she had so far encountered.
She was just putting on her clean clothing after her bath when Mandy Montgomery walked into the room unnanounced. Ryan hastily straightened her tee-shirt over her breasts, smoothing it over her denims. If Mandy had hoped to unnerve her she had failed. After sharing a dormitory with five other girls, Diana being one of them, she had become used to a lack of privacy, and was completely lacking in inhibitions about her body.
Nevertheless, she faced the other girl challengingly, knowing the intrusion had been a deliberately rude one. ‘Yes?’ she enquired coolly.
‘You’re wanted on the telephone—–’
‘Mark?’ Her expression brightened, and she forgot her antagonism.
‘Of course,’ Mandy taunted. ‘You can use the telephone in the drawing-room.’
Ryan didn’t wait to hear any more, but ran down the stairs to pick up the telephone. ‘Mark!’ she greeted him with breathless relief.
‘Who else?’ he said cheerfully. ‘How’s it going?’
‘Well, I had to walk from the station, the house is enormous, my cottage isn’t ready, I have—–’
‘Hey, slow down, slow down!’ he laughed. ‘I heard all about that from Mandy. I also heard you had some strange-looking animal with you. I’m sure you were alone when Diana and I saw you off this morning,’ he teased.
Mandy hadn’t wasted much time relating her unusual arrival. ‘You almost saw me off,’ she reminded him. ‘You arrived just as the train was pulling out of the station. As for the dog, he’s adopted me,’ she dismissed. ‘Mark, your brother has very kindly invited me to stay in the house until the cottage is ready, but—–’
‘Have you seen the studio yet?’ he interrupted.
She frowned. ‘No.’
‘Get Mandy to show it to you. I guarantee you won’t want to leave then.’
‘I don’t want to leave now. I just feel—uncomfortable, with your family.’ That was the understatement of the year!
‘What did you think of Grant?’
‘Think of him?’ she returned guardedly.
Mark chuckled softly. ‘Handsome devil, isn’t he?’
‘Very handsome,’ she acknowledged stiffly.
‘I thought you’d like him,’ he mocked.
‘Who said anything about liking him?’ she snapped, knowing that she was, foolishly, blushing. ‘I just admitted he was handsome, that doesn’t mean I like him.’
‘Of course not,’ Mark replied blandly. ‘And how about Mandy, what do you think of her?’
‘She’s very pretty.’
‘Isn’t she?’ The smile could be heard in his voice as he guessed at her evasion. ‘She’s also very sweet under the bitchiness.’
‘I’m not sure I’ll get that far,’ Ryan said dryly.
‘You will,’ he laughed. ‘Could you put her on for a few minutes? I want to talk to her.’
Much to Ryan’s embarrassment she found Mandy Montgomery standing in the open doorway when she turned, giving every impression of having been there for some time. How much of the conversation had she listened to? She hoped not the part where she had admitted that Grant was handsome!
‘He wants to talk to you,’ she held out the receiver to the other girl.
Mandy strolled over, in no hurry. ‘Thanks,’ and she instantly turned her back on Ryan.
So much for getting past the bitchiness! She wasn’t even sure she wanted to.
‘I’m not your servant!’ Mandy was telling her brother angrily. ‘All right,’ she agreed finally. ‘But Grant isn’t too happy about the way you deceived him. You know exactly what I mean. It isn’t funny, Mark, Grant is furious about it.’
It didn’t need two guesses what Grant Montgomery was ‘furious’ about. He had been expecting a man, and instead she had turned up. She was always having the same trouble with her name, although this time she was inclined to believe, as Grant did, that Mark had done it on purpose. It was the sort of thing he would find funny. Obviously his brother didn’t share his sense of humour. She wasn’t sure she did in this case either. It had certainly got her off to a bad start with the other two members of the Montgomery family.
Mandy had rung off now, and turned to her with that insolent stare. ‘Mark wants me to show you the studio.’
She blushed. ‘If you’d rather not, I’m sure I could find it on my own.’
Dark eyebrows rose in a facsimile of her eldest brother. ‘I doubt if Grant would welcome you wandering about the house on your own,’ she drawled.
Ryan’s mouth tightened at the other girl’s insulting tone. ‘I don’t think your family silver would look right in my flat,’ she snapped.
Mandy smiled, at once looking younger. ‘So you can stand up for yourself if you have to. That could come in useful in this house.’ She led the way up the stairs, with Ryan walking at her side. ‘Don’t be fooled by Grant’s mild manner of earlier, he can be a swine at times.’
If his rudeness to her and condescension to Ragtag had been his mild manner, then he must indeed be a swine at his worst! ‘I’ll remember that,’ she said coolly.
‘I should,’ Mandy advised softly. ‘When Grant has one of his boils the whole household knows about it.’
‘Then let’s hope that he doesn’t “boil” while I’m in the house!’
‘I wouldn’t count on it,’ the other girl said dryly. ‘It happens pretty regularly. Here’s the studio,’ she flung open double doors at the top of the last flight of stairs, standing aside for Ryan to enter.
As Ryan walked inside she forgot all about Mandy’s snobbishness, Grant’s arrogance, Mark’s disregard for anything but his own plans, and her face lit up as she took in the perfection of the studio. Mark certainly hadn’t exaggerated.
The studio covered most of the loft space, huge windows having been put in as skylights each side of the sloping roof, giving the room a very light and airy feeling. Several easels stood about the room, empty of canvases, in fact, the whole room had an unused look.
‘Mark doesn’t use it very often,’ Mandy stated the obvious. ‘He doesn’t come home very often either,’ she added in a resentful voice. ‘He prefers his London friends.’
‘Really?’ Ryan was only half listening, her excitement increasing as she looked around the room. It was perfect, absolutely perfect. She could spend the rest of her life working in here. Although three weeks would have to do!
‘Are you a—special friend of his?’ Mandy probed.
She shrugged. ‘I don’t know about special, but I’ve known him a long time.’ She was already planning where she would put her easel for the best light. How her fellow students would envy her this opportunity, most of them having to make do, as she usually did. She had a feeling she was going to do some of her best work here.
‘If you’ve quite finished looking round,’ Mandy said tightly.
‘Mm? Oh—oh yes,’ Ryan blushed. ‘It’s lovely,’ she said inadequately.
The other girl nodded. ‘Mark often lets his friends use it, but you’re the first female.’
This fact really seemed to bother the Montgomery family, although Ryan couldn’t for the life of her think why. Didn’t they have friends of both sexes?
‘Perhaps you would like to join me for tea in the lounge?’ Mandy asked grudgingly.
‘I’d like that,’ she accepted. ‘But I have to feed my dog first.’
The other girl’s mouth twisted mockingly. ‘I’ll see you later, then.’
So dismissed, Ryan made her way down to the kitchen, finding that Grant had already told the cook she would be requiring the food.
Ragtag sat outside the stable rather than inside it, basking in the sunshine, although he got up and trotted to her side as soon as he saw her, his nose going into the food-bowl as if he hadn’t eaten for a month.
‘Take it easy!’ she laughed, as more food seemed to come over the side of the bowl rather than into his mouth, the water slopping out of the other bowl as he almost leapt inside it. Ragtag carried on eating until all the food had gone, looking up at her expectantly once the bowl was empty. ‘More!’ Ryan chided, standing up. ‘I bet Grant will be glad to get rid of us, Ragtag.’ She frowned down at him. ‘Maybe once you’ve had a bath you won’t look so ragtaggled.’
‘Talking to yourself could become a dangerous habit,’ a familiar gravelly voice taunted her.
She blushed, looking up at Grant Montgomery, finding it impossible to read his expression, as the sun was directly behind him. For such a big man he moved very quietly, she hadn’t even been aware of his presence in the cobbled yard until he spoke.