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face as if he expected
to find...what? Then he lowered his mouth to hers, and Lauren felt herself
floating up to meet his gentle touch, a kiss that started like swallow wings
against her mouth.
    Within
moments, they were lost in the taste of each other, drowning in the heady,
intoxicating feel of firm, warm bodies striving to get closer and closer...then
the telephone inside her cottage shrilled.
    “Saved by the
bell,” Jon said wryly, pulling away from her embrace with obvious reluctance.
Lauren covered her confusion by rummaging through her pockets for the door key,
which she kept on an antique gold fob-watch chain fastened to a button sewn to
the waistband of her jeans.
    The insistent
burring of the phone, and her own heightened awareness of the chemistry which
still lurked between her and this almost-stranger like a wild animal waiting
its time to pounce once again, made Lauren clumsy and it took her several
attempts to get the door open. Leaving it swinging wide on big brass hinges,
Lauren rushed inside to pick up the phone, heart in her mouth over the
ever-present anxiety that Lucy’s illness held over her.
    What if the
evening had been too strenuous? As if to confirm her worst fears, she heard
Paul Howard’s voice, filled with tension, flowing through the line.
    “I just wanted
to check that you were okay—someone saw you leave with that guy.”
    Lauren reacted
with uncharacteristic anger.
    “I’m a big
girl now, you know. I can judge strangers pretty well, and I’m home safe and
sound,” Lauren knew her temper was unjustified, but the call had interrupted a
scene that she longed to play again, to see how it would end.
    “Do you know
who he is? I knew I’d seen that face somewhere before—it was in a newspaper
article about Rush Co. The guy you drove home with is none other than Jon Rush,
company president!” Paul’s voice carried a stain of anger.
    Looking
towards the door, she frowned. Jon hadn’t followed her inside as she’d
expected. When she heard Paul’s words, she couldn’t help but think it was
probably as well. After all, she thought, blood can stain and it
would be a shame to have wrecked that lovely hand-ragged rug with Jon Rush’s
blood!
    “Lauren! Are
you still there?” Paul’s voice interrupted her thoughts of delightful
vengeance. “I didn’t get a chance to tell you at the meeting, but Rush’s
executive secretary phoned earlier to say that the big man himself and several
department heads would be in West River tomorrow to visit the site, and have
agreed to a meeting.
    “We’re going
to get together with them at the hall again, but before that we’re going to
stage a protest by blocking the road into the Castle. The TV crews who were at
the meeting tonight were dead keen on the idea, and if they’re coming, then the
other media will, too. It’s a great opportunity for publicity.”
    “Lordy, Paul,
I haven’t taken part in a demo since we did a sit-in at the Dean’s office in
university over a women’s issues course, if I remember rightly. Sounds like
fun. Are we going to chain ourselves to the trees?”
    “No, not at
all, we’re going to stay exactly within the law.” Paul sounded horrified.
    “Just joking,
Paul, keep your briefs straight.” Lauren heard him laugh as she used their old
lawyer joke. “Tell me when and I’ll be there with all colors flying.” And
maybe I’ll get a chance to tell Mr. High and Mighty Rush what I think of his
underhanded behavio r, she thought to herself.
    Nevertheless,
after saying goodnight to Paul, Lauren went and stood in the open doorway,
looking out into the bitterly cold, glistening night at a set of red taillights
disappearing in the distance.
    How much of
the indignation she was feeling was because he hadn’t told her he was the
enemy, she wondered, and how much because her traitorous heart thudded loudly
in her ears at the memory of his kiss?
     

Chapter Three
     
    Jon Rush
snapped his cellphone shut with an exasperated