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lot of each other. She had met him some months before through her work, because he was a young and promising executive with an advertising agency which often used Jos's photographs. They had got on well almost immediately, and she had accepted the invitation to dinner from him which had speedily followed. They were starting to be spoken of as a couple, to be invited to places together, and although Lisa wasn't sure that was entirely what she wanted, she was happy enough with the arrangement to allow it to continue unchallenged as long as Simon didn't start making demands she couldn't fulfil. Up to now, he had shown no signs of this. On the contrary, he had seemed quite happy to keep their relationship as light and uncommitted as she could have wished, but just then she had heard a distinctly proprietorial note in his voice.
    She said, 'A family emergency of sorts.' She should have let him know, she thought. He should have been on her list ahead of Dinah and Mrs Hargreaves really, but the truth was she had never even given him a thought. She went on, 'It's been landed on me so suddenly, I haven't really had a chance to contact anyone.'
    'I didn't think I was just anyone,' Simon said, and there seemed no answer to that, so Lisa didn't make one. After a pause, he said 'Will you be gone for very long?'
    'I hope not,' she said. Tor as long as it takes, and no longer. I do have my living to earn, and as Jos reminded me, they have short memories in the fashion world.'
    'They'll remember you.' His voice warmed, lifted a little. 'I can't get you out of my mind, night or day.'
    That troubled her a little, but she found herself smiling. 'It would be nice if the other agencies in town felt the same. Do you think you could become contagious?'
    She was aware that Dane had come back into the room and was standing by the door, silently watching and listening. Anyone else would have had the decency to withdraw out of earshot, she thought bitterly as she turned a resentful shoulder on him.
    She could hardly hear what Simon was saying. She had to force herself to concentrate on his words because she was too conscious of that other dark and disturbing presence behind her.
    Simon said with that special note in his voice which belonged to almost everyone who had spent their entire lives south of Potters Bar, 'It will be awful in the north at this time of year, and they reckon there's bad weather on the way. You'll take care, won't you, love?'
    Lisa said, 'I can take care of myself.' And froze as she realised what she'd said, the words acting like a key to unlock the secret place in her mind and unleash the nightmares which lurked there. She found she was gripping the phone until her knuckles went white. She answered Simon in monosyllables 'Yes' and 'No', praying that each response was the right one because he might have been talking so much gibberish.
    Eventually she said with a kind of insane brightness in her voice, 'Look, I really must go now. I'll see you when I get back.'
    Simon said goodbye in his turn. He sounded disappointed, as if for all his warnings about the weather he had hoped she might give him the address she was going to, the telephone number so that he could make contact.
    She replaced the receiver on the rest with unsteady fingers, and turned slowly.
    Across the room, Dane's eyes met hers, cold and watchful, and she knew that her words had triggered off memories for him too and for an endless moment the past held them in its bleak trap.
    If she backed away, he would come after her, a jungle cat stalking his prey. But she had no reason to back off. Because this time what she said was true. She could look after herself, and she would. Neither Dane nor anyone else had the power to harm her.
    And sitting beside him in silence, as the car devoured the miles on the motorway, Lisa found herself repeating those words over and over again as if they were an incantation that would keep her safe.
    CHAPTER THREE

    They had been travelling for