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real ale here.
    Lisa shook her head. 'I never touch alcohol in the middle of the day. Just a tomato juice, please.'
    The menu was quite short, and seemed to avoid the usual grills and basket meals, offering homely dishes like shepherd's pie and hotpot. There was also home-made vegetable soup and a selection of sandwiches.
    'The soup's almost a meal in itself,' said Dane, seating himself beside her on the settle. She had hoped he would sit opposite and it was as much as she could do to stop herself edging away. 'And no doubt Chas has ordered a celebration dinner this evening.'
    'For the return of the prodigal daughter,' she made her tone deliberately flippant. 'Very well, then, I'll have the soup and a round of cheese sandwiches.'
    'I'll have the same,' Dane told the smiling girl who had come to take their order. Lisa noticed she had greeted him as if she knew him well, as had the landlord's wife who was serving behind the bar.
    She sipped her tomato juice, and tried to ignore the curious glances coming her way, as other people in the bar half-recognised and tried to place her. But not all the glances were for her. Most of the women were looking at Dane, some covertly, and some quite openly. There was little to wonder at in that, of course. Women had always looked and more than looked.
    Lisa had to acknowledge that if she had been a stranger, seeing him for the first time, she would probably have looked herself. He was incredibly attractive, with an implicit sexuality, and the aura of unquestioned money and success to add an extra spice. And he had charm when he chose to exert it. The young waitress was clearly under his spell, but then, Lisa thought, she had never had the misfortune to cross him in any way. She would have no idea of the strength of that relentless cruelty and arrogant maleness which dwelt just below the surface glamour.
    'Dane's a good friend,' she had once heard Chas telling a business associate, 'but he makes a bad enemy.'
    Well, she had first-hand knowledge of just how bad that enemy could become, and it had nearly destroyed her.
    Dane said, 'I hope I didn't make you cut short an important conversation back at the flat?'
    After a few seconds of incomprehension, she realised he was referring to Simon's call, and she flushed a little. 'Not particularly. We'd already said what needed saying before you came back.'
    'It was a man.' It was a statement rather than a question.
    'It was.' He had overheard too much for her to deny it.
    ' The man?' He picked up his glass and drank from it.
    'One of them.' And that had been an invention which could well backfire on her, she thought vexedly.
    'You don't bestow your favours exclusively?' It was said lightly, but she could feel the undercurrent of contempt. But why should she care? She didn't want or need his good opinion.
    'I'm not actually expected to.' And that at least was the truth. 'Is there any purpose behind this inquisition?'
    'Naturally.' He gave her a long hard look. 'I'd like to point out that during your absence, my sister has managed to achieve a measure of stability in her life. I wouldn't want anything to upset that.'
    Lisa was very still. 'I don't think I have that measure of influence over Julie.'
    'And I think you underestimate yourself,' he said.
    'In that case I'm amazed you should have pressed me to come back with you. I'd have thought you'd have done your utmost to ensure that I stayed away permanently.'
    'If it had been left to me alone, I probably would have done,' he said levelly. 'Believe me, Lisa, the last thing I wanted was for you to come back into her life—into any of our lives, and I give you credit for equal reluctance.'
    'Well, thank you.' She made no attempt to disguise the sarcasm in her voice.
    'I did my damnedest to dissuade Julie from writing to you,' he went on. 'But when she enlisted Chas on her side— told him that she was writing, that she needed you, couldn't manage without you—I was left with little room to