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Jayne! You didn't lie about the dishy tractor driver
too?"
    "'Fraid so. You sounded so upset on the phone that I'd have said
anything to get you down here."
    "So, any idea who my mystery hero is?"
    "Yes, but you're not going to like it. It's Oliver
Gilmore-Bunce."
    "No way."
    "Describe him again."
    "Well over six foot. Gorgeous brown eyes with lashes that'd make
even Rosemary jealous, lots of curly hair, strong obviously, but not
in a body builder kind of way. Oooh and his voice... sounds like he
should be doing voiceovers for some really rich and expensive
chocolates."
    "Definitely him. Told you he was nice. Just a bit young for me,
but I still wouldn't mind being rescued by him."
    "No. This guy is a tractor driver, not some pretentious
landowner."
    "He's not pretentious and he can drive a tractor."
    "Sorry, Jayne, but it wasn't your Mr Gilmore-Bunce. I've seen
him and he's nothing like my rescuer."
    "You sound very sure."
    "I am, he was a client of... well, he still is a client of the
company I used to work for. He's the reason I had to leave. He isn't
as nice as you think he is. Doesn't look as good either, he's older,
fatter and shorter and balding. Adam pointed him out to me, but
didn't introduce us because he knew he'd be rude, or patronising, or
both. He's a sexist pig who wouldn't let a woman handle his accounts
until Adam intervened on my behalf. Obviously now, I wish he hadn't
but I was regretting it even before the present trouble." Leah's
rant eventually ran out of steam in the face of no reaction from
Jayne. She lamely added, "I'm very disappointed by your taste in
men."
    "Hmm, speaking of which, has Adam phoned back about your trouble
at work?"
    "No. D'you know when I saw my phone was flat I was almost
pleased because I could kid myself he'd been trying to call and
apologise. Or say he was doing something to help, or even just check
I was OK. He's not going to do any of those things, is he?"
    "Doesn't sound like it, lovey. No wonder you want a simple
tractor driver," Jayne said.
    "I don't, I just said he was kind and..."
    "Good looking, right. Hmm, but if he's not my landlord, he must
be someone new. I'll see what I can find out."
    "Not on my account..." Leah started to say, but she had to
admit she was curious. It was no more than that really. OK, he'd
lifted her out the mud, but Adam had saved her at work. When he'd
heard Gilmore-Bunce hadn't wanted Leah to handle his account, Adam
had swallowed his own dislike of the man and taken him out to dinner
in order to tactfully persuade him to change his mind. He'd even come
up with the brilliant idea of having Leah and her client communicate
exclusively by e-mail, so she was spared his boorish rudeness and he
could pretend that L.J.T. was a man if that's what he wanted.

    It rained heavily that night and all the following day. Feeding the
sheep, milking Rosemary and collecting the eggs were all much less
fun in the wet. The bales of hay soaked up water and were heavier to
carry. The mud was deeper making it harder to keep her wellies on.
    "Sorry about this," Jayne said as they took a fresh dry
bale of straw from the barn and carrying an end each dashed to the
pigs with it before the animals' bedding could get wet. The mud
splashed up Leah's legs.
    "Don't be - these are your trousers, not mine," Leah
laughed.
    "I didn't really mean the mud. I was thinking of the work you're
doing. Your talents are rather wasted on manual labour."
    "Talents?"
    "You always were a genius at maths and you've got all those
finance qualifications. I don't even understand the names of them."
    It was true, she did have excellent qualifications. They were what
got her into trouble at work. Because of them she'd been involved
with the biggest accounts and had access to information that probably
would have allowed her to commit the fraud she was accused of.
Unfortunately she didn't have the experience she'd have gained if
she'd had to work her way up more slowly to such a position of trust
so