Read HIGH TIDE AT MIDNIGHT for Free Online Page A

his hands were hard and bruising. That was the first, the
    most Immediate impression, and more than enough, Morwenna thought
    feelingly, as she was dumped unceremoniously back on to her feet. He
    seemed to be very dark, or was that just the suggestion of the darkness
    around him, and he was, she realised radiating an anger that was almost
    tangible.
    'You bloody little idiot.' He wasn't shouting; he didn't have to. 'What the hell
    do you think you're doing? You could have been killed!'
    His grip on her upper arms was really hurting, and furiously she pulled
    herself free. 'You call me an idiot!' she blazed back at him, fright and stress
    making her voice younger and more breathless than she would have liked.
    'And what about you—driving like a maniac on a rotten night like this? If I
    had been killed, it would have been all your fault!'
    Even as she spoke, she knew she was not being totally fair. He had seen her
    pitiful attempt to cause a diversion and had managed to stop, in spite of the
    speed he was driving at, almost within the car's length. But this had been the
    final straw in a pretty abysmal day, and now reaction was taking its toll of
    her.
    'Your logic fascinates me,' he said with a cool contempt that seared its way
    across her skin. 'May I point out to you that this is in fact' a private road, and
    under those circumstances one expects to be preserved from the antics of
    lunatic hitch-hikers. And might I also suggest you make your way back to
    the main road, and ply your trade there.'
    'I was not hitch-hiking!' She was furious to find that she was shaking like a
    leaf. 'What I was doing was trying to save your life, or at least trying to
    prevent you from being injured. That, of course, was before I met you.'
    There was a long electric silence.
    'You'd better explain,' he said grimly. 'Oh, not your last remark. I've
    managed to work the implications of that out for myself.'
    'There's a tree down,' she said tonelessly. 'Just round that bend. I was going
    to warn someone at the house, then I heard you coming, and thought I'd
    better stay and warn you instead. Only all I had was that damned torch, and
    the batteries aren't too good—and now they've gone all together.' She began
    unavailingly to push the switch on the torch backwards and forwards as if
    her very insistence could make it work again.
    There was another silence, then he said abruptly, 'Wait here.'
    He walked across to the car, climbed in and started the engine. He drove the
    few feet to the bend, then stopped. Another pause, then she heard his
    footsteps returning.
    He said without emotion, 'It seems I. owe you an apology.'
    'Well, don't let it ruin your life.' She tried to sound flip, but the quiver in her
    voice betrayed her, and she heard him sigh, swiftly and sharply.
    'But that still doesn't explain precisely what you were doing on this road in
    the first place,' he said. 'What happened? Did you miss the main road in the
    dark? This lane only leads to--'
    'To Trevennon,' she finished for him wearily. 'I know. I can read, actually, if
    the print is big enough. And I haven't missed my way, though God knows it
    would have been easy enough. I'm going to Trevennon. I have to see Mr
    Dominic Trevennon.'
    She heard his startled intake of breath and wondered resignedly if she was to
    be the recipient of another Awful Warning about Mr Trevennon's
    intolerance of casual callers 'and general irascibility, but when he spoke his
    voice sounded cool and disinterested.
    'Indeed, and has Mr Trevennon the pleasure of expecting you?'
    'No,' she admitted. 'And I've already been warned that he's arrogant and
    awkward and imagines that he's some uncrowned king of Cornwall, but all
    the same, I'm going to see him.'
    'I can't imagine why,' he remarked. 'Judging by the description you've
    received of him, I would have thought it would have been infinitely
    preferable to keep your distance.'
    'I have to see him, she said abruptly. 'I want to ask him a favour.'
    'Do you