Free Whirlwind by Charlotte Lamb Page A

own way now, thank you.'
    The street was far too shadowy, no street light nearby made it possible for her to see his hard-boned face clearly, only his eyes glittering under the windswept black hair.
    'Are you sulking because I didn't tell you Patti was my sister?' he murmured right in her ear, as she stopped to hunt for her front door key. The warmth of his breath on her lobe made her stomach clench, but she lifted her head, moving slightly so that he couldn't do that again.
    'No.' She put the key in the lock and his hand covered hers; his skin warm and firm. Anna stared at that long-fingered, powerful hand and remembered it touching her with far more intimacy; the memory sent waves of shame and anger through her again.
    'We have to talk,' Laird said huskily.
    She threw his hand off and turned the key, and the door swung open. 'I'm not interested, Mr Montgomery,' she bit out sharply. 'I have other plans for my future; I don't want to get involved with you. Please, take Patti home, and stay away from me after tonight. You'll just be wasting your time if you don't.'
    She walked rapidly into the house and without looking back closed the door in his face, not knowing how he had taken what she said and preferring not to know. She hadn't needed Patti's warning about his cynicism and the scar left by his marriage and the divorce that followed; Laird Montgomery carried his own warnings in his sophisticated, sensual, hyper- aware face. He wasn't a man to care about. He would hurt you; and Anna had no intention of letting him do her any more damage. He had done enough already.
     

CHAPTER FIVE
    A NNA woke up with a start, her muscles at once tightening as she prepared to leap out of bed to hurry to rehearsals, then she heard the ringing of church bells and it dawned on her—it was Sunday! She didn't have to get up or catch a bus across London; she could stay in bed all day if she liked and be totally lazy. This was her first day's holiday for weeks.
    Stretching, she linked her hands behind her head and wiggled her toes under the covers. What bliss! She would get up soon, have a leisurely breakfast and later maybe take a stroll through the park to watch the squirrels.
    Her mind wandered idly over her plans for the day, then she frowned, remembering that last night she had met Patti's parents. They had finally been persuaded to see the play and had come backstage in the interval, looking dismayed as they noticed the squalor of the poky little dressing-room shared by three members of the cast, but smiling politely as they shook hands with Patti's colleagues.
    Their appearance had given Anna a double shock—Hugh Montgomery was far older than she had expected, he had white hair and a stooping body and was clearly in his seventies—while his wife was much younger and couldn't be above fifty. Anna was not mathematically inclined, but even she at once suspected that Laird was not this woman's son, unless she had given birth to him when she was around fourteen or fifteen.
    'So you're Anna,' Mrs Montgomery said, warmly smiling. 'We've heard all about you from Patti.' She was handsome rather than beautiful, a tall woman with the dark hair and blue eyes she had passed on to her daughter, her face calm, her manner kindly and level-headed.
    'We're enjoying the play,' Mr Montgomery chimed in, leaning on the ivory-headed cane he carried. His leonine head bore a strong resemblance to Laird, so did the direct gaze of his pale eyes. 'Dame Florence is a good as ever, and you seem to me to have a very starry quality yourself, Miss Rendle.' He smiled and she flushed, feeling she ought perhaps to put a finger under her chin and curtsey.
    'Thank you, sir.'
    'What do you think of Patti, hmm?' he demanded under cover of a moment when his daughter was showing her mother a view from the peephole in the wings.
    'She's very good . . . ' Anna had begun politely, only to be cut short by a raised finger, shaken at her with peremptory insistence. 'The truth, now!