Free Sweet Surrender (The Dysarts) by Catherine George Page B

her. Her, Kate, at last. To be here in his arms like this was something she’d dreamed of once, fantasised over. But in the past her dreams had only been of her own part in the process. It had never occurred to her that Alasdair’s reaction would be so intense.
    He tore his mouth away at last and thrust his hands in her hair, bringing it tumbling down in a black cascade over the white of her jacket as he stared at her in the darkness. ‘I must have been blind,’ he said hoarsely.
    Kate gazed up at him in silence he very plainly found unnerving.
    â€˜Aren’t you going to ask when?’ he demanded.
    She reached up to remove his hands so she could push her hair back behind her ears. ‘I know when. You mean in the old days at Trinity, when I was so madly in love with you.’
    â€˜Were you, Kate?’ he said caressingly, and kissed her again, but this time she pushed him away.
    â€˜Of course I was. But that was a long time ago.’
    He subsided behind the wheel and stared out into the darkness, the ragged rhythm of his breathing deeply satisfying to Kate.
    â€˜So tell me the truth, Alasdair,’ she said, breaking aprolonged, hostile silence. ‘And no nonsense about impulses, please.’
    â€˜What do you mean?’ he said brusquely, turning towards her.
    â€˜Why did you turn up in Foychurch last week?’
    â€˜I told you. Adam had told me where you teach, so it seemed the most natural thing in the world to drive there and look you up.’ He shrugged. ‘I was fool enough to want to surprise you.’
    â€˜You certainly managed that. But why, Alasdair? It’s years since there was any contact between us. It seems so odd to me that you actually drove to Foychurch, when a phone call would have done just as well.’
    Kate sat patiently during another silence, waiting for Alasdair to speak. When he did his voice was tinged with the Edinburgh accent which only manifested itself in times of anger or stress.
    â€˜All right,’ he said at last. ‘I admit I was curious. You know I had lunch with Adam recently? Naturally enough, the conversation turned to you. I’ve always liked your brother—’
    â€˜The feeling’s mutual,’ she assured him dryly.
    â€˜Because of that Adam felt able to talk to me about something close to his heart. And afterwards it preyed on my mind.’
    Kate stared at him. ‘What on earth did he say?’
    Alasdair leaned closer. ‘He asked me if I knew what the hell had happened to cause the change in you when we were up at Trinity together.’
    She turned away to stare through the windscreen at a watery moon breaking through the clouds. ‘And what did you tell him?’
    â€˜That I had no idea. You suddenly shut yourself away from everyone, including me, saying you’d fallen behindwith your work.’ Alasdair kept his eyes fixed on her profile. ‘But Adam said something went very wrong with your life before you came home that summer. He hoped I might have some clue as to what happened to make you so jumpy and withdrawn. Apparently it took a long holiday in Italy with Jess before you returned to anything like normal.’ He sighed heavily. ‘Since talking to Adam, I keep wondering if I was to blame.’
    â€˜You most definitely were not,’ she said emphatically, and turned towards him. ‘I admit I had an outsize crush on you. But my heart wasn’t broken, Alasdair. I managed to survive the rest of my time at Cambridge perfectly well without you—even achieved a reasonable degree,’ she added with sarcasm.
    â€˜I know your work wasn’t affected,’ he agreed. ‘And your degree was brilliant, not just reasonable. Which is why I can never understand—’
    â€˜If you mention one word about my job again, Alasdair, I shall get out and walk home. Now.’
    â€˜All right, all right!’ He took her hand. ‘But Adam started much