Free Tasmanian Tangle by Jane Corrie Page B

an apologetic smile before he drove off.
    On their arrival at the house, Connie took one look at Tanya's tight expression and hurriedly announced that lunch would be on the table as soon as they were ready for it, then dashed back into the kitchen.
    Tanya escaped to her room to take a quick shower, leaving Kade to use the outside washhouse facilities. She lingered over her toilet as long as she dared, and when she couldn't put it off any longer, she made her way down to the dining room to find a sardonic Kade awaiting her arrival.
    'Don't take it so hard,' drawled Kade, as he took in her set expression as she took her place at the table. 'Anyone would think you cared!' he added sardonically.
    Tanya helped herself to some salad from a bowl on the table and willed herself not to lose her temper. The derision in his voice cut right to the heart of her unhappiness. She could ignore his blunt summing up of her feelings and pretend that she didn't know what he was talking about, but it wouldn't work, she thought dully. She would only be wasting her time. That was something else she had learned about Kade, he preferred the blunt approach.
    Somehow she managed to keep her voice steady as
     
    she replied coldly, 'Perhaps in future it would be better if you referred to me as Miss Hume. It sounds better, doesn't it?' she added acidly.
    'You're damn right it does ' he answered savagely. `Although no one but a clothhead would have mistaken my meaning. I know some men prefer them young, but I don't happen to be one of them,' he added viciously. 'So don't get any fancy ideas, will you?' he tacked on for good measure.
    Tanya almost dropped her knife and fork at his cool assumption that she was about to indulge in daydreams. When she recalled the way he had turned her earlier rejection of him into a ploy to gain his attention, her amazement turned to fury. 'It wouldn't occur to you, of course, that nothing was further from my mind,' she replied in a low vibrant voice. 'My mother married a man who was too old for her and I've no intention of making the same mistake. You can rest assured, Mr Player, that I'm not about to repeat history—not now —or at any time. Just credit me with some common sense in future, and stop seeing yourself as a hunted prize on the matrimonial market—where I'm concerned anyway. That way we'll get on fine! ' she advised him coldly.
    Her words made Kade's blue eyes open a shade wider, and she knew she had scored a hit. 'That's how you see me, is it?' he queried softly, out of now narrowed eyes.
    Tanya's grey-green eyes had now a definite green tinge in them as she met his. 'Frankly, yes,' she replied acidly. Seeing an amused glint in his eyes, and suspecting the reason behind his amusement, she wanted to slap his handsome arrogant face. `Do you remember telling me that I was still the child who used to follow
     
    you around the orchards on a pony?' she demanded in a tight voice. 'Well, I'll tell you something now. You were right in one sense; I'm still the same person I was then, and I can still remember the way you snubbed every move of mine towards friendship. But it didn't stop at that, did it? When I returned home I got as much welcome from you as I might have got h ad I been a warring headhunter ! '
    Her voice was not quite as steady as it had been before, but she made herself go on. 'If I ever needed a friend, I needed one then, but what did I get?' she said bitterly. 'The same old treatment that I received all those years ago—with just as little reason—at least,' she paused, and drew in a ragged breath. 'I didn't know the reason then, but I do now. Melanie did me a favour when she summed it all up in a few well-chosen words.' Her eyes reflected the dislike she felt for him as she continued: 'She told me you'd had enough trouble with my mother to risk tangling with me.'
    Kade's swift indrawn breath was not lost on her, and it gave her the courage to go on. She was no match for him; with a word or a look