Free The Rouseabout Girl by Gloria Bevan Page B

tonight. You’ve had a long day. What you need now is a good night’s sleep.’
    ‘Well, if you say so. I think I’ll slip away now.’ Not, she reflected, that anyone would notice whether she was in the other room or not.
    Long after she had got into bed she lay wakeful as the events of the long day chased one another through her mind. Maybe, she thought at last, if she read for a while she could settle down, banish from her thoughts Jard's compelling face with his set angry expression. It wasn’t as if he mattered , yet deep down she knew that in some inexplicable way, he did!
    Slowly the time crept on. She must have dozed off, for suddenly she awoke to a lighted room. Of course, she had left the switch of the bedside light turned on. Now the bridal pictures had sprung to life. Lanie couldn’t help giggling to herself. There were so many brides, and all looking so fatuously pleased with themselves.
    All at once she remembered the cluttered kitchen that would take her at least an hour to clean up and' must be faced in the morning before she could even begin to get familiar with her surroundings. But it needn ’ t be in the morning.
    Swiftly she dropped her feet to the fluffy sheepskin rug beside the bed and pulled on her old white candlewick robe. Opening the door, she peered towards the homestead, but there seemed no glow of light in the back of the house where the kitchen was situated. And if she was ever so quiet ... The next minute she was out of the door and running across the dew-wet grass on bare feet. Her hair flowed loosely around her shoulders but no matter. There would be no one to see her.
    Cautiously she opened the kitchen door, closed it behind her and put a hand to the light switch. The scene that sprang into sight before her eyes was daunting. Stacks of plates balanced precariously on sink bench and table, there were pots and pans with congealed food stuck to the rims and everywhere dishes, dishes of all description. She couldn’t decide where to make a start, then she pushed the sleeves of her robe above her elbows, emptied the sink of cold greasy water and turned on the hot tap. Before long she had piled plates and dishes on the draining rack and a portion of the long steel bench became visible. Absorbed in her task, she hadn’t heard the opening of the door until a sound alerted her and she swung around to find herself staring straight into Jard’s eyes.
    In that second some unseen force tingled between them, powerful and breathtaking—at least it was to her. It was a moment or so before she could drag herself from the impact.
    ‘So it’s you again!’ He was leaning against the door jamb, thumbs hooked in his low-slung leather belt, his tone deceptively indolent. How could it be, she wondered, that he contrived to give the impression that she was doing something wrong?
    ‘That’s right,’ she said lightly, and muttered under her breath, ‘You didn’t really imagine that Paula would be working in here cleaning up the mess, did you?’ She endeavoured to make her voice sound carefree. ‘Just getting things cleared up ready for a good start in the morning!’
    She was unaware of the bright cloud of hair tumbling over her white candlewick gown as she swung back to her task. ‘I’ll soon be finished.’ Something in his narrow-eyed appraisal was disconcerting, very, and to escape his glance she nonchalantly wiped dry a dish for the second time.
    ‘I was having a session with some book work in the office,' he was saying. ‘I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard someone clattering away down here at this hour in the morning.’
    Heavens, she wondered wildly, what was the time? In her haste to get on with the job she hadn’t even glanced at her watch in the bedroom. ‘I’ve only got another half hour or so’s work,’ she murmured.
    ‘That’s where you’re wrong,’ he drawled, and even without glancing in his direction she was aware that he hadn’t moved his position. ‘Knock it