Daniel handed Keira a plate and helped her to servings of tender carved chicken breast and thinly sliced ham. She relaxed slightly, knowing she had been dreading having to face Eden Cassidy over the meal, and she was more than a little relieved to find Daniel’s uncle conspicuous by his absence. So far.

‘Will we be dining on our own?’ she asked casually as she added crisp lettuce and celery to her plate.

‘Probably. You’ll have me all to yourself.’ He shrugged easily when Keira gave him a warning look. ‘My grandfather’s having a light snack in his room. He’s decided to rest before the party, which is pretty sensible of him. And Eden never sits down to lunch, he eats on the run.’

Daniel spooned potato salad on to his already overflowing plate.

‘Eden can’t leave his trusty fax machine,’ he continued. ‘In fact I wouldn’t be at all surprised if my uncle and his fax were joined at the hip. It would probably take major surgery to separate them.’

‘Your suspicions are unfounded, Daniel. There’s nary a scar,’ said a deep voice from the doorway, causing Daniel and Keira to start guiltily. ‘I trust you have no objections if I join you both for lunch.’

Keira glanced sideways at Daniel to see his eyes widen as they took in his uncle’s relaxed figure as he leaned casually against the door-jamb, strong arms folded.

Eden Cassidy had changed from his formal suit into a pair of grey tailored trousers and a short-sleeved white knit shirt that fitted his muscular body to perfection.

‘I know.’ The younger man recovered quickly from his surprise. ‘Megan’s manning the phones and faxes,’ he suggested easily, and his uncle’s lips quirked as he stepped out on to the patio.

‘Not the way you mean, Daniel. Megan has a couple of personal calls to make. She’ll join us in a while.’ Eden crossed to the side table and began helping himself to some food.

Before Daniel roused himself to seat her Keira moved on slightly unsteady legs to sit down at the table.

In a formal suit Eden Cassidy’s attraction had had a rather remote quality about it. But dressed as he was now, his tanned skin accentuated by the white of his shirt, well, Keira had to acknowledge she wasn’t unmoved by his compelling magnetism. He was as charismatic as he was reported to be.

A tiny frisson of sensation spiralled in the pit of her stomach and she swallowed to clear her suddenly dry throat. It had been years since a man, any man, had provoked just such a physical response in her, and she knew a shiver of startled trepidation. That it had to be this particular man who was responsible for her unexpected libidinous awareness had her heartbeats fluctuating as much with fear as that more undesirable emotion.

Daniel rushed to take the seat beside her and his uncle calmly slid on to the chair directly opposite her. Keira fancied she could feel the heat emanating from his body where their knees almost touched, and she rather doubted she’d be able to swallow any of the delicious food on her plate.

Her heartbeats continued to behave in a very erratic fashion and she couldn’t bring herself to meet what she knew would be coldly cynical blue eyes.

Resolutely she lifted a forkful of food to her mouth and it might have been ashes for all she tasted it. Her wayward senses seemed otherwise engaged. On Eden Cassidy.

Of their own accord her eyes slid from her plate to the white shirt moulding his midriff, moved to his muscular upper arms where the band of his shirt met smooth tanned skin.

Well-developed muscles and a tan. So he didn’t spend all his time running his empire, as his nephew had insisted he did.

Keira’s eyes rose to the dark V exposed by the open collar of his shirt and her nerve endings began tingling anew. How would it feel to move her lips over that smooth, inviting skin that stretched tautly across his throat, his chest?

Her fork paused on its way to her mouth and she hastily returned the untouched food to her plate. It would have been a mistake to put the food into her mouth. There was no way she could have swallowed anything just at that moment. Her throat had closed on the thunder of her heartbeats in her chest as they rose to all but choke her.

What could she be thinking about? Just a short time ago he had accused her of having an affair with his nephew and yet here she was, sizing up his attractions. And finding them almost irresistibly appealing.

Was she mad? She was completely shocked at her behaviour, behaviour that was so out of character for her. Men had held no interest for her and hadn’t since Dennis’s perfidiousness had opened her eyes to the fact that knights on white chargers weren’t necessarily as princely as they seemed.

This wasn’t the time to forget she’d made her choices years ago. All her energies were going into her career. And if, as she had been suspecting of late, she lacked the final drive to push her to the very top, then her achievements to date weren’t to be sneezed at. If life went on as it was now she’d be content.

And the very last thing she needed at the moment was a man to complicate things.

She shot another quick glance from beneath her lashes at Eden Cassidy. Especially a man as dangerous as he so obviously was. He had that blatant masculine magnetism that drew a woman’s attention, made her wonder impetuously what it would be like to tame such an animal, yet at the same time had her quivering with a heady apprehension at the peril involved in such an adventure.

Keira barely suppressed a self-derogatory laugh. She was getting fanciful in her old age. And foolish. Any woman who deluded herself into thinking she could bring this man to heel was simply asking for trouble of the capital letters variety.

‘Did you enjoy your game of tennis?’ Eden Cassidy’s deep voice broke in on Keira’s masochistic reflections and she blinked as she slowly brought her attention back to his words rather than the sound of his so seductive voice.

‘Tennis?’ she queried absently, and felt Daniel look at her sharply.

‘She should have,’ he put in quickly, and grimaced. ‘I would have enjoyed it more if I’d won.’

His uncle raised one dark brow in Keira’s direction. ‘So you outplayed my nephew, Mrs Strong?’ he remarked blandly enough, but the expression in his eyes embroidered his innocent observation.

‘Outplayed me? More like slaughtered me.’ Daniel grinned good-naturedly. ‘And the worst part about it is, I think she took it easy with me.’

‘I assure you, Daniel, I didn’t,’ Keira told him sincerely. ‘You were a very worthy opponent.’

‘Perhaps we could have a game some time,’ Eden put in, and Keira forced a smile.

‘Perhaps,’ she said just as casually. Not likely, Mr Top Gun Cassidy, she declared under her breath, her eyes meeting his. And she suspected he knew exactly what she was thinking.

Eden glanced at his wristwatch, the flash of gold gleaming in the filtered sunlight, once again drawing Keira’s attention to his strong, tanned hand. ‘Megan must have been held up. Daniel, could you go in and check with her? She may prefer Burton to take her something on a tray to have in the office.’

Daniel frowned slightly and glanced quickly from Eden to Keira before he stood up and did as he had been bidden. For once Keira wished Daniel had defied his uncle because now she was left alone with Eden Cassidy. Again.

‘Taking rather a chance, weren’t you?’ His deep voice made her start.

‘A chance?’ she repeated uncomprehendingly.

‘Of wounding Daniel’s fragile adolescent male ego by beating him on the court,’ he elaborated without intonation.

What a colossal chauvinist the man was. And how disparaging towards his nephew. Keira made herself take a mouthful of succulent ham before she replied with equal indifference.

‘I think once again you’ve underestimated your nephew, Mr Cassidy. Surprisingly, Daniel doesn’t have a problem with his self-image, which is quite amazing, considering…’ Although Keira didn’t complete the sentence the words hung as provocatively in the air as if she’d voiced them. Considering the fact he has a fatherfigure like you.

Eden set down his cutlery and sat back in his chair. ‘Considering?’ he prompted through narrowed eyelids.

So he was calling her bluff.

Keira shrugged. ‘Considering the pressures put on young people today,’ she finished levelly, and had to suppress a surge of exhilarating excitement.

If she were honest she’d have to admit part of her was enjoying this verbal sparring.

One corner of his mouth twisted in a faint wry smile, his eyes acknowledging the point was hers. ‘Oh, yes. Peer pressure,’ he conceded.

‘Peer pressure. Familial pressure. The pressure to succeed,’ Keira expanded. ‘It must be a great weight to bear sometimes.’

‘No doubt,’ he agreed. ‘But I think other generations have had just as much pressure. The pressures might have been slightly different but they were just as demanding. Didn’t you suffer from as much social stress when you were Daniel’s age?’

Keira glanced at him, trying to decide whether his reference to her age was a further slight on her relationship with his nephew. But she could glean nothing from his level expression.

‘I guess I did. And I suppose the pressures were different,’ she confessed. ‘The desire to conform seems to be universal.’

‘I can’t somehow see you as a conformist, Mrs Strong.’ He watched her like a jungle cat toying with his prey and Keira smiled wryly.

This prey would ensure she was more than a match for this particular predator. ‘You’re mistaken again, Mr Cassidy. By no stretch of the imagination could I be called a rebel.’

He raised one dark brow sceptically and Keira took a sip of cool water.

“I was boringly average and commonplace.’

Eden also swallowed a mouthful of water and his lips quirked. ‘Every parent’s dream child, hmm?’

She shrugged lightly. ‘I suppose so, depending on what you feel my parents would have expected of me.’

‘To find a young man, marry him and raise a family?’ His gaze met hers in a silent challenge.

‘Actually, they did,’ she said evenly, knowing it wasn’t far from the truth. Her parents were in their early forties when she had surprised them by being born. They were both conservative in their outlook on the roles of men and women in society.

‘And you went along with that?’

‘In part.’ Keira dabbed her lips with her napkin. ‘I was married when I was twenty.’ And it was the biggest mistake of my life, she could have added. She had been so unworldly in some respects, torn between her yearning for a career and her parents’ acceptance that she should marry Dennis. If she hadn’t been so naïve-

‘And talking again of marriage,’ Eden broke in on her tortured thoughts, ‘you still haven’t filled me in on what the obviously trusting Mr Strong thinks about your weekend away with a male friend, a so much younger male friend?’

Keira blinked him back into focus. When Cassidy-Ford Publishing had bought out Natural Life magazine she had still been technically married to Dennis Strong. She’d seen no need to make any comments to anyone about their separation. Or Dennis’s sudden death two years later.

‘Dennis? He-’ She stopped.

‘Let me guess. He’s a modern man. He understands,’ Eden Cassidy finished caustically for her, his lips twisting disparagingly. ‘Quite cosmopolitan and progressive. Or does he have his own distractions to keep him occupied?’

Their eyes met across the table and Keira held his gaze.

‘My husband’s dead, Mr Cassidy,’ she said evenly. ‘I’ve been a widow for three years. So,’ she continued when he made no immediate comment, ‘I suppose that makes my association with Daniel even more suspect. I mean, on past accusations I’d say you’d be the first to imply a frustrated widow on her own would have to be on the loose. Let’s all lock up our sons.’

What he would have said in his defence, if he’d elected to defend himself, that was, Keira would never know for Daniel chose that moment to rejoin them.

‘Burton’s taken Megan a tray. She’s waiting for a return call. Have you finished your lunch, Keira?’ he asked, and she nodded unsmilingly.

Daniel’s gaze went from Keira to his uncle and back to Keira. He had to feel the tension that Keira knew arced between them, the incendiary vibrations that filled the air.

‘OK. What say we walk off all this food?’

‘Fine by me,’ Keira agreed. Anything to get away from Eden Cassidy.

‘Great. Let me just make the rest of this into a sandwich and we can be off.’

‘Mrs Strong may prefer to ride,’ his uncle suggested easily, and Daniel turned to Keira.

‘Would you? I can have a couple of horses saddled in no time.’