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.Modelling's spoilt her somewhat.All that action.You know.'Emma replied that she didn't really have a clue.'Still,' he sighed, 'wedded bliss.It's got to happen some time.My number'll be up before I know it.'She laughed sympathetically and, when he slipped his arm around her waist to walk with her to the bar, she relaxed against him.A clipped, icy voice behind her made her swing around.Conrad was staring at her, his eyes cool and disdainful.'Hope I'm not breaking anything up,' he said with no hint of apology in his voice.His hand snaked out, grasping her by the wrist and forcing her to face him.'I've been looking for you,' he told her brusquely.'What for? I'm managing perfectly well on my own!''So I see,' he muttered sarcastically.'Do you normally find it so easy to mix with the crowd?''Yes!' Emma bit out angrily, yanking her hand away.'Especially when "the crowd" happens to be someone as pleasant as Lloyd!''Well said, darling.' Lloyd grinned at her and winked.Out of sheer perversity she winked back, disregarding Conrad's thunderous look.'Lighten up, Conrad.' Lloyd draped his arm around her neck and grinned disarmingly.'Emma's not spoken for.'Conrad ignored his remark.He looked at Emma and said, 'You.Follow me.' Then he turned away and began walking towards the house.Emma quickly and apologetically disengaged herself from Lloyd's stranglehold and followed Conrad's rapidly retreating back.When she finally caught up with him, she rounded on him furiously.'Just who do you think you are, dragging me away from a conversation like some kind of prisoner under arrest? Issuing orders for me to follow you, no less! If you want to throw your weight around, then I suggest you go do it with Sophia!''Call me your Guardian Angel,' he bit out, barely controlling his anger, 'I'm saving you from Lloyd, whose womanising reputation precedes him by several miles.From what I saw of him draped all over you, you were next on his list of conquests.''Well, thank you very much!' Emma said coldly, enunciating each word carefully.'I can take care of myself, if it's all the same to you!'She had no intention of telling him that the womanising Lloyd had in fact spent the last twenty minutes telling her about his girlfriend.'Anyway, I'm not here to argue with you,' he told her tightly, 'I've just had a call from Esther.Alistair's taken a turn for the worse.She's calling the doctor.I'm going there now.I thought,' he added, emphasising the word, 'that you might like to come along with me, but if you're otherwise occupied.?''I'll get my bag,' Emma told him quickly, throwing over her shoulder as she walked away.'You might have said that from the start, instead of beating about the bush.I'll meet you at the car in five minutes.'She hastily apologised to Sophia's parents for her late arrival and early exit, nodding in frustration as they invited her to come again any time.Her mind was racing ahead, praying that Alistair was all right and that it was all a false alarm.She knew that he was not well, but had never asked exactly how unwell he was.He had always been so alert with her that she'd never imagined it could be anything serious.She, of all people, should have known that to rely on someone being alive indefinitely was to rely on an illusion.Hadn't her mother survived the car crash, told by doctors that she would be all right, only to die two weeks later?Conrad was waiting by the car, his long fingers drumming impatiently on the bonnet.When he spottedher running towards him, he stepped into the driver's seat, reaching out to fling open the passenger door.'What exactly did Esther say?' Emma wanted to know, as the engine throbbed into life and he carefully manoeuvred the car out of the drive.'Did she give you any details? I mean, is it a heart attack?''She just said to come quickly.He's collapsed.She's put him to bed and he seemed to be getting his colour back, but.'Conrad let the sentence hang in the air and Emma bit worriedly on her lip.But.That implied all sorts of things, and none of them pleasant.And she hadn't even told him about her mother, about her relationship to him.She should have.She should have told him from the start instead of settling on some damn fool idea of keeping it to herself until she got to know him better.Now she could only hope that it was not going to be too late.'Hurry up,' she urged Conrad, only to be told that narrow, twisting roads did not encourage speed.'Relax,' he told her grimly, 'And for God's sake put your seatbelt on.'Emma obeyed without thinking.She settled back against the seat, absent-mindedly watching the landscape roll past.Coconut trees, glimpses of some of the bluest sea she had ever seen, white sand shimmering under the heat.'Don't think the worst,' Conrad said with maddening self-control.He placed his hand on her leg and Emma felt the warmth of his hand singe her flesh like fire.She flinched away and he immediately withdrew his hand.'Sorry,' he drawled.'Forgot.You're a lady who doesn't like too much physical contact
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