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do to her with words.
“That’s better,” he said at her ear. “Now listen to me. Don’t let what happened this afternoon put a
wall between us. You pushed too hard and you saw the consequences. It’s over. You’ll remember it,
and so will I, but it’ll teach you not to throw that sweet young body at me.”
Her face went scarlet, then it lost its color until it resembled paper. “I hate you, Russell,”
she said coldly.
“By all means, hate me,” he said with a harsh, bitter smile. “It’ll be a welcome change from having a
lovesick teenager hanging around my neck like a chain!”
He might have slapped her for the look on her face. With a sob, she tore out of his arms.
A shadow passed over his face, and he grimaced. “Tish, my God, I didn’t mean that…” he said softly.
But before he could finish the apology—which was as close as he ever came to one—Eileen
interrupted them.
“Russ, it’s Lisa,” she said in a whisper. “Something’s wrong. She’s on the phone.”
He was gone in a flash, and Eileen took a deep breath. “She sounds almost hysterical. I wonder
what’s going on.”
“Eileen, who is Lisa?” Tish asked, making a grand effort to pull herself together.
She shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. She calls Russ pretty often, and he goes to
Jacksonville every month to see her. He never talks about her, and if I try to ask him anything…well,
you know how black tempered he can be.”
“Tell me about it,” she said wearily. “How did you find out about her if he didn’t tell you?”
“I overheard him talking to Dad one night after they had had a couple of big drinks. Russ said he
loved Lisa and he hated leaving her there.” She sighed with a smile. “I thought it was terribly
romantic, although you’d think he’d have married her by now. She has the sweetest little-girl voice…
Gosh, you won’t let on that I told you, will you? He’d have the hide off me!”
A sudden, aching emptiness spread out inside her. He loved Lisa. She was his woman. No wonder
he’d never gotten serious about anyone else. Why hadn’t he married Lisa? Was she already married?
Was she one of those free-thinking liberals who didn’t believe in marriage?
“Hey, where have you gone?” Eileen laughed. “Let’s go get some punch, Tish. If it’s like usual, he’ll
be on the phone a long, long time. They love to talk.”
“Punch? All right,” she said vaguely and followed Eileen dazedly to the refreshment table.
Fifteen minutes later, Nan Coleman told them that Russell had to leave suddenly and would be out of
town for a few days. She softened the blow with an invitation to spend the night, and Tish, aching
from his last attack, accepted it gratefully for herself and Eileen. She couldn’t face the big, lonely
house that night. It would be too easy to brood over the harsh, angry words he’d thrown at her.
It was a Saturday when Frank and Belle Tyler were flown in at the estate’s landing strip, and Russell
still hadn’t called or come home. Tish went to meet them in the Mercedes, leaving Eileen at her usual
place near the stables—and Gus.
Frank moved forward at the sight of her, his blond hair glistening like gold in the sunlight, to lift her
high in his thin arms and place an enthusiastic kiss on her smiling mouth.
His dancing eyes looked down into hers. “Food to a starving man,” he teased, holding her away to
nod approvingly at the revealing pale yellow sundress that clung affectionately to the soft curves of
her body.
“I could almost believe you missed me,” she laughed. “Hello, Belle, it’s good to see you.”
“Oh, same here,” the blonde said languidly, stretching her voluptuous body in its skin-tight red
pantsuit. “So this is life in the raw! My God, it’s like the end of the world, Lutecia, how do you bear
it?!”
“There are compensations,” Tish murmured. “Would your pilot like to come to the house and have
something to eat before he starts back?” she asked hospitably.
The middle-aged pilot shook his head. “Thanks, Miss, but I have to be in Atlanta two hours from now
and I’ve got several stops. I’ll put the bags in the car.”
“It was a nice flight,” Frank said with a grin, “but getting here’s the best part. I’ll need to borrow a
car tomorrow, Tish, to check on Bright Meadows.”
“I’ll run you over,” she said evasively, hating to admit that she couldn’t turn over any car to him
without Russell’s permission. Russell! A sharp twinge of pain tore through her mind.
Russell and Lisa. Lisa and Russell. She fought the pain and turned back to Frank.
“You’re tanner,” she teased, looking up at him.
“You’re prettier.” He grinned. “Gosh, I’m glad you don’t look like what most of us think of as farm
girls, no jeans, no dirty hands, no lace-up shoes. I’d hate to see you looking like a backwoods hick.”
She bridled but held on to her temper. They were outsiders, she reminded herself. They didn’t know
the country as she did.
“Where’s Russell?” Belle asked suddenly.
“Out of town for a few days,” Tish replied tightly.
“Oh, on business?” Belle persisted, her disappointment obvious.
Tish met her eyes levelly. “With a woman,” she corrected and had the malicious pleasure of seeing
jealousy sweep into the blonde’s sapphire-colored eyes.
“Is he engaged?” she asked.
“Not that I know of.”
Belle smiled smugly. “That’s fine, then,” she said, implying that nothing short of a set marriage date
would deter her.
Tish led them to the car, and all the way home she wondered which was the real danger, the faceless
Lisa or the blond tigress in the back seat of the Mercedes. Either way, she thought miserably, it didn’t
affect her. After all, she was just a lovesick teenager hanging around Russell’s neck like a chain.
She’d have given anything to be able to forget those words. As it was, she couldn’t forgive him for
them.
The Tylers settled in, with cool politeness from Eileen and a strange dampening of spirits in Joby and
Mattie. Tish could understand their dislike of Belle, who liked to sleep until noon and have a hot
breakfast waiting when she dragged downstairs. But Frank was the perfect houseguest, drinking in the
antiques and glassware and elegance of the towering house with an appreciation that lit up his whole
face. He couldn’t ask enough questions. And he had copies made of some of the fixtures to put in
Bright Meadows.
Tish had been with him to the rustic old brick house twice, and she was impressed with the
renovation. It was going to be expensive, that was obvious. All the seals had to be replaced, the
plumbing and wiring had to be redone. It was a nightmare of a repair job in every respect.
But the expense didn’t seem to bother Frank at all, he just smiled and nodded at the workmen, a far-
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