For His Eyes Only by Liz Fielding Page B

away. More likely couldn’t take his eyes off her.
    Despite his helmet and a uniform designed to make him look as much like a policeman as possible without breaking the law, the man took a nervous step back, looked away.
    ‘There’s no need for that,’ he said defensively. ‘I’m just doing my job.’
    ‘Hanging about like some Peeping Tom. You’re the trespasser,’ he said, wrenching off his polo shirt and handing it to Natasha, bundling her back into the seat they’d just fallen out of before turning furiously on the man. ‘This is my land.’ The words were out of his mouth before he realised what he was saying. ‘I am Darius Hadley and I own this estate.’
    ‘Good try, but Mr Hadley is dead,’ he replied, ‘and the house is being sold, so if you’d just get back in the vehicle. You can turn around about fifty yards ahead—’
    ‘I know where I can turn. I know every inch of this estate,’ he said, cutting him off, but clearly words weren’t going to do it. Taking his wallet from his back pocket, he opened it and held it out so that the man could see his driver’s licence. ‘Darius Hadley,’ he repeated, while the man checked the name and photograph. ‘The previous owner was my grandfather.’
    ‘Even so, sir, I’ll have to check with the office.’
    ‘Check with who you like. How did you know we were here?’ It seemed unlikely that a patrol just happened to be passing at the exact moment he’d stalled his engine.
    ‘There’s CCTV on all the entrances, Mr Hadley. Apparently this one is something of a lovers’...’
    ‘Get rid of it.’
    ‘I’m sorry...’
    ‘I want the cameras down now. Every one of them, is that clear?’
    ‘I can’t—’
    Darius didn’t wait for the excuses, but reached into the Land Rover for his mobile phone and called Brian Ramsey.
    ‘Ramsey,’ he said, before the man could do more than say his name, ‘I understand that you’ve had security cameras installed at the Chase. Get rid of them. And the security company.’
    ‘Darius...’ he said, in what he no doubt thought was a soothing voice. ‘The house is empty and this is the most economic...’
    ‘It’s intrusive. The tenants have a right to privacy.’
    ‘I’m sure if you asked them they would tell you that there have been problems with trespassers, poachers. The trout stream is a selling point and the insurance company...’
    ‘There’s a public footpath across the estate and those poachers are not just keeping down the rabbit population, they’re local people and they do a better job of keeping an eye on the place than any security firm. No arguments. I own this estate and I want the cameras gone. Today.’
    He ended the call without waiting to hear more and turned to the man. ‘You heard me. You’re fired.’

SIX
    ‘Are you okay?’
    ‘There’s nothing wrong with me,’ Natasha said as Darius climbed in beside her. ‘You could do with a few lessons in reality, though.’
    ‘What?’ About to reach for the ignition, he sat back, dragged his fingers through his hair. Far from okay, she was furious. ‘I’m sorry. That was—’
    ‘Don’t apologise to me,’ she snapped. ‘What on earth were you thinking?’
    He glanced at her, aware that he was missing something but not sure what. ‘I was thinking that perhaps you might just be a little bit upset at being seen half-naked by a total stranger,’ he said.
    ‘Really? And how would that be different from you making a bronze of my entirely naked body for the entire world to stare at?’ He wasn’t deceived by the mildness of her tone. She was mad and actually he didn’t blame her. On a stupid scale of one to ten that had to be a nine. She might have been up there with him, reaching for ten, but he’d started it. Clearly some serious grovelling was in order, but she wasn’t done. ‘I am not made of porcelain, Darius; I won’t break if some bloke gets an eyeful of my tits, but that man probably has a wife and family to