Kissed by Moonlight by Dorothy Vernon Page A

him. Could he have been like that with her and still long for Justine? She’d given her heart when she’d given her body. He’d been tender with both of them, as if he recognized the gift of her love and was happy to accept it. Perhaps he was. It didn’t mean that he had to reciprocate it, or that his affair with Justine had come to an end.
    With grim determination she dropped her thoughts and concentrated on the scenery. For the most part the road traveled along the coastline, but occasionally it plunged inland to climb through dark green forests, where tall, tightly packed trees screened hidden places and lurking dangers – some real, others the menacing creations of the imagination. They left the umbrellalike gloom behind and she gleaned what dubious solace she could from keeping track of the hairpin bends and she trusted her stomach not to disgrace her as her eyes dipped dizzily down a sheer cliff face to the sparkling innocence of the turquoise sea.
    â€œA considerable amount of fortifying and rebuilding is being carried out to bring the road up to the required safety standards before we can trundle up the coachloads of tourists,” David explained.
    She had seen the evidence of this because they had already passed several gangs of workmen employed in the task. Once he stopped the Land Rover and got out to have a word with the workmen. He seemed concerned because that particular stretch wasn’t being completed quickly enough. At the same time, she wondered if he’d sensed her queasiness and was teasing her when he said the tourists would come along this route. The road seemed much too narrow ever to accommodate a coach.
    â€œThere is a better way,” Ginny said, apparently by chance, because Petrina didn’t think she was interpreting her thoughts.
    â€œA better way?” David queried thoughtfully. “Progress demanded the building of a less hazardous, more direct road, if that’s what you mean.”
    With a strange reversal of thought, Petrina realized that David was not taking a dig at her, but expressing a side of himself that his brisk business mind usually kept well hidden. Did he come down on the side of progress by determination and not natural inclination?
    Suddenly the brave little road was no longer a threat to safety and the density of the trees was not as menacing. Her spirits lifted on the sparkling beauty of the day. It was an appropriate moment to catch her first glimpse of the castle.
    It might have been built only recently as a moneymaking project, a setting deliberately contrived for medieval banquets and jousting tournaments and anything else they might dream up to tempt the tourist to open up his wallet, but seen with the dazzle of the sun in her eyes – she still hadn’t bought sunglasses and the protective brim of her sun hat wasn’t pulled far enough down – it was like a vision from ancient legend.
    Stepping down from the Land Rover to the rough ground, she appreciated David’s steadying hand, and not only for the assistance it provided. She wished that Ginny weren’t efficiently getting her notebook out and that David didn’t have to work. If only she could keep her fingers tightly curled in his and they could ignore Ginny and wander off by themselves.
    Instead, she was the one left on her own while David barked out instructions to the workmen and Ginny jotted down notes when required.
    A man who looked a bit better dressed than the majority of the workmen and was obviously in charge approached David. Some query in the main hall required David’s attention. As the two men crossed the drawbridge and disappeared beyond the stout, studded wooden door, Petrina found herself unexpectedly alone with Ginny.
    The shirt, she noticed, was now demurely buttoned up, but not Ginny’s mouth. “It’s not that your husband is a prude, it’s just that he prefers the men to keep their eyes on their work.” Her