Darkness Into Light

‘Danny, go back!’ He began to run back to her as the sound of the dogs barking could be heard, all the time the sound coming closer and closer. ‘Oh God!’ he groaned as the two Alsatians bounded around the corner of the house, still barking as they ran towards them, two of the biggest of their breed Danny had ever seen. ‘Heel!’ Pierce commanded as he turned to face them, pushing Danny behind him. ‘For God’s sake heel!’ He was breathing hard in his effort to stop the howling beasts.

‘Sit, you two.’ Danny stepped in front of Pierce, the two panting dogs obediently sitting down at her feet, looking up at her with adoring eyes as she patted them affectionately on the head. She turned back to Pierce. ‘It’s all right, they won’t hurt you while you’re with me.’ She smiled at him reassuringly, concerned at how pale he was.

‘I—thought—they—might—attack—you!’ he said through gritted teeth.

‘Fang and Killer?’ She laughed at the thought of them possibly hurting her.

‘I believe their names are Ferdinand and Kilpatrick.’ He stepped out from behind her, looking down in amazement at the two stupidly drooling dogs that were supposed to be trained killers, Kilpatrick even rolling over on his back now to have his stomach rubbed by one slender, playful hand.

‘Oh, they are.’ Danny nodded. ‘Such silly names for these fearsome creatures.’

‘They don’t look very fearsome at the moment.’ Pierce looked on with disgust as Ferdinand joined his brother by rolling on his back, his big feet waving ridiculously in the air.

‘Oh, you mustn’t mind them.’ Danny straightened, pulling down the ribbed halter-top as it rode up towards her breasts. ‘They know me very well.’

‘They know me, too,’ he derided. ‘But they don’t“roll over” for me!’

She frowned. ‘You seemed frightened of them a moment ago …?’

‘I told you, I thought they were going to attack you,’ he explained impatiently. ‘I had no idea they were aware of your scent.’

‘We’re old friends.’ She absently stroked the two regal heads as the dogs stood as close to her as they could get. ‘Danton introduced me to them their first day here; he thought it best in the circumstances.’

‘Yes,’ he agreed tersely. ‘Speaking of Danton,’ his eyes narrowed as he looked about them, ‘he should have been here with his dogs by now.’

Danny shook her head. ‘He probably thinks they’re taking a run with me, we usually take one together late at night when it isn’t so hot. I just haven’t had the time tonight.’

Grey eyes were disbelieving. ‘You run Danton’s dogs for him?’

‘Of course not,’ she scorned. ‘They just run along with me when I jog five times around the wall perimeter.’

‘Good God, how far is that?’

‘About five miles, I think. Then I—–’

‘Don’t tell me any more!’ He closed his eyes. ‘What on earth do you want to half kill yourself in that way every night for?’

‘I don’t half kill myself.’ She smiled at his horror. ‘I’m keeping myself in shape—my Raquel Welch shape,’ she added teasingly.

‘Gardening doesn’t do that?’

Danny shook her head. ‘It doesn’t loosen up the muscles like jogging does.’

‘But it doesn’t kill you either!’

‘Exercise, properly supervised, doesn’t harm you at all,’ she reproved. ‘I’m sure you don’t keep your own body in that great shape by sitting about all day.’ The candidness of her gaze showed him just how good she thought that body was.

‘I swim thirty lengths of the pool daily,’ he grudgingly admitted.

‘There you are, then,’ she said smugly. ‘Actually, that’s why I came after you.’

‘Because of my great body?’ he lightly mocked.

‘I think you’re learning a little too fast now.’ She pretended irritation, the twinkle in her sherry-coloured eyes belying that emotion. ‘I wondered if I could join you in your swim.’

‘You can think in a pool, too?’

‘I’ve never tried.’ She shrugged. ‘I didn’t really have that in mind when I suggested the swim.’

‘Oh?’

‘My, what a suspicious mind you have, Mr Sutherland.’ Danny looked up at him reprovingly. ‘Your uncle lives in a sterilely safe world but I would have thought you had more sense. I certainly don’t have designs on that great body of yours,’ she said angrily.

He had stiffened at the mention of his reclusive uncle, but his expression lightened at the latter, until finally he smiled, albeit resignedly. ‘Go and get your bikini, Danny,’ he sighed. ‘I’d hate you to miss your daily exercise and lose that figure.’

An imp of mischief possessed her as she looked for her bathing costume, picking up one of Cheryl’s, a skimpy black article on her petite sister, even more so on her more generous curves. But Pierce’s last comment had been a little patronising, and she intended shaking him out of his arrogant complacency.

She certainly did that when she joined him, waiting until he surfaced at the side of the pool before dropping her black robe, almost giggling out loud at the widening of Pierce’s eyes as he leant his chin on his folded arms, water dripping down his face.

‘I was wrong,’ he said slowly. ‘Your body is better than Raquel Welch’s!’

She moved to the poolside with exaggeratedly provocative movements. ‘Eat your heart out, Pierce Sutherland.’ She gave him a sweetly triumphant smile. ‘I’ve already promised not to touch you.’

He watched her as she slowly entered the water by the stairs. ‘I didn’t make the same promise,’ he reminded huskily. ‘Although we would have little privacy here.’ He grimaced.

She glanced up at the brightly lit windows. The pool, another recent addition for the new owner, was built close to the back of the three-storey house. ‘Mr Sutherland isn’t back in the house, is he?’ she prompted cautiously, doubting Henry Sutherland would like the idea of his gardener cavorting about in his pool with his nephew.

Pierce shook his head. ‘I can assure you Henry is not in the house.’

‘Do you call him that?’ She swam over to his side, treading water when she reached him. ‘It doesn’t seem respectful somehow. He’s a very powerful man, isn’t he?’ She wrinkled her nose at one man having as much power as Henry Sutherland was reputed to have.

‘Very,’ Pierce agreed grimly.

‘Where do you fit into the scheme of things?’ she asked interestedly. ‘Your cousin does the accounts,’ she explained at his questioning look. ‘I wondered what you did for the Sutherland empire.’

‘A bit of this, a bit of that.’ Pierce shrugged dismissively. ‘It’s a big organisation.’

She nodded, looking appreciatively at the blue-bottomed pool, liking the privacy the fenced-in area offered—except from the house itself! ‘How many lengths have you done?’

‘Ten.’ He shook the water from his hair. ‘Feel up to doing the other twenty?’

‘I can try.’ She nodded. ‘Although don’t make it a race; I’m completely out of practice. They closed the pool down in Bedmont, you know,’ she told him as they struck out in leisurely strokes.

Pierce moved smoothly through the water, obviously pacing himself to her slower movements. ‘Feel free to use this one any time you want.’

‘Won’t your uncle mind the intrusion?’ ‘Henry can be a very generous person,’ he told her drily.

‘I suppose it’s nice for him, having his two nephews working for him,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘He doesn’t have any children of his own, does he?’