Never mind, she thought. At least she looked what she was: a hard-working woman and not a fluffy-headed little thing. She went on into her office, but in the doorway she stopped, riveted by the sight of the most astoundingly lovely young woman she'd ever seen.

The stranger was tall, with a bean-pole figure and fine features. Her hair was a fiery, natural-looking red and her eyes a deep blue. Lee blinked, wondering why her visitor looked familiar. 'Was I expecting another model?' she asked. 'What agency are you from, Miss-?'

'I'm not a model,' the young woman said, smiling. 'I only wish I were. We've met before.'

'Of course we have. I didn't recognize you at first. It was a dark night, and raining-'

'And you were having a shouting match with Dad,' Phoebe said, chuckling.

'Are you really only fifteen?' Lee asked, astonished. Phoebe was made up subtly, with an expert hand, and could have been twenty.

'I'll be sixteen in a couple of months. Mrs Meredith, I've really looked forward to meeting you properly. I've made Sonya tell me all about you.'

'Yes, she said you were interested in clothes.'

Phoebe Raife had a real sense of style. She wore a loose white jersey dress, and around her neck she'd knotted a silk scarf that exactly matched her eyes.

'I'm afraid I'll be about three hours,' Lee went on. 'You'd be better off going away and coming back.'

'But can't we wait if we keep very quiet and stay out of the way?' Phoebe asked anxiously.

Lee chuckled. 'I can imagine what your father would say to that.'

'No? Can you? What would he say?'

Lee whirled to confront the owner of the amused, masculine voice that had come from behind her. She had to look up to see him, and only just recognized her foe of the other night. He was dramatically altered, not only by the fact that he was dry and well groomed, but because his face now bore a pleasant smile.

It was also the face of the retouched photograph, but, again, it was different. That picture had been of a bland, uninteresting boy. This was a man in his late thirties who looked as if he'd survived a battering by the world and come up still smiling.