Davina hesitated again, which he took note of and said witheringly, 'I don't plan to make you drunk for the purposes of seduction in this lonely spot, believe me.'

She bit her lip and shrugged. 'All right. I'll have a brandy and soda, thank you. But-'

'But you don't entirely trust me yet,' he filled in for her with a certain malicious humour.

Davina cast him a speaking look and walked calmly down the two steps towards the sofas. But she did say over her shoulder, 'No, I don't. As to whether I could ever like you, I have the gravest possible doubts about that, too, Mr Warwick.'

'Well, I wouldn't worry too much about it,' he replied as he opened a tall, beautiful antique oak cabinet and pulled forward two glasses. 'You wouldn't be alone and we need see very little of each other.'

Davina tossed her head and sat down facing the view and presently he handed her a glass and sat down opposite her.

'Cheers,' he said. 'Would you care to tell me what you meant about being a photographer when you weren't moonlighting as a housekeeper?'

Davina sipped her drink then said wryly, 'An unfortunate choice of words. What I meant was that photography is… what I would like to be my chosen career, but it's not a career I make much money from, yet, so from time to time I do the other thing I'm good at which is temporary housekeeping. It's an ideal combination, actually, and-' she paused and looked levelly at him '-should you still be worried about that term moonlighting, I've been thoroughly vetted by the agency- they have very high standards and they've checked me out from top to bottom, so you can rest assured I won't be pinching the silver or anything like that. I also have a degree from a technical college in catering-does that help you, Mr Warwick?'