‘But—’
‘Melissa!’
The quiet thunder only slightly subdued the girl’s rebelliousness. ‘I only wanted to ask why it had to be here!’ She cast a disparaging look around the kitchen, much as her brother had done several days before. ‘At least up the hill you’d have tons more room and all the mod cons!’
‘Up the hill?’ Jane frowned in puzzlement.
The breath hissed through Ryan’s teeth as Melissa said sullenly, ‘At our place. Why couldn’t you have stayed there instead of making my brother live in this dump?’
‘I didn’t make him do anything,’ gritted Jane, before the true import of Melissa’s words sank in. No wonder Ryan had wanted to shut his sister up! ‘Wait a minute... your place? Are you saying that you have a bach here at Piha?’
Melissa laughed scornfully. ‘I’d hardly call a five-bedroomed house on three acres of headland bush a “bach”!’ It was her turn to frown as she looked from Jane’s blank shock to her brother’s annoyed expression. ‘You didn’t know? You didn’t tell her we had a house here?’ she asked Ryan in a deeply disconcerted tone of voice.
‘No, he didn’t tell me!’ said Jane, feeling just as unhappy as she glared at the culprit.
He had the gall to shrug coolly. ‘Since you were adamant you wouldn’t leave here, it didn’t seem relevant. Besides, technically the house isn’t mine—I bought it for our family trust a couple of years ago.’
‘Not relevant!’ she repeated with outraged shrillness.
‘Well, was it? Would you have accepted an invitation to be my guest while your hand healed?’
‘No! But I didn’t invite you to stay here, either, and that didn’t stop you going ahead and doing it anyway!’ she pointed out.
‘Because you’re too stubborn to admit you need help with everything but the lightest of tasks. I’m not leaving you alone until you can prove otherwise—’
‘Why don’t you just hire a nurse for her?’ Melissa interrupted truculently.
‘Because Jane is my personal responsibility,’ said Ryan, with a faint emphasis that made Jane flush. ‘And as you know, Mel, I always take my responsibilities seriously.’
The quiet implacability of his statement sounded like a warning, although Jane wasn’t sure whether it was intended for herself or his sister. But Melissa obviously possessed a full measure of the dogged Blair tenacity, for while she appeared to let the subject drop she returned to it from different angles again and again, with terrier-like persistence.
‘But it’s mid-term break—you know I only have a week off. If you’re going to be down here you should at least be staying with us.’
Jane could have retreated to her room, but she was not going to be driven even further into exile by this family. If they wanted to discuss their private business then they would be the ones to withdraw. So she sat in silence, her face a mask of haughty indifference as she sipped her tea, secretly fascinated by the interaction between brother and sister.
Ryan was revealing another facet of himself, mild and restrained, as he dealt with Melissa’s youthful dramatics. The deep bond of their affection for each other was revealed in the freedom with which they argued, unconstrained by fear of being rejected or belittled for their beliefs. Even though they sparred vigorously there was none of the bitterness that had characterised Jane’s father’s attacks on her actions and opinions.
It was something Jane had never had, and envied horribly—that easy affection, that wonderful security of knowing that you’re loved whatever you say or do. So she was almost sympathetic when Ryan briefly left the room to check an incoming fax and Melissa rounded on her like a virago.
‘As far as I’m concerned you deserve everything that’s happened to you! If you think you can sink your claws into my brother you’ve got another think coming!’
‘I don’t think there’s much danger of my doing that at the moment,’ said Jane wryly, indicating her damaged hands.
‘I don’t believe that pathetic helpless act for one minute.’ The green eyes blazed fiercely. ‘And I bet Ryan doesn’t, either! He said you were a lying, scheming bitch!’
‘Then you have nothing to worry about, do you?’
Ryan came back before Melissa could think of a comeback but, a few minutes later, she jumped up from the table.
‘Well, if you’re not going to stay up at the house, then neither am I,’ she announced dramatically to her brother. ‘I’m going to stay here with you!’
While Jane gaped at her presumption, Ryan merely leaned against the sink, looking indulgently amused. ‘You—in this dump? Where there’s no running hot water, no television and you have to do your laundry by hand?’
Melissa looked briefly aghast before tossing her head in annoyance. ‘If you can hack it, so can I. I’m driving up to get my things. I’ll be back as soon as I can.’
And with a triumphant look at Jane’s stunned face she flounced out of the house.
Jane recovered her voice. ‘She’s not serious, is she?’ she cried, crossing to the window to watch the girl fling herself behind the wheel of her jazzy yellow car and rev it unnecessarily as she backed into a turn. ‘Does she think I’m running a free boarding house for stray Blairs? It’s ridiculous! One uninvited guest is bad enough. If she comes back you tell her she can’t possibly stay here!’