'We haven't decided yet.'
'You haven't been over to see my mother. She was hoping you would, she asked me to tell you.'
'I'm sorry, I've been very busy,' she said, sweeping the green mass of parsley into a plastic bag, which she put into the fridge to chill, slamming the fridge door shut with a little bang.
'You mean you don't want to see her!' Josh said in a brusque voice. 'I can hardly tell her that, can I?'
'And I'm very busy at the moment, too/ Prue said offhandedly. 'I'm afraid you'll have to excuse me.'
'No!'
She nearly jumped out of her skin at the way he roared that.
'I won't excuse you!' he snapped, and she backed away, staring at him nervously. 'I won't let you hurt my mother's feelings!' His face was wintry. 'If you don't visit her again while you're here, she will be hurt.
She'll probably ask your father if she has done something to offend you.
'I don't want to talk about it,' Prue said, her face pale. She hadn't yet dared to talk frankly to her father, and she wasn't in a hurry to do it, either.
'I don't give a damn what you want!' Josh snarled, taking a step closer, and she backed, her whole body tense.
'I'm sure you don't!' she muttered, her green eyes fierce and defiant.
'And that's typical of your whole family—all you care about is what you want, and it doesn't bother you how many people you have to smash into the ground to get your own way! You're dinosaurs; feudal landlords out of another century, still trying to make the world work for you!'
He grabbed her shoulders, staring into her eyes. 'Feudal landlords!
What the hell are you talking about? That's sheer nonsense, and you know it.'
'Get your hands off me! Don't think you can bully me!' She exerted all her strength to break his grip, but Josh tightened his fingers, shaking her furiously.
'You're thinking emotionally, Prue. Why don't you try using your head for a change? If there was any love-affair between my mother and Jim, why haven't they got married? Why be so secretive about it?
There's nothing stopping them. They're both free, they're both adults and there's no reason on earth why they shouldn't get married.'
'Maybe my father is afraid he might lose his farm,' Prue said coldly.
'After all, your mother isn't the owner of the Killane estate—you are, aren't you? If you disapproved, you could take the tenancy away without needing to give a reason.'
He laughed shortly. 'I wouldn't do a thing like that?'
'That's what you say now, but my father may still be afraid to take the risk.'
'He can't care much about my mother if all that he thinks about is his farm!'
'He's lived there all his life! And perhaps she is afraid, too. She may prefer the status quo, to go on as they have been for years, meeting in secret, rather than having a big family upset.'
'You don't know for certain that any of this is true! You only have your mother's word for it, and she was hardly a reliable witness.'
Prue paled, staring at him with bitter dislike. 'Until I came here, I only had my mother's word, but I've seen it for myself, and I'm convinced she was right.'
'What have you seen?' Josh asked.
'Love,' she said huskily.
Josh's fingers dug into her. 'What?' he ground out between his teeth.
'Do you know what the word means?' she asked, and he glowered at her; eyes like black, hot coal, a red light glowing deep within them.