Sundown Crossing by Lynne Wilding Page A

was enough of a distraction to end their debate. She stood at thedoorway to the winery and the men stared at her like love-struck schoolboys. She looked beautiful in her figure-hugging slacks and a light wool sweater. The weather had cooled down rapidly after the wine-tasting at Seppelts.
    ‘I have come to see how the wine is made,’ she said simply. ‘You promised to show me, remember,’ Marta spoke to Rolfe, adding in a soft tone, ‘It is convenient, yes?’
    ‘Umm, oh! Of course. I’d be delighted…’ He frowned as he thought of something. ‘Kurt knows you’re here?’
    ‘No.’ She shrugged her shoulders as if it wasn’t important that he should. ‘He told me last night that I must learn to amuse myself but,’ she pouted in a manner similar to Lisel, ‘it is hard to. Greta does not need help at Stenhaus because Lilly and the occasional daily help take care of things there. Lisel, who I am very fond of, is at school most of the day, and Kurt and Papa Carl are always at Rhein Schloss. They leave early in the morning and don’t return until after dark. I play with Luke, read him stories and that sort of thing. He is a dear little boy but…’
    ‘I understand,’ Rolfe nodded. ‘Come, we’ll go and see the vines, that’s where it all starts. They’re just beginning to lose their leaves. Then we’ll walk and I’ll talk you through the winemaking process.’
    ‘Sehr Goot, Rolfe. I was afraid you would be too busy to bother with me, and I do want to learn the business so Kurt and I can discuss matters.’
    Then he came up with an idea. ‘Perhaps,’ he hesitated. Should he ask? Why not? ‘Perhaps you would like to do some work here for me.’
    An hour later they’d toured the winery and seen the vats, pipes, racks for the bottled wine and other paraphernalia involved in the winemaking process. Marta’s expression showed some alarm when Rolfe asked again if she wanted to help. ‘Not to work in the winery, but in the office. I’ve made one of the bedrooms in the cottage my office but I’m way behind with the paperwork. In fact, the whole office needs to be properly organised.’ His smile was meant to be reassuring. ‘It would only take a little of your time. I’m in the process of designing the wine label for Krugerhoff too—some of it’s bottled but not labelled.’ In truth, he had designed the label but not had any printed and she was an arts student. Perhaps she would have better ideas than he had.
    Marta smiled with delight. ‘I would love to help you design the label.’
    Rolfe grinned at her enthusiasm but tempered it with the proviso, ‘So long as Kurt approves.’
    ‘Oh, that will be no trouble,’ she waved her hand about airily. ‘He will be glad that I am—how do you say it?—occupied, until work at Rhein Schloss slows down and he has time for me.’
    His grin widened at her animated expression. ‘Good.’ He wasn’t going to think about how hard it would be seeing so much of her, havingher close. No, he was not going to allow himself to dwell on that.
    For the next three weeks Marta came for approximately three hours a day, three days a week. She surprised Rolfe by being an industrious worker and he only had to tell her something once and she was able to do it. After she had organised the office she set about humanising the rest of the cottage with odds and ends brought over from Stenhaus. A rug for the living room floor. Ornaments here and there and on the mantelpiece. A set of crockery for the kitchen and cutlery too. A selection of wine glasses, and curtains—she’d found old ones packed in the basement at the big house—for all the rooms.
    He didn’t have the heart to tell her that he liked things plain, few fancy things and flounces, because adding the womanly touches gave her such pleasure and in turn it delighted him to see her happy. They settled on the design for the label: a shield on which lay a diagonal wavy line depicting the creek that flowed through