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sorry, Miss Delaney, but he did say they would be back for dinner. Are you going to wait, or would you like me to get you something to eat now?’
    ‘I’ll wait,’ said Debra tersely.
    In her room she slowly stripped off her clothes and stood beneath the shower, her face serious. Liz was young and inexperienced, Vane Oliver had no right taking her out like this.
    It suddenly became all the more imperative to find a place of their own. If this sort of thing was going to happen the sooner they were away the better.
    Angrily she towelled herself dry and pulled on a pastel pink cotton dress, sleeveless and low-necked, following the rounded curves of her breasts before falling in soft gathers.
    She had not heard them come back, but when she made her way into the drawing room they were there. Liz sitting with a glass of sherry in her hand, Vane was standing near the window, ostensibly looking out across the gardens, but Debra had the feeling he knew everything that was going on inside the room.
    A deduction that proved correct when he turned. She had made no sound on entering, only some sixth sense could have told him that she was there.
    ‘A glass of sherry before dinner?’ he enquired blandly, insolent eyes sweeping over her so that she grew warm with embarrassment.
    She shook her head. ‘No, thanks, I don't drink, neither does Liz,’ looking disapprovingly at the younger girl.
    Liz’s eyes were overbright. ‘One won’t hurt,’ she said defiantly.
    To a person unaccustomed to drink one could do a great deal of harm, thought Debra bitterly. ‘Mind you keep it to one, then,’ she snapped, ‘and why didn’t you tell me you were going out with Mr Oliver this afternoon?’
    Before Liz could answer Vane said, ‘Because she didn’t know.’ He was busy refilling his glass from a whisky decanter that stood on a lacquered table. ‘I thought it would be a nice surprise. Why, are you jealous?’
    Debra’s eyes flashed. ‘Jealousy doesn’t enter into it. You know why I disapprove, Mr Oliver, and I should like your promise that it won’t happen again.’
    ‘Debra!’ protested Liz heatedly. ‘We had a wonderful time. He took me to the Botanic Gardens. We went in the aviary and there was this toucan who seemed to take a fancy to me. You should have seen him clinging to the wire-netting and nibbling my finger. He didn’t hurt, he was ever so friendly.’
    But Debra had no interest in what Liz had to say, she was more concerned with the fact that they had been out together. Vane Oliver had no right to encourage the younger girl, especially after what she had told him about her having a crush on him. He was making matters worse.
    She sat down heavily beside Liz on a sofa upholstered in a fabric featuring Oriental designs in pink, blue and beige. The pink matched the silk-covered walls which depicted scenes from Chinese folklore. The huge square of fringed carpet was mainly in beige and pink and the heavy silk curtains in the same blue as the upholstery.
    It was a restful room, or would have been without Vane Oliver’s presence. At the moment Debra felt it highly volatile—any minute the whole lot would go up in smoke.
    'I'm waiting for your promise,’ she said, looking directly at Vane, ignoring Liz’s outburst.
    ‘Then you’ll have to wait a long time,’ he said calmly, narrowed eyes coldly hostile. ‘No one dictates to me.’
    Meaning that if he wanted to take Liz out he would, regardless of what she, Debra, said or did. A cold fury filled her and she bounced out of the room, intending to have a word with Liz herself as soon as she got her on her own.
    Outside she almost bumped into Lin Dai who had arrived to announce that dinner was ready. In the mood she was in Debra felt she could not face eating; only the thought that she would be throwing her friend and Vane Oliver together again made her join them in the dining room.
    As she ate her way through the many courses that make up a Chinese meal Debra found