Tanya shook her head. "Oh, Edda, Kevin is a nice person, a good man. He would never hurt me." She pulled another box of flowers to her. "Stop worrying. And tell Charles to relax, I'm fine."
"Tell him yourself," Edda said, sounding somewhat cross as Charles pulled the black Fiat into the driveway and parked. He crossed the driveway and regarded the plantings.
"Very nice," he said. "The flowers add color. Your painting is on its way to Montreal, Tanya." He set his mouth in a stiff line and didn't look at her.
"Thank you, Charles," Tanya said. "Charles, I just wanted to mention…"
"Excuse me," he said. "I needed to know if you would mind if Edda and I took a day off together. We'd check in every few hours."
Tanya shook her head. "No problem. I'll start painting the reception room, give the walls a face lift. That should keep me safe and busy while you're not here."
Charles nodded, turned abruptly and left without any further comment.
* * *
Without Kevin, the days seemed to drag for Tanya. Her schooling was over, her deadline met. She felt restless, anxious. From her terrace, she watched a sleek grey cat stalk through the tall grass at the edge of the woods. The cat moved belly low, each forward motion a long, slow drift of paw and leg, then body inched ahead with exquisite stealth. Tanya couldn't see the animal's prey, but a sudden flash of the cat's body told her the hunt was over. She shuddered, her mind aware of the hunter and the hunted.
"Like me," she said in a whisper. "Stalked and hunted, like me." She shook herself and turned away, grabbed her portable sketching kit, and left for her favorite hill.
She moved into a familiar routine, spreading the image in her mind on the canvas with quick, sure strokes of charcoal. Gradually, she immersed herself in the work, her anxiety soothed.
A shadow fell across her canvas, a familiar scent tickling at her nose. Two firm hands grasped her head and turned her toward a hard body. She felt herself pressed tight against the man's chest, her arms limp at her sides. "Kevin! What are you doing here?" Her heart gave a skip, then began to beat twice as hard as if to make up for lost time.
"I missed you," he said, his voice warm honey and silk. She curled up against him, safe.
"How did you know where I was?" she asked.