But just now the atmosphere was genial. Paulie, on his best behaviour, had recognised Selena.

‘I’ve seen you riding in the rodeo at-’ he rattled off a list of names. ‘Seen you win, too.’

Selena relaxed, managing a smile.

‘I don’t win much,’ she admitted. ‘But enough to keep going.’

‘You’re a star,’ Paulie said, taking her hand and pumping it up and down between his two. ‘It surely is an honour to meet you.’

If Selena felt the same she disguised it successfully. There was something about Paulie that laid a disagreeable sheen even over his attempts to flatter. She thanked him and withdrew her hand, fighting the temptation to rub it on her jeans. Paulie had a clammy palm.

‘Your room is ready now,’ Delia said kindly. ‘The girls will show you upstairs.’

Carrie and Billie immediately took charge of Selena, drawing her up the huge staircase before she had time to protest. Paulie followed, impossible to shake off, and by the time they reached the best guest bedroom he’d contrived to get in front and throw open the door.

‘Only the best for our famous guest,’ he carolled facetiously.

Since Selena wasn’t famous, and knew it, this only made her look at him askance. Already she could see a neon sign over Paulie’s head, reading ‘Trouble’. She was glad when Carrie eased her brother out of the room.

She looked around her, made even more uneasy by the magnificence. The large room had been decorated in pink, mauve and white, Delia’s favourite colours. The carpet was a delicate pink that made Selena check her boots for mud. The curtains were pink and mauve brocade and the huge four-poster bed was hung with fine white net curtains. It could have slept four, she thought, testing the mattress gingerly. It was so soft and springy that she took a step back. How did anyone sleep on that without bouncing off?

She took a tour of the room, wondering if they’d put her in the wrong place. Perhaps the Queen of England would step out of the wardrobe and say this was really her room.

The bathroom was equally alarming, being frilly and feminine, with a tub shaped like a huge seashell. If there was one thing Selena knew she wasn’t, it was frilly and feminine. She would have preferred a shower, but the cap wasn’t quite big enough to protect the dressing on her forehead, so she ran a bath.

When it was just right she climbed in gingerly, relishing the comfort of sinking into the hot water and feeling it soothe her bruises. She sorted her way through the profusion of soaps until she found the least heavily perfumed and began to lather herself with it. Gradually the turmoil of the day slipped away from her. Maybe there was something to be said for soft living after all. Not much, but something.

A row of glass jars stood along a shelf just above the bath, each filled with crystals of a different colour. Curious, she took one down, unscrewed the top and gagged at the aroma, which was even more overpowering than the soap. Gasping, she hastened to replace the top, but her fingers were too slippery to grip properly and the jar slipped straight through them, down into the water and crashed against the bath with an ominous splintering sound. The shock, coming on top of everything else, surprised a yell from her.

Leo, settling into his own room across the hall, was undressing for a shower and had just stripped off his shirt when he heard the yell and paused. Stepping out into the corridor, he stopped again, listening. Silence. Then, from behind Selena’s door came a despairing voice.

‘Oh no! What am I going to do?’

He knocked on her door. ‘Hello? Are you all right?’

Her voice reached him faintly. ‘Not really.’

He pushed open the door, but could see nobody inside.

‘Hello?’

‘In here.’ Now he could tell that she was in the bathroom, and he approached the open door gingerly, trying not to gasp from the sweet, powerful aroma that surged out and surrounded his head like a cloud.

‘Is it all right for me to come in?’ he asked.

‘I’m stuck here forever if you don’t.’

Moving cautiously he looked around the door to the great pink shell. Selena was in the middle of it, her arms crossed over her chest, glaring at him with frantic eyes.

‘I smashed a jar of crystals,’ she said desperately.

He looked around. ‘Where?’

‘In the bath. There’s broken glass everywhere under the water, but I can’t see where it is. I daren’t move.’

‘OK, don’t panic.’ He found a white towel and handed it to her, averting his eyes as she reached for it.

When she’d covered her top she said, ‘You can look. I’m decent-ish.’

‘Can you reach the plug?’

‘Not without stretching.’

‘Then I’ll do it. Don’t move. Just tell me where it is.’

‘Between my feet.’

Gingerly he slid his fingers down the inner surface of the bath, trying to find the plug without touching her, an almost impossible task. At last he found it and managed to ease it open so that the bath could start draining.

‘When the water’s gone right down I can start to remove the glass,’ he said.

At last it came into view, ugly, sharp pieces, dangerously close to her body. He began to pick them out one by one. It was a long process because the jar had smashed into dozens of fragments, and the movement of the water meant that as he cleared one place of tiny, threatening shards, it filled up again with others. Gradually the level dropped, and more of her came into view, which gave him another problem…

‘I’m trying not to look, but I really do need to see what I’m doing,’ he said desperately.

‘Do what you have to,’ she agreed.

He took a deep breath. The towel could only cover so much of her, and the water was vanishing fast.

‘I’ve shifted all I can,’ Leo said at last. ‘You’ve got to get out by only moving upward, not sideways.’

‘But how can I? I shall have to shift around to get my balance, and hold onto something.’

‘You hold onto me.’ He leaned down. ‘Put your arms around my neck.’

She did so, and the towel immediately slithered away.

‘Forget it,’ Leo said. ‘I’m trying to be a gentleman, but would you rather be safe or modest?’

‘Safe,’ she said at once. ‘Let’s go.’

She gripped her hands behind his neck and felt his hands on her waist. They were big hands, and they almost encompassed her tiny span. Slowly he straightened up, drawing her with him. She was pressed right against him now, trying not to be too conscious of her bare breasts against his chest, and the way the light covering of hair tickled her.

A bit more, a bit more. Inch by inch they were managing it. The last of the water vanished, revealing a very nasty piece of glass that he’d missed. Selena looked down, horrified, then tried to kick it away.

It was a fatal error. The next moment her foot had slithered from under her and she was falling. But Leo tightened one arm about her, and with the other he reached down, grabbed her behind, and stepped away so fast that he was caught off balance. He staggered back out of the bathroom and for several wild steps he fought to stay upright. But it was no good. The next moment he was on his back on the plush pink carpet, with Selena sprawled naked on top of him.

‘Oh God!’ she shivered, clinging onto him and forgetting about modesty, about everything except that wicked looking spike.

He held on to her, breathing hard, trying to regain his equilibrium which was whirling away into space, among the stars and planets, wild, glorious, dizzying. The feel of her on top of him was both scary and wonderful, and he knew he had to put a stop to it, fast.

Then his blood froze at an ominous sound.

A female giggle. Two female giggles. Right outside the door.

‘Selena,’ came Carrie’s voice. ‘Can we come in?’

‘No!’ Selena’s voice rose to a yelp and she jumped up. She just made it to the door in time, reaching out to turn the key.

There wasn’t one. The door didn’t lock.

Disaster!

‘Don’t come in, I’m not decent,’ she called, putting her back against the door and pushing. ‘I’ll be down in a minute. Please tell your mom thank you, for me.’

To their relief the voices faded away.

Leo pulled himself together, wondering how much more he could stand. If holding her against him on the floor hadn’t destroyed his nervous system, watching her streak across the room like a gazelle had nearly finished him off.

But it had been useful in ascertaining one thing.

His rescue had been successful. There wasn’t a scratch on her anywhere.

She dashed into the bathroom and returned in a towelling robe, which mercifully enveloped her.

‘Thanks,’ she said. ‘You saved me from something very nasty.’

He’d gotten to his feet. ‘I’d better go before both our reputations are ruined.’

‘What am I going to say to Mrs Hanworth?’

‘Leave that to me. I don’t think you should go downstairs at all. Go to bed. That’s an order.’

He checked the corridor and was relieved to find it empty. But no sooner had he stepped out than Carrie and Billie appeared, almost as though they’d been hiding around the corner.

‘Hi Leo! Everything OK?’

‘Not quite,’ he said, horribly conscious that he was only half dressed, and trying not to go red. ‘Selena dropped one of the glass jars into the bath, while she was in it, and it smashed.’

‘Poor Selena! Is she still trapped in there?’

‘No, I got her out, and she’s safe,’ he said, wishing the earth would swallow him up. ‘I promised her I’d tell your mom about the jar. I’ll do that-er-just as soon as I’ve put on a shirt.’

He got into his room as fast as he could, trying not to hear two teenage girls snickering significantly. It was a sound calculated to freeze a man’s blood.

Delia reacted just as Leo had known she would, with sympathy and kindness.