Rage

Isabella, taken by surprise like everybody else, had come drifting downstairs, dressed for di

'It's been so boring since you went away!" She wouldn't let go of his arm until they went in to di

'I love his hair like that. You are so antediluvian sometimes, Papa.

He's beautiful. I swear if Sean ever cuts a single hair on his beautiful head, I will take vows of silence and chastity on the spot." 'A consummation devoutly to be prayed for,' murmured her father.

Centaine, although less effusive, was as delighted as any of them to have Sean home again. Of course, she knew every detail of the circumstances in which he had left. She and Shasa were the only ones in the family who did, but that had been almost six years ago, and things could change in that time. It was difficult to believe that anybody who looked like that, even more beautiful than her own beloved Shasa, and who was possessed of such charm and natural grace, could be entirely bad. She consoled herself that although he had made a few mistakes when he was a child, he was now a man.

Centaine had seldom seen more of a man, and she listened as attentively as the rest of them to his stories and laughed as merrily at his sallies.

Garry kept repeating, 'I didn't really believe you'd come. I sent that cable on an impulse. I wasn't even sure of your address." And then to Holly, who was sitting beside Sean at the long table, 'Isn't he wonderful, Holly - isn't he everything I told you?" Holly smiled and murmured polite agreement, and twisted slightly in her chair to prevent Sean pointing up the story he was telling by placing his hand on her thigh again. She glanced around the table, and caught Michael's eye. He was the only one who was not following Sean's tale with total concentration. Holly had only met Michael for the first time the previous day, when he arrived from Joha

Now Michael raised an eyebrow at Holly, and smiled an apology at her. He had seen his elder brother looking at her, he had seen through Sean's devices to attract her attention, and had even seen her start and pale as Sean touched her beneath the table. He would talk to Sean after di

'You are so fu

'The policy of the Golden City Mail is to defend the helpless, t( attempt to secure a decent dignified existence for all, and to tell th truth as we see it - at any cost." 'I don't know about that, Mickey,' Sean gri

'He has been home six hours and already we are all at each other's throats,' she thought. 'He still has a talent for controversy. We must be wary of him - I wonder why he really came home." She found out very soon after di

After Shasa had poured a tiny glass of Chartreuse for her, and balloon 'snifters of He

'All right, Sean,' Shasa said. 'What did you want to talk to us about?" 'You know how we discussed the safari business, Pater, just before I left?" Shasa noticed how he showed no contrition as he mentioned his enforced departure. 'Well, I've had six years of experience now, and I won't offend you with false modesty. I'm one of the top hunters in the business. I've a list of over fifty clients who want to hunt with me again. I have their telephone numbers, you can ring them and ask them." 'All right, I will,' Shasa said. 'But go on." 'Ian Smith's government in Rhodesia is developing the safari business there. One of the concessions they are putting up for auction in two months' time is a plum." Shasa and Centaine listened in attentive silence, and when Sean finished almost an hour later, they exchanged a significant glance. They understood each other perfectly after thirty years of working so closely, and they did not have to speak to agree that Sean had made a virtuoso performance. He was a good salesman, and his figures added up to the promise of rich profits, but Shasa saw the little shadow at the back of his mother's dark eyes.