There seemed to be no way out of it, and she reminded herself that Josh would be there at any rate. Only until dinner was over, though. The thought must have shown on her face.
'Afraid to be alone with me?'
'Why should I be? I've been alone with you before. I'm quite capable of taking care of myself.' It didn't seem prudent to glare at him and she managed a brief smile that met dark ironic eyes.
'I've not seen much evidence of that, but we'll let it pass for now. Dinner at seven, then. I'll get Josh to clean out the darkroom this afternoon. We wouldn't want our dainty visitor to be speckled with dust.'
She was still fuming somewhat about that when she got ready to drive to Kip's house. This obsession with her daintiness was beginning to make her feel incompetent. She had the greatest desire to wear thick trousers and boots but all that would get would be a burst of sarcasm and the inevitable laughter. In the end she wore a fairly long black skirt and a white silk blouse. If she couldn't look hefty she would look businesslike.
He didn't even seem to notice. Once again he looked elegantly casual, white, expensive jeans and a rich blue sports shirt showing off his glittering fairness, and all through the meal Natalie was subjected to a gruelling inquisition about the film. By the time the meal was over he knew as much about it as she did and she was glad to sit back with coffee and hear the end of her own voice.
'How do the rest of the team cope with your expertise—two of them being men?' he probed, just when she thought it was all over.
'Neil Bradshaw goes over the plan with me, looks at the photographs and roughly decides his commentary and the questions he'll ask people, then he takes over. I slide into the background and brief Ray Hanson.'
'What does this other girl do?'
'Paula? Just about everything else. She's Neil's handmaiden.'
It was only as she said it that Natalie realised there was a certain amount of tartness in her voice and her cheeks flushed unexpectedly.
'You dislike her?'
'On the contrary, I like her very much. Nobody could dislike Paula. She's cuddly.'
Kip's eyes narrowed, skimming over her face, an alert look about him that shook her. He missed nothing. Damn! Why did she have to answer any questions at all?
'I'll get on with the films now,' she got out hastily and Kip just nodded, leading her to the room and leaving her to it. It was a relief to close the door in the little room and be by herself. Any more questions out there and she would have been telling him about Neil.
Her preparations were almost absent-minded because her mind was dwelling on the past and her own new feelings. Now, she wasn't at all sure of what she had felt for Neil. Certainly he had not set her alight as Kip did. He was gentle and comfortable, easy to be with, and all her thwarted affection had been poured on him at a time when she was very low about the loss of her mother.
Natalie frowned as she went about her affairs slickly. Was she the sort of person who needed a man to lean on? Was that why she had felt so devastated when Neil became engaged to Paula? What was love anyway? At twenty-four she wasn't even sure, and according to Kip> it was one night at a time!
The man who had set up this room had certainly been an expert, she mused as she worked. A dull red light glowed, just sufficiently bright to enable her to work, and she was glad of the quick course she had taken in developing after her precious shots had been lost in Columbia after a so-called expert's bungling.
It took longer than she had anticipated and she couldn't wait to see the final effect. She put them through the solutions and pegged them to dry, eagerly turning to switch on the lights and take a quick glimpse. A lot depended on them.
She stiffened in near horror as the lights lit up the small room. There were at least four cockroaches between her and the door, no, five—six! They had come out in the near darkness, great, long shining brutes with feelers that seemed to be searching for her.