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EASING carefully over another deep rut as the wipers swatted away the moisture clinging to the windscreen, Jacqui gritted her teeth and continued to inch her way up the lane in low gear.

'Nearly there,' she said, reassuringly, although more to herself than Maisie, who was ignoring the jolting with the composure of a duchess. Considerably more composure than she felt, as the bottom of the car ground on the edge of a deep, water-filled pothole that stretched most of the way across the lane. A broken exhaust was the last thing she needed.

The torture continued for another half a mile, ratcheting up the tension and tightening her shoulders. Finally, when she was beginning to think that she must have missed the house in the mist or that she'd taken the wrong lane altogether, an old, lichen-encrusted gate that looked as if it hadn't been opened in years loomed out of nowhere, blocking the way. On it were two signs. One might have once said "High Tops" but was so old that only the odd letter was still clear enough to read. The other was new. It said: KEEP OUT.

She climbed out and doing her best to avoid the mud and puddles, lifted the heavy metal closure and put her weight behind it, anticipating resistance ... and very nearly fell flat on her face as it swung back on well-oiled hinges.

Maisie didn't say a word as she scraped the mud off her shoes and climbed back behind the wheel, apparently still totally enrapt by the CD she was listening to. But she was wearing a thoroughly self-satisfied little smile that betrayed exactly what she was thinking:

Little Princess, 1 - Dumb Adult, Nil

Jacqui put the car into gear and a hundred yards or so further on the shadowy outline of a massive, ivy-clad stone house, towers at each corner, the crenellated roof suggesting a fortified stronghold rather than the home of someone's grandma, appeared out of the swirling mist.

Despite the fact that she'd never been anywhere near High Tops before it looked vaguely familiar and Jacqui felt an odd sense of foreboding. It was, doubtless, caused by the combination of mist and mud.

She might not be totally in the mood for sun, sand and sangria, but given the choice she knew which option she'd choose. She almost felt sorry for Maisie.

Totally ridiculous of course, she told herself. At any moment the vast door would be flung open and the child enfolded in a loving welcome from her grandma, who must surely be looking out for them.

The door remained closed, however and rather than expose Maisie's satin shoes to the elements unnecessarily, she said, 'You'd better wait here while I ring the door bell.'

Maisie looked as if she was about to say something, but instead she just sighed.

Jacqui was enfolded in the cold damp air as she ran up the steps to a pair of iron-studded front doors that offered no concessions to the twenty-first century. There was nothing as remotely modern as an electric bell. Just an old-fashioned bell pull.

As she lifted her arm the silver bracelet slid down and the heart caught the light and flashed brightly. For a moment she froze, then she tugged hard on the bell and a long way off she heard the jangle of an old-fashioned bell.

From somewhere a dog raised its voice in a mournful howl.

Jacqui looked around nervously, half expecting a near relation of the Hound of the Baskervilles to come bounding out of the mist. Ridiculous. This was not Dartmoor... But nevertheless she shivered and, grasping the bell rather more firmly, she tugged it again.

Twice.

Almost before she let go there was a thud as a stiff bolt shot back. Then, as one half of the door opened, she realised why the house seemed familiar. She'd seen it - or at least something very like it - in a book of fairy stories she'd been given as a child; the one with all those terrifying tales about witches and trolls and giants.

This was the house where the big bad giant lived

. He still did.

Half an inch short of six foot - without her socks -- Jacqui was tall for a woman but the man who opened the door loomed threateningly above her. Okay, she was a step lower than him but it wasn't just his height; he was broad, too, his shoulders filling the opening and even his hair, a thick, dark, shaggy lion mane that clearly hadn't been near a pair of scissors in months was, well, big. Gold eyes - which might have been attractive in any other setting - and three days growth of beard only added to the leonine effect.

'Yes?' he demanded, discouragingly.

It was a little late to wish she'd stuck to her original plan; the one where, exhaust safely in one piece, she'd be heading down the motorway with nothing more challenging ahead of her than lying on a Spanish beach for two weeks trying to decide what she was going to do with the rest of her life.

Instead she did her best not to think about the giant in her book who'd scared her witless as he ground little kids bones to make his bread and, with what she hoped was a bright smile and a professional manner, she offered her hand in a friendly gesture.

'Hello. I'm Jacqui Moore.' Then, since he clearly required more information before he committed himself to a handshake, 'From the Campbell Agency?'

'Are you selling something? If you are I'm afraid you've risked your exhaust for nothing --'

'More than risked it,' she responded, a shade more testily than was professional as she let her hand drop, unshaken, to her side. There had been a throaty sound from the car's rear in those last couple of hundred yards to the house, suggesting that it hadn't quite cleared that final pothole. 'Shouldn't you do something about that lane?'

'I rather think that's my business, not yours. Be more careful on the way down.' And he stepped back and began to close the door.

For a moment she was too shocked to do or say anything. Then, as the gap narrowed, she did what any resourceful nanny would do in the same situation. She stuck out her foot. It was just as well she was wearing ankle boots beneath her jeans. If her footwear had been less substantial, it would have been crushed.

The giant looked at her foot and then at her. 'There's something else?' he enquired. 'You didn't just come to complain about the state of the lane?'

'No, I'm not a masochist, neither am I selling anything. I'm a flying nanny.'

'Really?' He opened the door a little wider, releasing her foot. She didn't move it, even when his predator's eyes took their time over a toe-to-head inspection that under any other circumstances would have invited a slap. Even if she'd been feeling that reckless, one look at the hard line of his upper lip was all it took to warn her that taking such liberties would not be wise. Finally, he shook his head. 'No. I'm not convinced. Mary Poppins wouldn't have left home without her umbrella.'

Okay, that was it. She was here as a favour to Vickie, as a kindness to a child. She had other places to be and she'd just about had it with the giant.

'Could you please tell Mrs Talbot that I'm here,' she replied, in her best I'm-so-not-impressed manner. 'She is expecting me.'

'I rather doubt that,' he said. Nothing much happened to the upper lip, but a shift in his expression deepened the lines about his mouth drawing attention to its lower, shockingly sensuous companion.

'Yes...' Momentarily mesmerised, she had to force herself to focus on the job. 'I've, um, brought Maisie...' She turned away, not so much to indicate the child, as to give herself some breathing space.

The giant in her storybook had never had that effect on her.

Maisie's response to this attention was to slump down further in the seat until all that could be seen of her was the sparkly little tiara.

'So I see,' the giant responded unenthusiastically after the briefest of glances and instantly losing the almost smile. 'Why?'

'To stay. Why else?'

'With Mrs Talbot?'

Now he sounded perplexed. Which might have been good, since it meant she had company except, from the way he was looking at her - as if she were crazy -- she was almost certain that it wasn't good at all.

'With Mrs Kate Talbot. Her grandmother,' she elaborated with exaggerated patience. Maybe it was because he was so tall, but it seemed to be taking an inordinately long time for a very simple message to reach his brain. 'I was engaged by the Campbell Agency, on behalf of Ms Selina Talbot, to bring her daughter to High Tops. I'm actually on rather a tight schedule so I'd be grateful if I could hand her over and get on my way.'

'I'm sure you would, but that won't be possible. I'm afraid you've had a wasted journey, Jacqui Moore.' He didn't sound one bit sorry. 'My aunt --'

'Your aunt?'

'My aunt, Mrs Talbot, Maisie's grandmother,' he responded, in blatant mockery of her own earlier explanation, 'is at present visiting her sister in New Zealand.'

'What? No...'

Jacqui took a deep breath. Obviously there was some simple misunderstanding here.

'Obviously there is some simple misunderstanding here,' she said, in an effort to convince herself. Vickie might be devious but she wasn't stupid and she took her business very seriously indeed. 'Ms Talbot brought her daughter into the office this morning. I was there when she arrived.'

'Lucky you.'

'I was simply pointing out that she wouldn't have done that if her mother was away. She must have spoken to her. Checked that it was convenient.'

'You might have done that. I would certainly have done that...'

The giant's mouth once more offered something that might have been a smile, except that this time no hint of amusement reached his eyes. The effect was rather more a lip-curl of contempt than a good-humoured chuckle. She dragged her gaze from his mouth...

'... but even as a child, Sally had a tendency to assume her wish was her mother's command. She never did learn to ask nicely like everyone else. Perhaps when you look the way she does you don't have to.'

'But -' 'Nevertheless, on this occasion she's going to have to put her social life on the back burner and for once play at being mother for real.'

'But -'

But she was speaking to a closed door.