CHAPTER FOUR

T ONYA DISCOVERED THEM returning to the house. “Where have you two been? ” she called, her tone shrill and demanding.

Boyd laughed. “Tonya, what does it have to do with you? ”

The darkness hid Tonya’s flush. Even she couldn’t miss the lick of sarcasm. “For heaven’s sake, Boyd, everyone was wondering where you were, that’s all. ”

“I have enough of the family on my back when I’m at work, ” Boyd responded, the arm Leona was holding tensing to steel.

“The fact remains that everyone wants to say goodnight. ” Tonya aimed a glance so fierce at Leona that her eyes glowed in the semi-dark. “Peter has been looking for you everywhere. ”

“Come on, Tonya, ” Boyd intervened. “Leona and Peter aren’t a couple. ”

“You’d better tell him that, ” Tonya retorted with a knowing laugh.

“Tonya, why is it you get such an amazing number of things wrong? ” Boyd wasn’t trying to hide his irritation.

Instinctively Leona pressed her fingers into his jacketed arm, trying to soak up some of his flaring temper. Was Tonya a complete fool?

“I have the evidence of my own eyes. ” Foolishly, Tonya failed to see what was so obvious to Leona. She was making him angry.

“Then make a wish for a pair of glasses, ” he retorted curtly.

“Look, why don’t we continue on to the house? ” Leona made the hasty suggestion, wondering if she had a skerrick of lipstick left. Tonya would fasten onto that in a flash. God knew what questions would be asked then. Tonya obviously needed no encouragement to interfere in other people’s business.

“If you were a good sister you would have seen to your brother, ” she said, rounding on Leona as if she were a recalcitrant schoolgirl. “He says the most impertinent things. ” Tonya’s voice was filled with resentment. “It’s difficult to stand there and take it. ”

“Robbie is given to speaking plainly, ” Boyd said. “One wonders why you wanted to come this weekend. ” His voice had taken on a note that would have alerted the thickest skinned woman.

Leona couldn’t bear to see Tonya crushed, no matter how well merited the put-down. “Excuse me, won’t you? ” She broke away. She felt she had little option. They had nearly reached the terrace, which was now almost deserted. If Tonya continued in a similar vein she would surely come to grief. Why was Tonya investing all her energies into trying to attract Boyd? Maybe she was mad after all.

“Where did you get to? ” Peter was hovering just inside the French windows, obviously on the lookout for her.

“Were you worried? ” Leona asked. Perhaps she should have filled out a logbook. Once she had said her goodnights to a downcast Peter and the rest of the party, Robbie moved swiftly towards her. For a handsome young man he looked ghastly. He was very pale beneath his suntanned skin, his lustrous dark eyes glittering like coals. Obviously he’d had too much to drink. Robbie always did go over the top.

“Where did you go? ”

Leona had to fight for control. “You’re the third person to ask me that. Or, in Tonya’s case, demanded to know. ” Because she loved her stepbrother, she weakened, linking her arm through his, urging him towards the staircase.

“God, she’s a stupid woman! ” Robbie cursed. “Sometimes I find it hard to believe she and Jinty are sisters. At least Jinty had the brains and the cunning to land old Rupe. So where did you disappear to? ”

“Boyd and I went for a stroll. ”

Robbie gave a low whistle, pregnant with meaning. “No wonder Tonya tore after you. ”

“Why is that exactly? ” she asked, feigning ignorance.

“Sweetie, there’s no way you can fool me. You’ve loved Boyd since you were a little girl. Now you’re a beautiful woman. Boyd has made it pretty clear he can see that. ”

“And it will come to nothing, ” Leona said fatalistically.

“I don’t agree with that at all. ” Robbie cut any further protests short. “You’re special. Think Boyd doesn’t know that? Just don’t let him share your bed until you’re well and truly married. I know plenty of girls who have blown their chances. ”

“I’ll keep that in mind, Robbie, ” Leona said, thumping her hand on his arm.

They had reached the gallery by the time Leona stopped to take a really good look at him. He had a decided pallor. “What’s wrong? ” she asked worriedly. “You’re deathly pale. You simply can’t drink too much, Robbie. ”

Robbie shut his eyes. “Robbie? ” She shook his arm.

“God, hell, no! ” he replied. It wasn’t blasphemy. It sounded more like a plea for forgiveness.

“Oh, Robbie, what’s happened? You’re in trouble, aren’t you? I just knew it. ” Her green eyes darkened with anxiety. “Talk to me, please. ” If Robbie couldn’t pull himself together he had an uncertain future. That was the very last thing she wanted for him. “Here, come into the bedroom. ” She all but pulled him through her bedroom door.

“Don’t leave the door open, ” Robbie warned, slumping into an ornate Louis chair. “Jinty’s efforts at redecorating are atrocious, ” he moaned. “That bed, for one, is utterly ridiculous. ” He lowered his head into his hands.

“Forget the bed. What’s wrong with you? Is there anything I can get you? ”

“I’m not drunk, Leo. I know better than to break Rupe’s house rules, ” he said, then broke into a wild laugh that had nothing to do with humour.

“Oh, Robbie, you’re breaking my heart. What is it? ” Leona went to him, laying her hand gently on his head. “Whatever it is, you can tell me. We’ll face it together. ”

“I don’t think even you will forgive me this, Leo, ” Robbie said, looking soulfully up at her. “I’ll never forgive myself. I must be bad. And mad. Carlo, after all, was a scoundrel. ”

“Carlo wasn’t a scoundrel. ” Leona surprised herself by coming to Carlo’s defence. “I’ve always had the feeling that your father was badly maligned by Delia, ” she said. “She found it useful to denigrate him so she could get sympathy from the family. If I were you I’d look him up. I don’t believe Carlo was anywhere near as bad as your mother makes out. She’s a very devious and manipulative woman. ”

“And you’re not exaggerating, ” Robbie moaned. “But I do carry some Mafia genes. ” He reached inside his breast pocket and, to Leona’s horror and amazement, withdrew Jinty’s diamond earrings.

Leona was so shocked she said absolutely nothing. Then, after a moment, she gave a little sobbing gasp, bending over and clutching her breast as though she had taken a bullet right to the heart. “Robbie…Robbie…Robbie! What were you thinking? You’re going to have to explain. Have you completely lost your mind? ”

“Possibly temporary insanity, ” Robbie groaned, feeling a tidal wave of guilt and remorse. “I live among all these filthy rich people and I can’t change places with a one of them. Money corrupts, Leo. It seduces. It leads you into temptation. And finally sin. ”

Leona stared down at him, her blood running icy-cold. “We have to get them back, ” she said decisively. “You saw Jinty put them into the Limoges bowl? ”

“An incredibly stupid thing to do, ” Robbie muttered, as though Jinty’s stupidity lessened his own crime.

“Nowhere near as stupid as your lifting them, ” she said. “What did you think you were going to do with them? The Blanchard Diamonds are famous. ”

Robbie slumped even further. “I told you I went cuckoo. It’s a bloody nightmare. It didn’t take me a moment more to come to my senses, I swear. I was desperate to find you, only you’d disappeared. ”

“And what was I supposed to do, put them back? ” Leona asked incredulously. “I’ve spoilt you rotten, Robbie. I’m your sister. I’ve always tried to be there for you, and you go and do a thing like that to the Blanchards—Rupert will have you hanged. ”

“Good thing they don’t hang people any more. ” Robbie gave a hollow laugh. “Forgive me, Leo. It was a mad moment over which I had no control. I wanted to get back at them. Most of them treat me like I’m dirt beneath their feet. ”

“Oh, stop feeling sorry for yourself, ” Leona flashed, then she went to him and took the earrings out of his clenched hand. “I have to get these back. And I have to do it right away. ”

Instantly Robbie rose to his feet, his face ashen. “I can’t let you do that, Leo. It’s time to be a man. I’ll find Boyd. I’ll explain what happened. He’ll tell me what a bloody fool I am—tear strips off me—but he’ll work it out. ”

“Not Boyd, ” Leona said. “We can’t involve Boyd in this. I’ll do it. They’ve all retired for the night. ”

“What if Jinty has already gone to collect the earrings and found them missing? ” Robbie spoke with quiet horror, scratching a sharp finger down his cheek and leaving a trail of blood.

“She hasn’t checked, ” Leona said. “She can’t have. If she had, the whole house would be in an uproar. ”

“Hammerings on the door. The oldest rellie turfed out of bed. The likes of me strip-searched. ” Robbie brightened just faintly. “Let me do it. ”

“And what if you’re caught out? No, leave it to me. ”

No one in the long gallery of the west wing, though the faces in the paintings stared very hard at her.

No one coming up or going down the grand staircase, unless they were the ghosts of Blanchards past. No sound of voices or footsteps either. It was as though the night had swallowed everyone up.

Leona had never felt so terrified in her life. The diamonds were freezing, like chunks of ice in her hand. The big chandeliers were off but there were still a number of lamps and sconces burning. She pressed on stealthily, quiet as a mouse, if ever a mouse would have been allowed to take up residence in such a house.

What if she met up with someone—Rupert? She didn’t think she could deal with that. Rupert was famous for appearing when least wanted or expected. What excuse would she have for coming downstairs again? A book from the library, perhaps? Who would possibly swallow that? Maybe an insomniac who read until sunrise? Could she say she had lost one of her own earrings? Danger in that. She was wearing them, for one thing, and the very mention of earrings would be sure to alert Rupert, who was equally famous for his sweeping powers of deduction.

God, she felt sick. Sick and shuddering with nerves. For a moment, she stood outside the drawing room, trying to sense if anyone was inside. Not that they would be in there singing songs. She glanced in quickly, then out again. How could Robbie have done such a lunatic thing? It was wrong, wrong, wrong and he would have been made to pay for it. Rupert, beneath the cultivated veneer, was a hard man. Maybe cruel. He certainly hadn’t made Aunt Alexa happy.

By now she was convinced there was no one in the drawing room. A few lamps had been left on in there as well. But everything was very still. So still. Distressed, worried sick for Robbie, sick for herself, she moved into the beautiful quiet room like a girl with wings. She had taken the precaution of removing her high heeled evening sandals, replacing them with a pair of ballet-style flats. Now her footsteps on the carpet were soundless.

So far, so good!

Yet she felt like a thief, guilty as sin. Her heart was pounding so hard it had all but jumped into her throat. At any moment she expected Rupert or Jinty to materialise like a couple of sleuths hard on her tracks. She had to move faster. Finally she reached the little gilded table, putting out a trembling hand…Please, God, help me do this. But would or should God extricate her from sin?

“Leo? ” a voice that surely wasn’t God’s said from behind her, making her jump. “What are you doing downstairs? Couldn’t you sleep? ”

Tears pulsed in her eyes. She couldn’t seem to breathe as the anguish and humiliation rolled over her. The game was up.

“Leo? ” Boyd said again. “Are you okay? ”

He sounded very concerned. What should she say? No, I’m not okay. And I never will be again. Should she spin around, hold the diamonds out to him with a jaunty, I couldn’t resist taking them. Now I’m trying to put them back. The family might destroy Robbie but Boyd would never destroy her. He most certainly would be shocked and appalled, but she knew he wouldn’t turn her in. Boyd wasn’t Rupert. He had a huge reservoir of heart.

At this point, perplexed and intrigued, Boyd, who had come downstairs to turn off lights, moved purposefully towards her. His strong hands descended on her delicate shoulders, bare except for plaited wisps of chiffon that served as straps. Slowly he turned her to face him, conscious that she was scarcely breathing. “Tell me what’s the matter. ” Urgently he searched her face.

“Nothing, ” she whispered, averting her red-gold head.

“There must be something. What have you got in your hand? ”

“Nothing. ”

He looked at her in disbelief. “Of course you have. ” He reached down to take hold of her hand and, as he did so, it went nerveless and the diamond earrings rolled out of her grasp and onto the exquisite Savonnerie rug, the diamonds all the while shooting out brilliant white lights.

“This isn’t possible! ” Boyd groaned, bending to retrieve them.

“I don’t know what came over me. ” Her voice shook. She was shaking all over.

“Well, I do. ” Boyd began to ease her backwards into an armchair. “What the hell is going on here? Robbie’s in trouble.

Surely to God he didn’t think stealing the earrings was a way out? ”

This was horrible. He suspected Robbie already. “It had nothing to do with Robbie, ” she said, vehemently shaking her head.

“So you stole them, did you? ” he asked, his voice full of disbelief and disgust.

“It was a moment of madness, Boyd. I wanted to try them on. I knew I had to return them. That’s what I was trying to do. You mustn’t have noticed, but Jinty took them off towards the end of the evening and put them in the Limoges bowl. ”

“Ah! ” He considered that for a moment. “So recount your movements for me, if you would. At what late point of the evening did you make your move? Let’s see, you were in the garden with me, getting kissed senseless. Then you said your goodnights and went up to bed. I saw you and Robbie going up the stairs together. Robbie, your ‘kid brother’. ”

“I’m telling you the truth, Boyd. ” She looked up at him, looming so tall above her, with huge anguished eyes.

“No, Leona, you’re telling me one big fat lie. Why didn’t you just come to me? Then you wouldn’t have had to do this. Why didn’t Robbie have the guts to come to me and confess? ”

“Robbie had nothing to do with it, ” she repeated. She stood a better chance than Robbie.

“Oh, stop it! ” Boyd said, as though he’d totally run out of patience. How formidable he looked! How handsome! He had taken off his jacket but he was still in his evening clothes, the collar of his white shirt undone, his black dress tie hanging loose.

“Someone’s coming! ” Leona gave a terrified gasp, starting up in alarm. She looked towards the entrance hall.

Boyd didn’t reply. He grabbed her as if she were a doll, hauling her back against the green and gold curtains. “Kiss me, ” he ordered bluntly. “Kiss me and make it good! ”

She did exactly as he told her, a captive in his powerful embrace. Their mouths locked in a kiss that, strategy or not, deepened and deepened until her brain turned to mush and she was moaning his name.

“Well, this is a surprise! ” Jinty stalked into the room like a goddess of the hunt who had caught up with her prey.

Leona couldn’t speak for the life of her. It was left to Boyd to query smoothly, “Surprise? It can’t be that big a surprise, Jinty. I’ve always had deep feelings for Leona and she for me. ” Jinty’s determined jaw set in unflattering lines. “If I recall correctly, you and Chloe Compton are to make a match of it. ” She sounded chilly and utterly shocked.

“That might be Dad’s plan, ” Boyd said, “but not mine. I make my own decisions, Jinty. I thought you knew that. I’m no more in love with Chloe than—who shall I say? —I’m in love with your sister, Tonya. Oh, by the way—” Boyd keeping one arm around the deeply trembling Leona, dug the other hand into his trouser pocket “—you really shouldn’t leave extremely valuable heirloom jewellery lying around. Is that why you came downstairs? ”

Jinty’s skin flushed as if she were in disgrace. “You have my earrings? ”

“I have the family earrings, Jinty, ” Boyd said pointedly, swiftly seizing the advantage. “They will eventually come to my wife. It’s a good thing I happened to notice where you put them. ” He held the earrings out to her and Jinty moved forward to take them, her features sharply honed with all manner of emotions.

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say anything to your father, ” she said stiffly.

“Jinty, I wouldn’t dream of telling him. Just be a little more careful with them in future. ”

Jinty, diamonds in hand, turned to go. “I may be a little slow, ” she said, “but I had no idea what was going on with you and Leona. ”

“But nothing has been going on, as you put it, ” Boyd assured her. “Not until this weekend. I was giving Leo a little time, that’s all. She’s been enjoying her career. I’m sure we’re all very proud of her, but now I’ve decided we have to get on with the rest of our lives. ”

“Does your father know any of this? ” Jinty asked through clenched teeth. It was obvious she had difficulty speaking she was so clearly stunned.

“Not as yet. He’s been too busy trying to push Chloe at me. I’ll tell him when I’m ready. Leona will make the most beautiful bride. ”

Jinty couldn’t get out of the drawing room fast enough.

“Has everyone taken leave of their senses? ” Leona asked when she was quite sure that Jinty had gone up the staircase.

“Well, I’m certainly in possession of mine, ” Boyd said. “We’d better get you upstairs before you collapse. And you could tell that cowardly little brother of yours—”

“He’s not a coward, ” she said loyally. “He wanted to return the earrings to the Limoges bowl. ”

Boyd ignored her. “You know another thing about Robbie? He’s well over his ears in debt. ”

“Is he? ” She moaned as if it was all too much for her.

“You don’t know? ”

Her green eyes were dark with dismay. “Well…he tells me everything, but…”

Boyd cut her off. “He’s got himself mixed up with people who are little more than thugs. The kind who target young idiots like Robbie, a rich kid, an easy mark. ”

“Dear God! ” Leona let her head fall into her hands. “I blame myself. ”

“Well, you would, wouldn’t you? ” Boyd returned very crisply. “You’ve been covering for Robbie for years. Where is he now? And don’t, I beg of you, Leona, lie. ”

“He’s in my room. ”

“What, hiding under the bed? ”

“You know why he gets into trouble, don’t you? ” Leona made a passionate effort to try to absolve Robbie from some of the blame.

“He has an identity crisis? ” Boyd asked, unbearably suave.

“Yes, he does. His father deserted him. Dad doesn’t know what to make of him. For heaven’s sake, he doesn’t know what to make of me. The proverbial cat would make a better mother than Delia. Robbie has suffered. ”

“Don’t be absurd! ” Boyd cut her short. “Robbie wallows in his suffering when he’s being looked after very well, ” he told her grimly. “He has a more than adequate allowance. He buys the best of everything from Blanchards, then forgets to pay off his account. He’s at university. He’s a fine athlete, good-looking and clever. My heart bleeds for him. ”

“So what are you going to do? ” she whispered.

“Oh, give me a break! I’m going to knock him senseless. ”

Leona winced. “You wouldn’t do that. ” Was it possible?

“What good would that do? ” Boyd shrugged. “You tell Robbie I want to meet him ten o’clock sharp tomorrow morning in the hall. We’ll go for a nice long walk together. ”

“Oh, thank you, Boyd. Thank you. ” She felt like falling to her knees and kissing his hand.

“Alas, not the end of the story, Leona, ” he said tersely. “I meant what I said. That wasn’t a bit of play-acting for Jinty’s benefit. You will make a beautiful bride. My bride. You belong to me. No one else. Consider that our deal. Robbie gets thrown a lifeline. But if there’s a next time when he gets himself into a really bad situation, he can drown. But for now, you marry me. You’re the only one who can give me what I want. ”

The more she scanned his dynamic face, the angrier she became. So angry she started to stutter. “So…can…you t-tell me exactly why you want me? ” Her green eyes flashed and rosy colour swept into her face. She was maddened by his easy arrogant assumption that she would go along with his grand plan. Robbie or no Robbie, she wasn’t going to accept this sort of proposal when it was clearly as he said, a deal.

“Is it because you think you own me? Or think you can. Is that it? ”

For answer, he knotted his fingers through her rose-gold hair, drawing her mutinous face closer. Then he brought his masterful mouth down on hers, almost bruising in its intensity, leaving his indelible mark. “That’s it, ” he said. “That’s it exactly. ”

“But that’s blackmail! ” Her legs were buckling. The fine flavour of him was on her lips and her tongue. No matter what heart, body and spirit craved, it would be spineless to give in to him without a fight.

“You have the choice, Leona, ” he told her. “It’s over for Robbie or we start a new life together. ”

It was near impossible to calm herself. “What if your father decides it simply won’t do? ” She knew that was bound to happen.

His expression hardened. “My private life is a no-go area where my father is concerned, Leona. I pick my wife, Leona. I choose you. I’ve known you since you were a child. I understand you better than anyone else. For your sake I’ll make sure Robbie gets pulled very firmly into line. And it will go no further. In my view, Robbie is more pampered than suffering and it has to stop. ” He sounded so incredibly stern she could have wept.

“How long have you been thinking about this? ” she asked, considering with a rush of horror that it might be one way of getting rid of all the women who were chasing him.

“Does it make a difference? ” he asked suavely. “Let’s just say tonight has brought things to a head. No need for you to say anything to anyone. Not just now, anyway. I’ll handle all the preliminaries. ”

“Preliminaries? What the heck does that mean? ” she asked fiercely, her redhead’s temper coming to the fore. “And what if I don’t go along with it all? You’ll throw Robbie to the lions? ”

“I should have threatened to throw him to the lions sooner, ” Boyd answered very crisply. “But you will go along with it, so we no longer have to consider it. I’ll speak to my father some time this weekend. ”

“Not frightened of anyone, are you? ” she said caustically. “Well, I am. Please wait until I make my getaway before you speak to Rupert. He’ll be furious. ”

“Are you sure you’ve got that right? ” He was staring down at her with his bluer than blue eyes.

“Of course I’ve got it right, ” she retorted, frowning at the question. “Little Leo stealing his precious son away? ” She was trying very hard to stare him down, but she couldn’t.

“Why are you trying so hard to throw up excuses? ” A vertical line appeared between his black brows. “You’re beautiful. You’re clever. You can be a handful, like now. But, that aside, you’re a real asset to the family. Any family. So why are you so incredibly insecure? ”

She flushed with anger. “Maybe it’s an age thing, ” she threw back with intense emotion. “You’ve got problems too, though God knows you’ve got the capacity to go about solving them. I’m twenty-four. You’re thirty. One can gain a lot of experience in six years. ”

“You’re suggesting I wait until you’re thirty? ”

“Thirty is fine for you. ”

“I want you now, Leo, ” he said. “You’re off your head if you think I’m going to give you even another year. Make it six months. ”

That nearly knocked her out. “You sound absolutely mad. ”

He sighed deeply. “No one but no one can make me as mad as you. ”

“Yet you’re talking about marrying me. Let’s make it clear. Do we live together or do we retain separate apartments? ”

“Well, it’s an idea, ” he said, then began to laugh. “Don’t you think I can make you happy, Flower Face? ”

She looked away from him, fighting tears. “The thing is, Boyd, you can overlook the need for love. Okay, I know we’ve got an emotionally charged relationship. You say you want me. I’m frightened to admit that I want you too. But you’re not the first man to tell me he wanted me. I don’t want to boast, but I hear it all the time. But want? What does that mean? Does it mean simply assuaging a sensual appetite? ”

“It certainly does, ” he said, his voice deep and sexy. “How can it not? ”

“Don’t you dare laugh, ” she said. “You’re always laughing at me. I need someone to love me. Really love me. ” She was so overwrought she was almost shouting. “Why don’t you, Boyd? ” she cried in a fresh upsurge of anguish. “There, you can’t give me an answer. ” She totally ignored the fact that she had scarcely given him time to open his mouth. Instead, she spun like a ballet dancer, heading for the entrance hall.

“Leona! ” he called after her.

His voice begged her to stop but she wasn’t having a bar of it. She was a woman for whom love was all important. Boyd’s love. She wasn’t a commodity to be bought on the open marketplace, she thought furiously. It was hellish to love someone the way she loved Boyd.

When she arrived back at her room she found Robbie pacing the carpet like a panther caught in a cage. “Well? ” He turned to her with anguished eyes, no colour whatever in his cheeks.

Leona crossed the room to fall back on the bed. Her head was whirling with chaotic thoughts. She had to close her eyes and count to ten. After she did that, she said, “You’re off the hook. ”

Robbie raised his eyes to the heavens. “Thanks be to God, ” he said piously. “I think I’ll go back to church. You were able to put the earrings back? ”

“Almost. ” She sat up, feeling dizzy, looking more delicately lovely than ever, her chiffon skirt spread out on either side of her.

Robbie’s expression turned to one of dread. “You were caught? ”

She nodded. “It happens, Robbie, ” she said sombrely, at the same time wanting to put him out of his misery. “Boyd chose that very moment to come downstairs to turn off the lights. He saw me in the drawing room. ”

“Holy Mother! ” Robbie was so overtaken by weakness he had to slump down on the opulent day bed. “You must have been terrified. ”

Even now she couldn’t suppress her feelings of panic. “Of course I was, but I felt enormous relief that it was Boyd. What if it had been Rupert? ”

Robbie gave an agitated laugh. “True, we’d have had to emigrate to Antarctica. So what happened? ”

“That’s for you to find out, ” she said, feeling unable to explain much further. She had to sleep on Boyd’s extraordinary proposal. She was already well into convincing herself that it smacked of a convenient way out for him. When they weren’t striking sparks off one another, they did get along extremely well. Naturally she would in time be expected to produce an heir or heiress, so it was really a marriage of convenience. A lot of people settled for that. Rich people more than most.

“Listen, Robbie. Boyd wants you to meet him in the hall at ten o’clock sharp, ” she said, forcing herself upright. “The two of you are going for a little walk. You wouldn’t want him swearing at you in the house. ”

Robbie began madly slicking his dark hair back. “Boyd doesn’t swear even when he’s angry. The most I’ve heard is the odd bloody. So you told him? Why not? I am to blame. I should never have let you. ”

“You’ll be pleased to hear I didn’t tell him, Robbie, ” Leona said. “But Boyd knows me too well. He knows I wouldn’t have taken the earrings. He guessed you had. He knows all about the bad people you’re involved with. ”

Robbie remained very still. “So what’s he going to do? ” He looked straight at her, awaiting her response much as a man in the dock would await a jury’s verdict.

“I’ve told you, Robbie. Boyd sees you as being cushioned by wealth. Now that I’ve been forced to think about it, you are. Look at that suit. It must have cost a couple of thousand. Dad gives you a comfortable allowance. You’ll get your degree and, if you want it, you’ll be given a good position within Blanchards. I’m very sympathetic towards your personal problems. Why wouldn’t I be? I have them as well. It’s the old story of an unstable childhood, but we’ve survived and we have so much else, after all. You have to liberate yourself, Robbie. Not keep drinking from the poisoned well. Find your father. Confront him. You could go in the summer vacation. For all you know, Carlo might be thrilled out of his mind to see you. ”

Robbie gave a bitter laugh. “I’ll ask him why he never invited me. But the big question is—am I going to be free to travel? It was a very bad thing I did, taking the earrings. ”

“The only thing worse would’ve been for you to try to wear them, ” Leona said, trying for some light relief. “It was a bad thing, Robbie. An insane thing for someone so bright. But you didn’t go through with it. That’s in your favour. It was a moment of madness. ” Always protective towards him, Leona slid off the bed to give him a reassuring hug. “We both know Boyd is going to read you the riot act tomorrow. ”

“That’s what I need. ” Robbie’s voice was filled with self-disgust.

“Well, you’re going to get it and it won’t be pleasant. Take it on the chin. Boyd has assured me the matter will go no further. ”

“He’d do anything for you, ” Robbie said, then looked her in the eyes. “It’s all about you. Did you ask him? ”

Leona hesitated for only a few seconds. “Actually, he asked me to marry him. ” She didn’t say that he had more like informed her they were to be married. Not the same thing at all.

Robbie’s woebegone face lit up as his fears virtually disappeared. He put his hands around Leona’s narrow waist and began to swing her around like a child. “But that’s marvellous. Bloody marvellous! I couldn’t think of anyone in the world who would be more perfect for you! ”

“No thoughts there might be plenty of girls more perfect for him? ” Leona asked breathlessly when he set her down again.

“No way! ” Robbie exclaimed, breaking into another de lighted laugh. “You two are made for each other. Actually, I was starting to think that Boyd was taking his time. ”

“Wh-a-t! ” Leona stared back at him, flooded with astonishment.

“Gosh, Leo, you radiate off one another. I’m not the only person to see it, you know. ”

“So who’s the other? ” she asked in amazement.

“Lots probably. ” Robbie shrugged. “But good old Geraldine, for one. She’s a sharp old bird. ”

“No sharper than her brother, Rupert, ” Leona said. “I’d hate to see his face when he hears. ”

“But Rupe is very fond of you. ” Robbie frowned.

“Maybe he is in a way. But not as a match for his son. ”

“Sweetheart, ” Robbie spoke very tenderly, trying to buck her up, “if Boyd wants you, he’ll have you. No one will stand in his way. Boyd’s well on the way to becoming more powerful than his dear old dad. And a damn sight nicer person. ”

“And that wouldn’t be hard. ”

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