CHAPTER FIVE

W HEN R OBBIE ARRIVED back at the house around midday he looked numb.

“Are you all right? ” Concerned, Leona took him by the hand, much as she had done since he was a little boy. For a brief moment he took comfort from her presence, then he drew a deep breath, steadying himself.

“I’m fine. ”

“Then I’d hate to see you when you aren’t. ” Quickly, she led him by the quietest route through the house into the garden, bypassing the terrace with its outdoor sofas, armchairs and tables where some of the family had congregated, enjoying the sunshine. A buffet lunch would be served from noon until the main event of the day, the fastest field sport in the world.

Robbie, an excellent horseman, was on Boyd’s team, as was Peter and Peter’s first cousin, James, through his mother’s side of the family. The opposing team was made up of fine New South Wales players. But Leona was far from sure that Robbie should now play. Many polo players, like Boyd, found the element of danger alluring—as did Robbie, for that matter, but he looked as though all the stuffing had been knocked out of him. Predictably, the over-protective Leona felt upset for him, perversely blaming Boyd for having come on too strong. There was no logic to it, but Robbie brought out her protective instincts. Boyd, on the other hand, could look after himself.

When they were a distance from the house she drew him down a long pergola that had been mounted on splendid Doric stone pillars. Long tresses of the wisteria floribunda “Alba” cascaded from on high, softening the grandeur of the pillars. There was a little white trelliswork pavilion at the end of the walk, Mughal in style and embellished with a beautiful old-fashioned deep pink rose that clung to the abundant light green foliage. Here they could talk in privacy.

Robbie sat down beside her, then put his dark head into faintly trembling hands. “Thank God that’s over! ” Gratefully he breathed in the calming scent of the roses.

Long entrenched in the business of looking after him, Leona burst out, “Boyd must have been very tough on you. ”

“No more than I deserved! ” Robbie sat bolt upright, half turning to face her. “Hey, don’t go blaming Boyd for anything, ” he exclaimed, obviously surprised and concerned that she had.

“How can I not? ” she said, distressed by his appearance. “It’s obvious he’s knocked you for six. How can you play this afternoon? Polo is a dangerous, demanding game. You have to have all your wits about you. ”

“Listen, Leo, I’m playing, ” Robbie answered emphatically. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I just have to regain my balance. A good lunch will help. Actually, I feel better than I have in ages. Can’t you understand that? It’s like going to confession and receiving absolution. Boyd was much too generous. I don’t deserve it. He’ll get the bad guys off my back. He said a lot has been invested in me to succeed. He also said I have your love and loyalty—hell, he reduced me to tears about that. Anyway, I swear to you, Leo, I’m going to mend my ways. I’m going to turn over a new leaf. I’m going to make you and Boyd proud of me. I know I’ve caused you a lot of anxiety and I’ve leant on you terribly. That has to stop. Both of us have to stop seeing me as your ‘kid brother’. ”

“Boyd said that, did he? ” She bit her lip.

“It’s true, isn’t it? ” Robbie appealed to her. “Why are you trying to find fault with Boyd in this? He’s my saviour. I thought you loved him. You told me you were getting married. ” He took hold of her arm. “Hell, I didn’t have anything to do with this sudden decision, did I? ”

“Of course you didn’t. ” Leona stopped that idea in its tracks. “It’s just that I see Boyd as invincible. ”

“We all die, Leo, ” Robbie said gently.

She shivered in the golden heat. “Don’t talk about dying! ” For Boyd to die would destroy her. “It’s just I’ve spent so many years—”

“Putting up a front with Boyd? ” Robbie suggested. “In some ways I think you find loving him the way you do terrifying, ” he added very perceptively.

“Isn’t love terrifying? ” she asked. “Love also sets one up for loss. The bliss of my childhood was shattered by the loss of my mother. Dad turned into another person. I think he forced himself to remarry. You know, the couples thing. ”

“He could have done better than Mother, ” said Delia’s only child, betraying the full extent of his emotional dislocation.

“Did Boyd say anything to you about—” she stumbled over the word “—us? ”

“He said you’d agreed he’d make the announcement after he’d spoken to his father. ”

“Who won’t be at all happy, ” Leona repeated, showing her anxiety. The last thing she wanted to do was cause big trouble. For one thing, it might rebound on her own father, who held a high position in the firm. Rupert was not a man to be crossed.

Sharp-eyed Robbie inspected his stepsister’s lovely distressed face. “Why, Leo, sweetie, Boyd won’t give a damn about that. I keep telling you. He loves you. You’re the only woman in the world for him. Hell, I just hope I can find a woman I can love like Boyd loves you. Don’t you know how lucky you are? ”

“Did he say he loved me? ” Leona asked, so very uncertain of Boyd’s true motives.

“Leo, he doesn’t have to, ” Robbie said. “When have you ever put into words your true feelings for Boyd? You’ve spent your time throwing dust in his eyes. I’d say Boyd has acted admirably. He’s given you an opportunity to grow up, stand on your own two feet, carve out a career. He’s very proud of you. We all are. Who cares about old Rupe? To be honest, I don’t think Boyd cares a lot about him either. Well, he is his father, but I have the feeling Boyd has never forgiven Rupe for the hard time he gave his mother. I do remember Aunt Alexa as being the loveliest lady and so kind to me. Then old Rupe ups and marries that gold-digger, Jinty. How he could after losing a woman like Alexa, I’ll never know. ”

Leona didn’t know either. “For someone who is only twenty, you’re very perceptive, Robbie, ” she said.

“That’s true. ” He took the compliment for a statement of fact. “How did beautiful Alexa marry that wicked man? It couldn’t have been the money. Alexa’s family is old money, establishment. ”

“In case you haven’t noticed, Rupert is still a handsome, virile man, ” Leona said wryly. “If Jinty left him tomorrow—”

“That will never happen, ” Robbie assured her. ” Being Mrs Rupert Blanchard counts for everything in Jinty’s world. I bet she’s cursing the day Oz cut away from the Queen’s Honours system. She could have been Lady Blanchard. Now, wouldn’t that be something? ”

“Actually, there is a Lady Blanchard, ” Leona said, referring to the English side of the family. “But my point is that Rupert could have his pick of goodness knows how many women. Some as young as me. ”

“Then it’s really a form of prostitution, isn’t it? ” Robbie opined. “Selling yourself for money. ”

Leona swallowed. “Well, I suppose that’s one way to put it. ”

“It could never be you. ” Robbie turned to her with his flashing white smile. “You and Boyd are not like them. You’re marrying or love. Hell, I feel like dancing! ” He jumped up and held out his hand. “Come on. Let’s go back to the house. I’m starving. ”

The three polo fields received constant year round attention from Rupert’s groundsmen to keep the surfaces in fine playing condition. With the more than welcome spring rains, Polo One, with perhaps the most spectacular setting, surrounded by rolling hills and magnificent shady trees was looking in great shape. A crowd of spectators from near and far was seated on rugs, collapsible chairs, bonnets, boots of cars, cushions and so on, right around the field. Those who weren’t early enough to find the choicest spots beneath the trees made sure they brought big beach umbrellas to ward off the brilliant sun.

Each team was made up of four players, wearing a different coloured jersey, bearing the number of the position they were playing. Robbie, who had made a lightning recovery, was wearing a green Number 1 jersey, which meant he was the most offensive player. Peter Blanchard was Number 4, primarily responsible for defending his team’s goal. Peter’s cousin, James, was at Number 2. James was more experienced than either Robbie or Peter. Boyd, as team captain, wore a deep red jersey that for some reason made his eyes look bluer than ever. Boyd, with an impressive armoury of strokes, was the highest rated player so he had the pivotal position of Number 3.

Leona, pre-match, moved freely about the gathering, greeting and being greeted by the familiar polo crowd. All four men on the Blanchard team looked stunningly handsome in their gear, a thought she was not alone in having; the tight-fitting white trousers, coloured jerseys, high boots, knee guards and helmets gave them the glamour of men in uniform. The opposing team looked pretty dashing too. To make it even better for the young female spectators, six of the eight players were bachelors.

In a cordoned off area beneath the deep shade of the trees were the polo ponies. A great polo pony was essential to a fine player’s performance and proficiency. The Blanchard team was superbly mounted. There were twenty-four ponies in all, mostly mares, that had to be made available during a match, due to the extreme demands put on a pony during the six period chukkas. Four minute breaks were taken to enable the players to change ponies.

Polo, one of the fastest, roughest, most dangerous games in the world of sport, was thus a rich man’s game. The upkeep of the teams of ponies alone was sufficient to keep it that way.

Leona was nervous. Nervous and excited too. She loved the game—the speed and athleticism of horse and rider, the strategies the brilliant pivotal players, like Boyd, came up with to clinch a game. But she had two men in her life to worry about. Boyd and Robbie. Dangerous collisions could and did happen even with the “right of way” rule. Robbie, though a fine player, was known on occasion to be downright reckless. Boyd, an even better rider, the far more experienced, subtle and considered player, was nonetheless given to spectacular displays especially on his number one polo pony, the beautiful mare, Andromeda, in play today. Robbie’s opposite number was a player Leona had watched many times before. Without question an experienced player with a big range of shots, he wasn’t above a bit of barging, hooking and blocking his opposite number to slow him down. Mostly it worked. So there was a duel on there. Even Boyd, who relied on thought, action and fantastic speed as opposed to dirty tactics, which actually made him the superior opponent, when the chips were down played his team to win.

Leona was wearing white—always good in the heat—a pin-striped fine cotton shirt with matching crisp white trousers, an eye-catching navy and white leather belt looped through the waistband. To complete the look she had brushed her hair high off her forehead, then caught it into an updated French pleat. She looked, as she always did, very chic. It was, after all, part of her job and so far as the family was concerned that was the way they wanted and expected to see her. Rupert had already complimented her on her appearance and kissed her on both cheeks. Obviously his son and heir hadn’t got around to having that heart-to-heart talk. Well, she had told Boyd she wanted to be well clear of Brooklands when that happened.

Jinty had had the good sense to keep a still tongue in her head, not wanting to fall out with the Heir. Tonya, though, as always, had a jibe to share. “Don’t you find white a problem? ” she smirked, inspecting Leona from head to toe, immensely jealous and agitated by the way Leona’s slender figure and glowing head was soaking up all the sunlight.

“I’m not going to dig the garden beds, Tonya, ” was Leona’s reply, her tone pleasant. Keeping one’s cool in the face of Tonya’s contrived insults and barbs only served to irritate Tonya the more. Tonya herself was looking bone thin but very stylish in a deceptively simple shift dress, its colour almost a match with Boyd’s red jersey.

Robbie, then Peter, came up to Leona, expecting and getting good luck and best wishes for a win. Peter put his arm tightly around her in some sort of claim, before his kiss landed on the side of her mouth, despite her best attempt to dodge it.

Nevertheless she knew the clinch would set off a chain of gossip. She remembered how one elderly member of the family had had a girl pregnant from a single kiss she’d caught one of the cousins exchanging with his then girlfriend. “Such things do happen! ” was the dire warning.

“That boy’s in love with you, ” Geraldine now told her, shaking her arm as if to put her on the alert.

“What a lot of rot, Gerri! ” Leona tried to answer carelessly.

“Not rot, my dear, ” Geraldine corrected her firmly. “Just be sure to tell him you’re spoken for. ”

Spoken for? Leona felt the hot wave of colour stain her cheeks. “Are you going to tell me how you heard that? ” Boyd was very close to his aunt. He must have told her.

“I’ve heard nothing. So far, ” Geraldine maintained, adjusting the brim of her straw hat to a snappier angle. “I have eyes. ”

Leona fell into the deckchair beside her, urgently taking Geraldine’s hand. “So what exactly is it you think you’ve seen? And with whom? ”

Geraldine patted the small fine-boned hand that held hers. Then her shrewd grey eyes went past Leona’s lovely, imploring face. “He’s coming over right now. Don’t look so worried, child. I’ve had my suspicions for quite a while. ”

“Oh, my goodness! ” Leona jumped up, stopping only to whisper in Geraldine’s ear, “Gerri, I swear I’m frightened of you. ”

“Don’t be frightened, child, ” Geraldine looked up with a reassuring smile. “Everything will be fine. ”

All it would need was a miracle.

“Flower Face, still running away? ” Boyd swiftly caught up with her as she dodged through the trees, catching hold of her hand.

“I have to, Boyd. I’m feeling absolutely stretched. ” Indeed she was. She rounded to stare up into his sapphire eyes, gem-like against his bronzed skin.

“You want us to have a nice quiet game? ” he asked with such a beguiling half smile.

“Damn it! The game’s only half of it, ” she said spiritedly. “I am nervous for you and Robbie. I couldn’t bear it if either of you were injured. ”

“For heaven’s sake, I thought all your thoughts were with Peter! ” he scoffed. “Where does he get off, hugging you like that? I was gratified to see you turn your head away. He was most certainly aiming for an off-to-the-wars type kiss. ”

“Well, he didn’t get it! ” Leona said in a tart voice. “Have you said anything at all to Gerri about…about…us? ”

“One would have to get up very early in the morning to take Gerri by surprise, ” Boyd said. “Gerri’s a mind-reader. Why, has she said something? ”

Leona bit her lip. “She said everything will be fine. ”

“And so it will, ” he said. “So, are you going to wish me luck? ” Those blue eyes sparkled a challenge at her.

“Think you’re clever, don’t you? ” she muttered. On impulse, she reached up and pulled his shining blue-black head down to her. “Good luck, darling Boyd, ” she crooned in a sweet seductive voice, her green eyes alight with malice. With infinite gentleness she cupped his dynamic face in her hands, then she kissed him squarely on his sardonic mouth.

There! Served him right! She never could resist his dares.

On her way back to her chair, Leona ignored the expressions on the faces all around her. Some were soft with astonishment, others hard with calculation. The family was already divided in its opinion of Leona and Boyd as a couple.

“Think you’re a siren, don’t you? ” Tonya, frowning fiercely in the grip of jealousy, hissed at her as Leona passed close by. “Don’t get your hopes up. You’ll never lure Boyd. ”

“Still, he’s just wonderful to kiss, ” Leona pretended to gush, hastening to take her place beside Gerri. The match was due to start.

Robbie, nicely set up by his captain, scored the first two goals.

“Oh, jolly well played! ” Geraldine clapped enthusiastically. “Of course it was Boyd, the tactician, who turned the play to offence, but I must say Roberto responded brilliantly. I’m just loving this. Rupert was a darn fine player. But you wouldn’t remember all that well, would you, dear? ”

“Of course I do, ” Leona said. Rupert, approaching sixty, had been warned off the game by his doctor after a number of bone shattering “bumps” and one crashing fall in his late forties.

“Didn’t have Boyd’s finesse, though, ” Geraldine further commented.

As the match progressed it became apparent that it was a duel of wits between Boyd, captain of the Red Team, and Bart Ellory, captain of the Blue Team, the two most experienced players on the field. From time to time Leona found herself with a clenched fist to her mouth, while Geraldine persisted in jumping to her feet at her nephew’s heroic deeds. The crowd was getting a superlative display of horsemanship and polo sense. Given yet another opportunity for scoring by his captain, Robbie got set for a full free swing, his team mate Peter wisely giving him plenty of room. A few seconds more and Robbie put the ball across the goal line, bringing the crowd to its feet. At half-time the score was six-three for the home team. The second half promised to be a cliff-hanger.

“I don’t know that my heart can take it! ” Leona said, accepting the cold glass of sparkling lime and lemon that was handed to her. What a day! Just how many people had seen her kiss Boyd? How many more had heard about it since? Rupert was sitting with his cronies some small distance away. Eventually, Leona supposed, it would get to him.

What form would his outrage take? Leona was forced to ask herself the question.

Just minutes before full-time, facing a two-pronged attack, a member of the Blue Team frustrated by Boyd’s superior speedier game, suddenly created a hazardous situation when he crossed the line setting up an inevitable collision and a certain foul that would result in a penalty. Leona didn’t want to look but she couldn’t turn away either. Her heart had jumped into her mouth and a wave of sickness welled up from the pit of her stomach. Even Geraldine gasped in fright and began to wipe away the perspiration that broke out on her face with a lace trimmed handkerchief.

Boyd’s control of himself and his mount was nothing short of superhuman. Somehow, he managed to pull out of what looked like an imminent spill.

“You can breathe again, lovey, ” Geraldine instructed Leona, still gasping from the near miss.

Is anyone I love safe? Leona asked herself. Only that day she had called Boyd invincible. Well, she had been made to suffer for it. Boyd was the heart of her. The meaning of everything.

The silent crowd broke out into such applause that it bounced off the hills as the whistle blew, announcing a win for the Red Team. Now for the lavish afternoon tea with all the trimmings. It was Leona’s experience that most people ate everything on offer. Her own stomach was so upset she didn’t think she could touch even a cupcake. A cup of coffee, however, would go down well.

By sundown just about everyone had headed off home, the outside spectators as well as family.

“What about lunch soon? ” Robbie asked as they walked to his car.

“What, egg and lettuce sandwiches on a park bench? ” she joked.

“The Harbour Master? ” Robbie suggested.

“Fine! ” She nodded abstractedly.

“So you’ve decided to tough it out? ” Robbie studied her face. She looked very pale but resolute.

“Well, I’ve never thought of myself as a coward, Robbie. If Boyd is going to tell his father, I feel I should be here. If he doesn’t want me by his side, at least I can be outside the study door. ”

“Leo, sweetie, this isn’t a tragedy! ” Robbie tried to comfort her. He had never seen Leo like this before and it bothered him. “I mean, you haven’t been knocked up or anything. Have you? ”

She shook her head in utter disbelief. “I’ll pretend you never said that, Robbie. ”

“Sorry, sorry, ” he apologised. “I know that was totally out of line. I’m only trying to say…”

She cut him off mid-sentence. “I know what you’re trying to say. ”

“Then don’t look so sad. Boyd chose you. That says it all, don’t you think? Rupe, wicked old tyrant that he is, won’t be able to sway him. You know Boyd. He’s his own man. Why, any other girl would be over the moon. ”

“Why wouldn’t they be? ” Leona smiled wanly. So why did she feel as if she had stepped into a minefield?

Boyd was actively searching for her by the time she made her way back into the house.

“Where have you been? ” He moved swiftly towards her, blue eyes searing her to the spot so she couldn’t run off. “You wouldn’t have gone without saying goodbye to me, would you? ” he asked.

“I’m not going anywhere, ” she said, straightening her delicate shoulders to confront him. “If you’re going to speak to your father, I feel I should be here. ”

His expression lightened, like the sun coming out from behind clouds. “Leo, my love, you’re made of the right stuff. ” He bent his dark head to kiss her cheek. Just a kiss on the cheek induced delicious shudders. “But you don’t have to do this. Not yet. This is my father’s house. I have to remember that. We both know he’s always refused to countenance any change to his plans. ”

“I’m the very last daughter-in-law Rupert will want or expect. ” Even Boyd couldn’t deny it.

Boyd, perhaps fearing they might be overheard, suddenly bundled her into the drawing room. “We’ve been through this before, Leo, and I don’t want to go through it again. It’s you I want. End of story. We had a deal, remember? ”

“An indecent deal, some might say, ” she said, puffing a few tendrils of hair off her heated forehead.

Boyd muffled an exasperated oath beneath his breath. “So you want to back out? ”

“Then I suppose you’ll have Robbie detained before he’s halfway home? ” she flared.

“A deal is a deal, ” Boyd reminded her, looking every inch the acting CEO of Blanchards. “I don’t want a life without you. If you’re honest with yourself, you don’t want a life without me. ”

He was exactly right but, before Leona could say so, they were interrupted. They both spun as Jinty, her sister at her shoulder, sailed into the room. “Tonya is off, ” she said, as though Tonya was their very favourite person.

But Tonya was staring at them both as though they were aliens. “What’s going on here? ”

“Honestly, Tonya, have you never considered a career in the police force? ” Boyd asked.

Tonya’s sharp-featured face clouded over as she studied the striking tableau before her.

“Tonya! ” Jinty, who was teetering between anger and em barrassment, cast her socially inept sister a warning glance. Tonya either missed it or elected to take no notice. “Isn’t this just too thrilling! It is true, isn’t it? ”

“I’m afraid so, ” Boyd said in mock sympathy.

Tonya stepped around her more substantial sister, who was trying to block her way. “She’s pregnant, is she? I mean, that would be the only way. ”

Jinty snorted loudly, wondering what further damage her sister could inflict, but Boyd’s handsome face darkened and his voice, though he didn’t raise it, sounded like a call to war.

“Jinty, would you please take your appalling sister out of this house? She could be in some danger. ”

Jinty didn’t hesitate. She grabbed Tonya’s arm, applying considerable pressure. “Out we go, Tonya. Out, out, I say! But, before we go, I expect you to apologise for that unforgivable remark. ”

“The hell I will! ” a distraught, bitterly angry Tonya ranted. “All this time Rupert’s sweet little Leo with her red-gold curls and her big green eyes has had her eye on the pot of gold. ”

“Pot of gold! Is that what I am? ” Boyd asked and gave an ironic laugh. “Try to get control of yourself, Tonya. Make the effort. ”

“I said come with me, Tonya. ” Jinty’s voice rose, near to a screech. “I’ve been praying for years and years you’d learn how to keep your stupid mouth shut, but it has all been for nothing. ”

“But you’ve said yourself—” Tonya started to protest, but Jinty gave her a furious push ahead.

“Unbelievable! ” Boyd muttered as they moved out of the door, Tonya dissolving into wails.

And that wasn’t the end of it.

Rupert suddenly appeared, looking deeply irritated—something he did very well. “What on earth’s going on? ” he asked, staring towards the front door. “Was that my wife I heard screeching? Or was it one of the peacocks? ” Peacocks did, in fact, roam the estate.

“It was Jinty, ” Boyd confirmed. “Tonya put her in a very bad mood. ” When his father didn’t respond, Boyd asked, “It was you who dumped Tonya on us? ”

“You can’t dictate to me, Boyd. This is my house, might I remind you? ” Rupert returned with supreme arrogance.

“The house is yours as the current custodian, ” Boyd flashed back. “The house then passes to me. I’ve told you before, Tonya is a born trouble-maker. One wonders why you choose to ignore it. ”

“Oh, she’s harmless. ” Rupert threw up his hands. “Besides, Jinty likes her here, ” he said with dizzying untruth.

“Jinty is as unhappy to see Tonya as the rest of us, ” Boyd flatly contradicted. “If you have the time, Leona and I would like to speak to you. ”

“Certainly, certainly. ” Rupert was now at his most affable. “Come back to the study. What’s it about? Leo has already had a big promotion. One step at a time now, Leo. ” He wagged a finger at her. “You’re only twenty-three, aren’t you? ”

“Twenty-four, Rupert, ” Leona said, marvelling that her voice sounded so composed.

“You’re not going to tell me you’re thinking of getting engaged? ” He swung round to beam at her. “Young Peter, is it? ” he asked conspiratorially.

“Young Boyd, ” Boyd corrected very dryly, making the position manifestly clear.

Rupert stopped dead, just outside the open study door. “Is this some sort of joke? ” His black brows rose and before Leona’s very eyes he turned into Geraldine’s tyrannosaurus.

“Why don’t we go inside? ” Boyd suggested, clearly unimpressed by his father’s shape shifting. But the strain was showing on Leona. She was trembling. Rupert broke people. He was ruthless when crossed. Everyone in and outside the business world knew that. What about her father’s job? Rupert could sack her father on some pretext. Being a billionaire with vast holdings both at home and abroad would give any human being way too much power.

In brooding silence Rupert took a seat behind his massive partner’s desk. He kept his handsome head down. He didn’t look up. His blood pressure must have shot up because his face was very flushed.

Boyd saw Leona seated in a leather armchair, then he took the one beside her. “I can’t believe it’s such a shock to you, Dad. You don’t miss much. I know you and the Comptons have foolishly set your hearts on an alliance between our families, the thinking being that one family fortune is great, two is even better. Just like the Middle Ages. Chloe is a nice girl. I’m fond of her. She’ll make someone an excellent wife, but that someone surely isn’t me. ”

That statement appeared to anger Rupert beyond words. He stuck out his bottom lip with the utmost belligerence. “What are you telling me? ” He stared balefully at his son.

“It would be better for all if you could learn to accept that I make my own decisions, Dad, ” Boyd said quietly. “Leona is the woman for me. ”

Rupert stared back almost wildly. “She’s not a woman. She’s a girl. She’s your cousin. She’s family. I tell you, I simply won’t have it. ”

“Rupert, please! ” Leona’s voice begged for calm.

“You stay out of this, Leo, ” Rupert thundered, shooting an intimidating glance at her.

“I was only going to say you shouldn’t allow yourself to get so angry, ” Leona spoke up bravely. “You’ve gone very red in the face. ”

“It’s a wonder I’m not purple! ” Rupert bellowed. “I thought you were different, but you’re like every other god dammed female. ”

“That’s enough, Dad, ” Boyd said, rising to his feet. “I consider myself honoured that Leona has consented to marry me. And, I have to tell you, she needed persuading. ”

Rupert swore violently.

“Okay, that’s it! We’re done here! ” Boyd put out a hand to Leona. “Come on, sweetheart, we’re going. ”

She took Boyd’s hand. “What have you got against me, Rupert? ” she asked as Boyd started to draw her away. “Is there something I should know about? You may be disappointed that Boyd won’t fall in with your plans, but you’re much more than disappointed, aren’t you? You find the idea intolerable. What is the real reason you’re so angry? There has to be one. ”

“Don’t do it, ” Rupert said, looking fiercely into her eyes. “And that’s an order. ” His voice was harsh with authority. “If you know what’s good for you, your father and that upstart Robbie, you’ll do as I say. ” As he spoke the blood was draining from his face, leaving a marked pallor. He looked far from a well man. Indeed, he looked as if he was suffering a psychotic episode.

“What the hell’s going on here? ” Boyd demanded, brilliant blue eyes narrowing to slits.

For answer, Rupert lifted his heavy head, laughing darkly. “You’ll be waiting a long time before you’ll take the reins from me, my son! ”

Arrogance, but the arrogance of achievement, settled on Boyd like a cloak. “I’ve as good as taken over the reins now, might I remind you, Dad? How could you threaten Leo and her family in such a way? I can tell you now you’ll have me to deal with if you try to hurt them in any way. You may be put out by our decision—you’ve spent a lifetime imposing your will on us all—but this time you won’t get anyone to back you. The family is very happy with me in the driver’s seat. So are the shareholders. So were you, for that matter. Leona is, by anyone’s standards, a beautiful, gifted, cultivated young woman. You’ve always treated her most kindly. What’s the huge problem now? ”

“It’s not a good thing for you two to marry, ” Rupert said rigidly, adopting his familiar autocratic tone.

Boyd tightened his hold on Leona’s trembling hand. “Stop talking rubbish. You know what you’re saying is ridiculous. There’s no impediment whatever—legally, morally or socially—to Leona and me marrying. We’re not even full second cousins. You’ll have to do better than that. ”

Leona, mind racing, broke in, her green eyes fixed on Rupert’s face. “If you think there is some impediment, Rupert, you should speak out. ” She could hear the fear in her own voice. Rupert’s violent reaction could be carrying them into dangerous waters.

There was a long silence, during which Rupert’s eyes drifted to the picture of Serena, which had hung on his wall since her death.

Leona heard the mounting anger and the challenge in Boyd’s voice. “So what are you going to come up with now, Dad? ” he asked with icy contempt. “Guess what, Leo’s your half-sister? I wouldn’t put anything past you. You’d defame Leo’s dead mother. You’d defame my own beautiful mother, who had to tolerate so much from you. Only it won’t wash. There was no affair between you and Serena, if that’s what you’re trying to suggest. God, you disgust me! ”

Abruptly, life for Leona had moved beyond challenging. Her breath was locked in her chest. “This isn’t happening, is it? ” She looked to Boyd for confirmation. It came to her that he appeared much the more formidable of the two men.

“Sit down again, Leo, ” Boyd said, putting gentle pressure on her shoulder and easing her into her chair. “Don’t let this upset you. This is only Dad playing his rotten games. He wanted Serena. My mother knew that. She told me years later that Dad had developed a real yen for Serena—the unobtainable—but Serena was an innocent. She didn’t even know about your secret infatuation, did she, Dad? She was a young wife and mother and she and my mother were very close. Serena would never have betrayed her husband, her child or her close friend even if she had known of your aberrant feelings. ”

Leona’s voice was little above a whisper. “No, she wouldn’t have, ” she said. She might have been only eight, but she remembered her mother vividly—her vital presence, her wonderful sense of fun, her endless grace, her capacity for loving, their secure family unit. These attributes had informed her life. “Is that why you’ve been so kind to me all these years, Rupert? Because I remind you of my mother? ”

“The one woman he couldn’t have, ” Boyd said, with no sympathy at all for his father. In fact, he was staring at him with open disgust on his face. “It follows, as it does with men like Dad who spend their lives in competition with their sons, I couldn’t be allowed to have you. My father is paranoid about losing. He lost my mother’s love very early on. Didn’t you, Dad? It took a while but then she began to see through you. ”

“Shut up, Boyd! ” Rupert gritted, his handsome features cold and set.

“Is that it, Rupert? ” Leona appealed to Boyd’s father, sounding desolate. “You wanted to deny your own son? ”

Difficult as it was to comprehend, there was a great ambivalence in Rupert Blanchard’s complex nature. Existing simultaneously with a great love and pride in his son and heir was a tremendous level of competition and rivalry. That conflict had found its most powerful expression right here and now. Boyd had to be denied Leona as he had been denied Serena. Not that Serena had been aware of his illicit feelings or the conflicts within him. Rupert couldn’t attempt to explain it. It just was.

Rupert had passed to a stage where he no longer tried to formulate answers. All his life he’d been under tremendous stress. People imagined that being a scion of the very rich was fortunate indeed. He’d had no real choices in life. His father had made it very clear to him that he was to take over Blanchards, run it with the same hard-headed skills and determination as the men of his family did. His sisters were permitted to do as they liked. Gerri had followed an academic career, while Josephine, who kept well clear of the limelight, had married her medical scientist, had four children and led a happy, fulfilled life. Not him. His beautiful Alexa had escaped him. In spirit at least. Serena had been a mid-life aberration. It could never have come to anything. But he had not forgotten. He had given Serena’s daughter, Leona, her mirror image, every advantage. She was a lovely young woman in her own right. Now he was finding it unbearable for his son and Leona to be looking at him in the way that they were.

Rupert groaned aloud, then buried his face in his hands. He had always thought that he knew Alexa well, yet he had never known that she had discovered his secret infatuation. Not only that, Alexa had confided his secret to their son. Why not? Mother and son had always been very close.

The humiliation was not to be borne. Neither was it to be permitted. Rupert Blanchard reached out for a small trophy that sat on his desk, then crushed it in his bare hand.

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