CHAPTER SEVEN

L EONA MADE IT TO THE office on time. She was in such a state of euphoria she had to resort to autopilot. It would take her days, weeks, years to fall back to earth. She wouldn’t have been surprised if someone had stopped to tell her the jacket of her Gucci suit was on inside out. But no one mentioned it as she entered the lift, or as she walked through the office, although she wasn’t actually walking, more like floating on air. She supposed she smiled and waved, offered little pleasantries like she always did when she came into work.

Sally, her much valued assistant finally got through to her. “Oh, good, you’re here, Leo. Bea said she wanted to see you in her office the instant you arrive. ” Known for her unflappable temperament, Sally sounded fevered. Bea did tend to have that effect on people.

“Did she say what for? ” Leona put her bag down on the desk.

Sally snorted. “God, Leo, Bea doesn’t confide in the likes of me. ” Bea could, on occasions, be excruciatingly rude. “But she looked kind…kinda…” Sally tipped her nut-brown head to the side, searching for the right word.

“She looked what? ” Leona put something away in a drawer, and straightened up.

“Sort of worried, unhappy, can you believe? Bea always behaves like God. ”

“I’ll go to her, ” Leona said. “Do I look okay? ” she asked, as Sally was still watching her.

“You look wonderful. ” Sally responded with utter sincerity, thinking that dressing was an art form that for all her efforts had somehow escaped her. Leo had such style, mixing up this and that, colours, belts, scarves, what have you, always individualising everything. She wouldn’t have the courage. “All lit up from inside, ” she concluded.

Leona gave her the loveliest smile. “Thanks, Sal. I can’t think how I got dressed this morning. ”

“Big night? ” Sally asked, rolling her eyes.

“Something like that. ” The best night of her life. She’d lost count of how many times they had made love, their wants and needs had been so great. She felt she had taken Boyd in through her every pore. The more she got, the more she wanted. No sensation in the world could surpass the feeling of having him deep inside her, then coming, and coming again. This was what the great novelists wrote about and even then it was so much more.

She had desperately wanted to feel love, fearing it at the same time. What she’d got was the answer to every woman’s prayers. But the fervour of it all had somehow weakened her knees. What she wanted was maybe a few hours’ sleep…then to be awakened by Boyd, finding her reflection in his sapphire eyes.

“Sit down, Leo, ” Bea said, sounding oddly as if she was coming down with a cold. She was frowning too and her frown grew deeper by the minute.

“Do we have a problem? ” Leona asked, intuition working overtime. She had taken to heart what Rupert had said. But surely he couldn’t have made a move on her this quickly?

Bea’s laugh was as brittle as cracked glass. “I’ve known for donkey’s years you’re in love with Boyd. ”

Leona blinked. “Can you say that again? No, never mind. How do you know—do I have a sign on my forehead? ”

“Why wouldn’t you be in love with Boyd? ” Bea stared back at her intently. “God, come to think of it, I’m in love with him myself. We all are. I’ve never met anyone like him for all my world travels. ”

“So what’s the matter, then? You look upset, Bea. ”

Bea pulled a mirror from a top drawer, held it at arm’s length, then closer. “Dear God, just as I expected! My worst fears confirmed. I swear it gets harder and harder to look presentable. Sometimes I remind myself of a garden gnome wearing haute couture. We’ve really bonded, haven’t we, Leo? ”

“We’re soul mates, Bea, ” Leona said. “I love and admire you. ”

“Oh, dear! ” Long regarded by everyone in the business as hard as nails, Bea made a wry little face. “Don’t make me cry. No use beating about the bush, Leo. Our Lord and Master rang me last night. ”

“What time? ”

“Does it matter? ” Bea’s painted eyebrows rose.

“I suppose not. Rupert wastes no time getting cracking. He wants you to give me the boot, right? ”

For answer, Bea picked up a ballpoint pen and hurled it across the room. “Probably unlawful. Unfair dismissal. No, he wants me to give you a promotion. ”

Leona sat bolt upright. “I know! He’s going to open a Blanchard flagship boutique in Outer Mongolia? ”

“Close. No, he wants you to take over from Rosie Quentin at the Perth store. Rosie isn’t young any more; we’d been thinking of replacing her, as it happens. Of course with a sizeable golden handshake. Rosie wouldn’t go quietly into the night. ”

“And sending me across to the other side of the continent is Rupert’s way of weaning me off Boyd. Is that it? ”

“Truly you’re a smart girl, ” Bea said, smoothing a hand over her newly pewtered bob. It would be fair to say the colour didn’t suit Bea at all. Bea’s former colour had been close to ebony—more in keeping with her long heavy-lidded ebony eyes—she called them currants in a doughnut, but one had to tread very carefully with Bea. “Rupert might be my boss but, just between the two of us, the man’s flawed. He wants you away! ” Bea threw out her short arms. “And that’s an order! ”

Leona gave a hollow laugh. “I couldn’t care less what Rupert wants, ” she said and meant it. “Boyd has assured me my job is safe. You still want me, don’t you, Bea? ”

Bea frowned so fiercely her eyebrows made a straight line. “Dearest girl, surely you know I’m grooming you to take over from me. Why else have I put in all this effort? ”

“And, hey, I appreciate it, ” Leona said. “There’s no one in the business to touch you. ”

“Oh, a couple have tried. ” Bea waved the contenders away. “The truth is I’m a genius. ”

“No one else like you, ” Leona confirmed. “Let me talk to Boyd about this, Bea. ”

Bea gawped at her. “Dearest girl, you’re not going to come between father and son? Rupert could go into cardiac arrest if he’s crossed. ”

“And there’s my father, ” Leona said.

“Good God, so there is! ” Bea reeled back. She knew Rupert Blanchard and his capacity for punishing anyone who hindered him. “You need to get your defences ready, my girl—speak to Boyd, ” she advised.

Leona had to wait until the Board Meeting was over. She knew from Boyd that Rupert wouldn’t be in attendance. Rupert was at Brooklands. She made her way to the top floor of the Blanchard Building, the nerve centre, where she never normally went, whiling away the time by looking down on the city through the tall plate glass window while Boyd finished off a conversation with two of his father’s most powerful allies, one of them Jack Compton, Chloe’s father.

“Why, it’s Leona! ” Stewart Murray, the merchant banker who lived like a prince, still very dashing in his sixties, and with a prodigious liking for good-looking women, greeted her with open pleasure. “How are things with you, my dear? ” He beamed, kissing her on both cheeks. “You look lovely. A really, really lovely girl. There’s something absolutely delicious about a redhead. ”

“Why, thank you, Mr Murray—” Leona smiled “—I’m very well. ” She turned her attention to Jack Compton who, she noticed, had gone very grey and was set to go snow white. “How are you, Mr Compton? ”

“Fine, Leona, ” he huffed, as if Leona didn’t happen to be one of his favourites. “I was just telling Boyd that Chloe will be home on Monday. We’ve missed her. We should all go out to dinner some time. ”

“That would be lovely, Mr Compton, ” Leona said, knowing it would never happen. Lord knew how Jack Compton would react when he learnt she had snatched his beloved daughter’s intended bridegroom.

Boyd was waiting for her outside his office door. She drank him in—all the marvellous details. He was wearing an expensive suit, tailored to fit like a glove. He was so tall and lean and he carried himself so well, their top male model, internationally in demand, couldn’t do better. His brilliant eyes sparkled, his whole image dynamic, glowing with health and energy in a very sensual way.

“You look beautiful, ” he said, his eyes moving caressingly over her. “I have to agree with Stewart. Redheads are absolutely delicious. Come into the office. ” He asked over his shoulder, “Everything okay? Not that I’m not thrilled to see you here. ”

“Listen, I have to talk to you, ” Leona began, shutting the door. “It’s urgent! ”

He was instantly alert. “I won’t let you change your mind, Leo, ” he warned.

“It’s not that. ”

“Then nothing else matters, ” Boyd said, attempting to draw her into his arms.

“No, Boyd! ” She drew back. “You’ve got to hear this. I’m very worried that Rupert might take his anger out on Dad. Dad could lose his job or get shifted, even demoted. ” Her father was still relatively young, he could find another job, but none she was sure, to measure up with the pay and prestige of Blanchards.

Boyd made a little clicking sound of impatience. “I thought we’d agreed I’d handle this. ”

“Yes, but Bea spoke to me this morning. Rupert rang her last night. Rosie Quentin—she’s in charge of Fashion in Perth—is due for the chop. Rupert wants me to take over. ”

“Have you gone mad? ” Boyd locked his hands around her willowy waist, drawing her to him and not letting her get away.

“It’s not me! ” she protested. “It’s your father. I mean, Perth’s a great city. I love Western Australia—”

Boyd silenced her with a kiss. She returned it. How could she not? She could have kissed him for ever. “I’ll speak to Dad, ” he said.

She put her hands on his shoulders, staring into his beautiful eyes. “Chloe’s father suggested we should all go out to dinner. Can you believe it? They’ll be totally unprepared. ”

“How could they be totally unprepared? ” he said crisply. “I’ve told you—”

“I know what you told me. I believe you. ”

“Why, thank you. ” He gave a wry smile.

“But people can and do believe their fondest hopes will be achieved. Instead of bolstering the Compton hopes, Rupert should have been shooting them down. ”

Boyd’s laugh was a shade impatient. “Odd, that! Dad does get a great kick out of raising people’s hopes, then shooting them down. Leave it to me, Leo. ”

What else could she do?

It turned out to be a hectic day. Bea couldn’t see a thing right with the glossies from the latest fashion shoot. She swished the photographs—excellent really—off the table in a fit of frustration. The models, male and female, the glorious North Queensland tropical location, the clothes they were wearing—everything met with scathing contempt. Bea had conveniently forgotten she had hand picked the lot.

“I’ve got it! ” Leona found herself interceding at one point, just about ready to try anything. Shots in the local cemetery? Maybe the fire station? Would that capture Bea’s attention? “Take them all out on location to Uluru. The contrast between the beautiful sophisticated clothes and the savagely beautiful Outback environment could be brilliant. ”

Lights flicked on behind Bea’s dark obsidian eyes. “Now why on earth didn’t I think of that? ” Suddenly she was happy. “Well, well, what are you waiting for? ” She clapped her hands together, then waved Leona off. “Go and find me Daniel. ”

Later on Leona rang Robbie to check that he would still be going with her to the airport to meet their parents, who were due in from Hong King early the following morning.

“I don’t understand why you want me, ” Robbie said, genuinely puzzled. “Your dad has only said half a dozen sentences to me in all the time he and Mother have been married. ”

“Well, it’s not as if he’s excessively jolly with me, ” Leona reminded him. “Anyway, saves me hanging around by myself. So set your alarm. ”

“Actually, I might stay up all night instead of going to bed, ” Robbie suggested.

“Not if you want to look your best. Besides, I’ve got something to tell you. ”

“Something good, I hope. ” There was a sudden note of anxiety in Robbie’s bantering tone.

“Might as well tell you now. Rupert wants to call a halt to any wedding plans. He and Boyd had words. ”

“Fantastic! ” Robbie’s voice carolled loudly down the wires. “Wish I’d been there. Don’t worry about old Rupe, Leo. Boyd is already long strides ahead of him. If I were you, I’d start planning my wedding gown. Something utterly exquisite and a veil with a long train. Two little flower girls, maybe a pageboy, if the kids will consent to do it these days. After all, the whole continent will be watching. It’s actually thrilling and of course I’ll be a groomsman. ” A reflective pause. “You’re not thinking of breaking my heart, are you? ”

“Never! ” Leona said stoutly.

“A true blue Blanchard can be best man, ” Robbie said generously. “I’ll be for ever in Boyd’s debt. Honestly, he deserves some kind of medal. He’s got those thugs off my back. Unbelievable, I’m safe! I can come out of hiding! ”

“Make sure it stays that way, ” Leona warned with enough firmness to register.

Robbie’s answer rang with sincerity. “I swear to you, Leo, I’ll never place another bet. I’ve learned my lesson. I could have ended up in a police line-up—probably their best-looking ever suspect—instead I received mercy and a second chance. All I want to do now is earn the respect and trust of the people who love me—you and Boyd. Well, you, anyway. Boyd might learn to love me as I make a clean sweep of all my bad habits. After all, I’m going to be godfather to your first child. Or one of the godfathers. I could live with that. And there’s another thing, ” he confided. “I plan on visiting Italy in the summer vacation. It’s just possible I might get to see my dad. ”

In a nerve-racking day Leona found herself smiling with satisfaction. “You’ve made the right decision, Robbie, ” she said. It could well be that Delia had been holding back on her son for many long years. Delia was like a lot of other women who fancied themselves wronged, and may well have had her revenge on the wrong male.

Although her father and Delia knew they were being met, their faces registered neither pleasure nor appreciation.

“Surely you have morning lectures, Roberto. ” Delia lost no time getting underway, her voice set at that familiar grinding edge.

“Not until eleven, Mother! ” Robbie retaliated by giving his mother a great big bear hug.

“Oh—oh, be careful! ” Delia cried, wrenching herself away. Robbie had come perilously close to messing her hair, a glamorous cast-iron coiffure regularly tinted a champagne-blonde. It was a style she hadn’t changed in years.

“You needn’t have bothered, Leona, ” her father was saying, accepting her kiss on his cheek with no visible sign of emotion. “We could have caught a taxi home. ”

“No bother, Dad. ” Leona kept her smile in place when she felt like seizing her father by the arms and shaking some life into him. Her father, though a handsome, quietly distinguished-looking man, bore little resemblance to the happy, loving father she remembered from her early childhood. It was as though the real Paul Blanchard had died with her mother. Emotionally speaking, he gave every appearance of a man who had lost all feeling. “Marital frostbite”, Robbie called it. “Mother does a super job of that! ”

“Goodness, we might have to hire an extra car for all the luggage, ” Robbie observed as they jostled with the crowd at the baggage carousel. Delia was busy pointing out a number of pieces of designer luggage as they came tumbling through the shute. “I expect you’ve brought lots home for me and Leo, eh, Mother? Clothes, leather goods, Swiss watches. ”

“Oh, do stop, Roberto, ” Delia chastised him. “I mean, what else could you possibly want? ”

“What about a return ticket to Rome? ”

Delia turned on him in what looked like shock. “Why Rome? ”

“Why not? ” He leaned forward to grab yet another bag. “I think it’s high time I met my dad. Remember him, Mother? Carlo D’Angelo. The last time I saw him, he was making a run out of our house with you chucking things at him, missing every time. ”

“Shut up about that, Robbie, right now! ” Delia said angrily “Your father was a sorry specimen of humanity. He left us both. ” All of a sudden Delia, normally a picture of health, was looking quite sickly.

“Shall we go? ” Paul Blanchard actually took action. He seized hold of his wife’s arm. “People are looking, Delia, ” he said in a warning undertone. “We can’t have that. If Robbie wants to meet up with his father again, neither of us have the right to stop him. ”

Robbie looked momentarily gobsmacked, then he indulged in a triumphant high-fisted salute picked up from the local champion tennis player. Delia could rage non-stop for seven days and seven nights but she wouldn’t stop her son from making that trip, Leona thought. Carlo D’Angelo may have bolted from his first marriage but there remained the distinct possibility that he hadn’t forgotten his first-born child.

“Would you like me to make tea or coffee? ” Leona asked some ten or fifteen minutes after they had arrived at her father’s and Delia’s house. Large, modern, architect-designed, it was impressive with a great location, but mercifully not overly pretentious.

Robbie had already left. “I’m outta here! ” he’d told Leona in a quick aside. Even so, he was looking happier and more in charge of himself than she had ever seen him.

“God, no! ” Delia responded graciously. “I want my bed. I detest that last leg of the flight home. ”

Leona looked to her father. “I wonder if I might have a word, Dad? ”

Delia laughed as though Leona had said something utterly unreasonable. “Not now, Leona. Your father is as jet lagged as I am. I would have thought that was obvious. ”

“Actually, I feel perfectly well, ” Paul Blanchard answered in his usual courteous manner. “What is it you want to speak to me about, Leona? ”

“It’s private, Dad, ” she said. The last person she needed was Delia right under her nose.

“Really? ” Delia gave a vehement shake of her head. So lavishly had it been sprayed, not a single hair moved. “Does that mean you don’t want me? ”

“I wouldn’t keep you from your bed, Delia, ” Leona said very sweetly. “You do look a little peaky. Would you like some tea, Dad? ”

“I suppose I would. ” He suddenly gave her a smile—that rare smile that caught at her heartstrings. “You look very beautiful, Leona. What’s been happening to you? ”

“Why don’t we go into the kitchen? ” Leona said and moved to take her father’s arm. “I’ll make the tea and I can tell you then. ”

But there was worse to come.

“You and Boyd? ” Paul Blanchard sat at the long bench in the very sleek contemporary kitchen, eyeing his daughter with genuine shock.

Not a good sign, but Leona felt she had to meet the challenge.

“Yes, Dad. Me and Boyd, ” she confirmed quietly. “He wants to marry me, even though it appears it’s come as a tremendous shock to you. ”

Paul Blanchard was driven to resting his dark head with its silver wings in his two hands. “But Leona, we all know Rupert’s plans. ” He lifted his head again. “The Compton girl. It’s almost a business deal. That’s the way Rupert’s mind works. Unite two dynasties. Rupert and Compton have been waiting for the relationship to deepen. I thought you understood that. ”

“I did, ” Leona answered, frowning. “But you can’t seriously believe Boyd is going to allow his father to pick his bride for him. You know Boyd. It’s preposterous. He’s his own man. ”

“Leona, I’m well aware of that. ” Paul Blanchard sighed deeply. “I think the world of Boyd. We all do. It’s not a question of Boyd having to measure up to his father like Rupert had to measure up to his, and incidentally never did, which I believe seriously affected Rupert’s character. The Old Man watched Rupert’s every step like a hawk. He even had his spies. On the whole, Rupert had a rough time. But, that aside, Boyd is ready right now to take over Blanchards. What’s more, the majority of the Board will back him. It’s another case of the King and the Crown Prince. I can almost feel sorry for Rupert. His resentments remain deeply entrenched. This news of yours will precipitate a huge rift between father and son. It will affect Blanchards, the whole family. That’s what you’re telling me isn’t it? Rupert is totally against you and Boyd. ”

Leona studied the leaves at the bottom of her teacup as though they held the answer. “I think you could say that. Rupert is used to riding roughshod over everyone. He’s trying it out on his own son. It won’t work. ”

“No, it won’t, ” Paul Blanchard agreed. “But the more Rupert thinks about it, the worse things will get. The man’s a tyrant. My dear, even you have no idea. Rupert has become more and more power drunk as the years have gone on. He could hurt me, you know, not that I wouldn’t survive. So don’t worry about that. But we’re all vulnerable where Rupert is concerned. ”

“Do you think Rupert would actually stoop to manoeuvring you out? ” she asked worriedly.

“In the blink of an eye, ” Paul Blanchard confirmed, mercifully not sounding all that worried about the prospect “The man is heartless. I know in one way he is enormously proud of Boyd, but in another he recognises his son has qualities he never had. Rupert is into power for power’s sake. Boyd isn’t like that. He’s a very different human being. That’s his mother in him. Wonderful woman, Alexa. She made a terrible mistake marrying Rupert, but then again they were manipulated by the Old Man. To be very, very rich, Leona, is something to be avoided. Great wealth ironically doesn’t bring happiness. It brings terrible risks. You might remember that. If you marry Boyd, your whole life will change. You’re my daughter. I love you. I’m afraid for you. ”

Leona could see her father was deeply serious. “Don’t be afraid, Dad, ” she said. “I know I can trust Boyd with my life. There is something I would like to ask you. Did you ever feel at any time that Rupert was a bit too fond of Mummy? ”

Her father turned to look at her as though she had said something utterly crazy. “What in the world put that idea into your head? ”

She gave him an imploring look from her beautiful green eyes. “Just something Rupert himself said. I mean, I was as shocked as you, but lots of people have something to hide, Dad. I think Rupert’s secret was that at some stage he became infatuated with my mother. ” Tears sprang unbidden into her eyes.

“Darling girl, ” Paul Blanchard groaned as he reached to put a hand on her shoulder. “If Rupert, the old bastard, was ever infatuated with my beloved Serena he forgot to tell us about it. I never saw anything of the kind. And I can put your mind entirely at rest regarding your mother. She had absolutely no idea. Why, Serena and Alexa were great friends! They loved one another. Your mother loved me. I never did know why she did, but she did. We were wonderfully happy, the three of us. Either Rupert is a total liar, delusional, or he managed to keep this perverted infatuation very well hidden. The thing is, Leona, everyone loved your mother. She was immensely lovable. My love for her has never faded. Only a small part of me is still alive. I know you can see that. The best of me went with your mother. ”

Leona took her father’s hand and held it. “Do you see too much of her in me? ” she asked sadly. “Do you, Dad? Please tell me. ”

Now tears stood in her father’s eyes. “I’ve hurt you a lot, Leo. I beg your understanding and forgiveness. But you’re right. You’re so like your mother, a lot of the time the pain becomes unbearable. It’s what’s known as good old-fashioned despair. ”

“Yet you married Delia? ”

Paul Blanchard’s broad brow wrinkled. “I married Delia because I thought she would have the generosity of spirit to become a surrogate mother to you. I saw things in her that apparently weren’t there. My own fault. I wasn’t seeing straight at the time. I was like a man in a coma. I should have known, just seeing how Delia was with her own little son. Roberto has suffered as well and he didn’t deserve it any more than you. ”

“I’m afraid that’s true, Dad. But surely it can all change; it’s not too late, even for you. Robbie told you he wants to go in search of his father. ”

“Then I’ll give him all the help he needs. It’s possible he might find out a great deal that his mother has never wanted him to know. Delia became very warped after Carlo left her. I know Carlo loved his boy. I do know that. Roberto is the very image of him. Part of Delia’s policy was to keep Carlo out of his son’s life. It’s an alarming thought, but Delia could easily have kept so much from Roberto. ”

“I’ve been thinking along those lines myself, ” Leona admitted. “Do you feel you and Delia should stay together, Dad? ” she asked after a minute. It was her fervent belief that her father and Delia would be better apart.

Paul Blanchard gave his daughter a twisted smile. “I can’t find it in my heart to talk to her about a divorce. ”

“Maybe it’s what you both need, ” Leona said. “At the very least, you can bring things out into the open. ”

“You mean a kind of purge? It would be pretty awful to divorce Delia, Leo. ”

“She deserves a good shake up, ” Leona said.

Her father gave a sad laugh. “I have to agree with that. But it’s not us I’m worried about at the moment. It’s you and Boyd. Rupert can be a very menacing man. He thinks nothing of hurting people. He’d better make sure he does nothing to hurt you, my darling, or he might get what he thoroughly deserves. ”

The my darling from a father not given to endearments nearly brought Leona to tears.

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