CHAPTER EIGHT

L EONA WAS WALKING briskly to her car in the basement car park, humming a little melody she had made up on the spot. Something romantic. She had a flair for such things. She was having dinner with Boyd that night and the familiar excitement had started up in her blood. For the first time she allowed herself to believe he might truly love her as a man loved the woman he wanted to marry. What had happened with Robbie had nothing to do with anything. The incident with the earrings had merely been an excuse, a blind, Boyd loved her, she knew it. Maybe she had always known it. The thought exhilarated her right down to her toes.

“Leona! ” a peremptory voice called. “Don’t drive away. I want to speak to you. ”

Leona spun round, infuriated by the tone of voice and the presence in the basement of its owner. “Well, I don’t want to speak to you, Tonya, ” she said sharply. “What on earth are you doing here? I have to be somewhere else. Boyd and I are going out to dinner. ”

Tonya’s rather spindly legs covered the short distance between them in record time. Strangely, she kept shaking her left foot as though a pebble had lodged in her high heeled sandal.

“Why do you think he’s decided to marry you and not Chloe? ”

It was spoken with such extraordinary venom that Leona drew back a pace. “Jinty been speaking to you, has she? ” Well why not? They were sisters. Even so she was surprised at Jinty’s lack of discretion.

“Not Jinty, no. ” Tonya’s sharp features tightened. “The fact is my sister and I have had a huge falling out. ”

“I’m not surprised. You have all the tact of a blunderbuss. ”

Tonya drew her mouth inwards. “Don’t worry about me, thank you very much. I’m fine. It’s you who should be worrying. Never mind who told me, but I know. ”

“So you want to offer congratulations? ” Leona spoke very dryly.

“He doesn’t love gorgeous little you, ” Tonya fired up. “He’s fond of you. We all know that. But fondness is quite a different thing. You’re family. He’s known you since you were a little kid. But he doesn’t love you as a man should love the woman he’s going to marry. I mean you’re not on equal terms, if you know what I mean. ”

“And you’ve figured that out all by yourself, have you? ” Leona forced herself to remain calm when she was feeling under siege.

Tonya gave a bitter smile. “I’ve had inside help, ” she confided. “Not for the first time either. Every family has a gossip and I’ve learned a hell of a lot from her. Let’s face it, you’re suitable enough, presentable, you know the score. Rupert wants Chloe, of course, but quite a few of the family have grown tired of Rupert and his wants. They’re looking to Boyd to head up the family and Blanchards. Boyd has chosen you for what I’m sure are excellent reasons by his light. I’ve already suggested a couple. Boyd really thinks things through. Chloe can’t hold a candle to you in looks and Boyd appreciates beautiful women. It wouldn’t be a huge problem taking you to bed. Best of all, you’re young enough for him to mould any way he wants. What amazes me is how you can’t see any of this. ”

Leona took her car keys out of her handbag, then zapped the remote. “Have you quite finished? ” she asked coldly. She really detested Tonya.

Tonya clicked her tongue. “I know it’s absurd. After all, I don’t like you, but in a way I’m disappointed in you, Leona. I thought you had more backbone. But you’re utterly spineless. You’re being manipulated. Can’t you see that? Boyd may be everything a woman wants—I mean even I wasn’t immune to his appeal—but I wouldn’t trust him any more than I would trust his old man. It might well be you’re simply a pawn in the father-son power play. Plenty of precedence for that. And there’s that other business. ”

It was a clever trick and Leona fell for it. “What other business? ” she asked in a disgusted voice.

“God, so uppity already! ” Tonya crowed. “You’re not Mrs Boyd Blanchard yet, pet. And it might never happen so don’t get too carried away. I’m talking about your dear sweet mother, the lovely Serena. ”

For a non-violent person, Leona felt a surprising amount of anger starting to roar inside her. It burned, then singed. She wanted nothing more than to smack Tonya across her sneering mouth. “I’d stop now if I were you, ” she warned, her emerald eyes lit by little flames.

But Tonya was never one to heed a warning. “Rupert had the hots for her, I’ve been told, ” she continued blithely on, eaten up by malice.

Be careful, the voice inside Leona’s head strenuously urged. Keep in control. Control is always rewarded. She was a Blanchard. She couldn’t afford to get into a cat fight.

“The same source? ” she managed crisply. “A woman as malicious as you? I think I know who it is, but Rupert won’t thank either of you for putting that one about. ”

Tonya shrugged. “What could he do? It’s the truth. ”

Leona by this time was feeling ill. “You have a nasty tongue, Tonya. You relish spreading disharmony. ”

“What if it was Geraldine who told me? Geraldine, Rupert’s own sister? ” Tonya’s thin face took on a truly foxy expression.

The one thing you can’t do is lose it! Get in the car. Drive away.

To hide her feelings of immense shock, Leona averted her head, leaning forward to open the car door.

“People love to gossip, Leona, ” Tonya taunted her, absolutely brazen in her stance. “Even that arrogant old bitch, Geraldine. ”

Leona was severely tempted to send Tonya sprawling. Instead, she turned back to confront the bitter, hostile woman. “Geraldine would never betray the family, ” she said with absolute certainty. “And Geraldine would never, under any circumstances, confide in you, Tonya. You see, people don’t like you. They don’t trust you. And with good reason. They know just how much damage you like to inflict. ”

“Such loyalty! ” Tonya hissed. “But Geraldine did speak to me. Why don’t you ask her? She’ll deny it, of course, but I had to get it from somewhere. Think now. Isn’t Geraldine the most likely person? I dare you to ask her. ”

“I wouldn’t dream of upsetting her, ” Leona replied, very forcefully for her. “You really are a horrible woman. ”

Tonya laughed, as though she thought Leona incredibly naï ve. “Have it your own way, you poor deluded girl. No skin off my nose. Boyd will gobble you up, but one day he’ll spit you out. ”

The moment she arrived home, agitated and upset, she called Boyd. He hadn’t arrived home but she left a message claiming she had a headache and could they please postpone dinner?

Fifteen minutes later he called her. “I’m coming over right away, ” he said, firmness and authority vibrating down the line. “I know you too well, Leo. You may have a headache—I’m sorry for that—but my guess is you’ve come into contact with someone out to hurt you. ”

“That’s not it at all! ” Hurriedly, she tried to deny it. “There’s no need to come. ”

“I’m leaving now, ” Boyd said, his tone implying that he was wise in the way of women.

In her bedroom she changed quickly from her work clothes into a loose yellow dress. Boyd always did see through her excuses. So what was she going to tell him? The last thing she wanted to do was cause more trouble. But trouble was coming. She could smell it. She could even put a name to it. Crisis.

I won’t marry you. I can’t.

He wouldn’t listen to that. Protests were in vain. Never mind the fact that losing him would kill her. Was that just another underlying fear? That one day he might abandon her, just as Tonya had prophesied? It would be bliss to live without fear, but fear was part of being human. It wasn’t easy either accepting the fact that ultimately she stood alone. Inside her own skin. She wasn’t by nature a clinger. She couldn’t cling to Boyd.

What else might she say to him?

Tonya claims—she waylaid me in the car park—she and Gerri had a conversation regarding Rupert and his infatuation with my mother.

He would be as sceptical as she was. They both knew that Gerri had repeatedly dismissed Tonya as a foolish malicious woman, which she undoubtedly was—Geraldine seldom got anything wrong.

What about the power play between you and Rupert?

Hadn’t she, herself, suggested to Boyd that he might be using her as a pawn? Hadn’t he stated his position?

Was that the real motivating factor? Was Boyd’s main focus wresting Blanchards from his father? Boyd was extremely ambitious, with all that went with it. Choosing the right wife was a serious business. Chloe, Rupert’s favourite, didn’t suit. But Leona, now, was suitable to take on as a wife. It was simply an extension of their early days. He had always taken care of her. She was part of his world. Moreover, he now had the knowledge that they were sexually compatible.

Venom, once injected into the system, was hard to fight off. People like Tonya didn’t live by the rules of common decency. She was a sick woman who went around trying to spoil things for others. The realisation came to Leona—Tonya had a festering envy for all the Blanchards. It could be a very corrupting thing to be drawn into the world of the very rich, not being able to keep up with the pace and, as a consequence, becoming deeply resentful of the perceived inequities in life.

Boyd made no attempt at small talk. “What’s wrong? ” he asked, so attuned to her that he was instantly alert. “Come and sit down. ” He drew her into the living room, settling them on a sofa.

Then he waited.

“Well? ” He took hold of her hand, studying her porcelain profile, so strikingly offset by her flame of hair. She was wearing yellow, a sun colour that he loved on her. “Nothing is so bad you can’t tell me, ” he said. “Nothing is so bad I can’t fix it for you. ”

Leona couldn’t look at him. To look at him was to lose herself. Extreme as it might sound, it was the truth. At odd times over the last six or seven years she had dreamed of him falling in love with her. But it had been a fantasy, her dream. Now he had actually asked her to marry him. The dream had come true, but with all the capacity for conflict that entailed. There was an entire family, a business empire involved here.

“Leo, I can’t force it out of you, ” he said gently. “Tell me. ”

She turned her pretty hands palms up. They were almost imperceptibly trembling. “Where do I start? ”

“Why not with the name of the person you bumped into today? I didn’t say this was going to be easy, Leo. Dad has always tried to run people’s lives. He’s tried to threaten us but it won’t work. I’ve reached the stage where I have my own power base. I won’t give you up. ”

She turned to him with a faintly melancholy look on her face. There were so few people who experienced a grand passion in life. So few people. Surely she had been blessed? But wasn’t Boyd talking more like a man ready to seize power and assume the throne than a man deeply in love? He was used to power. It fitted him like a glove.

“Why not? ” she asked plaintively.

He lifted her hand, then kissed her fingertips one by one. “Because you utterly enchant me. ”

“You don’t seek to own me? ” She was on the verge of tears. Boyd wanting to marry her, and marry her very soon, would be dizzying for any girl. Hadn’t she believed, along with just about everyone else, that he and Chloe Compton would eventually make a match of it? Still, people talked a lot. Often they got it wrong. Geraldine definitely hadn’t believed it. Geraldine was much older, far wiser, than she was. Geraldine was very perceptive.

“That works both ways, ” Boyd was saying, holding back a long curling swathe of her hair. “I own you. You own me. You’re mine. I’m yours. I wouldn’t knock it if I were you. The way we mesh is the stuff of fiction. The two of us together will be right at the heart of the family. If life is a journey, then I’ve chosen you as my life’s partner every inch of the way. ”

“You don’t see me as a blank canvas? ” She wished she could stop these pathetic questions, but she couldn’t. Was she, as Tonya had suggested, a young woman he thought he could mould as he wished? Ordinarily, she was far from being a pushover but there was no question who of the two of them was the dominant personality. Boyd knew it. She knew it.

“To be painted in at will? Don’t be ridiculous, Leo, ” he scoffed. “You don’t need me to tell you how gifted you are. You’re so clear-sighted about so many things, yet you constantly question yourself. Or, more to the point, me! ” He caught her chin, turned her face, kissed her mouth. There was something vaguely punishing in it, yet it had the power to reverberate deep within her. It was a mind-bending feeling to love someone so much that it was almost a grief.

Closing her eyes, she asked, “Do you think that under any circumstances Gerri would speak to another member of the family about Rupert’s infatuation with my mother? ”

She got an answer immediately. “Leo, look at me. ”

It was an order and she obeyed, meeting the full force of his hot blue gaze. “She’s spoken to me about it, ” he said. “Geraldine is my aunt, a big part of my life. She knew I would find out at some stage. What she didn’t know was my mother had already told me. One or two of the older members of the family might have had an idea. But it’s not a topic for discussion, as you can well imagine. Everyone was a lot closer in those days. People have eyes. Anyway, it’s all in the past, Leo. ”

“But the past is never past, is it? It never really goes away. It has a habit of resurfacing when we least expect it. It affects our behaviour. It makes us feel good about ourselves, or it can make us feel worthless. Why do you think I’ve always been so supportive of Robbie? He desperately needed help with a mother like Delia. ”

“And you gave it to him. ”

“And he gave you me, didn’t he? Isn’t this what it’s all about? ”

“A form of blackmail? ” He cocked an eyebrow at her, almost amused. “You can’t really believe that. You’re just tormenting yourself. Robbie’s stupidity just brought things to a head. I was sick of the games we played, Leo. It’s just as I told you. I wanted to move forward. As for Dad! Is it a crime to fall in love with someone at any age, even if that love is unrequited? I’ve thought so much about this over the years. You’re right. The past is never over. Incidentally, there have been quite a few sexual infidelities in our holier than holy family, as far as that goes. I used to be very angry with my father, mostly on account of my mother. Now I believe that so far as Serena was concerned, Dad didn’t do anything that wrong. When Cupid aims his arrows, there’s not much anyone can do about it. Dad couldn’t help his feelings. He’s always been a soul in torment. Maybe it was part of a mid-life crisis. It’s a well documented phenomenon. The point is, ultimately he didn’t act on it. Feelings are one thing. We can’t help them. Actions another. Actions we can prevent. So what are you sitting there mulling over, Leona? Obviously something has badly distressed you and I very much want to know what it is. ”

She was having a lot of trouble telling him. Why? Because he didn’t say, I love you…love you…love you…

He did love her. She knew that. But perhaps not in the way she desperately wanted.

Maybe the fault lay in her. Was she expecting too much? The truth was that she wanted him to love her to bits. Why didn’t she say, for that matter: You’re everything I want and love. I adore you! She’d had so little affection after her mother had died. Her father, so remote. Delia, appallingly stingy with even a kind word. Children from dysfunctional homes carried a lot of baggage into adult life. It seemed she was one of them.

Neither of them, for that matter, was using the L word. It was killing her.

“It wasn’t that muckraker, Tonya, was it, by any chance? ” Boyd was questioning with quick impatience. “Now there’s a woman who should see a good psychiatrist. She’s eaten up with envy of her sister. Of anyone, in fact, who has something she so desperately desires. Was it Tonya who was lying in wait for you? That’s her style. ”

Leona drew a deep breath. Should she relieve her own stress and, as a consequence, make more trouble? She didn’t think so. Tonya was such a fool she didn’t know what she was getting into if she made an enemy of Boyd.

“So she was, ” he said flatly, so attuned to her he was reading her body language.

“I don’t believe I said that. ” She was hopeless. A bundle of nerves.

“I can read your mind. ”

“The blank canvas? ”

“I told you to stop that. ”

A head rush of excitement as Boyd, with a desire so fierce and palpable she couldn’t miss it, pulled her across his knees, a featherweight in a soft as silk yellow dress that left her throat and arms bare and rode up over her knees to her satin thighs. “I won’t have you trying to put distance between us, Leo, ” he said, pressing her head back over his arm. “I won’t let you. Gerri would never confide family matters to Tonya. ”

“I know, I know. ” Her voice sounded small and contrite. “I’m sorry. ” A pause, then, with a flash of spirit, “What am I sorry for? ”

“I can’t think of a damned thing. ” Boyd laughed, a flash of white against bronzed skin. It totally obliterated the daunting expression that had darkened his face. “You’re so beautiful. ” His hands were moving compulsively over her, the magic of it penetrating her slender, streamlined body. One hand palmed her breast, registering her rapid heartbeat. “I want to make love to you until you don’t care about anyone or anything but me. You’re mine, Leo, but you have to trust me. That’s an order. So obey! ”

Who could argue? Certainly not with desire. Who could stand fast when it swept all before it?

When his mouth came down on hers it opened like a poppy to the sun. Her breath fluttered, joined with his. To be with him was like a waking dream. A delirium of the senses. A rapture that lifted her so high she might have had wings.

They were lying in some blissful fugue state, locked in each other’s arms, Leona crushed to his body with one strong arm. Their lovemaking had been gloriously passionate, both of them losing themselves in a storm of emotion. Yet it had all been soundless, save for the moans of pleasure that the flesh of one gave the other. Whatever might befall them, their coupling had the perfection one could only dream of. Was everything else just a waste of words? Leona wondered as she lay in the tender aftermath of their passion. Surely it had been ordained they should share a destiny? Where else could she find a man to love like she loved Boyd? She had to let malice and Rupert’s machinations bounce off her. She had to be strong and capable. Put away her fears. Show courage. Tackle life head on. If she lost Boyd, for whatever reason, she would have to live with terrible regret for the rest of her life.

The shrilling of the bedside phone brought them swiftly back to earth. Go away, Leona wanted to cry to the real world but the real world surely wouldn’t.

“Don’t answer it, ” Boyd echoed her thoughts, as instinctively she turned away.

“It’s all right. Whoever it is, I’ll cut it short. ” She swung her slender legs off the bed, then picked up the handset. “Hello? ” She groped behind her for the sheet, but Boyd pulled it gently away, spreading his hand over the naked curve of her back.

“Leo, is that you? ”

Oh, my God! Here it comes. How many times in life was happiness overtaken by unforeseen disaster?

Beset by premonition, Leo turned her head to Boyd, one hand covering the mouthpiece. “It’s Jinty! ” she whispered, the pupils of her green eyes dilated with anxiety.

Boyd sat up immediately, revealing his splendid naked torso, the white bed sheet wrapped around his long legs, black brows knotting.

“Yes, Jinty, ” Leona spoke into the phone. “Is everything all right? ” It can’t be. Jinty rarely rang her.

“Far from it. ” Jinty’s voice was so taut it had to be stretched to its limits. “Is Boyd with you? It’s Boyd I want. ”

It’s Boyd I want. Obviously in the scheme of things she didn’t count.

Boyd, who was pressed up close to Leona so he could clearly hear Jinty’s voice, put out his hand for the phone. “It’s Boyd, Jinty, ” he said in a strong, rather clipped tone after Leona passed it over. “What’s happened? ”

Swiftly Leona rose from the bed to slip into her robe, fastening the sash. She didn’t need anyone to tell her something was really wrong. It could only be Rupert. Was he dying—dead? There were always consequences for one’s actions. For a moment she thought she might faint.

“And where is Dad? ” Boyd was asking. His tone was grave, but calm. That put the strength back into Leona’s limbs.

“Come home, Boyd, ” was Jinty’s reply.

“Well? ” Leona asked after Boyd put down the phone.

“Dad has had a bad turn, ” he said, “or so Jinty tells me. Dr Morse is with him. ”

“Is he going to be hospitalised? ” Leona put a hand to her throat, wondering if it was all her fault.

Boyd had no difficulty reading her transparent expression. “Don’t go feeling guilty, Leo, ” he cautioned. “Dad’s not going to die. If there were something really wrong Drew would have admitted him to hospital like a shot. What Dad wants to do is block us any way he can. I know him. The worst part of it is he’s prepared to drag you into it, despite the fact that he gave every appearance of loving you right up until now. ”

“You’re saying it’s a ploy? ” she asked incredulously. “Surely he wouldn’t do that. It’s so—”

“Unfair is the kindest word at my disposal. Despicable might be closer. Pitiful closer yet. Nevertheless, he is my father and Jinty has asked me to go to Brooklands right away. ”

“She sounded so strange…frightened, ” Leona said, ever ready to show compassion.

Boyd gave a cynical half smile. “The only thing Jinty would be frightened about is losing her position in life. She worked flat out to bag Dad, the billionaire. She got him and she’s paid a price. They’re not close, Leo. You know that. Even if Jinty had been a lovely woman—lovely inside and out, like my mother—Dad wouldn’t have let her in. That’s the way he is. He doesn’t love anyone. He doesn’t trust anyone. It must be like being in prison. ”

Leona shook her head in negation. “He loves you, Boyd. ”

“Only as an extension of himself, ” Boyd said, harshness in his voice. “And maybe only until I’d reached full maturity and shown I wasn’t prepared to act on his every command. There’s such a duality in him and there are many degrees of loving. ”

“Well, he doesn’t want a bar of me, ” she whispered. “Not now! ”

Boyd went to her, gathering her to his powerful lean frame. “Because at heart he’s so deeply envious, Leona, and he can’t combat that terrible feeling. It’s the cause of the schism between us. You don’t have to be a genius to figure that out. Dad has come to believe he missed out on everything he wanted. He hinted at it repeatedly, yet he hides his insecurities behind aggression. He can’t bear to think I might get to know all that love is, when he missed out. Dad is not a paradigm of the virtues, I’m afraid. Dad’s a tyrant; he’s spent a lifetime threatening people. He must have decided early that was the way to go. He would have been happy enough to see me marry a woman I didn’t love rather than let me have you. ”

He kissed the top of her head, then dropped his hands to her shoulders. “Come, let’s take a shower together. Then we’ll drive to Brooklands. It won’t take long. No, Leo, don’t back away. Brooklands is my home as much as his. You’re with me. That’s the way it’s going to be. I won’t have you pushed aside. Actually, I thought we might get married on your birthday, which will make you a beautiful Easter bride. What more could a man want? There’s not a lot of time, but time enough to make all our plans. ”

Moments before they left her apartment, Boyd put a staying hand on her shoulder. “Here, I want you to wear this. ” From his tone he might have been suggesting she don a cardigan against the cool evening air.

“What is it? I’m warm enough. I’m—” She didn’t finish. How was it possible for her to find words? Boyd had taken a ring from the inside breast pocket of his jacket.

And such a ring!

The central stone was a magnificent emerald, the colour of such extraordinary intensity it had to be Colombian. The emerald was flanked by a blaze of diamonds that continued around the band.

“Come here to me. ” He swept her into his arms, showing both strength and tenderness. “If you don’t like it, we’ll change it. ”

She went to speak but her voice had disappeared. She was stunned. At the same time her sense of alarm persisted, Rupert at the heart of it. Yet Boyd was her rock. It would be Rupert who would back down. Rupert who would need to change his stance.

“I thought it had to be an emerald with your eyes, ” Boyd was saying, cupping her cheek in the palm of his hand. “Don’t be afraid to trust me, Leo, ” he said in a deeply moving voice. “Don’t be afraid to love me. I’m here to help you stretch your wings. Give me your hand, sweetheart. They’re the prettiest hands I’ve ever seen. ” He bent and very gently kissed the sweet curves of her mouth.

“How long have you had this? ” she whispered as he slipped the exquisite engagement ring down over her finger. The fit was perfect.

“Oh, I’ve been keeping it safe, ” he assured her, giving her his beautiful white smile. “Safe for you. Now we’d better get going. I need to talk to Drew Morse before he leaves. If Dad has had a real turn it might galvanise him into changing his lifestyle. He can’t continue to disregard his health any longer. ”

When they arrived a couple of hours later the huge house was ablaze with lights, which Boyd found excessive. “So much for global warming, ” he said tersely, pulling in alongside Drew Morse’s car, then switching off the ignition. “It can’t be all that bad with Dad, ” he said. “Drew is still here, but he wouldn’t leave until I arrived. ”

“Do you think I should stay in the car? ” Leona suggested. She wasn’t one to willingly cause pain. “If Rupert really isn’t well, mightn’t the mere sight of me exacerbate his condition? ”

“You’re not forgetting you’re my fiancé e, are you? ” Boyd stared across at her. “No, you’re not staying in the car. You’re coming into the house with me. A house that one day will be yours. I know your tender heart, Leo, but believe me when I say Dad has planned this. It’s simply a case of Rupert Blanchard pursuing his strategies. At the very least he’ll think he brought a stay of action. Come along, Flower Face. We’re in this together. ”

Jinty was waiting for them, dressed in a floor-length glamorous house gown, with a fantastic print. Her dismayed expression—she didn’t have time to hide it—gave them a clear indication that she hadn’t been expecting Leona. Just Boyd.

“Thank God you’re here! ” she cried, reaching out to grab hold of Boyd’s arm. “I’ve nearly been out of my mind with worry. ”

Boyd looked at her, handsome face impassive. “Dad’s upstairs? ” he asked.

“Yes, his bedroom. ” Jinty gestured with her hand. “Drew is with him. ”

“So Drew saw no necessity to have Dad airlifted to hospital? ” Boyd asked, still looking Jinty in the eye.

“Well…well…he was just waiting to see. ”

“See what, Jinty? This is me you’re talking to. I don’t like to sound unsympathetic, but we both know it’s much more a case of Dad cracking the whip than anything else. We’ll go up. ”

Jinty looked alarmed. “Surely it would be better if Leona stayed downstairs with me? ” she asked sharply. “Rupert has been extremely upset. This might make him worse. ”

Boyd’s frown deepened.

“Really I think you should go up on your own, Boyd, ” Leona advised, laying her hand on his arm. “Make sure first what condition your father is in. I’ll stay with Jinty for now. ”

“If Dad’s okay he can say hello to my fiancé e, ” Boyd announced crisply, his blue eyes on fire.

“Check on him first, ” Leona cautioned. “Do it for me. ”

He paused, looking down at her. “Okay, ” he said gently.

“Come into the drawing room. ” Jinty drew Leona hastily away as Boyd mounted the staircase. “My goodness, I must say Boyd works fast. That’s quite an engagement ring you’re wearing. May I see it? ”

Leona felt strangely reluctant to show her. Jinty had never demonstrated any genuine friendship towards her. She held her hand out briefly, the lights from the chandeliers flashing off the brilliant stones.

“Heavens, it’s glorious! ” Jinty said. “That emerald has to be—”

“Green for my eyes, ” Leona supplied, chopping off Jinty’s estimate of how many carats there were in the large emerald and surrounding diamonds.

“May I try it on? ” Jinty asked, not even bothering to fight off her lust for magnificent jewellery.

Leona found that distasteful, even shocking. So much for Jinty’s being out of her mind with worry. She was still staring bug-eyed at the ring.

“It wouldn’t fit you, Jinty, ” Leona said, gently shaking her head. “Could you please tell me exactly what is wrong with Rupert? As you pointed out, he’s not looking after himself. ”

There was a hard glint in Jinty’s eyes. “True, but my dear, I hought you knew what’s really wrong with him. Rupert is very much against this engagement. Given that, as his wife, I don’t feel I can stand against him on this. Or even remain neutral. ”

“So you’ve changed your tune? ” Leona asked with remarkable composure. Jinty was having a hard time hiding her jealousy. “There’ve been many times you’ve disagreed with Rupert. I have no wish to be unpleasant, Jinty, but let’s face it, it’s really none of your business. Even Rupert goes way too far thinking he can dictate to Boyd. He certainly can’t choose his bride. Boyd has chosen me. End of story. It would be a very good idea if you would show your usual good sense and accept that. We thought you had. Or that’s what you gave us to understand. By the way, I had a run in with your sister today. She really should see a psychiatrist. It’s fashionable these days. ”

Jinty’s good-looking face registered both shock and anger. “I told that stupid creature to keep well away. ”

“Now that was always a tall order. Tonya doesn’t listen to anyone. Do you happen to know the name of the mole in the family? There is one. ”

Jinty eyed her with marked dislike. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean, ” she said, oozing self-righteousness.

“The insider Tonya has sought information from? ” Leona prompted. “I’m not suggesting it was you. Someone not averse to letting the family skeletons out of the cupboard and so forth? ”

Jinty’s eyes flashed with sudden recognition.

“You’ve thought of someone? ” Was she now going to deny it?

“What do you want to know for, Leo? ”

“I want to stop that person from doing any more talking, ” Leona said, realising that was exactly what she intended to do. “Rather I do it than Boyd. I know you’re finding it hard to deal with—I know you’ve got a soft spot for Boyd—who could blame you? —but I’m not the pushover you think, Jinty. ” “No, you’re not, ” Jinty agreed wearily, as if unwilling to carry the discussion any further. “I never thought you were. Young maybe, but highly intelligent and often very kind. The informer in the family would have to be Frances Blanchard. She’s as sharp as a tack and a great gossip. I used to see Frances and Tonya with their heads together. My bet is Frances. When women aren’t loved they tend to grow bitter. ”

Upstairs in the master bedroom suite, Boyd shook hands with his father’s long time physician and friend, then approached the bed. “I see you’ve been giving yourself hell, Dad. ” Boyd turned his dark head. “What do you reckon is the matter with him, Drew? ” he asked.

Drew Morse discarded the last remnants of misplaced loyalty to his patient. “I won’t pretend with you, Boyd. You’re far too clever. Rupert here is very much against your marrying Leona. God knows why. I think she has to be one of the most delightful young women on the planet. He’s been working himself up into what one would diagnose in a child as a major tantrum. I’ve told him that. Spot of tachycardia. I’ve taken care of that. Rupert hasn’t been looking after himself properly for years. The cigars have to go. Less of the fine food and drink. The after dinner brandies. A bit more exercise is in order, the usual thing. Your father is fit enough, even though he’s been disregarding my best advice for years. He can do it no longer. I’ve told him if he doesn’t he’s a prime candidate for a heart attack or a stroke. ”

Boyd turned back to his strangely silent father, taking the hand that lay on the coverlet. “Do you hear that, Dad? ”

A black shadow crossed Rupert Blanchard’s heavy handsome face. He shook off Boyd’s hand, then pointed a finger at Drew Morse, much in the manner of pointing a gun. “Thanks a lot, Drew. For everything. You can go now. That’s my formal dismissal. Don’t come back. ”

“Very well, Rupert, ” Drew Morse responded, picking up his bag. He had served Rupert Blanchard faithfully for many long years but he had always known it would come to this.

Boyd stood up for a moment. “If you wouldn’t mind waiting downstairs for me, Drew, ” he said with quick empathy for the older man’s feelings, “I’d like to have a word with you. I know you’ve been devoted to my father’s best interests in all these long years. ”

Drew Morse gave a faint smile. “I’ll wait if you want me to, Boyd. ”

“Now isn’t that too touching, ” Rupert Blanchard sneered as the doctor closed the bedroom door quietly behind him. “Sure he gave me his best attention and he got well paid for it. I’d say attending to me alone bought him the fancy car he has outside. I hope you’ve come by yourself. ” He shot his son an intent, piercing glance.

Boyd remained standing. “Leona, my fiancé e, is downstairs. ”

For a moment Boyd thought his father was about to spring out of the bed. “Don’t do this, Dad, ” he warned. “It needn’t be this way. Think of your own health if you can think of nothing else. The last thing I want is for you to drive yourself into a heart attack. ”

Rupert Blanchard shot his son a malignant look. “Sure about that? ”

“Absolutely! ” Boyd said in a voice charged with pity for his father but dismay for his father’s mind set.

“Could I see Leona for a few minutes? ” Rupert abruptly changed tack. His voice, big and blustery a moment before, went whispery with sudden weakness.

“Certainly! ” Boyd agreed, his own tone softening. “As long as you give me your word you’ll say nothing to upset her. She certainly won’t be wanting to upset you. Leona, as we both know, has a tender loving heart. ”

“I know that. Just bring her up. ” Rupert waved a listless hand. “You have my promise. Then you can go away. I need to speak to Leona privately. ”

Three heads turned towards Boyd as he walked into the drawing room. Drew Morse was sitting with the women and went to stand up at Boyd’s approach. Boyd waved him back into his armchair. “That’s fine, Drew. I won’t be long. ” He spoke directly to Leona. “Dad wants to have a word with you, Leo. He’s promised he’ll say nothing to upset you but, Dad being Dad, I don’t trust him. ”

Leona went quickly towards him, embracing him. Behind the composure she could see the high level of strain. “I can handle it, Boyd. Is he all right? Dr Morse says he is. ” Relief had settled on her lovely young face.

Boyd found he couldn’t answer. “I don’t want you to see him on your own, ” he said doggedly.

Jinty broke in. “For God’s sake, Boyd, what could he do? You and Leona are engaged. Like it or not, Rupert will have to accept that. He’s far from being a fool. Perhaps he’s already accepted it and wants to tell Leona so. ”

“I’ll go up. ” Leona made the swift decision. “Rupert used to have a lot of affection for me. Perhaps some of it has returned. ”

“As you wish—” Boyd sighed “—but I’ll wait right outside. ”

“You surely can’t think Rupert would harm Leona? ” Jinty asked in amazement.

“He’d better not try. ” Boyd’s answer was taut enough to cut rope.

Drew Morse shook his head. “I’ve given him a sedative, Boyd. That’s keeping him quiet. ”

Boyd sat in one of the antique chairs that were dotted along the wide corridor. His body, Leona could see, was on high alert. “I’ll get this over quickly, ” Leona said, dropping a kiss on his cheek. “I’m not a little girl, Boyd. I can look after myself. ”

“The slightest sign of trouble and you get out of there, ” Boyd said. “I’m right outside the door. You tell him that. ”

When she thought about it afterwards, Leona wondered how it hadn’t occurred to her before.

“Please shut the door after you, ” Rupert requested, quietly lying back against the pillows. He looked pallid and drawn and she knew a sharp pang of pity.

“How are you feeling, Rupert? ” She approached the bed and took the chair beside it.

“Groggy, ” he said, his eyes lingering on her though not really seeing her at all. “I don’t think there’s been a single day I haven’t thought about your mother, ” he suddenly confessed. “The way her life ended here on Brooklands. I often go to the place. I loved Alexa passionately when I married her, but I lost her early. She quickly came to see behind the faç ade, to see the real me. That was the problem. She saw me for what I am. Serena didn’t. She was such a lovely innocent young creature. You could be her double. All I know is in my mid-forties I fell madly in love with her. I wasn’t receiving any love from my wife. I wasn’t giving any either. I knew it was insane but I couldn’t prevent it. I was like a raw teenager in romantic agony. God knows what would have happened, only she was killed. ”

“Nothing would have happened, Rupert, ” Leona assured him. “My mother was unaware of your feelings. She loved my father. She loved me. She loved Alexa, your wife. You did nothing wrong. Try to set your mind at rest instead of tormenting yourself with what would never have been. People constantly fall in love with the wrong person. It happens every day and every day it brings pain. Love is a mystery, isn’t it? It’s granted to some. Not to others. I’m so sorry your life got so twisted. ”

“My life—or much of it—has been utterly barren, ” Rupert maintained, appearing to grow angry.

“You might blame yourself, Rupert, ” Leona bravely suggested. “You should have cast off your bitterness, been more expansive, opened yourself up to others. You have a splendid son. That in itself is a wonderful thing. The promise of grandchildren. Instead, you’ve nurtured your torment. You’ve lived on the dark side. ”

He gave a grunt of bitter laughter. “Are you saying I don’t have a chance at redemption? ”

Leona shook her head. “I’m not saying that at all. You have every chance if you want it. We all want it for you. ”

Rupert stared deeply into her eyes. Not her eyes. Leona was painfully aware of it. Rupert had never seen her for herself.

“I’m no saint, ” he told her harshly.

“No, you’re not, ” she agreed. “Neither am I. I try to do my best. ”

Rupert didn’t hesitate. “How much would it take for you to go away? To break off this engagement? You can give Boyd some cock and bull sob story. You don’t think you can live the lifestyle. He knows exactly how difficult it is. But I’ve been thinking. Everyone wants money. I’m prepared to give you a lot. ”

Leona felt any residual feeling she had for Rupert sink into the mud. “Wouldn’t I be getting a lot as Boyd’s wife? ” she asked, assuming a Jinty inspired world-weary tone.

For a moment Rupert looked bitterly disappointed in her, then he said, “Is that why you’re marrying him? ”

“Of course. ” She nodded her red-gold head. How long she could sustain this act she didn’t know.

Rupert sat up in the bed. “What a wonderful actress you are, ” he rasped with massive contempt. “Perfect performances. So go on then, name a figure. Might as well. My son won’t be ousting me just yet, my girl. I’m good for another fifteen to twenty years. I’ll do the right things and I’ll have the best of care. So how much will it take to make you happy? ”

Leona lifted her left hand to stare down at her glorious ring. “How many stars do you suppose are in the Milky Way, Rupert? ” she asked. “I read once it was around one hundred thousand million, same number as our brain cells, though you appear to have lost a few million of those. ” Abruptly she stood up. “Boyd, very sadly, is quite right. Incredible as it may seem, you want to deny him happiness. You know he’ll find it with me. I adore him. I always did. First love. Last love. Only love. ”

“Bitch! You bitch! ” Rupert cried out, falling back against the pillows.

Leona walked very calmly to the door. “Goodnight, Rupert, ” was all she said.

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