by Lyons, Mary
‘I don’t want any of your rotten food!’ she shouted after his disappearing figure. But his only reply was a low rumble of laughter, and she found herself left alone in the large room once more.
Maybe it was his reference to her appearance all those years ago, but she seemed unable to prevent the sad, sorry events of that long, hot summer from stealing back into her mind.
Arriving in Tuscany, already bowed down with grief at the loss of her grandmother, she’d been further crushed by her reception at the hands of Eleanor Lucas. It was easy enough now, at a distance of eight years, to understand that the ambassador’s wife had, in reality, been the one with the problem. Because anyone who could treat a young teenager with such unkindness and cruelty was undoubtedly in dire need of help.
Unfortunately, despite trying to keep out of everyone’s way—as she’d been forcibly instructed to do by Eleanor—almost the first person she’d bumped into had been her stepbrother, Leo Hamilton. And ‘bumped’ into was the right word, since she’d been bolting down a long, dark corridor, her eyes blinded by tears, when she’d run slap, bang into his tall figure.
‘So, you’re my newfound stepsister,’ he said, putting a comforting arm about her slight, thin, gawky figure as he led her into a nearby sitting room. ‘So, what’s the problem?’
Quite unable to face telling this wonderfully handsome man that it was his own mother’s cruel, sarcastic tongue from which she was fleeing, Alex mumbled something about being unhappy with her appearance.
‘Well...dying your hair that awful colour obviously wasn’t too clever,’ he agreed calmly. ‘But it’s hardly the end of the world.’
Continuing to talk calmly and kindly to her, he pointed out that probably her best option was to cut it all off as soon as possible. ‘What colour is your hair normally?’ he asked, and, when she told him that it was ‘sort of fair’, he cupped his hands about her head, staring intently down into her face.
‘I’ll tell you what, Alexandra,’ he said slowly. ‘I’m willing to bet that in a few years’ time you’ll turn out to be a raving beauty. With those lovely blue eyes and a mass of blonde hair—you’ll be a complete knockout!’
‘Really...?’ she breathed, enchanted by this new vision of herself as a sort of femme fatale.
‘Really and truly!’ he laughed, bending forward to plant a brief kiss on her nose, before going off to join his friends in the swimming pool.
And that small, casual act of kindness—which he’d undoubtedly forgotten all about by the time he reached the pool—was enough to immediately plunge Alex into the heady delights and deep misery of falling in love for the very first time.
With his extraordinarily handsome face, and lock of dark hair falling over his brow, he was obviously the very embodiment of the thrillingly wicked Lord Byron, whose poetry she was studying at school. Although Leo, as far as she was concerned, was very far from being ‘mad, bad, and dangerous to know’. He was obviously a true hero—the perfect, gentle knight of all her romantic fantasies, whom she could only hope to worship from afar. Until...as in all the very best fairy-tales...she somehow managed to save his life. Whereupon he would undoubtedly give her a chaste kiss and claim her for his bride.
The only trouble with this scenario was that, when Eleanor did eventually drag her off to the local hairdresser, and her hair was cut as short as possible, Alex was convinced that she now looked even worse than ever.
She spent long hours in front of her mirror, tugging at hair which was barely an inch long and bore a strong resemblance to an American crew-cut. It was practically impossible to imagine Leo wanting to know her—let alone claim her for his bride. Which was why she’d done her very best to keep out of his way. But, strangely, as that hot summer holiday continued, it seemed that despite her best efforts to avoid him she was continually coming across his tall, handsome figure. And, since he lived in the house, he was often witness to her increasing quarrels with his mother.
Alex had, by then, got used to the fact that there was nothing she could do to please Eleanor Lucas. Sir Geoffrey would often shield the young girl from the worst onslaughts, but he was often away, and there was no one else with the authority to check the older woman’s unkind tongue. Although, to give him his due, Leo did frequently step in and take the part of his stepsister. But as he, too, was often away staying with friends, or out at late-night parties, Alex was left to stand her own corner, doing her feeble best not to be ground down by Eleanor.
The episode of the missing brooch, whereby Alex suddenly found herself being arrested as a common thief and taken to the local police station, was still enough to give her nightmares all these years later. It hadn’t, of course, been the fault of the local police. There had been little they could do—not once Lady Lucas, the wife of a distinguished ambassador, had laid charges against a girl living in her house.
In a state of total panic and terror, Alex was half out of her mind by the time Leo turned up. He quickly secured her release by producing the missing brooch, which had eventually been found by one of the servants where the careless older woman had left it—in her bathroom !
He carried her back into the house and up to her room, but she was terrified of being left alone in the house with his mother. After making sure that she had some food on a tray, and faithfully promising that she would be quite safe, he had to leave to attend a party on the other side of the valley.
During the long evening in which, thankfully, the dreaded Eleanor had not made an appearance, Alex lay shivering on her bed, weeping with misery and desolation. And it was in a state of tearful exhaustion that Leo found her on his return to the villa much later that night.
Maybe he felt real concern, and had only meant to offer genuine comfort to the distressed young girl. But, whatever his intentions, as soon as his arms closed gently about her trembling figure the atmosphere in the moonlit bedroom suddenly became charged with a crackling electric tension. Even Alex, who had no conception of the forces which became unleashed by the close proximity of their two bodies, realised that something strange was happening to both Leo and herself.
With only the shafts of moonlight to illuminate her shadowy figure on the bed, and the surrounding darkness shielding her cropped hair from his view, Alex was free to imagine that she really was the beautiful princess of her teenage dreams, being awoken by a tender kiss from her handsome prince. In a dreamlike state, suspended midway between reality and fantasy, she found herself ardently responding to his warm embrace, her lips opening beneath his, actively welcoming the pressure of the strong, firm body whose arms were tightening convulsively about her slim figure. But it was her own soft moans of delight breaking into the heavy silence which brought an immediate and shocking end to the enchantment.
‘Oh—my God!’
Even after all these years, Alex could still hear and see in her mind’s eye the cry of horror as Leo leaped swiftly off the bed, and the savage expression of disgust on his face, clearly illuminated by the moonlight, as he told her never, ever to come near him again!
‘P-please...please don’t say that, Leo,’ she begged tearfully. ‘I love you. I truly love you—with all my heart!’
‘Don’t be stupid! You’ve no idea what you’re talking about,’ he retorted curtly. ‘Believe me, that wasn’t “love”.’ He gave a cruel, sardonic laugh. ‘When you’re older, you’ll realise it meant nothing. Absolutely nothing more than a case of brief sexual attraction. So, kindly remember that technically I’m almost your stepbrother—and don’t play games until you’re old enough to understand the rules,’ he added with terrifying menace, before turning to stride rapidly from the room.
Quite how she got through the rest of the night, Alex had no idea. When she awoke, a maid informed her that Leo had left the villa earlier that morning. And, following her forced departure back to England a few days later, she had never seen him again. Not, that is, until she’d marched into his office all these years later.
Immersed in her unhappy memor
ies of the past, Alex was startled out of her reverie by the sudden reappearance of the man she’d fallen so desperately in love with eight years ago.
‘There was only the usual awful food on the aeroplane. Which means that I’m now absolutely starving,’ Leo announced. ‘So, I’m going to knock something up in the kitchen. Do you feel like joining me?’
The memories of Tuscany were still so strongly fixed in her mind that Alex had difficulty pulling herself together. ‘Er...no, I don’t think... I mean, it’s really time I went home,’ she muttered, struggling to rise from the low, comfortable chair.
Unfortunately, as she gazed around the room, wondering where she’d left her handbag, she was suddenly betrayed as her stomach gave a loud rumble of acute hunger.
Leo laughed. ‘You may not want any food—but your insides clearly have other ideas!’ He grinned. ‘When did you last eat?’
Trying to pummel her brain into some kind of working order, Alex could only remember having a late-morning sandwich before driving off to see Fiona Bliss. So, it looked as though all she’d had since then was a hot cup of coffee, and a glass of wine here in Leo’s apartment.
‘If it’s taking you that long to answer my question then you’re clearly in need of a meal,’ Leo announced, taking no notice of her protests as he firmly carted her off to the large kitchen.
‘That was really great!’ Alex sighed some considerable time later as she viewed the empty plate in front of her. ‘I hate to say it, but you’re obviously a really good cook.’
‘Gee—thanks!’ he drawled, grinning as he accurately mimicked her own words from earlier, when he’d expressed surprise at her ability to string more than one or two words together.
‘Well, you might have known that I could write, since that’s obviously the way I earn my living,’ she pointed out mildly. ‘But, since I’m not clairvoyant, how could I have possibly guessed that a stuffy City banker—who also, according to Fleet Street gossip, has a really terrific reputation as a Casanova—would turn out to be a really great chef?’
‘Gee—thanks. Again!’ he ground out, clearly not so amused this time. ‘As for my so-called reputation...1 can assure you that it’s highly exaggerated. Quite a work of fiction, in fact.’
‘Yes, well...’ She took another sip of the really excellent wine. ‘Never mind, Leo. Once the word gets around that you cook like a dream, I don’t suppose you’ll have any problem with your love life.’
‘I can assure you that there’s no problem with my love life!’ he snapped irritably.
‘But I thought you just said—?’
‘Rubbish! I was merely pointing out...’ He paused, catching the gleam of laughter in her eyes. ‘Ouch! I walked straight into that one, didn’t I?’ He shook his head with annoyance and self-disgust. ‘It’s clear that not only should I watch my tongue—but that you, my dear Alex, have had quite enough to drink,’ he drawled in an icy tone of voice. ‘So I think it’s time we had some coffee in the other room, don’t you?’
Oh, Lord! The awful man was quite right. Unfortunately, the smoked salmon tagliatelle, followed by grilled king prawns and a delicious salad—which Leo had seemed to conjure up out of thin air—had been so scrumptious that she’d hardly noticed how much wine she’d been drinking. Which meant that she was now in no fit state to drive home. What on earth was she going to do?
It was a question that was still buzzing intermittently in her head as she sipped her cup of strong black coffee in the sitting room some minutes later. Maybe, if she concentrated on putting as much caffeine into herself as possible, she’d be able to sober up by the time it came to drive home?
Unfortunately, while the coffee was certainly helping her to feel a lot more wide awake, the alcohol still coursing through her veins seemed to have the disastrous effect of loosening her tongue. Which meant that, almost before she knew what she was doing, she found herself telling him all about her plan for the three couples to attend a St Valentine’s Day ball.
‘That’s all I need,’ Leo muttered grimly.
Under normal circumstances, he would have been prepared to quite cheerfully wring this damned girl’s neck! However, since he had absolutely no intention of attending any stupid ball—and there was little or no chance of Alex, at this late stage, being able to get hold of any tickets—there seemed little point in getting too annoyed about the situation. Particularly since he had every intention of having a long talk on the phone to Fiona first thing tomorrow morning. Once Ms Pemberton found herself unable to either interview Fiona or to gain any real cooperation from himself, this whole stupid idea would, hopefully, soon be dead and buried.
The fact that he found Alex quite extraordinarily attractive was neither here nor there. Because there was no way he was prepared to allow himself to be used as a stooge merely to save her career.
And there was clearly no reason for him to feel concerned or even guilty if she did lose her job, he told himself firmly. She’d been quite ruthless, particularly in her attempt to blackmail him into agreeing to cooperate with that crazy article of hers. On top of which, Alexandra Rothstein—or Alex Pemberton, as she now liked to call herself—was an extremely rich young girl. So, even if the Chronicle dispensed with her services, it was hardly the end of the world. It wasn’t as if she was likely to find herself starving in a garret, for heaven’s sake.
While Alex was well aware that she’d drunk too much wine, she was still sober enough to note that Leo didn’t seem to be particularly worried about attending the ball. Maybe it would be a good idea to get rid of all the bad news at once?
‘Well, I appreciate you taking it on the chin like this,’ she told him with a relieved smile. ‘I was certain that you’d go up in a puff of smoke on hearing about the ball. Which is why I made sure of choosing the dance which your mother’s organising, for the National Society for Orphaned Children.’
‘What...?’
‘I don’t know why you’re looking so upset,’ she grumbled. ‘Especially since I spent a lot of time trying to get hold of enough tickets. Most balls are sold out at this time of the year, you know.’
‘Yes, I was aware of that fact,’ he ground out through clenched teeth.
‘Well...you might look a bit more grateful, Leo, because I took a lot of trouble to choose a ball where you wouldn’t stand out like a sore thumb. I mean, your friends aren’t likely to be too surprised if they hear that you turned up to support your mother, are they?’
Unfortunately, the damned girl was quite right! In fact, if he wasn’t so angry about being out-manoeuvred, he might even be prepared to admit that if he had to go to a Valentine’s ball she’d managed to choose the only one he’d be prepared to attend. Which didn’t make such a bitter pill any easier to swallow.
‘You certainly seem to have been very busy on my behalf,’ Leo drawled in a dangerously soft, bland voice. ‘While we’re at it, are there any other arrangements you’d like to tell me about? Any small detail that might require my help, hmm...?’
‘No, I don’t think so,’ Alex told him, suddenly feeling a lot more cheerful and confident.
Obviously Leo couldn’t be expected to be too thrilled about having to attend his mother’s shindig. But, all in all, he seemed to be taking everything very calmly. Of course, she hadn’t yet told him about seeing Fiona earlier today. But he was obviously in such a good mood that it looked as if this was a perfect opportunity to break the bad news. Though she hadn’t yet worked out one or two minor arrangements...
‘Oh, yes—there is just one thing,’ she added quickly. ‘I haven’t yet sorted out the exact time we’re all going to be turning up at the dance. As you probably know, it’s on a Thursday, so the traffic shouldn’t be too bad. I’ll have to let you and Fiona know about the arrangements later this week. OK?’
‘Ah... well, I think you may find that you’ve a slight problem there,’ he told her with grim satisfaction. ‘I’m not at all sure that dear Fiona will be able to make the ball, after all. It’s very sad, of
course.’ He shook his head sorrowfully. ‘I know that she’d like to be able to cooperate with your plans, but...’
‘There’s no need to worry about your fiancée,’ Alex assured him earnestly. ‘Fiona has already told me that she’s quite happy to go along with all the arrangements. Just as long as we keep awful old Ethel well out of the picture, of course!’
‘What?’
‘There’s no need to shout!’ Alex protested, suddenly realising that she might have been just a little too optimistic about Leo’s good humour—and his likely reaction to the news that she’d seen Fiona Bliss.
‘Are you seriously trying to tell me...?’
‘Calm down! There’s no need to get excited,’ she said quickly, wincing at the expression of outrage and fury on his handsome face. ‘Yes, I went down to Hampshire to see Fiona today—and you’ll be glad to hear that we got on really well.’
‘Why should I be “glad to hear” anything from you?’ he demanded furiously. ‘You...you stupid, interfering girl! Why in hell can’t you mind your own damn business?’
‘Now—just a minute!’ she hissed angrily. ‘I’ve never known anyone so certain that they are always right, or anyone so stiff with self-righteous pride. You’re clearly the sort of guy who’d give hubris a far worse name than it has already! Well, maybe it’s time you realised that you aren’t quite as smart and clever as you’d like to think you are, Leo. Because I was perfectly well aware that you regarded me as stupid, and that you’d have no problem in keeping Fiona under wraps and well out of sight. Which is precisely why I went down to see her today. And let me tell you,’ Alex ground out through gritted teeth, ‘I reckon that she’s an idiot to be throwing herself away on a... a raving Casanova like you. In fact, why she seems to think that you’re the cat’s pyjamas, I have absolutely no idea!’
‘How dare you talk to me like that!’ he roared angrily. ‘And will you kindly stop calling me a “Casanova”?’
