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A Rather Lovely Inheritance

Page 28

by C. A. Belmond


  Rollo, too, could not prevent himself from uttering a gusty regretful sigh when the painting was announced as mine. As he rose to go, he shrugged his shoulders as if rearranging himself, like a dog shaking himself off after a fight. He and his lawyers walked out of the courthouse without a single backward glance, and climbed into a long black limousine.

  “You know, of course, that we’ll have to look after him,” I told Jeremy as we watched Rollo’s car pull away. “He is family, after all.”

  Jeremy understood and he didn’t argue, but he rolled his eyes.“Oh, Lord,” he groaned. “Just don’t let him know your plans.”

  My parents and our triumphant lawyers behaved as if they had just passed their last final exam and would never have to return to school ever again. Not that anybody whooped; we were all too sober and dignified for that. But suddenly everyone was hugging and slapping each other on the back.

  My parents had decided to stay on in Nice for a week. So as we lingered on the sidewalk outside the courthouse in the beautiful sunlight, savoring the fine weather and our good luck, my father and mother were trying to decide which restaurant they’d like to take us to. I glanced over at Jeremy, who was conversing with Rupert and Louis. They were beaming, as if Jeremy was praising them. Severine joined them, and they all looked triumphant.

  Harold came over to me, shook hands formally, and said with a twinkle,“Well, Miss Nichols, what on earth will such a young lady do with such a windfall?”

  I grinned. “Oh, share it with the one man in the world I can trust most,” I said happily and automatically. But when Harold harumphed and said,“Ah, well, excellent,” and excused himself, I thought perhaps I’d been a bit too honest.

  He went to speak to Rupert and Louis. Severine, I noticed, gave Jeremy a single kiss on the cheek, which I thought was far more intimate than the customary one-on-each-cheek kiss. Jeremy glanced somewhat guiltily at me, I thought, and didn’t kiss her back.

  Severine’s gaze followed his, and she studied me from afar, then looked back at Jeremy again, as if she suddenly comprehended something for the first time, and it didn’t sit well.A sharp, territorial expression crossed her face as she looked back at me again, and all I could think was, “Uh-oh.”

  Sure enough, she came walking toward me rather purposefully. “Congratulations, Miss Nichols,” she said. Jeremy had followed her, looking slightly alarmed at the two of us together.

  “We really have Severine to thank for a lot of the way this was settled,” he told me softly as if trying to make peace, not war.

  “Yes, thanks-very-much,” I said, and my own voice sounded very English to me for the first time. I looked at her and she looked at me, but then she glanced away as if she couldn’t bear the sight of me anymore. We managed polite nods and a handshake. Her fingers were cold, and I was glad when she went back to talk to Louis, Rupert, and Harold.

  “Okay, I thanked her,” I said when she’d left us. Jeremy laughed and rumpled my hair. Severine, alert as a cobra, sensed something and flicked a backward glance at us, then resumed talking serenely to Louis and Rupert, while Harold stepped away to answer his mobile phone.

  “Penny,” Jeremy said,“you know you can change your mind about sharing the money.”

  “No,” I said, “I talked it over with my parents. They understand, and agree.”

  “You will go on making me feel like I have to protect you, even from myself,” he said.

  “A deal’s a deal,” I said. “We’ll split everything from France fifty-fifty, including what I get for the painting.Which also means I get to use the villa, and you can drive my car.”

  “You’re impossible,” he said, and he looked as if he might kiss me, but my parents were watching us and waving. He took my arm and we joined them.

  “Jeremy!” my mother said, taking his arm in a friendly way. “Are you hungry? We’re starved!” I was going to dine out with my folks, then leave them in Nice, to have their little second honeymoon. I’d thought Jeremy, too, would come with us and celebrate, but he told us that Harold had assigned him a new client from Texas who insisted on seeing him tonight in London. And he would probably have to fly out of London with him tomorrow afternoon.

  But he assured me that he and my father’s lawyers had already gone over some routine papers that I was supposed to sign, so Jeremy wanted me to know that he’d be in his office in the morning, and if I came down there early to sign them, he’d be able to answer any last-minute questions. “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said.

  My mother gave him a kiss, which pleased him, and he shook hands with my father, and kissed me, rather formally because my parents were watching; then Rupert stopped by to tell me, in his nervous, responsible way, that he’d booked me a flight to London for later tonight.

  Chapter Forty

  THE NEXT MORNING, I KNEW SOMETHING WAS WRONG THE MINUTE I set foot in the law offices in London. A silver-haired secretary led me back to Jeremy’s office, which had a big modern desk, a highbacked leather chair, a beautiful view of the Thames . . . but no Jeremy. She told me that Rupert was on his way to “explain all.” I knew she meant explain about Jeremy’s absence; my father’s American lawyer had already sent me an e-mail assuring me that these papers were okay to sign, for they just made me a legal heir.

  Rupert came in looking especially nervous, even for him, and proceeded to tell me that Jeremy had not only left the building earlier than he’d expected but also would be out of the country longer than he’d thought.The client wanted him to stay abroad for at least two weeks, because after a stop in Canada, he’d be needed in Texas.

  “I can’t understand it,” I said to Rupert as he laid out the papers for me to sign on Jeremy’s desk. “Jeremy usually calls me to tell me these things himself, and he didn’t.”

  “No?” said Rupert with mild surprise. “Well, it all happened this morning, very rush-rush. Client’s private plane was leaving early for Canada. Fellow wants Jeremy to go fishing with him at his special private retreat. Out on some island that they have to be choppered in to. No phones or modern conveniences there.”

  The secretary poked her head in the door and said there was a phone call that Rupert must take. Rupert left me alone to sign “whenever you feel comfortable.”

  So there I was, sitting quietly in Jeremy’s office, in Jeremy’s chair, looking out of Jeremy’s window . . . but no Jeremy. I had my pen poised when I felt someone watching me. It was Severine, standing right outside the door, talking to the secretary. As I signed the papers, I could feel Severine’s eyes watching my every loop.

  “I’m getting paranoid,” I thought, when she walked away. The secretary returned and collected all the papers, and she said,“Oh, by the way, your fiancé is here, come to pick you up. He was here earlier but went down to the restaurant for breakfast. He said to call him when you were done, so I did and he’s out in the reception now. Shall I send him in?”

  “My what?” I said, astounded.

  But Paul was never a man to be kept hanging around a reception area. He’d been right behind the secretary, following her in. He was coming at me right now, with that familiar arrogant tilt of his head, the ruthless, determined look in his eye, the status-symbol clothes, and that aggressive, bullying stride. The only thing I didn’t recognize about him was the warm, bighearted grin on his face. I’d never seen that before. But now it positively stretched ear-to-ear.

  “Penny Nichols, hello!” he said in a low voice as he put his arm around my waist and pulled me in for a possessive kiss. “Pentathlon Productions just isn’t the same without you.”

  “Paul!” I gulped. “What—what—are you doing here—in London?” It was a nightmare come true. Paul in London. Here in Jeremy’s office. Two separate and distinct compartments of my life, New York and London, now horribly overlapping. I felt a jolt of absolute panic, knowing what Paul’s like when he’s got quarry trained in his sights.

  “I’m here on business—and pleasure,” he said meaningfully. He had a
most peculiar gleam in his eye. “I’ve come to rescue the only woman I’ve ever loved, and bring you home.”

  Paul never talked like that. Declarations of love were, to a warrior like him, tantamount to surrender and defeat. So, not having sincere words of love in his arsenal, he’d merely borrowed them from any one of Pentathlon Productions’ scripts. I felt embarrassed for both of us.

  Rupert’s head peered round the corner. He looked stricken, even somewhat guilty. And behind him were a couple of other curious office onlookers. I stepped away from Paul.

  “Uh—that’s nice, Paul—er—have a seat, I’ll be right back,” I choked out, and darted out of the room and chased Rupert down at his little desk.

  “Okay, Rupert,” I said. “Out with it. What’s going on here? How did Paul know I’d be here? Who let that monster in?”

  “He was here earlier,” Rupert whispered. “Apparently he tried to reach you, but all your calls are still being forwarded to us. Somebody told him you were expected here this morning, and let him in.”

  “Did Paul talk to Jeremy?” I asked, horrified.

  “Yes.Your fiancé told Jeremy he’d come to take you back home to America—”

  “Stop calling him my fiancé,” I said.“Do you think for one minute that I would actually marry that guy? Good God,” I said. “I’d rather eat nails.”

  Rupert looked surprised and relieved. “I say, that’s good news,” he said cheerfully.

  “How come you all believed him?” I pressed, even though I know how convincing Paul can be.The trick of being a good liar is to actually start believing your own lies.

  “Well,” said Rupert, looking a bit fusty, “Harold said you told him that you were going to share your inheritance with ‘the one man in the world I can trust most’—your exact words.”

  I groaned. “Drat that Harold,” I said. “The soul of discretion, until now.”

  Rupert said, “So, naturally, when this bloke showed up he rather gave the impression that you’d summoned him as soon as the estate was settled and you’d got your money.”

  Bingo. The money. That explained it. Erik had warned me that Paul knew why I’d gone to London. And the story of the painting had been in all the Euro press. Oh, Christ, I thought. This must be what it’s like to hit the lottery or something, and have all your friends and relatives come out of the woodwork, suddenly impressed with you.

  “Did Jeremy say anything to you about me when he left?” I asked. Rupert looked up as if he’d finally made a decision to spill the beans, but he still couldn’t quite look me in the eye.

  “Oh, you know,” he said. “He went about muttering about the treachery of women. Men do that among men. It doesn’t mean anything,” Rupert assured me. “It’s just that Jeremy truly fancies you, and it kind of looked as if once you got what you needed from him, you called up your real boyfriend. He said this was the fellow who’d broken your heart and for whom you still carry a torch. So—you didn’t tell this man to meet you here, then?” he inquired.

  “Of course not!” I said hotly. “Invite that creep back into my life? Share money with that bum? Never! He came here all on his own.”

  “Ah,” said Rupert, looking as if he wished we would stop talking about it. “That explains the whole kerfuffle.”

  “No, it doesn’t,” I said.“Who told Paul that I was going to be here in the first place? And let him in this morning?”

  Something made me look up then. At the far end of the corridor was Severine, watching us closely.When she saw the look on my face, she darted toward the ladies’ room.

  “Pardon me, Rupert,” I said. “And don’t disappear on me. I’ll be right back. Keep Paul as busy as you can.”

  I chased that snake-woman right into the ladies’ room and cornered her at the mirror, where she was very cool and casual, smoothing her hair and applying blood-red lipstick. All the while we spoke, her eyes were on my reflection in the mirror.

  “Well?” I demanded.

  When I didn’t say anything more, she said, “Congratulations on your engagement.”

  “There is no engagement,” I said hotly. “And suddenly Jeremy’s gone, too. Would you like to explain why you took it upon yourself to arrange this little fiasco?”

  From the look on her face I knew that she was the one who did it, all right.

  “Don’t worry about Zheremy,” she said, patting her shiny hair in that perfect twist. “He always gets what he wants from women.” Her eyes looked hard, but bright. I knew she meant that he’d lost interest in her. I might have even felt sorry for her—except for what she said next.“Especially now zat he has his villa . . . and a generous allowance from you.” She shook her head scoldingly, as if I’d played the war of the sexes all wrong. “You make it too easy for him. Now he can stay independent, even from you,” she said on her way out.

  I stood there alone for a moment.Well. Someone had just told me that a man had seduced me only for my money. Now that was truly a new experience.

  When I came out of the ladies’ room Paul was in the hallway, waiting to pounce.

  “Okay, Penny, let’s find somewhere beautiful and expensive to have lunch,” he offered, as if he’d made up his mind for both of us. I was amazed that he still thought he could impose his strong will on my uncertain one. “You and I have a lot of catching up to do,” he murmured softly. “For the rest of our lives.”

  I stared at him. I could remember a time, not that long ago, when such attentiveness, fidelity and affection from him would have filled me with joy. Now, well . . . I could see from the hard little sparkle around those loving eyes, that I was simply, in his mind, the rich woman he’d been searching for all his life—and, as an added bonus, I was also sweet Penny Nichols, who he always thought would make a nice, loyal, compliant little wife.

  “Sorry, Paul,” I said calmly. “I’ve got to track down a certain lawyer. And by the way,” I added, “do stop going around introducing yourself as my fiancé.You and I both know that our little moment in the sun together ended a long, long time ago.”

  On my way out, I caught up with Rupert, who was going out to lunch. “It was Severine who did the deed and put Jeremy and Paul in the same cage together,” I announced.

  Rupert looked nonplused and said, “Really? I’m quite surprised at Severine. She’s usually so professional. I don’t know why she would do such a thing.”

  “Because she’s in love with him, for starters,” I said. “I think they were an item once.”

  Rupert mumbled that well, if it were true that Jeremy and Severine had been an item once, it must have been before he, Rupert, had “come on board.”

  “Look, Rupert,” I said. “Now I have to talk to Jeremy, that moron. You must have a number where you can reach him.”

  “Actually, I don’t,” Rupert said, sounding surprised himself. “The guy from Texas is a secretive sort of fellow. He does his deals at some lodge where there are no phones. Jeremy told me he’d try to find a landline somewhere, but I haven’t heard from him yet. Don’t worry. He’ll phone in eventually. He always does.”

  “I certainly hope so,” I said. “Meanwhile, I have to go to Italy, to the museum that’s bought the painting.To approve where they’re putting it.”

  “I understand, and I’ll tell Jeremy as soon as he calls,” Rupert promised.

  Chapter Forty-one

  SO THERE I WAS, SITTING ON A BENCH IN THE MUSEUM, STARING AT the Madonna and Child, wondering what on earth I was going to do with the rest of my life.The day was sunny and benevolent, and the walled-in museum gardens were fragrant with lemon and orange trees whose perfume wafted into the corridors through its open windows. I’d been ushered in via a private door, and led to the special wing where my painting had its own glassed-in alcove waiting for it, with a quaint, tiny thermometer that would make sure it always had just the right atmosphere and temperature to protect it.

  The curator had been wonderfully kind, and sensed that I was feeling a bit subdued, so after the workman
finished the job of hanging the painting, he left me there alone with my thoughts. I could hear his footsteps retreating across the cool marble floors.

  I sat there gazing at the Madonna. She gave me a maternal, comforting sort of look. She may have even said, Pull yourself together, ducky . . . you’re still young . . . more or less . . .

  But just as I’d begun to calm down and feel philosophical, a man plunked himself down on the bench next to me and cleared his throat and rattled his newspaper. Irritably I realized that the museum had just opened for the day, and people were already streaming in to get a look at the painting. It was obvious that I needed to be left alone. But this man couldn’t sit still, he harumphed and blew his nose noisily—and still I didn’t catch on.Till finally he spoke.

  “For a detective, Penny Nichols, you can be a bit obtuse at crucial moments,” I heard Jeremy’s voice say in amusement. I looked up into his grinning, dopey face.

  “I don’t believe it,” I said. “You’re supposed to be on a boat or something. In Texas.”

  “And you’re supposed to be winging your way back to America with that uncouth beast,” he said. “According to Severine.You didn’t tell me Paul was still your boss, you know.”

  “Nobody’s going to be my boss ever again,” I said.

  “Nevertheless,” Jeremy said, “when he showed up at my door, grinning like a monkey, talking about marrying you, I guess I went a bit doolally. God, I just wanted to wring his neck. And yours. I remembered how tortured you looked when you told me about him.”

  “That is not, you know, love,” I muttered.

 

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