by Sara Craven
‘Well, stroppy or not, I wouldn’t have kicked him out of bed, given the chance,’ said Janice. ‘So, when the pair of you just—vanished like that, people round here put two and two together.’
‘Making five plus as usual,’ Dana returned crisply. ‘And I didn’t vanish. I took a job I’d been offered in London. Sorry I didn’t put a notice in the paper.’
Janice gave her a long look. ‘Stands to reason, he must have fancied you, or why make all that fuss about that old bike.’
Dana’s mouth was suddenly dry, but she forced herself to speak more lightly. ‘A serious commitment to throwing his weight around, probably. Who knows?’ She took out her purse. ‘Here’s the money for the coffee. I think I’ll drink it outside.’
Janice shrugged. ‘No skin off my nose.’
Dana’s mind was in turmoil as she seated herself on a bench by the towpath.
She supposed it was inevitable that her sudden departure should have caused gossip. Villages were like that. But knowing the talk had linked her with Zac only intensified the old shame and bitterness.
For an instant, she remembered how she’d seen him earlier, lithe as a panther, water beading like crystal on his bare skin.
He must have fancied you...
And, shocked, felt her body stir suddenly at the memories those careless words evoked.
No, she told herself vehemently. It was never that. He was a manipulator—a spoiler who’d wanted her to be sent away, and left her defenceless against his lies.
But this time she knew what he was capable of, and she’d be ready for whatever trick he tried to pull.
Besides, she thought, for Adam she was still unfinished business, which was always a temptation. And she would make him wait—keep him wanting—holding him at arm’s length while her smile promised the world.
Zac Belisandro had no weapons to fight that. And this time, he would lose.
She’d expected breakfast to be in full swing when she got back to the house, but, while everyone was certainly assembled in the dining room, ‘swing’ hardly seemed an appropriate description of the prevailing atmosphere.
Conversation was subdued with Adam seated at the head of the table, his face like stone, and Mimi Latimer at its foot, looking martyred.
The chorus of ‘Good morning’s which greeted her suggested that her arrival was something of a relief.
Particularly to Nicola. ‘There you are,’ she exclaimed. ‘I took you a cup of tea earlier and wondered where you were.’
‘Just revisiting some old haunts.’ Nicola helped herself to bacon and scrambled egg from the chafing dishes on the sideboard. ‘I’m sorry I’m late,’ she added politely to Miss Latimer as she returned to the table, receiving a sniff in return.
She too felt like sniffing when she realised who was sitting opposite.
‘You must have been up at the crack of dawn, like Zac,’ said Nicola. ‘He’s already been for a swim this morning.’ She shuddered. ‘Such energy.’
‘Perhaps he likes having the pool to himself,’ said Eddie.
‘On the contrary,’ Zac said softly. ‘At one point, I hoped I might have company, but, sadly, it was not to be.’
For a moment, his eyes rested reflectively on Dana, who swiftly lowered her own gaze to her plate, but not before she’d registered the angry mark like a scratch on his cheekbone where she’d struck out at him the previous night.
Good, she thought savagely. I hope you’re scarred for life.
Her breakfast had totally lost its attraction but she forced herself to eat, cutting her bacon into very small pieces and wishing that it was Zac under her knife. She was burning with the knowledge that he’d seen her at the Orangery, and, at the same time, aching with the necessity to show no reaction.
Mrs Marchwood leaned forward. ‘Working for Jarvis Stratton, Dana, you must meet some fascinating people.’
Dana smiled. ‘The job has its moments, but what I enjoy most is matching the person to the property. Finding each client somewhere they’re going to love.’
‘An estate agent who is also a philanthropist?’ Zac queried with deceptive gentleness. ‘A unique combination—but we must not forget the commission you earn.’
‘I don’t,’ Dana countered flatly. ‘I too need to keep a roof over my head.’
‘Was selling property something you always wanted to do, my dear?’ Mrs Marchwood again.
Dana shook her head. ‘I got into it accidentally while I was still working as a mother’s help. My then employers had their house on the market, but were having trouble selling it.’
‘Because of the recession?’ asked Eddie.
‘Partly,’ Dana agreed. ‘But there were other factors too.’
‘Such as?’ Emily enquired.
Dana hesitated. Such as the asking price, she recalled ruefully, and presentation. Tess Jameson had not belonged to the blank canvas school of thought and liked her cluttered, untidy, intensely personal house just as it was.
She said carefully, ‘I felt that it was the husband who was pushing for a sale, not the wife. Her emotional investment in the house was much greater than his, and she’d made no attempt to detach herself. That can happen a lot.’
‘So what happened?’ asked Mr Marchwood.
‘The family had gone to stay with friends for the weekend, and Jarvis Stratton telephoned on Saturday morning to ask if they could come for an accompanied viewing in the afternoon. I—agreed.
‘I tidied round a little,’ she went on, glossing over the five frantic hours of decluttering and cleaning, including the bedding and curtains hastily washed, dried and replaced.
‘Jarvis Stratton always makes a point of being early, but this time they were late and, after half an hour, the clients were still waiting and getting restless. So, I offered to show them round, and they agreed.’
She shrugged. ‘I pretended to myself it was my house, a place I’d loved, where I’d been happy and which I was leaving with regret. And it must have worked, because when the agent turned up, having been stuck in traffic after an accident, the clients were talking seriously about an offer and told him I was a super saleswoman.
‘When they’d gone, he gave me his card and a contact name. The following week, I had a job.’
‘The girl with the golden touch,’ Zac commented sardonically. ‘And do you still follow the same policy? Pretending other peoples’ houses are yours to love?’
‘Why not?’ She looked back at him defiantly. ‘If it works.’
He nodded. ‘So how would you sell Mannion?’
‘I wouldn’t!’ Caught off guard, Dana knew at once she’d made the wrong response. She’d spoken too quickly and vehemently. Made it too personal.
Now she needed to retrieve the situation.
She smiled, shrugging. ‘Mannion is a country property which would be handled by a different department in the firm. Sadly, I wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near it,’ she added, pouring herself some coffee as Zac sat back, his expression ironic.
If this is a duel, she thought, I’d say honours were even. But he nearly drew blood, so I must be careful. So very, very careful.
CHAPTER SIX
DANA WAS THANKFUL when the meal ended and she was able to escape to the terrace where, presently, Nicola joined her.
‘What a wonderful start to the day,’ she remarked, flinging herself into a chair. ‘I don’t know which of them I’d like to strangle first, Adam or Aunt Mimi.’
‘I thought I detected a whiff of sulphur in the air.’ Dana made herself speak lightly. ‘What’s happened?’
‘Aunt Mimi decided to lecture Adam on his role as the owner of Mannion—living up to his responsibilities—settling down—producing a son and heir.’ She rolled her eyes expressively. ‘She rounded off by urging him, in furtherance
of these aims, to make his peace with Robina.
‘And Adam, alas, told her very bluntly that he would live his life as he saw fit without any interference from her. Expletives deleted. And all this before the cornflakes.’
She sighed. ‘But I’m sorry you had to take the flak. You must have felt you’d been cornered by the Spanish Inquisition.’
‘It was fine,’ Dana assured her.
‘I know Aunt Mimi is tactless and meddling,’ Nicola went on. ‘But I can’t forget how kind she was when the parents were divorcing and things were so awful, taking me to the cinema, the Zoo, Madame Tussauds with tea at Brown’s Hotel afterwards.
‘Not Adam, of course,’ she added bitterly. ‘He was far too grown up and superior. He deigned to come to the Natural History Museum once but disappeared halfway through the afternoon. Aunt Mimi was having fits, thinking he’d been abducted or eaten by a dinosaur, but he’d just gone home because he was bored.’
She sighed again. ‘And I do worry because Aunt Mimi isn’t very well off any more. Her savings and shares have plummeted in value which is why Serafina has let her stay here so often, and it’s something she’s come to rely on.
‘But in a matter of days now, Mannion will belong entirely to Adam, and I’m afraid Aunt Mimi will be toast.’
‘Oh, surely not,’ Dana said quickly.
‘Adam can really bear a grudge.’ Nicola shrugged. ‘But that’s not your problem. I really came to say that we’re all going over to Hastonbury Castle—apart from Adam and Zac who are going to play golf—and would you like to come?’
Dana hesitated. ‘To be honest, I’d rather stay here. Saturdays are always murder at work and it’s such bliss to be able to relax for once.’
‘It’s your call.’ Nicola patted her arm. ‘I’ll tell Mrs Harris to bring you more coffee and the newspaper. See you later.’
The coffee and paper duly arrived and Dana settled down with the prize crossword, but her mind kept drifting back to Nicola’s comments about Miss Latimer which had made her feel vaguely uncomfortable.
She and I will never be friends, she thought, but surely Adam can see she’s just a silly, elderly woman. Besides she’s right in one way. Adam does need a wife—and children.
That was an aspect she’d never contemplated before, she thought blankly. It had all been about winning. Getting what she wanted, rather than what might be required of her in return.
But she wouldn’t worry too much. She didn’t yearn to be a mother, but it was a natural consequence of marriage and she would deal with it when the time came.
But for now, she thought luxuriously, stretching out on her padded lounger, time could simply—slip by.
* * *
‘Wake up, Sleeping Beauty.’
The words seemed to be part of the dream she’d been having. A bed, soft as a cloud, and someone’s arms—Adam’s arms—holding her close.
Smiling, she opened her eyes and found Adam—no longer a dream—bending over her.
‘Heavens.’ She struggled upright, pushing at her hair. ‘Please tell me I wasn’t snoring.’
‘Not a sound,’ he said. ‘Scout’s honour.’
‘I bet you were never in the Scouts. Did you enjoy your golf?
‘We didn’t play. Zac apparently had other plans, so I spent some time on the driving range.’ He paused. ‘And you didn’t fancy the castle ruins?’
‘I’ve seen them before.’
‘But not for quite a while.’ Another silence. ‘Do you ever think about those days—when you lived here?’
Think about them? Think about them?
Dana bit back a peal of hysterical laughter and shrugged. ‘I don’t tend to dwell in the past,’ she lied. ‘I prefer to look forward.’
He hitched a chair forward and sat beside her. ‘I can’t get over how different you are.’
‘Well, I’m certainly not a schoolgirl any more.’
‘I noticed,’ he said. ‘But there is—stuff that I remember from those days.’ He looked awkward. ‘Things, maybe, that shouldn’t have happened.’
Her heart leapt. She kept her voice casual. ‘It was a long time ago, and we’ve both changed. Perhaps we should agree to forget the past.’
The blue eyes looked into hers. He said slowly, ‘I’m not so sure I want to forget—all of it.’
Hardly breathing, she waited for him to reach for her. Take her hand. Draw her towards him.
Only to see a shadow fall across the terrace.
‘So here you are,’ Zac drawled. ‘How convenient. You can both enjoy this pleasant surprise.’
He turned to the tall blonde girl standing almost hesitantly in the French windows, a brief blue dress showing off an expensive tan.
‘Robina, cara.’ His voice was a caress. ‘Come here and make Adam a happy man again.’
There was a silence that could have been cut with a knife. Adam rose slowly from his chair.
‘Robina, sweetheart, where did you spring from?’ He walked across the terrace to her side.
‘Just the railway station.’ She gave a little excited laugh. ‘I rang Zac earlier and asked him to pick me up. Is it really a nice surprise?’
Move, said a voice in Dana’s head as Robina’s hands went up to Adam’s shoulders and she offered her lips for his kiss. Move now. Stand up politely. Show nothing—no frustration, no disappointment—because you know you’re being watched.
Her body felt stiff, unwilling to obey, but she lifted herself from the lounger, the newspaper sliding from her lap.
She watched them kiss, waiting for jealousy to rip into her—tear her apart, but all she actually felt was anger. And its focus was neither Adam nor the girl clinging to him, but Zac, quiet and observant beside her.
She said brightly, ‘Adam, aren’t you going to introduce us?’
‘Of course.’ Adam led Robina forward. ‘Dana Grantham, meet Robina Simmons.’
‘I’m an old friend of Adam’s sister,’ Dana said easily, encountering a faintly limp handshake. ‘We’ve rather lost touch over the years, so this weekend has been catch-up time.’
Robina nodded. ‘And Mannion is such a lovely place for it to happen. I always think it’s a little corner of Paradise.’
Complete with serpent, thought Dana.
‘Well,’ Adam said breezily. ‘Let’s take your things upstairs, my sweet, and get you settled in.’
Plus another more private reunion, thought Dana as they disappeared into the house together, Robina chattering excitedly.
Zac broke the taut silence. ‘Please understand that you are wasting your time.’
She had not expected quite such a blunt approach, and for a moment, it threw her.
But only for a moment.
‘Why do you still begrudge me a pleasant weekend in the country?’ she asked coolly. ‘After all, I do work very hard.’
He nodded reflectively. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘That I grant you because I have been watching you do so. But you would have done better to stay away.’
‘I am not here as your guest, Mr Belisandro.’ Dana lifted her chin. ‘Kindly remember that.’
He inclined his head with mocking courtesy. ‘Believe me, signorina, it is a situation that I find it quite impossible to forget.’
His dark gaze suddenly seemed to blaze at her, not with anger, but something even more disturbing, his eyes travelling from her parted lips to the rounded swell of her breasts under the cling of her silky top. Reminding her how his hands and lips had once caressed her.
Mouth dry, Dana took a step away from him, her foot brushing against the newspaper and pen lying forgotten on the flagstones.
She bent to retrieve them but Zac got there first, glancing down at the unfinished crossword as he held it out to her.
He said, ‘F
ourteen down is “Azerbaijan”.’
‘You finish it,’ she said, turning away. ‘As you seem to think you have all the answers.’ And went into the house.
Even with the window open, her room was like an oven, but Dana was already boiling inwardly. She slammed the door and leaned against it, staring ahead of her with eyes that saw nothing.
Why was he doing this? she asked herself. He was the virtual ruler of a great multinational organisation with worldwide interests in mining, shipping, agriculture, technology and tourism. He was related to the Latimers only because his father and Serafina were first cousins.
So, where in this busy and exhausting life did he find time to interest himself in Adam’s choice of wife?
It was like playing chess against a grand master, she thought. Finding your every move blocked with a mocking murmur of ‘Check’. Feeling increasingly out of your depth. Being driven inexorably to the moment when you’d overturn your piece in defeat.
And, right now, she was tempted to do exactly that. To invent some emergency and leave. Concentrate her energies on her career. Perhaps find contentment in a new relationship.
Except...
What peace of mind could she hope for if she allowed herself to be—mugged like this? To meekly give up Mannion without a fight—something that she wanted more than anything in the world, and that, morally and emotionally, already belonged to her?
Leaving her to wonder ‘what if’ for the rest of her life?
Robina’s arrival was a setback, nothing more. It was Adam who would ultimately shape his own future. And she had to make sure that she, and no one else, was part of that.
Starting tonight.
‘Aunt Mimi is like a dog with two tails,’ Nicola said wrathfully. She and Dana had gone for a stroll in the garden, filling in the time before they needed to change for the party.
‘She’s telling everyone she knew it was just a lovers’ tiff and that reason would prevail in the end. She even suggested to my future mother-in-law that when Adam proposed the toast to Eddie and me this evening, he should announce his own engagement at the same time.’
