She tried once more to reason with her. ‘About Phillip—’
‘What about him?’ Blue eyes were narrowed suspiciously.
‘Stella, you’re a married woman,’ Heather reasoned impatiently. ‘Uncle Lionel is sure to realise what’s going on eventually—’
‘I don’t give a damn what Lionel finds out.’ Stella slammed her glass down on the table. ‘I tried to be the sort of wife he wanted, but it’s killing me! I’ve had enough of trying to be someone I’m not!’ She picked up her clutch-bag, turning to leave.
‘Stella!’ Heather watched her with wide eyes.
She turned, sighing. ‘Don’t tell me Phillip is only interested in me because I have money, because I know that already—’
‘Then why—?’
‘Because it doesn’t matter.’ She shook her head. ‘I love him anyway. He’s just ambitious. Heaven knows, it’s an emotion I can respect,’ she added bitterly. ‘And once Lionel and I are divorced, I’ll be even richer from the settlement I’ll demand from him, rich enough to give Phillip anything he wants.’
‘Divorced…?’ Heather repeated numbly, having had no idea things had deteriorated this far between her uncle and his wife.
Stella nodded abruptly, every vestige of beauty drained from her face at that moment. ‘I’ve decided to marry Phillip.’
‘Even though you know he’ll only be marrying you for what you can give him and not for who you are?’
Stella’s mouth twisted. ‘You don’t seem to be too unhappy coping with the same situation!’
Heather felt all the colour drain from her cheeks at the barb. Daniel had married her for that reason, but it was different now, or at least it was starting to be—wasn’t it?
Stella laughed softly at her suddenly pained expression. ‘Don’t tell me you’d forgotten why Daniel married you?’ she taunted.
Heather moistened dry lips. ‘My marriage to Daniel is none of your business,’ she rasped at last, in control again.
‘Just as my affair with Phillip is none of yours,’ the other woman told her lightly. ‘When Lionel arrives, tell him I’ve gone home to pack.’
Heather gasped. ‘You can’t expect me to be the one to tell him—’
‘Why not?’ Stella taunted. ‘Someone has to do it.’
‘But you—’
‘I’ve been trying for days,’ the other woman stated in a bored voice. ‘It never seems to be the right time. But I’ve had enough of this pretence; I’m going to be with the man I really love.’
Heather was dumbfounded for only seconds after the other woman had left, and then she realised she would have to be the one to avert the catastrophe that Stella’s desertion of her uncle would be to him. And if Stella couldn’t be made to see the stupidity of her actions it would have to be Phillip she talked to. She had no doubt that as soon as Stella had packed she would go to Phillip’s apartment, but Heather intended speaking to him first. If all Phillip were interested in were money…
‘When Mr Taggart and my uncle arrive could you tell them I’ve taken my aunt home because she isn’t feeling well,’ she quickly told Shilton on her way out of the door. ‘Please don’t ask,’ she groaned at his puzzled expression, knowing the other woman had left alone minutes before.
He looked affronted. ‘I wasn’t going to.’
No, of course he wasn’t; Shilton could be relied upon to be completely discreet. ‘Thank you.’ She gave him a grateful smile, as she hurried out to her car.
She had no doubt her uncle would be worried about his wife, and Daniel would be equally concerned about her need to go with the other woman, but there was nothing else she could do in the circumstances. Even Stella seemed convinced her lover was a complete mercenary, it would just be a question of who could offer him the most inducement, her aunt in persuading him to marry her, or her in making him leave. She had no doubt that without Phillip in her life Stella would be quite happy to stay with her husband.
Her meeting with Phillip didn’t go quite as smoothly as she had hoped it would.
‘Why should I end things with Stella?’ he challenged her scornfully.
‘Because I’ve just offered you more money than she’ll ever have,’ Heather reminded him impatiently.
‘It isn’t enough,’ he shrugged.
She drew in a furious breath, wondering how she could ever have found this man attractive; he now seemed totally repulsive to her. ‘How much more do you want?’
‘All of it,’ he told her abruptly.
Her eyes widened. ‘You expect me to hand all my money over to you?’
‘No.’
‘But—’
‘I want all the money, your half of AI—and you,’ he explained softly.
‘You’re insane!’ she scorned disbelievingly.
He looked at her coldly. ‘I wasted a whole year of my life courting a woman who married someone else because he could give her more than I could,’ he snapped. ‘I’m not insane, Heather, I just want what’s due to me. And the chance to show that arrogant bastard you married that he can’t push me around,’ he added harshly. ‘And he’ll know that as soon as you’ve divorced him and married me, and I’ve sold your share of AI to Public Airlines, the way I originally intended to do!’
Heather felt a shiver of apprehension down her spine at his vehemence towards Daniel. ‘I can’t do that—’
‘Not because you’re happy with him?’ Phillip derided.
She frowned. ‘Stella hasn’t told you…?’
His mouth twisted. ‘We never talk about you—for some reason the mere mention of your name throws Stella into a rage!’
Heather sighed, shaking her head. ‘Then you don’t know that if I divorce Daniel I lose everything? That if I hadn’t married him when I did my half of Air International would have been sold off and the money distributed to charity?’
Phillip’s expression darkened dangerously. ‘You’re lying—’
‘It’s the truth, Phillip.’ She didn’t add that she had wanted to marry Daniel any way that she could. ‘My father’s will was explicit.’
He looked at her searchingly, sinking down into a chair as he saw the truth in her eyes. ‘But why?’ His voice was strangulated.
She sighed. ‘Because that was the way my father wanted it, and even in death he wouldn’t be thwarted. Will you take the money I offered, Phillip, and leave Stella alone?’ she prompted softly.
He looked up at her as if he had never seen her before. ‘Leave Stella alone?’ he repeated harshly. ‘Why the hell should I?’
‘Because—’
‘—you offered me money,’ he finished coldly. ‘Stella and I are two of a kind, Heather,’ he told her. ‘We know each other’s faults and we accept them.’
Her eyes widened. ‘You love her…’
‘Did you think I was incapable of loving anyone?’ he rasped.
‘No. But—’
‘I can be myself with Stella, we get on well together. I’ll take your money, Heather, but I’ll take Stella, too,’ he told her challengingly.
‘What on earth makes you think that I—’
‘Does your husband know of your little visit to me tonight?’ he mocked, smiling his satisfaction as she paled. ‘Things might be all right between the two of you, Heather, but not good enough for him to believe this was just a platonic visit to an old friend!’
She had been a fool to think she could ever reason with this man. And Stella knew exactly what he was like. Maybe the two of them deserved each other after all! She couldn’t believe her uncle wouldn’t be better off without a woman who thought so little of him that she could fall in love with a man like Phillip Wingate.
‘I won’t be blackmailed—’
‘Won’t you?’ taunted Phillip. ‘Oh, I think you will.’
Heather turned and left the apartment, her footsteps hurrying as his mocking laughter followed her.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
IT BEGAN to snow on the drive back to the house, the fierce wind whipping
it into a severe storm, and it took all Heather’s concentration to stay on the road, that intensity not allowing time for thoughts of how she could tell her uncle his wife had left him. How could she tell him something like that?
As she finally turned the car into the driveway up to the house she groaned her dismay at seeing her uncle’s car already parked there, knowing the two men must have arrived in her absence. She didn’t even have time to collect her thoughts together before facing her uncle.
She was momentarily diverted from the unwelcome task when she saw that Daniel wasn’t with her uncle; she had presumed his car was in the garage.
‘He had to fly up to Manchester unexpectedly,’ her uncle explained regretfully. ‘We have some personnel problems there.’
She could have done with Daniel’s moral support at this moment, not knowing how to break the news to her uncle about Stella; and the weather was hardly suitable for Daniel to be flying anywhere, she thought worriedly.
‘I was just about to leave myself to see how Stella is now,’ her uncle continued lightly. ‘Shilton told me about your having to take her home.’
‘Er—Uncle Lionel—’
‘Was it another migraine?’ He frowned his concern. ‘She’s had several of them lately. Maybe I should insist she see a doctor—’
‘Uncle Lionel, Stella has left you!’ Heather stared at him with wide eyes once she had made the outburst, no longer able to continue listening to his concern about a woman who wasn’t worthy of it, groaning her own distress as he paled and seemed to stagger. ‘Uncle Lionel, she—there was someone else,’ she explained quickly as she helped him to sit down. ‘She isn’t worthy of this,’ she choked as he buried his face in his hands and began to sob.
His head snapped back at that. ‘What do you know about it?’ he demanded fiercely. ‘She’s my wife, damn it. My wife! Of course she’s worth it!’
It broke her heart to see the man who had always loved and cared for her reduced to this aching shadow of himself.
‘I have to go to her.’ He rose unsteadily to his feet. ‘I’m sure we can talk this out.’
‘I’m afraid it may be too late for that—’
‘No!’ he rasped, shaking his head disbelievingly. ‘I love Stella. She’s my life!’
‘She’s gone, Uncle Lionel.’ Heather clutched his arm. ‘She left here to pack. I followed her, but—it was no good.’ She didn’t intend telling him of her visit to Phillip Wingate. ‘She’s gone, Uncle,’ she said again heavily.
He became suddenly still. ‘Gone where?’
She gnawed at her bottom lip. ‘I don’t know where,’ she said evasively, not wanting him to go to Phillip’s apartment in this mood.
His eyes narrowed, and he suddenly looked much older than his years. ‘You said there was someone else… ?’
Why had she told him that? It was bad enough that Stella had left him at all, without this further humiliation. ‘Yes,’ she confirmed reluctantly.
‘You mean she was having an affair?’ he rasped.
Heather couldn’t remember a time when Stella wasn’t having an affair—with someone. ‘You had no idea?’ she frowned.
‘Of course I had no idea,’ her uncle snapped harshly. ‘Otherwise I would have done something to stop it! I knew she’d been unhappy lately, discontented, but I thought it was something that would pass with time, and I intended retiring next month so that I could be with her more…’
‘I’m sure Daniel would be only too happy to have you stay on if you want to reconsider that decision—’
‘Now that I no longer have a wife to spend more time with,’ he finished abruptly.
‘Uncle Lionel—’
‘I have to see Stella,’ he told her raggedly.
‘Talk some sense into her—’
‘She was leaving as soon as she’d finished packing,’ Heather interrupted gently. ‘Why don’t you telephone the house—?’
‘I have to see her—’
‘The weather is foul tonight.’ The howling wind and snow was getting worse. She hoped Daniel hadn’t been silly enough to insist on flying to Manchester in this weather, no matter what the problem. ‘Telephone the house and see if Stella is still there first,’ she encouraged, sighing her relief when he picked up the the receiver to dial his home number.
She took the opportunity to tell Shilton that none of them would be requiring dinner after all, giving her uncle this moment of privacy, hating Stella for doing this to him in this public way, giving him no chance to hide his pain and heartbreak.
He was sitting in the armchair when she came back into the room, and one look at the defeated droop of his shoulders and the agonised expression on his face told her that Stella had definitely gone.
‘You’re sleeping here tonight, Uncle Lionel,’ she told him briskly. ‘Your room is ready for you, and—’
‘She didn’t even say goodbye,’ he said wonderingly, not seeming to have heard Heather at all. ‘After five years together she didn’t even leave me a letter. Mrs Lloyd said she just took her things and left.’
Heather swallowed hard. Stella was a selfish bitch, a—
‘There must be something I can do to bring her back,’ her uncle muttered. ‘Some way I can persuade her to—’
‘Uncle Lionel, please,’ she choked her distress at seeing him so broken. ‘I know this is painful for you—’
‘How could you know?’ he scorned harshly. ‘You and Daniel didn’t marry for love!’
‘That may be true, but I’ve always loved Daniel,’ she told him steadily, knowing he was just hitting out in his pain, turning as a soft knock sounded on the door before it was quietly opened. ‘Yes, Shilton?’ She was grateful for his interruption, wanting to give her uncle time to regain his control.
The manservant looked uncomfortable, realising he had interrupted at a very private moment. ‘Mr Taggart is on the telephone, madam. He said I wasn’t to disturb you if you were eating dinner, but in the circumstances… ?’
Daniel! ‘I’ll take the call, thank you, Shilton,’ she said with some relief.
‘I’ll go up to the room you’ve had prepared for me,’ her uncle said quickly, squeezing her arm as he went past. ‘I’m sorry,’ he told her gruffly.
Heather watched with pained eyes as he wearily left the room before turning to pick up the receiver. ‘Daniel!’ she cried joyfully.
‘What’s wrong?’ The frown could be heard in his voice.
‘I’m just so glad you rang.’ She sank down into a chair.
‘The weather isn’t quite as bad up here—’
‘You’re already in Manchester?’ She groaned her dismay, having hoped to stop him before he left.
‘Yes.’ He sounded puzzled now. ‘Heather, has something happened? Shilton said that the dinner party has been cancelled, that Stella had to leave early.’
‘She’s left Uncle Lionel,’ she choked. ‘Just packed up and left him. I’ve invited him to stay here for the night, but he seems convinced he can persuade Stella to come back to him, and I’m just as sure he can’t. And—’
‘Calm down, darling,’ Daniel soothed. ‘And start from the beginning.’
That ‘darling’ was enough to soothe her jagged nerves, and she told him everything that had happened during the evening, omitting nothing—not even her visit to Phillip. She wouldn’t be blackmailed by a man like him, and Daniel had to start trusting her some time; now was as good a time as any. She held her breath as she waited to find out if her uncle would be consoling her before the night was through.
‘I’ll deal with Wingate another time,’ grated Daniel. ‘Are you OK?’
Relief flooded through her. ‘Fine. I’m worried about Uncle Lionel, though; he’s taken this very badly.’
‘I’d “take it very badly”, too, if you left me,’ he said harshly.
Her breath caught in her throat. ‘You would?’
‘I think we need to talk when I get back home, Heather,’ he bit out.
‘When will tha
t be?’ She still sounded breathless.
‘I’m on my way now,’ he told her briskly. ‘A couple of hours at most.’
‘Daniel, I love you.’ She hadn’t told him that since last night in his arms, and somehow she needed to tell him now. ‘I love you!’
‘I—we’ll talk when I get back,’ he repeated harshly. ‘Go and get some rest now; I guarantee you won’t be sleeping once I get home,’ he added throatily.
Heather rang off to stand at the window, staring out at the storm-tossed night. What a strange evening it had been, a traumatic one for her uncle, and yet Daniel’s words had held a promise for the two of them. Could he have come to love her, after all? God, she hoped so, she knew she couldn’t bear to go through the pain her uncle was suffering because of his love for Stella.
She left Shilton to lock up for the night, knowing Daniel would prefer to let himself in when he arrived home, then checked on her uncle, pleased to see he was asleep, although he lay fully clothed on top of the bed. Sleep was the best thing for him, she decided, as she went to her own room. He would be able to think more clearly in the morning.
She had been dozing for some time when she heard the telephone ring in the hallway, just about to transfer the call up to the bedroom when the ringing stopped and she heard a voice downstairs. She had thought her uncle was still asleep, hadn’t heard him go downstairs earlier. As she pulled on her robe she heard him make another call out, and he was just replacing the receiver as she reached the bottom of the stairs.
‘What is it?’ she gasped at his stricken look, his face very grey. ‘Stella?’ she prompted.
He shook his head woodenly, his mouth opening but no words coming out.
‘Uncle Lionel!’ She was becoming really panicky now. ‘Tell me!’
‘The first call was a reporter, trying to locate Daniel. I—it—’
‘What’s happened?’ Her nails dug into his flesh as she clutched his arm.
‘He—he wanted to know who’d been travelling on the small private AI jet tonight,’ he related haltingly. ‘I—it—he said—I rang the airport, managed to speak to someone there who believed I was who I said I was. It seems—they said the plane crashed at the end of the runway, that it—blew up,’ he added faintly. ‘There are no survivors, everyone on board was killed instantly. Heather, Daniel was on that plane!’ He cried what she had already guessed he was trying to tell her.
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