‘Yes, I quite liked it.’
‘I thought you would,’ the child said proudly. ‘That’s why I asked Uncle Rafe if he could bring you to see me.’
So though he must have known he was running a risk, known that she might refuse to go back with him, he’d brought her to please Katie.
‘He didn’t tell me,’ Madeleine said.
‘I asked him not to say anything because I wanted to surprise you.’
‘Well, you certainly did that.’ She squeezed the child’s hand.
Then, puzzled, asked, ‘But surely you didn’t come alone?’
‘No, Helga, the au pair, brought me. She’ll be coming back for me at two o’clock…’
Which meant she would have to delay her escape, Madeleine realised. There was no way she could disappear while Katie was still here.
‘Mum is at work,’ the child went on. ‘She’s going to join us as soon as she can get away. But she said to start eating without her, just in case she can’t make it for lunch.
‘I’m hungry already. I was too excited to eat much breakfast. Are you hungry, Maddy?’
Still feeling churned up, Madeleine lied, ‘Yes, I am.’
‘Well, if my two favourite girls are hungry—’ Rafe put an arm around each of them ‘—let’s go and eat.’
Katie fairly danced along, her dark, glossy plait swinging.
‘While we have lunch I can tell you all about Bertrand…’ When, seated by one of the long windows in the pleasant dining room, they had finished ordering, Madeleine asked, ‘Who’s Bertrand?’
‘He’s the Labrador that Uncle Rafe is giving me for Christmas. Though I’m fine again now, Mum and Dad don’t want me to ride any more until I’m grown up, so they agreed I could have a dog. Bertrand’s about six months old and I’m getting him tomorrow, because the sanctuary doesn’t open on Christmas Day.
‘I decided to call him Bertrand because that’s Uncle Rafe’s middle name…’
‘Is it really?’ Madeleine laughed. ‘I didn’t know that.’ Rafe grimaced. ‘Not a lot of people do.’
Then to Katie, ‘Do you have to tell all my most shameful secrets? And come to that, how do you know?’
The little girl giggled. ‘Mum told me. But she thinks Bertrand is rather grand for a puppy, so I’ll probably call him Bertie for short.’ She turned her attention back to Madeleine.
‘He was rescued when his previous owner left him shut in the basement of a derelict house,’ she explained. ‘He’d almost starved to death before he was found. But he’s very friendly and he still likes people.
‘He’s from the Mill House Animal Sanctuary. Uncle Rafe gives them lots of money to help the animals…’
While they waited for the meal to be served, and between courses, Katie chatted away non-stop.
Madeleine smiled and listened and marvelled that a child she had regarded as quiet and a little shy could be so talkative.
Catching her eye, Rafe said with a wry smile, ‘As a rule Katie doesn’t say much, but when she gets excited she could talk for England.’
They had almost finished their coffee before Diane herself came hurrying in, wearing a businesslike grey suit and carrying a black shoulder-bag-cum-briefcase. Her cheeks were flushed and she sounded more than a shade breathless as she said, ‘Hi there.’
‘You’re very late, Mum,’ Katie pointed out.
‘Yes, I know, darling, and I’m sorry. I began to think I wasn’t going to make it at all. I was trapped into having lunch with a client.’
She gave her brother, who had risen at her approach, a peck on the cheek and, stooping to hug Madeleine, said with obvious sincerity, ‘It’s good to have you back.’
‘I expect you can do with some coffee?’ Rafe asked.
‘You’re a mind-reader.’ Dropping into the chair he’d pulled out for her, Diane smoothed a hand over the dark hair that fell straight and gleaming to her shoulders, and grumbled, ‘Sometimes I wonder why I keep on working.’
He smiled. ‘You know perfectly well that you love your work. If you didn’t have it, you’d be lost.’
‘That’s true. I just don’t want to be a mirror image of Mother.’
He raised an eyebrow. ‘I don’t think you need to worry on that score.’
‘But you wouldn’t want your wife to have a career,’ Diane noted.
‘I’d prefer her not to. Unless it would make her seriously unhappy to give it up. If that was the case, I’d have to withdraw my opposition…’ He sat back confidently.
They chatted for a minute or so until the fresh coffee had arrived and been poured, before Katie reminded him, ‘Uncle Rafe, you promised you’d show me the inside of your helicopter some time and let me sit in the pilot’s seat…’
‘Well, I will, sweetheart.’
‘Can’t you do it now?’ She glanced at her watch. ‘It’s only a quarter to two.’
As Rafe hesitated, Diane said, ‘Go if you want to. Maddy and I can catch up on some gossip.’
‘Oh, please, Uncle Rafe.’ Katie was already on her feet and tugging at his arm.
He cast his eyes heavenwards. ‘I should have more sense than promise these things.’
‘Go on,’ Diane urged, ‘you know you want to.’ Then to Madeleine, ‘Men always enjoy showing off their toys.’
‘Femaled into it,’ he said with mock-resignation. ‘Come on, then, Poppet. We’ll pick up your coat on the way out.’
‘It’s Helga’s yoga class this afternoon,’ Diane reminded her daughter, ‘so if you see her come while you’re out there, you’d better go straight home with her. Daddy should be there by the time you get back.’
‘All right… Bye, then, Mum.’
‘Bye, darling. I won’t be late tonight.’
‘That’s good. Bye, Maddy. Come and see us soon—then you’ll be able to meet Bertie. I think you’ll like him.’ Katie ran back and put her arms round Maddy.
‘I’m sure I will,’ Madeleine agreed, and hugged the slight figure.
‘Come on, then, Uncle Rafe…’ She took his hand.
Over the child’s head his eyes met Madeleine’s, an unmistakable warning in their cool green depths, as he said lightly, ‘I’ll be back in ten minutes or so. Don’t go anywhere.’
As the tall, broad-shouldered man and the slender dark-haired child turned away, they heard Katie coax, ‘If I’m very careful, will you let me try on the earphones, Uncle Rafe?’
He smiled down at her. ‘I dare say.’
‘Oh, goodie!’
While the pair made their way to the door, Diane sipped her coffee and looked after them fondly. ‘I’ll be pleased when Rafe settles down and has a family of his own…’
Madeleine felt her heart constrict as if an iron band had tightened round it as Diane added, ‘He’ll make a really good father. He’s great with Katie, and she fairly dotes on him.’ Then a shade diffidently, ‘I hadn’t realised how things were—between you and Rafe, I mean—until he told me…’
Madeleine found herself wondering exactly how much he’d told his sister, and where Fiona fitted into all this. It didn’t sound as if Diane knew about the bargain Rafe had struck with his godfather… Or if she did, she certainly didn’t seem to be blaming him for not keeping it.
‘He hasn’t been happy while you’ve been away,’ Diane went on. ‘But now you’re back, thank the lord, and I’m only too delighted that things finally look like they’re working out…’
Not knowing what to say, Madeleine stayed silent.
‘Poor Rafe… In some ways he’s had a raw deal…’
Seeing the sceptical look on Madeleine’s face, she hurried to defend her brother. ‘Oh, yes, I know he appears to be the man who has everything, but so far, through no fault of his own, he’s lost out in ways that have really mattered to him.
‘Though he was never deprived of material possessions, he didn’t have a very happy childhood. In fact it’s a miracle he didn’t grow up warped…’
Recalling the story he’d told
her about his stepfather, Madeleine began, ‘You mean…?’
‘I mean he could so easily have ended up weak, psychologically damaged. But thank the lord he’s turned out to be one of the strongest, most stable people I know.
‘The only thing I’ve ever known to really throw him off balance was when you went to the States…’ She glanced up at Madeleine and then went on, ‘But to get back to the point. Our mother wasn’t a home-maker. She never wanted children. She was a career woman through and through, and well over thirty when she married Dad. Even then she only agreed to a wedding because I was on the way.
‘Children bored her, and she couldn’t wait to get me off her hands so she could be free. Unfortunately for her, there was still Rafe to come.
‘She believed she was in the menopause, and by the time she found she was pregnant again, it was too late to do anything about it. No child asks to be born, yet, as though he was to blame, she always resented him.
‘Dad and I did our best, but he needed a mother’s love, and the more he tried to get close to her, the more she pushed him away. He was much too young to understand why…’
Madeleine’s heart bled for the poor, bewildered child who’d been so cruelly rejected. But after the way he’d treated Fiona he didn’t deserve her pity, she reminded herself.
‘Then when he was twelve and I was nineteen our father died, and six months later, to our surprise, Mother remarried. Unlike Dad, who was a kind man and wouldn’t have hurt a fly, her new husband was a brute and a bully. It’s not surprising that Rafe came to hate him…
‘To cut a long story short, when Rafe was barely fourteen, for his own safety, he was sent to live with his godparents.’
Her face clouded.
‘It’s true that they welcomed him with open arms, but even there he had his share of problems…’
Madeleine was taken aback. When Rafe had talked about his godparents, he’d made no mention of any problems. Rather he’d emphasised how well they’d treated him.
As if pushing aside unpleasant memories, Diane made a dismissive gesture and went on, ‘Though at that time the Charns could well afford it, he was anxious not to be a financial burden. He wanted to be independent, to be able to fund his own schooling.
‘As though in answer to a prayer, when our paternal aunt died she left us a small legacy in her will. I used my half to further my career, while Rafe, with his godfather’s help and approval, put his into stocks and shares.
‘When it comes to finance, my brother has the Midas touch. Everything he invested in turned to gold, and by the time he went to university he had the independence he craved.
‘He could have cut free then from the Charn household, but he didn’t,’ Diane said proudly. ‘He continued to call their house home, continued to treat them as if they were his own parents. And when Christopher ran into trouble, Rafe stood by him through thick and thin…’
Well, he would do if he was expecting to inherit Charn Industries, Madeleine thought cynically. But once again there had been no mention of Fiona.
She was about to jump in with both feet and ask where the other woman was, when Diane exclaimed, ‘Oh, lord, aren’t I rabbiting on? But I wanted you to know, to understand, that Rafe isn’t—’
‘Isn’t what?’ Rafe asked. Both women jumped.
‘Oh, you’re back,’ Diane said. And, obviously flustered to be caught talking about him, hurried on, ‘Did Katie enjoy the helicopter?’
He grinned. ‘Enormously. She’s quite determined to get a pilot’s licence as soon as she’s old enough.’
‘I take it she’s gone?’
‘Yes. Helga was running a few minutes late, otherwise she would have stopped for a word.’
Diane picked up her shoulder-bag. ‘Speaking of being late, I’ll have to get a move-on myself. Thanks for the coffee.’ She turned back to her brother. ‘We’ll be at home all over Christmas. Stuart’s mum and dad are coming to stay with us, so you must bring Madeleine for a meal as soon as you can make it.’
‘Will do.’
‘Keep in touch, and let me know how things are.’ Glancing at her watch, she added, ‘I’ve got an appointment at three-fifteen, so I’ll have to dash. But first I must pop into the ladies’ room and check my make-up.’
‘I’ll come with you.’ Madeleine seized her chance as Diane gave Rafe a sisterly kiss.
Then, leaving him to signal a waiter and pay the bill, the two women walked back to the main lobby. Though her heart was thudding, Madeleine tried hard to appear casual, in case he was watching them.
As soon as Diane was safely out of the way, she’d slip outside and ask the doorman to get her a taxi. It would mean leaving without her coat, but that was a small price to pay, and no doubt Eve would be able to lend her one.
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE blue and gold powder room was momentarily deserted. Meeting Diane’s green eyes in the mirror and watching her run a comb through her hair, Madeleine took a deep breath and broached the subject that had been weighing so heavily on her mind.
‘I was wondering about Fiona…’
As the other woman began to apply a fresh coat of lip gloss, Madeleine hurried on, ‘Is she all right now? I understand that she had a lot of problems in the past…’
‘Lord, did she have problems! The whole family were worried sick about her, but because she’d always clung to Rafe he bore the brunt of it. Now she’s doing fine, I’m pleased to say. When she was finally given a clean bill of health it must have taken a great weight off his mind as well as Harriet’s. I know it did off mine… Well, I really must fly or I’m going to be dreadfully late. Take care. See you soon…’ Diane waved goodbye.
Madeleine sighed. After all that, she was little wiser. The only thing she knew for certain was that Fiona was well, and not languishing in some clinic.
The most important questions remained unanswered. Was she still hoping to marry Rafe? Still hoping that he would keep his part of the bargain? But if that was the case, why wasn’t she with him?
As Diane hurried out, a small group of women came in, laughing and talking.
It occurred to Madeleine that if she waited until they went out and mingled with them she would be a lot less conspicuous if Rafe was keeping an eye on the lobby.
They seemed to take an age, and she made a pretence of re-coiling her hair and checking her make-up while she waited on tenterhooks.
When the group finally headed for the door she joined their ranks and slipped out with them.
She had half feared Rafe would be waiting, but a hasty glance around the lobby showed no sign of him.
With a sigh of relief she hurried to the main entrance, where a door with panels of thick stained glass was opened for her by the red-coated doorman.
There were vehicles coming and going, and a silver Mercedes was drawn up a few paces away, its engine idling. But there seemed to be no cabs.
‘Can you call me a taxi, please?’ she asked, aware that she sounded breathless.
‘Certainly, madam.’
As he moved to do her bidding, Rafe appeared by her side, her coat over his arm. ‘That won’t be necessary, James. The lady’s with me.’
‘Right, Mr Lombard.’
While shock kept her rigid, motionless, he slipped a note into the doorman’s hand and put her coat around her shoulders.
She had drawn breath to tell him she had no intention of going back with him, when he tipped her face up and, letting his thumb graze along her jawline, said softly, ‘I’m very well-aware that you had your fingers crossed.’
Though his voice was cool, careless, it held a bite that made her feel small. As the heat rose in her cheeks he smiled into her eyes and, bending his head, kissed her.
That sorcerer’s mouth worked its black magic, scattering her wits and making her head reel. As if under a spell she allowed herself to be steered to the nearby car and installed in the front passenger seat.
He slid in beside her, clicked their seat belts into place, and t
hey were away before she could catch her breath.
It was a good thirty seconds before she was able to think straight. Then she began to berate herself. Why had she weakly let him take charge of her again? Why had her fighting spirit, her determination to resist at all costs, died so easily? Why had she allowed her common sense to be submerged, her basic instinct of self-preservation to be swamped by the magic of his kiss?
Because she couldn’t help it. She was held in thrall by her love for him.
It wasn’t a comfortable thought. It stripped her of her freedom, her independence, even her pride, and put her at the mercy of a man who had treated his sick fiancée without any consideration.
Well, she wouldn’t be put in that position. Somehow, she resolved, she would find the strength to fight, the strength to leave him…
They were pulling out of the hotel forecourt to join the main traffic stream before it occurred to her to wonder about their mode of transport.
Earlier, Rafe had talked as if the roads around Hethersage would be impassable for the next couple of days, so why were they going back by car rather than in the helicopter?
When she voiced the question, he answered calmly, ‘We’re not going back to Hethersage, at least not straight away. I’d like to go back tomorrow and have Christmas there, but right now I’ve plans which necessitate spending the night in town.’
‘Spending the night in town?’ She was surprised.
‘Have you any objections?’
‘No.’ Being in London suited her just fine. It would give her a much better chance of carrying out her resolve than being snowbound at the hall.
But she couldn’t help but wonder why he wanted to spend the night in town. Rafe wasn’t a man to do anything without a good reason.
Perhaps it was something to do with Fiona. Thinking back to his phone conversation with Katie, she recalled him saying, ‘As a matter of fact it will fit in very nicely with my other plans.’ Taking a deep, calming breath, she asked, ‘What are your plans exactly?’
‘As parking will be a nightmare, I intend to leave the car at Denver Court and take a taxi into the centre of town to do some shopping.’
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