Beaumont Brides Collection (40 page)

She was unprepared for his acquiescence, expecting something more. A fresh attempt to justify what he had done. An apology. Even an ardent declaration of love, although the idea terrified her because she would never know whether it was true, or some other devious game.

She should have been relieved, but she wasn’t.

‘Are you going to tell her the whole story, Luke?’ she asked. ‘If you don’t, I will.’

He leaned forward, touched her cheek with his hand. ‘Leave it to me, Fizz. I’ll clean up my own mess. I owe you that much.’

That was all? He’d come into her life, turned it upside down so that it would never be the same again and now he intended to simply tidy up and walk away.

‘Owe me!’ she exclaimed, suddenly angrier than she had been throughout the entire revelation of his plans to revenge his sister. ‘You don’t owe me anything, Luke Devlin.’ She looked around her, fit to throw something, anything and saw on her desk the forgotten bank draft, the hated agreement. She seized them and thrust them at him. ‘And you have no claim on me, either.’ He made no move to relieve her of the papers. ‘Take them!’ she demanded. ‘I want an end to it.’

He took the draft, looked at it for a moment. Then he raised his eyes to meet hers. ‘You couldn’t raise this kind of money a week ago. Where did it come from?’

‘I took the advice of the most ruthless man I have ever met,’ she declared.

His mouth tightened, recognizing the intention to wound. ‘And what advice was that?’ he asked, softly.

‘To let someone else take the risk. You were right of course, I should never have gone into the restaurant business. I’ve sold the lease on the Pavilion Restaurant and paid off the bank loan.’

His eyes narrowed. ‘If you had done that I would have been told.’

‘Would you?’ Well, yes, of course he would have been told. She had anticipated that, which was why she had persuaded Julian to mislay the papers for a few days so that he wouldn’t be able to interfere with her plans. ‘If you don’t believe me, I suggest you check with your sources at the bank.’

‘But you worked so hard for this. Is it too late to stop it?’ he asked. When she didn’t answer, he swore, softly. ‘Fizz, I’m sorry.’

‘Are you? Well I suppose it’s just as well to get all your apologies over with in one day. But don’t be too sad. John Moore, my chef as I’m sure you’ll remember, has been given family help to raise the finance for the lease. And he’s negotiating for the spare space in the Winter Gardens, he wants to use it for an old fashioned ice-cream parlour, as well. You’ve actually done me a favour, Luke, because now I’ve got the best of both worlds,’ she said, with just a touch of defiance, daring him to contradict her.

‘Don’t be kind, Fizz. I know what I’ve done.’ He handed the draft back to her. ‘And I’m afraid you have your sponsorship whether you want it or not.’ And as he pressed it into her hand he leaned forward and for just a moment his mouth brushed hers before she gathered sufficient strength of will to step back. ‘No strings attached,’ he said.

Then turning swiftly, he headed down the stairs and out into the street.

She stared after him for a long time, then shivering as the cold from the street door reached her landing, shivering with shock and anxiety and a cold, hollow feeling that chilled her to the bone, she rubbed at her arms and closed the door.

The freesias were still there, where he had left them on the hall table, the sweet scent reaching out to her. She couldn’t leave them there to wither and die and she couldn’t, despite her declared intention, cold-heartedly dump them in the bin. So she put them in a silver bud vase and stood them on her desk beside the unwanted bank draft.

She looked at her watch. Four o’clock. Too early to ring the hospital, but she couldn’t face her bed, the sheets rumpled from the bittersweet moments of passion in Luke’s arms. Instead, she curled up on the sofa and closed her eyes.

It was still dark when she telephoned the hospital. Her father had just woken and the nurse passed on his message that he needed a toothbrush and razor, his own pyjamas and a dressing gown, the blue silk Paisley one. Fizz raised a smile at that. He was definitely on the mend. Relief lifted her spirits a little and after a brief hot shower to revive her, she went to collect her father’s things. Claudia, who had also telephoned the hospital, was already doing it.

‘Do you think they’ll allow visitors in at dawn?’ she asked Fizz, smothering a yawn as she folded the specified dressing gown into a bag.

‘Just for a minute or two while we give him his clean pyjamas. We can go back later for a proper visit.’ Fizz touched her sister’s arm. ‘Claudia, I’ve got something to tell you.’

She looked up, then straightened. ‘Lord, Fizz, what is it?’

‘I don’t quite know how to begin.’

Claudia stared at her for a moment. ‘No, you can’t be pregnant, you haven’t known him long enough.’

‘How long does it take?’

‘I’ll rephrase that. You haven’t known him long enough to be certain.’

Fizz felt the colour flooding to her cheeks. ‘No, well. It’s not that. Look, I think we’d better sit down. This is going to take some time.’ So Claudia sat down and Fizz told her that they had a sister. That Edward Beaumont had his three daughters after all.

*****

They arrived at the hospital just after seven and found Melanie waiting for them in the day room. She leapt up as they entered, clearly nervous of her reception and there was a moment of awkwardness when no one seemed to know quite what to do. Then Claudia stepped forward to hug the younger girl. Fizz joined her and for a moment everyone was overcome with tears and laughter.

‘Mel?’ They turned as one at the sound of Luke’s voice. He looked, Fizz thought, as bad as any man she had seen who was still walking, his skin drained of colour, his eyes all dark hollows. ‘Edward would like to see you.’

For a moment she didn’t move. Then she turned to Fizz and Claudia. ‘Do you mind?’

Claudia gave her a little push. ‘It’s your big moment, kid. Go take a bow.’

‘I know it’s stupid, but my legs won’t work.’

‘Come on. I’ll hold your hand as far as the door.’

‘After that I’m on my own?’

‘On your own? Hey, you’re a Beaumont,’ she said, with a broad grin. ‘You’ll never be on your own again.’

When they had gone leaving her alone with Luke, Fizz shifted awkwardly, turning to the window to stare out at the sea. ‘How is he this morning?’

‘Sad to hear about Juliet. He talked about her. Wept a little. But to discover that he was loved so much, that they had a daughter -’ ... he raked his thick dark hair back from his forehead with his fingers ... ‘- to discover that would, I think, be sufficient to put the life back into any man.’ He looked down at her. ‘Are you going to be all right, Fizz? You look tired.’

And he didn’t? ‘The station won’t fall apart if I take a few days off to catch up on my sleep.’

‘Won’t it? I thought you were afraid it might disappear altogether if you weren’t there to keep an eye on it twenty-four hours a day,’ he said, trying to tempt a smile from her.

She half turned, looking down, avoiding his eyes.

‘I thought you wanted the radio station. I was so afraid that you would try to take it from me that it blinded me to everything else. I suppose that’s why I never saw the real danger.’ She drew in a deep breath. ‘No, that’s not true. I always recognised the danger, but it was blurred, confused by ... by everything. Last night was a mistake, Luke.’ Her gesture, small, restrained, painful, needed no words. ‘Now, I think I’d better go and find Claudia.’

*****

Fizz had left all the arrangements for the Restaurant launch party to John and Susie and as a result discovered that there was nothing for her to do but enjoy herself. Unfortunately, enjoying herself was the last thing she was capable of.

She felt lost and very alone despite the crush of guests. Any sense of achievement in the restaurant had been leached away by the announcement of the takeover by John. The evening was his and she did not begrudge him his moment, but it left her feeling superfluous, a hostess whose party has moved on.

She looked around. Edward, seated in state, still officially taking things easy, was enjoying the flattering attention of his new found daughter and didn’t need her. Claudia had spotted Julian the moment he arrived and informing Fizz that she didn’t know a good thing when she saw one, appropriated him for herself.

Susie, she knew, had invited Luke even though she had personally crossed him off the guest list. She had not seen him since their encounter in the hospital and she dreaded meeting him again, but as the evening wore on it seemed increasingly likely that even he would not put in an appearance to disturb the tedium of the occasion.

Then the door opened behind her and Fizz, not meaning to, turned. It wasn’t Luke, but she still felt the sudden wobble in her knees. Her throat dried and her pulse was racketing like a drum. Not with excitement, not with desire, but with anger.

‘Patrick March.’ The words, though startled from her, had a dead quality, nothing of welcome. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘I asked Susie to send him an invitation.’ And this time the knee wobble mattered as Luke closed the door behind him. ‘I’ve suddenly become very conscious of the damage that can be caused by unlaid ghosts.’

‘And having finally laid all yours to rest, you’re on a crusade?’ She lifted her chin, the sparkle back in her eyes.

‘Something like that.’

Claudia appeared at her side. ‘Well, this is a pretty gathering,’ she said. ‘Can I offer either of you gentlemen a drink?’

‘Thank you.’ Patrick March seized the opportunity with evident relief. ‘A whisky. A large one.’

‘I do hope you’re not driving. Oh, no. Of course not. You lost your license last year didn’t you?’ Claudia didn’t wait for an answer. ‘Luke?’ He shook his head. Fizz waited. Patrick fidgeted. Claudia returned. ‘Whisky for you, Patrick. And I brought this for you Fizz. I’ll leave the target to your discretion.’ She offered Fizz a bowl piled up with avocado mousse.

‘Take it away, Claudia,’ she declared, crossly. ‘This isn’t a farce. Luke was right first time. It’s a melodrama - a very bad one. Drink up, Patrick and start walking. It’s a long way down the pier, but Luke isn’t stopping either so he can keep you company.’

‘We’ll go in minute, Fizz, but I brought him with me because he has something to say to you,’ Luke insisted, quietly.

‘Nothing I want to hear.’

‘Fizz, please,’ Patrick pleaded. ‘Listen to me, please. I have to... I want to tell you how sorry I am for what I did to you. Truly sorry. I used you without a second thought. When I asked you to marry me I was thinking only of myself, what marrying you would do for my career. The worst thing was not coming clean, pretending that it was your fault. I was still lying about it a couple of weeks ago to Mr Devlin. He’s made me see how wrong it is.’ The room had fallen silent, everyone looking in his direction. ‘There are no excuses. I don’t expect you to forgive me. I just wanted you to know that I’ll do whatever you want to put things right.’

The silence stretched endlessly as the second hand ticked around the clock. Then Claudia touched her arm and Fizz stirred. ‘Very pretty,’ she said. ‘I hope your speech writer was well paid.’

‘Fizz,’ he protested. ‘That came straight from the heart.’

‘Did it?’ Perhaps it had. That convincing sincerity had once been his stock in trade. He had missed his vocation when he took to the stage. He would have made a far better politician. ‘If you say so.’ She looked at his empty glass. ‘I’m sure you could do with another drink after that ordeal.’ She made a gesture towards the bar. ‘Help yourself.’

The other guests let out a collectively held breath and Patrick was absorbed into a crowd that began to buzz with excited conversation. Then Julian appeared at her side, glared briefly at Luke, before saying, ‘Can I do anything, Fizz? Throw anyone out? Hit anyone? You only have to ask.’

Luke glared him. ‘Do I know you?’ he asked.

Before he could answer Claudia pulled him away. ‘Come and dance, darling, before you get into trouble.’

Fizz waited in the quiet space that surrounded the two of them and finally Luke broke the silence. ‘If I come back in five years, Fizz, will you be as generous to me?’ He looked across the room to where Patrick was helping himself to food from the buffet.

‘Five years? A century wouldn’t be long enough to atone for what you tried to do, so very nearly did, to my family.’

‘You hate me that much?’

‘Hate you? If I could hate you, Luke, I could anticipate that one day I might be able to feel what I feel for Patrick. Nothing. But you came here to make me fall in love with you and you succeeded beyond your wildest dreams. That I cannot forgive.’

‘You loved Patrick once.’

‘I thought I loved him, but it was just infatuation.’ She’d had all week to think about it, compare the pangs of calf love with the real thing. ‘No doubt I’d have got over him in a few weeks if he hadn’t betrayed me quite so brutally, if I hadn’t been quite so young. But I shall never get over you.’

He looked at her for a moment, before nodding, accepting that she meant precisely what she said. ‘Then we must both suffer for my mistakes. If you need anything, Phillip will be taking over here. Just call him.’