Destiny Unleashed (12 page)

“Not that long, but what about access?” William asked, his expression thoughtful. “He couldn’t have gotten out there through your apartment and waited, since as you say we hadn’t made the plans ahead. He would have to have been provided a key to a neighboring apartment, then climbed across. Is that feasible?”

“I honestly don’t know,” Destiny said. “It never occurred to me to check to see if one could leap about out there.”

They were still debating the matter when they arrived at her building. Inside, they fell silent as they rode the elevator and walked to her door. No sooner had she opened it than the phone started ringing.

Destiny grabbed it as William went straight to the balcony. “Yes, hello,” she said distractedly.

“Dammit, Destiny, what are you up to now?” Richard demanded.

She sighed heavily. Only one thing could have put him in this foul humor this early in the day back in the States. “You’ve seen the picture,” she guessed.

“Yes, I’ve seen the blasted picture. Why was that man in your apartment while you were dressed in nothing but a bathrobe? My God, you might as well advertise that the two of you are sleeping together.”

Destiny hadn’t been any happier about the picture than Richard was, but she resented his attack and his ready assumption that she was having an affair. Of course, if her own nephew didn’t believe there could be an innocent interpretation of that picture, who would?

“Stay out of this, Richard,” she said tightly. “I’m dealing with it.”

“What exactly are you dealing with? The negative publicity or Harcourt?”

“Both,” she said.

“Well, pardon me if I find your tactics a bit unorthodox.”

“That’s me, isn’t it?” she retorted. “Unorthodox is my middle name. You used to find it charming.”

She could practically hear him grinding his teeth.

“Darling,” she said, softening her tone. “It really is going to be all right. Nothing happened in my apartment. I’m okay. So is Carlton Industries. We’ll weather this storm. It’s little more than a tempest in a teapot, anyway.”

“Have you considered the likelihood that your good friend William is the one behind this embarrassment?”

“I’m not dense, darling. Of course I’ve considered it. In fact, I’m investigating the whole thing right now, so you’ll have to excuse me. I need to go and see what my…” She hesitated, searching for the right description. “I need to see if my partner has learned anything new from his search of the balcony.”

“You hired a private investigator? Good. That’s the first sensible thing I’ve heard.”

“Yes, well, I do have my sensible moments,” Destiny said blithely. “Goodbye, darling. Love to everyone.”

She hung up quickly, scowling. That call had been the most serious warning yet. She’d heard it in Richard’s voice. He was worried about her and about the company, and if one more thing happened that he
didn’t like, he was going to take action. She didn’t think he’d yank her out of the job, but he might come charging over here to fix things. That was the last thing she wanted. In fact, if she had her way, her nephew and William wouldn’t be on the same continent, much less in the same city, until she could get this mess straightened out herself. There was nothing worse than a couple of territorial, testosterone-driven males fighting for supremacy.

William came back into the living room, triumphantly holding the end of a cardboard film packet. “Found this on the balcony next door,” he told Destiny.

She immediately paled. “You went scrambling over to another balcony?”

“I wanted to make sure it could be done,” he said. “Nothing to it.”

She sank down on the edge of the sofa. “I think I feel faint.”

William took heart at her reaction. “Brace up, Destiny. I’m here and in one piece.”

“Minus only your good sense, it seems,” she muttered.

William laughed. “Don’t tell me you’d have cared if I fell to the ground.”

She flashed him a hard look. “I’d have been upset only about the waste of time all the explanations would have taken.”

“Too late now. The truth is out. You do still care about me, just a little, anyway.”

“So, maybe I do,” she finally conceded. “As I would for any old friend.”

“That’s something at least. Now, what do you think of my find?”

“I think it raises more questions than answers, and I can’t face them on an empty stomach. There’s enough beef left for sandwiches. Would you like one?”

He nodded. “In the meantime, why don’t I go down and try to find out a little something about your neighbors and about the doorman on duty that night?”

She seemed relieved to have him go, William decided, again considering that a sign of progress. In his possibly twisted view, it suggested that she was growing too comfortable having him close at hand and that she regretted it.

Downstairs he found a chatty doorman, who was only too happy to tell him that Destiny’s neighbors—the Hyde-Lewises—were away, that, yes, the security staff had access keys to all of the flats in case of emergency, and that the doorman on duty that night was now off with a worrisome cold that had come up rather suddenly, right after New Year’s, in fact.

William slipped his source a hefty tip and went back upstairs. He found Destiny in the kitchen, a cup of tea and an untouched sandwich in front of her. She looked up at his arrival.

“I don’t like this, William,” she said somberly.

“The sandwich?”

She frowned at his attempt at levity. “No, this whole situation, people sneaking around on balconies and peering in windows. It’s given me the creeps.”

“Would you like to move?”

“I wonder if that wouldn’t be a good idea,” she
said. “Though I’m not accustomed to running from trouble. That leaves a bad taste in my mouth, as well.”

“You could have someone here with you,” he suggested.

“A bodyguard?”

“In a way.”

She gave him a piercing look. “You’re not applying for the job, are you?”

“Who better?” he asked, watching her closely. “We know each other’s habits, good and bad. We’ll be less likely to be in each other’s way.”

“A bit convenient for you, isn’t it? Careful or I’ll go back to thinking this whole plot was dreamed up by you for just this purpose.”

He frowned at her. “As eager as I am to have you in my life again, my dear, I’d prefer it to be on terms other than as roommates. My offer is purely honorable, I assure you.” He grinned. “Not that I don’t intend to try a different angle when the timing is more opportune.”

“I’m delighted you’re finding so much humor in this,” Destiny retorted.

William frowned at the criticism. “I find nothing in the least humorous about any of this,” he assured her. “We have what could turn out to be a rather serious situation on our hands. I’d like to get to the bottom of it as much as you would.”

“Then let’s stop worrying about who’s going to live where and concentrate,” she suggested. “Where do we go from here?”

“Do you want to go sleuthing around London like Miss Marple, or shall I hire someone?” William asked.

Destiny regarded him with a thoughtful expression. “Why not a combination of the two? Let an investigator look into whether that doorman is really sick or at home with a guilty conscience.”

“While you and I do what?” William asked warily.

“While
I
pay a surprise visit to Chester in Devon,” she said. “He’s there till the weekend.”

William stared at her. “On your own? Definitely not,” he said flatly.

“What do you think he’s likely to do if he is behind this? Bind and gag me and toss me into some lake?”

“Why take chances?”

Destiny regarded him incredulously. “You don’t seriously think he’d do me any harm, do you?”

“To tell you the truth, I never thought he’d hire a sleazy photographer to spy on you, so now that he’s quite possibly proved me wrong on that count, I no longer know what to believe. If you go to Devon, I go with you.”

She gave him an impatient look, but William refused to back down. Eventually, she muttered, “Oh, suit yourself. Hire that investigator while I make a few calls to free up the rest of my day.”

“Better free up tomorrow, too,” William advised. “We might not be back by tonight.”

She studied him suspiciously. “Another ploy to get me all alone, William? I’m disappointed in you. It’s a little obvious, don’t you think?”

“The only thing obvious to me at this point is that we’re going to get a rather late start. It will take us time to get there and time to track down Chester. Once we’ve spoken to him it could lead to other lines of inquiry.”

“Such as?”

“His alibis,” William suggested. “If there are any delays, it will be far too late to think of driving back.”

Destiny nodded slowly. “I suppose that makes sense.”

“Thank you,” he said wryly. “I do try to employ a bit of logic to things from time to time.”

“William, did you always have this sharp edge?”

He laughed. “What can I say? The new Destiny inspires me.”

“You say that as if it’s a good thing,” she responded. “To tell you the truth, I’m not sure I like it.”

He laughed. “Stick around. It could grow on you. I did once, after all.”

She gave him a vaguely bewildered look. “So you did. Right at the moment, though, I can’t imagine how that happened.”

F
inding Chester Sandhurst proved to be trickier than Destiny had anticipated. On the drive to Devon, she called all of the contact numbers Chester had left for the office, but either there was no answer or whoever answered had no idea where he might be at the moment.

“Expect him later,” several people assured her. “Shall I pass along a message?”

“No. No message.” Destiny frowned. This was working out exactly as William had predicted, which she found mildly annoying. Did the man have to be right about absolutely everything? Why couldn’t Chester have obligingly picked up on the first ring at the first place she called and set up a meeting time and location?

Probably because that would have helped her to avoid this fluttery little hint of anticipation in her stomach when she contemplated being tucked away in a country inn with William just down the hall. Despite her rather emphatic protests, she was no more immune to his charms now than she had been years ago. Perhaps the fates had concluded it was time for her to face that fact and deal with it. If only the trust issue could be overcome as easily as her years of carefully nurtured antagonism.

Well, the stupid fates didn’t know everything, she thought heatedly. She had more important fish to fry at the moment. Finding out if Chester was responsible for the photo for starters. Then, if it turned out he was, his head on a sizzling skillet held an astonishing appeal. If that happened to give her the excuse she needed to avoid dealing with her renewed attraction to William, so much the better.

“Want to give up and turn back?” William asked, a knowing glint in his eyes.

Naturally, since he seemed so smugly certain about what she was thinking, she was forced to say no. “We’ve come this far. We must follow through,” she said decisively. “Besides, whatever he thinks of me, Chester won’t stay out of touch with the office for long. I’ve instructed his secretary to patch the call through to me the instant she hears from him.”

“Good show,” William said. “What shall we do in the meantime? Would you like to see the sights? Have a cozy dinner in front of a fire at a local pub?”

“I think the less the two of us are seen together in public, the better,” she said wryly. “We can’t afford to give the tabloids any more fodder.”

“Innocent public appearances are far less likely to be subject to misinterpretation than intimate tête-à-têtes,” he retorted.

He was right…again. “Okay, you have a point,” she conceded, reconsidering her stance. “A lively pub seems to be just the thing. It’s been years since I’ve been to one.”

William glanced at her. “Was it the one I took you to when we came to England to visit my family?”

Reluctantly, Destiny nodded. It had been another
memorable night, one she’d tried unsuccessfully to forget over the years. Even when she’d brought her nephews to London, she’d avoided taking them to any of the local pubs, fearful that even at their innocent young ages they would pick up on her nostalgia and ask questions she hadn’t been prepared to answer.

“Destiny?”

She blinked and met William’s gaze. “What?”

“Shall we go to a pub or would you rather not? If it brings back too many memories, I’m sure we can find a more sophisticated restaurant that’s to your liking.”

The vague hint that she was scared to dredge up old memories grated, as did the suggestion that she’d turned into some sort of snob.

“A pub will be fine,” she said tightly, then closed her eyes and leaned back against the car’s soft leather upholstery. Let the blasted memories come. Maybe if she faced them, she could purge them at last. Maybe it would even be the end of William being able to use them against her at every turn as he had just now.

London, 1982

The trip to England to visit William’s family had been an unmitigated disaster in Destiny’s opinion. His father was still filled with fury and resentment toward her, blaming her for keeping William from coming home to claim his rightful place in the family business. He’d barely spoken a civil word to her the entire week they’d been in London.

William’s mother, with her lovely peaches-and-cream complexion and soft-spoken manner, had tried
to smooth things over, but there was no disguising the chill in the atmosphere. Destiny was convinced she’d have frostbite before they finally got away.

Alone with William and feeling thoroughly defeated, she admitted, “We shouldn’t have come.”

“I’m sorry he’s being such a stubborn old goat,” William apologized. “I warned you, though. My father doesn’t want fences mended except on his own terms.”

“I was so sure that once the two of you talked face-to-face, when you’d explained your position, things would be different. I can’t imagine anyone in my family holding a grudge for so long.”

“Welcome to the Harcourt tradition. Family feuds are our forte. Some lasted generations,” William said wryly. “Now, I have a suggestion. Why don’t you and I get out of here tonight? I’ll take you to my favorite pub, buy you a ploughman’s dinner, and teach you how to throw darts. You need to have at least one adventure with the local culture while you’re here. Not everyone is as stuffy and unbending as my father.”

“Anything that will give us some time on our own is fine with me,” she said, though she was unconvinced that the evening he described would be much of an improvement on the chilly atmosphere around the ancestral home. Despite William’s disclaimer, she couldn’t help envisioning a place filled with more stuffy, disapproving old men.

The second they walked through the door of the lively pub, however, she knew she’d been wrong. The air was thick with smoke and filled with music and laughter. In fact, the din was quite incredible, the music promising.

“I’ll see if there’s a table to be snagged,” William said. “Wait here by the door, so I can find you again.”

As he’d pushed his way through the crowd, Destiny looked around her at the working-class patrons and the obvious assortment of tourists who’d come to absorb some of the local color. It was exactly the kind of eclectic mix of people she adored. It was yet more evidence of just how well William understood her needs. He’d brought her here knowing she’d fit right in and be totally comfortable for the first time in days.

“Over here, luv.”

She heard William’s voice, the accent thicker than she’d ever noticed before. In France, he usually sounded more urbane, a citizen of the world with smooth edges on his voice, making it all but impossible to discern his real roots. She could see from the broad grin on his face when she finally spotted him, though, that he was as much in his element here as he was in the upper-crust Paris art gallery where they’d met.

She worked her way in his direction, laughingly apologizing to the waitresses and customers she accidentally jostled en route.

“How did you manage this?” she asked, when she found that their table was right beside the musicians.

“I know one of the lads playing. This is their table. They said they’d be happy to have us make use of it while they play and join them on their breaks.”

“Perfect,” she said, accepting the pint of dark ale he handed to her, then wincing at the first bitter sip.

William chuckled. “Would you rather have wine?”

“Absolutely not. I want to drink what the locals drink.”

“Have I ever told you how much I admire your adventurous spirit?”

“From time to time, but I never tire of hearing it.” It made her feel as if she’d made a success of something important. She’d chosen her nomadic life to keep from settling into a dull routine back home. She’d also wanted her brother to have a clear shot at the family business, because it meant the world to him. Had she stayed at home, her determinedly fair parents would have insisted on dividing things up equally, despite her repeated insistence that the business meant nothing to her, that her talent lay in another direction entirely.

Though she’d left home for one reason, it had proved to be an astonishing triumph in other ways. She’d learned that she could live quite nicely on her own, that she loved getting to know people of all kinds, that she was strong and capable, rather than the shy little wallflower she’d convinced herself she was when living in the shadow of her bolder, more outgoing brother.

When the music began, it was a lively Irish jig, and a number of people flocked to the minuscule dance floor to dance. As Destiny watched the intricate steps, William stood and held out his hand.

“Come along. I’ll teach you how to do it,” he offered.

She realized then that they’d never actually danced together, and here he was wanting her to try a complicated dance that was likely to result in her feet becoming impossibly tangled.

“I don’t know,” she said doubtfully.

“You’ve taken far more dangerous risks,” he reminded her.

“No, I haven’t,” she protested.

He laughed. “You got involved with a disinherited Englishman, didn’t you? Now, come on. I can see you want to try it.”

When they reached the dance floor, people made room for them. William demonstrated the steps, and as others applauded and cheered encouragingly, Destiny tried to follow.

She’d never been an especially graceful dancer, and because she’d been shy, she’d usually lacked for partners, but in no time at all, none of that seemed to matter. Caught up in the music and emboldened by the onlookers, she managed to keep up with William, who was surprisingly energetic and talented. By the end of the song, she was breathless and exhilarated. She fell into his arms, laughing.

He gazed at her, his eyes filled with amusement. “Now, that wasn’t so bad, was it?”

“It was wonderful. Let’s do it again.”

He turned and winked at his friend in the band. “How about something slow and romantic?” he called out. “So I don’t collapse in a heap and prove that I’m no match for her, after all.”

“Right-o,” his friend replied, and the band began to play the golden oldie, “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.”

Destiny moved into William’s arms and rested her cheek against his chest. She realized it was the place she felt safest, the place she always longed to be.

But with his father so disapproving of their relationship, how could it last much longer? She believed too wholeheartedly in the importance of family to
willfully destroy William’s ties to his parents. And though he’d claimed that the family business meant little or nothing to him, she wondered how much longer he would be content to go on living idly with her in France. He’d been brought up for another life entirely.

As if he sensed the sadness building in her, William held her away and met her gaze. “Where have you gone?” he asked. “Just a moment ago, your cheeks were flushed and your eyes were sparkling. Now you look as if you’ve lost your best friend.”

She touched his cheek. “I’m very much afraid I will,” she said.

“Who?” he asked, his expression filled with dismay, and then, as understanding dawned, he added incredulously, “Me?”

She nodded.

“Never, darling. You can’t lose me.”

“It’s already happening,” she insisted. “Don’t you think I can see how this visit is tearing you apart?”

“If I’m upset, it’s only because I can see how my father’s attitude is hurting you,” he said fiercely. “His actions toward me mean nothing.”

“You can’t mean that,” she protested. If her father had behaved so abominably toward her when she’d decided to leave, it would have cut her to the quick. She might very well have stayed and acceded to his wishes. Fortunately her father had never been the controlling type.

“I do mean it,” William said emphatically. “Destiny, my happiness lies with you, wherever you are. I can manage all the rest.”

She wanted so desperately to believe him. In fact,
she did believe that he meant what he was saying. She just wasn’t convinced he could live with it.

Worse, she was beginning to see that she couldn’t, not without denying one of the things she valued most in her own life—the ties to family.

Destiny awoke with a start, the dream—or memory—lingering in her head. How had she forgotten that bittersweet night in London and the realization she’d come to that she and William were destined to part? Perhaps it was because it had been months and months before she’d had to put her resolve to the test and when that time had come, it was hard to separate all the emotions. One day, though, she would, she concluded with a soft sigh. It was long past time to examine her role in the actions that had robbed them of a future. William had hinted at as much, but she’d been too eager to heap all the blame on him.

“You’re finally awake, then?” William said from the driver’s seat beside her, giving her an indulgent smile. “We’re almost at that pub I promised you.”

“I wasn’t sleeping,” she mumbled halfheartedly.

“Made a good show of pretending, then,” he countered. “I’ve been talking to you for miles now and getting no response.” He grinned. “Made it easy to believe I was going to have my own way, for once.”

Destiny chuckled. “Not likely, but you might as well tell me what you were hoping for.”

He glanced at her as he pulled up to the curb. The corners of his mouth twitched ever so slightly. “Not just yet,” he said finally, after searching her face for some sign he apparently didn’t find. “I don’t think you’re quite ready to hear it.”