Into Temptation (Spoils of Time 03) (90 page)

‘Cheers,’ he said.

‘I mustn’t be long. I’m rather tired.’

‘I expect you are.’

‘This message. From Celia.’

‘Yes?’ Keir looked nervous.

‘It’s twofold. I should have written you a letter about it, really. Sorry, Keir.’

‘Oh – please don’t apologise. I asked for it.’

‘Yes, but it’s important. I imagine. Anyway, here goes. First thing was, she asked me to tell you that she’d thought of leaving all her shares to you. Not to the two of you. But she decided against it.’

‘To me?’

‘Yes.’

‘Good God.’

‘Well – there you are. And when she told Elspeth, later on, Elspeth said she would have liked that.’

‘Elspeth would have liked me to have the shares?’

‘That’s what Celia said.’

Keir stared at him in complete silence; he felt rather as if Sebastian had spoken in a foreign language and he was called upon to translate it. Finally he spoke. ‘So it wasn’t something they cooked up between them?’

‘My dear boy, I have no idea. I’m simply the messenger. I can’t interpret for you. I shouldn’t have thought so, but I really don’t know. I may have spent half a lifetime close to Celia, but I never really understood her. Nobody did. Oliver certainly didn’t.’

‘He didn’t?’

‘No, of course not. What husband does understand his wife? I didn’t, neither of mine. That’s what makes the whole thing so interesting, don’t you think? Not understanding them, I mean. All we can hope for is to make them as happy as possible. And that they will do the same for us.’

Keir looked at him rather doubtfully.

‘Is that really what you think?’

‘It certainly is,’ said Sebastian. ‘There’s a bit more to it than that, of course, but that’s the crux of it. I didn’t manage to make my first wife happy, unfortunately, and she booted me out in the end, but I was learning, with Pandora. Although not for long enough.’

‘No. That must have been very – dreadful.’ Keir felt awkward; he didn’t usually have this kind of conversation. But it seemed important.

‘It was dreadful. Yes, of course. But – one slowly learns to live with even the greatest grief. I shall learn to live with this new one, I dare say. At least I have Kit and Clemmie and now the babies. And Izzie – to an extent. I miss her horribly, but she’s very happy over there. Anyway, I’m getting maudlin. Now the second message was – now what was it? Oh yes. Didn’t mean a thing to me, but it might to you. She said she had never mentioned Birmingham to Elspeth. She seemed to think it was important you knew that.’

‘Yes. Thank you.’

That seemed less extraordinary and Keir realised he had taken it for granted; and thought now what a high regard he must have had for Celia’s discretion. He was beginning to feel very uncomfortable.

Sebastian yawned. ‘Excuse me. Well, that’s it. All done. Sorry it’s taken so long. She’d have been awfully cross if she’d known. Must peel off, old chap. Terribly tired. Will you be all right getting home? In this fog?’

‘Oh – yes. Yes, of course. It’s not that thick. What about you?’

‘I’m going to stay here. Tell me, are you enjoying working at Wesley? They publish Kit awfully well, I think.’

‘Not as much as I enjoyed working at Lyttons,’ said Keir.

‘Feeling better?’ said Marcus tenderly. They were in the bar at Claridges.

‘Yes. Much. Thank you.’

‘Good. You just needed a little cherishing. You clearly don’t get enough these days.’ He refilled her glass.

‘I certainly don’t,’ said Elspeth, ‘not even from my mother.’

‘I suspect your mother doesn’t like me.’

‘You suspect right.’

‘Does she – know?’

‘Oh yes. And it really annoys her. Mostly because you annoyed her. When you were in charge of Lyttons London.’

‘Pity. I like your mother. She’s beautiful and intelligent. Like you.’

‘Oh dear.’ Elspeth sighed.

‘What was that about?’

‘For a beautiful and intelligent person I’m not doing very well. Made a complete mess of my life in almost every direction.’

‘Well – you must let me help you get it in order again.’

‘Yes.’ She looked at him and tried to feel more enthusiastic. This had been a mistake. It wasn’t working.

‘And – I can’t – persuade you to come and relax in my suite for a little while?’

‘No. I’m sorry. I really have got to get back to the children. And – it doesn’t seem quite appropriate somehow. After today.’

‘Of course not. I understand.’ He always understood. It was all part of his charm. Wasn’t it? Of course it was. And he was being very sweet about it all. She had led him to think she was about to tumble into bed with him. She had thought she was. She had thought it would help. But – it wouldn’t.

She hadn’t wanted it – or him – at all. What she wanted had been looking at her across the church; what she wanted never told her she was beautiful, and seldom that he was pleased to see her; what she wanted did not express a desire to cherish her, or to help her get her life into order; but what she wanted clearly didn’t want her.

She made a huge effort, put that other person out of her mind, kissed Marcus and said, ‘I’m so sorry, but now I really must go.’

‘Of course. I’ll see you to your car.’

‘I didn’t come in my car,’ she said, ‘the fog’s really thick. I came in a taxi.’

‘Then I’ll see you into a taxi. And look forward to tomorrow.’

They walked to the entrance of Claridges; the traffic was crawling down Brook Street at about five miles an hour.

‘That’s hideous,’ he said, ‘I can’t let you go out in that.’

‘Of course you can. I really do have to get home. Mrs Wilson can’t stay after midnight.’

‘Then I’ll come in the cab with you.’

‘No, Marcus, honestly, it’s fine.’

‘It’s not fine. I wouldn’t sleep. I’ll see you safely to your door. And don’t worry, I won’t try and force an entry.’

She smiled. And tried to tell herself it was nice to be treated with such care.

‘OK,’ said Jamie, ‘that’s the situation. What are we doing to do? Just tell me what you all think.’

He looked around the group sitting on the vast sofas either side of the fireplace in the drawing room. They looked, above all else, exhausted. And beyond that, Adele was tearful, Venetia flushed and angry, Sebastian, who had been contacted at his club, was brooding, Kit fearful and Giles completely stunned.

Giles spoke first. ‘I feel so dreadful,’ he said, ‘I should have destroyed them immediately. Or at least put them in the bank or something. I shouldn’t have kept them. Whenever I think of any of our children reading them, I feel quite sick. Never mind the public at large. I knew they were dangerous, a – a kind of time bomb, sitting there, I blame myself terribly—’

‘Giles,’ said Adele gently, ‘don’t be silly. They’ve been sitting there for about fifty years, you can’t blame yourself. And you tried to do the right thing, you kept them to yourself, it was only – God, only yesterday, we even knew they existed. If anyone’s to blame it’s me, dragging the others out of their hiding place.’

‘Look, we’re not going to get anywhere by going down this road,’ said Boy. He sounded impatient. ‘It’s absolutely nobody’s fault, with the possible exception of Celia, writing the bloody things all those years. Now I’m a simple sort of fellow. It seems to me we either give Patterson the money or we don’t. If we don’t, I think he’ll do what he says. He’s very angry, and clearly a bit unbalanced, and those diaries are temptation beyond endurance for him. I’d say give him the money, but it’s not for me to decide.’

‘I think he probably is unbalanced,’ said Adele, ‘and I know this is going to make me very unpopular, but I do feel rather sorry for him. He has had a horribly difficult time, I think he really did love Barty—’

‘Oh, Dell! How can you say that?’

‘Quite easily. He was absolutely shattered at her funeral. He’s also been wonderful to Jenna, and none of us has expressed any appreciation for that at all.’

‘Oh, for God’s sake Adele,’ said Kyle, ‘he’s had a ball, ever since he married Barty. He’s had the run of South Lodge and Number Seven, he’s bought boats, lodges, clothes, cars, a business—’

‘Kyle,’ she said, and her voice was very quiet, ‘I know all that. I also know that if you’re very unhappy and very angry, things like clothes and cars don’t help very much.’

They all stared at her; Jamie looked at his hands, twisting his fingers this way and that, Kyle glowered into his glass.

‘Well,’ said Giles finally, ‘we all know which way you’re going to vote. You’d better go and hand over the money yourself, Adele, give him a nice soothing cuddle into the bargain, suggest he goes for some analysis.’

‘Giles,’ said Venetia, seeing Adele’s face pale, her eyes swim with tears, ‘that isn’t fair. I can see exactly what Dell means. She’s only trying to get at what’s behind this. And she’s right, we haven’t been very – thoughtful towards him.’

‘Oh for goodness sake,’ said Boy, ‘the man’s a crook.’

‘And a confidence trickster,’ said Kyle. ‘You don’t know the half of it, I’m afraid.’

They all stared at him.

‘What do you mean?’ said Giles.

Kyle told them.

Keir walked out of the Reform Club and stood staring into the fog; he felt very odd. His father had once taken him to Blackpool for the day and they had gone on the Big Dipper. He had come off it feeling as if he had been turned inside out, not sure where he was, what his feet were doing, what he could possibly do next.

He felt like that now. He had been so sure, so absolutely sure, that Elspeth had been interested only in her own progress, her own success; that he had become a minor consideration to her, that his departure from her life had been little more than an inconvenience, a convenience, indeed, in many ways, enabling her to do exactly what she liked with the rest of her life. That had hurt him, in fact, far more deeply than her affair with Marcus Forrest. And now he had learned, and there was no doubt that it was true, that she would have been happy for Celia to give him all the shares, to have none for herself. Nothing could have contradicted more firmly all his stubborn preconceptions, nothing could have told him more clearly he had got everything absolutely wrong.

And nothing could have made him realise more clearly how much he still loved her. He wanted to see her. More than anything else in the world.

‘Can you give him a million dollars anyway?’ said Giles.

‘Is there a million in Jenna’s trust fund?’

‘Oh yes,’ said Jamie.

‘And – it wouldn’t leave her – hard up?’ Kit’s voice was tentative, quite anxious.

‘Absolutely not.’

‘Because if it did, then we should try and find the money. Or some of it. I mean, it seems very unfair, that she should have to buy us out of trouble.’

‘Kit!’ said Giles. ‘That’s a bit harsh.’

‘I don’t think so. Having the diaries published would hurt us far more than it would hurt her. She’d be safely in New York, she’s an Elliott, after all, not a Lytton, it’s hardly Jenna’s problem—’

‘What is? What’s not my problem?’

Jenna was standing in the doorway, looking round the room, smiling at them; intrigued and just very slightly anxious at the same time.

It took over half an hour for the taxi to travel from Brook Street to Albert Bridge Road; Elspeth sat willing it to go faster, longing for the journey to be over, trying to respond to Marcus’s kisses, feigning a greater concern over both the fog and her children than she actually felt.

‘This is so, so good of you,’ she said, as they finally reached her block, ‘I’m truly grateful. I’d ask you in, only Mrs Wilson would be shocked and anyway, I think you probably ought to get back. Good night, Marcus, and thank you for everything. Ring me tomorrow.’

‘I will.’

She had disappeared through the main door that led in from the street when Marcus realised she had left her fur stole behind. Well, it was as good an excuse as any. She might even have left it on purpose.

He told the cabbie to wait, and ran across the road after her. Keir Brown, approaching in his own cab from a different direction, saw his unmistakably tall, stylish figure disappearing through the front door.

Boy, the most practised liar, spoke first.

‘We were just saying that it must be difficult for you. Having family on both sides of the Atlantic. Not knowing quite where you belonged. And Kit was saying that wasn’t exactly a problem. Rather the reverse, in fact.’

There was a silence, while she looked at them all; then she said, ‘No you weren’t. You weren’t saying anything like that. I don’t know what it was, but it wasn’t that.’

Jamie looked at her carefully.

‘We were talking about your money, Jenna. Saying it wasn’t exactly a problem. Although I know you see it as one. In a way.’

She was silent, her eyes moving over them, one by one, trying to evaluate what was actually going on.

‘But why were you talking about it now? All of you? I don’t understand.’

‘People always talk about money, Jenna, on days like today,’ said Sebastian firmly. ‘It’s a rather nasty by-product of death.’

‘Yes, but why my money? What’s my money got to do with Celia’s death? Unless she left me some. I thought you’d gone home, Sebastian,’ she added.

‘Well she did,’ said Venetia, grabbing gratefully at this straw, and indeed it was true. ‘Leave you some money, I mean, quite a small bequest, actually, and one of her pearl collars which she thought you’d like.’

Jenna smiled with pleasure.

‘Really? How lovely. She was so good to me. And one of those gorgeous collars, that is just – well, the best. Goodness, I can’t wait to try it on. Oh well – I must get back to the others. We’re dancing, I hope it isn’t making too much noise.’

‘No, no, it’s fine,’ said Boy. ‘What did you come down for, anyway, darling?’

‘Oh – some lemonade. Everyone’s so hot and thirsty.’

‘I’ll make a big jug and bring it up,’ said Venetia quickly, ‘and Lucy really ought to go to bed, she’s so much younger than the rest of you.’

‘Oh, but she’s having a ball,’ said Jenna. ‘Don’t worry, nobody’s doing anything unsuitable. And I’ll get the lemonade myself. You look as if you’re awfully busy down here. Thank you. Lovely evening, Venetia.’