She took his hand in hers and held it tightly and the warmth of it penetrated right through her body. 'We'll put it all behind us from now on,' she said. 'Agreed?'
'Agreed,' he said fervently, raising her hand and kissing each finger in turn.
Then he felt in his pocket and brought out an envelope. 'As we're dispelling old ghosts we may as well deal with this one too.'
Lucie took the envelope. 'It's from Peter.'
'I had an idea it might be. It was delivered to your father's villa—it must have come a few days ago. And if he's got any bright ideas about hanging around you again, he can forget them,' he added darkly.
Lucie tore open the envelope and read the short letter inside.
'My dearest Lucie,' Peter had written, 'I couldn't just let it go without telling you how absolutely chuffed I am. I'm actually in the process of starting up my own agency—and I positively insist on handling all your work in future. I promise to make you famous, with lots of lovely lolly, and it's the least I can do in view of the generosity of your papa. Of course I knew that he was paying me off to remove myself from the scene and leave the field clear for Devereux, but I reckoned you wouldn't be heartbroken about my departure. I think I knew all along that you were never in love with me and only agreed to our "engagement" to have a back-up on the trip. I hope by now you and Devereux will have fixed something up. The address of the agency is as above—you must come and see me in all my glory very soon. Yours as ever, Peter.'
Lucie handed the letter to Guy. 'He doesn't know—about Father. He left before it happened.'
Guy read the letter through and shook his head. They were both silent for a time, deep in their own thoughts.
Then Lucie said slowly, 'Guy, you know what this means, don't you? If Father paid Peter off to break his engagement to me it means that he must have had some last hope that you and I would get together and that you would use your influence in the bank to get him out of trouble. He didn't mean to die when he went on that dive. He meant to stay and fight.'
Guy nodded, his lips pursed. 'I worked that out for myself yesterday. I found your father's cheque-book with a largish sum paid out to Peter Philips. I didn't have to be Sherlock Holmes to solve that problem.'
Lucie put a hand over her eyes to hide the tears that welled up. 'I'm glad he didn't die in that terrible way. But—but it hurts that he didn't send for me because he loved me and wanted to make up our quarrel. I was still only a pawn in his game of high finance.' She choked over the words. 'And I was so glad we'd come together again and that he really cared about me. All he ever cared about was power and money.'
Guy came round the table and wrapped his arm round her. 'I doubt if people do change very much. But all the same I'm sure he was glad to see you, to feel you still cared about him. He must have been a very lonely man.'
Lucie looked up into the dark-lashed eyes that met her own with such understanding, and was overwhelmed by a rush of love and gratitude. She pressed her face against his chest as he stood behind her chair and knew with absolute certainty that the bad times were over and the future lay ahead, full of promise. 'Oh, Guy darling, I do love you so much,' she whispered unsteadily.
He slipped into a chair very close beside her, and said thoughtfully, 'I think I'll arrange to have an extra week off work—they can get along without me. How does the idea of a second honeymoon appeal to you?'
'Oh yes—wonderful! Where?' Lucie held her breath, willing him to take her back to "their" island. Not that she wouldn't have followed him gladly to any place in the world that he suggested, but somehow that primitive little shack with none of the creature comforts of high living seemed to underline for her that there were many more sides to Guy than she had once believed so mistakenly.
'Where?' The blue eyes twinkled into hers. 'Surely there can only be one place?'
'The shack? Our very own honeymoon island?'
'Correct,' he said. 'We'll go over from the Brac by sea and take lots of tins to replenish Derek's store, and quite a few goodies for ourselves, too. We'll call it our second honeymoon island, and I promise you it will be an even better honeymoon than the first.'
'Couldn't be,' Lucie shook her head.
'Indeed it could. For now we know we love each other, and then we loved each other without each other knowing that we loved each other. Work that one out, sweetheart.'
He put out a hand and pulled her lazily on to his knees, and she twined her arms round his neck and laid her face against his.
'I'm no good at puzzles,' she whispered. 'You can show me what you mean when we get to our island.'
'I will, my dearest heart,' he promised, his mouth against her soft cheek. 'Oh, I certainly will!'
Honeymoon Island Page 15