The Diamond Bride

by Carole Mortimer

  ‘It’s as well someone does,’ he muttered now in reply to Anthony’s baiting comment, turning briefly back to Annie before going through the doorway he now stood before. ‘Tell me, Annie,’ he said. ‘Do you play chess?’

  She was taken aback at his return to the conversation Anthony had interrupted. But then, most of their discussion had been fragmented! ‘Yes,’ she answered huskily, not altogether sure why he was asking.

  ‘I thought you might.’ He nodded his satisfaction with her answer. ‘We’ll have a game together one evening. Although I should warn you, I never deliberately let anyone else win!’

  She had a feeling that was true of him in most aspects of his life; he was a man who would give no quarter, to himself or anyone else! ‘I never for a moment believed you would,’ she acknowledged ruefully.

  ‘Good.’ He stepped out into the hallway, before once again pausing, turning back to her. ‘Oh, and Annie…?’

  What now? ‘Yes?’

  ‘You do look lovely in that black dress,’ he told her throatily, a glitter of triumph in his eyes as he saw the blush on her cheeks before he turned and walked away, a quiet whistle floating in the air behind him.

  Annie stared after him in dismay, knowing he had made that last comment to cause mischief; Jessica hadn’t said she looked lovely earlier, only older! But she knew, as Anthony’s mouth tightened in irritation, that Rufus’s jibe had hit the target it was meant for.

  She shook her head disbelievingly; these two men were like two little boys trying to score points off each other. For men aged thirty-nine and thirty-six, it was incredibly destructive…!

  Anthony looked at her scowlingly. ‘You and Rufus seem to be getting on well together.’ It was more of an accusation than an observation!

  ‘He seems happy enough that I continue to work with Jessica.’ She deliberately didn’t rise to the bait, having no intention of becoming yet another bone of contention between these two: they already shared enough ill feeling, without adding her to it! Besides, Rufus had meant to cause mischief…

  Anthony cheered up at the statement. ‘Well, that’s good, isn’t it? For us, I mean,’ he said happily, moving closer to her. ‘It means we’ll have more time to get to know each other.’

  Annie looked up at him, once again dazzled by his charming good looks, his normally pleasant disposition having returned. ‘I suppose so,’ she said slowly.

  Anthony’s arms moved smoothly about the smallness of her waist as he pulled her close against him.

  ‘Someone might see us,’ she protested.

  ‘Who cares?’ he dismissed. ‘Besides, my mother and Davina are deep in discussion about some boring subject or other. I’d much rather be here with you.’

  But Davina was his fiancée. This couldn’t be right; Annie knew it couldn’t. She tried to move gently but firmly out of his arms. ‘Anthony—’

  ‘Oh, for goodness’ sake!’ He thrust her away from him as he felt her struggle against him, a flush to his cheeks as he looked down at her. ‘You weren’t so damned particular on Sunday when I kissed you.’ His eyes narrowed suspiciously. ‘Or is it that, having met my older brother, you think he might be a better prospect?’

  She gasped at the injustice of that accusation. She hadn’t meant for that kiss to happen between them, had been racked with guilt about it ever since, very conscious of his engagement, no matter how disastrous that might appear to be. She certainly had no romantic interest in Rufus Diamond…! That would be pure madness on her part, even more so than her attraction to Anthony.

  ‘I’m sorry, Annie.’ Anthony was instantly contrite as he saw the tears sparkling in her eyes, once again holding her close to him. ‘I shouldn’t take my jealousy out on you.’ He shook his head in self-disgust. ‘Do you forgive me?’ he encouraged softly, his forehead resting lightly on hers as he easily held her gaze.

  How could she resist him when he looked exactly like a little boy, no older than some of the children she had looked after?

  ‘Of course I forgive you,’ she told him huskily. ‘But Rufus is my employer, nothing else.’ She pushed firmly from her mind her complete awareness of the older man.

  ‘I’m glad you said that.’ Anthony nodded his satisfaction. ‘Because I would hate for Rufus to hurt you simply because he has an old score to settle with me.’

  Annie looked up at him, troubled. Surely he wasn’t referring to his mother’s marriage to Rufus’s father, and his own birth soon afterwards? No matter what Rufus considered to be the sins of the mother, they wouldn’t have been passed on to an innocent child…

  ‘I met Joanna first, you see,’ he sighed, grimacing as Annie looked even more confused. ‘Rufus’s wife,’ he explained wistfully. ‘We met in London when I was at university there, had something of a—relationship,’ he admitted. ‘But it all ended when I came back here. At least, as far as I was concerned it did.’ He shrugged. ‘Unfortunately, Joanna hadn’t taken our affair as lightly as I had, and she followed me down here, got a job locally, and once I had convinced her I didn’t want our relationship to continue she set her sights on Rufus. Initially, I’m sure, to pique my interest. Which it didn’t.’ He grimaced again. ‘But that just seemed to make Joanna more determined where Rufus was concerned, and before I knew what was happening the two of them were married. As Joanna related to me afterwards, her wedding gift to Rufus was to tell him I had been her lover first!’

  Annie gasped at the cruelty of such a thing, no longer surprised at the animosity between the two men. Rufus was a man who would hate knowing his brother had been his wife’s lover before their marriage!

  ‘I hadn’t mentioned my relationship with Joanna to Rufus because I really didn’t think he was serious about her.’ Anthony shook his head. ‘I don’t think he’s ever really forgiven me for that.’

  But the marriage had survived, and the couple had had Jessica together. Otherwise Annie wouldn’t be here at all.

  She had wanted to work with a family, had deliberately chosen to do so—but what a complicated family the Diamonds were turning out to be—the first Diamond bride dead, Celia becoming the wicked stepmother, Rufus’s own bride tainted in a way he would never have been happy with, and she a Diamond bride who had also died.

  Could it possibly have been one of these two women who had committed suicide in that rocky cove below Clifftop House? And, if so, which one…?

  CHAPTER FOUR

  ‘I TAKE it your interview last night with my stepson went well?’ Celia Diamond queried briskly as she sat forward to pour the coffee that had just been brought in to them in Celia’s private sitting-room.

  Annie had answered the summons to join the other woman for morning coffee with some trepidation. But Jessica was in her father’s study playing the promised game of chess, so she didn’t really have a valid excuse not to join Celia.

  She chose her words carefully, not really sure in her own mind of the success, or otherwise, of that meeting with Rufus. ‘He seemed satisfied with my references,’ she replied noncommittally.

  Celia narrowed pale blue eyes. ‘So you’re to stay?’

  Annie drew in a deep breath. ‘It would seem so,’ she said slowly.

  ‘Good.’ Celia sighed her satisfaction with this reply, then started sipping her coffee thoughtfully. ‘I doubt that Rufus will stay here very long, anyway,’ she said after a while. ‘He never does!’

  Well, Annie sincerely hoped that this time, for Jessica’s sake he would. Although she could understand why he didn’t usually prolong his visits—the tension in the house, since his arrival yesterday, was so tangible you could almost reach out and touch it!

  ‘And I’m so glad you’re to stay,’ Celia continued evenly. ‘Davina and I were discussing the wedding last night after we all had dinner, and it will be much easier for everyone involved if we don’t have the added worry of Jessica’s care to think of.’

  ‘Wedding?’ Annie echoed numbly. She could think of only one wedding Davina would want to discuss—her own! Was
this the ‘boring subject’ the two women had discussed, that Anthony had referred to when he’d sought Annie out last night? She had a feeling that it was…

  ‘The wedding has been brought forward to Christmas,’ Celia explained, seemingly unaware of Annie’s distress. ‘Which, as it’s to take place in London, means a lot of rearranging. The reception will be the problem, of course, because on such short notice we could end up with somewhere ghastly, and—But I’m sure all of this can’t be of any interest to you,’ she dismissed lightly. ‘I merely want to assure myself that you will be here to take care of Jessica.’

  Did she? Was that really all Celia wanted to do? Annie wasn’t so sure. Or was it simply that she was looking for hidden meanings in everything now? Until yesterday she had taken all the Diamond family at face value; today she seemed to be looking for double meanings in every statement. It was Rufus’s doing, of course. There was no way Celia could possibly know of her attraction to Anthony, and his interest in her. Was there…?

  She was doing it again! Stop this, she inwardly berated herself, picking up her own cup of coffee and sipping it, grateful for the distraction. Poor Anthony; it seemed he was being pushed into this marriage from all sides!

  Her coffee drunk, the conversation concluded to her satisfaction—whatever that might be!—Celia excused herself, saying that she had some flowers to arrange and they were having guests to dinner this evening.

  It was just Annie’s luck that as she left the sitting-room immediately after Celia Anthony should be descending the stairs. They had parted in Rufus’s study the previous evening, Anthony giving her a brief kiss on the lips before he went back to join his mother and Davina. A mother and a fiancée who had been discussing his forthcoming marriage. To say Annie was confused was putting it mildly!

  Anthony gave her a searching look. ‘Anything wrong?’

  Yes, he was going to be married at Christmas, a matter of months away! And last night he had kissed her—again. Of course there was something wrong! But she was as much at a loss over what to do about it as she had been yesterday, down on the jetty.

  ‘Anthony, I think we need to talk,’ she began. ‘Your mother has just told me—’

  ‘About the wedding!’ His grimaced his own feelings about that subject. ‘Don’t worry, Annie, it won’t happen.’

  She looked up at him with dark brown eyes, lashes long and silky. Because of her? She wasn’t sure she wanted that responsibility, her own feelings towards him in total confusion. Since Rufus’s arrival…

  ‘And when do you intend telling Davina that?’ she challenged. ‘When the two of you reach the altar?’

  Anthony’s mouth tightened at the undoubted rebuke. ‘I think that’s my business, don’t you?’ he snapped resentfully.

  Not because of her, she realised thankfully, noticing things about him today that hadn’t been visible when she’d been blinded by his charm and obvious good looks. With his anger came a slight twist of cruelty to his mouth, a coldness to his eyes, and—

  ‘Hey, stop looking so worried,’ he cajoled smilingly, that cruelty and coldness instantly gone, the laughter back in his eyes. ‘I’m not really angry with you.’ He grasped her arms lightly. ‘Just a bit frustrated with the situation. Come on, Annie,’ he encouraged softly. ‘Smile for me.’

  She was still confused, and it wasn’t a situation she was comfortable with at all. ‘I—’

  ‘Trouble in paradise?’ mocked a voice that was becoming increasingly familiar, Annie turning with a start to see Rufus coming down the hallway towards them, a sardonic grin curving those sculptured lips.

  He looked taller than ever today, almost predatory in a black silk shirt and black denims, his dark hair long and unruly, even his eyes appearing black.

  Annie had seen him only briefly earlier when he’d come to collect Jessica for her game of chess, and she found she was looking at him differently with the knowledge of what his marriage to Joanne must have been like. His arrogance was unmistakably an integral part of his nature, and she could only wonder at the blow his pride must have taken when he’d realised Anthony had been Joanne’s lover—first…!

  His eyes rested on her as he reached the two of them, one brow raised in silent query. It was a question Annie would never answer, wishing she didn’t have knowledge of his wife at all, that Anthony had never told her. It gave Rufus a vulnerability she would never have associated with him otherwise.

  Rufus’s gaze hardened as he turned to his brother. ‘You were born a century out of time, Anthony,’ he rasped contemptuously. ‘This fascination you have with the female members of the household staff—no offence intended. Annie,’ he added mock-apologetically before turning back to Anthony with cold black eyes. ‘It would have been more understandable a hundred years ago—although no more acceptable!’

  Anthony had released Annie the moment his brother had first spoken, a flush to his cheeks now. ‘At least I can appreciate a beautiful woman when I see one!’ He returned the insult.

  Rufus remained unmoved by the open retaliation in his brother’s voice. ‘You’re engaged to a beautiful woman,’ he replied. ‘I suggest that in future you stick to her.’ He took a firm grip of Annie’s arm. ‘And leave innocents like Annie alone!’

  She felt like a bone argued over by two equally determined dogs! Besides, she didn’t like the way Rufus, when it suited him, treated her as being no older than Jessica…

  ‘That’s rather a big assumption to have made on my behalf on so short an acquaintance,’ she told him pleasantly as she quietly but firmly moved out of his grasp, meeting his gaze squarely.

  ‘Are you saying you aren’t an innocent?’

  They might have been the only two people standing there, their eyes locked in silent battle.

  She wasn’t a complete innocent, had had her share of boyfriends in the past, but in the true sense of the word, in the way that Rufus meant—

  ‘Anthony, darling.’ Davina Adams strolled down the stairs behind them, a tall, willowy blonde of twenty-eight, and beautiful, as Rufus had already stated. ‘My headache is better now.’ She smiled at her fiancé, her wide blue eyes seeming to take in the tension surrounding the three at the bottom of the stairway—then dismissing it. ‘Shall we go for that drive into town now? We could have some lunch out too,’ she continued lightly. ‘Rufus. Annie.’ She acknowledged them rather belatedly before turning back questioningly to her fiancé.

  Annie had met Davina for the first time over the weekend, and she was no nearer getting past that outer façade of charm to the real person beneath than she had been then. Perhaps it wasn’t a veneer. But if that was the case, then Davina was a very shallow person, seeming to have no other interests than shopping, and her own appearance. But, nevertheless, she was very beautiful…

  ‘Fine,’ Anthony agreed easily. ‘If you’ll excuse us?’ he threw carelessly at Annie and Rufus, Davina clinging to his arm as the two of them left the house.

  ‘When Davina says jump, he jumps,’ Rufus drawled into the silence that followed their departure.

  Annie looked up at him frowningly. Exactly what did he mean by that remark?

  ‘But she is very beautiful,’ Rufus added.

  ‘Yes,’ Annie agreed flatly.

  ‘And rich.’

  ‘Yes…’

  ‘It’s a fact of life, Annie—’ Rufus shrugged ‘—that my brother has already gone through most of his inheritance, and that he does have expensive tastes. And there’s no getting away from the fact that Davina is a very wealthy young woman.’

  Annie frowned. ‘And I’m obviously not?’

  Rufus frowned too now. ‘I don’t believe we were discussing you, Annie,’ he said curtly. ‘Were we…?’

  This man was an investigative reporter, and it had never been more obvious to her than at this moment how good he was at his job. She had just given him information he hadn’t asked for, had confirmed, without actually saying the words, her own interest in Anthony! Albeit an interest she was no longer s
ure of…

  ‘No,’ she responded briskly. ‘Shall I go to Jessica now?’ She deliberately resumed her role as his employee. ‘I’m sure you must have things to do.’

  ‘I do.’ He nodded, still looking at her intently. ‘Apparently I’m taking you out for lunch. The two of you. At Jessica’s request,’ he added—as if he sensed the refusal she had been about to make.

  Her refusal had been purely instinctive, a wish not to spend any more time in Rufus Diamond’s company than she needed to. But his mention of Jessica reminded her of exactly what she was doing here!

  ‘Of course,’ she accepted coolly. ‘I’ll just go up and get Jessica’s coat.’ She turned to ascend the stairs.

  ‘Annie…?’

  She had almost reached the top of the wide staircase—almost escaped what now felt like an emotional battering. Rufus Diamond was not a relaxing man to be around; in fact, he was the opposite. She felt as if she constantly had to be on her guard around him.

  She drew in a deep breath, turning slowly. He stood exactly where she had left him, tall and infinitely powerful, despite the obvious grandeur of the surrounding reception area and wide curved staircase. Master of all he surveyed!

  ‘Yes?’ Even to her own ears her voice sounded apprehensive!

  He grinned at her, that slightly wolfish grin that was so disarmingly charming. ‘I’ll beard the lioness in her den and tell Celia we’re all deserting her for lunch!’

  Her breath left her in a relieved sigh at the innocuousness of his comment—the first indication she had had that she was still holding it in! ‘Fine.’ She nodded dismissively.

  ‘Oh, and Annie…?’

  She had reached the top of the stairs now, had thought he had finished with her, turning impatiently as she realised he hadn’t. Was he doing this on purpose? The laughter in those deep blue eyes seemed to say he was!