Wake the Sleeping Tiger

by Margaret Way

  Wake the Sleeping Tiger by Margaret Way

  HE WAS A MAN WHO TOOK WHAT HE WANTED...

  Brooke knew that either she or her sister, Louise, would have to marry money to avoid selling the family estate. But not for anything would she marry Paul Corelli, the human dynamo who had fought his way out of the gutters of Naples to become a millionaire.

  It was unfortunate that Brooke felt that way, because Corelli had already made up his mind that he wanted her.

  And he absolutely refused to take no for an answer!

  All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the Author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the Author, and all the incidents are pure invention.

  The text of this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the prior consent of the publisher in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  First published 1978

  Australian copyright 1979

  Philippine copyright 1979

  This edition 1979

  Margaret Way 1978

  ISBN 0 263 72913 3

  Set in Linotype Baskerville 10 on 12 pt.

  Made and printed in Great Britain by Richard Clay (The Chaucer Press), Ltd., Bungay, Suffolk

  CHAPTER ONE

  FROM long habit, Brooke closed her ears to her mother's voice, but Louise sat straight-backed and glassy-eyed, like some exquisite doll propped upon the sofa, while the light, petulant voice droned on through the almost daily litany.

  '… not that either of you consider me! I'm just your mother. It's my duty to fret myself into a breakdown. A breakdown, nothing less! If only things were as they were !' This very bitterly, suggesting a terrible picture of present squalor instead of their beautiful, peaceful surroundings. 'Louise, you're the eldest, the beauty of the family. The least you could do is marry Patrick. He's a good Catholic and the family have pots of money! '

  'Oh, Mother! ' Louise broke into a wail.

  'Why not Corelli?' Brooke suggested sardonically. 'In times of crisis, one might dare wake a sleeping tiger!'

  'You're mad!' Louise said soberly. 'I wouldn't know how to handle him.'

  'Maybe you'd better learn how!' Brooke's golden-green eyes studied her sister's petite, porcelain-look figure. 'He may not be the gentleman Mama wants for her precious lamb, but the prospect of getting our hands on all that loot would be beautiful. I wouldn't have to go out to work and we wouldn't have to sell Wintersweet. That's what it's all about, isn't it, Mamma?'

  'I'd sell myself first!' Lillian Howell announced passionately.

  'Oh, my! 'Brooke choked back an involuntary laugh. 'Could anything be worse?'

  'It will be a damned sight worse in every way if one of you doesn't marry money!' Lillian said, trembling. 'Why Poppa had to die and leave me in this dreadful predicament I'll never know. It's all been so very wearing. A widow with two, daughters. Why didn't I have a son to build on inherited money? At least I gave you both a decent education and you've always had the prettiest clothes! '

  'Lou has! ' Brooke pointed out without rancour.

  'That's news to me, miss. You're just jealous because you never got my looks. I tell you I'm sick and ashamed neither of you can make a brilliant match. All the efforts, the endless sacrifices, come to nothing!

  'You mustn't give up hope, Mamma!' Louise murmured sweetly.

  'Isn't there a saying about storming Heaven?' Brooke asked with dry mockery. 'You two start praying. I'm fast moving towards middle age !'

  'At twenty-four?' Louise said in bafflement. 'I'm two years older.'

  'Aren't you lucky!' Brooke said lightly. 'You have the first chance at Corelli.'

  'He can't possibly be interested in me!' Louise answered very modestly, for such a beautiful girl.

  'Everyone says he is.'

  'He'd be a fool if he wasn't!' Lillian broke in on her younger daughter, annoyed. 'It isn't likely he'll find anyone prettier or sweeter than my Louise! '

  'I'm here, Mamma!' Brooke offered, knowing quite well the kind of answer she invited.

  Her mother stared at her steadily, then she turned in her chair to feast her eyes on her favourite daughter. Louise was the apple of her eye, a faithful reproduction of herself at the same age―golden-haired, Blue-eyed, heart-catchingly pretty. 'It's not normal to reach your age, Louise, and not be engaged.'

  'But I must really be in love, Mamma! '

  'What rubbish! ' Lillian said shortly. 'That's all very fine in theory, but I know better. Your future husband simply has to have money. Love will come later, you'll see.'

  'What if she has to wait for a long time?'

  'At least she'll be kept in style!' Lillian answered her younger daughter sweepingly. 'In the old days, of course, Mr. Corelli wouldn't have been on our list, but now it seems we have to consider him.' She looked down at her hands, comforted by the flash of the big solitaire diamond. 'I've nothing against Mr. Corelli…' Lillian paused for a few moments of intense maternal consideration. 'He may not be one of us, admittedly, but it is something after all to be a millionaire in one's early thirties. What a pity you're such a tomboy, Brooke. I'm surprised you're not still climbing trees, always getting dirty and scratched. Such a Harum-scarum child, and you haven't changed a great deal.'

  'You don't really look at her, Mother!' Louise said protestingly. 'Even Nigel has to admit Brooke has the sex appeal! '

  'What rot!' Lillian answered shortly. 'What lady needs sex appeal?' A spasm of distaste marred her still pretty face. 'No one notices Brooke beside you. You're the one with the face of an angel! '

  'Then I'd like a powerful heap of Brooke's spice !'

  Louise persisted. 'Just don't ask me to encourage Paul Corelli―that's simply going too far. I've considered the matter, but I've got no great confidence in myself to handle him. He's dangerous, like all exciting men.'

  'Lots of girls would like to take your place! ' Brooke pointed out.

  'I believe so.' A smile of satisfaction curved Louise's soft mouth.

  Seeing it and the irresistible impression Louise gave of a cream-fed kitten Brooke burst into a hoot of laughter, a young joyous sound that gave her mother no pleasure.

  Lillian reacted with visible anger. 'I wouldn't expect you to take anything seriously, Brooke, though it's true you do have some assets.'

  'Could I hear them?' Brooke invited, clearly in one of her challenging moods,

  'Actually my concern is with Louise!' Lillian said grandly. 'I'm not going to be sidetracked with you. Tell me, darling,' she asked Louise, 'did you invite Mr. Corelli to our party?'

  Unexpectedly the sweet-natured Louise sounded a little huffy. 'I did ring him, but he may be out of town on business.'

  'That figures !' Brooke murmured. 'He's the damnedest man isn't he? Rags to riches and all that stuff. Some kind of financial wizard. Smooth too, in a very foreign way. He even speaks very nicely. Altogether a bright boy-too bright! Is it possible he has Mafia connections ?'

  'No!' Louise exclaimed loudly.

  'You're just that teeny little bit attracted to him?' Lillian asked hopefully.

  Louise gave a faint smile, looking like a cat again. 'He's a very striking-looking man. Not hand
some exactly, but, oh well … sexy, I suppose !'

  'You suppose right ! 'Brooke proceeded to drain her coffee cup, 'And he plays a very special kind of game. Are you acquainted with how he makes his money?'

  'Why, the construction company?' Louise opened her blue eyes wide. 'I believe he owns a chain of hotels as well.'

  'Ah so !' Brooke put her joined hands together under her nose and gave another dry laugh. 'Well, the soulless pursuit of a dollar has now given way to the hellbent pursuit of a suitable bride. Would you care to hear what Cathy Benton thinks of him?'

  'No, I wouldn't!' Louise shook her golden bell of hair back. 'He's only being kind to her squiring her around.'

  'That's not what I heard. 'Brooke rolled her eyes. 'She's even been on his yacht, and you know what that means! How does it go again? Once aboard the lugger and so forth! '

  Lillian's flat-eyed gaze rested on her younger daughter J with displeasure. 'You're not interested in him yourself, are you, miss?'

  'I like your frankness, Mamma, but I don't see myself as a helpless victim! '

  'What an extremely odd thing to say.'

  'Oh, I don't know,' Brooke said quite seriously. 'One knows just by looking at him he'd give a woman hell! '

  'He's always particularly pleasant to me,' Louise maintained.

  'That's different!' Brooke laughed, and relaxed her taut, slender body. 'Let's take a look at the pluses. Despite the supposed grinding poverty of his past he's every inch the tycoon now! '

  'He certainly is!' Louise agreed, quite feelingly for her. 'I sometimes think he's far more knowledgeable and sophisticated than all the Patricks in the world put together.'

  'No argument there!' Brooke dismissed her sister's most persistent suitor very briskly. 'There's good blood in Corelli,' she said thoughtfully, 'probably a Story! '

  'One could scarcely ask him for it,' Lillian said grimly.

  'It would be stupid, yes,' Brooke agreed. 'To be as big a success as he is, one would have to be ruthless and unforgiving, a Borgia offering the poisoned cup to anyone who offended him. What he needs now at this stage of his career is a little class, a beauteous society butterfly to give him a son. As a working girl I don't qualify, but Lou's ideal. Add to that a great big white elephant like Wintersweet and its gracious living on the grand scale. That would appeal to him, plus the entree to high society! '

  'His money can get him that already,' Louise pointed out as if the fact didn't really please her.

  'No ! ' Brooke's firm tone reassured her. 'He needs a symbol, a romantic symbol. That's you, little darling Lou, plus the house. You'll make a truly beautiful mistress and with some money at our disposal we could really spread ourselves. I'm sure he'd be kind to your mamma and your spinster sister. It would be like the old days when Granddad was alive. I really can't wait until you marry him.'

  'Maybe it's not me he wants! 'Louise almost wailed.

  'It is, you, darling!' Lillian's genuinely besotted voice overrode Louise's lack of confidence. 'You can't help knowing you're a very beautiful girl! '

  'Not with you telling her all the time,' Brooke agreed.

  'Considering how I've lived in Lou's shadow it's a wonder I haven't a crippling inferiority complex.'

  'You were always the clever one! ' Louise pointed out a trifle smugly.

  'What's that got to do with it?' Lillian demanded. 'Don't think for a second a man wants a clever woman. Especially not one with red hair and a sharp tongue! '

  'Yes, sir ! They don't come any more frightening!' Brooke seconded lightly. 'Tell us, Lou, what are you going to do with him once you've got him?'

  'Don't make fun of me!' Louise cried out emotionally. 'Please, please, please! ' Clutching a rounded bosom, she jumped to her feet, her big blue eyes swimming with tears, and dashed from the room as though shaken to her very foundations.

  'Good grief! 'Brooke murmured flatly.

  'You've upset her!' Lillian's voice rose sharply to her darling's defence.

  'So it seems! I didn't realise she was taking me so seriously.'

  'You don't want her to get him, that's why. You're jealous of Louise―one doesn't need a psychiatrist to see that!'

  It struck Brooke suddenly that she was forever turning aside her mother's accusations. 'That's absurd,' she, said gravely, 'even funny in its way. No, Mamma, I'm not jealous of Lou. I never have been, I never will be. I love her and I don't in the least envy her anything.'

  'So you say!' Lillian bit off instantly. 'You're like your father. You behave just as badly as you feel inclined and you're always sarcastic at your sister's expense! '

  'If you like, I can go and stay at a boarding house.'

  Lillian's apple blossom skin flushed alarmingly. 'It just so happens, miss, we need the extra money you bring in. You've had years of sacrifice lavished on you, now it's your turn to do something for your mother and sister.'

  'What a pity Lou doesn't feel inclined to find a job,' Brooke said seriously.

  'I don't mind! 'Lillian began heatedly. 'And Louise doesn't mind. You're the one who really minds. As your sister pointed out, aren't you supposed to be the clever one?'

  Brooke simply shrugged her shoulders. Any conversation she had with her mother gave her a headache. 'I'm not trying to I upset you, Mamma, and I'm not making obscene suggestions. Lou could find something and we do need the money. I love Wintersweet too, but it's impossible to keep it going on a high school teacher's salary! '

  'High school teacher!' Lillian very nearly hissed such a worthwhile profession. 'Louise will marry brilliantly, you'll see !'

  'If she doesn't, we've had it!' Brooke concluded succinctly. 'Or life as you've known it! '

  Lillian never even heard her, her blue eyes glowing. 'Yes, a brilliant marriage! This Corelli is supposed to have amassed a fortune.'

  'And you don't care how?'

  'Of course I don't!' Lillian came back to a bewildered reality. 'I mean, he's not a criminal and all that grisly business. All I care about is seeing my Louise happy and keeping Wintersweet in the family.'

  'A tall order and desperate enough for Lou to even think of Signor Corelli. All that sophistication might cover a whole cupboard full of dark secrets.'

  'Nonsense! 'Lillian's fine-boned face was showing its tension. 'Mr. Corelli is a remarkable man, very remarkable indeed. If he's not of our world; one must move with the times. Wintersweet is being threatened―our heritage. The house stands, but if I have to sell off any more it'll be filled with a load of old rubbish. How Maggie Symons must rejoice in our ill fortune. From nowhere I've practically made her the best antique dealer in town! '

  'We went looking for her, Mamma, remember? Maggie has qualities we need, discretion and an unquestioned reputation in the business. I value her as a friend. She lived her life among the rich and when the money ran out she turned her knowledge to good account. Don't let's start on Maggie. She's gone to great lengths to help us.'

  'And herself!' Lillian sniffed delicately, strangely jealous of a woman who was making her own way successfully.

  'That's the way it works. Maggie never says a word, that's the main thing. Some would make quite a story of all our sell-offs ! '

  Lillian shook her fair head painfully. 'It had to be. Do you think I don't feel like smashing all the fakes about the place?'

  'Good fakes.' Brooke attempted to appease her mother.'

  'When I think of what's gone!' Lillian cried with a bitter sense of injustice. 'The most beautiful furniture in the house, the Louis Quinze suite, the Boulle commodes, the marquetry tables, the matching mirrors, Poppa's Oriental collection, or most of it. Such a nightmare! All this could have been avoided if your father had lived.'

  'Perhaps.' Brooke felt a sickening sense of loss. She had spent most of her life wondering how different life might have been with her father around, but he had been killed in a riding accident when she was barely four and Louise an adorable six-year-old. Before that they had lived with Grandfather Ashton, Mamma's father, at Wintersweet.
There was more than enough room for everyone and Grandfather's health had not been good and he had to be watched. Despite that he had lived to rear them, selling what he had to and holding on to what he could to see them through when he was gone. That was four years ago, and everywhere Brooke's eyes touched there was some treasured object or art work missing. The house still stood, a chaste Georgian mansion, but there were many empty spaces inside and the Ashton family collections going back over many generations had long since been housed elsewhere. They weren't poor, far from it. They could never be poor while they had the house, but fixed assets didn't provide ready money. They were living on the sale of one of the bronzes now and it was surely paying for the party Saturday night. Mamma was really a gambler and she was trying to redeem all her losses at once.