Country Rivals

by Zara Stoneley

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous. You can’t pull out. I’ve told you it’s too late.’

  ‘I have. We have. It isn’t for sale.’

  ‘You’re delusional, an idiot. I’m calling my solicitor and he’ll tell you, it doesn’t matter if you have got your money.’

  ‘She’s rather a nice delusional idiot, though.’ Jamie grinned, and got the type of glare that would have sent him scurrying for cover six months ago. Whether he’d got immune, or simply manned up (as Tab would say) he wasn’t sure. And he didn’t care. He cared even less when Tab scampered down the steps, linked her hand through his arm, and kissed his cheek.

  ‘How touching.’ The glare had been followed by a withering look.

  ‘We want to ask you about Gareth Timms as well.’ Lottie found that now she’d started, she couldn’t stop.

  ‘Who?’ Pandora stared blankly at her.

  Tab grabbed Jamie’s tablet, jabbed at it angrily, and then waved it under Pandora’s nose. A nearly naked, tattoo-covered, twenty-something, showing the start of a beer belly and sporting only an elephant willy warmer thrust his trunk in Pandora’s direction. Lottie, who’d joined them on the grass, opened her eyes wider and tilted her head, trying to work out just what she was looking at.

  ‘Oops.’ Tab giggled and tapped off the startling profile picture, which she’d enlarged by mistake, and pointed to a post. ‘He says he knows you.’

  ‘Oh, him.’ Pandora shrugged and studied her nails, barely suppressing a yawn, but Jamie could see the tightness in her jaw, the pinch of her lips. ‘Is there a point to this? I really am quite busy, you know, some of us work and I do have a call to make.’

  ‘He’s the one that started the fire, Gazza,’ Lottie pointed to one of the tattoos, which proudly announced his name and wondered if he’d had it put there in case he forgot who he was, ‘the one that tried to wreck my business. He says you know him.’

  ‘Know?’ She gave a short, harsh laugh. ‘I’d hardly say I knew him, he’s just a fan.’

  ‘Well he says here that …’

  ‘Oh, honestly, does it matter what the Neanderthal says? Sorry, is there some law about conversing with people like that? Not that I’d imagine you’d ever lower yourself that far.’

  ‘There’s no law, babe.’ Sam decided that staying on the steps was a better bet, as her heels were new and they did have gorgeous diamantes down the back, and she was bound to sink even if the grass was bone dry. ‘But he has been arrested now, and I mean, you knowing this guy and then wanting to buy the place looks a bit iffy, doesn’t it, if you see what I mean?’

  ‘I hadn’t heard of him until after your fire, if you see what I mean.’ Pandora scowled.

  ‘But you did get him to talk to the papers and stir things up.’

  ‘It’s up to him what he says, he’s a grown,’ she sniffed, then pushed the tablet away with the type of look on her face that said she’d just eaten something unpleasant, ‘man.’

  ‘Very grown.’ Tab grinned, and enlarged the profile picture again.

  ‘You planned this all along, didn’t you, Pandora?’

  ‘I had nothing to do with the fire, you can’t blame me for that, Lottie.’

  ‘No, but you did suggest to the insurance company that I was desperate for money.’

  ‘Well you are.’

  ‘So you don’t deny it?’

  ‘You can’t prove anything.’

  ‘And you got all those people to ring up and cancel their weddings, and demand their refunds back. That was your doing too, wasn’t it?’

  ‘And how do you propose to pay back all those people, dear, poor Lottie? All those court cases, all that bad publicity.’

  Lottie frowned. ‘Court cases? How do you know about those? Nobody knows about that. It was you that got Timms to encourage them to take me to court for the money, wasn’t it? He would never have thought of that on his own, and he knew nearly all of them.’

  ‘No, he really isn’t the brightest of men, is he? But all I was doing was offering friendly advice, so what are you going to do,’ she laughed, ‘sue me?’

  ‘No, but those people aren’t taking us to court now. We’ve settled. Some of them are having their deposits refunded, but most of them have changed their minds, and they want their weddings here after all.’

  ‘You’re lying. All of this is a lie, isn’t it? Isn’t it? You’re wrong, you’re wrong about all of it. I’m having Tipping House and there aren’t going to be any weddings. Do you hear me?’

  ‘Darling, Pandora.’ Pandora hadn’t noticed Seb, or a whole group of the film crew, approach. They’d crept closer, drawn by the sight of their star getting more rigid by the second, her voice rising to an ever-higher pitch. She shrugged off the hand he’d put on her arm. ‘I think we should go. Calm down.’

  ‘Calm down?’ She turned her fury on him. A lesser man would have shrunk back, but not Seb. ‘Calm down? And then I can be fucking comatose like all these inbred idiots?’

  ‘Stop it, Pandora. You’re making a fool of yourself.’

  ‘And it was you who sent Jamie here. It was all your idea to film at Tipping House, wasn’t it?’ Lottie didn’t need to ask, but she had to.

  ‘Oh that’s nonsense.’ Seb spoke with utter conviction. ‘She didn’t even want to come here. I had a hell of a job convincing her. Didn’t I?’

  ‘Oh for heaven’s sake, of course it was my bloody idea. How else could I prise you away from your precious studio and city-living?’ Pandora stared at Seb. ‘What are you doing here anyway, haven’t you got things to do? Has one of your minions snitched?’

  ‘Not snitched.’ Seb gave a wary sigh. ‘I heard you yelling at Lottie – everybody on the set did. In fact, I imagine everybody in the bloody county has heard you.’

  ‘Well you can go away. I’m quite capable of fighting my own battles.’

  ‘Of that I have no doubt, darling. So let’s get this straight, you picked this location?’ Seb took a step back from his wife. ‘But we had the script …’

  ‘It was me who found the script, if you remember. I brought it to you. To be honest, it stinks, it’s a pile of utter drivel.’ She laughed. ‘Do you honestly think this shit will sell? But it was perfect for this place. I wanted this place. I needed it. Don’t you understand me at all?’

  ‘I thought it just grew on you. You weren’t keen on coming here, you hadn’t planned …’

  ‘Of course I planned it. Oh you really can be dense at times, darling. Didn’t you think it strange that the other location you wanted fell through at the last minute?’

  ‘So it wasn’t a coincidence coming here? I thought you were up to something from the moment you admitted you knew Lottie lived here, but not this. It’s utter madness.’ Xander had wandered over with the rest of the crew to see what the fuss was about, and his voice was dangerously soft. But Pandora was oblivious.

  ‘Coincidence? Don’t be ridiculous.’ She gave a harsh laugh. ‘There’s no such thing as coincidence, darling brother.’

  ‘Why did you make Xander come?’ Lottie felt a bit rude butting into what now seemed like a family argument, but she had started it, and it was her home that they were arguing about.

  ‘Why do you think I enlisted my brother, you silly cow? Men are ruled by their dicks, they’re all the same, and we all know where his was leading him.’

  Which effectively alienated all her potential male allies, thought Lottie, wondering just how much hate could exist in one person. There was no stopping Pandora now, though, who was looking at Lottie as though she had just crawled out from under some stone. ‘He had a massive schoolboy crush on you. You’re not telling me you never noticed him following you around with his tongue hanging out? God knows why, you were so plain,’ she paused, ‘and fat. But I knew it would make him,’ she pointed at Rory who was a step behind Xander, ‘stupid and jealous.’

  ‘But not stupid or jealous enough,’ said Lottie quietly.

  ‘You just think you’re so clever, don’t you? Y
ou thought you were better than me, with your posh relatives and all your little horsey friends. Well, you’re not. I’m the one who has made something of myself. I’m the one who’s famous. I could take him,’ she pointed at Rory, ‘from you any time I liked. And you know what?’

  Lottie knew they were about to hear the answer whether they wanted to or not.

  ‘I am somebody. I don’t even need a place like this to make people respect me. I don’t want your silly house for myself, or your gormless husband. He might be fit, but who wants a man who spends all his money on horses?’

  Lottie looked at her in astonishment, not quite sure what to say.

  ‘Oh honestly, why are you making such a fuss about a decrepit old heap of the past? You’ve buried yourself in this bloody place, where all the men smell of horseshit and the most exciting thing you have to talk about is raising money for the church roof. Do you know how pathetic you all look in your stupid country clothes with all those dirty mongrels spreading dirt and disease in your homes? This place needs to be gutted. It’s such a shame that stupid man didn’t do a proper job.’

  Harry looked up at Lottie and wagged his tail, and Ella pawed at Xander’s leg. He stooped to pick her up and Pandora swapped her attention to him.

  ‘And you’re just as bad as they are. It’s no wonder that girl was fed up of you. I told her she was wasting her time. You’re just like your mother, pathetic.’

  Xander grabbed her arm. ‘You spoke to Miranda?

  ‘Take your hands off me.’ If looks could kill, thought Lottie, Pandora would be serving multiple life sentences for murder. Medusa had nothing on her. ‘Of course I spoke to Miranda,’ she cocked her head on one side, her voice suddenly sweet. She was Jekyll and Hyde, and Lottie marvelled at how she could switch so smoothly from pure poison to sweetness and light. ‘She is such a darling girl, but she wasn’t good enough for you. You were being so moody and difficult, the poor thing didn’t know who to turn to. So I helped out, I thought a complete break would be good for you.’

  ‘You cow. You can’t just step in and ruin people’s lives.’

  ‘Oh don’t be melodramatic. You weren’t really bothered about her, and it wouldn’t have lasted anyway.’

  ‘Pandora, she dragged up all the dirt she could on me, made me look a complete shit, sold out to the newspapers. Don’t you care at all?’

  Pandora shrugged. ‘Of course I care, but you wouldn’t have come here if you’d still been shacked up with her, would you? I needed you, dear brother. It’s always been rather annoying how you’ve chased all these other insignificant women and ignored me.’

  ‘Nobody could ignore you.’

  ‘Well maybe not ignored, but you’ve not been as attentive as you should. You would have got bored of her anyway. Just as you would have got bored of Lottie, except she doesn’t want you anyway, does she? I honestly thought you’d have managed to succeed in at least one thing in life and get her into bed, but you couldn’t even do that.’

  ‘Pandora.’ It was a warning, but she wasn’t about to take notice.

  ‘Nobody wants you, do they, Xander? Not really. Except me, I understand you, I want you.’

  ‘I’m sorry?’ His tone was incredulous.

  ‘Don’t you realise? I always loved you, Xander, we were a team. You should be with me.’ She faltered, her voice stuttering as she realised what she’d said, and saw the look of horror on his face.

  ‘You’re insane. You’re my half-sister, for God’s sake. Father might have made some pretty big mistakes like that, but I damned well don’t.’

  ‘We belong together. We used to get on so well when we were here before. You looked after me and you loved me too. I know you did.’

  ‘Pandora,’ he paused, ‘I didn’t love you, I felt sorry for you. That’s why I tried to be friends. I thought the way Dad treated you was unforgiveable, but I can’t change it. Oh God.’ He shook his head then looked back at her, a frown of confusion spread across his features. ‘How can you be like this? Who are you?’

  Seb laid a hand back on his wife’s arm. ‘Pandora, we need to talk. I don’t understand any of this, and I need to.’

  She turned to him, her eyes shiny bright, pin-pricks of pink on her normally pale cheeks. ‘We don’t need to talk.’ There was a trembling edge to her voice that could have been excitement or threatening tears. ‘Ring the solicitor, Seb.’ He shook his head. ‘Seb, I said ring him.’

  ‘No darling, it’s over. You’re not buying Tipping House, well not with my money anyway. We need to talk.’

  She shrugged him off angrily, her voice a low hiss that carried across the silent air like an electric current. ‘But I want it, I need it. I’ve worked for this and I deserve it. I have to buy Tipping House.’

  ‘We don’t need a house like this.’

  ‘We don’t, I do.’

  ‘Give me one good reason. Why Pandora? Why the hell do you need a place like this?’

  ‘For Daddy.’

  Everybody froze. Stared.

  ‘For Daddy?’ Seb’s arm dropped to his side.

  Pandora looked at Seb. Of all people, he had to support her. ‘If her horrible father,’ she pointed at Lottie, ‘had let Daddy buy Folly Lake Manor when he wanted to we could have stayed here, all of us, and been happy. He wanted to live here. He loved Tippermere. And her family stopped him. It was her fault he couldn’t have that place, but he can have this one, her home. I’ve got it for him. He loved it here. Don’t you understand?’

  ‘No he didn’t.’ Xander’s tone was soft, but certain. ‘Father doesn’t love anything, he just wanted to be somebody; he thought he could buy status. It was just for his portfolio, something to show off about, you idiot. He couldn’t give a shit about Tippermere.’

  ‘Liar. He did love it, and he would have loved me, but instead he got cross. We had to leave, he sent us away because he couldn’t buy the right place here. Mummy told me. She told me. Lottie ruined my life and now I’m going to ruin hers and show Daddy. He’ll come back, he’ll come back to me.’

  ‘No he won’t. We would have left anyway, he was always moving on.’ Xander shrugged. ‘And he sent you away because your mother kept coming round and making demands. He had appearances to keep up, Pandora, he wanted everybody to think he was the loyal husband and your mother wouldn’t leave him alone.’

  ‘It’s not true. You don’t know him, you don’t understand. When I tell him about Tipping House he’ll realise how much he loves me, he’ll be proud of me. When I saw it in the papers I knew I could get it, I just knew.’

  ‘Oh Pandora, he doesn’t love anybody, can’t you see that? The reason I’m hiding from the press isn’t because of the polo, it’s because I’ve got to fight him in court. He doesn’t even want to give my mother, a woman he’s been married to for years, any money after he’s abandoned her. I’m sorry, but why would he care about you? Why would getting this place make any difference? He doesn’t give a shit, Pandora, he’s a selfish bastard, he can buy places like this whenever he wants, and,’ he paused, ‘he’s engaged. He’s already found a new woman.’

  ‘Liar, shut up, you’re just trying to hurt me.’

  ‘He’s besotted, for the first time in his life I think he actually does care about somebody as much as he cares about himself. She’s rich, she’s pretty. He’s never coming back, Pandora. You’ll never see him again, whatever you do.’

  ‘Shut up.’ Pandora put her hands over her ears. ‘He will, he will come back.’

  ‘You stupid cow, you don’t know what he’s like at all, do you? You can’t make anybody love you, Pandora.’

  ‘I can, he’ll love me, he will, I’ll show you.’ She whirled around. ‘Seb, you understand, don’t you? Tell him, tell them.’

  ‘No, Pandora. I don’t understand. Please, come back to the hotel, talk to me. You and me, come on.’

  ‘You have to understand. I have to have this place. Tell her, Seb. Tell Lottie she has to sell it to me.’

  ‘Darling.’
/>
  ‘No, let go. Give me your phone, I need to ring the solicitor, he’ll tell you.’

  It was Seb they felt sorry for, poor, confused Seb, who hadn’t got a clue how to cope with such an emotional outburst. Seb, who suddenly looked lost and vulnerable. Try as he might, he couldn’t persuade Pandora to move, so they slowly retreated. Rory, Tab, Jamie, and Xander headed towards the comfort of the peaceful stable yard, and Lottie, a shocked Anna, and Sam went into Tipping House. The next time Lottie dared look out of the window, Seb and Pandora had gone.

  * * *

  Seb had never seen his wife pack so quickly. Well, he’d never seen her instruct one of the make-up girls to pack so quickly. Within an hour of her filming her last scene, she had her suitcases and trunks lined up by the trailer door and was checking the cupboards.

  The last few days of the filming had been the worst of his life. It had taken every ounce of his persuasive powers to coax Pandora into completing her scenes, and many hours of talking – employing every logical reason that he could summon up – to convince her that she didn’t want Tipping House. She’d never wanted it. They had the perfect life and her father was a cruel, vindictive man, who had no part to play in it.

  Eventually she had reluctantly agreed that he was right, and that she would return to the set. In public she was as callous and uncaring as ever – denying that she ever had more than a passing interest in the decaying lump of the past that was the Tipping House Estate, and that she was acting a part. But, in private, when they returned each evening to the hotel, she played the part of wounded martyr to the hilt, saying that giving up her dream was a sacrifice she was making just for him. By the time he called ‘cut’ for the final time, Seb was mentally and physically exhausted, and vowing that he never wanted to see a horse, polo stick, or field in his life again.

  Pandora slammed the final cupboard shut. ‘It will be such a relief to leave this shit hole. I honestly think we should consider moving to Spain.’

  ‘That was in the script dear, not real life. The rock star persuading his wife.’ He’d been totally shocked by Pandora’s outburst and admission that not just the script, but the whole film had been driven by her need to seek revenge on the people she felt had slighted her as a child, and by her desperate need for her father’s approval and love. He had never had the slightest inkling that his wife was desperate for parental affirmation, or that she was anything other than one hundred per cent self-confident. And now he wasn’t sure whether his admiration for her had increased, or been demolished. Only time would tell.