‘Are you going to stay there all night or are you coming for a walk?’ he demanded.
She had decided to play hard to get, but at sight of him all her resolution vanished. ‘I’ll be right down.’ Grabbing up a jacket, she ran out to join him.
Putting his arms round her, Rhys kissed her. ‘Had a good day?’
‘It was OK.’ He let her go and they began to walk down towards the meadow. ‘How about you?’
‘I helped my father repair the roof of the garage.’
‘And yesterday, when you went sailing?’
Rhys glanced at her, alerted by her tone. ‘The sailing was great, but it turned out that our two fathers had got hold of me for a business talk.’
‘Why, what happened?’
‘We moored off a buoy to have our picnic lunch and they started talking money.’
‘To pay for the wedding, do you mean?’
‘Partly that. My father has decided to retire early. He was asking your father for advice.’
As her father was a financial consultant, this was hardly surprising. But Alix said, ‘He could ask my father’s advice any time. Why when you were out sailing, and why when you were there?’
‘Good question. You know some years ago they bought that piece of ground at the end of our gardens? Well, they wanted to know how I’d feel if they gave it to us for a wedding present.’
‘A piece of ground?’
‘To build a house on. For us to live in.’
‘Oh, I see.’ They had reached the fence and Alix stopped and looked at him. ‘What did you say?’
‘I said that it was very kind of them.’
There was an ironic note to his voice that made her study him more intently, to wish that it was daylight. ‘Was that a yes or a no?’
He shrugged non-committally. ‘If you want a house there, we’ll build one.’
But there had been no great enthusiasm in his tone and she had to feel her way as she said, ‘I suppose, from their point of view, it would have great advantages. We would be near at hand, for when they get older. And they would be able, hopefully, to see their grandchildren all the time.’ He made no comment so she went on, making her voice light, ‘And I suppose it would be an asset for us—built-in baby-sitters.’
‘I’ll tell them that we accept, then.’
She caught his hand. ‘No! Not unless you want it, too,’ she said forcefully. ‘I don’t want you to feel—coerced again. I don’t care where I live so long as it’s with you.’
‘Thanks, urchin.’ Putting his finger under her chin, Rhys tilted her face towards him. ‘I must admit that I’ve felt as if everyone is ganging up on me lately.’ His lips teased hers, touching them too lightly for it to be called a kiss. ‘But you shall have your house, urchin. Whatever you want to make you happy. Only I’m afraid you’ll have to wait for a while; I won’t be here long enough to oversee it being built for quite some time.’
‘Unless your father does it for you,’ Alix said without thinking. ‘If he’s going to retire he’ll be here all the time.’
Immediately she sensed a withdrawal in him. ‘Now, why didn’t I think of that?’ he said shortly.
‘Because it was a stupid thing to say,’ she said at once, cursing herself for a fool. ‘Of course you want to make sure the house is just as we want it.’
But it was too late. Rhys straightened and said, ‘No, it will give Dad something to do. He’ll enjoy it. And you and mother, and your parents, will all be able to help him. It’s a great idea. Saves me a good deal of bother.’
‘Rhys, please. I’m sorry. I——’ She broke off as he turned away.
‘We’d better get back. I have to be at the airport at some ungodly hour in the morning.’
‘I’ll drive you.’
‘There’s no point. I’m only going from Gatwick. I’ll drive myself and leave the car in the car park.’
‘Please, I want to.’
But he refused, and although he kissed her when he said goodnight Alix lay awake that night, worrying that things weren’t right between them again. She dropped off to sleep eventually but woke when her alarm clock went off at four. She dressed in the dark, then sat by her window, looking across the garden to Rhys’s bedroom, waiting for the light to come on. When it went out again, half an hour later, she ran downstairs and let herself out. Ran across the garden to wait by his garage until Rhys came out to the car.
He started with surprise when he saw her, but she didn’t wait for him to say anything before throwing herself into his arms. ‘Rhys, please don’t be angry with me. I love you so much. We’ll do whatever you want, whatever you say.’ She looked up at him, her eyes full of entreaty. ‘Please don’t leave feeling angry with me.’
Dropping his case, Rhys put his arms round her. ‘I’m not angry with you, urchin.’ He looked rueful. ‘Events seem to be overtaking me, that’s all. I was hoping that we’d be able to do things in our own time, but it seems that I have less of it than anyone else. But I’m not angry, really. Just a bit disappointed that I won’t be here to share it all. But you’ll manage fine without me. Just send me lots of faxes, telling me what you’re up to.’ Suddenly fierce, he bent to kiss her. ‘And maybe it’s just as well we’re getting married soon,’ he said on a husky note. ‘Because I’m not sure how much longer I can hold out.’
It was what she wanted to hear, exactly the right words. When Rhys let her go Alix was breathless, her eyes sparkling happily. ‘Oh, Rhys, I do love you,’ she said in deep sincerity as he got in the car.
He grinned at her, one of the lazy grins that she adored. ‘See you in a couple of weeks. Take care, urchin.’ And he waved as he drove away.
Alix rushed into work the next morning and went into Todd’s office to look at the work schedules. Apart from an odd week here and there, Rhys looked to be booked up for at least the next five months. She was standing before the planning chart, looking up at it disconso- lately, when Todd came in. He put a hand on her drooping shoulder.
‘Hi, Alix. What’s so interesting?’
‘I was trying to find two or three clear weeks so Rhys and I can get married,’ she told him. ‘But there’s nothing for months.’
‘You’ve decided not to wait any longer, have you? Well, I certainly don’t blame Rhys for that. And getting married is pretty important. So important in fact—’ he picked up the pen that hung by the chart ‘—that I think we might just make one or two alterations. Let’s see, now…June is a pretty good month for a wedding, isn’t it? So if we get someone to take over from Rhys on this Lithuanian project, then that will give him nearly a month’s leave starting at the beginning of June. That’s just over two months from now. That suit you, Alix?’
‘That’s just—just fantastic!’ She turned to him, elation in her blue eyes. ‘Thanks, Todd. It means so much to me.’
‘Anything for my favourite PA.’ Putting his arm round her waist, Todd gave her a friendly hug. ‘Mind you, I shall expect an invitation to the wedding.’
‘You and Lynette will be the guests of honour,’ Alix assured him.
A shadow dulled his smile. ‘I hope it will be the two of us, but it might be just me, honey; Lynette and I are having a few problems right now.’
‘Oh, Todd, I’m sorry to hear that. Not serious, I hope?’
He shrugged. ‘We’ll just have to wait and see.’
Alix felt genuine sympathy for Todd, because she knew that he loved his family, especially his sons, but she had none for Lynette, whom she blamed for creating Todd’s problems, and whom she had begun to think of as a first-class bitch.
Going back to her own office, Alix immediately put through a fax to the hotel in Prague where Rhys was staying, telling him the good news, then rang her mother and told her.
‘That’s marvellous, dear,’ Mrs North enthused. ‘Now, what date shall we pick?’
‘I’m not sure. I haven’t actually spoken to Rhys about it.’
‘Well, he will probably want to be home for a few
days before the wedding, so I think we’ll make it the tenth of June. That will give you three whole weeks for your honeymoon.’
‘That sounds fine, but perhaps I ought to check with Rhys first.’
‘Oh, I don’t think so, dear. He told you to go ahead and fix it, didn’t he?’
‘Well, yes, but——’
‘That’s all right, then. We’ll work on that date.’
Alix agreed, but, when she’d put the phone down, wished that she’d been a bit firmer about getting Rhys’s agreement first; but her mother was right, he had told her to go ahead and just keep him informed by fax. Anyway, he was bound to phone her either at work or at the flat tonight, and if he had any reservations he could tell her then. To be on the safe side, Alix sent him another fax. ‘Chosen June tenth for big day. OK with you?’
But he didn’t phone, and it was three days before he answered by sending a fax to the office, and then it was just three words. ‘June tenth OK.’
Alix had rushed eagerly to tear the sheet off the machine, but then stood looking at it with mixed emotions. Rhys must have thought that someone else might read it, and that’s why he hadn’t sent his love or anything. But these terse words were hardly those of a lover, of a man eager to claim her for his own at last. But at least he’d agreed; she didn’t have to worry any longer that he might not.
Feeling strangely low, Alix went downstairs to find Kathy. They were still firm friends, although Kathy was already married, the result of a whirlwind courtship after meeting her future husband by nearly knocking him out with a badly hit tennis ball a year ago. ‘He fell in love with me the moment he recovered consciousness,’ as Kathy liked to joke.
‘Hello, Kathy. Doing anything for lunch?’
‘Oh, sorry, Alix. I have to do some shopping. Our best man and his new girlfriend are coming to dinner.’ She gave Alix an appraising look. ‘Anything the matter?’
‘No. Are you and that husband of yours doing anything on the tenth of June?’
Kathy fished a diary out of her bag. ‘Tenth of June?
No, we’re free. Why, what’s happ——’ She broke off, her mouth falling open. ‘Alix! You don’t mean you’ve finally set a date?’
Alix nodded, grinning, and immediately feeling better.
‘That’s wonderful! Of course we’re free. I wouldn’t miss your wedding for anything.’
Alix was greatly touched because, although she had gone to Kathy’s wedding, Rhys had been away. The wedding had been fun, but not nearly as much as it would have been if Rhys had been with her. She was so proud of him, so loved to show him off, and always had her morale lifted a million times when she was with him.
They had a chat about a wedding-dress and going-away outfit for a few minutes, and met up in the cloakroom later for a longer chat, all of which made Alix feel great again, and to dismiss her earlier feeling of restlessness as nerves.
By the time Rhys was due home again, Alix was not only her usual happy self, but full of excitement over the wedding plans which were going ahead at a fast pace back home in Kent. The cathedral and a hotel for the reception had been definitely booked, bridesmaids and pages had been told to stand by to be measured for their outfits, and Alix had chosen the dress she wanted. A friend of her mother’s had promised to make the cake, and a florist had been engaged for the flowers. Now that they had finally set the date, their two mothers had gone to work like a programmed machine that had just been waiting to be switched on, and everything was happening efficiently and fast. Alix was consulted at every stage, of course, but found that she had little to do except say yes.
The trip to Prague was a comparatively short one, just to finalise some details and sign the contract, so Rhys was soon home. He seemed his usual self, and content with all the wedding arrangements that bombarded him from all sides as soon as he arrived. But he was only in Kent for a day or so before going off to spend the week sailing round the Scottish Isles with friends. As he explained to Alix before he left,. ‘It will probably be my last chance to have a holiday like this.’
‘I don’t see why,’ she protested.
‘After we’re married we’ll presumably be spending all our free time together. I’ll look on this as my last bachelor holiday,’ he added with a rueful grin.
He said it lightly enough, but Alix didn’t like the ruefulness, and couldn’t help but think that he was reluctant to give up his sailing holidays, even to spend the time with her. She felt guilty about it and determined, ©once they were married, to make sure he kept up his friendships and did his own thing whenever he wanted. She didn’t want to be the kind of wife that kept her husband at her side the whole time; although, for herself, she could never contemplate going away with girlfriends when she could be with Rhys. But everyone knew that men were different; her own father liked to go on golfing holidays with his friends, Rhys’s father included. But her mother cheerfully said that Rhys was just escaping from all the fuss of the wedding.
When he returned he came into the office to see Todd. Alix was in her own, outer office, and stayed there; she always tried to maintain a professional manner towards Todd and Rhys in the office, never butting in on them when they were talking business, or taking advantage of her relationship with Rhys. So when Todd’s buzzer sounded it was Brenda who went in to see him. But she left the door ajar and Alix, her ears attuned to Rhys’s voice, heard him say angrily, ‘Damn it, Todd, you should have consulted me before you took me off that project. It will be a great advantage for us to get a foothold there. And there’s so much competition for the market that—’
Brenda came back and shut the door, but Alix had heard enough to guess that Rhys was talking about the Lithuanian project. The one he would have gone on if Todd hadn’t changed it to give him time to get married. It hurt a little, but she knew by now that his work was extremely important to Rhys; maybe he would have preferred a different time but it was too late now; the date was set and everything going ahead.
He left again the next day, for New Zealand this time, taking a team to work out a tender for a new airport, and wasn’t expected back for a month. His mother made sure she had his measurements for his morning suit, the name of the best man and the list of friends he wanted to act as ushers; apart from that there seemed little for him to do.
At times the month he was away dragged, at others it flew by. Todd was mostly in England, trying desperately to patch up his marriage, but his wife was English and had been too long in England to want to go back to Canada to live. She and her sons had all their friends here, as she pointed out. But Todd was Canadian through and through and wanted his sons to be brought up there as well as in England, so that they, too, would know and love the country. But if didn’t seem as if this was their only problem; Alix had heard a whisper that Lynette was seeing someone else. Alix didn’t want to believe it for Todd’s sake, but several times, when she went into his office, she found him seated at his desk, gazing broodingly into space, which was totally unlike him.
Alix duly sent them a joint invitation to the wedding, but although Todd accepted at once, he said he wasn’t sure about Lynette. ‘She’s thinking of taking a trip to France; I’m not sure she’ll be back in time.’
‘Why don’t you go with her?’ Alix suggested. ‘You need a break.’
But he only shrugged and said, ‘I may have to go to Lithuania in Rhys’s place. Depends how it goes.’
When Rhys came back from New Zealand Alix hardly saw him. He disappeared into his own office with his team and worked intensely on the tender for the airport. There was only three weeks to the wedding, so Alix naturally thought that he was working so hard in order to get the job finished before then. She moved out of the flat, as she always did when he came home, happily thinking that when next she lived there it would be as Rhys’s wife. Rhys came down to Kent for the first weekend, but spent it trying on his suit, buying presents for the bridesmaids, fixing up their honeymoon, so that Alix didn’t see much of him then, either. And she herself wa
s busy, deciding on what flowers she wanted, going with the two mothers to the cathedral to see what floral decorations would be needed there, then going to the hotel to decide on a menu; the arrangements seemed to be endless. Alix was more than grateful that their two mothers were such close friends and agreed on everything; if there had been arguments in which she would have had to intervene, life would have been hell. But as it was, everyone was working hard to make the day absolutely perfect for her.
At home everything was fine. It was at the office that it all started to go wrong. Rhys finished the New Zealand tender in record time, then calmly told her that he was going to Lithuania.
‘What?’ Alix stared at him in consternation.
‘Don’t worry. I’ll be back in plenty of time for the tenth.’
‘But I thought you were rushing the New Zealand job through so that you’d be free to make the most of getting ready for the wedding.’
‘Make the most of it?’ He raised an eyebrow.
‘You only get married once,’ Alix pointed out rather tartly. ‘Why shouldn’t you enjoy the preparations?’
They were alone in her office. Rhys bent to kiss her lightly. ‘You enjoy it for me. Seriously, urchin, I’ll feel a whole lot happier if I can go to Vilnius, size up the situation and speak to our contacts there before the team goes in. It will only take a few days. And you would much rather I was relaxed and unworried on our honeymoon, now wouldn’t you?’
Alix was quite sure he would be relaxed, she’d see to that; but, knowing there was no other course, she dutifully said, ‘I suppose so. But there are still lots of things you’re needed for, Rhys.’
‘I’ve briefed my father; he’ll take care of anything urgent that crops up, and I’ll deal with the rest when I get back.’ Leaning forward, he spread his hands on the desk and leaned over it to kiss her properly.
‘Hey! Put that girl down! She’s still mine in working hours. You can’t have her until after five-thirty,’ Todd exclaimed, walking in on them.
To Have And To Hold (Mills & Boon Vintage 90s Modern) Page 8