He shrugged. ‘I haven’t decided yet. But I’m sure I don’t have to impress upon you how important it is that no scandal is attached to Giles?’
‘No,’ she acknowledged dully. ‘But I thought he was a friend of yours?’
‘Oh, he is. But I don’t even allow friends to walk off with the woman I once wanted—still want. Like I said, I’ll be in touch.’ He tapped her playfully on the cheek.
Leonie turned away, biting her lip as she saw the fury on Giles’ face.
CHAPTER SEVEN
‘WHAT did he want?’ Giles stormed later, after all the guests had left, leaving the two of them alone in the sitting-room. ‘What did he say to you?’ he demanded to know. ‘Tell me, damn you!’ He shook her hard.
‘I—I’m trying to tell you,’ she quavered, feeling dizzy as he continued to shake her. ‘He was just congratulating me on my engagement to you,’ she told him evasively.
‘It didn’t take him ten minutes to say that. I want to know, Leonie,’ he ordered grimly. ‘What did he say?’
She sought desperately about in her mind for a feasible excuse. She couldn’t tell him the truth. He wouldn’t believe her anyway, not when Jeremy had been so charming the rest of the evening, giving no indication that he had more or less threatened her.
‘If you must know, he made a pass at me!’ she told Giles now.
He stopped shaking her, his gaze searching her face with thorough intensity. ‘Is that the truth?’ he asked slowly.
‘Yes,’ she nodded eagerly, feeling she could be forgiven this small exaggeration. ‘Yes, it’s true.’
Giles smiled. ‘How ironic!’
‘Yes. Why did you do it, Giles? Why announce our engagement?’
‘Why?’ he rasped. ‘Because I’m not letting you marry anyone else but me, that’s why.’
‘Anyone else…?’ she echoed dazedly.
‘I heard you on the telephone to Philip Trent! Good God, girl, you more or less proposed to him! And he accepted. But he isn’t getting you,’ his face was a livid mask of anger. ‘I want you and this time around I’m going to have you, even if I do have to marry you first. You sell yourself very high these days,’ he sneered insultingly. ‘At one time anyone could have you for the price of a dinner and some wine. Well, I’m upping my bid. I’m sure you realise that as my wife you’ll be infinitely more comfortable than you would be married to Philip Trent.’
‘But Phil wasn’t proposing to me,’ she protested. ‘He—’
‘I’m well aware that you brought up the suggestion of marriage,’ he said disgustedly. ‘But materially I can give you more than he can.’
‘And in other ways?’
His mouth twisted. ‘In other ways too! Tell me Leonie,’ he pulled her hard against him, ‘Whose lovemaking do you prefer, his or mine?’ He made no attempt to touch her other than with the hard length of his body, his hands and lips were denied to her. ‘Well?’ he demanded as she remained silent.
He must be able to feel the way she quivered against him, must know what effect he had on her. ‘You don’t need me to answer that.’ her eyes were on a level with the cleft in his chin, his jaw unyielding. ‘You already know the answer.’
‘I want to hear you say it.’
‘Why? So you can mock me some more? she said angrily. ‘Well, I’ll marry you, Giles. But the price just went up.’ She met his furious gaze unflinchingly.
He flung her away from him as if the touch of her revolted him. ‘What more do you want?’ he rasped harshly.
‘Money.’ Her voice was hard.
‘How much?’ His eyes narrowed.
‘How much do you have?’
‘Oh no,’ his laugh was bitter. ‘You tell me how much you think you’re worth and I’ll tell you whether or not I have that much.’
She thought quickly. Her anger had got her into this situation. If she asked for a completely ridiculous sum he would turn the idea down flat and the whole thing could be forgotten. The figure Phil had mentioned the other day sprang to mind. ‘A hundred thousand pounds,’ she told him calmly.
She had to admire the way he didn’t even flinch, but he didn’t laugh either; he seemed to seriously consider the proposal. ‘Why a hundred thousand?’ he asked thoughtfully. ‘Why not a hundred and fifty thousand, or just fifty thousand? Why the specific amount of a hundred thousand?’
Leonie was taken aback by his attitude, surprised he hadn’t just dismissed the idea out of hand. She shrugged. ‘It seemed a nice round figure.’
‘But so is two hundred thousand, or even three hundred thousand. You must know that my family fortune is vast, that even half a million is merely a drop in the ocean?’
‘It is?’ she gasped.
‘You know it is.’
‘But I don’t! I didn’t realise—’
‘That I’m a very rich man?’ he mocked harshly. ‘Liar!’
‘But if you’re so rich why do you—why do you work?’
‘Because I like it. I’m not the type rich playboys are made of. So now you know, do you want to increase the price even more?’
‘No! I—You must know I was joking just now about the money. You angered me, I was just trying to shock you.’
‘Why a hundred thousand, Leonie?’ he persisted. ‘It couldn’t be for your lover, now could it?’
‘Which one?’ she asked shrilly. ‘You seem to credit me with quite a few.’
Giles’ hand went around her wrist, clamping down on her slender bones. ‘I could break this as easily as you broke that china figurine,’ he threatened savagely.
‘I—I’m sorry about that, Emily told me it was one of your favourite pieces.’ She groaned softly in her throat at the pressure he was exerting.
He shrugged. ‘I did like it, but I would rather have a flesh and blood woman to caress, especially if that woman was you. Have you made any arrangements to meet Jeremy?’
‘I—’
‘Have you?’ he demanded through gritted teeth.
‘No.’ Although she had no doubt he meant to get in touch with her some time in the near future.
‘And you’d better not. I don’t know what sort of arrangement you had with your last husband, but I shall want sole rights to your body and time. There will be no scandal attached to my wife’s name, no other men in her life. Don’t worry, Leonie,’ his mouth twisted, ‘I’ll make sure your time is fully occupied.’
Colour flooded her cheeks as his meaning became clear. ‘Giles—’
‘You have yet to tell me why Philip Trent needs that money,’ he reminded her tautly.
She paled. ‘He doesn’t need it. At least, he never asked for it. I just thought—’
‘So it’s a pay-off for him. How many more of your lovers are going to come to me expecting a hand-out?’
‘None!’ she blazed.
‘Okay,’ Giles sighed heavily. ‘You can have the money.’
‘I can?’ Her eyes were wide.
‘As long as it gets Trent out of your life, yes. And I mean completely out. You can meet him on Saturday as arranged, tell him he can have the money instead of you, and then you’re not to see him again.’
Leonie was very white. ‘Are you asking me to choose between the two of you?’
‘Yes!’
She turned away. If it came to an out-and-out choice between Giles and Phil then she would have to choose Giles, the man she loved. But she shouldn’t be made to choose, Giles had no right to ask that of her. ‘Isn’t that rather a possessive attitude to take?’ she choked.
‘It may be.’ He was unyielding. ‘But it’s something you’ll have to make your mind up to if you become my wife.’
Leonie sighed. ‘Giles—’
‘Choose!’ he ordered grimly.
Her shoulders slumped. ‘You know I choose you.’
‘I thought you might,’ his tone was dry. ‘Very well. Tell Trent on Saturday.’ He walked to the door.
Leonie watched him with hurt blue eyes. ‘Are you going to bed now?’
>
‘It is after twelve, and I have an early case tomorrow.’
Her mouth drooped with disappointment. ‘Don’t you say goodnight any more?’ She so much wanted him to kiss her, had been aching for this reassurance ever since he had told his friends she was to be his wife.
Giles shrugged, making no move to come back to her. ‘Goodnight,’ he said coldly, his gaze flickering impersonally over her face. ‘What more do you want, Leonie?’ he sighed.
‘Nothing,’ she said tautly.
‘Goodnight, then.’
She was alone. Surely it shouldn’t be like this. Giles was the man she was going to marry, surely she shouldn’t be left feeling quite so desolate?
But at what price she was to be his wife! She was being made to sacrifice the love and company of the man she had always thought of as her brother, and goodness knows what Jeremy would ask of her. And in the end it would probably all be for nothing. She had no idea what Giles’ reaction to her physical innocence would be, although she didn’t think it would be a very good reaction. He would want to know why she was untouched, would want to know all about Tom. But one thing good would come out of it, he would know once and for all that she had never been with Jeremy or any other man.
‘Are you insane?’ Phil wanted to know on Saturday, pulling the curtain back at the window to look down at the men crowded in the street below, Giles’ Rolls parked in the middle of them. Phil turned back to look at her. ‘I take it those reporters are following you?’
‘Yes,’ Leonie sighed. ‘They’ve been following us the last two days.’
‘That’s what happens when you agree to marry someone who’s almost like royalty,’ Phil scorned. ‘And I repeat, are you insane? You can’t really be serious about marrying Noble.’
‘I am.’
‘But you can’t marry the man just out of a sense of revenge,’ he protested angrily, pacing the room. ‘You’ll be living the rest of your life with him, not just that one night.’
‘Phil—’
‘You can’t put yourself in that position,’ he continued to rave. ‘He’ll destroy you. He—’
‘Phil—’
‘He’ll make your life hell, Leonie,’ Phil groaned. ‘I can’t let you do it.’
‘Will you let me talk, please!’ she said firmly. ‘Thank you,’ she said when she had his full attention. ‘Phil, I love him. I love him and I want to marry him.’
His mouth fell open. ‘Leonie…?’
‘It’s true. I think it’s always been true.’ She sighed. ‘It’s the reason I always hated him so much.’ She gave a breathless laugh. ‘I know how stupid that sounds, but—’
‘No,’ Phil contradicted heavily, ‘it doesn’t sound stupid at all. I had similar feelings about Wanda. While I was in prison I told myself, and her, that I hated her, but if she missed a visit or I didn’t get a letter from her I just went to pieces. It’s like being a drug addict, you know they aren’t good for you, but you can’t live without them.’
‘But Wanda is good for you.’
‘Yes, she is. She gives me confidence in myself because she has confidence in me. But when I first met her, when she swore she would wait for me, I thought she was just a rich little bitch who was out for a few laughs at my expense. I didn’t answer any of her letters at first, but after a year or so I decided to let her visit me. As soon as I saw her again I knew I had to have her for my wife, and crazy child that she is, she seems to want that too.’
‘Because I love you,’ she said quietly from behind them.
‘Hello, love,’ Phil went over to kiss her. ‘We have a celebrity in our midst.’
‘Is that what all the reporters are about downstairs?’
‘Wanda—’ Leonie said sharply. ‘Wanda, did Giles see you come up here?’
The other girl frowned. ‘Is that his car down there? No, I don’t think he saw me, there were reporters all around the car.’
‘Wrong,’ drawled a coldly familiar voice, ‘I saw you, Wanda.’ Giles entered the room, his gaze contemptuous as he looked from Leonie to Phil, and then back again. ‘The plot thickens,’ he said slowly.
Leonie’s face was stricken. She had asked Giles if she might talk to Phil alone, and after much argument he had agreed. And now this! Looking at it from Giles’ point of view the situation looked very suspicious, very suspicious indeed.
‘Giles—’
‘Let me work this out for myself, Leonie,’ he told her coldly. ‘My God, you and your brother really went to town on us, didn’t you,’ he said scornfully. ‘Do your parents know about this, Wanda?’
‘No. But—’
‘I didn’t think they would. Do you have any idea what your—involvement with this man would mean to them?’ he demanded.
‘Yes. But—’
‘You don’t care,’ he finished contemptuously. ‘Are you so besotted with him that you don’t owe your parents any loyalty?’
‘Loyalty!’ Wanda echoed angrily. ‘The same sort of loyalty they give me? The same sort of loyalty my father gave Leonie when you and he publically humiliated her?’
‘Wanda!’ Leonie gasped, looking worriedly at Giles.
‘I’m sorry,’ Wanda sighed. ‘But it’s about time Giles was told some home truths about my father. You see, he—’
‘You’ll have to forgive her,’ Leonie cut in hastily. ‘She’s a little overwrought.’
‘And you?’ Giles snapped angrily. ‘What’s your excuse for your affection for this man? Don’t bother to answer, I can guess. Well, in future, Trent, you can stay away from Leonie. Wanda’s old enough to make her own mind up about the friends she keeps, but Leonie is now my property. Here,’ he threw a cheque down on to the table, ‘that’s payment for her.’
‘Why, you—’
Leonie restrained her brother with an effort. ‘It’s all right, Phil,’ she soothed. ‘Now just calm down.’
‘But that bastard—’
‘Just gave you the money you need,’ she said warningly. ‘And I want you to take it.’
‘But, Leonie—’
‘Take it, Phil. And use it. I told you earlier, this is what I want. And I want you to have what you want too. After all,’ she added bitterly, ‘Giles is rich enough, aren’t you, darling?’ Her voice was icy.
‘Let’s get out of here,’ he snapped. ‘And if you had any sense, Wanda, you’d get out too.’
‘I think the only person in this room without sense is you, Giles,’ she told him rudely. ‘Can’t you see what sort of person Leonie is?’
His mouth twisted, his eyes bleak. ‘I know exactly what sort of person she is. If you aren’t down at the car within two minutes, Leonie, I’ll come back up here and get you.’ He slammed out of the room.
‘My God!’ Phil gasped. ‘You can’t marry him, Leonie. The man’s insane!’
She shrugged resignedly. ‘He has his—nicer moments.’
‘He’s insane with jealousy, Leonie,’ Phil said disbelievingly. ‘Why on earth should he be jealous of me?’
‘He just is,’ she evaded. ‘Don’t worry, he’s the same about every man I come into contact with. Look, I have to go. But take the money, I want you to have it for your restaurant.’
Wanda had picked up the cheque, looking down at it. ‘He can’t mean this,’ she said dazedly. ‘A hundred thousand pounds!’
‘Let me see,’ Phil took it from her. ‘Is he joking?’ he asked Leonie.
‘Did he look in a humorous mood?’ she taunted. ‘It’s the amount I asked for.’
‘You—Leonie, what have you been up to?’
‘Exactly what Giles told you I’d done—sold myself. Don’t you think he deserves it?’
‘He may do, but I don’t think you do.’
‘I have to go,’ she said worriedly. ‘But, Phil, he—he meant it about staying away from me.’ She bit her lip. ‘I—I’m sorry.’
‘Do you mean—’
‘I have to go,’ she repeated with a hurried glance at her wristwatch. ‘Good—good
luck with the wedding.’ Tears were streaming down her face.
‘Leonie—’
‘No Phil,’ Wanda stopped him. ‘I chose you over my family rather than risk losing you, now Leonie is doing the same thing for Giles. Be happy, Leonie,’ she told her gently.
‘How can she be happy with him?’ Phil said disgustedly.
‘Phil!’ his fiancée warned. ‘He’s going to be your sister’s husband, and she loves him.’
Leonie ran out of the room, unable to bear it any more. She had to face a barrage of cameras and reporters once she got outside the building. Giles moved swiftly to open the car door for her, causing the attention to transfer to him.
‘When’s the wedding, Mr Noble?’
‘How long have you known each other?’
‘Does Mrs Carter have any children from her previous marriage?’
The last question caused Giles to spin round and face his questioner. His expression remained bland with effort. ‘No, my fiancée does not have any children. Now would you all stop following us. I gave you a press release yesterday, I have nothing to add to that.’
Leonie hadn’t known of his contact with the newspapers, and the shock of seeing a picture of herself and Giles on the front page of more than one newspaper this morning had rendered her speechless. Emily had been overjoyed, in fact they seemed to be surrounded by a glow of satisfaction. The fact that her nephew and Leonie didn’t exactly act like lovers did not seem to have been noticed by her. She was full of plans for the wedding, most of which only needed Leonie’s smiling approval.
‘Why didn’t you have any children?’ Giles suddenly asked her, once the press had been left far behind them.
‘I—Because we—I—’ She didn’t know what to say, her face was bright red with embarrassment.
‘Don’t children figure in your plans for the rest of your life?’ Giles rasped.
‘I—I haven’t thought about it. Do you want children?’ The thought of a dark-haired baby who looked like Giles snuggled up to her breast gave her a warm glow. How lovely to be the mother of Giles’ children!
‘I haven’t thought about it either. I suppose in time…’
Love's Duel Page 11