Love's Duel

by Carole Mortimer

  ‘Brave girl! Okay, you get ready. Just leave Jeremy to me.’ She sounded very assured, but she wasn’t at all sure she could handle Jeremy. After all, Wanda was his only child, and it was only to be expected that he would want the best for her. The fact that Phil was the best, except for one slip, would escape Jeremy, she felt sure of that.

  ‘You were right the first time,’ Phil grimaced. ‘My shirt isn’t ironed. Wanda moved out a couple of days ago, for propriety’s sake, and I suppose I’ve got used to her doing those things for me. The last lot of laundry I brought back is still in the plastic bag.’

  She found it in the corner. ‘What colour is your suit?’

  ‘Blue.’

  By the time Phil had finally got himself ready it was almost twelve, then the taxi was delayed in heavy traffic.

  ‘Calm down,’ Leonie teased. ‘I’m sure Wanda will wait for you.’

  ‘But the registrar might not.’

  ‘We’re almost there.’ She held his hand.

  It seemed to be absolute chaos once they stepped out of the taxi. Wanda was white-faced, a furious Jeremy at her side.

  ‘You aren’t marrying my daughter,’ he snarled at Phil.

  ‘Daddy—’

  ‘Stay out of this, Wanda. I should have realised when you wouldn’t talk about him that you had something to hide!’

  ‘Now listen here, Lindsay,’ Phil was obviously furious over Wanda’s distressed state.

  ‘No, you listen. My daughter is not marrying you!’

  ‘Jeremy—’

  ‘And you can be quiet,’ he turned on Leonie. ‘You knew about this all the time.’

  ‘Leave her out of it,’ Phil defended. ‘She was as surprised as you are about Wanda and me.’

  Leonie wasn’t exactly listening to them any more, she was staring at the tall impressive man who had just entered the building. Giles! He seemed like an oasis in a desert in the midst of this mess. She hurried to his side.

  He looked just as smart as always, the navy blue suit and lighter coloured shirt fitting him as immaculately as usual. And yet there it ended; Giles was haggard. His grey eyes were sunken into their sockets, his face drawn and pale, his movements jerky and disjointed.

  His expression lightened as he saw her. ‘Leonie…’ he choked. ‘Oh God, Leonie!’ He closed his eyes as if not quite believing she was real.

  ‘Giles, I need your help.’ Right now Phil and Wanda’s happiness was uppermost in her mind, and if anyone could bring calm to this situation then Giles could. ‘Could you—’

  ‘We have to talk, Leonie,’ he grasped her arm. ‘Let’s go somewhere more private.’

  ‘I can’t,’ she refused. ‘Giles, Jeremy is making a scene about the wedding.’

  He seemed to become aware of the other three for the first time. ‘What do you want me to do?’ He looked down at her.

  ‘Get him out of here, any way you can. Oh, look, the registrar is calling them in now,’ she was agitated. The wedding obviously couldn’t take place with Jeremy still here.

  ‘Leonie, will you talk to me, afterwards?’

  ‘I—I—Yes. Just get him away from here,’ she said desperately.

  ‘Leonie—’

  ‘Please, Giles,’ she looked up at him pleadingly. ‘I promise you we’ll talk later.’

  ‘I’ve been looking for you for days,’ he groaned, his eyes agonised.

  ‘I know,’ she answered absently, aware that the registrar was becoming impatient.

  Giles followed her line of vision. ‘Okay,’ he sighed, ‘I’ll deal with Jeremy.’

  ‘And peacefully,’ she put in hurriedly. ‘Don’t get violent here!’

  ‘You heard about that,’ he smiled ruefully.

  ‘Yes. Wanda thought it was hilarious.’ And she had to admit to a certain amount of enjoyment herself when she had seen the yellowy-purple eye a few minutes ago.

  Giles quirked one dark eyebrow. ‘Not interested in the reasoning behind it?’

  ‘Not at this moment, no. If they don’t go in soon the whole thing will have to be cancelled.’

  She watched in admiration as he strode over to the other group and instantly took charge. He told the registrar the bride and groom would be in with him in two minutes, and the little man scuttled back into his office.

  ‘I might have known you had a hand in this!’ Jeremy turned on him viciously. ‘You and Leonie both!’

  ‘I’ve warned you once this week about being insulting to Leonie,’ Giles told him icily. ‘I would be quite willing to enforce that lesson once again.’

  Jeremy paled at the threat in the other man’s voice. ‘That won’t be necessary.’

  ‘I thought not,’ Giles drawled, looking pointedly at the discoloured eye. ‘Now shall we both walk quietly out of here or do you want me to use force?’

  Jeremy flushed his resentment. ‘Wanda is my daughter—’

  ‘Is she?’ Giles cut in tautly. ‘There’s more to being a father than being the man who helped conceive her, and as far as I can see you’ve done little else for Wanda. Whereas Phil—well, he’s made her happy.’

  ‘He has no means of supporting her!’

  ‘I don’t need supporting,’ Wanda snapped resentfully.

  ‘No, she doesn’t,’ Giles agreed. ‘She and Phil are going to work together, both in marriage and business.’

  ‘I don’t understand—’

  ‘It’s quite simple, Jeremy. Leonie and I are going to help them open a restaurant.’

  ‘Giles!’ Leonie gasped.

  ‘Take Phil and Wanda in, Leonie,’ he advised huskily, turning to Phil. ‘I’m afraid you’ll have to get someone else to be your other witness. I’m going to be otherwise occupied,’ he drawled.

  ‘Wanda—’

  ‘I’m sorry, Daddy. It’s Phil I love, and I’m going to marry him.’

  ‘Let’s go, Jeremy,’ Giles said tautly.

  ‘But—’

  ‘Mr Trent!’ The registrar appeared in the doorway. ‘Mr Trent, we have to perform the ceremony now or I’m afraid you’ll have to come back another time.’

  ‘We’re coming now,’ Wanda assured him. ‘Goodbye, Daddy,’ and she and Phil entered the inner office.

  Leonie felt sorry for Jeremy in that moment, although the glare he directed at her showed he didn’t want or need her pity.

  ‘I’ll see you in hell for this!’ he rasped.

  ‘You could see us in court first,’ Giles snapped, his hand firmly grasping Leonie’s elbow. ‘If you ever dare to threaten Leonie again,’ he added tautly.

  The eyes Jeremy turned on her were vehement. ‘You told him about that!’ he accused. ‘You little—’

  ‘Leonie didn’t tell me anything,’ Giles interrupted harshly. ‘She wouldn’t. My information came from a different source.’

  ‘That damned brother of hers, I suppose,’ Jeremy scowled.

  ‘Not him either.’

  ‘Leonie!’ An exasperated-looking Phil appeared in the doorway. ‘We’ve been given exactly one minute to get our wedding party together.’

  She nodded. ‘I’m coming now.’

  ‘We both are,’ Giles drawled. ‘I can trust you to leave of your own accord, can’t I, Jeremy?’

  ‘I’ll be glad to!’ He stormed out.

  Leonie looked up at Giles with dazed eyes, unable not to think of the enigmatic statements he had been making this afternoon. Apparently Phil had invited him to be the other witness to the wedding, and there had also been some mention of Giles and Phil going into business together with the restaurant. And yet she was sure Phil had given Giles his cheque back.

  ‘Can we start now?’ the registrar asked disapprovingly once they had all taken their places.

  ‘I believe you can go ahead,’ Giles nodded, his amusement barely contained as he caught Leonie’s glance.

  Despite its chaotic start, and her puzzlement over Giles, she found the wedding very moving. Wanda looked starry-eyed, and Phil looked sheepishly proud, and in no time they wer
e husband and wife.

  ‘Lunch is on me,’ said Giles once they emerged out into the sunshine.

  ‘No,’ Phil insisted firmly, ‘lunch is on me.’

  ‘Fine,’ Giles accepted. ‘Shall we go in my car?’

  Phil grinned. ‘I was hoping you’d offer, I fancy a ride in a Rolls!’

  Leonie went along with this, feeling that the day had been disaster enough already. But she had no wish to spend time with Giles, sitting quietly as the other three chatted together over the meal in the quiet Italian restaurant Phil and Wanda chose.

  ‘Nice place.’ Giles sat back, his brandy in a glass in front of him. ‘Anything like the place you want to set up?’ he asked Phil.

  ‘How did you guess?’ Phil grinned. ‘Very similar, only the cuisine will be English.’

  Giles nodded. ‘Very wise. The quietly exclusive restaurant is coming back into fashion.’

  ‘You really think it could work?’ Wanda asked eagerly.

  ‘Of course, as long as you attract the right clientele from the beginning. As I was telling Phil the other evening, I’ll probably be able to help you out with that.’

  ‘Of course you will,’ Wanda laughed. ‘You know all those rich barristers.’

  Giles smiled. ‘They aren’t all rich.’

  ‘The other evening?’ Leonie couldn’t maintain her silence any longer, determined to get to the bottom of this conversation.

  Her brother flushed. ‘Giles—er—Mr Noble and I—’

  ‘Giles,’ he corrected smoothly.

  Phil nodded. ‘Giles has offered to go into business with me,’ he told Leonie.

  ‘And he did this the other night,’ she said dryly.

  ‘Yes.’ Phil stared down at his empty coffee cup.

  ‘When the two of you, who have always professed to dislike each other, got into a cosy little chat about the restaurant business, such a cosy little chat that Giles even offered to finance your venture,’ her voice was shrill. ‘In fact you became such good friends over this cosy little chat that you even asked him to attend your wedding as the second witness.’

  ‘Leonie—’

  ‘Well, forgive me for being surprised,’ she cut in tautly. ‘But the last I heard you couldn’t stand each other.’ Her eyes flashed deeply blue in her agitation. ‘Now you’re going to be business partners.’

  ‘I think we can discuss this when we’re alone, Leonie,’ Giles told her firmly. ‘Phil and Wanda’s wedding day has been traumatic enough already, without our adding to it.’

  Wanda cuddled up to Phil. ‘As long as we’re married nothing else matters.’

  She received a kiss from her husband for that. ‘I think it’s better if we have this thing out in the open,’ he said tolerantly, turning to Leonie. ‘Giles and I had this “cosy little chat” because of you—’

  ‘Me? You have no need—’

  ‘Because he’s been out of his mind with worry about you,’ Phil continued in a firm voice. ‘So have I, for that matter. I didn’t expect you to just disappear until this morning. You could have let me know how you were.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ her sarcasm was unmistakable. She felt slightly hysterical, as if the whole world were ganging up on her. Phil and Giles now seemed to be firm friends, had become so because of a mutual worry about her. ‘I didn’t realise I had to report back to anyone on my movements,’ she continued. ‘I thought all that had stopped when I gave Giles back his ring.’

  ‘I really do think it would be better if Leonie and I discussed this somewhere else.’ Giles’ mouth was taut. ‘Perferably somewhere we can be alone.’

  ‘I don’t want to be alone with you,’ she snapped. ‘Why don’t you go and be alone with—with Sonja, or—or Dawn?’ she added in a rush.

  ‘Dawn…?’ he frowned his puzzlement. ‘What does she have to do with us?’

  ‘Everything,’ she told him furiously. ‘I witnessed your reaction to Emily getting in touch with her, don’t forget. And if one of your ex-girl-friends can make you react like that then I just don’t want to know.’

  ‘Girl-friend?’ He sounded astounded. ‘Dawn?’

  ‘Don’t act so innocent. You were very rude about her. And you upset Emily terribly.’

  ‘I should think I damn well did!’

  ‘Calm down, Giles,’ Phil chuckled. ‘I think maybe you’re right, and you should take Leonie away from here, somewhere you can kiss some sense into her. She sounds like a jealous female to me.’

  ‘Phil!’ She flushed, wondering just what he had told Giles the other evening. Not that she loved him, surely! ‘Be quiet!’ she snapped. ‘Just because you’ve had this sudden change of feeling towards Giles it doesn’t mean we all have,’ her look was a warning.

  ‘It’s obvious you haven’t,’ Giles said tightly, setting her mind at rest about Phil having revealed her secret love for him. ‘But I think it’s time Phil and Wanda went off on their honeymoon. Leonie and I can sort out our own difficulties once you’ve gone.’

  Leonie looked startled. ‘You’re going away?’ she asked her brother.

  ‘Just for a few days.’ He looked uncomfortable, adding nothing to the statement.

  ‘Where have they gone?’ she demanded of Giles once they had dropped the other couple off at the station.

  ‘To my cottage in Wales,’ he answered easily, driving the Rolls with controlled speed through the busy London streets.

  ‘I should have known,’ she scoffed. ‘You’ve taken over their lives as easily as you took over mine. You won’t get me back this way, Giles, not through bribery.’

  ‘My business deal with Phil has nothing to do with you,’ he told her in a stilted voice.

  ‘I realise you’re piqued because you didn’t get me into bed with you, but—’

  ‘Shut up!’

  ‘I will not!’ She glared at him. ‘Helping my brother out doesn’t mean I feel any more kindly disposed towards you.’

  He ran a weary hand through his grey-speckled dark hair. ‘You’ve already made you feelings towards me more than clear.’

  ‘Then why have you been looking for me? Why can’t you just leave me alone?’

  ‘After today I will,’ he assured her.

  ‘Where are you taking me?’ she wanted to know, seeing the purpose in his expression.

  ‘To my house. There’s someone there I want you to meet.’

  ‘Not Emily,’ she denied with a groan. ‘I can’t see her just now, I’m too embarrassed. Maybe in a few weeks’ time.’

  ‘It isn’t Emily, she’s still at the cottage.’

  Leonie frowned. ‘Then who is it?’

  ‘Wait and see,’ came his noncommittal answer.

  She couldn’t get any more information out of him, his mood was so adamant, so she had to be content to sit and seethe as they drove to his house.

  Davenport let then in when they arrived, not seeming at all surprised by Leonie’s presence, although he surely must have heard of their broken engagement.

  ‘Is Mrs Burroughs here?’ Giles asked him.

  ‘She’s been out since this morning, sir, but she did say she would be back early this afternoon.’

  ‘Very well,’ Giles nodded. ‘Mrs Carter and I will be waiting in the lounge when she returns.’

  Leonie followed him with ill-grace, hating being manoeuvred like this. ‘Who is Mrs Burroughs?’ she wanted to know.

  ‘Drink?’ He moved to the drinks trolley, ignoring her question.

  ‘No—thank you.’ She watched as he poured himself one. ‘Are you still drinking too much?’

  ‘Yes!’ the explosion was savage.

  Leonie bit her lip. ‘This Mrs Burroughs, who is she?’ she persisted.

  He took a swallow of the whisky. ‘If I tell you her first name is Dawn will that help you?’ his tone was scornful.

  ‘Dawn?’ she echoed sharply. ‘You actually have her living here with you?’

  ‘Yes. Leonie, she—’ he broke off as the sound of voices could be heard out in the hallwa
y. ‘That must be her now.’

  Leonie was furious. ‘I’m not staying!’

  His eyes were narrowed to icy slits. ‘You’ll meet her.’

  ‘No—’

  The door swung open and a woman walked in. ‘Ah, Giles,’ she moved to kiss him on the cheek. ‘And you’ve brought your fiancée to meet me at last;’ she smiled warmly at Leonie. ‘Mother,’ Giles greeted tersely.

  Mother! Leonie looked at them dazedly. For not only was Dawn Burroughs Giles’ mother, she was also the woman who had been staring so intently at Jeremy and herself when they had had lunch together at the Ritz!

  CHAPTER TEN

  THE woman gave a light laugh. ‘Don’t look so surprised, Leonie—I may call you Leonie, I hope?’ she smiled at Leonie’s nod of assent. ‘I am indeed Giles’ mother.’

  ‘But I—I didn’t know,’ Leonie flushed. ‘What I mean is—’

  ‘You mean you thought I was dead,’ Giles’ mother finished easily. ‘That’s the way he prefers to think of me, don’t you, dear?’

  ‘Mother,’ he said warningly.

  ‘Well, it’s true,’ she told him happily. ‘I know that. And until the last few years I might just as well have been. I’m perfectly well aware of the fact that I’ve been a lousy mother.’

  ‘Leonie isn’t interested in this,’ Giles said tautly.

  ‘Yes, I am,’ she denied abruptly. ‘I’m very interested in your mother. It’s so nice to meet you, Mrs Burroughs, it proves that Giles is human after all. I’d begun to think he was simply carved out of granite.’ She knew by his furious expression that she had hit a sensitive spot—as she had intended to.

  Mrs Burroughs obviously appreciated the remark, though. She openly joined in Leonie’s amusement. ‘How long did you say the two of you have known each other?’ she asked her son.

  ‘Four years,’ he revealed tightly.

  She shook her head. ‘And you haven’t once proved that you’re human, in all that time?’

  Now it was Giles’ turn to smile. ‘Oh, I think I’ve done that—on occasion.’

  Leonie blushed. ‘But he soon reverts to type,’ she snapped. ‘I don’t know whether you’re aware of the fact, Mrs Burroughs, but your son is a very suspicious individual.’

  The other woman quirked her eyebrows. ‘Maybe he has reason for that sometimes, hmm?’