Her Tycoon Lover

by Sandra Field

  He clicked his tongue reprovingly and asked, ‘How can the evening’s festivities—which must, incidentally, have cost your stepmother a bomb—go with a bang when the chief bridesmaid will be hiding in her room indulging in tears of jealous rage?’

  Her hand itched to smack his good-looking face.

  Barely managing to repress this sudden, quite untypical urge to violence, she said curtly, ‘I’ll be doing no such thing.’

  ‘You can hardly deny that you’re hiding now.’

  Watching her bite her lip, he went on, ‘You should be out there celebrating with them. While the occasion may not be quite as joyful as you’d hoped, at least, between you, you’ve managed to keep Jason in the family.

  ‘No small triumph. Quite a lot of other women have tried and failed.’

  Handing her a glass of champagne with such calm assurance that she automatically took it, Gray suggested, ‘But in the circumstances, instead of toasting your stepsister’s success, what if we just drink to the future?’

  At that precise moment, her future looked cold and bleak and empty.

  When she made no move, he raised a level brow. ‘Or perhaps that doesn’t appeal to you?’

  ‘No, it doesn’t.’

  ‘Why not?’ he challenged. ‘Though you may have lost one prospective husband, you’ve plenty of time to find another. You’re still quite young. Twenty-one? Twenty-two?’

  ‘I’m twenty-three,’ she said, and instantly regretted telling him.

  ‘Five years older than the blushing bride! Dear me, no wonder you’re absolutely furious. With all that extra experience you should have been able to hold on to your man.

  ‘Though in all fairness, I must say that where Jason is concerned it might not have been easy.

  ‘He’s always had a roving eye, and because of his wealthy background and his title, not to mention his looks, he’s had more women chasing after him than you could shake a stick at.’

  The ‘roving eye’ stung, and, her voice trembling with rage, she cried, ‘You’re absolutely hateful!’

  Looking completely unmoved, Gray said, ‘But don’t despair. Though you may not be a raving beauty like your stepsister, as far as I can see in this light you’re still very attractive—’

  ‘Thanks,’ she said glacially.

  ‘So you surely must have plenty going for you.’

  ‘Funny how I can’t think of a single thing.’ The bitterness came through.

  ‘Then let’s drink to one another, and a change of fortune.’ He raised his glass. ‘Here’s to us, and whatever makes us happy.’

  Feeling goaded and driven, with an unaccustomed recklessness, she took an incautious gulp of the fizzy champagne and promptly choked.

  As she coughed and spluttered, he patted her back solicitously, enquiring at length, ‘That better?’

  Unable to speak, she nodded.

  ‘Why don’t you try another drink?’ he urged.

  This time she was a great deal more careful, and after a couple of sips managed a husky, ‘Thank you.’

  ‘Is that genuine gratitude, or just good manners?’ he enquired quizzically.

  ‘Good manners,’ she flashed back. ‘As I said earlier, if it’s genuine gratitude you want, you’ll go away and leave me alone.’

  ‘So you can start crying again?’

  ‘I’ll cry if I want to,’ she retorted. Then groaned inwardly, aware that she had sounded childish.

  ‘I suppose I can’t blame you,’ he said magnanimously, ‘hurt pride can be the very devil. And the fact that your chance to marry into money has been snatched away must be galling.’

  ‘Money has absolutely nothing to do with it. I loved him.’

  ‘Past tense?’

  ‘No, I still love him.’

  Gray frowned. ‘You sound as if you mean it.’

  ‘I do mean it.’ She took another drink. ‘He was the only man I’ve ever loved, and I thought he loved me.’ But it seemed she’d been wrong.

  At the best of times champagne tended to make her a little tipsy. Now, not having eaten all day, it was going straight to her head, and making her feel light and floaty.

  But at least that was better than the leaden weight of misery that had weighed her down since she had discovered Jason’s and Lisa’s perfidy.

  Replenishing her glass, Gray suggested, ‘Suppose you tell me all about it?’

  Used to hiding her emotions—even from her family and friends—she had no intention of opening her heart to this rude and abrasive stranger.

  Reading her expression, he said coaxingly, ‘Go on, you may as well. It’ll do you the world of good to get it off your chest.’

  She half shook her head.

  ‘At the very least it’ll help to pass the time. Start by telling me how you and Jason met.’

  Already the champagne was loosening her tongue, and without meaning to she found herself saying, ‘We met at work.’

  Responding to his undoubted interest, she continued, ‘My father died at the beginning of last year. After his death, Bowman Ferris, the finance company his great-grandfather had helped to found in the early nineteen-hundreds, was bought out by Finance International.

  ‘PLFI, as it’s widely known, is an Anglo-American banking corporation owned by Philip Lorne, Jason’s uncle, and Jason was brought in as the new MD of the London branch.

  ‘A few months later when Miss Swensen, his American PA, asked to be transferred back to the States to be closer to her terminally ill mother, I got the job.’

  ‘I see,’ Gray said smoothly.

  ‘If you’re thinking it was because he fancied me—’

  ‘Knowing Jason, I must admit that the thought had crossed my mind.’

  ‘I was given the post because of my experience.’

  A gleam in his eye, he drawled, ‘I don’t doubt it.’

  Colour tingeing her cheeks, she told him angrily, ‘I’d been my father’s personal assistant for well over a year.’

  ‘Ah!’

  ‘It was a job I enjoyed.’

  ‘And, after Bowman Ferris changed hands, I take it you continued to enjoy working for Jason?’

  ‘I did. But now I have to leave.’

  ‘Why do you have to leave? So long as your work is still up to scratch there can be no possible grounds for getting rid of you. If by any chance he tried, you could always appeal directly to Philip Lorne.’

  Tightly, she said, ‘You don’t understand—I want to leave. As things are, none of us, particularly Lisa, likes the idea of Jason and me having to see each other on a regular basis.’

  ‘Presumably you’ve managed to cope since your engagement came to an end?’

  ‘I handed in my notice then, but Jason begged me to stay on, for his sake.’

  Gray frowned. ‘I don’t quite see?’

  ‘He said that in spite of all his precautions the rest of the staff knew we’d been “friendly”, and if I left suddenly there was bound to be gossip that might reach his uncle’s ears.’

  ‘Hmm…So what did you do?’

  ‘I agreed to stay on for a while—’

  Almost savagely, Gray said, ‘Jason has always traded on his looks and his charm to get exactly what he wants.’ Then with a sigh, ‘Go on.’

  ‘But only if I could work for someone else…As luck would have it, Mrs Richardson, the Assistant Managing Director’s PA, was absent on maternity leave. Jason arranged for me to take her place temporarily, and his own secretary to do my work until Miss Swensen returned.

  ‘It didn’t stop a few tongues wagging, but when it became clear that we’d stayed on friendly terms the speculation died down.’

  ‘And how do matters stand now?’

  ‘I handed in my resignation last month, ready to leave as soon as Mrs Richardson and Miss Swensen came back. They’re both due to return to work next Monday, so I won’t need to go in again.’

  Hearing the bleakness in her voice, Gray asked, ‘Have you another post lined up?’

  ‘No
t yet. There don’t seem to be many jobs going. But Jason has given me good references, so I’ll find an opening somewhere.’

  ‘How long have you been working?’

  ‘I joined Bowman Ferris when I left college two years ago.’

  ‘Why?’

  When she looked at him blankly, he asked, ‘Wouldn’t your father have given you an allowance?’

  ‘Oh, yes, he offered me one.’

  ‘Why didn’t you take it?’

  ‘I didn’t need an allowance. I wanted to work.’

  His tone bland, Gray observed, ‘The other two ladies seem to prefer a leisurely existence.’

  ‘Surely that’s up to them,’ Rebecca said steadily. ‘I’d always intended to have a career. That’s why I chose to go to a business college.’

  ‘If she hadn’t got married, would your stepsister have gone to college?’

  When the subject had once been mentioned, Lisa had looked disdainful. ‘Why on earth should I want to join the ranks of scruffy, poverty-stricken students? I don’t need a career. I’ve every intention of getting myself a rich husband.’

  Displaying an uncanny accuracy, Gray queried, ‘Or perhaps she was more interested in trawling the social waters in the hope of catching a good-looking, unattached, hopefully generous millionaire?’

  Stiffly, Rebecca said, ‘Since Lisa left school she’s been helping Helen with her various committees and charity lunches.’

  ‘Bully for her.’ He sounded anything but impressed. Then thoughtfully, ‘I notice you don’t call your stepmother “Mother”.’

  ‘She’s never wanted me to. When she and Dad got married, she was barely nineteen.’

  ‘And you were how old?’

  ‘Seven.’

  ‘So your stepsister was just two?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘How did you get on with your stepmother?’

  ‘Quite well.’ That was something of an exaggeration. Though Helen had seldom been unkind to her, at the best she’d felt tolerated, provided she stayed in the background.

  ‘I heard a whisper that she’s always put her own daughter first.’

  ‘It’s understandable,’ Rebecca said simply. ‘I can’t blame her for that.’

  ‘What can you blame her for? Apart from today’s bitchy remarks?’

  ‘Nothing really…’

  ‘The “really” convinces me there’s something.’

  ‘She’s put Elmslee Manor on the market,’ Rebecca said in a rush.

  ‘I see. Did she give a reason?’

  ‘She said it’s too big for her. And of course, even apart from the mortgage repayments, it takes a lot of upkeep—’ Rebecca stopped short, biting her lip, then burst out, ‘But my father would have hated the idea. Elmslee has been in the family for generations, and he wouldn’t have dreamt of parting with it. He loved the old place.’

  ‘I take it you do too?’

  ‘Yes.’ She sighed. ‘But there’s nothing I can do. He willed it to Helen.’

  ‘I see. So you have plenty of grounds for disliking her?’

  ‘I don’t dislike her. At the very least, she made Dad happy.’

  ‘Your loyalty is admirable. If a trifle misplaced.’

  Rebecca shook her head. ‘I owe her a lot. After my mother ran away with another man, my father grew morose and started to drink heavily. I don’t know what might have happened if he hadn’t met Helen. They helped each other.

  ‘She was in despair too. Her boyfriend had taken what little money they had and disappeared, abandoning her and the child, and leaving nothing but a pile of unpaid bills.

  ‘A bare six weeks after she and Dad met they were married quietly, and he brought her to live at Elmslee. A year later he adopted Lisa.’

  ‘Did you dislike having a new stepmother?’

  ‘No. Though I’d loved my own mother very much she had never cared about me, and Dad seemed more settled than he’d been for years.’

  ‘You weren’t jealous of your stepsister?’

  ‘No.’

  Only once had she shown any sign of jealousy, and then Helen had sent her to her room in disgrace. It had been a salutary lesson, and she had never allowed herself to be jealous again.

  ‘I’ve always been fond of Lisa.’ Firmly, she added, ‘I still am.’

  ‘Even though she stole your fiance?’

  ‘You make it sound deliberate.’

  ‘Wasn’t it?’

  As she hesitated, he said, ‘So you think it was.’ Adding curiously, ‘Didn’t you fight for him?’

  ‘No.’

  After she’d seen them together it had never occurred to her to even try. Her pride wouldn’t have allowed her to.

  ‘You just let her take him?’

  When she stayed silent, he said thoughtfully, ‘Though perhaps you were sensible. Someone as fickle as Jason isn’t worth fighting for.’

  ‘How can you be so disloyal?’ she cried. ‘You’re supposed to be his friend.’

  ‘It happens to be the truth,’ Gray observed, his voice dispassionate.

  ‘A fine friend you are!’

  ‘I’ve always had his best interests at heart.’

  As he reached to pour more wine it occurred to her vaguely that, though he was keeping her glass topped up, he was drinking little himself.

  As though reading her thoughts, he explained, ‘I’ll be driving back to London later.’

  So he wasn’t a house guest. Which was odd, if he’d travelled all the way from the States…

  ‘Speaking of hearts,’ he pursued after a moment, ‘when did Jason manage to lose his to your stepsister and break yours?’

  ‘Last Easter.’

  Any other time she wouldn’t have answered such an ironically phrased question, but the amount of champagne she had drunk was succeeding in undermining her natural reticence.

  ‘How did it happen?’

  ‘Helen said they would like to meet Jason and see my ring.’

  ‘Had you been engaged for long?’

  Rebecca swallowed hard. ‘Two months.’

  ‘I didn’t see your engagement announced in any of the papers.’

  ‘It was never put in.’

  ‘Why not? I would have thought your stepmother was the kind to fly to the social pages and spread the good news.

  ‘Unless she was cherishing fond hopes, even then, of her own daughter supplanting you.’

  ‘It wasn’t like that at all,’ Rebecca denied. ‘As a matter of fact it was Jason himself who wasn’t keen to have it put in the papers. He preferred our engagement to be…unofficial.’

  Slipping the ring onto her finger, he had said with charming insouciance, ‘You can break the news to your own family if you want to, but I’ll need time to talk Uncle Pip round, and I’d like the pair of you to meet before we tell the world.’

  ‘Any particular reason for wanting it kept under wraps?’ Gray asked.

  ‘I think he was concerned that his ogre of an uncle might not approve of him getting engaged to his PA. But if you and Jason are quite close I’m surprised you don’t already know all this.’

  ‘I’m afraid he isn’t very good at keeping in touch,’ Gray said smoothly. ‘And, apart from the odd flying visit to London, I’ve been over in the States for a couple of years.’

  Making the connection, she asked, ‘You work for Finance International?’

  ‘That’s right.’

  She wondered why he hadn’t said so earlier, when he went on, ‘Knowing what company gossip’s like, I would have expected the news of your engagement to have filtered through. Especially if you wore your ring at the office.’

  ‘I didn’t. Jason asked me not to, so I wore it on a chain round my neck.’

  ‘The whole thing sounds a bit hole-and-corner,’ Gray observed sardonically, and watched as her cheeks turned pink.

  ‘It was simply that he wanted time to talk his Uncle Pip round, and for the two of us to meet, before the engagement became public knowledge.’

  But
as far as she was aware, Jason had never even mentioned the engagement to Philip Lorne, much less arranged a meeting.

  Seeing the look on Gray’s face, she began defensively, ‘I know the whole thing must sound ridiculous when Jason’s twenty-three—’

  ‘It does, rather.’

  ‘But he was just six when his father was killed in an accident, and his mother died when he was barely fifteen. His uncle was made his guardian, and has been virtually running his life since then.

  ‘Apparently Philip Lorne can be quite formidable, that’s why Jason likes to keep on the right side of him and not rock the boat.’

  Seeing the faint expression of contempt on Gray’s face, she said sharply, ‘Don’t think for a minute that it’s cowardice—’

  Pouring more champagne into her glass, he queried, ‘So what would you call it? Expediency?’

  Ignoring the blatant mockery, she hurried to defend her ex-fiancé. ‘As well as Finance International, Philip Lorne controls all his late sister’s business interests. Although Jason has a generous allowance, his uncle holds the purse strings, apparently for as long as he sees fit.’

  ‘I’m well aware of the facts and the family history, of course,’ Gray said, his voice dry. ‘Though I hadn’t appreciated that his uncle was quite such an ogre.’

  ‘As Philip Lorne is based in New York, you know him, presumably?’

  ‘Yes, I know him.’

  ‘What kind of man is he?’ she asked curiously.

  ‘He has a reputation for being a tough, but fair, businessman. I believe he’s well-respected—’

  ‘No, I mean what do you personally know about him?’

  ‘I know he works very long hours, doesn’t suffer fools gladly, cares about the environment and gives to charity.’

  ‘What about his private life?’

  ‘He likes to keep his private life just that.’

  ‘I take it he’s a very wealthy man?’

  ‘You could say that. Though on the whole he lives fairly quietly, prefers to go about without being recognised, and hates publicity.’

  ‘Would you say he was a violent man?’

  ‘No, I wouldn’t. What makes you ask?’

  ‘It seems he once threatened to turn his young wife over his knee. What made it worse was that she was pregnant at the time.’

  ‘Who told you that?’

  ‘Jason. It happened quite a few years ago when he was just a teenager, but he still remembers it.’