he there now? Would a single phone call put him back in touch with her at last? His eagerness to reach for his phone and do so was almost overwhelming. He just had to get rid of Alistair Lassiter first.
He sat back pointedly, indicating there was nothing more to debate. Then, both to expedite Lassiter’s departure and because he had no wish for his relations with Flavia’s father to be unpleasant just because he wouldn’t budge on his rescue package, he said, his tone cordial enough, ‘I wish you luck with your alternative offer, and I hope you get the business settled soon. There’s a great deal of good value in the company—you hardly need me to tell you that—but I have my own ways of operating, and I always want to take equity.’
There. That was surely sufficiently conciliatory to give Lassiter a face-saving exit. As he finished speaking, for an instant he thought he saw another flash of anger in the fleshy face, but a moment later it was gone. In its place was a resumption of the smiling bonhomie that Leon was used to seeing.
‘Well, old chap,’ he replied, his manner bland once more, ‘I’m sorry you’re going to let go the opportunity I’ve offered you, but there it is. Looks like the other lot get the deal.’ He made it sound as though it were Leon’s loss, and he got to his feet as if regretfully.
As he did so, he nodded towards the computer screen on Leon’s desk, and Leon realised, to his annoyance, that Lassiter must have been able to see it.
‘Ah, I see you’re taking a look at Harford. Beautiful place, isn’t it? Flavia’s devoted to it. Comes to her from her mother’s side.’ He smiled, as if jovially. ‘But of course you’ll know all that by now, won’t you?’
There was a knowing look in his eyes, but Leon would not be drawn. His personal relationship with Flavia was not something he would discuss with her father.
Lassiter’s expression lost its smile. ‘Of course,’ he went on, shaking his head, his voice rueful, ‘sadly—like so many of these upper-crust county families—they ran out of money some time ago. That’s why, if I’m absolutely honest about it,’ he confided, ‘Flavia’s mother was so ready to snap me up—self-made as I am. Because I could help finance its upkeep. I still do. It’s cost me a fortune over the years, but Flavia adores the place—would do anything to keep it.’ He paused. ‘Anything at all.’
He smiled. Paused again. ‘She’s a lovely girl, isn’t she? So beautiful! I could tell you were very taken with her, and I’m glad you’ve got together now, despite her being … well, a bit capricious towards you initially. I don’t like to say such things, as a fond father, so you must allow me some prejudice in her favour. I can never see any wrong in her—but that’s fathers for you!’
He smiled again, dotingly. ‘Her mother was just like her—beautiful and determined. She always knew what she wanted! And how to get it!’ He gave a little laugh—an indulgent one. ‘Mind you, she could be sweet as pie, too—when she was after something!’ Now he looked Leon in the eyes again, an open, frank expression on his face. ‘I never thought I stood a chance of winning her—I’ve never been a handsome chap—but I did at least have money to my name. Some people might say it was wrong of her to take that into account, but I could never hold it against Flavia’s mother. She was just as devoted to Harford as her daughter is, and she wanted to save it any way she could—it’s very understandable. Very understandable.’
He gave a sigh. ‘When she set her cap at me because she knew I could preserve Harford for the family she was just too beautiful to resist—I was putty in her hands. And when she died, so tragically young—well, I guess it’s not surprising I lavished everything on our daughter.’ He shook his head regretfully. ‘And I guess it’s not surprising that it meant Flavia grew up thinking she could have everything she wanted. I know she can be moody—’ there was an apologetic note to his voice ‘—well, you saw that for yourself, didn’t you, at the charity ball?’ he acknowledged. ‘But I made allowances that evening because I knew how worried she was about my state of affairs.’ He held up a hand. ‘Not that I’ve burdened her with them. I would never do that! But she’s a smart girl, and must have got wind of how things stood with me.’
He nodded at the image on the computer screen again. ‘She’ll be so pleased you’ve taken an interest in Harford, I know. Have you been there yet with her?’ he asked. ‘Mind you, now that you and I won’t be business partners after all things may change on that front. It wouldn’t surprise me, I have to say. But if you should go down, you’ll see why Flavia’s so devoted to it and how much she wants me to be able to keep it safe for her—expensive luxury though it is.’
He started towards the door. ‘Well, I mustn’t keep you. We’re both very busy men. I’m sorry we shan’t be partners, but of I look forward to seeing more of you with Flavia on the social front,’ he answered Leon. ‘If the two of you are still together, of course.’
He opened the door and was gone.
At his desk, Leon sat very, very still. Then, slowly, he reached for his phone to make his call to Flavia.
He had one very simple question to ask her.
CHAPTER TWELVE
‘EARTH to earth, ashes to ashes …’
The rector’s voice was low and resonant. Flavia stood, head bowed, tears running down her cheeks. Her grandmother would lie beside her husband in her grave, as together in death as they had been through all their long married life. Grief buckled through her again, as it had been doing over and over again in the long days and the longer nights since her grandmother’s breathing had become shallower and shallower … and then stopped completely.
The committal ended and she lifted her head, blinking away her tears, knowing she now had to get through the ordeal of a reception at Harford for the mourners to attend. It was what her grandmother would have wanted, but she felt she couldn’t take one more expression of sympathy, one more person calling the loss of her beloved grandmother a ‘merciful release’ before adding ‘and not just for your grandmother’ with an encouraging expression on their faces.
One person had even said right out, ‘It was no life for you here, buried in the countryside at your age—a young girl—no life at all. You should have been off living your own life. finding romance and excitement.’
Anger and guilt had pierced her, needle-sharp, lancing in and out of the ravening grief that shook her, body and mind. It was like being possessed, blocking out everything else.
Even thinking about Leon.
No! She mustn’t think about Leon—not now—not yet. He belonged to a different world—a world she wasn’t in right now. She had to blank it out totally because she couldn’t cope with it. Even without the guilt spearing her she couldn’t have coped with that world now. With the guilt, it was impossible!
I should have been here, with my grandmother—I should never have gone off with Leon!
It was no good telling herself that at least she had come back in time to be with her grandmother at the very end—no good telling herself that her grandmother would not even have realised she had gone away.
And no good telling herself, with chill bleakness, that she had done what she had in order to save Harford for her grandmother.
Numbly, she somehow got through the reception, played the role of dutiful granddaughter even though she had betrayed her grandmother at the last, putting herself first, her own desires …
Indulging herself with Leon, and all that he’d offered her.
But she couldn’t bear to think of Leon, because guilt racked her on his account as well. She’d abandoned him to rush back to her grandmother, and knowing she had done so crushed her with guilt, too.