Читать книгу Husbands Of The Outback - Margaret Way - Страница 9

The Wedding Eve

GENEVIEVE stood outside her mother’s bedroom door bracing herself for the inevitable confrontation and, she guessed, copious tears. Angel was perfectly capable of it. Generally believed saccharine-sweet, no one knew better than Angel how to make a lot of people uncomfortable. She could turn it on. And off. At the flip of a coin.

Genevieve didn’t know if she could stand it, feeling as bad as she did. After a month of agonizing about this soon-to-be-taken trip to the altar, she had lost weight to the point she was looking more spindly than slim; she had a permanent headache; she was sick to her stomach and trying to smile through it; her emotions so barely under control it hurt.

About to tap on the door and await entrée into her mother’s opulent bedroom that stopped just short of mirrors on the ceiling, Genevieve suddenly remembered with a great sense of relief Angel was going out to dinner with Toby Slocombe. She marvelled she could have forgotten, but then her brain was firing on less than four cylinders.

Toby was one of the high rollers around Sydney Town, recently divorced from his long-suffering wife of thirty years. For once Angel hadn’t been involved having just come out of a rather unsettling experience with a toy-boy a little older than her daughter. So tonight no tears to spoil the mascara. No tears to stain Angel’s ravishing little heart-shaped face. Even so she wouldn’t take it without a bit of light screaming and the usual attempt to talk Genevieve down. Genevieve felt she could just about endure that. Angel’s soft breathy voice raised a few decibels arguing nonstop. No one was home except Genevieve’s beloved Emmy, their long-time housekeeper, baby-sitter, nanny, confidante, social secretary-assistant, referee, who had been more of a mother to Genevieve than Angel the perennial beauty and social butterfly had ever been.

This is supposed to be one of the happiest days of my life, Genevieve thought, avoiding all self-pity. Indeed she felt very isolated and quite guilty, tempted to do a runner. Please God help me through this, she prayed as she rapped on her mother’s door, the great emerald-cut diamond on her left hand winking and blinking heavy enough to anchor a harbour ferry.

“Come!” her mother’s voice trilled.

It was the sort of response one might expect from a celebrated prima donna, not a mother, Genevieve thought. Not a “Come in” much less “Yes, darling.” Emmy, after all, was watching one of her favourite TV shows, not surprisingly, “The Nanny,” and could not be disturbed. Not knowing whether to laugh or cry Genevieve opened the door, her eyes filled with the sight of her mother half falling out of a long sequinned evening dress in a heavenly shade of jacaranda that must have cost as much as the piece of antique furniture Genevieve was about to bump into.

“Lordy, Sweet Mamma,” she said, amazed like everyone else by her mother’s youthful appearance and all-out glamour.

Angel, the picture of seduction, threw out her slender arms and made a full turn. “Like it?”

“What there is of it, yes,” Genevieve agreed slowly. “It’s beautiful. Exquisite.”

“I’d let you wear it only you’re too tall,” Angel instantly responded, smoothing the filmy fabric over her hips.

“I’m not that tall,” Genevieve said. “Anyway, you’ve never lent me anything.”

Angel sprayed herself with another whiff of gorgeous perfume. “Genni, sweetheart, you’ve never wanted for anything. I know you’re beautiful, though I looked twice as good when I was your age, but you have your poor father’s height. And that olive skin.” Angel turned to survey her own flawless strawberries-and-cream complexion.

“Most people think my skin is great,” Genevieve answered casually enough. She always took her mother’s little put-downs with no offence. “Unlike you, I take a tan and it goes very well with my hair.”

“Our hair,” Angel corrected, touching her heavy white-gold naturally wavy locks. In her mid-forties, an age Angel kept quite secret even from her doctor, Angel wore her hair short, brushed up and away from her exceedingly youthful, marvellously pretty face. Genevieve wore hers long, sheets of it, falling to her shoulder blades. Sometimes she had it straightened but it inevitably went back into its waving skeins.

The two of them were very much alike despite the fact Angel was petite and Genevieve stood 5'8" in her stockinged feet with long, light limbs. Most people thought Genevieve was twice as beautiful as her mother and as a member of the Courtland family it was expected she would have brains, something her mother either didn’t have or concealed. Not that it affected Angel’s great ongoing success with men. In fact it might well have contributed to it.

“Genni, do you know what you’re doing?” Angel broke sharply into her daughter’s reverie.

“Nope, what am I doing?” Genevieve asked.

“You’re handling that precious piece of Sevres so carelessly you might drop it. Please put it down.”

“Sorry, Mamma.”

“Darling, haven’t I asked you not to call me that?”

Genevieve laughed, trying to cloak a lifetime’s despair. “You’re one tough lady, Angel. Do you know that? You asked me not to call you Mamma when I was barely ten years old. Not all that long after Daddy died.” It was cruel. Genevieve still thought it was cruel but she had never been one to start, in her own words, “a ruckus.” Not being able to call her mother Mummy or Mum had not only been harrowing, it had somehow affected their relationship. Underneath it all Genevieve felt terrible sorrow her mother wasn’t the complete woman.

In fact Angel was moaning now. “Oh, don’t start that again.” She always did at any mention of her late first husband, Genevieve’s father, Stephen Courtland. Angel had divorced Stephan when Genevieve was seven. Eighteen months later he had been tragically killed in a shooting accident on Jubilee. Jubilee was the Courtland flagship, the desert fortress and ancestral home. The Courtlands controlled a cattle empire that cut a huge swathe through the giant state of Queensland. Blaine was the current custodian of the flame. Blaine Courtland, Genevieve’s kissin’ cousin, prince among men.

At thirty-one, handsome as the devil and just as arrogant, he was a much respected man in a tough man’s world. Blaine had been the hero of Genevieve’s childhood and early adolescence. Eight whole years separated them but they were light years away in substance and maturity.

The little girl Blaine had always called by a string of endearments: flower face, Violetta—because of her eyes—sweetness, cherub, little pal, even pumpkin—she remembered all of them—overnight turned into that silly little idiot Genni who was prepared to waste her perfectly good brain trying to emulate her fool of a mother. Blaine pulled no punches about Angel. He actually called her Jinx to her face. A lot of it stemmed from the fact the Courtland family collectively believed Stephen Courtland’s “accident” had been no accident at all. Everyone knew Stephen had been devastated when Angel walked out on him, taking his adored only child. A serious depression had followed.

“Angel, can I talk to you?” Genevieve asked, picking up her courage.

“I don’t really have time to talk now, darling,” Angel said, hunting up her exquisite evening purse, popping in a fragile lace-edged hanky. “Shouldn’t you be getting your beauty sleep? It’s going to be a wonderful day tomorrow. I’m so proud of you landing Colin.”

Genevieve received a mind picture of Blaine so searing it hurt her head. “I think I’ll pass on Colin,” she blurted abruptly.

“You’ll what?” Angel’s blue-violet eyes started so far from her head she looked like an adorable bug.

“I can’t go through with it, Mamma…Angel. I feel terrible about it, I know it’s what you want. What you’ve done everything in your considerable power to bring about, but I don’t love Colin. I never did. I was going through with marrying him to spite Blaine. I can see that now.”

Angel sat down heavily in a cream damask armchair, her tiny face blanching. “I’m not hearing this. I’m not!” she wailed. “What has this got to do with Blaine? You surely can’t believe he’ll be pleased about this. He’s paid for the whole blasted thing.”

She was betrayed. In that moment humiliation left her bereft. “He what?” Her desperation was almost total.

“Oh, don’t play the fool. It doesn’t work with me,” Angel scolded with some contempt. “You surely didn’t think I was going to outlay a small fortune. The Courtlands have a mountain of money. Blaine can well afford a lavish wedding for three hundred. A drop in the ocean to him. But it would leave a big dint in my bank balance.”

“My God!” Genevieve could have howled with the pain. “You let me believe you were handling all this, Mother. Yes, Mother. You are my mother, aren’t you? My father, God rest his soul, left you very well off. He loved you, the poor deluded man. He loved me. There has to be money, Mother. Look around this God-awful bedroom, this mansion of a house. Look at that dress you’ve got on. The diamonds in your ears and around your neck.”

“Will you please stop making a commotion?” Angel wrung her hands. “I have to look after myself, Genevieve. I have many more years left to me.”

“I thought you were working your head off to land Toby Slocombe?” Genevieve fired.

“Don’t you dare scream at me, you ungrateful little wretch.” Angel was furious and showed it. “How can you possibly let me down? Let Colin down? I don’t dare think of the consequences.”

“No.” Genevieve shook her head violently, in agony. “Because you expected me to help out once I got my hands on the Garrett money. You know Colin’s father is universally detested.”

“I happen to know he approves of you,” Angel said, tight-lipped with anger. “He’s thrilled Colin has finally found someone who will be a good steadying influence on him.”

“You’ve played us all like puppets,” Genevieve said, recognizing it was true. “You might give some people the impression you’re an airhead but you always get what you want, don’t you, Mother?”

Angel had the grace to flush. “I don’t know what’s got into you, Genevieve. You haven’t been the same since you got back from Jubilee. Of course it’s Blaine. He’s always so goddam polite, but I know he hates me. They all do. They blame me for Stephen. As though I was there when he tripped over that bloody fence. They’re a revolting family. So uppity. The landed elite. Yet Blaine’s own mother ran off. Dear Crystelle. Don’t let him fool you. Blaine hates women.”

Genevieve brushed a long ash-gold tendril from her face. “He was kindness itself to me.”

“You mean when you were a little kid,” Angel scoffed, jealous of Blaine’s affection for her daughter to this day.

“A little fatherless kid. I loved Blaine with all my heart,” Genevieve admitted, frightened somehow by the depth of her own emotion.

Angel gave a hard laugh. “Well, that’s all gone by the board. You two have had a very difficult relationship for years now. The arrogance of the man! He has always interfered. You’d think he was your guardian, not me. Remember the time I wanted you to be a model. You could have been right up there at the top. An international career. You had everything going for you, but no, Blaine insisted you go on to university.”

“I was a straight-A student, Angel,” Genevieve reminded her. “I didn’t want to be a model.”

That struck Angel as irrelevant. “It’s the best career a beautiful girl could possibly have. Such an exciting, glamorous life.”

“So you say. It wasn’t for me.”

Angel’s pretty mouth puckered. “So working at the State Art Gallery is better?”

“I have a Fine Arts Degree. I’m quite a good artist myself. I’m learning all the time. I’m regarded as a valuable addition to the team. All of this fades into the background now, Angel, I can’t go through with this marriage.”

That struck Angel as shocking. She burst into faintly hysterical laughter. “Not a chance you’re getting out of it,” she cried loudly. “Blaine will drag you down the aisle if he has to. Don’t forget there’s the honour of the Courtland name at stake.”

Genevieve’s violet eyes burned. “I’m only a cousin, Angel. Third cousin. I don’t really count.”

“Don’t be so sure of that, my girl.” Angel began to fiercely swing an evening-sandalled foot. “This would be the most appalling breach of social etiquette. It’s unthinkable.”

“Except if I go through with it I’ll be making the most hideous mistake of my life,” Genevieve said in a voice thin with despair. “Please listen to me, Angel. I feel so alone. Shaking inside.”

But Angel was furious with her. “Who the devil are you, Genevieve?” she shouted. “Who are you really? You’re certain of it? Why now. Why didn’t you just leave it until tomorrow morning? Climb out the bathroom window. I know you’ve seen that movie with Julia Roberts. Jumping on horses. You’ve got cold feet. All brides have cold feet. A little surprise for you, darling. You simply cannot let any of us down. You’re emotionally fragile, like your father.”

At that Genevieve’s violet eyes flashed into brilliant life. “Damn you, Mamma,” she said. “Damn you for leaving my father in the first place. Isn’t it enough that he’s dead? You’re going to defame him?”

“Now just hang on a minute,” Angel hissed. “I’m not defaming anyone. I’m saying it the way it is. You started something. Finish it. You’re going to go through with this marriage, Genevieve. Colin Garrett is a catch most girls would kill for. He’s attractive, he’s rich—or he will be, he always makes the best-dressed list, he’s more ‘in’ than ‘out’ in all the glossies. He’s ideal. I just love the way he kisses my fingertips every time he sees me. Bellisima, Angelina! he always says.”

“Why don’t you just tell him to shut up?” Genevieve continued angrily. “His mother won’t be unhappy. I know in my heart she doesn’t think we’re suited. I think she thinks I might desert her darling boy sometime in the future. Like you deserted Daddy.” Her voice quivered pathetically.

Angel tilted her head back, staring at the elaborately decorated plaster ceiling. “I didn’t desert your father, Genevieve. I just moved out. I’ve never met a man so needy in my whole life. I found his love for me suffocating, his insistence on a ‘home life’. The three of us doing things together. God, how dreary! Possessiveness can be pretty awful.”

Angel stood up in a torment. “You’ve upset me, Genevieve,” she said. “What a lousy thing to do. I accept you’re uptight. It’s certainly not unheard of. I strongly advise you have a glass of warm milk and go to bed. When you wake up in the morning you’ll feel entirely different.” She turned to face her daughter, who somehow looked fourteen years old. “Now, Toby will be here shortly. I don’t want to hear any more of this. I can’t deal with it. I don’t know either why you can’t stand the idea of Blaine’s paying for it all?”

“That’s because you’re a sponger, Mamma. You’re good at it.” Genevieve lifted her head, pinning her mother’s gaze. “But I’m going to hold it against you forever.”

“Are you?” Angel exploded, sweet voice rasping. “How dare you speak to me like this, Genevieve, you sanctimonious little twit. Blaine and I have been working together for years. He’s a very complex character, is your hero. He hasn’t approved of anything you’ve done these last couple of years yet he’s more than happy to pick up all your bills.

“Oh, yes, darling, don’t look so shocked. It might have been my deepest darkest secret, but Blaine has helped out a lot. Why not? He really did think you were a great little kid and he’s notoriously difficult to please. And you’re a Courtland. That’s a huge thing in your favour. Blaine was happy to keep you in the appropriate manner.”

Genevieve felt like a hand was squeezing her heart. “You asked him?”

Incredibly Angel became almost jovial. “Not at all. He just did it. You were the entrancing little ‘honey chile’. But I expect by now he’ll be happy to let someone else shoulder the burden.”

A deep vivid rose stained Genevieve’s golden skin. She looked up, her eyes as dark as the ocean, aware as she had never been before in her life deep inside her mother some odd malice moved. “Don’t say any more, Angel,” she begged. She, too, stood up, straightening her shoulders. “With any sort of luck after tomorrow we mightn’t have to see one another again.”

Angel heard the finality in her daughter’s voice. “Dear, oh, dear, what a silly thing to say,” she gushed. “I love you, Genni. I’m very proud of you.” She swept forward to pat her daughter’s face, wondering why when she was so pretty herself she always felt jealous of Genni’s hair, her eyes, her mouth, the radiant smile never much in evidence these days, the lovely teeth. God she even wished she was taller, then she wouldn’t have to diet so rigorously.

“The last thing in the world I want is for you to be unhappy, Genni,” she said tremulously, ready to shed a few tears. “Trust me, darling, you’re suffering from prenuptial nerves. It’s normal, not a catastrophe. Colin is so nice. Such fun, and he’ll be drowning in money. I’ve been responsible for you for so long you should feel some responsibility for me. I know tomorrow you’re going to make us all very proud. It’s my dream, honey.”

After her mother had left in a flurry of breathless giggles, hanging on to Toby Slocombe’s arm, Genevieve went in search of Emmy. Emmy was still sitting in front of the television in the small room off the library, watching an old movie, a half-eaten box of Belgium chocolates Genevieve had bought for her on her lap, short plump legs resting on an ottoman.

“Hello, darling girl.” Emmy looked up to smile; her pleasure diminishing as she saw the anguish in Genevieve’s expression. “Going to watch this with me?”

Despite herself Genevieve was amused. “God, Em, you must have seen this movie a hundred times?” She recognised Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint. North by Northwest.

“Better than the ones they make these days,” Emmy snorted. “Wasn’t he just the handsomest man?”

“He surely was,” Genevieve agreed. “Bisexual, I gather?”

“That’s just talk.” Em snatched up another chocolate. “He was a real man. Anyway, what’s wrong with you? You look like you need a stiff drink when you should be looking blissfully happy.”

Genevieve sat down, gripping her hands. “That’s just it, Em. I’m not happy.”

A pause, then Emmy said, “I was wonderin’ when you were going to realise it.” She used the remote control to switch off the television. “Want to talk about it?”

“I just tried talking to Angel,” Genevieve muttered abruptly.

“I imagine that didn’t go too well. It’s a damn shame the way your mother has been pressuring you to marry Colin.”

Genevieve shook her white-gold head, her hair caught back in a single thickly braided rope. “Don’t blame Angel, Em. I did it myself.” Genevieve lifted her beautiful eyes. “What do you really think of Colin, Em?”

Put on the spot Emmy finally owned up. “I’m with Blaine,” she said, not wishing to add she thought Colin Garrett nowhere near good enough for her darling Genni. Such a good girl. A lovely girl. Never given an ounce of trouble. Emmy would have found another position years ago only for Genni.

“Forget Blaine,” Genevieve whispered, tears starting to her eyes. “He’s been awful to me.”

“But we can’t forget Blaine, poppet,” Emmy said. “Come on, admit it. You love him, hate him, whatever. He’s always been there for you. Yet I have the feeling both of you are still only tapping into what you really mean to each other.”

Genevieve inhaled a deep lungful of air. “He’s a tyrant. Bloody-minded. He has too much power. Angel just told me he’s paying for the wedding, I suppose the wedding dress, the bridesmaids’ dresses, the flowers, the photographers, the church, the marquees, the mountains of food, the drink, the lot.” She turned her violet eyes on Emmy, who knew a great deal more than she ever said.

“And that’s upset you?”

“Upset me?” Genevieve nearly gave way to a primitive urge to scream. “It’s devastated me. I wonder what else my mother is capable of? I suppose he’s paid for everything for years.” She bit her lip hard, realizing she was on the verge of crying.

“Blaine really cares about you, Genni,” Emmy pointed out very gently. “He may be a little short with you from time to time but he’s always had your best interests at heart.”

“Isn’t that nice! He frightens me,” Genevieve suddenly admitted in a wobbly voice.

“Why, sweetheart?” Emmy, maternal by nature but childless, leaned forward, concern on her sunny-natured face.

Genevieve held her aching head. “He’s maddening. He’s a maddening man. And he has a cruel streak.”

“No. I can’t let that go,” Emmy answered with an emphatic shake of her head.

“You always take his part, Emmy. Even you.”

“Because he’s a fine man. I’ve been around you both a long time, Genni. I know how good Blaine has been to you.”

Genevieve gave a miserable sigh, lost in the utter strangeness. She wanted Blaine so badly she was buckling under the strain. “So why has he turned against me, Em?”

“Why don’t you ask him?” Emmy countered so vigorously she set her grey curls bouncing.

“What a joke.” Genevieve hugged herself distractedly. “He’s frozen me out, as you very well know.”

Emmy nodded. “Something went very wrong that polo weekend.”

Even remembering made Genevieve tremble the length of her. “It was just that…Oh, God, Em.” She was drowning in the emotion that surfed through her blood. “Blaine was scathing when I told him I was going to marry Colin. He didn’t take me seriously enough. Then he flew into a cold rage. Those glittering eyes! He told me we could never be happy. He must have thought my education needed broadening because he pulled me to him so absolutely ruthlessly. I thought he was about to beat me. Instead he kissed me, which was worse! I heard stars burst.”

Emmy swung her feet off the ottoman, looking at Genevieve clutching her cheeks. “Kissed you? So he’s kissed you a million times.”

“Oh, yes, throwaway kisses? Pecks on the cheek. Weren’t you listening, Em. I said he kissed me. Really kissed me. It rocked me to my soul. It was brutal. It was brilliant. It was horrible. I thought I was going to die.”

“My goodness!” Emmy, knowing Blaine got the thrilling picture.

“There was no excuse for him,” Genevieve said. “He did it in such a way he’s ruined my life.”

“How’s that, darlin’?” Emmy asked with a great rush of protectiveness.

Genevieve looked back, startled. “Get real, Em. How can I possibly marry Colin when Blaine kissed me? I’m afraid of Blaine.”

“That powerful?” Emmy looked at Genevieve with love and understanding. She adored the girl.

“He’s turned my world upside down, Em. Maybe he didn’t mean to. But he has. I was going along okay. But now! He’s pierced me like an arrow. So strange when he’s planning on getting married himself.”

Emmy closed the box of chocolates carefully. “I take it you mean Sally Fenwick?” she asked briskly.

“Of course I mean Sally.” Genni didn’t look up. “She’s lovely and kind. They’ve been very good friends for so long. Sally is coming to the wedding. She’s staying at the same hotel. Even Hilary likes and approves of her.” Genevieve referred to Blaine’s prickly young stepsister, several years younger than herself. “Hilary hinted marriage isn’t far off.”

“Really? I thought it was a bit of a one-sided relationship,” said Emmy levelly.

“That’s because Blaine never gives anything away.”

“He kissed you. Some kiss by the sound of it.”

Genevieve’s face flared. “Blaine does everything like that, though, doesn’t he? He doesn’t realise he’s so…”

“Powerful?” Emmy hit on the right word.

“God I hate him!” Genevieve said in a small voice.

“Why don’t you tell him?” practical Emmy suggested.

“I did.” Genevieve barely whispered it. “I told him I wanted him out of my life. I told him I was sick to death of his dictatorial ways. I haven’t been able to do a thing to please him for years.”

“Why don’t you tell him again? You might get through this time.”

Genevieve considered this, then shook her head. “I won’t see him until he walks me up the aisle.”

“So tell him tonight,” Emmy pressed. “What’s wrong with that?”

“You mean go to his hotel?”

Emmy nodded. “If I were you I’d do it like a shot.”

Genevieve stared at her. “Emmy, darling, what are you saying?”

“Maybe what I should have said before. Tell Blaine what you tried to tell your mother. You can’t go through with this marriage.”

Genevieve sat erect in her chair and looked at her dear friend in alarm. “He’d be shocked out of his mind.”

“I wonder,” Emmy countered briskly.

“No Courtland would do such a terrible thing. Call off a wedding at the last moment.”

“It’s healthier than making a dreadful mistake, poppet.” Emmy leaned over to grasp Genevieve’s arm. “Blaine’s no ordinary man. Tell him what’s in your heart. Let him take charge.”

Genevieve’s lovely face looked stricken. “I don’t know if I dare. This is dreadful, Em. The house is ready. The church is ready. Our dresses are hanging upstairs. Fabulous dresses that cost a fortune. Three hundred guests are coming. The presents are all in. I don’t know if I have the courage. I don’t think I can humiliate Colin and his family. Colin’s father might very well line up a pantechnicon to run me over. He’s the Freight King after all.”

“Listen, you’ve been bullied into this,” Emmy snorted. “By Colin’s steamroller of a father on the one hand and your conniving mother on the other. An engagement of a couple of months was diabolically clever. You haven’t had time to know your own mind. But evidently Blaine’s kissing you has changed it.”

Genevieve’s face mirrored her inner havoc. “I felt something I’ve never felt in my life. I felt Blaine owned me body and soul. That he’s always been waiting for me to grow up. One kiss ended our old relationship. Dear God, I thought we were family. But it wasn’t family in my blood. I can’t deny I always thought he was the most marvellous man in the world, so exciting he makes the air vibrate, but we were cousins. I was his little Violetta. Remember how he used to call me that?”

“Oh, golly, I remember everything.” Emmy’s voice was low and wry. “Blaine has quite a way with words. For a very commanding man, daunting man at times, Blaine has his softer side. He could be very tender with you. Go to him, poppet. Pour out your heart. I have a feeling he’d pull down the stars for you if you asked him. No, don’t look at me like that. It’s true.”

“It’s not easy, Emmy,” Genevieve said sadly. “I think Blaine wants our break to be permanent.”

Hilary Courtland caught sight of Genevieve the minute she entered the hotel. Just seeing her gave Hilary a queer feeling when she’d been having a good time. Genevieve was moving with the speed and grace of a gazelle but Hilary got the impression of a deep unhappiness. Trouble, Hilary decided. Genni was looking for someone. Who else could it be but Blaine?

“Say, isn’t that your cousin?” Hilary’s male companion asked with immense interest. They’d been tucked away in a banquette, enjoying a mild flirtation, when he heard Hilary’s odd little gasp and caught her startled gaze. Intrigued, he turned his head to follow up on the direction.

“Yes, that’s Genevieve,” Hilary answered, her smile twisted, her tone a lot more revealing than she intended. Ever since she could remember Hilary had felt rancour towards Genevieve. She was Blaine’s sister yet Genni was the one Blaine had always cared about. Genni of the huge violet eyes and Rapunzel hair. Tonight Genevieve was casually dressed, navy gold-buttoned blazer, pale blue shirt, blue jeans, sneakers on her feet yet she looked like the model for the latest Ralph Lauren collection; a glamour girl like her dreadful femme fatale mother.

“God, she’s a beauty, isn’t she?” her companion commented, quite tactlessly. “Drop-dead gorgeous! How could a guy like Colin Garrett, even allowing for the Garret money, win her heart?”

“Well he has!” Hilary answered tartly, rendered almost dumb by jealousy. She put the lemon squash she was nursing down heavily and jumped to her feet. Genevieve appeared to be moving toward the bank of lifts. She had to stop her before she reached Blaine. She had to break what was coming up.

“Don’t go away.” She tossed a false smile at her boyfriend. “I’ll have a word with her and I’ll be right back.”

Her companion waved her off. “Take your time.” In actual fact he felt cheated out of meeting the gorgeous Genevieve. What was she doing here alone this time of night? Whatever it was, it didn’t suit Hilary. She looked upset. Perhaps trying to make sense of her cousin’s unexpected appearance.

Hilary, a small pretty dark-haired, dark-eyed girl but without the Courtland stunning good looks and height, put on a burst of speed. She reached Genevieve just as she was about to step into a lift.

“Hey, Genni!” she called, using such an urgent tone people turned their heads.

“Hilary!” Genevieve turned about, doing her utmost to hide her dismay. For all her efforts to be friendly to Blaine’s young stepsister she had long since realised Hilary would never like her. “What a surprise!”

“And where are you off to?” Hilary fixed Genevieve with big questioning eyes.

Genevieve felt most unwilling to confide in this moody girl but what excuse could she offer? “I wanted to see Blaine for a moment,” she explained as casually as she could. “The receptionist said he was in.”

“Actually he didn’t go out.” Hilary reached out confidentially for Genevieve’s arm and drew her away. “He and Sally are making a night of it. They had dinner together in the hotel. He’s with her now, if you know what I mean?” Hilary rolled her brown eyes expressively. “I’d leave whatever you wanted to ask him to the morning if I were you. You wouldn’t want to embarrass them.” She smiled her kitten smile.

God no! Genevieve felt pierced by an arrow, at that moment ready to flee.

“What is it, anyway? Maybe I can help you?” Hilary’s voice had grown unabashedly affectionate as Genevieve’s desperation slipped out.

“I don’t think so, Hills.”

“Try me.” Hilary guided Genevieve to a couple of chairs. “You know you really will have to get over running to Blaine for help,” she warned gently, unsuccessfully trying to keep her jealousy opaque. “This time tomorrow night you’ll be a married woman.” Hilary couldn’t help herself. She smiled in broad triumph. “You’ll be entering a new life. Your name will be Genevieve Garrett not Courtland. Isn’t that thrilling?”

Quietly, Genevieve removed the other girl’s small hand from her arm. She had never felt less thrilled in her life. “You’ve never liked me, have you, Hilary?” she said levelly, putting years of pretence to one side. “On this night of nights, please tell me. What have I ever done to you?”

Hilary burst into a cascade of tinkling laughter. “Oh, my, Genni, surely you know having you around changed my entire life. For the worse.”

“In what way? Why on earth have you been afraid of me? I would never want to hurt you. We could have been friends. Good friends. We’re cousins. We could have forged an unbreakable bond. But you would never let me get close.”

“Why on earth would I when you had perfected the art of getting between me and my brother.” Hilary’s pretty face was set into unpleasant lines.

“You’re talking nonsense, Hilary.” Genevieve was feeling sicker by the moment. “It’s so unfair. To me. To Blaine. He loves you.”

“No, he doesn’t. Not really. I don’t touch his heart. What heart he has he reserved for you. The fatherless child.” Hilary gave in to the huge temptation to say her piece. “Hell, you seduced him when you were a kid. You even robbed me of my father’s love.” A little sob rose to her throat. “When Dad was alive you used to twist him around your little finger. He hardly noticed me. I was the changeling in the Courtland fold.”

Genevieve felt she might burst out crying, too.

“Hilary how did you let all this bitterness grow in your heart? It’s not true. Not any of it. How long have you felt like this?”

“Since forever.”

“Poor Hilary! You’re breaking my heart,” Genevieve said and meant it.

“I don’t think so.”

“Absolutely,” Genevieve replied, feeling like she was mortally wounded.

“That’s why I’m glad your getting married.” Hilary smiled almost genially. “I knew one day you’d be out of our lives.”

“That’s no way to talk.” Genevieve rose to her feet in protest. “How can you feel like this, say such things to my face, and still come to my wedding?”

“Why?” Hilary looked up at Genevieve, brilliant malice in her eyes.

“Because dear, sweet, beautiful, Genevieve, it’s the day my brother will give you away forever.”

Hilary was still sitting there feeling slightly shaky, but thrilled to have dispensed with the fleeing Genevieve, when Blaine suddenly materialised beside her, almost making her jump out of her skin.

“Isn’t that Genni?” he demanded in the kind of voice that demanded a straight answer.

It took a tremendous effort for Hilary to pull herself together. How could she deny it? That white-gold rope of hair, the model figure, the grace of movement. “Yes, she just popped in to say hello.” She tried a blithe smile, thinking fast.

“Damned odd.” Blaine looked like he was about to take after her, such a restless radiance about him.

“Not really.” Hilary rose, grasping her stepbrother’s arm. “She and her bridesmaids were having a girl’s night out. That was Genni’s BMW parked out the front. Not supposed to do it, of course, but trust Genni to pull it off. A pity. You just missed her.”

“And how was she?” Blaine bent his light lancing glance on his stepsister.

“Oh, lovely! Deliriously happy.” Hilary turned an innocent face to him. “I’ve never seen a girl so much in love.”

“The little fool!” Blaine’s hard, handsome mouth tightened. “He’ll never make her happy.”

“But he will, Blaine,” Hilary insisted, hugging her brother’s arm. “She’s the love of his life!”

And we’re finally free of her.

“Don’t,” Blaine warned, his voice so strange Hilary stared at him vaguely terrified.

“Where’s Sally?” she asked in an effort to divert him.

“She went home an hour ago.” Blaine was still frowning, looking more formidable by the minute. “Surely you knew? We went right past you and your friend.”

“I must have missed you,” Hilary lied. “Sally’s a darling. Mum and I are delighted she’s the woman in your life.”

“Don’t be so dim-witted,” Blaine responded impatiently, his eyes silver chips in his arresting dark face. “Your mother thinks no such thing. As for you? A bit of wishful thinking. Are you sure that’s all Genni wanted?” he insisted. “To say hello?”

“What else?” Hilary wanted to turn and bolt, instead she lightly punched his shoulder. “She’s on top of the world. I am family.”

“So why did you turn down the role of bridesmaid?” Blaine challenged, giving her that lancing look that always made her feel so exposed.

She tried to make a joke of it. “You know. Genni’s so tall. So are her friends. I didn’t want to be the little pipsqueak in the middle. Genni understood. Come and join us for a minute.” Hilary had a powerful nervous urge to draw her stepbrother away.

“No thanks.” Blaine glanced down at her. “I want to leave a message at the desk. Goodnight, Hills. Sweet dreams.”

She stood on tiptoe to kiss his lean cheek. “You, too, brother mine. It’s going to be a wonderful day tomorrow. Like Genni, I can’t wait.”