Читать книгу Whisper Of Scandal - Kathryn Ross, Kathryn Ross - Страница 7

CHAPTER TWO

GARTH collected Sabrina promptly at ten the next morning and they drove out to the countryside in his Aston Martin.

It was a beautiful day. Sunshine played over the fresh green of the fields. The trees were knotted with buds ready to burst forward at any time and daffodils brightened the verges of the road.

Sabrina felt her spirits lift. Winter had been particularly grim for her and the promise of warmer, brighter days ahead was wonderful. It was like coming out of a long, dark tunnel into golden light.

She turned to Garth with a smile. ‘So where are we going? You’re being very mysterious.’

‘Well...’ He hesitated. ‘I thought it would be a good idea to bring you out to my house for lunch.’

‘Oh!’ She frowned. Somehow it didn’t seem right to go to his home, not when Nadine knew nothing about her; it seemed devious somehow. ‘What about your housekeeper? Won’t she think it’s funny that I’m having lunch with you?’

‘Don’t worry about Sadie; she’ll just think that you are coming to take notes. I’ve told her I’m having a working lunch.’ He smiled reassuringly at her. ‘I’ve decided we need to have a good heart-to-heart talk and the only place we won’t be interrupted is in my study.’

He was probably right. They did need to talk. It had been a hell of a shock to find out that Garth Fraiser was her father, especially when her mother had led her to believe that her father was dead. She still found it hard to comprehend.

She had spotted the advertisement for the job as Garth’s private secretary in a newspaper—or rather her mother had drawn her attention to it. It had been ideal, exactly what she had been looking for, and she had gone for an interview with high hopes. She’d known her qualifications were good and so were her references, but she’d also known that competition for the job would be stiff. She had been ecstatic when she’d got the job.

Working for Garth had been exhausting at times but she had enjoyed every moment of it. He had worked her hard but he had always been fair with her and she had respected him greatly.

Then just a few months ago when her mother had died in a tragic motorway accident, leaving Sabrina devastated, Garth had been wonderful. He had given her as much time off as she needed in order to sort things out. He had been kind and sympathetic and had even offered to help her with the arrangements for the funeral. At the time she had thought it was exceptionally kind of him, and she had been touched by his generosity, but she had never for one moment suspected the truth.

It had been two weeks after Lucy Harrington’s death that she’d discovered her diaries. It was then that she’d discovered that her mother had known Garth Fraiser years ago. That the two had in fact attended the same university and later they had both worked in the same law firm before Garth had got involved in politics. This had puzzled her intensely. Why hadn’t her mother mentioned that she knew her boss? Why the secrecy?

She had sat down to read the rest of the diaries with avid curiosity. What she had discovered had changed her whole life and she had been angry, bitterly angry that her mother had lied to her, that Garth had deceived her. Had he only given her the job as his secretary because of who she was? That question had haunted and humiliated her, and her first move had been to quit her job and to tell Garth Fraiser exactly what she thought of him.

Now her anger and her shock had cooled and she could feel sorrow at the situation, sympathy for her mother and for Garth. Lord, it was all such a mess. She pushed a hand through her hair in a distraught gesture. If only her mother had told her the truth... if only.

‘Damn!’ Garth pulled the car to a standstill at the gateway to a large Victorian house.

‘What is it?’ Sabrina’s gaze darted from her father to the house in front of them. Even as she asked the question she noticed the bright red Porsche parked on the gravel drive.

‘Marc’s here,’ Garth answered flatly.

Sabrina’s heart seemed to take up a rapid nervous tattoo immediately. ‘What should we do?’

With a sigh Garth started the car forward again. ‘Brazen it out,’ he muttered. ‘I’ll tell him you’ve come to do some important work for me. With a bit of luck he won’t stay.’ He grinned at her then. ‘Actually there is a stack of work you could do for me. I really miss you at the office, Brina; your replacement isn’t half as efficient.’

‘I’m sure you’re just being kind,’ Sabrina said lightly. ‘But thank you.’

‘No, I’m being honest,’ Garth replied earnestly as he pulled up outside his front door. ‘If you could see the state of my desk in there——’ he nodded towards the house ‘—you would know what I mean.’

As they got out of the car Garth glanced across at her. ‘Are you all right, Sabrina? You’ve gone awfully pale.’

‘I’m fine.’ It was a lie; she was far from fine. She had just remembered that she had told Marc she had a date this afternoon. What on earth was she going to say to him?

He was in the lounge idly flicking through a magazine, his long legs stretched out, his dark head resting against the pale gold brocade of the settee as if he had all the time in the world to kill. He stood up as they came in and his eyebrows lifted slightly as he took in Sabrina’s presence. ‘This is a pleasant surprise,’ he drawled softly. ‘I thought you had a date this afternoon, Sabrina?’

She could feel her cheeks going hotter under his intense scrutiny. ‘Would you believe he had to cancel me at the last moment?’ Somehow she managed to inject a humorous note into her voice. ‘Some important business cropped up.’ She hated lying like that; she could feel herself tensing up inside, waiting for lightning to strike her down for such a falsehood.

‘I do find it rather difficult to believe, actually.’ The hard words took her very much by surprise for a moment, then he softened them with a smile. ‘The man obviously has no sense.’

‘Well, his loss is my gain.’ Garth smiled. ‘Sabrina has very kindly offered to come and help me out with a bit of paperwork this afternoon.’

‘Very considerate.’ Marc’s dark eyes never left Sabrina’s face as he spoke.

‘Can I get you a drink, Marc?’ Garth moved towards the drinks cabinet and poured himself a whisky.

‘Actually, I wouldn’t mind a coffee,’ Marc replied easily.

‘Oh, right, I’ll just go and ask Sadie.’ Garth put down his drink and looked at Sabrina. ‘What about you, Brina? Would you like coffee or something stronger?’

‘Coffee would be nice.’ Sabrina sat down on one of the comfortable two-seater settees which were at each side of the fireplace. She wished Garth wouldn’t call her Brina in front of Marc... it sounded far too intimate.

They were left alone and Sabrina felt her nerves flutter apprehensively as she looked up at Garth’s stepson.

He leaned a hand against the mantelpiece and stared down at her for a moment as if in deep thought. Sabrina felt that familiar tug at the bottom of her stomach. He looked magnificent, she thought abruptly. He had a wonderful physique, broad shoulders tapering to narrow hips in the well-cut grey suit. She collided with his dark eyes and looked hurriedly away from him.

‘So how about dinner tonight?’ he asked suddenly into the silence.

She took a deep breath. ‘I can’t, Marc.’ It had never been so difficult to turn down a date; she desperately wanted to say yes.

‘Such loyalty,’ he murmured. ‘You must be very serious about this man, to let him stand you up and still remain so devoted.’

She shrugged and her mind searched for some answer. The awful thing about telling lies was that it seemed to snowball; you told one small one and then others had invariably to follow. It was like painting a picture—you were never quite sure when you had finished; you could keep adding things and adding things and end up in a real muddle.

‘He didn’t stand me up,’ she said in a dignified tone. ‘He rang me and told me he couldn’t make it.’

‘Oh, I see.’ Marc’s lips curved in a cynical smile. ‘Who is this paragon of virtue, anyway?’

There it was, the question she had been dreading. ‘Oh, you wouldn’t know him,’ she said airily. ‘He... he’s in computers.’

‘Really?’ There was that tinge of sardonic humour in his voice again. Sabrina frowned, but before she had time to analyse Marc’s attitude Garth came back into the room.

‘Coffee will be along in a moment,’ he said brightly, looking from Sabrina towards his stepson. ‘So, Marc, what brings you out to see me today?’

‘Actually I was rather hoping I could pick your brains about a legal matter,’ Marc said easily. ‘I’m in the process of buying a factory in Germany and there were a couple of things I wouldn’t have minded asking your opinion on.’

‘Oh?’ Garth looked extremely surprised at this. ‘Well, you know I’m always willing to give my considered opinion.’

‘Yes, but I can see you are rather...tied up, so I won’t impose on you this afternoon,’ Marc said, his eyes slipping over Sabrina.

‘Well, how about tomorrow?’ Garth said hopefully. ‘I have——’

‘It will be too late tomorrow. I have a meeting on it this afternoon.’ Marc shrugged. ‘But don’t worry about it, Garth. I’ll sort it out.’

There was a moment’s silence and Garth looked helplessly at Sabrina. Sabrina knew he was torn in two. Obviously he wanted to help Marc out.

‘If you like, I’ll make a start at clearing up that desk for you, Garth,’ she said softly. ‘I’m sure I’ll manage on my own while you discuss this business with Marc. If I have any problems I’ll come in and ask you.’

‘You don’t mind?’ Garth asked in a dubious tone.

She shook her head.

‘That’s really very good of you,’ Marc said smoothly.

As she glanced across at him she thought she detected a gleam of satisfaction in his dark eyes. It was almost as if he had just engineered that situation. That idea was so ludicrous that she dismissed it immediately.

‘I’m really sorry about this,’ Garth said in a worried tone as he showed her into his study a few minutes later.

‘It’s all right, Garth, really it is,’ she reassured him.

‘But it’s not all right,’ he grated impatiently. ‘I wanted so much to have a few quiet moments where we could just sort ourselves out.’

‘Never mind.’ Sabrina glanced at his desk with a smile. ‘At least I can put this into some sort of order for you.’

He grimaced as he took in the chaos that was spread over the large rosewood desk. ‘I meant for you to have a relaxing afternoon,’ he sighed. ‘You know, I’m really surprised that Marc’s asking my advice. I know I have a degree in law but he has a battery of high-powered solicitors to advise him.’

‘Must be something you’ve had prior experience of,’ Sabrina answered lightly, her mind already occupied with sorting through the correspondence on Garth’s desk.

‘I’ll be as quick as I can,’ Garth said with determination.

In the event he was nearly three hours. Garth’s housekeeper brought her coffee and then a little later some light lunch. By that time Sabrina had reorganised Garth’s desk for him and put his filing cabinet back in order. She was just closing it when some photographs at the far end of the room caught her attention.

She walked across to have a closer look at them. There was one of Garth with his wife Nadine and their daughter Madeline. She picked it up to have a closer look. Sabrina had never met Madeline, who had been living in the States for the last two years. Garth had often spoken about her, though, in very glowing terms. Madeline was just twenty years of age and an extremely talented artist.

Sabrina was filled with curiosity as she looked at that picture of her half-sister. After all these years of thinking she was an only child it was so strange to suddenly find out she had a sister. Not that it made any difference, she thought sadly. She would probably never get to meet Madeline.

The door opened behind her and Marc came in. ‘Finished your work?’ he asked drily, his eyes taking in her relaxed stance by the mantelpiece.

She frowned. It almost sounded as if he didn’t believe that she had been working. ‘Yes, I have actually.’

He came to stand beside her and glanced at the framed photograph in her hands. ‘My half-sister Madeline,’ he informed her.

He reached for another photograph. ‘And this is my mother and Garth on their wedding-day’

Sabrina glanced at the smiling, happy picture of Garth and Nadine and nodded. ‘Yes, I’ve seen that photograph before. Garth has it on his desk at Westminster.’

‘Garth’s very devoted to my mother,’ Marc said matter-of-factly as he put the picture down again. ‘I think they are still as much in love today as they were back then.’

‘Yes, they seem very happy,’ she said lightly.

For a moment his gaze locked on her heart-shaped face. ‘You seem very fond of Garth,’ he said quietly.

She looked away from him. Sometimes there was a look in Marc’s dark gaze that was deeply disturbing. ‘Yes, I am. He’s been very good to me.’

‘Garth has a kind heart.’ He paused before continuing. ‘It would be very easy to play on his sympathy.’

Sabrina looked up at him with a frown. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

He smiled, then reached out a hand to tip her chin upwards so that she was forced to hold his dark gaze. ‘Perhaps I’m just a little jealous? After all, you seem to spend a lot of time with Garth and I can’t get so much as a lunch date out of you.’

She laughed breathlessly at that, unsure whether to take that comment seriously or not. ‘That’s ridiculous ... I’m doing work for Garth.’

‘You could always come and do some work for me.’ He was standing very close to her, she noticed suddenly, her heart skipping a beat nervously. ‘What do you say?’ he asked huskily. ‘Shall we go out for lunch tomorrow and discuss it?’

‘Marc, I——’ Her polite refusal was cut short abruptly as his head lowered towards hers. ‘Marc,’ she whispered in a helpless tone as his lips brushed against hers. The kiss was gentle at first but it sent shock-waves racing straight through Sabrina. She felt herself leaning weakly against the soft material of his jacket. Then she was kissing him back, her whole body trembling as she arched towards him, hungry for the sensuous heat spiralling through her.

He was the one to pull back from her, his hands resting on her shoulders as he looked down at her. ‘Shall I pick you up at about ten o’clock?’ he murmured. He sounded so cool and calm while Sabrina felt as if a time bomb had just started to tick inside her.

Confused at the way she had just responded to that kiss, Sabrina could only stare at him for a moment. ‘I...I don’t know.’ She shook her head, trying to clear it of her muddled thoughts. ‘Isn’t ten o’clock a little early for lunch?’

For a brief moment there was a glimmer of triumph in his dark eyes. ‘Not for what I have in mind,’ he drawled softly. Then his hands left her shoulders.

She felt strangely bereft as he moved away from her. ‘So ten o’clock it is,’ he said decisively and Sabrina had the strange sensation of being carried along with something that was already out of control.

Garth joined them at that moment. ‘There you are, Marc,’ he said, looking slightly harassed. ‘I’m sorry about that. Nadine has just been on the phone—she says she will be flying home tonight after all.’

‘Well, that’s marvellous news.’ Marc smiled at Sabrina. ‘Can I give you a lift back to town now that you’ve finished here?’ he asked silkily.

‘It’s all right, Marc, I’ll drop Sabrina back,’ Garth cut in quickly. ‘There are one or two things I want to discuss with her before she goes.’

Marc shrugged. ‘As you wish.’ For a brief moment his eyes rested on Sabrina. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow,’ he said calmly.

Sabrina sat down for a moment as Marc left the room. Her legs felt as shaky as if she had just run a marathon.

‘What was that all about?’ Garth asked with a frown as his eyes moved over her pale features.

She shrugged. ‘He’s...he’s taking me for lunch tomorrow.’

Silence met that remark and she looked up at him with anxious eyes. ‘You don’t mind, do you?’

‘No... no.’ Garth raked an unsteady hand through his hair. ‘Are you serious about him, Brina?’

Sabrina gave a nervous laugh. ‘I hardly know him, Garth.’

For a moment there was silence as Garth regarded her silently. ‘My stepson is a good man...a bit of a womaniser. He has a tendency to break hearts——’

‘Really, Garth, you don’t need to worry. I can take care of myself,’ she cut across him hastily, but he looked unconvinced.

‘Damn it all, Sabrina... I’ve made such a mess of everything, I should have told my wife about you years ago: I feel I’ve let her down, and you and Marc——’

‘Don’t say that, Garth,’ Sabrina interrupted him sadly. ‘You haven’t let anyone down. It wasn’t as if you had the affair with my mother while you were married to Nadine.’

‘No... but I was married when I met your mother.’ He saw the look of shock on her face. ‘You didn’t know?’

She shook her head. ‘There was nothing about that in my mother’s diary.’

For a moment Garth’s face was lit with a ghost of a smile. ‘Dear Lucy. She hated the deceit. She felt terribly guilty.’

Sabrina could hardly take in what he was saying. She couldn’t believe that her mother would have had an affair with a married man; it seemed so out of character.

The shrill ring of the phone interrupted the silence. Garth turned impatiently towards it and flicked on the answering machine. ‘Let’s walk out in the garden,’ he suggested gently. ‘At least out there we will have no interruptions.’

She nodded. She wanted to hear Garth’s story... she wanted to try and place the pieces together in her mind. Maybe then she could understand why her mother had kept so many secrets from her.

Despite the sunshine it was cold outside. Garth linked his arm through hers. ‘Are you warm enough, sweetheart?’

For a moment the concern in her father’s voice made Sabrina’s eyes mist with tears. She nodded, and he patted her hand. ‘Come on; I’ll give you a tour of my lovely gardens,’ he said gently.

The landscape was very beautiful, and for a little while they walked in silence, just drinking in the colourful spring flowers as they both collected their thoughts.

Then Garth began his story and Sabrina forgot her surroundings as her mind closely followed his every word.

‘You know, you are a lot like your mother,’ he said with a sad smile. ‘I thought the world of Lucy; her death was a terrible shock.’

‘Yes, I miss her terribly, Garth,’ she said huskily. ‘We were so close... at least I thought we were close.’ Her voice broke for a moment. ‘I just can’t understand why she didn’t tell me about you. I feel as if I’ve been living a lie all my life.’

‘Lucy did what she thought was best,’ Garth said gently. ‘I know she loved you very much; she never meant to hurt you.’

‘Then why didn’t she tell me?’ Sabrina demanded, a note of anger in her tone now. ‘She lied to me, Garth. She told me that my father was dead.’

‘You have every right to be angry. But you have to remember that your mother was only young when she was expecting you. Attitudes to unmarried mothers have changed radically since then. In your mother’s day it was very hard...’ He trailed off and for a moment he seemed lost in thought. ‘Lucy was such a beautiful woman... very spirited, very stubborn.’ He sighed. ‘She was about your age when I met her. She was an idealist—she had dreams of being a famous lawyer, a force to be reckoned with in the London courtrooms.’

‘She didn’t do so badly.’ Sabrina smiled. Despite everything she was proud of her mother. She had been a very strong woman, a successful lawyer who had been highly respected.

‘We had an affair.’ Garth ran a hand through his thick hair. ‘I was already married to a woman called Jessica when I met your mother.’

‘Your wife didn’t understand you.’ Sabrina’s voice for a moment was angry.

He sighed. ‘I know it sounds bad, but Jessica and I were not in love. We were more or less going our different ways when I met your mother. Jessica was seeing another man, a very wealthy man whom she had set her sights on once she had discovered that I was not as lucrative a proposition as she had thought.’

‘So if you loved my mother so much, why didn’t you divorce your wife and marry her?’ Sabrina’s voice was dry.

‘Oh, believe me, I would have.’ He shook his head emphatically. ‘But when I asked Jessica for a divorce she became hysterical. Suddenly I was the most important thing in the world. Obviously the man she had been seeing was not interested in making an honest woman of her.’ His mouth twisted bitterly. ‘So she figured that she would hang on to me.’

Sabrina could hear the pain in his voice and she reached out a hand to cover his. ‘You don’t have to tell me this,’ she said suddenly. ‘It doesn’t matter; it’s in the past now.’

‘Oh, it does matter. You see, the past has a way of shaping the future.’ For a moment he was silent. ‘Jessica and I had a dreadful row, and I said things I shouldn’t have...cruel things. She ran out of the apartment and straight in front of a car.’

‘Oh, Garth!’ Sabrina stopped and turned to look at him, shocked by what he had told her.

‘She recovered for a short while but she was in a wheelchair.’ Garth stared at her. ‘She needed me, Sabrina, and I felt so goddamned guilty.’

‘So you finished with my mother?’

He nodded. ‘It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.’ There was a far-away look in his eyes for a moment. ‘She must have known that she was pregnant when I finished with her, but she never told me.’

‘I suppose she didn’t want you to feel trapped.’

‘Yes, I suppose so.’ He smiled sadly. ‘The awful thing was that Jessica died six months later. But by that time your mother had moved and I had no idea where she was.’

Sabrina lowered her eyes from his and there was silence for a moment as both were lost in their own private worlds.

Then she looked up at him sadly. ‘I sometimes think that fate chooses the paths for our lives. Maybe you and my mother were just never meant to be.’

‘Maybe. About four years later I met Nadine. She was a widow with a young son and I was a widower.’ He smiled at Sabrina. ‘We comforted each other and I fell very much in love with her. I never did tell her about my affair with your mother. She was so sympathetic about my losing my wife—how could I tell her that I had been unfaithful to her?’ Garth shook his head. ‘Even now I feel guilty when I think about Jessica.’

Sabrina understood Garth’s reluctance to tell Nadine. Maybe if he had told her right at the beginning that his marriage to Jessica had been a mistake she would have understood. But to have to tell her now would be hard.

‘Anyway I thought that I would never see your mother again and then one day I bumped into her in the middle of Oxford Street. I could hardly believe my eyes. It was six years since I had last seen her. We went and had a drink together.’ Garth pushed a shaking hand through his hair. ‘I told her I was married with a baby daughter and a stepson. She told me about you. You can imagine my shock.’

Sabrina could indeed.

‘I don’t know, Sabrina, maybe I let you down and maybe I took the coward’s way out, but when she told me that things were better left as they were I agreed with her.’

Sabrina blinked back sudden tears.

‘She had already told you that your father was dead. And I had to consider Nadine. I do love her——’

‘It’s all right, Garth. I understand,’ she broke across him hastily, understanding him and loving him for being so upset, for caring about what she thought.

He smiled at her. ‘When I needed a secretary and I knew you were looking for a job I couldn’t resist asking your mother to point you in my direction. I wanted so much to know you. I wasn’t disappointed by the young woman I met.’

His eyes moved gently over her face, noting the emotion in the deep blue eyes, and he placed a comforting arm around her shoulder. ‘I’m sorry I’ve made a mess of things,’ he whispered softly. ‘That I’ve upset you so much.’

‘It’s a relief to know everything, to be honest.’ She smiled tremulously at him.

He smiled back. ‘It’s your birthday on Saturday, isn’t it?’ he asked suddenly.

She nodded, surprised that he knew. She had almost forgotten about it herself, there had been so much on her mind recently.

‘Let me take you out somewhere to celebrate. Lunch or dinner; you choose.’

Sabrina hesitated for a moment and bit down sharply on her lip; she felt totally out of her depth with all of this. ‘I don’t know, Garth...’

‘You don’t want me in your life, is that it?’ His voice sounded unbearably strained.

‘I... no.’ She shook her head. ‘No, it’s not that at all.’ If the truth were known, Sabrina desperately wanted Garth in her life. She wanted to know her father. She stumbled, then looked up at him with wide glimmering eyes. ‘But let’s face it, Garth, the situation is a mess. Your family don’t know about your affair with my mother or about me. You are a man who is very much in the public eye. Can you really afford to have me in your life?’

He was silent for a moment. ‘I admit that I’m scared about telling Nadine and, yes, my career is important and it is in a difficult period of transition at the moment.’

She nodded. ‘I understand more than you think, Garth. Even a whisper of scandal could be very damaging to you at the moment.’

He knew that what she was saying was right—she could see it in the over-bright gleam of his eyes. ‘You could still come to Brussels with me as my secretary. Then when things have settled down...’

She shook her head.

‘Think about it, Brina.’ He reached across and took hold of her hand. ‘Please.’

Her eyes shone with tears. ‘Oh, Garth, I just don’t know anything any more.’

‘Come on,’ he said gently. ‘Let’s walk some more.’ He tucked his arm around her shoulder as she shivered suddenly.

Both of them were so caught up in their conversation that they didn’t see the man who was leaning against a tree at the bottom of the garden, a zoom-lens camera trained directly on them.