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  She had come up against that particular phenomenon too often and from too many unlikely sources to be naïve about it any more. The most unlikely men could betray the most unwelcome sexual harassment when it suited them. There had been that teacher of Lucy’s who had called round to the flat on the pretext of wanting to discuss her work. There had been her superior at the shoe shop. There had been countless others, all of them no doubt respectable and well-thought-of men, but all of them, as far as she was concerned, men who were being disloyal to their wives and families, to whom they most owed commitment.

  Personally she could think of no reason why Nicholas Forbes should want to spend time with her. She was not pretty, not in the way that his wife was. Tania had seen her once when she had called at Nicholas’s office, bursting into the room and totally ignoring Tania, and she was a pretty, fluffy blonde woman in her early thirties, with a slightly petulant, spoilt expression and the mannerisms of a little girl.

  Tania hadn’t been particularly drawn to her. Just listening to her pouting little girl demands as she persuaded Nicholas to agree to her plans for redecorating their drawing-room had confirmed Tania’s initial view that as women they were complete opposites.

  She doubted if Clarissa Forbes had ever wanted for anything in her entire life. The clothes she was wearing were expensive designer models, her hair, her hands, everything about her proclaimed that Clarissa was an adored, petted woman whose single most important preoccupation in life was herself and her own needs.

  She was barely five feet two with round blue eyes and a pretty-pretty face, making Tania at five feet seven, with her thick, heavy mane of conker-brown hair and her cheap cotton skirt and blouse, feel uncomfortably conscious of the difference between them.

  Perhaps because no one had ever told her so, Tania herself was unaware of the classic beauty of her oval face, with its high cheekbones and well defined lines. She had no idea that the length of her neck and the fullness of her mouth gave her a sensual vulnerability that men found fascinating, or that her lack of artifice, her inability to pretend and pout, might be like a much-needed glass of clean, pure water to a man who had come to feel sickened by the syrupy mock sweetness of a wife who could turn into a virago the moment she was opposed in any way.

  Because she had no wish to attract the male sex, Tania assumed that they felt no attraction towards her. Certainly she did nothing to attract their attention or desire. Certainly she never encouraged them to believe that she wanted or needed them in any way, and, because she was the woman she was, she genuinely had no idea that her very indifference, her very lack of interest, only caused men to be more attracted to her, more curious about her, more determined to breach the walls she had so obviously put up around herself.

  She had got rid of Nicholas Forbes just as quickly as she could, firmly explaining that she considered this particular time of day sacrosanct to Lucy. Undeterred, Nicholas Forbes had offered to take her out for a drink so that they could talk in private, but she had quickly refused.

  She felt that she had made it more than plain to him that, while she welcomed his conscientiousness as her solicitor, there could be no personal relationship between them, especially one that involved the kind of discussions about his marriage which she knew could only lead to problems.

  Even if the kind of friendship he had been offering her had included Clarissa, even if Clarissa herself had been willing to welcome her to their circle of friends, which she quite plainly was not, Tania doubted if she would have felt comfortable with them. The Forbeses, while not jet-setters, certainly had a very comfortable and affluent lifestyle. Ann Fielding had mentioned in conversation that Clarissa’s brother was an extremely wealthy man and that through his various companies and contacts he had put a good deal of business Nicholas’s way.

  ‘I was at school with Nick,’ she had added, pulling a face as she commented, ‘Perhaps I shouldn’t say so, but I suspect that, as far as his marriage is concerned, he’s beginning to discover that marrying a rich girl isn’t all a bed of roses. Clarissa is very spoilt. James dotes on her and spoils her to death. It’s amazing how stupid even the most intelligent of men can be, isn’t it? There’s only three or four years between them; James’s father was Clarissa’s mother’s second husband and both of them were killed in a skiing accident just before Clarissa’s twentieth birthday. She went completely to pieces and although legally she was an adult, James stepped in and virtually took the place of their parents overnight, and he’s gone on shielding and protecting her ever since. Too much so, if you ask me. He’s made a rod for his own back in indulging her so much. She’s very possessive about him, and I doubt if she’s ever going to allow any woman he becomes involved with to oust her as number one in his life, which is a shame, really.’

  ‘Perhaps he enjoys their relationship,’ Tania suggested. ‘Some men seem to get a kick out of keeping the women in their lives dependent on them either emotionally or financially.’

  Her comment had earned her a shrewd, thoughtful look from Ann Fielding and the comment, ‘Some do, yes, but I wouldn’t put James Warren in that class. He’s far too intelligent, too…too secure in himself emotionally to need that kind of hold on another human being. No, I think he’s simply grown so used to believing that Clarissa needs him that he can’t see the truth about her, and she, of course, takes good care that he doesn’t see it. She isn’t at all popular locally. Most people feel rather sorry for Nicholas, even though they also feel that he’s rather brought his own misery down upon himself. Clarissa will never be satisfied with anything that Nicky can give her, not while she’s so aware of the difference between the lifestyle she had with James and the lifestyle that Nicky can provide for her.’

  ‘But they seem very comfortably off,’ Tania hadn’t been able to stop herself protesting, remembering the glimpse she had had of the brand new mock-Georgian house she had seen through its encircling protective trees, on the one occasion when Nicholas had driven her past his home.

  Personally she would have preferred an older, more established property and certainly she doubted that she would have wanted the frilly festoon blinds and over-decorated rooms she had heard Clarissa describing so enthusiastically to her husband the afternoon she had interrupted their meeting. But Tania accepted fair-mindedly that people had different tastes and ideas.

  ‘Well, they are,’ Ann agreed, wrinkling her nose. ‘But I suspect that Clarissa stills gets an allowance from James. Certainly she could never afford to run that expensive Mercedes nor to buy all those designer clothes, as well as keeping both boys at such an expensive prep school, if James weren’t helping them. I doubt she even knows the meaning of the word ‘‘economy’’. They have a cleaner, and until the boys were at school they had a nanny. No matter how good Nicky’s practice is I doubt it runs to financing all that lot, and even the nicest of men must feel the burden of having his wife’s stepbrother have such a large financial say in their affairs.

  ‘Of course he’s tied hand and foot, really. The majority of his business has come to him through James. That’s no secret. I don’t envy him one iota…even if at times I do wonder what it would be like to be able to go out and buy all three of mine new clothes at the same time.’

  Ann had laughed unselfconsciously as she made this last statement, causing Tania to warm to her even more. Had she known Ann better she might have been tempted to confide in her and ask her advice, but in the early days after Lucy’s birth being independent and showing that she could cope by herself had become such a fierce necessity in her life that she still found it very hard to lean on others, no matter how sympathetic they appeared.

  This feeling she had that Nicholas was perhaps being a little more friendly towards her than was strictly necessary was something she would have to deal with on her own.

  With a little tact and diplomacy, it should not be too difficult to do so, and, anyway, perhaps she was over-reacting a little, being a touch too sensitive to what was really no more than genuine frien
dliness on his part.

  He had certainly neither said nor done anything to suggest anything different, and she certainly had far more important things to think about. Such as her shop, for instance.

  Another few days and the shop would be opening. She felt her body clench with apprehension and excitement. She had taken extensive advertising in the local Press, and she had timed the opening of her business well, done all she could to ensure its success. The rest was in the lap of the gods and she could only hope that they were disposed to smile kindly on her endeavours.

  With one last approving look at the window she turned on her heel and opened the shop door.

  She was just about to close it behind her when she saw that a man was about to follow her inside.

  For a moment, as she looked into his unsmiling face, a tiny frisson of fear ran through her.

  He was totally unfamiliar to her, dressed casually in well-worn and very faded blue jeans, and a short-sleeved shirt that acknowledged the heat of the glorious summer they had been enjoying.

  His dark hair was untidy and ruffled and he had a smear of oil on one cheekbone. Despite that, he had about him an aura of power and maleness that made her hesitate and then flounder a little before saying quickly, ‘I’m sorry, the shop isn’t open yet. We don’t actually open until Saturday.’

  ‘So I understand.’ His voice was cool, slightly abrasive, and very, very controlled, as though he was extremely angry.

  She looked at him and discovered that he was. She could see it in the cold greyness of his eyes and the hard set of his mouth.

  Her own eyes darkened from hazel to tawny gold in recognition of her apprehension.

  ‘Besides, I haven’t come to buy shoes from you, Ms Carter.’

  He hadn’t? Then what did he want? Was he some kind of local official? Some kind of planning official or someone whom she had unwittingly annoyed?

  As she frowned her confusion, she said uncertainly, ‘I see. Then…then, why…why have you come to see me?’

  ‘That,’ he told her curtly, ‘is something I think we can best discuss in privacy.’

  Privacy. Her heart pounded. Once, long ago, another man had demanded privacy with her. Lucy had been the result of her acceding to that demand, and, while it was ridiculous to suppose that this man had anything like that in mind, she still could not help the tremor of fear that ran through her, making her tremble visibly.

  ‘I… I’m afraid that’s impossible,’ she told him huskily. ‘You see, I’m just about to collect my daughter…perhaps if I could make an appointment…’

  He laughed harshly.

  ‘Oh, yes, that would suit you, wouldn’t it? I wonder what’s going through that devious head of yours, Ms Carter? Well, I’m sorry, but I don’t have any time to waste on conniving females. All I want from you is your assurance that from now on you will cease your relationship with my brother-in-law.’

  Tania’s mouth dropped. The man had plainly made a mistake…was perhaps even mad. Anger overtook her fear.

  ‘I’m sorry, I can’t help you,’ she told him crisply. Really, what on earth was he talking about? He must have confused her with someone else. That could be the only explanation for his extraordinary behaviour.

  She realised suddenly, her eyes rounding in shocked fascination, that he had produced a cheque-book from the back pocket of his jeans and that he was flicking it open, his mouth curling disdainfully as he derided, ‘I see. Well, maybe this will help to convince you. As you see, I’ve come prepared, Ms Carter. Naturally I didn’t expect you to cease your affair out of the goodness of a heart I’m quite sure you don’t possess. Shall we say ten thousand pounds?’

  ‘Ten thousand pounds…’ She felt sick with shock and pain.

  ‘Not enough? Well, I assure you it’s as much as you’re going to get.’

  Bewilderment gave way to shock and shock to anger as she saw the look of glittering contempt in his eyes.

  ‘Get out of here,’ she demanded furiously. ‘Just get out before…before I call the police.’

  She was speaking wildly, dangerously, her brain warned her. The man was plainly mad. Who knew what on earth he might take it into his head to do if she continued to threaten him?

  She was shaking visibly as the adrenalin-fuelled fury pumped through her veins.

  ‘Very clever, but hardly convincing. What exactly will you tell them? That I offered you ten thousand pounds to stop you breaking up my sister’s marriage? They’d think I was treating you generously. This isn’t the city where no one gives a damn how his neighbour lives. I’ll give you twenty-four hours to think over my offer. After that… Well, let’s just say one way or another I’m going to make damn sure you stop trying to wreck my sister’s marriage.’

  Speechless with shock and fury, Tania watched in silence as he opened the door and left the shop.

  She was still standing where he had left her, bathed in an icy sweat of reaction and fear when Ann Fielding walked in with Lucy a few minutes later.

  ‘What on earth was James Warren doing here?’ she asked cheerfully as she came in. ‘I know he likes to take a sort of patriarchal interest in everything that goes on locally—that comes of being born into the town’s founding family, I suppose, but I shouldn’t have thought a children’s shoe shop would be of much interest to him. Unless…’

  She shot Tania a shrewd thoughtful look, and then exclaimed in concern.

  ‘Tania…my dear. Lucy, run upstairs and get your mummy a glass of water, will you? I don’t think she’s feeling very well.’

  Through stiff lips, Tania demanded thickly, ‘Just repeat that for me, will you, Ann?’

  ‘Repeat what?’ her friend asked in concerned bewilderment.

  ‘Tell me again who it was who just left this shop.’

  Anne’s frown deepened. ‘Tell you… Well, it was James Warren, of course.’

  ‘James Warren.’ Tania’s soft mouth twisted bitterly. Well, no need to wonder now whose marriage her unwanted visitor had been so passionately defending. Although she still needed to know exactly why he should imagine that she had the slightest interest in either Nicholas Forbes or his marriage. Come to that, if he was so genuinely concerned about preserving his sister’s marriage, she was the one he ought to talk to, because it was her actions, her behaviour, her habit of publicly and pointedly underlining the differences between her stepbrother and her husband to the latter’s disadvantage which was undermining that marriage.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Ann pressed her anxiously. ‘When I came in you looked so pale. I thought you were going to faint.’

  Quickly seizing on the excuse Ann was offering her, Tania agreed tensely.

  ‘Yes. I think it’s the heat.’

  ‘Yes, and this is an anxious time for you. I remember what it’s like, and from when Tom and I first started up our business. But I’m sure you’ll do well, Tania. And if James Warren should take it into his head to make you into one of his pet causes—’

  Tania laughed mirthlessly, her lips tight. ‘The last thing I want or need is any condescending patronage from someone who believes himself to be the local lord of all he surveys. Thanks for bringing Lucy back for me,’ she added curtly, her manner so plainly indicating that she wanted to be on her own that Ann tactfully said her goodbyes and withdrew.

  Once she had gone, Tania stood staring into space.

  James Warren. So that was Clarissa Forbes all-powerful stepbrother; a very formidable gentleman indeed, but he wasn’t going to intimidate her and the next time he came round, making false accusations against her, she was going to let him know in no uncertain terms just how wrong he was.

  How dared he imagine…? How dared he suggest…? She frowned quickly. But how had he got the idea that she was in any way other than in a business sense involved with Nicholas?

  There was only one way she could find out, and the next time he came round here threatening her she intended to have her own ammunition fully prepared and primed. She would ring Nicholas Forbe
s and discover just how his brother-in-law had got the false impression that they were having an affair.

  And what was more she would do it now, before the heat of her anger cooled and she allowed rationality and caution to take the place of righteous indignation and hot-blooded anger.

  CHAPTER TWO

  HAVING settled Lucy in their small sitting-room and listened to her happy account of her day, Tania went through into the room she had designated as her ‘office’ and picked up the telephone.

  Nicholas Forbes’s secretary sounded uncertain and hesitant when she asked to be put through to him and Tania frowned over this abrupt change in the girl’s manner. Normally she sounded breezy and cheerful, and she and Tania had even got to the stage of exchanging the odd few seconds of conversation.

  Nicholas, on the other hand, was obviously pleased to hear from her. Prudence forbade her to discuss James Warren’s visit with him over the telephone and so she asked instead if he could manage to find the time to call round and see her.

  ‘It is rather urgent, I’m afraid,’ she told him.

  ‘No problem. I’ll be with you in ten minutes. I was just about to call it a day anyway. Clarissa had a dinner party planned for this evening and I promised her I wouldn’t be late. James is just back from the States and so he’ll be joining us.’

  As she replaced the receiver, Tania reflected that if she had been the one serving him the meal she would have made sure it had a good spoonful of something bitter in it.