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Her fingers tensed as she picked up a pair of soft male briefs, white and well styled. Her hands were trembling so much she almost dropped them. Quickly she put them down as though they had scalded her. She could hear Honor coming back.
‘I bought Dad those for Christmas,’ she told Verity, picking up the briefs.
‘I’m learning to cook at school. You should have dinner parties and invite people round.’
Verity looked at her.
‘Dinner parties?’ she questioned warily.
‘Mmm…Catherine’s mother has them all the time. Dad was saying last week how embarrassed he felt because he wants to invite them round here but he doesn’t have anyone to help him. I mean, he’s okay really with the food, but it’s the other things, isn’t it?’ Honor asked her earnestly. ‘The flowers and the…the placements. Myra says that those are very important.’
The placements. Verity bit her inner lip to keep her mouth straight. It would never do to laugh and hurt Honor’s feelings. The last time she had heard someone referring to the importance of their placements had been at a stuffy Washington diplomatic dinner.
‘Er…yes,’ she agreed. ‘Well, I’m sure that Myra would be only too pleased to act as hostess for your father.’
‘She can’t,’ Honor told her quickly, ‘It’s…Catherine’s mother doesn’t like her…Perhaps you could do it?’ Honor suggested.
Verity’s eyes widened.
‘Me? But…’
‘I don’t know how well you can cook, but I could help.’
Verity automatically continued to fold the laundry. Now she stopped and turned to Honor.
‘Honor,’ she began gently, ‘I don’t think—’
‘Dad’s back, I just heard the car,’ Honor interrupted her, adding quickly, ‘Don’t say anything to him about the dinner party…He doesn’t like people thinking that he can’t do things.’
Outside the kitchen door Silas hesitated. Just the sight of Verity’s BMW had raised his heartbeat. What the hell was the matter with him? Hadn’t he learned his lesson the first time around? Eleven years ago Verity had rejected him in favour of her uncle’s business and he was a fool if he allowed himself to forget that fact.
Even so, the sight that met his eyes when he finally pushed open the kitchen door was one that made him check and curl his hand into a hard warning fist. Verity and Honor were standing in the laundry room deep in conversation, Honor holding the end of the sheet that Verity was busily folding.
‘Dad always says that it’s a waste of time to iron them because no one but us ever sees them.’
No one! Verity’s heart gave a quick thud. Did that mean that Myra and he…? Or was it simply that he discreetly chose not to share a bed with his lover in the same house where his daughter slept?
‘Dad!’ Honor cried, releasing the sheet as she saw her father and bounding across the kitchen to hug him with such very evident love that Verity’s heart gave another and even more painful lurch.
It was so obvious, watching the two of them together, not just that Honor was Silas’ daughter but also how much they loved one another. There was nothing false or artificial about the way Silas held his daughter.
‘Thank you for helping out,’ he told Verity formally. ‘I—’
‘Dad, Verity took me shopping. Just wait until you see what we bought. I told her you’d pay her,’ Honor hurried on, ‘but she still wouldn’t let me have some of the things I wanted. There was this top and these leggings…’ She began enthusiastically explaining the eye-popping ensemble to Silas before adding, ‘But Verity didn’t think they were my colours.’
Over her head Silas’ eyes met Verity’s.
Thank you, he mouthed silently before turning his attention back to Honor and telling her gravely, ‘I’m sure she was right.’
‘Well, that’s what I thought because her own clothes are so beautiful,’ Honor agreed. ‘Don’t you think she looks luscious in that suit, Dad?’
Luscious…
Verity could feel her face starting to grow warm as two identical pairs of eyes studied her Donna-Karan-clad body.
‘She certainly looks very…elegant…and successful,’ Silas agreed quietly. But somehow, instead of sounding like a compliment, the words sounded much more like condemnation, Verity recognised grimly.
‘I was just telling Verity how much you want to have a dinner party,’ Honor chattered on, apparently oblivious to the tension growing between the two silent adults. ‘She said she’d love to come and help you and it will help her to get to know people as well, won’t it?’
