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Maggie gave a tremulous little smile, her green eyes clouding when she heard the hard note in his deep voice. ‘Then Matthew and I are doubly grateful to her. I shall…’ She broke off abruptly, her whole body tensing as footsteps echoed along the hall. Beth looked past her, studying the man who had come into the hall. He was as tall as David, with the same wide shoulders and leanly muscled physique, but there the similarity ended. Matthew Kane was as dark as David was fair, his black hair gleaming in the muted light from the chandelier, his dark eyes unreadable in his set face. He looked dark and forbidding as he stood there and unconsciously Beth moved closer to David.
He immediately sensed her unease, glancing quickly at her pale face before he slid an arm around her shoulders and drew her closer. ‘Matthew. You’re looking fit.’
Matthew nodded, his eyes skimming from his brother to Beth and back again. ‘So are you. I was sorry to hear about your recent loss. Maggie told me about the baby and you have my sympathies.’
‘Thank you.’ The reply was curt almost to the point of rudeness and Beth shivered convulsively, feeling the tension filling the hall. What had gone on in the past was still vividly alive and she’d been a fool to think that anything could change it easily.
Maggie obviously felt the same way because her smile was forced when she looked from one to the other. ‘Why don’t we all go inside and have a drink? You two must be dying for something after driving all this way.’
David shook his head, his fingers gripping Beth’s shoulder in a silent warning not to disagree. ‘No, thanks. I think it would be better if we unpacked our things first. Beth must be tired so, if you don’t mind, I’m sure she would like some time to rest before dinner.’
‘Of course not. I should have thought about that before.’ She turned to Matthew, her face softening. ‘Darling, would you mind helping David with the cases? I’ll just take Beth up and show her where everything is.’
Matthew looked back at his wife, the harshness leaving his face for a moment, and Beth felt her breath catch at the expression of love in his eyes. ‘No, of course not. You go on ahead and leave them to us.’
Maggie reached up and kissed him swiftly on the cheek then turned back to Beth, her smile less strained now. ‘Ready, Beth? I’ve put you in one of the rooms which overlook the garden at the back. It’s rather a gloomy-looking room at night when there’s only electric light to brighten it, but in the morning if the sun is shining it’s rather charming.’
Beth smiled back, doing her best to follow Maggie’s lead and ease the tension. ‘I’m sure it will be lovely, Maggie. Thank you.’
She followed Maggie up the stairs and along the landing, pausing in the doorway to look round the room. As Maggie had said, it was rather a gloomy room with its heavy Victorian furniture and stiff burgundy-red drapes, but the high windows would let in a lot of light during the daytime.
Maggie glanced round the room and grimaced. ‘It’s definitely not to my taste, but the whole house hasn’t been altered in years. It was Matthew’s grandparents’ house and when his father married he took it over and they lived here. Not that either Matthew or David were here that much. They were both packed off to school at a very early age, but it can’t have been a comfortable place to live. Nobody could call it homely!’
Beth laughed, dropping her bag on to the bed before kicking off her shoes. ‘I take it that you aren’t intending to make your home here permanently, then?’
‘No way! We’re only staying until the tenants vacate our house in town. Quite apart from the fact that I find it utterly depressing, it’s too far out of the city. Matthew would never be able to travel into work each day and there is no way I am having him living in town on his own and coming back here just for weekends. That isn’t my idea of marriage, although Matthew’s parents lived like that.’
‘Is his father still practising law? David has mentioned his mother, but never said anything about his father.’ She asked the question almost idly, then flushed when she saw Maggie’s surprise. The trouble was that she knew so little about David’s background, but she would have to be more careful about admitting it or it would give rise to speculation.
