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It was, it was great, but…
‘And now we can see everything instead of just picturing it from your letters,’ her mother continued with an ecstatic sigh. ‘And it’s beautiful; it’s really beautiful,’ she said, turning to Slade and throwing her arms wide to encompass the house and grounds. ‘It’s the most beautiful house I have ever seen.’
‘Thank you.’ He was smiling at her mother, a nice smile, and Daisy felt her legs go weak with what it did to her. She could also see that Rose and Violet were heavily smitten—her sisters were positively ogling Slade; it only needed their mouths to drool and the picture would be complete!
‘We all came over from the States together.’ Her mother had turned back to Daisy and she tried to concentrate but it was hard when she hadn’t seen Slade for two whole weeks. ‘Slade was in Washington on business so it meant we could get to know each other.’
‘That was fortunate.’
Daisy looked straight into the black glittering eyes and they smiled at her as Slade said, his voice dry, ‘Wasn’t it?’ with a cryptic rise of his dark eyebrows.
‘Thank you.’ She should have said it before, straight away. ‘This is very good of you.’ And it was; she knew that.
He shrugged easily. ‘There are plenty of spare bedrooms and Isabella loves cooking in large quantities; it is the Italian way. I try and please her now and again.’
It hadn’t been Isabella he had thought to please and they all knew it. Her mother beamed at him again and Daisy groaned inwardly. Her mother was sold on him—it was as plain as the nose on her face—and she would have to try and have a quiet word with both her mother and her sisters to make sure they didn’t jump to any wrong conclusions—as the rest of the world seemed determined to do!
‘So you are saying you haven’t got a thing going with him, then?’ Rose asked brightly. ‘He’s available?’
‘That’s quite enough, Rose.’ Lily Summers’ voice was sharp as she glanced at her second youngest daughter with a deep frown.
‘What? What have I said? I was only asking—’
‘I’m quite aware of what you were asking and you ought to be ashamed of yourself,’ her mother returned crisply. ‘What about Dean? You can’t have forgotten about him already!’
Dean was Rose’s boyfriend of eighteen months and the last time Daisy had heard they were talking about a Christmas engagement. Rose had even chosen the ring already, according to Violet.
‘I haven’t got a Dean.’ Violet winked at Daisy behind her mother’s back, and then all three girls laughed when Lily swung round, looking askance at them as she said, ‘Violet, you are starting your university in the fall. Now I don’t want you distracted—’
‘All right, Mum, all right. I’m pulling your leg.’
Oh, it was wonderful to have them all here, Daisy thought warmly as she stood up to leave her mother’s bedroom where all three girls had congregated, Slade having taken charge of Francesco. And she did appreciate Slade having taken the time to organise it all, but… And there was a ‘but’—a great big massive but!
She didn’t know if she had fooled her sisters with her explanation that she and Slade were just friends and that what he had done for them he would do for anyone, but she’d definitely failed to pull the wool over her mother’s sharp and fiercely maternal eyes. And her mother was for Slade—there was no doubt about that at all; he had made sure that all three Summers women were well and truly under his spell. Which was exactly what he had set out to accomplish, Daisy reflected frowningly as she made her way downstairs again, leaving the three guests to unpack and freshen up before pre-dinner drinks in the drawing room. And she didn’t like that at all.
‘Why the frown?’
She had half expected Slade to be waiting for her but she still jumped as his deep voice brought her swinging round at the bottom of the stairs, to see him sitting in the hall apparently reading the paper.
He looked gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous, Daisy admitted silently as her hungry eyes took in the big lean body encased in a beautifully cut lightweight grey suit, the pale jade shirt beneath open at the neck, displaying his hard, tanned throat. He made her legs weak. But she couldn’t let her heart weaken.
She stared into the brilliant black eyes and they crinkled as he smiled at her, but she didn’t smile back. ‘Where’s Francesco?’ she asked carefully. ‘I thought he was with you?’
‘Having his tea with Isabella and Mario.’ His smile had died, and now he said again, his voice cooler, ‘I asked you why the frown, Daisy?’
‘You know why.’ It wasn’t at all how she had planned to challenge him regarding his motives, she thought despairingly as she heard her voice go on. ‘You shouldn’t have brought them here, Slade. It…it was too much. It’s very kind of you, of course—’
‘Thank you.’ It was smooth and sarcastic.
‘But you shouldn’t have,’ she finished more firmly.
‘I disagree.’
Slade’s tone of voice indicated the conversation was at an end, but as he rose to his feet Daisy realised—with a jolt—that he was simply going to walk away from her. Ronald had done that, she thought bitterly. Whenever she had tried to put into words her doubts and fears about the way their marriage was going, her cries for help, he had walked away from her. And then he would walk back, with a box of chocolates or a bunch of flowers, and sweet-talk her into believing she was imagining things, that she was nervy, neurotic.
Her voice was shrill when she said, ‘Slade, I can’t stay here any more. I mean…I mean I want you to understand I’m giving you my notice,’ she added as he swung to face her with sheer amazement in his eyes. ‘I’ll stay until you get someone else, someone Francesco is happy with, but…but that’s all.’
‘You are leaving me because I brought your mother and sisters to see you?’ he asked incredulously. ‘Is that what you’re saying?
