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Lily shivered at the thought of Ronan’s cold, implacable fury. If she hadn’t seen that, she might have thought that Davey was inclined to exaggerate, but the memory of the ruthless, unyielding way Ronan had ended their marriage left her in no doubt that he was telling nothing less than the truth.
‘I was supposed to make him a fortune; instead I lost him one. I let him down and he’s determined I should pay for that.’
‘But surely if you talked to him—apologised, it could still be put right,’ Lily put in earnestly. ‘He believed you had talent once, he must still think it now. If you admitted you’d been a fool, said you’d work really hard and pay back everything you owe, however long it takes, wouldn’t he listen?’
Davey’s expressive shudder was answer enough, without a word having to be spoken, and his pale cheeks turned grey just at the thought of what she was suggesting.
‘It’s gone way past that, Lill. I could never replace what he’s lost, and, to be frank, Guerin wants much more than repayment. I daren’t face him, Sis. He’s after revenge and nothing else will do.’
Revenge. The word brought a sour, foul taste into Lily’s mouth, sickening her. Had Ronan’s courtship of her been just part of a campaign of revenge against her brother? Had her fiasco of a wedding been just cold-blooded manipulation, the man she had loved simply using her feelings to further his own callous ends?
And had it all been about money? Was Ronan’s motivation really so base, so mercenary that he had done all this, treated her so cruelly, taken her love and broken it into tiny pieces, destroyed her life, just because of a bad debt? Even when Davey put it into figures, quoting an amount that made her head spin, she still couldn’t believe that Ronan had been prepared to stoop so low.
Belatedly Davey seemed to recall just why they had started on this conversation in the first place.
‘But what is it with you and Ronan Guerin? Your friend said—’
‘Oh, don’t worry about Hannah,’ said Lily hastily.
Davey had enough on his plate as it was, and besides, she had only just got him back after the long years of separation. If he learned the truth about her connection with Ronan he might just turn and run again, and this time she’d never find him. Time enough to let him know all the gory details when she had no alternative.
‘There’s no need to let that trouble you.’
Just to see the relief on his pale face, the way the gaunt body relaxed back against the desk made it worth the stress of hiding the facts from him.
‘It’s so good to see you, Lill,’ he said jerkily. ‘I didn’t know where else to go. But I knew you’d be all right, that you’d look after me the way you always did. Lily—can I stay for a while?’
Lily’s heart twisted in a bittersweet mixture of delight and nervous apprehension. For so long she had dreamed of Davey coming home, of him saying just that, and at times she had feared that he never would. Now at last he was here, with her, but the thought of Ronan and his malign influence over both her life and her brother’s cast a dark shadow over her happiness.
‘Please, Sis!’
The uncertainty in her brother’s plea made her realise that she was frowning, that he had interpreted the expression her thoughts had put on to her face as reluctance to have him back in her life. That was the last thing she wanted him to feel she reproved herself, forcing a smile.
‘Of course you can stay, kid. For as long as you like.’
With a struggle she pushed all thoughts of Ronan to the back of her mind, refusing to let them spoil her delight in seeing Davey again.
‘I’ll get my coat and we’ll go now. I’ll knock off early for once and let the others close up for me tonight. Come on, Davey, let’s go home.’
CHAPTER FIVE
HOME.
Lily pushed the trowel deep into the damp soil and rooted out a weed with unnecessary force as the word she had used came back to haunt her a couple of days later.
“Let’s go home,” she’d said to Davey, and only an hour or so later the bitter irony of her words had struck at her with a cruel force that had brought tears to her eyes.
This wasn’t her home. Even though she loved everything about Belvedere House, and although, technically, it was now hers in a legal sense, Ronan having sent her the title deeds as he had promised, there was no way it could be described as being homely in any way.
If she’d had any choice in the matter, there was no way she would have stayed there, the place held so many bitter memories. It seemed that everywhere she turned she saw images of Ronan and herself in the few brief hours of their so-called ‘marriage’.
She couldn’t get away from her memories of the night they had been there, in the sitting room, sharing the meal in the big kitchen, and, most disturbing of all, in the huge king-size bed, their naked bodies closely entwined.
But on her marriage she had given up her small flat in town, and so if she didn’t live here she had nowhere else to go. It was either Belvedere House or a settee in Hannah’s home.
Davey, of course, had no idea of any of this. He believed the house was hers and had been highly impressed by its size and elegance when she had first brought him there.
‘Wow, Sis!’ he had exclaimed. ‘This is some place you’ve got here! I never knew that the flower-selling business was so profitable.’
‘Selling flowers isn’t,’ Lily had returned rather sharply. ‘The shop may look better than the market stall I had when you left, but it’s still only rented. I’ve only just started to make a profit once the expenses and wages have been paid. If it wasn’t for the flower arranging I might have gone under. Luckily, that’s been more successful and brings in a fair bit.’
‘Enough to pay off Ronan Guerin?’ Davey had asked, though it was obvious that his heart wasn’t in the question, and he had anticipated her reluctant shake of the head. ‘Didn’t think so.’
‘We’ll work something out.’ She’d tried to sound encouraging. ‘I’m sure he’d accept some sort of instalment plan if we put it to him.’
‘I think it’s way too late for that.’
‘It’s never too late.’
Now those words echoed in her head like a reproach, making her wish she’d never said them. How could she tell Davey it was already far too late? That Ronan had embarked on his plan of revenge and that she was tangled up in it as well as her brother? He was scared enough as it was, so how would he feel if he knew that his enemy was determined to extract far more than the financial recompense he was actually owed?
‘I think you’ve uprooted every single weed from that bed—unless, of course, you’re planning on burrowing right down to Australia. Or perhaps it’s my grave that you wish you were digging.’
It was the last voice she had ever expected to hear again. The last voice she wanted to hear.
Or at least that was what she told herself on a very rational level. But all the rational thought in the world couldn’t stop her heart from jumping right up into her throat, her pulse rate lurching into a thundering, uneven rhythm that made her head swim sickeningly as she registered the all too familiar tones that sounded behind her.
Dear God, no! she prayed. Let it not be true! Please let it be just a delusion—a fantasy. Let her have imagined it, created it out of her own fears and uncertainties. What would she do if Ronan was here, now, when Davey was back in Edgerton?
But she was clutching at straws; she knew that. There had been no mistaking that rich, deep voice, heavily laced with sardonic humour. She had no idea why Ronan had come back, but somehow she had to try to find the strength to face him.
But not just yet. Lily took a couple of much needed seconds to draw several deep, calming breaths, keeping her eyes focused on the flower-bed in front of her.
Ronan had been right, she thought inconsequentially. It was totally denuded of all the weeds that had been growing in it, and she had been in danger of digging it over so thoroughly that she had come close to uprooting all the flowers as well. It helped to concentrate her mind on the trivial fact, distracting it from the pain she knew lurked just out of sight, waiting for the moment when she turned to face the man behind her.
‘Hello, Ronan,’ she said carefully, ironing all emotion out of the words, as she got to her feet. Her hands were covered in mud and she wiped them down the front of her jeans, leaving a black, sticky stain that did nothing to improve their already shabby appearance. ‘I didn’t expect to see you again. What brings you to Yorkshire?’
‘Work, amongst other things.’
He sounded slightly disconcerted, as if her reaction was not at all what he had anticipated. Lily allowed herself a small smile at the thought. If he had expected her to scream and shout, or burst into hysterical tears at the sight of him, then he was going to be bitterly disappointed. She had tried that approach on the morning after their wedding and it had got her nowhere.
If she had learned one thing from that experience it was that Ronan gave no quarter at all. Show one sign of weakness and he went straight in for the kill. She was not going to give him the satisfaction of spotting any chinks in her emotional armour. It was fastened securely round her, strong and impregnable.
