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‘Oh, you wicked girl,’ she sobbed. ‘Where did you go with him? Where was this dreadful place?’
Amanda said grimly, ‘I presume they mean this house.’
Mrs Conroy clutched at her throat. ‘You mean, you brought your—paramour here? You actually used my home for your sordid—your disgusting…’
‘There’s nothing disgusting or sordid about it.’ Amanda gently shook her mother’s arm. ‘Mother— these stories are lies.’
‘You mean you never met this man?’
‘No.’ Amanda swallowed. ‘I did see him on Thursday. In fact, he spent the night here, but…’
‘Then it’s all true.’ Her mother looked at her with tragic eyes. ‘You brought him here. You...’ She nerved herself. ‘You—slept with him.’
Amanda groaned. ‘Not in the way you think. I’d had a terrible day. I’d quarrelled with Nigel, and Malory knew it. He just came to—keep me company. Then someone started ringing up, practising his heavy breathing, and my window got broken, so Malory and I finished up sharing the spare room, because I was too frightened to be on my own. But he never touched me. He just looked after me,‘ she added feebly.
Mrs Conroy snorted. ‘A likely story! If it was all so innocent, why didn’t you give Nigel a full explanation?’
Amanda flushed. ‘Because I didn’t think he deserved one,’ she said in a constricted voice. She bit her lip. ‘But Malory does. I’ll have to talk to him before he sees these stories.’
Her mother laughed harshly. ‘Are you quite mad? He’s seen them already.’ She read from her paper, “‘At his Aylesford Green luxury residence, yesterday, Malory Templeton, thirty-two, said ’No comment‘.’”
She glared at Amanda. ‘That’s what guilty people say. Why didn’t he deny these stories if they aren’t true? Oh, just listen to this. “Nigel, white and shaken, said, ’I couldn’t believe I’d lost her until she told me with her own lips that she was going to marry my brother. She was always against my rallying, and I can’t blame her for choosing comfort and security with Malory. He’s much richer than I can ever hope to be. I pray they’ll both be happy together‘.”
She shook her head. ‘Poor boy. Poor, darling Nigel. So brave, wishing you well.’
‘Is that what he’s doing?’ Amanda asked ironically. She rubbed her forehead with the back of her hand. ‘Where are the road maps? I’ve got to get to Aylesford Green.’
‘You won’t go anywhere near that man,’ Mrs Conroy said peremptorily. ‘I shall get my solicitor to phone these papers tomorrow and issue a stringent denial, and then I shall speak to Nigel myself—tell him there’s been a dreadful mistake…’
Amanda said quietly, ‘Mother, if you do any such thing, I shall leave this house, and never come back. The papers got one thing right in all this. Nigel and I are finished. Nigel knows it, and that’s why he’s produced this—piece of spite.’ She drew a breath. ‘He said he’d make me sorry, and he has.’
Nigel had been very clever, she thought later as she drove through the lanes towards Aylesford Green. He’d presented her as an out-and-out gold-digger, and Malory as a wealthy dupe, while reserving for himself the role of deceived but noble innocent. Few people who read the stories would feel anything but compassion for him, betrayed at his moment of triumph.
It was raining when she reached the village. She parked her car by the green, and stared round at the pretty cottages which bordered it. There had been a smudgy picture of Malory’s house in one of the papers, but she couldn’t relate it to any of these. Eventually, she asjked for directions from a man stalwartly walking his dog, and was guided out of the village on to a side road.
‘It’s set back a bit,’ she was advised. ‘Look out for double white gates.’
When she found them, Amanda drew her car up on the verge, and sat for a few moments, trying to marshal her thoughts. Or was she simply attempting to pluck up sufficient courage to walk up to the front door of the spacious brick and timber house she could just glimpse through the encircling trees? she asked herself derisively. It would serve her right if Malory refused point-blank to see her.
Only a matter of hours ago, he’d told her he was her friend, and they’d shaken hands on it. But today he might feel that friendship had its limitations.
She got stiffly out of the car and locked it. Well, she had no one but herself to blame for this fiasco. She’d made all the bullets for Nigel to fire with such lethal effect.
