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Suspecting that Marina was the type of woman who always changed for dinner, Genista went up stairs while Luke was busy in the library. They might have to share a room, but she was determined that they would spend as little time in it together as they could.
She was seated in front of the dressing table mirror applying her eye-shadow when she heard the faint tap on the door. She was wearing only a towelling wrap over her underclothes and she frowned, hesitating.
‘It’s Marina—may I come in?’
For a moment she felt deep disappointment. Had she been hoping it was Luke? He was hardly likely to knock on his own bedroom door. No doubt he was as anxious to avoid any intimacy with her as she was with him—although for completely different reasons. While she feared that his proximity might force her to betray her feelings for him, he felt only boredom for her sexual inexperience. He had expected to find in her a woman whose knowledge of lovemaking matched his own, and instead he had discovered that she knew next to nothing about the art of pleasing a man—apart from what he had taught her!
‘Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realise you weren’t dressed,’ Marina apologised. ‘Where’s Luke—downstairs?’
‘He’s in the library,’ Genista told her. ‘Did you want to talk to him?’
‘Not unless he’s in a far more accommodating mood than he was earlier,’ Marina said frankly. ‘I sometimes think he forgets that
I’m five years older than he is. He’s let his success as a businessman go to his head. All that nonsense about your being on your honeymoon!’ She glanced covertly at Genista. ‘We’re both women of the world, my dear—I know my brother, and he’s no monk. One only has to think of that bitch Verity to know that—he had a lucky escape there. She would have taken him for every penny he owned—and will still probably try, if I know her. Now that she no longer has Philip to batten on to, she’s bound to try and get Luke under her thumb again. He doted on her, you know…’ She broke off as though realising that they were hardly sentiments likely to appeal to a newly married bride, adding hurriedly, ‘But of course, Luke would never take her back. He’s gone so hard—he would never forgive her. Now, as I was saying, all this foolishness about the pair of you being on your honeymoon. I’m sure you won’t take it amiss when I say that where my brother is concerned, playing by the rules is not his forte, and nowadays…’
‘Everyone anticipates their marriage vows—is that what you were about to say?’ Luke interposed smoothly, startling them both. ‘Wrong, my dear sister. I didn’t know Genista long enough beforehand to do so, even had she been willing. You’re letting your cynicism cloud your judgement. As it happens, my wife was as pure and untouched as Lucy.’
From Marina’s briefly assessing glance, Genista suspected that the other woman was surprised by Luke’s revelations. She herself felt ready to die with embarrassment. How dared Luke discuss her like this!
‘A virgin?’ Marina’s eyes rounded. ‘I suppose I should have known. Nothing but the best for my brother—and certainly no second or third-hand goods! Verity wouldn’t get a look in now, would she?’
‘You’re embarrassing Genista,’ Luke said coolly, ‘and insulting me. I married Genista for no other reason than that I love her.’
He was an excellent actor, Genista thought bitterly. Marina stared at him in silence.
‘And now, if you’ll leave, I shall get changed for dinner, after which we shall discuss what is and is not to be said to Lucy.’
On the pretext of wanting to check the table, Genista left the bedroom shortly after Marina had gone. Luke was paused in the middle of unbuttoning his shirt and glanced at her sardonically.
‘Running away?’ he jeered. ‘From what, I wonder? Me, or yourself?’
Genista found Lucy in the dining room. The girl had changed out of her uniform into a pretty cotton dress. She smiled rather hesitantly, reminding Genista once again of Luke.
‘I’m sorry Mother has thrust me upon you like this,’ she began apologetically. Her manner was adult, but the fingers twisting nervously together were not, and Genista smiled reassuringly.
‘Nonsense! Luke loves having you here, I know that!’
Her lie was rewarded with a relieved smile.
‘Mother is the end sometimes. She just doesn’t think.’ Lucy walked towards the window, her back hunched faintly defensively. ‘I know all about her and Father getting together again. He writes to me, you see, although I haven’t told her. It wasn’t really disloyal. It’s just that she gets in such a state about him. I was going to tell Uncle Luke about it, only with Father and Verity…‘
‘I’m sure he would have understood,’ Genista soothed, feeling a sudden spurt of anger at the carelessness of adults. How could Lucy’s parents have thrust such heavy burdens on her young shoulders? ‘It’s only right that you should care for your father as well as your mother. You must be pleased about the way things have turned out.’
‘I want to be,’ Lucy admitted, ‘but I’m frightened—in case they part again,’ she explained quickly. ‘You see, mother is so…so volatile, and Father gets cross with her. I think that’s why he left with Verity in the first place. I know it’s wrong of me to say this, but it was she who enticed Father, and I’m not just saying that to defend him. She thought he had more money than Luke. You did know that she and Luke were engaged?’ she asked hesitantly.
‘Oh yes, I know all about that.’ Whatever else happened Genista wouldn’t add to Lucy’s burdens. ‘I suggest you wait for Luke to come downstairs, and then have a word with him. We can delay dinner for a few minutes. I think he’ll be relieved to hear that you already know about your parents’ reconciliation.’
‘Mother was just going to leave me here for him to tell, was she? Poor Uncle Luke!’
Genista deliberately waylaid Marina when she came downstairs, and when Lucy disappeared in the direction of the library, returning ten minutes later with Luke, her face wreathed in smiles, Genista felt an involuntary pang of envy. How nice to be Lucy and know with complete confidence that whatever her problems she could take them to Luke in the sure knowledge that they would be solved.
She noticed, however, that Luke said nothing to his sister about Lucy’s confidences, and judged that this was his way of punishing her for what she suspected he considered to be depletion of her maternal duties. How would he punish her if he ever discovered she had been foolish enough to fall in love with him? ‘Watch out for Verity, my dear,’ Marina warned Genista in a low voice as they walked out to her car after dinner. ‘I know Luke is in love with you, but Verity is a very determined woman—and an extremely beautiful one.’
In love with her! If only she knew, Genista thought miserably as the Citroën drove away. A chill little breeze played over her bare arms and she shivered slightly.
‘You’re cold. Better get back inside,’ Luke said impersonally. ‘I have some work to do, so I’ll leave you and Lucy to get acquainted. I’ve promised her a shopping spree while she’s here. It will give you both something to occupy yourselves with.’
‘How very kind,’ Genista said sarcastically. ‘Is that the only way you know of satisfying a woman, Luke? Buying her things?’
