to leave Pennistone Royal around the time you did?’
‘I don’t know, Mrs Longden, but I always have the same routine on my day off. I usually leave about ten or ten-thirty. And he knows Wednesday is my day off, I’ve always taken Wednesday ever since I began to work for you when Adele was a baby.’
Tessa inclined her head. ‘I understand, and let’s forget it. However, Elvira, if anything ever happens, anything at all, that you think is strange, you must tell me.’
‘I will, Mrs Longden, I will, I promise.’ The nanny attempted a smile but it didn’t quite materialize, and she added, ‘Well then, I’d better get back to Adele.’ Without another word she scurried out.
Left alone in her lovely sunny room which she had always loved, Tessa felt oddly alien and chilled, and just a little frightened once again. Mark had obviously planned the abduction very carefully, right down to the last detail … waiting for Elvira on the roadside, quizzing her, and then swooping in and scooping up Adele. While his accomplice, whoever that was, did all that dialling on a mobile phone. She shivered involuntarily, and bit her lip, and suddenly her eyes filled with worry.
After a few moments Tessa managed to calm herself and she made a vow to outwit Mark Longden. Whatever it took that was what she was going to do. Outwit him.
‘My parents are here,’ Evan said, staring at Gideon.
A look of genuine surprise crossed his face, and then his brows met in a puzzled frown. ‘I thought they were coming next week?’
‘They were. Dad changed the date, he said he wanted a chance for them to get over their jet lag. Anyway, they’re in London. At the hotel. That was Dad on my mobile when we were walking with Jack.’
Evan and Gideon were seated at the table under the old oak tree at the bottom of the lawns which sloped away from the back terrace of Pennistone Royal. Gideon Harte put down his glass of white wine and leaned across the wrought-iron garden table. ‘So when am I going to meet them?’ he asked. When she didn’t immediately answer, he said, ‘I am going to meet them, aren’t I?’
‘Of course. But I thought I’d better see them by myself first. On Thursday when I get back to London. It has been eight months and there’s a lot to catch up on, and I just think it’s better that I see them alone.’ Evan didn’t add that they might resent his presence, although she was thinking that.
‘I understand,’ he said, and went on swiftly: ‘Tell you what, I’ll take the three of you to dinner on Friday evening. Somewhere really nice.’ He spoke in a firm voice that forbade argument and looked at her very intently. There was a steely glint in his eyes.
‘That’ll be great,’ Evan responded softly, realizing it was better to acquiesce rather than refuse for the time being.
Gideon experienced a small stab of dismay at her lack of enthusiasm which was obvious and made him feel suddenly awkward, and he reached out, took hold of her hand. His green eyes bored into hers. ‘I know I’ve said this before, but I’m in love with you, Evan.’
‘I know that.’
‘And what about you? How do you really feel about me?’
‘I’m in love with you, Gideon,’ she replied, her voice suddenly intimate, very loving. ‘You know I am.’
He realized she was being sincere, and now he relaxed, smiled, squeezed her hand. ‘I want to spend the rest of my life with you, as if you didn’t know that, and I want to marry you. I know I’ve said that to you before, but I’m asking you again … Evan, please marry me.’
There was only a fractional hesitation on her part before she agreed. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I will, Gideon.’
‘Let’s tell your parents on Friday over dinner! Then it will be official and we’ll phone my parents in New York to give them the good news. Do let’s get engaged.’ Without waiting for her reply, he grinned and rushed on, ‘I’ve got a confession to make. I’ve had your engagement ring for ages.’
‘You have?’ Evan’s grey-blue eyes sparkled and she began to laugh. ‘Gee, you sure are sure of yourself, aren’t you?’ Her voice was teasing, full of laughter.
‘I could only hope, my love, I could only hope. Actually, I can’t give it to you at this moment, because it’s not in my pocket. But I wish it were, so I could slip it onto your finger immediately. Unfortunately, it’s locked up at Allington Hall.’
‘Well, at least it’s good to know it’s in Yorkshire,’ she quipped.
‘I’ll give it to you tonight, and can we tell your parents next week?’ he pressed.
Evan took a deep breath and blew out a few puffs of air. ‘I’d like to tell them when we have dinner, but I’m still a bit worried about the Robin–Dad situation. I haven’t made my mind up … I don’t know what to do about that yet.’ She frowned and shook her head, groping for words that would accurately describe what she felt. ‘I’m so ambivalent, and having to tell Dad that his father wasn’t his biological father is going to be –’
‘Let’s not go there, let’s not get things confused,’ Gideon exclaimed, sounding impatient. ‘Our engagement doesn’t have anything to do with Robin, your father and Richard Hughes.’
‘But it does, because my father –’
‘Evan, please don’t start with that whole business of us being related. My grandmother Elizabeth and your grandfather Robin are brother and sister, but that isn’t troublesome. A genealogical chart would show that we are cousins a few times removed. So what! In this country it’s not illegal to marry even a first cousin, so we’re certainly within the law. And I don’t believe those old wives’ tales about children of cousins being born afflicted with something. My parents are cousins, yet Toby, Natalie and I are perfectly all right. Not that you’ve met Nat yet, what with her being in Australia at the moment. But you can take my word for it, my sister’s as perfectly healthy and sane as me and Toby.’
‘Oh Gid, don’t get angry, please don’t. I do love you very much, and being related has nothing to do with it. I do want to marry you. It’s just that my father seems to bear a grudge against the Hartes, and I want to find out why that is, Gideon. Can’t you understand that?’
‘Yes, I can. I know it’s important to you that my parents like you, and they do. In fact, they really approve of you. However, please understand that even if they didn’t like you, I would still marry you. They can’t live my life for me, and I would never permit them to influence me about my choice of a wife.’ He frowned, his eyes scanning her face as he finished. ‘Don’t you feel that way, too? Surely you believe in your own convictions, your own choices, don’t you?’
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