Grange, for instance?’
‘Among other things, yes.’
‘Well, I don’t believe it,’ she said. ‘Piers would never sell his inheritance—and especially not to you.’
‘Piers would sell his own grandmother to get out of the kind of mess he’s in.’
She said thickly, ‘How dare you say that? After the way you’ve behaved. You always hated him—you were always jealous…’
‘I had no reason to like him.’ The grey eyes glittered at her. ‘But I wasn’t jealous. He had nothing that I wanted—not then.’
‘And now you want the Grange. So you’ve stolen it from him—somehow.’ She lifted her chin contemptuously. ‘Well—once a thief, always a thief.’
‘What a depressingly commonplace mind you’ve developed, Adie,’ he drawled. ‘It must be through associating with Mr Mendoza. But I’m sure you’ll recover.’
‘I don’t have to,’ she said. ‘Or did you think I’d dump Piers because he doesn’t have the Grange any more?’ She moistened her dry lips with the tip of her tongue. ‘If so, you’re wrong. Because that was never the attraction. Piers and I are going to be together, no matter what’s gone wrong. As soon as I get home I’m going to call him and…’
‘Well, make sure you get the time zones right.’ He looked at his watch. ‘It’s probably the middle of the night in Brazil. And you wouldn’t want to disturb him on his honeymoon.’
The sudden silence in the room was almost tangible. Adrien could feel it beating against her eardrums, constricting her heart.
She looked at him numbly. He seemed to have retreated to a great distance, his dark figure swimming in front of her. Swimming…
‘Sit down.’ His voice was suddenly incisive, authoritative. ‘Put your head between your knees and breathe deeply.’
She obeyed for no better reason than her legs no longer seemed capable of supporting her.
When the dizziness had passed, and she could speak again, she said, ‘You’re lying.’
He said slowly, ‘No, it’s true. He’d been seeing this girl out in Portugal, and made her pregnant. Her father is Brazilian, and powerful, and insisted on marriage. And Brazil was a safer option for him than London or Lisbon.’
He paused. ‘Will you believe, Adrien, that it gives me no pleasure to tell you?’
‘No.’ She raised her head to glare at him. ‘I don’t believe it. You’ve waited a long time for your revenge, Chay Haddon. Waited to punish me for having you sent away all those years ago. I just wish with all my heart that you’d gone to jail instead.’
‘Only to jail?’ he came back at her mockingly. ‘I was certain hell would be the preferred destination.’
‘Hell’s too good for you.’ She pushed back a strand of hair that had escaped its confinement and got to her feet, swaying slightly as she fought off the last remnants of dizziness.
‘Be careful.’ He went to take her arm, and she recoiled.
‘Don’t touch me,’ she said hoarsely. ‘Don’t ever dare to touch me.’
‘A threat, an accusation, and now a challenge.’ He was actually smiling. ‘What a pity I have neither the time nor the inclination to take you up on it. At present,’ he added silkily. ‘I gather you’re terminating our reunion. May I ask where you’re going?’
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I’m going to find Piers and talk to him. Show you up for the liar and cheat that you are.’
‘I wouldn’t have so much to say about cheating.’ There was a note of grimness in his voice. ‘Not when you owe money all over the area. And don’t even think of going to Brazil, Adie, always supposing you could find the fare. I’m sure your creditors wouldn’t like it, quite apart from Piers’s wife.’
He opened the door and held it for her. ‘I’ll see you around.’
To answer, Not if I see you first, would have been simply childish rudeness. Instead Adrien did not even glance at him as she walked out of the office.
She heard Mr Davidson saying, ‘Miss Lander—Miss Lander, I need to talk to you,’ but she ignored him too, breaking into a run as she headed for the door of the bank.
She could only think of Piers, and the necessity to contact him. To disprove the monstrous things that Chay Haddon had been saying. Nothing else mattered, or could be allowed to matter.
The next hour was a nightmare. She tried faxing Piers in Portugal, but found his outlet had been closed down and that the same thing applied to his e-mail address. The telephone line she’d always used seemed to be disconnected.
Panic was closing her throat and making her fingers clumsy as she pressed the buttons on her receiver, trying every number he’d ever given her.
Eventually someone answered—a man speaking Portuguese. She asked haltingly for Piers, and heard him say something in a muffled voice, as if he’d covered the phone with his hand, which was followed by a burst of laughter, as if other people in the room were responding to his remark. To a joke that her query had triggered.
Adrien found she had bitten her lip so hard she could taste blood.
When he spoke to her directly, he made her understand in fractured English that Piers had gone to Brazil and would not be coming back. Nor could he tell her where she could contact him.
Amid another shout of laughter, he added, ‘Good luck.’
She put the receiver back on its stand and stared into space, aware that her heart was thudding erratically against her ribcage.
However unacceptable she might find it, it seemed that Chay Haddon had been speaking the truth after all. That Piers had indeed sold him the Grange, and vanished.
She could feel pain ready to explode inside her, but she dammed it back. She could not deal with her personal anguish and betrayal now, because there were other overriding considerations.
Thanks to Piers, she was now in debt for thousands of pounds, over and above her mortgage and bank loan. All over the area there were people who would soon be demanding their money, and she had no means of paying them.
She looked around her at the pleasant sitting room, with its familiar furniture and ornaments. They’d always been part of her life, but soon all of them could be lost for ever, along with the cottage, and the business.
She was without illusions about what she could be facing. Bankruptcy was staring her in the face, and it would touch everyone around her too. Zelda and Smudge could end up homeless. And there were the women in the workroom as well, who thought they were in secure employment and had taken on extra obligations as a result.
And all because she’d fallen in love.
A sob rose in her throat.
She’d
