scuffed the toe of his trainer against the rug. ‘I wish we could stay though, Mum.’
Rachel forced a smile, her heart aching at his downcast expression. ‘I know you do, darling, but we can’t. Quite apart from the fact that I don’t have a job here, we would have no place to live. Aunt Edith only rented this house and the landlord wants to let it to someone else as soon as he can.
‘So come along, let’s get a move on. If we hurry, we can catch the train before lunch. Then there will be time to see your friends when we get home and tell them everything you’ve been up to.’
Leaving Jamie to finish packing, Rachel hurried downstairs. Most of the furniture was too shabby to bother with, but there were some small items of Aunt Edith’s which she wanted to take with her.
She found a sturdy cardboard box then set about emptying the shelves in the sitting room of their ornaments. None of them were of any great value, but Aunt Edith had treasured them and Rachel couldn’t bring herself to throw them out.
She stowed them carefully into the box, then paused when she came to the photo. She had forgotten it was there—had almost forgotten about it being taken during her last year at the Academy. Now, as she took it off the shelf, she knew it was what Stephen had been looking at the night before.
How had he felt, seeing it again after all this time? Had it brought back memories of what they had shared? Or was that time so long ago now that Stephen couldn’t even remember how they had felt about one another that summer?
With a pang Rachel realised that she would never know the answer, and maybe it was better that she didn’t. She packed the photo then found some tape to seal the box and it felt almost as though she was sealing away her past.
Whatever happened now it was over between her and Stephen Hunter. Now there wasn’t even the sweetness of memory to bind them together...
‘I don’t know how you pulled it off, Stephen! What a coup!’
David couldn’t hide his admiration. Stephen smiled, but his eyes showed little genuine pleasure at what would go down as the deal of the century. The phones had been buzzing all morning but he had refused to take any calls, telling his secretary to inform everyone that he would be making a statement shortly. Once what he had achieved would have buoyed him up for months. Now it made little impression.
David appeared not to notice his lack of enthusiasm. ‘Did you have it planned from the outset? You did, didn’t you? My God, but you must have nerves of steel, Stephen. If you’d lost then the whole lot would have gone...’ David looked round the elegant office and swallowed. ‘But instead you allowed Rogerson’s to show their hand and ended up taking them over! I don’t know what to say.’
‘You seem to be managing quite well.’ Stephen heard the dry sting in his own voice and sighed. He got up from the desk and went to a cabinet hidden behind the pale grey ash panelling. He took out a bottle of malt whisky and poured some into a glass then offered it to David. ‘Join me in a toast?’
‘Thanks.’ David took it but his expression was puzzled. ‘I’ve never known you to drink at this time of the day.’
Stephen poured whisky into a second glass and swirled it around, his mouth twisting wryly. ‘There’s a first time for everything, so they say. So—a toast, then: to success; the only thing which matters in this life!’
He tipped the whisky down his throat but its fire did little to ease the coldness within. He set the glass down and went back to his desk, aware that David was watching him with an astonishment which made him feel instantly annoyed with himself. He didn’t want people speculating, wondering if there was anything wrong! But if David had any idea how he really felt...
Stephen picked up a file to study the figures on a projection sheet, but the numbers started to swim before his eyes as his mind raced back to what had happened yesterday, what had been said last night...
‘There’s nothing wrong is there, Stephen? We went through those figures a dozen times or more after you left.’
‘What?’ Stephen glanced up in confusion then shook his head. ‘No. I just wanted to double-check before we set everything in motion. Get on to Rogerson and tell him that I’ll be wanting to see him later today.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘Around three, I imagine. Don’t take any bull either. Rogerson won’t be happy about this, but make sure he knows he’ll have a hell of a lot more to lose by not co-operating.’
‘Will do.’ David sounded relieved. ‘I’ll get on to it right away. Will you be in your office until then or what? Just in case we need you...’
‘I’ll leave word with Trish. Check with her. You’ll be able to get me on the mobile anyhow.’
Stephen looked down at the projection sheet again as David left, but the figures were still dancing around. With a sigh he got up and went back to the drinks cabinet, then stopped with his hand halfway towards the bottle. That wasn’t the way to clear his head.
He walked back across the room to his private bathroom and sluiced his face with cold water, then stood and stared at his reflection in the mirror on the wall above the basin. He had just pulled off a deal most men would have given their right arm for, even though he hadn’t planned on doing it when he’d got up yesterday. Yesterday he had been prepared to let the whole lot go, and yet he had ended up taking over the company which had attempted to buy him out!
Now the combined power of Hunter Electronics and Rogerson’s would make the new operation so big that none could match it. He was right at the top, higher than he had even dreamed of going, yet he felt neither pleasure nor any sense of achievement, just this empty ache...
Rachel could never have loved him; he saw that now, finally. All these years the memory of her love had stayed with him, but he had simply fooled himself into believing something which hadn’t been true. Rachel had loved Robert, borne Robert’s child, had stayed faithful all this time to his cousin’s memory...
God, how it hurt to discover that, but the truth had to be faced—as did the fact that there were certain obligations he needed to attend to. Yesterday he hadn’t been thinking clearly, had failed to see the implications of what he had found out.
Now Stephen realised it couldn’t end here. There were more loose ends to tie up than he had imagined. But after that was done Rachel was going out of his life for good!
It was raining when the taxi dropped them at the station. Rachel stacked their case and the box on the pavement then paid the fare. She added a very small tip, ignoring the driver’s obvious disgust as he roared away. She had just as much need of the money as he, and she couldn’t afford to be overly generous!
There seemed to be a lot of people milling around outside the main entrance. Rachel worked her way through the crowd, only to be brought to a halt by a uniformed station employee.
‘Sorry, miss, you can’t go in. Station’s closed.’
‘Closed? But we have a train to catch in fifteen minutes.’
The man shook his head, putting out a restraining hand as another passenger tried to walk past. ‘Sorry, sir. Like I was just telling this young lady, station’s closed. Been a derailment further down the line, there has, and until we’ve sorted it out all trains have
