elderly workers, ferried her across the water.
‘Don’t worry about collecting me,’ she told him. ‘I’ll drive back at low tide.’
She did so, streaming across the causeway in a vehicle that brought everyone to the castle windows. Jarvis watched her arrive, unable to tear his eyes from the top of the range four-wheel-drive off-roader that could only be bought for a price that made him giddy to think of.
‘More practical than my last one,’ she said as she jumped down to find him waiting by the door. ‘This one is so strong and stable that I reckon you could almost drive it over at high tide.’
‘You’ve made a very good choice,’ he agreed gravely.
‘Would you check the paperwork for me?’ She handed him some papers and went inside. He followed, frowning, walking more and more slowly until at last he joined her in the library.
‘These papers-are in my name,’ he said uncertainly.
‘Yes.’ She faced him, but he seemed too stunned to say more. ‘It’s like this,’ she said at last. ‘You’ve got me ticketed as a vulgarian with more money than sense, prone to flashing her ill-gotten gains around and deluding herself that disgusting money can buy everything.’ She pressed the car keys into his hand and closed his fingers over them, enfolding him a moment between her two hands. ‘So, I thought I’d prove you right.’
He reddened, hearing his prejudices in her mouth. But then he met her eyes and read in them something that told him she was afraid of a rebuff. Beneath the quips she was vulnerable in a way he hadn’t suspected.
‘Don’t be absurd,’ he said shakily. ‘I never thought-it’s perfect. It’s exactly the vehicle for this part of the world. When I drive around the estate-that is, when
‘We is better,’ she agreed. ‘Call it my wedding gift.’
His hand moved against hers. ‘In that case-thank you. You couldn’t have chosen better.’
It astonished him to see the colour come flooding into her cheeks, almost as though this woman, who could buy her own way, minded what he thought.
He was confused. The mixture of horror and relief from the night before was still with him, along with a gratitude that was genuine enough, although he had trouble with the words. All his life, finding the words had been the problem.
He’d recognised the element of play-acting in the way she’d demolished Blackham, yet it still filled him with dread. He owed her, and if she wanted to collect it would be hard for him to refuse, even those things he still instinctively wanted to protect from her.
Then he remembered that he would repay her by freeing her to love another man: Benedict, whom she’d called at the first chance, and to whom she’d whispered sweetly of the plans they would make.
Fine. Nothing could be better.
‘Shall we celebrate with a drive?’ he suggested politely.
‘Love to, but better not now. I should be here when Larry arrives. He’s my trustee.’
‘Ah, yes, the one whose guns you hope to spike by marrying me. Is he as annoyed as you hoped?’
‘Don’t know. Haven’t spoken to him. But he’s on his way. I’d counted on a bit more time, but Larry went rampaging round to see Benedict and dragged everything out of him.’
‘So Benedict knew you were coming here?’
Meryl chuckled. ‘He drove me to the airport. It was even his idea that I should advertise-in a sort of way.’ She was too preoccupied with her thoughts to notice the tightening of Jarvis’s expression.
‘Oh, blow Larry!’ she sighed. ‘Why did he have to come here now? Never mind! I can always hide behind you.’
‘What?’
Her stare was an innocent as a baby’s. ‘You’re my future husband. It’s your job to protect me.’
‘I should like to see the man you couldn’t defeat single-handed,’ he said emphatically.
‘Does that include you?’
‘If you think your money defeats me-’
‘I wasn’t talking about money, as you know full well-your lordship.’
‘We’ve made an arrangement for our mutual benefit,’ he said slowly. ‘But you haven’t got the better of me. And you never will.’
She laughed directly up into his face. ‘Wanna bet?’
‘I never bet on a certainty.’
‘Depends which side this certainty is on,’ she mused.
‘Spare me the pretence. You think you
‘Just as
‘We won’t be married long enough to find out,’ he said, wishing her breath didn’t fan his face in such a tantalising fashion. ‘And stop playing games with me, Miss Winters.’
‘If we’re going to be married, couldn’t you call me Meryl?’
He barely heard. He was watching her face, made more enchanting than ever by the mischief that danced over it. A stray lock of hair had fallen over her forehead and he almost raised his hand to brush it away, but then he stayed himself, alarmed. How could he have forgotten the need for caution?
‘Meryl,’ he agreed.
‘You make that sound more formal than Miss Winters,’ she complained.
‘I’m always formal with my business partners. It works better that way.’
He didn’t intend to smile back at her, but her own smile compelled him. For a moment her sophistication had slipped and she was a cheeky little girl, teasing him. At last he gave up the effort not to smile. He would resist her another time.
A sound from the door made them both look around. Sarah stood there, her face tense.
‘I’ll see you later,’ Meryl said softly, and slipped away.
Sarah came forward and searched Jarvis’s face. ‘Tell me it isn’t true,’ she said. ‘Ferdy told me, but I couldn’t believe you’d stoop to such a thing.’
Jarvis tried not to let her see how this embarrassed him. Sarah was an old and dear friend who had his best interests at heart.
‘Does the whole world know?’ he demanded. ‘What should I do? Go bankrupt and take everyone down with me? I’ve been given a chance to save us all.’
‘But at such a price-’
‘It’s a formality, nothing more. Meryl and I each gain what we want. When the dust has settled we get a discreet divorce and never see each other again.’
‘That’s what she’s told you, is it?’
‘Sarah, my dear, what is this? Meryl has no interest in me as a man.’
Even as he said it the memory of her teasing ‘Wanna bet?’ darted through his mind and was gone, with a mischievous flick of the tail. Luckily Sarah was too agitated to see the disturbance in his face.
‘Not long term, no,’ she agreed. ‘But I knew what she was like the moment we met. The way she just marched in here and expected to take over-so sure of herself-of the divine right of
‘That’s not really fair,’ he said, forgetting how often he’d thought the same.
‘Oh, Jarvis, she’s spoilt, she’s used to getting her own way, yielding to every stupid impulse and assuming that someone else will pick up the pieces. Look at the way she just turned up here without warning. Never mind the inconvenience to everyone else. Never mind the risk.’
‘That’s true,’ he said, struck. ‘I don’t know that any risk fazes her. She nearly drowned that night, then she ended up here, all alone, no clothes, and she faced me down as if she had an army at her back.’
‘Whatever do you mean? No clothes?’
He was about to make a humorous reference to the way his robe had fallen open on Meryl, but instinct warned him that Sarah wouldn’t see it as he did. Besides, he was trying to avoid that memory.
‘Her own were wet so she had to borrow some,’ he said lamely. ‘Come on, Sarah, try to be happy for me now that my troubles are nearly over.’
‘Your troubles are just beginning, if only you could see it. You think she’s just going to go away? Well, maybe she is, when she’s turned you into her poodle.’
‘That’ll never happen. She knows that.’
