'My God! It won't start!' he said in horror.
He tried again and again, and finally got some result. But the car simply made revving noises, declining to spark into life.
'Oh, no!' Lee nearly wept. 'How can this happen?'
'Keep trying,' he said tersely, and leapt from the car.
Lee slid into the driving seat and spent several fruitless, agonising minutes without result. Daniel returned, looking tense.
'I've called a taxi,' he said. 'They promised to get here at once. We might just still make it.'
'I'm sorry,' she said frantically. 'If I hadn't made you stop here last night-'
'We'd have had an accident,' he said quickly. 'You did the right thing. If only that taxi gets here fast.'
But it didn't. It was twenty minutes before it arrived, and then the journey to Gretna seemed to take an age. Daniel fixed his gaze on his watch with terrible intensity, and Lee saw the hope drain out of his face.
'We're too late,' he said at last. 'They must have started by now. By the time we get there it will be over.'
When they reached the register office they found a little crowd outside, but no sign of Phoebe or Mark.
They exchanged looks of despair, knowing that this meant the worst.
'They're coming out,' said someone. 'Aren't they a lovely couple?'
Lee and Daniel looked up as the bride and groom emerged. The next moment they gasped.
'It's not them,' Lee said. 'I don't understand. They were booked first.'
She ran inside and found an official. 'Excuse me, was there another wedding before this?'
'No, this is the first one of the day,' he told her.
'But-Phoebe Raife and Mark Kendall…?'
'Oh, them. They put their wedding off until this afternoon. Luckily the next couple had just arrived, so it was easy to change it around.'
'Put it off?' she said, hardly daring to hope. 'Did they say why?'
'Well, they didn't seem exactly the best of friends at the time. The young lady was more than a wee bit cross.'
'Daniel,' Lee called, running out. 'It's all right. They've delayed the wedding until this afternoon. They've had some kind of tiff. If we can only find them first-'
'How?' He asked urgently.
She reached into her bag and pulled out the copy of Woman Of The World with Phoebe on the cover. 'Show people this picture and ask if they've seen her.'
He took the magazine from her. 'You know Gretna. Where would they go?'
For a moment, Lee's mind went blank and then it came back to her. Just before their wedding she and Jimmy had also had a tiff, and she'd run away to be by herself-'Sulking like a baby,' he'd sneered. Barely looking where she was going, she'd taken the little country path to Gretna Green, and found the old Smithy where she'd stood watching the guide explain to a party of tourists how the old marriages had once taken place.
'They clasped hands and claimed each other,' he'd said. 'And the blacksmith struck the anvil and cried, 'So be it!''
She'd brushed back her tears. This was her wedding day. Things were so different from her dream of a romantic elopement. Jimmy had been critical and impatient, and the truth about him had crept into her mind. If her parents had found her then, there would have been no wedding. Instead Jimmy had reached her first, and had been shrewd enough to sweet-talk her enough to get her back to the register office. And her parents had arrived too late…
The smithy,' she said to Daniel now. 'Let's hurry.'
'But we'd have passed her on the road,' he said.
'Not if they took the country lane.'
They got into the car and in a few minutes were in the quiet little village of Gretna Green. Everywhere there were neat, white painted buildings surrounded by greenery and pale grey roads. The whole atmosphere was one of sleepy peacefulness that belied the desperate passion of young lovers and the frantic urgency of parents.
'The smithy's over there,' Lee said, pointing.
Hand in hand they ran across the grass to the long, low building. There was no one outside but they could hear the guide's voice and see a little crowd inside. They entered quietly and at once Daniel stiffened.
'There she is,' he muttered.
Phoebe was standing on the edge of the crowd, watching the little performance with a sad look on her face that Lee understood so well. She wore a dress and matching jacket of pale yellow. A little spray of flowers adorned her hair and she carried a small bouquet of flowers.
'She's alone,' Daniel whispered. 'You were right. We've won.'
She wanted to cry a warning. Not yet! You haven't won yet. If you say the wrong thing now… But it was too late. He could no longer hear her. Phoebe had seen them and turned to come out of the smithy. Her eyes were wary.
'Hello, Daddy,' she said, keeping her distance.
Daniel hesitated. 'I followed you,' he said, 'because-because I have something very important to say. I want you to know…' Almost unconsciously he was raising his hand, the one holding the magazine. 'I wanted to show you this, and to say-how very, very proud of you I am.'
As if by magic the defiance left Phoebe's face. 'Oh, Daddy!' she cried, bursting into tears, and threw herself into his arms. Daniel held her tightly, his eyes closed, giving silent thanks that the right words had come to him at last.
Phoebe released her father and looked at him with shining eyes. 'Are you really proud of me?' she asked eagerly. 'Really and truly?'
'Really and truly,' he promised. 'And look what it says inside.' He opened the magazine at the right page and Phoebe eagerly devoured the words about herself. 'There's something else too,' Daniel said. 'You've got the Linnon contract. Brenda wants you to call her at once.'
He was almost drowned out by Phoebe's squeal of delight. 'I've really got it? Oh, that's wonderful! A phone. I need a phone.'
'There's a hotel over there,' Lee said. 'They'll probably have a phone. Unless,' she added casually, 'you're waiting for Mark to join you here.'
The change that came over Phoebe was almost comical. She looked as if she'd only just remembered Mark's existence. 'No, he doesn't know I'm here. In fact I don't know where he is, either.'
'You can tell us about it over a cup of tea,' Daniel said. 'My poor darling, have you had a bad time?'
'Crawler,' Lee whispered to him.
'Low cunning,' he murmured back. 'Never fails.'
They ordered tea while Phoebe made her call. Daniel's whole being radiated suppressed triumph, and his eyes were tender as he gazed at his daughter. But out of sight he felt for Lee's hand and she could feel his shattering relief.
'Now tell us about Mark,' Daniel said, adding with foolhardy recklessness, 'Are we invited to the wedding?'
'Oh, Daddy! I don't want to marry Mark. I only ran away because-' She met his eyes.
'Because I hassled you?' he asked gently.
Phoebe nodded. 'I must have been crazy,' she admitted. 'Mark's even worse than you.'
'Thank you, darling,' Daniel said meekly.
'Oh, you know what I mean. The car broke down. so we had to hire another one. Mark tried to pay with his credit card only there wasn't enough credit on it because he hadn't returned the ring, although he'd promised me. So we had an argument about that, and in the end I paid and that made him grumpy. I said there was no need to carry on about it because I had plenty of money now, and he just hated that. He sulked all the rest of the way.'
'Poor Phoebe,' Daniel said, fighting to keep a straight face.
'Honestly, Daddy, he's been the pits. I've decided to give up men altogether.'
'Well, some of them aren't all that bad,' Lee said, refusing to meet Daniel's eye. 'But you won't have time for them just now, with so many other horizons opening to you. Later, perhaps-'
'No, I'm giving them up for good,' Phoebe declared. 'I've got a life plan. I'm going to model for the next few
