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‘What did you do?’ she questioned softly.
There was silence in the big room before he spoke again.
‘I went to pieces, I guess.’ He saw the look of surprise in her eyes. ‘Oh, I functioned as before—I worked and I ate and I slept—but it was almost as if it was happening to another person. I think I was slowly going crazy. And then Khalim came.’
‘Khalim?’ she asked hesitantly.
‘Prince Khalim.’ He watched as the surprise became astonishment, and he shrugged. ‘At the time he was heir to a Middle-Eastern country named Maraban—though of course he’s ruler now.’
‘How do you know him?’ asked Lisi faintly.
‘We were at Cambridge together—and he heard what had happened and he came and took me off to Maraban with him.’
‘To live in luxury?’
He smiled at this memory as he shook his head. ‘The very opposite. He told me that the only way to live through pain and survive it was to embrace it. So for two months we lived in a tiny hut in the Maraban mountains. Just us. No servants. Nothing. Just a couple of discreet bodyguards lurking within assassination distance of him.’
Her eyes grew wide with fascination. ‘And what did you do?’
‘We foraged for food. We walked for hours and sometimes rode horses through the mountains. At night we would read by the light of the fire. And he taught me to fight,’ he finished.
‘To fight?’
He nodded. ‘Bare-knuckled. We used to beat hell out of each other!’
‘And didn’t he…mind?’
Philip shook his head. ‘Out there, in the mountains—we were equals.’ Indeed, he suspected that Khalim had learned as much from the experience as he had—for certainly the two men who had emerged from their self-imposed exile had been changed men.
She had wondered what had brought about the new, lean, hard Philip. Why he had looked so different—all the edges chiselled away. She swallowed. ‘And then?’
‘Then he offered me a job, working as his emissary. It took me all over the world.’
‘And did you enjoy it?’
‘I loved it.’
‘But you left?’
He nodded.
‘Why?’
‘The time had come. Everything has its time of closure. Khalim fell in love with an English woman. Rose.’
His mouth curved into a warm and affectionate smile and Lisi felt the dagger of jealousy ripping through her.
‘Khalim and I had developed the closeness of brothers—in so much as his position allowed. It was only right that Rose should have him all to herself once they were married.’
In all the time she had been listening to his story, Lisi had been entranced, but as he drew to the end of it reality reared its head once more.
She gave a little cough. ‘Would you like to see upstairs now?’
‘No, thanks—I’ve seen enough.’
Thank God! She nodded understandingly. ‘Well, I’m sure we’ll be getting a lot more properties on the market—especially after Christmas.’
He gave a slow smile as he realised what she was thinking. ‘You may have misunderstood me, Lisi,’ he said silkily. ‘I want this house and I want you to put an offer in.’
‘But it’s overpriced! You know it is!’ she declared desperately. ‘Ridiculously overpriced!’
He wondered whether she tried to put other buyers off in quite such an obvious way, but somehow doubted it. ‘So Marian Reece told me.’
‘And they’ve stated unequivocally that they can’t possibly accept anything other than the full asking price.’
‘Then offer it to them,’ he said flatly.
She could not believe her ears. This was Philip Caprice speaking—the man famed for driving the hardest bargain in the property market! ‘Are you serious?’ she breathed.
He saw the way her lips parted in disbelief and he felt a wild urge to kiss them, to imprison her in his arms and to take the clips from her hair and have it tumble down over that masculine-looking jacket. His eyes slid down past the pencil skirt to the creamy tights which covered her long legs and that same wildness made him wonder what she would do if he began to make love to her.
Should he try? See if she would respond with passion and let him slide his hand all the way up her legs and touch her until she was begging him for more. He struggled to dampen down his desire.
‘I’ve never been more serious in my life,’ he said, and then his voice became clipped. ‘Tell the vendors that my only condition is that I want in and I want them out. So let’s tie up the deal as quickly as possible, shall we?’
If she could have had a wish at that moment, it would have been to have been given a huge sum of money—enough to buy back her own home herself instead of letting it go to Philip Caprice. Couldn’t he guess how much she loved the place? Wasn’t he perceptive enough to realise how heartbreaking she was going to find it, with him living here.
Or maybe he just didn’t care.
He was walking around the room now, touching the walls with a proprietorial air she found utterly abhorrent. She gritted her teeth behind a forced smile. ‘Very well. I’ll get that up and running straight away.’ There was a question in her eyes. ‘Though it’s going to need a lot of work to get it up to the kind of specifications I imagine you’ll be looking for.’
His answering smile was bland. ‘Just so.’
‘You certainly couldn’t expect to be in before Christmas. Probably not until springtime at the earliest,’ she added hopefully.
Her wishes were beautifully transparent, but, unfortunatelyfor her, they were not going to come true. ‘Not Christmas, certainly,’ he agreed, and saw her visibly relax. ‘But I think spring is a rather pessimistic projection.’
‘All the builders and decorators around here are booked up for months in advance!’ she told him, trying to keep the note of triumph from her voice.
‘Then I shall just have to bring people down from London, won’t I?’
She glared at him. ‘As you wish,’ she said tightly. ‘And now, if there’s nothing further, I’ll call into the office and then I really must get back—’
‘To Tim?’ he interjected softly.
How she wished he wouldn’t use that distinctly possessive tone! He might be Tim’s father—but the two had barely exchanged a few words. He couldn’t just walk back into their lives unannounced and expect to be an equal partner!
‘Yes, to Tim,’ she said coldly, and began to walk towards the hall, her high heels clip-clopping over the polished floorboards.
‘Oh, Lisi?’
She stopped, something in his tone warning her that she was not going to like his next words, either. She turned round, wishing that he were ugly, and that he didn’t have those piercing green eyes which could turn her knees to jelly. ‘Yes?’
‘We haven’t discussed Christmas yet, have we?’
‘Christmas?’ she echoed stupidly. ‘What about it?’
‘I want to spend it with Tim.’
She fought down the urge to tell him that he could take a running jump, but she knew that open opposition would get her nowhere. Softly, softly it must be.
She put on her most reasonable smile. ‘I’m afraid you can’t. I’m really sorry.’
Yeah, she sounded really sorry. He kept his face impassive. ‘Oh? And why’s that?’
‘Because we’ve already made arrangements for Christmas.’
‘Then unmake them,’ he said flatly. ‘Or include me.’
She drew in a deep breath. ‘We’ve arranged to have lunch with my friend Rachel and her son, Blaine—he’s Tim’s best friend. I couldn’t possibly take you along with us!’
He thought about it. ‘I’m supposed to be having lunch with my parents,’ he reflected. ‘But I’ll drive down here afterwards. We can all have tea and Christmas cake together, can’t we, Lisi?’
‘No!’
‘Why not?’
‘Because…because he doesn’t know who you are!’
He narrowed his eyes, but not before she had seen the flash of temper in them. ‘You mean you haven’t told him yet?’
‘When?’ she demanded angrily. ‘In the hour I had this morning between waking up and being summoned into the office at your bidding?’
The accusation washed over him. ‘I thought that it was important for you to see where I was buying.’
‘Why?’
‘Because eventually Tim will come to stay with me. Naturally.’
Feeling as though her world were splintering all around her, Lisi prayed that it didn’t show. Keep calm, she told herself. He may be powerful and rich, but he can’t just ride roughshod over your wishes. He can’t.
She drew a deep breath.
‘Listen, Philip—I can understand that you want to build a relationship with Tim—’
‘How very good of you,’ he put in sarcastically.
‘But he doesn’t know you properly, and until he does then I’m afraid that I cannot permit him to stay with you. In fact, he probably won’t want to come up to the house without me.’
The expression on his face grew intent. ‘I want bathtimes and bedtimes and all the normal things which fathers do, and if you think I’m cracking my skull on the ceiling of your cottage every time I stand up, then you’ve got another think coming!’
She opened her mouth to object and then shut it again, because she could see from his unshakable stance that to argue would be pointless. ‘I can’t see that happening for a long time,’ she said coldly.
‘We’ll see.’ He gave a bland smile. ‘And in the meantime, I’ll be around on Christmas afternoon. Shall we say around five?’
She couldn’t bring herself to answer him, and so she nodded instead.
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘TIM, darling—please don’t eat any more—you’ll be sick!’
‘One more, Mum-mee!’
Lisi lunged towards him, but he had crammed another chocolate in his mouth before she could stop him. She took the stocking away from him firmly. ‘That’s enough chocolate!’ she said sternly. ‘We’ve got tea to get through next.’ And her face fell.
Rachel leaned across the table, holding a bottle of port. ‘Have a glass?’ she suggested. ‘You haven’t got far to go, and it is Christmas Day!’
‘You don’t need to remind me,’ said Lisi gloomily. She looked down at her son, who was busy licking chocolate off the inside of the wrapper. ‘Put that down, darling, and go away and play with Blaine until it’s time to go!’
To her relief, Tim went scampering off, and, after a swift glance at her wrist-watch, Lisi curled her feet up underneath her. Another hour until the avenging Caprice appeared on her doorstep. ‘I could just go to sleep.’ She yawned.
‘On Christmas Day? Show me the mother of a child under ten who couldn’t, and I’ll show you a liar!’ chortled Rachel, and then a look of concern criss-crossed her brow as she glanced across at her friend. ‘You okay?’
Lisi shrugged. ‘As okay as anyone can be when they’re having their arm twisted.’ She had told Rachel everything. She had seen no cause not to. There was no longer any point in keeping anything back. People would know—or guess—soon enough when she and Tim started traipsing down the lane for cosy afternoons and evenings with him!
‘I still can’t believe he’s bought The Old Rectory,’ said Lisi crossly. ‘And what is even more unbelievable is that he railroaded his lawyers into rushing through the deal. They complete in the New Year,’ she finished. ‘What a wonderful way to start the year—Philip Caprice firmly ensconced in my old family home.’
‘I think it’s rather romantic,’ sighed Rachel.
‘Romantic?’ squeaked Lisi.
‘Mmm. I can’t imagine Dave doing something like that—even if he could afford to.’
‘But you wouldn’t want him to, would you?’ asked Lisi, raising her eyebrows in surprise. ‘I thought you said that if you never saw him again, it would be much too soon?’
Rachel shrugged and swirled her port around in the glass, so that it looked like a claret-coloured whirlpool. ‘I suppose not. It’s just that sometimes I get lonely—well, often, actually—and Christmas is the worst. Even if Dave wasn’t the most wonderful husband in the world, at least he was there. I guess I miss having a man around the place.’
And that was the difference between them, thought Lisi—she had been content enough with her single status. Not that she had been anti-men, or anything like that—she just hadn’t particularly missed having a partner. Until she reminded herself that she had never actually had a partner.
‘I’d better think about making a move,’ she said reluctantly, thinking how warm and cosy it was by Rachel’s fireside.
Rachel nodded. ‘You’ll need to change.’
‘Will I hell? There’s nothing wrong with this dress!’
‘Except that Tim has smeared chocolate all over it,’ commented Rachel, with a smile.
Lisi looked down at her dress to see several brown, sticky thumbprints! She smiled at her friend. ‘We’ve had a wonderful time today,’ she said softly.
