Emma’s Secret

‘But what? There’s definitely a but here,’ Linnet asserted.

‘True. Look, to be honest, I’m not sure that the marriage will weather the storms that are bound to erupt. Toby’s not easy, we know that, and he wants kids, wants to start a family, whilst Adrianna doesn’t, is very intent on pursuing her acting career. Everyone’s aware of that at home, especially my mother. No children for Adrianna, at least not right now. Maybe her attitude will change in time. What does Tessa think? Whoops, that’s a stupid question!’ he exclaimed. ‘Of course you don’t know what she thinks, because she never confides in you.’

‘No, she doesn’t, she never did. However, I suspect her nose is out of joint because he got married.’

‘But she’s married herself!’

‘Tessa’s a bit odd, Gid. She’s always thought of Toby as her property, from when we were kids growing up together. Have you forgotten that?’

‘Not really, but I was certain she’d outgrown her possessiveness.’

Shaking his head, merriment filling his eyes all of a sudden, he began to chuckle.

‘Why are you laughing?’

‘Don’t you remember, when we were kids I always told you that Tessa had what I used to call ETS.’

Her auburn eyebrows drawing together in puzzlement, Linnet said, ‘I must’ve forgotten. What does it mean, ETS?’

‘ETS means Elizabeth Tudor Syndrome, something I dreamt up. Our famous greatest monarch forever clung to her favourite men, even when she replaced them with new favourite men.’

‘Except for Lord Robert Dudley. She never ever replaced him in her affections,’ Linnet responded, staring at her cousin pointedly. ‘And you were the one who told me that.’

‘Of course I did, come to think of it. Yes indeed, her Robin Two Eyes, as she called him, was always special. She promoted him to be her Master of the Horse, elevated him to the peerage by making him the Earl of Leicester, and he was her only true love. Actually, he was her one true favourite for her entire lifetime, even after he was dead.’

‘And Elizabeth was his one true love, don’t you think?’ Linnet murmured.

‘I do. Even though he did carry on a bit with some of her court ladies – had sexual liaisons, because men will be men you know – it was only Elizabeth he ever truly loved. He may have married Lettice Knollys, but it was his queen he loved and most devotedly.’

‘Funny, isn’t it, when you consider that it was Lettice Knollys’ son, Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex, who became a favourite of the queen’s many years later; then he betrayed her most horribly and lost his head on the block for treason.’

‘Very ironic, I’d say,’ Gideon agreed. ‘And even stranger that it all played out within the one family so to speak. Sort of incestuous.’

‘Just like us, all muddled up together and the other two clans thrown into the mix for good measure,’ Linnet pointed out. ‘Anyway, I’d forgotten about ETS. Preoccupation with work.’ A sudden thought occurred to her, and leaning forward, she exclaimed, ‘Gideon, you said your Miss Hughes was an American. So how could I employ her immediately? A work permit has suddenly loomed large in my mind. Oh God, all that red tape to go through!’ she groaned.

‘Not necessary, my pet. I should have mentioned that she was born in London, has a British passport and dual nationality. No work permit required.’

‘That’s good to know, and I must say, you certainly found out a lot about her in only a few minutes.’

He grinned. ‘You are now in possession of the sum total of every blessed thing I know about Miss Evan Hughes.’

CHAPTER EIGHT (#ulink_1a52317b-0a0b-50be-a6ce-85e70b3de7ad)

Two things were instantly apparent to Linnet, after Maggie Hemmings had introduced Evan Hughes and then left her office.

Firstly, the young woman was the same type as her mother – slender, willowy, dark-haired, pale of skin and exotic looking, just as Paula was. And, by an odd coincidence, Linnet thought, there was a curious likeness between the two of them.

Secondly, Gideon and Evan were transfixed in the middle of the room, staring at each other as if mesmerized, completely oblivious to her presence. They were very taken with each other, that was patently obvious. But hadn’t she known that because of the way he had spoken about Evan earlier?

Certainly she had never seen this particular look on Gideon’s face before: it was a dazed look, and she felt a sudden twinge of jealousy, of possessiveness. He was her favourite cousin, her best friend since childhood, the closest to her in the family, closer even than India. And he belonged to her.

No, stop thinking like that, she told herself, immediately pushing these unexpected and destructive emotions aside. She wasn’t like her sister Tessa; she did not suffer from ETS, as Gideon called it. For a moment she was stricken that she could be so … petty … so self-involved and selfish, she who took pride in her kindness and understanding, her fair-mindedness and integrity. Silently, she chastised herself.

She loved Gideon, only wanted the best for him, and of course he would meet someone special one day, someone that mattered, and he would get married. It hadn’t happened thus far, and so he was available. And she had come to rely on him more and more of late, ever since she had put her relationship with Julian on hold.

Linnet reminded herself that Gideon had never been jealous of Julian, but then the three of them had grown up together, and Julian was Gideon’s greatest male friend. Her father had called them The Three Musketeers when they were kids, because they were always together, inseparable, and devoted to each other.

Julian. He had been part of her life for as long as she could remember, part of her, and he was always there, hovering at the back of her mind, however much she tried to block him out. Was he her one true love, just as Robert Dudley had been Queen Elizabeth’s soul mate? Had she made a terrible mistake in turning away from him for, well, for so many reasons actually? Perhaps those reasons were not quite as valid as she thought. She couldn’t help wondering about this from time to time. But not now, an inner voice suddenly cautioned. Now it’s time to concentrate on this young woman, to concentrate on work, on the retrospective.

Linnet dropped her eyes to the folder that Maggie had just left on her desk, opened it and looked at the application forms and the detailed résumé.

But, riddled with curiosity as she was, she glanced up after only a split second, focusing her eyes on Gideon and Evan Hughes.

Now he was solicitously shepherding the young American to the chair near Linnet’s desk, the glazed expression having been replaced by a most beatific smile. Evan was looking slightly flushed, a little shy, perhaps even flustered, but her eyes held a distinct sparkle.

Clearing her throat somewhat noisily, Linnet looked directly at Evan as she came over to the desk, and said pleasantly, ‘I’ll finish reading your résumé and application forms later.’

Evan nodded, looking pleased. Inside she was thrilled, excited to be sitting here; she could scarcely believe her luck.

Returning Evan’s steady gaze, Linnet noticed that the young woman’s resemblance to her mother was stronger than she had realized a moment ago. Evan’s face was the same shape as Paula’s, finely sculpted and the dark brows sweeping along the broad forehead were identical. But her eyes were not the colour of pansies, as her mother’s were. Evan’s were a light, bluish-grey, large and translucent. At this moment those eyes were full of eagerness, and there was a sense of earnestness about her that Linnet couldn’t help liking. In fact, there was something truly appealing about Evan Hughes, and Linnet smiled at her warmly, approvingly.

Evan smiled back, and was just about to say something when she was cut off by Gideon.

Hovering behind Evan’s chair, his hand resting on the back, he exclaimed, ‘Well, I’d better skedaddle, leave you both to get down to the nitty-gritty.’ Striding purposefully towards the door, he finally swung around before exiting. Blowing a kiss to Linnet, he said, ‘I’ll give you a ring later, so that we can discuss the big bash in June. And Miss Hughes, I wish you lots of luck at Harte’s.’

Before either woman could make any kind of response, the door closed softly behind him.

‘I’ve been looking to hire another assistant,’ Linnet explained to Evan, once they were alone. ‘I already have one, actually. Her name’s India Standish, and she’s my cousin. We work well together, we run the fashion floors and we have for several years. Unfortunately, India’s off sick right now, she has the flu. So does my secretary, Cassie Littleton.’ Linnett stopped, shook her head helplessly, and then, making a face, she glanced around the room. ‘Hence this mess. It’s not usually like this, I’m a fairly tidy person. Anyway, I don’t think either of them will be in this week. I just hope I don’t come down with it. I can’t afford to be sick right now.’

‘I think there’s a bit of an epidemic,’ Evan warned in a worried voice. ‘I’ve just recovered from a bout of the flu myself.’

‘I’m glad you’re better,’ Linnet murmured. ‘Anyway, not to digress. I understand from Gideon and Maggie that you studied design, and had a career in fashion in New York.’

‘That’s correct. I was a student at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan, and then later I was an apprentice with the couturier Arnold Scaasi for a year. I even worked in the fashion department at Bergdorf Goodman for a while.’

Evan shifted slightly in her chair, and continued, ‘I also helped Pauline Trigère with a retrospective of her couture which she was putting on. That was about six years ago, when I was still at F.I.T. She’s a friend of my father’s, and he asked her if I could help her with the exhibit, just to gain experience, and she said yes. I learned a lot from simply being around her. She has great personal style, and her clothes are marvellous.’

‘That I know. My great-grandmother was a fan of hers, according to my mother, and the clothes I found in storage are proof of that. There are a number of Trigère gowns, suits and coats in Emma’s vast collection.’

Evan’s face lit up as she exclaimed, ‘That’s wonderful. They will be in the fashion retrospective, won’t they?’

‘Yes, they will. Obviously Maggie Hemmings told you about the exhibit which India and I are planning.’

‘She did touch on it, yes. How comprehensive is it going to be?’

Leaning across the desk, Linnet explained in an enthusiastic voice, ‘Very comprehensive. We’re going to be showing eighty years of fashion, going all the way back to 1920 and coming forward to the year 2000. We’re basing part of the exhibit on the clothes which belonged to my great-grandmother. She was Emma Harte, the founder of the Harte stores.’

‘Yes, I know,’ Evan said, and then, before she could stop herself, she blurted out, ‘I saw her portrait in the corridor. You certainly look like a younger version of her.’