A Vengeful Reunion

‘I’ve put containers of sandwiches in your fridge for a snack,’ said his mother, ‘so you can all congregate there to start with while Leo helps me set out the food in the dining room. The boys can get ready in your place, too, but the girls come in here to dress once you’ve fed them.’

‘Yes, ma’am,’ said her son, saluting smartly. ‘See you later, Jonah.’

‘Come on, Fenny,’ said Frances, ‘bathtime. You can have supper in front of the TV in the study.’

‘I might spoil my party frock,’ protested Fenny.

‘Dressing gown until the guests arrive, and change into your frock at the last minute,’ said Frances firmly.

Fenny blew a kiss to Jonah, gave Leonie a big hug, patted the dog, then skipped from the room with her mother, chattering excitedly.

‘See Jonah to the door, Leonie,’ said her father briskly. ‘I’m going to walk the dog down to the farm. He’s staying there overnight, out of the way.’

‘You don’t have to see me out, Leo,’ said Jonah when they were alone. ‘Though I’m glad of a moment in private. I was told you wouldn’t be here today. Otherwise I would have refused the invitation.’

She eyed him challengingly. ‘To avoid meeting up with me again?’

His mouth tightened. ‘To save you the misfortune of meeting up with me again.’

‘Since we’ve already done that it doesn’t really matter, does it?’ Leonie walked along the hall with him and opened the front door. ‘So for pity’s sake turn up tonight, Jonah, otherwise Mother—still a great fan of yours, by the way—will think I was so rude I put you off.’

‘Put like that, how can I refuse?’ he said dryly.

Leonie gazed out over the descending tiers of the garden, barely visible now in the twilight. ‘Besides,’ she said casually, ‘if you stayed away it would very obviously spoil Fenny’s evening. Which comes as rather a surprise. I know about the presents at Christmas and birthdays, and so on, but I had no idea she knew you so well in person.’

Jonah leaned against the arch of the porch, his eyes on her face. ‘When your parents heard I was developing Brockhill for the company they asked me to drop in whenever I’m in Stavely.’

‘So you’re a regular visitor?’

‘Only when I’m invited,’ he assured her.

She shrugged. ‘I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. The entire family was upset when we broke up.’

‘You mean when you jilted me.’

‘Can you blame me?’ she said bitterly.

‘Damn right I do,’ he snapped. ‘You condemned me without trial.’

‘I had good reason!’

‘If this reason of yours was so good, why did you refuse to share it with me?’ he demanded with sudden savagery. ‘Or even with your parents?’

Leonie looked up into eyes that were no longer icy, but glowing with a look of such molten anger she backed away, her retreat cut off by the door he pulled closed behind her.

‘Now you’re out in the cold, just like me.’ He seized her wrists. ‘How does it feel, Leo?’

‘Let me go, Jonah,’ she ordered, teeth gritted.

‘Not until I get something straight. God knows if I’ll ever get the opportunity again.’ His eyes bored into hers. ‘You owe me an explanation, Leo.’

‘You mean it still matters to you, after all these years?’ she said scornfully. ‘I don’t believe it.’

The grip on her wrists tightened. ‘Whether you believe it or not, Leo, I want the truth at last.’

Leonie glared at him impotently, trying to free herself, but salvation appeared in the form of cars which came roaring up the drive with blaring horns and flashing headlights. Two of the cars turned off to the stable block, the other streaked along the terrace past Jonah’s car, and came to a showy stop in a spurt of gravel under the bare branches of the chestnut tree by the summerhouse.

‘The cavalry,’ drawled Jonah, and released her.

Jessamy Dysart leapt from her car and gave a screech of pleasure as she saw her sister. Leonie ran down to throw her arms round her and Jess hugged her in return, exclaiming over the surprise.

‘I thought you couldn’t make it, Leo—fantastic!’ She peered up at the man coming down the steps towards them in the half-light. ‘Is this the famous Roberto I’ve been hearing about—?’ She stopped short, her dark eyes like saucers. ‘Jonah?’

‘He’s just going,’ said Leonie swiftly.

‘Hello, Jess.’ Jonah stretched out a hand and Jess took it, looking from him to Leonie in frank speculation. ‘And goodbye,’ he added dryly. ‘I’ll see you later.’

‘You’re coming to the party?’ said Jess incredulously.

‘Wouldn’t miss it for the world,’ he assured her. ‘I’ve promised to dance with a certain lady—wouldn’t do to disappoint her.’

Leonie shook her head in response to Jess’s look of wild enquiry. ‘He means Fenny.’

Jonah gave them a mocking bow, got in his car and backed along the terrace, pausing to allow another vehicle to turn off to the stable block before he drove out of sight down the winding drive.

‘I’ve obviously missed a bit somewhere,’ said Jess, looking stunned as they went up to the house. ‘Since when were you and Jonah Savage on speaking terms again?’

‘We’re not,’ said Leonie tersely, and explained the encounter on the train. ‘Did you know he’s been coming to Friars Wood lately?’

‘No, I didn’t. I haven’t been home for a while.’ Jess grinned sheepishly. ‘Busy social life.’

‘You don’t say!’ said Leonie dryly. ‘Come on, get the hugs and kisses over, then Mother requires help. Afterwards we’ll grab Kate and put in an appearance at the Stables as official welcome party.’

Before they went inside Jess gave her sister a searching look. ‘Do you mind, Leo? That Jonah’s coming tonight?’

‘Not in the least.’

‘Liar!’

Leonie grinned. ‘All right, I do mind. But no one will know, I promise. Especially Jonah Savage.’

CHAPTER TWO

FRIARS WOOD had been built a century earlier on the site of a mediaeval chantry chapel where masses had once been sung for the souls of the departed. Of no particular architectural category, it was a house of great charm, with groups of chimneys with barley-sugar twists, and a great many small-paned windows. At the front a verandah formed a balcony for the upper floor, with a wrought-iron pillar giving support to the ancient wistaria which wreathed verandah and balcony in clusters of purple blossom twice a year.

When Tom and Frances Dysart had taken over Friars Wood, after they’d married, Tom’s parents had moved into the converted stable block, which they’d shared with his young sister Rachel. It was an arrangement which had worked well as the head count of young Dysarts mounted in the main house. Years later, when both senior Dysarts had died within a short time of each other, and Rachel had long been established in a career and home of her own in London, the Stables had been used as a guest house for visitors, until Adam’s eighteenth birthday, when it had been handed over to him for his own personal retreat.

In the still cold of this particular night the Stables were a very animated place, blazing with light in every room and with Adam’s guests crammed into every corner as they tucked into the snacks provided to tide them over until the buffet supper later at the main house.