King Of Swords

Julia bit her lip. ‘Could we change the subject, please?’

‘Certainly.’ He drank some more Bourbon. ‘Shall we talk about the weather, or shall I tell you how beautiful you look in that dress, and how much I would give to see you without it?’

Shame and anger welled up inside her, as if she had indeed been stripped naked in front of him. If she had had a drink in her hand, she would have thrown it straight into his mocking, arrogant face, she thought savagely. She wanted to hit out, to beat at him with her fists, but she knew, somehow, that such a gesture would only amuse him.

My God, she thought. He’s demanding a full pound of flesh in return for my having called him a peasant!

From somewhere she managed to conjure up a light laugh. ‘Would you give me Ambermere, Mr Constantis?’

His brows lifted slightly, as if her reaction had surprised him, and he said, ‘No.’

Julia shrugged again. ‘Then the deal’s off.’ She made herself meet his gaze. ‘You’ll just have to—eat your heart out.’

His smile widened, and he shook his head slowly. ‘Don’t count on it—Miss Kendrick.’

For an endless moment his eyes held hers. Julia was suddenly, terrifyingly conscious that she could neither move nor speak—and that every pulse point in her body seemed to be beating with an alarming independence.

She wanted to say ‘No.’ To assert her separateness from him, her rejection of him, and his degrading jibes, but the muscles of her throat refused to obey her.

It was the external sound of other voices, and footsteps approaching down the hall, which broke the spell at last. And if she’d burned before, Julia now realised she felt icily, deathly cold.

As Alex Constantis turned to greet her parents, she crossed to the empty fireplace and stood staring down at it, as if there were flames there which could warm her, and stop the wild, inner shivering which threatened to tear her apart.

Lydia Kendrick was polite to her unwanted guest, but there was none of her usual warmth in her manner, and Julia surmised that she too was under orders.

Her father seemed his usual ebullient self, laughing and talking as if Alex Constantis was an old and valued friend, but Julia could see the lines of strain round his mouth, and thought how they would deepen if the offer for the house was withdrawn.

She felt as if she was living through some kind of nightmare.

She had hoped the situation would be eased when the other dinner guests arrived, but among the first-comers were the Bosworths, and Vivvy Bosworth lost no time in drawing Julia into the morning-room.

‘Jools, there are the most amazing rumours all over the place. People are saying your father’s sold the estate to some Greek millionaire. Surely it can’t be true?’

Julia pinned on a smile. ‘We’re certainly hoping the deal goes through.’

‘Oh, don’t con me, Julia Kendrick!’ Vivvy gave her a minatory look. ‘I’ve known you far too long—we swapped rattles in our prams, remember? You’d rather lose your right arm than this house.’

Julia’s smile wavered and collapsed. She said wretchedly, ‘Oh Vivvy, the house is going to be sold whatever happens, but I honestly don’t know whether Alex Constantis is going to buy Ambermere or not.’ She swallowed. ‘What I do know is I’d sooner see it burn to the ground than belong to him. He’s the most hateful man I’ve ever met!’

Vivvy gave her a limpid look. ‘Darling Jools, no man with all that money could possibly be hateful!’ She sobered, giving Julia a quick hug. ‘There’s nothing I can say to make you feel better about this, but I felt I had to warn you. Stepmother’s on the warpath. She was smirking to herself all the way here, and that’s always bad news for someone.’

Julia received the news with a grimace of dismay. Gerald Bosworth’s first wife had been a warm and smiling woman, popular with everyone, and genuinely mourned when she died after a long illness. It was generally agreed locally that Gerald, who had nursed her with total devotion, should marry again in due time, but no one, least of all Vivvy and her brother Alastair, had expected it to happen so soon, or to find themselves with a young and glamorous former actress as a stepmother. Tricia Bosworth at first bewildered her new neighbours, who tried to make her welcome for Gerald’s sake, and later aroused their resentment with the deliberately poisonous sweetness of some of her remarks. Because she was Gerald’s wife, and everyone liked Gerald, it was impossible to exclude her from social gatherings, but there was always an edge when she was around.

‘An actress!’ Julia had once said bitterly, smarting from Tricia’s smiling comments about adolescent gaucherie. ‘What’s she ever been in, for heaven’s sake?’

‘She claims to have been in an RSC production of Antony and Cleopatra,’ Vivvy had returned dejectedly. ‘Probably playing the asp.’

Tricia had always gushed about Ambermere, its beauty and its history, but she wouldn’t be shedding any tears over the Kendricks’ loss, and the thought of her openly probing their wounds over dinner was unbearable.

What else can go wrong? Julia asked herself unhappily. How could the passage of a few hours change one’s entire life so fundamentally?

‘Cheer up.’ Vivvy linked an arm through hers. ‘She may choke on a fishbone and die before she can start.’

Julia smiled reluctantly. ‘Can’t we arrange for two fishbones?’

‘Never kill off a millionaire unless you’re mentioned in his will,’ Vivvy warned solemnly. ‘What’s he like—old, fat and repulsive?’

‘No,’ Julia said colourlessly. ‘I suppose he’s attractive—if you like that sort of thing.’

‘I’m sure I could learn to,’ giggled Vivvy. ‘Lead me to him!’

As Julia took her into the drawing-room, she gave vent to a soundless whistle. ‘Attractive? My God, Jools, are you crazy? He’s gorgeous!’

Unwillingly, Julia had to concede that Vivvy spoke with a certain justice. In the casual clothes he had been wearing when she first encountered him, he’d looked a force to be reckoned with. Now, in the dark formality of dinner jacket and black tie, Alex Constantis possessed a disturbing, charismatic presence which was drawing every female eye in the room.

Well, they said wealth and power were aphrodisiacs, Julia thought savagely, then bit her lip. She was being unfair, and she knew it. Even if he were penniless, any woman with blood in her veins would look at him, and look again. Except me, she reminded herself grimly.

But that was not as easy as it seemed. To her chagrin, Julia found she was placed opposite him at the long oak table in the dining-room, and no matter how rigorously she limited her attention to the companions on either side of her, she was still uneasily aware that he was watching her across the heaped bowls of early roses, and the flickering candle flames.

Tricia Bosworth leaned forward. ‘So you’re going to be the new master of Ambermere,’ she said in her husky drawl. ‘Do tell us—has Julia persuaded you to change your name to Kendrick yet?’

Julia put her knife and fork down, her mouth suddenly dry.

Alex Constantis’s brows lifted. ‘I do not quite understand.’

Mrs Bosworth laughed. ‘Oh, it’s been a standing joke locally for years. Julia has always sworn that the family name should continue here—either by finding another Kendrick from somewhere to marry her, or forcing some other unsuspecting soul to change his name. I wondered if she’d started her campaign with you yet. She’s always claimed to be prepared to go to any lengths to keep Ambermere hers.’

‘So I have already gathered.’ The faint irony in his voice, and the flickering glance he sent the deeply slashed bodice of the midnight blue satin dress, were not lost on Julia.

‘I’m sure you have,’ purred Tricia then she paused, smiling. ‘Are you married, Mr Constantis?’

The dark face was shuttered. ‘No.’

In the hideously embarrassed silence which followed, Julia prayed for the floor beneath her chair to open, and swallow her for ever. She heard Gerald Bosworth mutter, ‘Tricia, for God’s sake!’ and saw Vivvy’s appalled and sympathetic grimace.

Into the silence, Sir Philip said pleasantly, ‘As you say, Mrs Bosworth—a standing joke. But I don’t think Julia, as a woman, should have a silly childhood boast held against her. Now, may I offer you some more duck?’

Conversation around the table resumed again in an atmosphere of relief, which Julia could not share. If Tricia Bosworth had openly gloated that Ambermere had to be sold, it would have been bad enough, but the other woman had deliberately set out to humiliate her in front of Alex Constantis. If she’d received a blow-by-blow account of the day’s events she couldn’t have planted her barbs more effectively, Julia thought, wincing.

And only he would not be aware that Tricia Bosworth made a speciality of such malice.

And somehow she had to smile and go on, pretending it didn’t matter. She took a surreptitious glance at her small gold watch, wondering how long it would be before she could make some excuse and seek the refuge of her room.

Tonight, as never before, she found herself welcoming the duties as hostess with her mother which kept her perpetually on the move from group to group as the house filled with guests.

She had half expected, half dreaded that Alex Constantis would seek her out with some taunting reference to Tricia’s words. But perhaps he too had been embarrassed by the exchange, for he never came near her.

Her father was almost always at his side, guiding him through the crowded rooms explaining, making introductions, while their friends loyally strove to mask their surprise and dismay at the news.