A Wicked Persuasion (9 page)

T
HE
following Saturday Harriet was in the middle of attacking the chores usually done on Sunday when she was surprised by a rare phone call from Sophie.

‘Harriet—oh, thank God. You’re there. Can you do me a huge favour? Please, please, say you will or I’ll—’

‘Whoa! Is something wrong with Annabel?’

‘Yes, no—I mean—’

‘Take a deep breath and calm down. What’s wrong?’

‘Gervase has just driven Pilar to the airport. We’ve been invited to a garden party tomorrow, and Pilar’s had to rush off to Spain today for some family crisis—so inconsiderate, I’m sure she could have waited until Monday. There’ll be lots of really useful people for Gervase at the party, so he says we’ve just got to go, but children are not invited, and there’s no one to look after Annabel—and—and …’ Sophie trailed off into hysterical tears.

‘Sophie! For heaven’s sake, stop blubbing.’ Harriet sighed. Goodbye to lunch with the Graveneys. ‘All right, I’ll come, but on the strict understanding that you leave the party in good time for me to get back here in the evening. I’ve got to be in work first thing on Monday, remember.’

‘Honestly, Harriet, is work all you can think about …?’ Sophie stopped, regrouping hurriedly. ‘Sorry, sorry. I’m so
upset I can’t think straight. So you’ll drive over this evening?’

And sleep in Annabel’s room so the child didn’t disturb her mother in the night now Pilar wasn’t there! ‘No, I can’t, sorry.’

‘ Surely you can put off what you have on tonight,’ wheedled Sophie. ‘Please, Harriet.’

‘Look, Sophie, I had a lunch invitation myself tomorrow. I’m willing to cancel that to help you out, but I’m not driving over to you tonight. I’ll come in the morning.’

‘Oh. Oh, all right. But make sure you come in good time tomorrow; we’re due at the party at twelve.’

It was absurd, Harriet informed herself, to feel so disappointed. Apparently she’d been looking forward to Sunday lunch with the Graveneys more than she’d let herself admit. She shrugged philosophically, and rang Moira to say she couldn’t make it.

‘My sister has a domestic crisis and needs a babysitter tomorrow. I’m really sorry about this. I hope it hasn’t put you out in any way.’

‘Not at all. But we were looking forward to seeing you again. Never mind. Families come first.’

‘As you well know. How is Claudia?’

‘Stir-crazy, according to Lily, though apparently not short of visitors.’

No surprise there! ‘Moira, since I can’t make it tomorrow, do you fancy having lunch in town with me one day instead?’

‘I’d like that very much indeed. When?’

They settled on a date, and Harriet put her phone away feeling marginally happier, but too restless to sit in her now immaculate house on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Tomorrow would be exhausting, so it was only common sense to read a book, watch TV, or simply lie on her sofa
and do nothing while she had the chance. Instead, Harriet slapped on sunblock and thrust her hair through the back of a baseball cap, then went up to the big double garage behind the main house to take out the sit-on lawn mower.

Harriet was sweating profusely, her khaki shorts and sleeveless tank top dirty and some of her hair sticking in damp rings on her forehead and neck by the time the big main lawn bore satisfying stripes of newly cut grass. She emptied out the last container of clippings into the area hedged off for compost, and got back on to the machine to drive it out through the shrubbery onto the main drive. Her heart plummeted to her scruffy sneakers at the sight of James leaning against his car, scowling in disapproval as she chugged past him.

‘Can’t stop,’ she yelled. ‘Must put this away.’

In an agony of frustration at the machine’s slow speed, and horribly aware of his eyes on her sweat-soaked back as he stalked after her, Harriet negotiated the tricky slope with care. When the machine was finally stowed in the vast garage she switched off, slid from the seat and wrenched off her gloves as James cornered her.

‘Why in God’s name are you slaving away in heat like this?’ he said harshly. ‘Can’t this gardener of yours mow the lawn?’

She took a wad of tissues from her pocket and mopped her face. ‘Of course he can, but I do it sometimes to leave him free to do the other stuff. Are you here for the weekend?’ she added politely.

‘Why have you cancelled tomorrow?’ he demanded, ignoring her. ‘Were you afraid of running into me again?’

‘Of course not,’ she said irritably. ‘Look, I can’t hang about. I need a shower.’

‘I’ll wait while you clean up,’ he said flatly. ‘Trying to get in touch with you by phone is so damned frustrating I
opted for the personal touch today when Moira said you’d cancelled. Come clean, Miss Wilde. Is there really a family crisis? Or can’t you face making polite conversation with me over the roast?’

Harriet marched down the drive to the Lodge beside him, furious because he’d surprised her when she was dirty and sweaty, and probably didn’t smell too wonderful at close quarters. ‘Do you want to come in?’ she said ungraciously, and kicked off her shoes in the porch.

‘I said I’d wait,’ he reminded her. ‘But if you’d rather I didn’t come in I can sit in the car.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous!’ She went ahead of him into the house and ran upstairs at breakneck speed.

When Harriet eventually went down to the sitting room her uninvited guest was stretched out on the sofa watching cricket on her television. James got to his feet as she joined him.

‘I hope you don’t mind. It was the last few overs of the day.’

‘Not at all.’

‘Do you feel better now, Harriet?’

She nodded.

His eyes narrowed as he took in her yellow cotton dress. ‘You had a dress like that years ago.’

She’d worn it the first time they went out together. ‘Really? I don’t remember.’

‘Don’t you?’ James met her eyes in a challenge Harriet chose to ignore.

‘I’m thirsty, I need a drink. Would you like one? No beer or wine, but I can give you mineral water, orange juice, tea, coffee …’

‘Anything—’ he broke in ‘—whatever’s easiest.’

When Harriet got back with two glasses of mineral water James was standing at the window, frowning. ‘All those
trees and flowers out there in the gardens, yet all you can see from here is a strip of lawn and a high laurel hedge.’

‘I get a good view of the gardens from my bedroom,’ she said defensively, and handed him a glass.

He turned a hostile look on her. ‘I wouldn’t know. Bedrooms never featured in our relationship. And you never let me come back here again after the first day I came to mend your computer.’ His deep voice grew harsh. ‘Like a fool I allowed you to treat me like a dirty secret all that summer because I thought everything would be different once we had a place together. But it never happened.’

‘No,’ she agreed stonily. ‘It didn’t.’

‘And why the hell can’t you afford a bottle of wine?’ James demanded irritably. ‘You must earn good money, and you live here rent free—’

‘Actually, I don’t. I pay rent to my father. And this place is too small to entertain, so keeping wine or whatever for guests isn’t necessary—’ She broke off as her phone rang, and excused herself to answer Sophie.

‘Hi.’

‘Thank goodness I’ve caught you. Harriet, be a darling. Please put off your date, or whatever, and come this evening. Annabel is so looking forward to seeing you, and it would be much more convenient—’

‘For you, maybe, but not for me. Tell Annabel I’ll be there in the morning.’

‘Oh, all
right
!’ snapped Sophie. ‘Just make sure you get here in good time.’

‘I’ll
be
there.’

Harriet closed her phone with a snap. ‘Sorry. That was my sister.’

James raised an eyebrow. ‘The hotshot journalist or the spoilt pretty one?’

‘The latter. Sophie is still pretty, still spoilt, but now married to the man she met at a wedding.’

‘Who is Annabel?’

‘My niece. Sophie’s au pair had to make a sudden trip home to Spain today. Annabel’s parents are invited to some vitally important social event tomorrow so I’m looking after her.’ Harriet smiled as she took the window seat. ‘
That’s
why I’m missing lunch at the Old Rectory, James Crawford. Moira is lunching with me in town this week instead.’

The cold eyes warmed as he returned the smile. ‘So she told me. She’s looking forward to that.’

‘Me too. By the way, I gather Claudia is progressing well, but very bored. Have you seen her lately?’

‘I called in recently for a few minutes. I was in London for a dinner and went to see her next day on my way home.’ He gave her a wry smile. ‘Lily and Dominic were there, plus a couple of girlfriends and a rather embarrassed Tom Bradfield. My presence put such a damper on the occasion I didn’t stay long. According to Lily, Tom drives down to see Claudia regularly since the accident.’

Harriet’s eyes sparkled. ‘Cutting you out, James?’

‘Looks like it, thank God,’ he muttered.

‘Shouldn’t you let Claudia know that? She has a huge crush on you, James.’

‘Had, maybe; not any more. Anyway, my feelings towards her—and to Lily—have always been brotherly.’

‘Oh, come
on
. You weren’t very fraternal that night at the Old Rectory!’ she scoffed.

James reddened. ‘I had cause to regret that later when Moira hauled me over the coals.’

Harriet looked at him steadily. ‘I knew, as soon as I got to the Old Rectory, why I was there. I could have given you the necessary information on the phone, but you wanted me
to see you in your family setting, with a gorgeous creature like Claudia panting after you.’

He winced. ‘Sounds really immature put like that, but I can’t deny it. That day in your office you were so remote and haughty behind your desk I seized on the chance of showing you I’d come a long way from the computer techie who wasn’t good enough for Miss Harriet Wilde of River House.’

‘I never thought of you that way,’ she said flatly.

‘But your father did.’

She bit her lip. ‘I’m afraid so. But only because he’d never met you—’

‘Not my fault.’

‘I know.’ She looked away. ‘I wanted to keep you to myself, so nothing spoiled what we had together.’

‘But when you told him you were joining forces with me, that was it.’

She nodded. ‘Father put his foot down.’

He smiled sardonically. ‘Your father could hardly have locked you up and kept you on bread and water, Harriet. You could have left home if you’d really wanted to. Was it a matter of money? You couldn’t have made it through college without his support?’

She was tempted to take the easy way out and say yes. She shook her head. ‘I had a college fund from my mother for that.’

James’s eyes darkened. ‘Then why the hell didn’t you just take off with me?’ he demanded, his voice roughening. ‘Were you afraid I’d want a share of the fund?’

‘No, James,’ she said wearily. ‘Is this why you came here today, to rake over past history?’

‘No. Believe it or not, I thought you might be ill.’ His mouth twisted. ‘Instead I found you careering round on that
blasted machine in this heat. And tomorrow you’ll be running round after your sister’s child all day. How old is she?’

‘Three.’

‘Do you often drop everything to look after her?’

‘Only in times of crisis.’ Harriet smiled wryly. ‘Though Sophie’s idea of a crisis usually differs from mine. She’s always been a drama queen.’

‘You don’t get on well?’

She shrugged. ‘She’s jealous of me because I’m the one at home with Father.’

James frowned. ‘And yet you’re the one she calls on in an emergency.’

‘I live a mere hour away by car and Julia’s based in London.’ Harriet grinned suddenly. ‘Not that Sophie would have any luck with Julia anyway. She’s not exactly the babysitting type.’

‘And you are.’

‘Yes. A day in Annabel’s company is a pleasure, not a chore.’

‘Actually, I had another reason for invading your ivory tower,’ he informed her.

Her eyebrows rose. ‘Not much of a tower, James!’

‘The place serves the same purpose. It’s where you hide away from the world.’

‘I don’t hide,’ she denied.

His eyes locked on hers. ‘So if a man wants to take you to bed it’s always his place, not yours.’

‘More or less,’ she said evenly. ‘How about you? I haven’t asked where you live these days.’

‘I bought a house near Cheltenham a couple of years back. I’ve been doing it up gradually. The place is listed, so I have to go carefully.’ James frowned. ‘By the way, does your father know who I am yet?’

‘He certainly does. Mr Lassiter took great pleasure in
enlightening him.’ Harriet drank the rest of her water. ‘Father was so furious I was afraid he’d have a stroke at one point. He ranted and raved for quite a while, but in the end the storm just petered out.’ She smiled grimly. ‘The really ironic part is that he liked you, and your family. In some ways I think that was the worst thing when he found out who you were.’

James eyed her with sympathy. ‘A rocky relationship with your father must be tough. My parents died relatively young, but Dan and I were lucky, of course, because we had Moira.’

‘Very lucky.’ Harriet sighed. ‘I’m really sorry I’ll miss her lunch tomorrow. I shall think of you with envy when I’m eating fish fingers and baked beans.’

‘Only then?’ His eyes were suddenly intent.

‘No, indeed. I shall think of you every time I write a cheque for the roofing men!’

‘I saw the scaffolding when I parked the car. When do they finish?’

‘Next week. And I’m holding them to that because my sister’s organising a fashion shoot for her magazine, and later on a television company wants to do some interior scenes for a play.’ Harriet smiled brightly. ‘You started the ball rolling with your party so your revenge plan backfired a bit, James. You’ve given River House a new lease of life.’

James dumped his glass down and jerked her into his arms. ‘Don’t you ever think of anything except this damned house of yours?’ He kissed the mouth that opened to protest, his arms crushing her ribs so fiercely she couldn’t breathe. The kiss was such pure punishment she lost her temper and bit his tongue, and James cursed and let her go.