The British Billionaire's Innocent Bride Page 13

  She was wearing brief navy blue shorts, which exposed her slender, tanned limbs, her small feet were thrust into white sparkly sandals, and the flimsy sun top she had on revealed her curvaceous figure just enough to excite interest…Well, it excited his interest, he thought honestly. He had met many women in his life, but Lily stood out as one of the most understated yet intensely desirable members of the female sex he’d ever encountered. And the funny thing was she didn’t seem aware of it…She never flaunted herself in any way, either by look or gesture. He frowned slightly. He couldn’t understand it—found it strange that a woman with such obvious female charms never seemed to worry one way or the other about the picture she presented to the world. She obviously took great care of her appearance at all times, no one could deny that, but it never seemed for personal publicity purposes. The way she was turned out was purely for her own benefit and satisfaction.

  He turned his head away from her for a moment, wondering how she’d managed to remain single for so long. There had never been any mention of a boyfriend, and she’d been emphatic about not wanting to be tied down by marriage, or by having children of her own. And yet there was something odd about that, too, he thought. Lily Patterson wasn’t only good with children, she was fantastic with them. She understood how they ticked, how to entertain them, how to deal with them—and his three had responded to her like no one else before—apart from Elspeth, of course. Even dear old Bea didn’t fit in like Lily had done since she’d been with them. His three offspring seemed to consider Lily more of their own generation than as the person who was in charge of them.

  She opened her eyes then, and turned to see him watching her, immediately drawing her knees up to her chin. ‘I thought you were asleep,’ she said softly.

  He didn’t answer for a moment, then, ‘No—I was…’ He’d been going to say, I was watching you, but instead said, ‘I don’t know what I’d have done without you this morning. Freya was determined that I was not going to have anything to do with it, or even to look at her foot. Only one person was to have that privilege—you, Lily.’

  Lily shrugged. ‘That’s kids,’ she said casually. ‘If I hadn’t been around she’d have had to let you help her.’ She paused. ‘Poor Freya—all that blood was quite frightening, wasn’t it? But because I’d seen something like it before I guessed almost at once what the problem was.’

  ‘Well—I was…grateful…for your assistance…’ he said slowly.

  Lily smiled in response, and turned her head away just as Theo’s mobile rang. He reached into the pocket of his shorts to answer it. ‘This is the first call I’ve had since we’ve been away,’ he said, ‘and I hope it isn’t going to be a record-breaker. They know they can contact me from work only if it’s absolutely essential,’ he added, hoping fervently that their precious last few days were not going to be interrupted by any sort of crisis.

  As soon as he heard the voice at the other end, his expression cleared. ‘Olly!’ he exclaimed. ‘How’re you doing?’

  When Lily heard who was calling she froze for a moment. Even though the man was obviously nowhere near, the memory of his unexpected visit came back to her in a flash. Listening to Theo’s one-sided conversation did nothing to give her any comfort.

  ‘Of course you can…You know you’re always welcome,’ Theo said, in answer to an obvious request from Oliver. Lily turned her head away, as if to shut out the possibility that she might be involved in any way. ‘Two weeks on Saturday, did you say?’ Then, ‘No, we shall be home by then.’ He paused. ‘I’m actually speaking to you from our holiday hotel, but we’re due back on Saturday. Yes, we’re having a great time…superb weather non-stop.’ Another pause. ‘No, really? Of course—bring her as well. It’ll be good to see her again, Oliver. Now, look, you don’t need to take us out to lunch on the Sunday—the amazing Lily will rustle up something for us all, I’m sure. Yes…Yes…Of course I don’t mind…there’s no problem. Look forward to it. Bye, Olly.’ Theo snapped his phone shut and glanced across at Lily. ‘That was Oliver,’ he said. ‘You remember he dropped by before?’

  Lily nodded, her eyes closed. ‘I remember,’ she said briefly.

  ‘He’s asked if he and the present lady-friend can stay over—a fortnight on Saturday. There’s a big party they’re going to, apparently, and both our local hotels are already fully booked.’ He turned away for a second. ‘They don’t expect to be with us until the early hours—but we’ll have Sunday morning to catch up with all their news. You probably heard me say that we could offer them lunch.’ He paused and glanced across at her, but Lily didn’t turn her head to look at him.

  ‘Of course I’ll prepare lunch for you all,’ she said simply—not bothering to add, You’re the boss, after all.

  ‘He’s with Alice Thorpe at the moment, so he told me,’ Theo went on. ‘We all go back quite a long way…I wonder what she looks like now.’

  Lily didn’t bother to respond to that, only experiencing a sinking feeling that she was obviously going to have to be polite to Theo’s boorish friend. Then she comforted herself—she’d be in bed by the time the couple returned from their party, and she’d be busy the next morning with the children, and providing lunch for Theo’s guests. She’d have no difficulty in keeping herself well occupied and out of the way. Besides, she thought reasonably, Oliver had been very drunk that last time…Surely no friend of Theo’s would be an actual creep? Her over-sensitive memory had probably exaggerated the smell of the man, his overbearing closeness, she argued to herself.

  After that they lapsed into the normal, easy silence that they’d both become accustomed to enjoying when they were alone together, before Theo said, ‘By the way, on the last Friday evening of the season, Barry usually makes a point of providing a sort of farewell event. Dinner is served at nine—later than usual—and there’s always some sort of entertainment.’ He paused to wipe his sunglasses with the hem of his T-shirt and smiled across. ‘We seem to be part of a pretty youngish crowd this time, who might appreciate something a bit different…Anyway, he’ll warn us what to expect.’

  Lily looked back at him. ‘Does that mean dressing up?’

  ‘Well, I’ve brought my dinner jacket just in case,’ he said briefly. He paused. ‘As far as you’re concerned, most of what I’ve seen you in will do, Lily…That, um, that lemon-colour sundress would be perfect.’

  Lily leaned back and closed her eyes again. She quite liked the idea of a special evening…She’d not had many of those in her life—certainly not in the company of someone like Theodore Montague—and luckily she’d packed her one and only ‘occasion’ number, a draped, three-quarter-length dress in shades of blue: the palest cornflower colour at the low-cut neckline, changing and floating down in varying degrees to a midnight-blue shade at the hem. It was dressy, yet casual in a summery way. Lily had taken it with her to Rome—thinking that she and Sam might go somewhere appropriate—but if this coming Friday was to be a special one, she knew that she would feel perfectly comfortable wearing it for the first time.

  Presently, the scampering of feet and energetic, childish voices announced the return of the children, and they all ran up, throwing themselves onto the sunbeds.

  ‘Did you enjoy that?’ Theo asked.

  ‘It was great!’ they chorused.

  Then Freya said suddenly, obviously having waited for the right moment, ‘Daddy, because of my toe and everything, can I sleep in Lily’s room tonight?’

  Theo looked at her sharply for a second. ‘Well, I don’t know,’ he said. ‘Aren’t you happy in with the rest of us?’

  ‘Yes…of course,’ Freya said guardedly. ‘It’s just that—well, when we first arrived I asked Lily if I could sleep in the other bed in her room, and she said it was up to you.’ She hesitated. ‘I was thinking just now that—what if my toe starts bleeding again in the night? You’d have to call Lily, and disturb everyone, but if I was there with her in the first place it might save everyone a lot of trouble.’

  Theo smiled
his crooked smile. ‘If Lily doesn’t mind—’ he began.

  ‘Of course I don’t mind,’ Lily said. She smiled at Freya. ‘It’ll be just us girls—and I hope you don’t snore!’

  As they were leaving the dining room later on—after the children had eaten their supper—Barry met them in the hall.

  ‘Hello again, everyone,’ he said jovially. ‘My goodness—what weather you brought with you! You’re all beginning to look like polished conkers!’ He turned to Theo. ‘Supper will be late on Friday night,’ he said. ‘It’ll be served at nine, and I’ve booked a local band—they’re excellent—to entertain us for a few hours afterwards.’

  ‘Sounds wonderful,’ Theo said, glancing at Lily. He realised that he knew very little about her likes and dislikes, what branch of the arts, or of the musical world in general, that she preferred. He bit his lip. It didn’t matter one way or the other what she liked, he thought. Soon it would be nothing to do with him.

  ‘I’m going to sleep in Lily’s room tonight,’ Freya told the manager. ‘Because of my toe.’

  ‘Yes—I heard about your poor toe,’ Barry said sympathetically. ‘Is it OK now, Freya?’

  ‘Well—it nearly is…But I’m sleeping in with Lily just to make sure.’

  The man grinned. Lily had spoken to him about the soiled sheets, and he’d assured her that that kind of thing was all in a day’s work for his staff. ‘Well, don’t go stepping on glass again, will you?’ he said. ‘You’re much too beautiful to go spoiling your looks—even if it was only your toe that was damaged.’

  It wasn’t long until bedtime, and the children seemed extra tired tonight, Lily thought. Tom had almost fallen asleep over his warm milk at the table, and even Alex seemed quiet.

  ‘I think we should do some colouring or play a game now,’ she said lightly. ‘We’ve all had enough exercise for today. I could show you some card tricks, or—’

  ‘Yes! Let’s play cards!’ Alex said. ‘I know a trick, Lily. I’ll show you…’

  Lily looked up at Theo quickly, realising how natural it had become for her to make decisions for the family. She hadn’t bothered to see what Theo wanted them to do. Over the long holiday it had become the norm for them to automatically share the responsibility. She had not once been made to feel like the employed nanny, or as if she should check with him as to what his opinion was. They seemed to have slipped unconsciously into the smooth running of everything they did with neither of them querying the other.

  She had to admit that the routine seemed to suit Theo well enough. He was relaxed, unhurried, and appeared to be totally content. And the almost uninterrupted sunshine had served him well—his handsome face was devoid of the occasional brooding appearance she’d been aware of once or twice at home, and the frown line across the broad forehead was almost invisible. It had obviously been time for him to have a complete rest from his work and to recharge his batteries.

  When it was time for bed Lily went into the family suite, as usual, to get them all bathed, with Theo agreeing to sit out on the balcony and let her do it alone.

  ‘I don’t think this is going to take long.’ She smiled. ‘Everyone seems exhausted tonight.’

  Later, after they had had their own meal, and had spent some time in the lounge with a drink, Lily excused herself.

  ‘I think I’ll go up,’ she said, getting up from her chair and looking down at Theo. ‘I feel as tired as the children today.’

  He half stood, his whisky glass in his hand. ‘Yes—go and have a good rest, Lily.’ He paused. ‘I hope my daughter doesn’t keep you awake—on any pretext. She can be a little madam at times…and seems to have acquired a talent for twisting people around her little finger. Don’t let her take advantage of you.’

  Lily shook her head quickly at the suggestion. ‘Goodnight, then.’

  ‘Goodnight, Lily.’

  He watched her go, conscious of the glances of other men in the room. She must be used to turning heads, he thought, yet she seemed totally unaware of it.

  Lily let herself quietly into her bedroom. Freya was curled up on the other single bed, her long fair hair tumbling over the pillow, and Lily moved across to look down at her. Soon this whole episode, her time with the Montagues, would be a distant memory, and the thought brought a terrible lump to her throat. She wished that she’d never met Theo on that journey to Rome. All he had done was disrupt her life, cause her to question her own feelings, her own ambitions, and remind her that the sort of life she was enjoying—no, revelling in—would never be hers in her own right. The happiness she was experiencing was second-hand, lent to her for a fleeting few weeks. And then it would be back to normal…to treading her way cautiously, to protecting herself, protecting her emotions. To living her life outside the accepted parameters of other human beings.

  Suddenly Freya leapt up and flung her arms around Lily’s neck. ‘Boo!’ she cried. ‘I haven’t been asleep…I’ve been waiting for you!’

  Lily stepped back in surprise. ‘You little monkey! I thought you were fast asleep.’ She uncoiled herself from the child’s hold and stepped back, sitting on the side of the bed for a moment. ‘It’s late, Freya—you’re going to be very tired in the morning…’

  Freya sat up, hugging her knees and looking at Lily with her large, sensitive eyes. ‘I hate Daddy,’ she said. ‘I was waiting up to tell you that. I hate him.’

  The statement was matter-of-fact, and came as an unpleasant surprise to Lily. But her face remained expressionless, and she let a few moments elapse before replying—equally matter-of-factly. ‘I hate my mother,’ she said coolly.

  Now it was Freya’s turn to be caught unawares. ‘You…hate your mother, Lily?’ she said. ‘Why…? Why on earth would you hate your mother?’ The thought was preposterous to Freya. ‘No one hates their mother…do they?’

  ‘I do,’ Lily said, still sitting where she was, sensing that there was much more to come in this conversation.

  ‘But—why? What…what did she do?’ Lily’s revelation was much more interesting to Freya than her own statement had been.

  ‘Because she gave me away,’ Lily said simply—and even after all this time tears sprang to her eyes. ‘She didn’t want me, Freya, so she gave me away to someone else.’

  Freya sat forward and hugged Lily to her desperately. ‘Oh, Lily…why would your mother do that?’ She paused, gulping. ‘My mother would never, never have given me away!’

  Lily shrugged. ‘I don’t know, really,’ she said slowly. ‘I think she was very young. And—and she wasn’t married to my father. Perhaps she didn’t have any money of her own to buy me food and look after me.’

  Freya pulled away slightly and gazed up into Lily’s face. ‘I don’t know why anyone would want to give you away, Lily,’ she said slowly. ‘You’re lovely. We all love you—and Daddy loves you, too.’ She paused. ‘Do you like Daddy, Lily?’

  ‘I do like him,’ Lily replied carefully, then, ‘But why do you hate Daddy, Freya? You did say that, didn’t you?’

  Freya’s expression changed in an instant. ‘Because he let Mummy die,’ she said flatly.

  The bald statement took Lily’s breath away, and she had to wait a moment before going on. ‘What do you mean?’

  Freya shrugged. ‘Well, he’s a doctor, isn’t he? Doctors make people better—they don’t let them die.’

  ‘Freya—don’t you think that Daddy wanted your mother to get better? Don’t you think that he tried every way he knew to make her better?’

  Freya shrugged. ‘Well, he didn’t try hard enough, did he? And anyway—’ she paused ‘—he’s not sad. Not like Alex and Tom-Tom and me are.’

  Lily felt helplessness sweep over her. This was difficult ground that she was being asked to cover. She realised that the little girl—with all her common sense and grown-up ways—was confused and unhappy. No wonder there had been tension between her and her father if the children really thought Theo could have saved his wife if he’d tried harder. It beggared belief. Yet
how understandable it would be to their innocent minds. Doctors were there to make people better.

  She leaned over and took Freya in her arms, holding her close. ‘How do you know that Daddy isn’t sad?’ she asked softly.

  ‘Because he never cries,’ Freya said at once. ‘We’ve never, never seen him cry. Not once. Not even on the day Mummy died. He just stood there looking cross, with a funny look on his face. Everyone cries if they’re sad, don’t they?’

  Lily hugged her even closer. ‘Freya, listen to me,’ she said, trying to keep the urgency from her tone. ‘I can promise you, with my hand on my heart, that Daddy would have done everything in the whole wide world to make Mummy better…But even doctors—even the very best of them—can’t always succeed. That’s just the way it is.’ She rocked Freya gently for a moment. ‘I know that Daddy loved Mummy very, very much. I can tell when I see him looking at her photograph sometimes. And…’ She paused. ‘And I’m also sure that Daddy does cry sometimes, when he’s by himself. Not when he’s with you…because he doesn’t want you all to be made even sadder. Would…Would you have felt any happier if you had seen him cry?’

  ‘No-ooo…’ Freya said slowly. ‘I don’t want to see Daddy cry…I just thought it strange that he never did, that’s all. But I don’t want him to cry.’ She paused. ‘We wish that he could make you stay, Lily…But he’s told us that it wouldn’t be fair because you’ve got lots of other things you want to do.’ She looked into Lily’s eyes again. ‘He said he didn’t think you particularly wanted to work with children…that you were going travelling and stuff…but I said that if he tried really hard he could make you stay.’

  Lily lifted back the duvet and laid Freya down gently. ‘Let’s not talk about that now, Freya,’ she said. ‘You really must get to sleep. But…’ She paused. ‘But maybe I could stay on for a bit longer—we’ll see, shall we?’ She dropped a kiss on Freya’s forehead. ‘One thing I must make you promise me, Freya—never, never say that you hate Daddy. Because he loves you all so much—all he wants is for you to be together, nice and cosy, even without Mummy. So—promise?’