Whisper Of Scandal

‘No, I’m being honest,’ Garth replied earnestly as he pulled up outside his front door. ‘If you could see the state of my desk in there——’ he nodded towards the house ‘—you would know what I mean.’

As they got out of the car Garth glanced across at her. ‘Are you all right, Sabrina? You’ve gone awfully pale.’

‘I’m fine.’ It was a lie; she was far from fine. She had just remembered that she had told Marc she had a date this afternoon. What on earth was she going to say to him?

He was in the lounge idly flicking through a magazine, his long legs stretched out, his dark head resting against the pale gold brocade of the settee as if he had all the time in the world to kill. He stood up as they came in and his eyebrows lifted slightly as he took in Sabrina’s presence. ‘This is a pleasant surprise,’ he drawled softly. ‘I thought you had a date this afternoon, Sabrina?’

She could feel her cheeks going hotter under his intense scrutiny. ‘Would you believe he had to cancel me at the last moment?’ Somehow she managed to inject a humorous note into her voice. ‘Some important business cropped up.’ She hated lying like that; she could feel herself tensing up inside, waiting for lightning to strike her down for such a falsehood.

‘I do find it rather difficult to believe, actually.’ The hard words took her very much by surprise for a moment, then he softened them with a smile. ‘The man obviously has no sense.’

‘Well, his loss is my gain.’ Garth smiled. ‘Sabrina has very kindly offered to come and help me out with a bit of paperwork this afternoon.’

‘Very considerate.’ Marc’s dark eyes never left Sabrina’s face as he spoke.

‘Can I get you a drink, Marc?’ Garth moved towards the drinks cabinet and poured himself a whisky.

‘Actually, I wouldn’t mind a coffee,’ Marc replied easily.

‘Oh, right, I’ll just go and ask Sadie.’ Garth put down his drink and looked at Sabrina. ‘What about you, Brina? Would you like coffee or something stronger?’

‘Coffee would be nice.’ Sabrina sat down on one of the comfortable two-seater settees which were at each side of the fireplace. She wished Garth wouldn’t call her Brina in front of Marc... it sounded far too intimate.

They were left alone and Sabrina felt her nerves flutter apprehensively as she looked up at Garth’s stepson.

He leaned a hand against the mantelpiece and stared down at her for a moment as if in deep thought. Sabrina felt that familiar tug at the bottom of her stomach. He looked magnificent, she thought abruptly. He had a wonderful physique, broad shoulders tapering to narrow hips in the well-cut grey suit. She collided with his dark eyes and looked hurriedly away from him.

‘So how about dinner tonight?’ he asked suddenly into the silence.

She took a deep breath. ‘I can’t, Marc.’ It had never been so difficult to turn down a date; she desperately wanted to say yes.

‘Such loyalty,’ he murmured. ‘You must be very serious about this man, to let him stand you up and still remain so devoted.’

She shrugged and her mind searched for some answer. The awful thing about telling lies was that it seemed to snowball; you told one small one and then others had invariably to follow. It was like painting a picture—you were never quite sure when you had finished; you could keep adding things and adding things and end up in a real muddle.

‘He didn’t stand me up,’ she said in a dignified tone. ‘He rang me and told me he couldn’t make it.’

‘Oh, I see.’ Marc’s lips curved in a cynical smile. ‘Who is this paragon of virtue, anyway?’

There it was, the question she had been dreading. ‘Oh, you wouldn’t know him,’ she said airily. ‘He... he’s in computers.’

‘Really?’ There was that tinge of sardonic humour in his voice again. Sabrina frowned, but before she had time to analyse Marc’s attitude Garth came back into the room.

‘Coffee will be along in a moment,’ he said brightly, looking from Sabrina towards his stepson. ‘So, Marc, what brings you out to see me today?’

‘Actually I was rather hoping I could pick your brains about a legal matter,’ Marc said easily. ‘I’m in the process of buying a factory in Germany and there were a couple of things I wouldn’t have minded asking your opinion on.’

‘Oh?’ Garth looked extremely surprised at this. ‘Well, you know I’m always willing to give my considered opinion.’

‘Yes, but I can see you are rather...tied up, so I won’t impose on you this afternoon,’ Marc said, his eyes slipping over Sabrina.

‘Well, how about tomorrow?’ Garth said hopefully. ‘I have——’

‘It will be too late tomorrow. I have a meeting on it this afternoon.’ Marc shrugged. ‘But don’t worry about it, Garth. I’ll sort it out.’

There was a moment’s silence and Garth looked helplessly at Sabrina. Sabrina knew he was torn in two. Obviously he wanted to help Marc out.

‘If you like, I’ll make a start at clearing up that desk for you, Garth,’ she said softly. ‘I’m sure I’ll manage on my own while you discuss this business with Marc. If I have any problems I’ll come in and ask you.’

‘You don’t mind?’ Garth asked in a dubious tone.

She shook her head.

‘That’s really very good of you,’ Marc said smoothly.

As she glanced across at him she thought she detected a gleam of satisfaction in his dark eyes. It was almost as if he had just engineered that situation. That idea was so ludicrous that she dismissed it immediately.

‘I’m really sorry about this,’ Garth said in a worried tone as he showed her into his study a few minutes later.

‘It’s all right, Garth, really it is,’ she reassured him.

‘But it’s not all right,’ he grated impatiently. ‘I wanted so much to have a few quiet moments where we could just sort ourselves out.’

‘Never mind.’ Sabrina glanced at his desk with a smile. ‘At least I can put this into some sort of order for you.’

He grimaced as he took in the chaos that was spread over the large rosewood desk. ‘I meant for you to have a relaxing afternoon,’ he sighed. ‘You know, I’m really surprised that Marc’s asking my advice. I know I have a degree in law but he has a battery of high-powered solicitors to advise him.’

‘Must be something you’ve had prior experience of,’ Sabrina answered lightly, her mind already occupied with sorting through the correspondence on Garth’s desk.

‘I’ll be as quick as I can,’ Garth said with determination.

In the event he was nearly three hours. Garth’s housekeeper brought her coffee and then a little later some light lunch. By that time Sabrina had reorganised Garth’s desk for him and put his filing cabinet back in order. She was just closing it when some photographs at the far end of the room caught her attention.

She walked across to have a closer look at them. There was one of Garth with his wife Nadine and their daughter Madeline. She picked it up to have a closer look. Sabrina had never met Madeline, who had been living in the States for the last two years. Garth had often spoken about her, though, in very glowing terms. Madeline was just twenty years of age and an extremely talented artist.

Sabrina was filled with curiosity as she looked at that picture of her half-sister. After all these years of thinking she was an only child it was so strange to suddenly find out she had a sister. Not that it made any difference, she thought sadly. She would probably never get to meet Madeline.

The door opened behind her and Marc came in. ‘Finished your work?’ he asked drily, his eyes taking in her relaxed stance by the mantelpiece.

She frowned. It almost sounded as if he didn’t believe that she had been working. ‘Yes, I have actually.’

He came to stand beside her and glanced at the framed photograph in her hands. ‘My half-sister Madeline,’ he informed her.

He reached for another photograph. ‘And this is my mother and Garth on their wedding-day’

Sabrina glanced at the smiling, happy picture of Garth and Nadine and nodded. ‘Yes, I’ve seen that photograph before. Garth has it on his desk at Westminster.’

‘Garth’s very devoted to my mother,’ Marc said matter-of-factly as he put the picture down again. ‘I think they are still as much in love today as they were back then.’