Diamonds are for Marriage: The Australian's Society Bride

“It certainly does,” he said, his voice deep and sexy. “How can it not?”

“Don’t you dare laugh,” she said. “You’re always laughing at me. I need someone to love me. Really love me.” She was so overwrought she was almost shouting. “Why don’t you, Boyd?” she cried in a fresh upsurge of anguish. “There, you can’t give me an answer.” She totally ignored the fact that she had scarcely given him time to open his mouth. Instead, she spun like a ballet dancer, heading for the entrance hall.

“Leona!” he called after her.

His voice begged her to stop but she wasn’t having a bar of it. She was a woman for whom love was all important. Boyd’s love. She wasn’t a commodity to be bought on the open marketplace, she thought furiously. It was hellish to love someone the way she loved Boyd.

When she arrived back at her room she found Robbie pacing the carpet like a panther caught in a cage. “Well?” He turned to her with anguished eyes, no colour whatever in his cheeks.

Leona crossed the room to fall back on the bed. Her head was whirling with chaotic thoughts. She had to close her eyes and count to ten. After she did that, she said, “You’re off the hook.”

Robbie raised his eyes to the heavens. “Thanks be to God,” he said piously. “I think I’ll go back to church. You were able to put the earrings back?”

“Almost.” She sat up, feeling dizzy, looking more delicately lovely than ever, her chiffon skirt spread out on either side of her.

Robbie’s expression turned to one of dread. “You were caught?”

She nodded. “It happens, Robbie,” she said sombrely, at the same time wanting to put him out of his misery. “Boyd chose that very moment to come downstairs to turn off the lights. He saw me in the drawing room.”

“Holy Mother!” Robbie was so overtaken by weakness he had to slump down on the opulent day bed. “You must have been terrified.”

Even now she couldn’t suppress her feelings of panic. “Of course I was, but I felt enormous relief that it was Boyd. What if it had been Rupert?”

Robbie gave an agitated laugh. “True, we’d have had to emigrate to Antarctica. So what happened?”

“That’s for you to find out,” she said, feeling unable to explain much further. She had to sleep on Boyd’s extraordinary proposal. She was already well into convincing herself that it smacked of a convenient way out for him. When they weren’t striking sparks off one another, they did get along extremely well. Naturally she would in time be expected to produce an heir or heiress, so it was really a marriage of convenience. A lot of people settled for that. Rich people more than most.

“Listen, Robbie. Boyd wants you to meet him in the hall at ten o’clock sharp,” she said, forcing herself upright. “The two of you are going for a little walk. You wouldn’t want him swearing at you in the house.”

Robbie began madly slicking his dark hair back. “Boyd doesn’t swear even when he’s angry. The most I’ve heard is the odd bloody. So you told him? Why not? I am to blame. I should never have let you.”

“You’ll be pleased to hear I didn’t tell him, Robbie,” Leona said. “But Boyd knows me too well. He knows I wouldn’t have taken the earrings. He guessed you had. He knows all about the bad people you’re involved with.”

Robbie remained very still. “So what’s he going to do?” He looked straight at her, awaiting her response much as a man in the dock would await a jury’s verdict.

“I’ve told you, Robbie. Boyd sees you as being cushioned by wealth. Now that I’ve been forced to think about it, you are. Look at that suit. It must have cost a couple of thousand. Dad gives you a comfortable allowance. You’ll get your degree and, if you want it, you’ll be given a good position within Blanchards. I’m very sympathetic towards your personal problems. Why wouldn’t I be? I have them as well. It’s the old story of an unstable childhood, but we’ve survived and we have so much else, after all. You have to liberate yourself, Robbie. Not keep drinking from the poisoned well. Find your father. Confront him. You could go in the summer vacation. For all you know, Carlo might be thrilled out of his mind to see you.”

Robbie gave a bitter laugh. “I’ll ask him why he never invited me. But the big question is—am I going to be free to travel? It was a very bad thing I did, taking the earrings.”

“The only thing worse would’ve been for you to try to wear them,” Leona said, trying for some light relief. “It was a bad thing, Robbie. An insane thing for someone so bright. But you didn’t go through with it. That’s in your favour. It was a moment of madness.” Always protective towards him, Leona slid off the bed to give him a reassuring hug. “We both know Boyd is going to read you the riot act tomorrow.”

“That’s what I need.” Robbie’s voice was filled with self-disgust.

“Well, you’re going to get it and it won’t be pleasant. Take it on the chin. Boyd has assured me the matter will go no further.”

“He’d do anything for you,” Robbie said, then looked her in the eyes. “It’s all about you. Did you ask him?”

Leona hesitated for only a few seconds. “Actually, he asked me to marry him.” She didn’t say that he had more like informed her they were to be married. Not the same thing at all.

Robbie’s woebegone face lit up as his fears virtually disappeared. He put his hands around Leona’s narrow waist and began to swing her around like a child. “But that’s marvellous. Bloody marvellous! I couldn’t think of anyone in the world who would be more perfect for you!”

“No thoughts there might be plenty of girls more perfect for him?” Leona asked breathlessly when he set her down again.

“No way!” Robbie exclaimed, breaking into another delighted laugh. “You two are made for each other. Actually, I was starting to think that Boyd was taking his time.”

“Wh-a-t!” Leona stared back at him, flooded with astonishment.

“Gosh, Leo, you radiate off one another. I’m not the only person to see it, you know.”

“So who’s the other?” she asked in amazement.

“Lots probably.” Robbie shrugged. “But good old Geraldine, for one. She’s a sharp old bird.”

“No sharper than her brother, Rupert,” Leona said. “I’d hate to see his face when he hears.”

“But Rupe is very fond of you.” Robbie frowned.

“Maybe he is in a way. But not as a match for his son.”

“Sweetheart,” Robbie spoke very tenderly, trying to buck her up, “if Boyd wants you, he’ll have you. No one will stand in his way. Boyd’s well on the way to becoming more powerful than his dear old dad. And a damn sight nicer person.”

“And that wouldn’t be hard.”

CHAPTER FIVE

WHEN ROBBIE ARRIVED back at the house around midday he looked numb.

“Are you all right?” Concerned, Leona took him by the hand, much as she had done since he was a little boy. For a brief moment he took comfort from her presence, then he drew a deep breath, steadying himself.

“I’m fine.”

“Then I’d hate to see you when you aren’t.” Quickly, she led him by the quietest route through the house into the garden, bypassing the terrace with its outdoor sofas, armchairs and tables where some of the family had congregated, enjoying the sunshine. A buffet lunch would be served from noon until the main event of the day, the fastest field sport in the world.

Robbie, an excellent horseman, was on Boyd’s team, as was Peter and Peter’s first cousin, James, through his mother’s side of the family. The opposing team was made up of fine New South Wales players. But Leona was far from sure that Robbie should now play. Many polo players, like Boyd, found the element of danger alluring—as did Robbie, for that matter, but he looked as though all the stuffing had been knocked out of him. Predictably, the over-protective Leona felt upset for him, perversely blaming Boyd for having come on too strong. There was no logic to it, but Robbie brought out her protective instincts. Boyd, on the other hand, could look after himself.

When they were a distance from the house she drew him down a long pergola that had been mounted on splendid Doric stone pillars. Long tresses of the wisteria floribunda “Alba” cascaded from on high, softening the grandeur of the pillars. There was a little white trelliswork pavilion at the end of the walk, Mughal in style and embellished with a beautiful old-fashioned deep pink rose that clung to the abundant light green foliage. Here they could talk in privacy.

Robbie sat down beside her, then put his dark head into faintly trembling hands. “Thank God that’s over!” Gratefully he breathed in the calming scent of the roses.

Long entrenched in the business of looking after him, Leona burst out, “Boyd must have been very tough on you.”

“No more than I deserved!” Robbie sat bolt upright, half turning to face her. “Hey, don’t go blaming Boyd for anything,” he exclaimed, obviously surprised and concerned that she had.

“How can I not?” she said, distressed by his appearance. “It’s obvious he’s knocked you for six. How can you play this afternoon? Polo is a dangerous, demanding game. You have to have all your wits about you.”

“Listen, Leo, I’m playing,” Robbie answered emphatically. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I just have to regain my balance. A good lunch will help. Actually, I feel better than I have in ages. Can’t you understand that? It’s like going to confession and receiving absolution. Boyd was much too generous. I don’t deserve it. He’ll get the bad guys off my back. He said a lot has been invested in me to succeed. He also said I have your love and loyalty—hell, he reduced me to tears about that. Anyway, I swear to you, Leo, I’m going to mend my ways. I’m going to turn over a new leaf. I’m going to make you and Boyd proud of me. I know I’ve caused you a lot of anxiety and I’ve leant on you terribly. That has to stop. Both of us have to stop seeing me as your ‘kid brother’.”

“Boyd said that, did he?” She bit her lip.