The Marriage Resolution

She also knew she had a reputation locally for being not just astute but also extremely shrewd. Her father, on the other hand, had been almost too ready to trust in other people’s honesty, to believe that they were as genuine and philanthropic as he himself had been, which was why…

‘Dee, you aren’t listening to me,’ Peter was complaining tetchily.

‘Oh, Peter, I’m sorry,’ Dee apologised soothingly.

‘I was just saying about Hugo, and about how you would be well-advised to seek his advice. I know your father was very proud of you, Dee, and that he meant it for the best when he left you in charge of his business affairs, but personally I’ve always felt that it’s a very heavy burden for you to carry. If you’d married it might have been different. A woman needs a man to lean on,’ Peter opined.

Dee forced herself not to protest. Peter meant well, she reminded herself. It was just that he was so out of step with modern times. It didn’t help, of course, that he had never married, and so had never had a wife or daughter of his own.

‘By the way, did you ever find out what had happened to that Julian Cox character?’ Peter asked her.

Immediately Dee froze.

‘Julian Cox? No…why do you ask?’ Warily she waited for his response.

‘No reason; it was just that Hugo and I were talking over old times and I remembered how badly your father was taken in by Cox. That was before we knew the truth about him, of course. Your father confessed to me—’

‘My father barely knew Julian,’ Dee denied fiercely. ‘And he certainly had no need to confess anything to anyone!’

‘Maybe not, but they were on a couple of charity committees together. I remember your father being very impressed by some of Julian’s ideas for raising money,’ Peter insisted stubbornly. ‘It was such a tragedy, your father dying when he did. To lose his life like that, and in such a senseless accident…’

Dee’s mouth had gone dry. She always hated talking about her father’s death. As Peter was saying, it had been a tragic, senseless way to die.

‘Hugo said as much himself…’

Dee felt as though her heart might stop beating.

‘You were discussing my father’s death with Hugo?’

The sharp, shocked tone of her voice caused Peter to look uncertainly at her.

‘Hugo brought it up. We were talking about your father’s charity work.’

Dee tried to force herself to relax. Her heart was thudding heavily as anxiety-induced adrenalin was released into her bloodstream.

‘I’m a little bit concerned about this bee you’ve got in your bonnet about these young people, Dee,’ Peter was saying now, a little bit reprovingly. ‘I’m not sure that your father would have approved of what you’re trying to do. Being philanthropic is all very well, but these youngsters…’ He paused and cocked his head. ‘I applaud your concern for them, but, my dear, I really don’t think I can agree that we should fund the kind of thing you’ve got in mind.’

Dee’s heart started to sink. She had always known it would be difficult to convince Peter to support what she wanted to do, and the last thing she wanted to do now was to upset him by arguing with him. She had no idea how serious his condition might be, and she suspected that any attempt on her part to find out would be met with strong opposition from Dr Jane Harper. If it were Hugo, now, who wanted to know…! She was being unfair, Dee warned herself mentally—unfair and immature. But that didn’t mean that she wasn’t right!

‘What exactly is Hugo doing in Lexminster?’ she asked Peter, trying to give his thoughts a new direction.

‘It’s business,’ Peter told her vaguely.

‘Business?’ Dee raised her eyebrows. ‘I thought you said his work involved lobbying politicians for international support for his aid programme.’

‘Yes. It does,’ Peter agreed. ‘But Lexminster University has access to certain foundation funds which have been donated over the years to be used as the university sees fit.’

‘For charitable causes,’ Dee agreed. She knew all about such foundations.

‘Hugo hopes to get the university to agree to donate all or part of them to his aid programme.’

‘But I thought they were supposed to be used to benefit university scholars’ projects.’

‘Hugo was a university scholar,’ Peter reminded her simply. Yes, he had been, and Peter was on the committee that dealt with the disbursement of those funds, as Dee already knew. She started to frown. Was Hugo’s desire to move in with Peter and take care of him as altruistic as it had initially seemed? The Hugo she had known would certainly never have stooped to such tactics. But then the Hugo she had known would never have worn a Savile Row suit, nor a subtly expensive and discreet cologne that smelled of fresh mountain air just warmed by a hint of citrus.

Dee was becoming increasingly alarmed at the thought of leaving Peter on his own with Hugo, but she sensed that it wouldn’t be wise to express her doubts. From what Peter had already said to her it was obvious that for him Hugo could do no wrong.

Dee was frowning over this unpalatable knowledge when she heard someone knocking on the front door.

‘That will be Hugo!’ Peter exclaimed with evident pleasure. ‘You’d better go and let him in.’

Yes, and no doubt lie prone in the hallway so that he could wipe his boots on her, Dee decided acidly as she got up off the bed.

CHAPTER THREE

‘HOW’S Peter?’ Hugo asked Dee tersely as she opened the door to him.

‘He seems a lot better, although I’m sure that Dr Jane Harper would be delighted to give you a much more professional opinion if you wanted one,’ Dee responded wryly, forcing herself not to wince as Hugo’s glance swept her from head to foot with open dislike.

‘It’s odd how one’s memory can play tricks on one. I had a distinct memory of you being an intelligent woman, Dee.’

‘Well, I’m certainly intelligent enough to wonder what it is that makes you so anxious to help Peter.’

As Dee stressed the word ‘you’ she could see the anger flashing like lightning in Hugo’s eyes. It gave her an odd, sharp stab of pain-tipped pleasure to know that she had drawn such a reaction from him, even whilst she had to force herself to blot out of her memory the knowledge that once there had been a time when that lightning look had been born of the urgency of his desire for her, instead of the urgency of his ire against her.

‘I am anxious to help him, as you put it, because it concerns me that he should so obviously be on his own,’ Hugo replied pointedly.

‘He isn’t on his own; he’s got me,’ Dee protested fiercely.

Immediately Hugo’s eyebrows rose.

‘Oh…? He told me that the last time he had seen you was over two weeks ago.’

Angrily Dee frowned.

‘I try to see him as often as I can, but—’

‘Other people have a prior claim on your time?’ Hugo suggested. ‘Be honest, Dee, you couldn’t have moved in here to take care of him, could you?’

‘He could have come to Rye with me,’ Dee protested, without answering his question. ‘And if you hadn’t been here he would have.’

‘He would? Yes, I’m sure he would. But would that have been what he really wanted? He wants to stay here, Dee. This is his home. His books, his things, his memories…his life…are all here.’

‘Maybe, but you can’t stay with him for ever, can you, Hugo? And what’s going to happen to him once you’ve gone?’

‘Since, for the foreseeable future, I’m going to be based in the UK, there’s nothing to stop me from making my home here in Lexminster if I choose to do so. It’s convenient for the airport and—’

‘You’re planning to live permanently in Lexminster…?’