Rescued by the Brooding Tycoon

CHAPTER TWELVE

‘GOOD evening, Mrs Connor.’

Harriet wondered if she’d only imagined that he stressed ‘Mrs’ very slightly.

‘Good evening, Mr Falcon. What a surprise. You didn’t tell me you were coming.’

‘It was a sudden decision. Aren’t you going to invite me in?’

‘Of course.’

She led him up to her apartment over the shop, keeping her hand on Phantom’s collar, dreading that he might give one of his displays of friendliness. But she need not have feared. When they were inside, Phantom moved as far away from Amos as possible and sat huddled in a corner, eyeing him distrustfully.

When the door had shut, Harriet said, ‘If you were hoping to see Darius-’

‘I wasn’t. I know he’s in London. I’ve seen him several times in the last few days.’ He was watching her face carefully, easily seeing that this disconcerted her. ‘Did he not tell you that? Strange.’

On first finding him there she had remembered how pleasantly he’d spoken to her when they danced at the wedding. But now she saw that his smile was cold, and she remembered how Darius had described his father-ruthless, scheming, implacable; a man who was determined to make others do his will. She recalled too that Amos had chosen a wife for his son, and wondered uneasily what had brought him such a distance to see her.

‘So you don’t know what’s been happening to him?’ Amos said in a genial voice that struck a false note to her ears.

‘I don’t ask Darius about his business,’ Harriet said. ‘I doubt if I’d understand it, anyway.’

‘Possibly, but when a man is taking hold of his problems and dealing with them successfully it’s not hard to understand. Anyway, never mind that. You and I have things to discuss.’

‘Coffee?’ she asked politely.

‘Thank you, I will. You know, I really took to you when we met before. You’re an admirable young woman, not just because you helped save my son’s life, but also because of the way you’ve built up this shop. It’s worth a lot more than you’d think by just looking at the outside.’

‘How do you know what it’s worth?’ she asked.

He shrugged. ‘That kind of information isn’t hard to come by. It belonged to your husband but he had very little time for it so the running of it fell to you. It was you who arranged the loans and made sure they were paid on time.’

‘So you’ve been looking at my bank records?’ she asked in outrage.

She knew that a man like this, who stood at the summit of the financial universe, would have no difficulty in accessing any figures that he wanted, yet the discovery that he’d had her investigated was a nasty shock that made her seethe.

‘And I’ve been very impressed by what I found. You’ve turned this place into twice what it was before. I’m prepared to pay a high price for it.’

‘It’s not for sale.’

He gave a harsh chuckle. ‘Of course it isn’t. That’s exactly what I expected you to say.’

‘And I meant it.’

‘Naturally. But you and I don’t need to waste any time. We both know what the score is. You’ve gained a real influence over my son, but now that he’s returning to his old life I don’t want him harking back to you. The fight isn’t over yet and he’s going to need all his faculties to come out on top.’

Then Harriet did something that she did very rarely. She lost her temper, turning on him with such a look that he nearly backed away.

‘Understand me,’ she said. ‘I will not discuss Darius with you. If he wants to consign me to the past then he can tell me himself, and I’ll open my hands and let him go. I will not try to keep a stranglehold on him, and you don’t have to buy me off. Is that clear?’

Amos Falcon’s response was a genial smile that made her want to murder him.

‘Perfectly clear and I respect your strength of mind, but you should allow me to show that respect by purchasing your shop at twice its value. You won’t get such an offer again.’

‘You’re crazy,’ she breathed. ‘You think everyone’s for sale.’

‘No, I simply think you should be considering the long-term implications. After the appalling way your husband treated you, you should be protecting yourself.’

His words were like a douche of ice.

‘The appalling way-? Darius told you about that?’

‘Not at all. I told him.’

Suddenly the world had turned into a nightmare through which she could only stumble.

‘You told-? When?’

‘At the wedding. I discovered I knew rather more about you than he did, so I brought him up to date.’

Now she couldn’t speak at all, only look at him from wide, horrified eyes.

‘He was very chivalrous,’ Amos went on. ‘He said it was entirely a matter for you if you wanted to keep your secrets, which, of course, is right. But I think he was a little disturbed to discover that you’d been holding him off while pretending to be close to him.’

Harriet’s head swam. There in her mind was the sweet moment when she’d confided in Darius what she’d told nobody else, meaning in this way to prove her trust in him.

But he’d known all the time, and never told her.

‘Get out,’ she breathed. ‘Get out now, if you know what’s good for you.’

‘He doesn’t,’ said a voice from the door. ‘He’s never known what was good for him.’

Shocked, they both turned to see Darius standing there, a look of dark fury on his face.

‘You heard her,’ he told his father. ‘Get out. Get off this island and don’t ever come back.’

‘What are you doing here?’ Amos shouted.

‘When I found out where you’d gone I came after you as fast as I could. I knew you’d try something like this. Luckily, I arrived in time to spike your guns.’

‘I was only trying to do my best for you,’ Amos growled. ‘You’ve done so well these past few days.’

‘Yes, I’ve put a lot of things right, not everything but enough to survive. And now I’m coming back here to stay. For good. I’m moving my centre of operations here permanently. From now on I’ll operate out of Giant’s Beacon, with the help of my wife.’

‘Your wife!’ Amos snapped. ‘You mean you’ve asked her? Of all the damn fool-’

‘No, I haven’t asked her,’ Darius said with a glance at Harriet. ‘And after what you’ve told her I wouldn’t give much for my chances. But I’m a man who doesn’t give up. When I want something I keep on and on until I get it. You taught me that, and I was never more glad of a lesson in my life.

‘It won’t be easy. Why should any woman in her right mind want to marry into this family? But I’ll keep going until she forgives me for keeping that little matter of her husband to myself, and understands that I can’t live without her. Then, perhaps she’ll take pity on me.’

Harriet tried to speak but she couldn’t. Her eyes were blinded with tears and something was almost choking her.

‘Now go,’ Darius said quietly.

Amos knew when he was beaten. With a scowl at them both, he stormed out of the door and they heard his footsteps thundering on the stairs.

‘I meant every word of it,’ Darius said, coming to stand before her. ‘I love you. I want to have you with me always. That’s why I went to London, to set up the arrangements that would make it possible for me to move here permanently. I suppose I ought to have told you first-asked you first-but that’s not my way. I fix things to suit myself, and then other people just have to fit in. Once I knew I wanted to marry you, you never had a choice.

‘Harriet, Harriet, don’t cry. I don’t mean it. I’ll do anything to marry you. You’ll just have to be a little patient with me. Don’t cry, my darling, please.’

But she couldn’t stop crying. Tears of joy, of hope, of released tension, they all came flooding out, making it impossible for her to speak. Mysteriously, he also found that words had deserted him, so he abandoned them altogether, carried her into the bedroom and revealed his love in other ways. She responded with heartfelt tenderness, and they found that their mutual understanding was once more perfect.

‘I can’t believe the way you stood up to my father,’ he murmured as they lay together afterwards. ‘The world is littered with strong men he crushed beneath his feet, but he didn’t stand a chance against you.’

‘He tried to turn me against you,’ she said. ‘How dare he!’

‘I heard him tell you that he and I had had several meetings while I was in London, but he didn’t tell you what those meetings were about. He tried again to get me to marry Freya, offered me money, all useless. Freya was cheering me on, and actually drove me to the airport. The last thing she said to me was, “Go for it. Don’t let her escape!”

‘Mary said much the same thing. There’ll be a huge cheer when I tell them that we’re engaged.’ Suddenly, he sounded uncertain. ‘Harriet, we are engaged, aren’t we?’

‘I thought you weren’t going to take no for an answer.’

‘I’m not.’

‘And neither am I.’ She drew him close.

‘That old man thought he was being clever when he found out about your husband,’ Darius said, ‘but it just made me angry with him. It only affected me in that I longed for you to confide in me willingly, and when you did-I wanted to tell you that I already knew, but I was afraid to spoil what was happening between us. Say you forgive me.’

‘There’s nothing to forgive,’ she whispered.

‘And we’ll marry as soon as possible?’

‘I want to, of course I do. I love you. I thought I’d never love another man, but you’re different from them all. But can you really give up your old life to come and live here? Aren’t we being unrealistic?’

‘I shan’t have to give it up completely. I’m going to have to downsize, but that suits me. My London home is up for sale and I’ll be selling quite a few other properties. I’ll pay off some debts, reschedule others, and what’s left can be controlled just as easily from here as from London.’

‘But can you do it all alone?’

‘I won’t have to. I have staff who are willing to move here permanently. I couldn’t ask them before because I didn’t know where I’d be myself, but now it can all be arranged. I’ve got plans to create a little village for them.’

‘And they won’t mind leaving London for such a quiet place?’

‘Mind? They were falling over themselves to volunteer. This will be a whole new life for a lot of people. It isn’t going to be the “great financial empire” I once had. It’ll be about a third of the size, but that’s fine with me. Then I’ll have more time to spend with my wife and our children.’

‘Our children?’

‘If that’s what you’d like.’ He was silenced suddenly as she took him into a fierce embrace.

‘That’s what I’d like,’ she whispered at last. ‘Oh, yes, that’s what I’d like, as soon as possible.’

‘Then we’ll have a dozen children, and I’ll spend my time pottering about the house, and sometimes helping you in the shop.’

‘Now you’re getting carried away,’ she warned.

‘So what’s wrong with being carried away?’

‘Nothing,’ she sighed blissfully. ‘Nothing at all.’

‘And I’m going to do my best to make Herringdean glad I’m here. There must be things I can do for the community. I expect they’ll come and suggest them to you soon, and you can tell me. I’m going to have a good look at that wind farm. There may be some arrangement I can make to get a good electricity price for the island.’

‘Do you really think you can?’

‘I don’t know.’ His voice rose to a note of exhilaration. ‘I simply don’t know.’

‘Darling, you’re sounding a bit mad. Anyone would think not knowing was the best thing in the world.’

‘Maybe it is. Maybe it’s better to have things that you know you don’t know, that you’ve got to learn about, because that’s all part of having a new life. There’s so much I don’t know, and I’m going to have a great time finding out.’

‘We’ll have a great time finding out,’ she suggested.

‘Maybe. The trouble is that you already know so much more than me. I’m going to have to learn from you-teacher.’

She regarded him tenderly. She wasn’t crazy enough to take all of this too seriously. Darius was caught in the exhilaration of their love and their new life, and he was celebrating with wild dreams. But he hadn’t completely changed character, no matter how he sounded. Part of him would always be the fierce, dynamic man who’d first arrived on Herringdean weeks ago.

But she knew also that part of him would be this new man coming to life in her arms. And just how the mixture settled would be up to her in the years ahead. He’d put himself in her hands and she was eager for the challenge.

‘You make it sound so wonderful,’ she said. ‘Oh, yes, everything is going to be perfect. No, no, it’s perfect now.’

‘Not quite,’ he said. ‘There’s still one thing I want, although I don’t suppose I’ll ever have it.’

‘Whatever can that be?’

‘You’ve done so much for me. Saving my life was just the start of it. There are so many other ways in which you’ve saved me, I couldn’t begin to count them. If only there was something I could do for you that would mean as much.’

‘But it’s enough that you love me.’

‘Not for me. I want to give you something so precious that it’s like a jewel, but I don’t know that I can. I can’t make it happen-it just has to happen, and maybe it never will.’

‘Stop fretting,’ she told him. ‘We’ll just have to be patient. It may take a long time to happen.’

But it happened before anyone could have expected, and in a way that nobody could have foreseen in a million years.

Preparations for the wedding started at once, with Harriet moving out of her tiny apartment and into Giant’s Beacon, where she could take immediate charge of the renovations.

‘Is Phantom pleased with his accommodation?’ Darius enquired after the first day.

‘Yes, he’s asked me to express his approval of your efforts on his behalf. Putting him in the room next door to ours was pure genius.’

‘Next thing, he’ll have to meet the family. We’ll start this afternoon.’

‘What?’

‘It’s simple. We go into the computer room, switch on the video link-’ he was doing so as he spoke ‘-and the family will appear.’

It was her first encounter with video link and it took her breath away. Jackson connected from his computer in London, and Marcel appeared from Paris. Then there was Mary and Ken, raising their glasses to her, and Frankie and Mark, bouncing with happiness.

Like Darius, she was discovering the joys of new experiences and they were exhilarating.

‘It’s all working out,’ she told Phantom, stroking him as he settled for the night. ‘We’re going to have such a wonderful life, my darling-Phantom-are you all right? Darius.’

In a moment he was there, dropping to his knees beside the dog, who was heaving violently.

‘Call the vet quickly,’ he said.

The vet lived nearby. He was soon there, listened to Phantom’s heart and shook his head.

‘He’s very old, and his heart’s worn out,’ he said. ‘This was bound to happen soon. I think you should prepare yourself for the worst. Would you like me to put him to sleep now?’

‘No,’ Harriet said fiercely. ‘I want him until the last possible moment.’ She scooped Phantom up in her arms. ‘There, darling, we’ll stay together and you’ll feel my arms around you all the time.’

Darius watched her wretchedly, torn apart by her grief.

‘We’ll stay with him together,’ he said, touching her face gently.

But then the worst thing possible happened. A sound split the air, making them both start up in horror.

‘My pager,’ she gasped. ‘No-no-I can’t. I can’t leave him to die alone.’

‘Harriet, you’ve got to go,’ Darius said urgently. ‘Not for their sake but for your own. You swore to do your duty and put it above all personal considerations. If you fail now, you’ll never forgive yourself as long as you live.’

Her wild eyes showed that she knew he was right, and tears streamed down her face as she fought between her duty and her feelings for her beloved dog.

‘How can I leave him alone?’ she whispered.

‘He won’t be alone. I’ll stay with him until the last minute. He’ll be in my arms, just as he would have been in yours. He’ll know that he’s loved, I promise you. Trust me, Harriet. Trust me!’

‘Yes-’ she gasped. ‘Yes-’ She caressed Phantom’s head. ‘Goodbye, my darling-goodbye-’

Darius never forgot the look on her face as she backed out of the room. Or the look on Phantom’s face as he took the dog into his arms.

‘She’d have stayed if she could,’ he told him. ‘We both know that, because she loves you more than anyone in the world. And I’m not even jealous.’

Incredibly, he felt the great furry body in his arms relax. Phantom’s eyes closed, but he was still alive for a moment later they opened again.

‘It’s time we had a good long talk,’ Darius murmured. ‘We both love her so much, we had to get together sooner or later.’

He talked on, only faintly aware of the passage of time. He wondered where Harriet was now. Had she reached the station yet? He knew she was suffering, thinking of Phantom dying without her. But he had made her a promise, and he would keep it at all costs.

The hours passed. Daylight faded. He knew he was repeating himself, but that didn’t matter. What counted was the love in his voice, reaching out to the dog as Harriet herself would have reached out to him.

At first he listened for her step on the stairs, but gradually he ceased to be aware of anything but the living animal dying softly in his arms. It might be madness but he had no doubt that Phantom could understand every word, just as he would have done from Harriet.

And then the truth came to him as a revelation. This was the sign he’d longed for, the proof that he and Harriet were one. Phantom’s eyes on him were full of trust.

Harriet, slipping into the house downstairs, listened to the silence, knowing what it meant. Phantom had died when she wasn’t there to care for him. And however much she tried to believe that Darius had helped him, he would know that she herself had abandoned him when he needed her most. Tears streamed down her face as she climbed the stairs.

And then, halfway up, she stopped, holding herself tense against the incredible sound that reached her. Surely that was Darius’s voice? He was talking to someone, that meant-?

Hardly daring to believe it, she sped up the rest of the way, pausing outside the door, then moving quietly into the room. There she stood just outside of Darius’s vision, listening, entranced, to his words.

‘I’m not sure she really understands even now how much I love her,’ he was saying. ‘I’ve tried to show it but I’m clumsy. I never knew anyone like her existed and I’m afraid that she’ll leave me. That’s why I’m hurrying her into our marriage before she has a chance to think. But she’s turning me into someone else. This other guy, he doesn’t do any of the things I’m used to, so I’m having to get to know him from scratch.

‘I wish I could be more like you. You were never lost for what to do next, were you? Toss them to the ground and jump up and down on them, that’s your way.

‘I used to be jealous of you. How about that? I thought she loved you because she still loved Brad, but it’s got nothing to do with him. I know that now. You’re lovable and precious, and you’ve got to be here for us a while yet.

‘Hey, you’re restless. That’s good. Hold on there, boy. Don’t give up now. She’ll be home soon-just a little longer. Harriet!’

She dropped down beside him, her hands caressing Phantom, but her eyes turned up to him in a passion of love and gratitude.

‘You did it,’ she whispered. ‘You kept him alive for me. Thank you, thank you-oh, if only you knew-’

‘I think perhaps I do,’ he murmured, his eyes meeting hers in a moment of total understanding that was normal with them now.

‘I reckon he’s got a little longer yet,’ Darius said.

As if to prove it, Phantom shifted in his arms and leaned forward to lick Harriet’s face.

‘You’ve got to live a bit longer, you hear that?’ she said. ‘I want you there at our wedding. Promise me.’

Woof!

They were married three weeks later, on the beach. Of Darius’s family, only Amos and his wife were missing; but his brothers and Freya all said they wouldn’t miss it for the world. Mary and Ken said the same thing, watching with satisfaction as Darius laid claim to the most valuable property of his life.

Frankie walked behind the bride, pretty in frills and flowers. And beside her walked Mark, his hand on Phantom’s collar, guiding him to a place at the front where he could curl up and watch the ceremony.

The vet had expressed astonishment at his survival, but Harriet wasn’t surprised. Darius had done what he longed to do-given her something so precious that it was like a jewel. If she had doubted his love before, she could doubt it no longer. She knew now that the jewel would shine for ever.