The Complete Ravenscar Trilogy: The Ravenscar Dynasty, Heirs of Ravenscar, Being Elizabeth. Barbara Taylor Bradford

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СКАЧАТЬ the number in the notebook instead of a name. It was a coding system. I think he didn’t want anyone to know which countries he was targeting for some reason. Anyone picking the notebook up would be baffled, but not at all baffled if he had written out the names of the countries.’

      ‘But why didn’t he want anyone to know which countries he was referring to?’

      ‘I think he stumbled onto something. In Carrara he told me he was not only worried about the quarries there, which were dwindling, but lots of the other mines as well. I asked him if they, too, were dwindling down and he said no, there were other difficulties. But he didn’t go any further than that.’

      Alfredo took the notebook out of his pocket and passed it to Ned, then went and sat down in the chair. ‘You’d better have that. I’d hate to lose it.’

      Sitting down himself, Edward confided, ‘I think I know who he meant by compadre. My uncle, Rick Watkins.’

      Alfredo frowned. ‘Why Rick?’

      ‘Because they were the best of friends, true compadres, and had been close for donkey’s years. Rick was my mother’s brother, and therefore family, and obviously someone he trusted absolutely. Then there’s yet another thing, Rick Watkins was probably one of the greatest magnates in this country, in fact, there was no other tycoon like him. Therefore, my father could rely on his judgement, any advice he gave. It just made sense to me as I was staring at the map. Rick came into my mind, and I knew I was right.

      ‘I agree. Who better than Rick Watkins to advise your father? Unless it is his son.’

      ‘True. However, I’m sure my father was much closer to Neville’s father.’

      Sitting back in his chair, staring out into space for a moment or two, Edward seemed lost, drifting into another world, a world only he could envision. Then he sat up abruptly, and looked at Alfredo intently. Lowering his voice, he said, ‘That’s why Rick and Thomas were killed. They were murdered on purpose. Not because they just happened to be there in Carrara. The Grant faction was afraid of Rick Watkins, his power, his wealth, his brilliance as a businessman. They knew if push came to shove Rick Watkins would throw everything he had at them, to support my father and his claim for the top job at Deravenels. My brother was murdered because he was a Deravenel, a contender for the top job if anything happened to me.’

      Pale as he was, Alfredo appeared to grow paler. He did not speak for a moment, sat mulling over the things Edward Deravenel had just said. Finally, after a few minutes, he murmured, ‘I can’t argue with you, Mr Edward, I really can’t. I think you are right. And—’

      The door of the office burst open, swinging back violently on its hinges. ‘So here you are,’ a woman’s shrill voice exclaimed, and as she strode into the room Edward knew at once that this was Margot Grant.

      He had met her several times, but long ago when he was much younger, and he had forgotten how very beautiful she was. Her skin was devoid of colour, absolutely white and flawless, her hair raven black and luxuriant, glossy, upswept into the latest style. Large, luminous black eyes stared out from under perfectly arched black brows. Her incomparable and rather dramatic beauty was matched by her slender, willowy figure and her clothes, which were the height of current fashion and expensively chic.

      Coming fully into the room, she closed the door behind her and gave Edward a cursory look, then turned her attention on Alfredo Oliveri furiously.

      ‘I’ve been looking all over for you!’ she cried in perfect English only slightly accented. ‘How dare you hold these meetings about the Carrara quarries without my presence!’

      Alfredo took a deep breath, obviously striving to control his temper. ‘The matter is urgent, and you were not here last week, Mrs Grant. Because of the urgency I held my meetings with Aubrey Masters and other executives involved in the mining division. But you know all this. And there is nothing wrong with my doing that, you know.’

      ‘I represent my husband at this moment in time. I run this company, and I will not tolerate insubordination.’

      ‘There wasn’t any,’ Alfredo shot back. ‘And I won’t have you suggesting that there was.’

      ‘You must not speak to me in that tone—’

      ‘Hey, hold on a minute,’ Edward cut in peremptorily. ‘Let me just point out one thing to you, madame. You do not run this company!’

      ‘Oh but I do,’ she exclaimed. ‘And why are you here in the first place? You have no right to be here, no right to occupy this office. Pack your possessions and get out.’

      ‘Oh but I do have every right. You had better go and look at the company rules, Mrs Grant. You will quickly discover that I have every right to be here at Deravenels, to occupy my father’s office, to be a director of this company, and to work here. For one very simple and undeniable reason. I am a Deravenel. You are not a Deravenel by birth, and therefore you cannot run this company. Actually you shouldn’t even be here at all. Because in those company rules you will find a clause which says only a woman who is a born Deravenel can work in the company and hold a directorship. Other women may work here as secretaries and receptionists, but not hold a position as an executive.’

      ‘Ah, c’est pas possible!’ she cried, reverting to her native French.

      ‘Oh but it is possible!’ Edward responded. He moved forward, was suddenly standing in front of her, looking down at her.

      Staring up at him, Margot Grant saw the handsomeness of this man, became aware of his raw sex appeal, and she took a step back, glaring. But she was silent for once, unnerved by him, taken aback by his charismatic presence. He overwhelmed her.

      Edward continued. ‘I will not get out, and don’t you ever dare suggest that to me again. You are the one who is a trespasser here, not I, madame.’

      At a loss for words, feeling unexpectedly humiliated, Margot Grant swung around and left Edward’s office without another word.

      Once the door had closed behind her, Alfredo grinned at Edward and said, ‘That was telling her where to get off.’

      ‘She’s one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen,’ Edward said almost wonderingly.

      ‘But she’s also a bitch, and evil,’ Alfredo pointed out in a low, almost inaudible voice. ‘Don’t ever forget that. Not ever.’

      Neville Watkins met Edward and Oliveri for lunch at Rules later that morning. The wonderful restaurant just off the Strand was a favourite of his, and after Edward’s urgent telephone call he had made a reservation for one o’clock and been accommodated immediately.

      The three men sat at the best table in the house, studying their menus as they waited for Amos Finnister to arrive.

      They had just selected their food and were relaxing with apéritifs when Amos Finnister hurried in.

      ‘So sorry to be late,’ he explained, ‘but I got caught up with—some of my operatives.’ As he took a seat opposite Neville, he added, with a small, satisfied smile, ‘I have set things in motion, sir. Regarding those…er…er records.’

      Neville СКАЧАТЬ