The Venetian's Midnight Mistress. Кэрол Мортимер

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СКАЧАТЬ it’s about time you did,’ Eleni said, having been happily engaged to Brad for the last year. ‘Not all men are like Philip, you know—’

      ‘I have no guarantee of that,’ Dani interrupted firmly. ‘And until I do, I have no intention of getting involved with anyone again. Well…not by choice,’ she muttered, sighing as the heavy weight of her earlier distraction came crowding back.

      Damn her grandfather, anyway. What person in his right mind would put a clause like that in his will, for goodness’ sake? Her grandfather, apparently. If she hadn’t complied with the terms of that particular clause by the time her grandfather died, then her parents were going to lose Wiverley Hall, their home in Gloucestershire, where her father had spent years building up the reputation of his stable for training racehorses.

      Eleni raised dark brows. ‘That last statement sounded very intriguing…?’

      Dani gave herself a mental shake. It was a problem, yes, but not an immediate one when her grandfather was still so fit and well.

      ‘Not really,’ she dismissed briskly. ‘So, tell me how your plans for the reception are progressing? Have you—?’

      ‘Oh, no, you don’t, Daniella Bell,’ Eleni cut in. ‘I’m not going to be put off by a change of subject. Tell all,’ she demanded, her dark brown gaze avid with curiosity.

      Dani couldn’t help but smile. It was difficult to believe now that Eleni’s English had ever been other than what it was. In fact, apart from the darkness of Eleni’s colouring, nowadays her friend was almost more English than Dani.

      She should never have given Eleni, of all people, even an inkling that something was troubling her. Eleni was like a dog with a bone when she got her teeth into something, and she wouldn’t let this go until Dani had ‘told all’, as she had so succinctly put it.

      But maybe she should tell Eleni what was worrying her. Eleni was her best friend, after all, and Dani badly needed to talk to someone about her grandfather’s will!

      She heaved another heavy sigh. ‘Do you remember my grandfather Bell?’

      ‘How could I forget him?’ Eleni snorted. ‘I met him at your wedding, of course, and once before that, when I came to stay for a weekend at your parents’ home years ago. But that was certainly enough! He’s even more formidably conservative than Niccolo with his “young ladies should be seen and not heard”,’ she quoted in a fair imitation of Daniel Bell’s harsh tones. ‘How your poor mother has put up with him living with them all these years I’ll never know! I—Oops.’ She gave an apologetic grimace. ‘I’m sorry, Dani, that was extremely rude of me.’

      Dani shook her head. ‘The fact that he’s my grandfather doesn’t make me blind to his faults. He’s always been a tyrant and a control freak,’ she confirmed disgustedly. ‘But the thing is, Eleni, it’s actually my parents who have lived with my grandfather all these years. Not the other way around. He owns Wiverley Hall.’

      ‘So that’s why your mother has had to put up with him,’ her friend realised.

      ‘Yes,’ Dani said. ‘And my grandfather has never made any secret of the fact that he’s disappointed he only had the one grandchild—’

      ‘How could he possibly be disappointed with you? You’re gorgeous!’ Eleni looked indignant. ‘I’ve always wanted to be a tiny redhead. Do you remember how I dyed my hair red like yours five years ago?’ Her giggle was almost girlish. ‘I thought Niccolo was going to shave my head and then send me back home on the next plane!’

      Dani remembered only too well Niccolo’s visit to England five years ago. And the fury in the accusing look he’d shot in her direction when he’d arrived and seen what Eleni had done to her normally rich brown hair…

      ‘And I’ve always been envious of your amazing green eyes,’ Eleni continued longingly. ‘Plus, you’ve become one of the most successful interior designers in London.’

      ‘Mainly due to you and other mutual friends employing me,’ Dani pointed out dryly.

      ‘That’s irrelevant,’ Eleni said firmly. ‘Your grandfather should be proud of you and your achievements!’

      Dani couldn’t help smiling at her friend’s chagrin on her behalf. ‘The thing is, my mother couldn’t have any more children after me, so that pretty well took care of there ever being a male heir.’

      ‘Your grandfather is only a land-owner, for goodness’ sake, not nobility!’ Eleni scoffed.

      And, being descended from nobility herself, Eleni was in a position to know the difference!

      Dani smiled wistfully. ‘Same thing as far as Grandfather Bell is concerned. “Land is wealth”,’ she quoted in almost as good an imitation of her grandfather as Eleni’s a few minutes ago. ‘Anyway, whatever the reason, he’s never made any secret of his disappointment that he only has one grandchild—me. When my marriage to Philip ended in divorce, and childless to boot, I thought he was going to have a heart attack!’

      ‘Doesn’t he know why it ended in divorce?’

      ‘Can you imagine any of the family even attempting to explain Philip’s problem to Grandfather Bell?’

      Her grandfather was approaching ninety years of age; trying to explain Philip’s pathological jealousy, his violent behaviour after he and Dani were married, would probably only result in her grandfather stating that the demand for equality from woman nowadays—that he so disapproved of!—was obviously to blame.

      ‘But the failure of your marriage wasn’t your fault, Dani.’ Eleni reached out a hand to grasp one of Dani’s. ‘You do know that, don’t you?’ She frowned. ‘I only ask because I know there hasn’t been a single man in your life since that awful marriage.’

      ‘Nor a married one, either!’ Dani retorted cheekily.

      Although, in all honesty, it wasn’t a subject she found in the least amusing. Not when her sex life, or lack of it, was the basis of her current problem!

      ‘Very funny,’ her friend drawled sarcastically as she straightened. ‘But I still don’t see how any of this affects you, Dani.’

      In the normal course of events it shouldn’t have; when her grandfather died, Dani’s father should quite naturally inherit Wiverley Hall and the stables. Except her grandfather had decided otherwise…

      ‘My father will only inherit Wiverley Hall and the Wiverley Stables if I have produced—or at least shown signs of producing—an heir before my grandfather dies.’ Dani winced at just putting into words the terms of the clause that her grandfather had recently told her he had added to his will, let alone actually acting on it! ‘Otherwise the whole thing is to be sold and the money given to charity.’

      Eleni gasped as she sat back in obvious shock. ‘But that’s—that’s positively Machiavellian!’

      ‘Tell me about it,’ Dani agreed, relieved to have talked to someone other than her parents about this at last.

      Her parents had obviously been distressed a week ago, when Daniel Bell had called them all together to inform them of the changes he had made to his will, but not as shocked as Dani herself.

      As СКАЧАТЬ