Barbara Taylor Bradford - Just Rewards

So was Linnet, although she also laughed and tried to reassure Evan. ‘You’ll be fine, darling. Julian and I will be there for the weekend, so I can help with any last-minute details for your wedding.’

‘That’s lovely, thanks for offering, but there’s not much to do. It’s only the family, after all.’

‘Your parents are coming over though, aren’t they?’

‘Oh yes, and my sisters. My mother’s already here, she arrived several days ago, and the others will be flying in next week. Robin’s being wonderful, very kind, and he’s invited my parents and sisters to stay at Lackland Priory.’

‘Well, that’s nice of him, of course, but don’t forget you’ve given him a new lease of life, Evan. Mummy says he’s never looked better. And India tells me that Great-Aunt Edwina is bursting with joie de vivre , at the top of her form.’

‘So I’ve heard, but that’s surely because India is going to marry Dusty at Clonloughlin this summer. A big fancy wedding is just up Great-Aunt Edwina’s alley,’ Evan pointed out with a huge grin.

Linnet agreed, then pushed herself to her feet and picked up her coat. ‘I’d better go, I’ve loads of paperwork to catch up with. Thanks for listening, and for your input. It was just what I needed.’ She paused at the door, blew a kiss. ‘I’ll see you later.’ Smiling, she was gone.

Evan gazed at the door, her face already clouding over.

She was fully aware that Linnet’s nonchalance was assumed, that in fact she was concerned, worried what her mother’s reaction would be to her ideas for the Knightsbridge store. Although they were not particularly radical, Evan knew they would fall flat. As a newcomer, she saw Paula O’Neill from an entirely different viewpoint from her daughters and India Standish, Paula’s niece. Evan was aware that their boss was a woman who had become a trifle set in her ways. She was also determined to keep Harte’s in its traditional mode, to keep its image intact. What Linnet wanted to do wouldn’t destroy Harte’s image. On the other hand, Paula would be upset. She was Emma Harte’s granddaughter and heiress, and she never deviated from the rules set down by Emma. Having run Harte’s in exactly the same way for well over thirty years, since before Emma’s death, she wasn’t likely to make any changes now.

There’ll be trouble between them, Evan suddenly thought with a sense of foreboding. Real trouble.

Endeavouring to brush this irrational feeling aside, she turned to her computer, went to her plans for the bridal floor. She hoped to lose herself in her work, but this did not happen. That peculiar sense of uneasiness persisted, and it disturbed her.

He could see her in the distance, high above him riding on the escalator, obviously heading for the upper floors of the store.

The bright red hair was a fiery halo around her face, impossible to miss, as was the sleek silhouette of her smartly-tailored black suit, austere except for the touches of white at the collar and cuffs.

She was the spitting image of Emma Harte and knew that she was, because everyone had told her this for years. And they had also told her how smart she was and canny, like her great-grandmother, and that she had inherited her intelligence, vivaciousness and drive. But, Jack Figg, head of Security and old family friend, suddenly wondered, had anyone ever told her that she, and only she in the entire family, had been lucky enough to inherit Emma’s enormous glamour as well. Certainly Linnet was much more glamorous than Paula or her half-sister, Tessa Fairley. In fact, Linnet stole everyone’s thunder on that score.

Such a hard thing to define, glamour, Jack thought, walking towards the escalator. It couldn’t be acquired. A person was either born with it or not … glamour was innate, something which came from within. It had nothing to do with the length of a woman’s hair or its colour, or the beauty of her skin, or her face and figure. Glamour had much more to do with enormous presence and charisma, rather than anything else. And those lucky enough to possess it, be it man or woman, made an impact wherever they went, always caused heads to turn, induced people to make a beeline for them.

A small smile flickered on Jack’s face as he stepped onto the escalator, and he acknowledged, somewhat ruefully, that he was prejudiced when it came to Linnet O’Neill. She was his favourite and always had been. To Jack she was the smartest of the younger generation in this family. She and her cousin Gideon Harte were the best and the brightest of the whole bunch. Not that their siblings or cousins were dullards or dimwits – far from it. Very simply put, it was these two who outshone the rest in almost every way. As a whole, though, the family was quite spectacular, with plenty of brain power between them. Hard-working, diligent, loyal and trustworthy, each and every Harte was also extremely good-looking, just like Emma and her two brothers had been.

His thoughts swung to Gideon Harte, who was to marry Evan Hughes in ten days.

Evan Hughes … now there was a name to conjure with. The newly-found American relative … quite a story that was. Sent to London a year ago by her dying British grandmother Glynnis Hughes, to seek out Emma Harte … who Evan quickly found out had been dead for thirty years. Evan stumbling into the midst of the Hartes, meeting Gideon that first day in the store and falling under his spell … as he had fallen under hers. Instantly. Love at first sight was grand when it happened. Evan impressing Linnet enough to be hired to work at the store … eventually causing Paula to wonder about her origins and delve into the past to uncover the truth about Evan’s antecedents … Paula discovering that Evan was the granddaughter of her uncle, Robin Ainsley, Emma’s favourite son.

And then another story had emerged and unravelled. Robin had had a secret liaison with Glynnis during the Second World War. Glynnis had borne Robin a son called Owen, soon after her marriage to her G.I. boyfriend, Richard Hughes, who had brought the boy up as his own. At the end of the war Richard had taken his Welsh bride and the boy to New York, and there she had lived until her death. But there was a much more complex story to the relationship between Robin and Glynnis, Jack knew that now. They all knew it.

Everything was out in the open; there were no more secrets, and with their typical generosity of spirit the entire family had welcomed Evan, made her feel at home amongst them. And later they had welcomed Evan’s parents, Owen and Marietta Hughes, brought them into the clan without a murmur or qualm.

And then there was Jonathan Ainsley. He hadn’t welcomed the Hughes family at all. Now there’s the rub, Jack thought with a grimace, as he considered Robin’s legitimate son, who had been thrown out of the family years ago for double-dealing, disloyalty, and cheating the division of Harte Enterprises which he ran.

Paula, her father David Amory and her cousin Alexander had dispatched him, and he had become their sworn enemy. David was long dead, and all of Jonathan’s hatred had been focused on Paula for years. He considered her his great nemesis.

Because of his dangerous games, Jack had Ainsley under surveillance at all times wherever he was in the world, as it happened mostly in Paris and Hong Kong. Jack needed to know what Ainsley was up to, when he was up to it, and most importantly, where.

Ainsley was currently in London, and this disturbed Jack. Now that he was once again running Harte’s security on a full-time basis, he felt responsible for every member of the family. Ainsley’s sudden presence was like a time-bomb ticking.

There was Evan’s and Gideon’s marriage to think of and it was uppermost in his mind at this moment. It was taking place on Saturday, January 19th, in the little church in the village of Pennistone. Small though the wedding was going to be, most of the immediate family would be present and undoubtedly they offered great temptation to Jonathan Ainsley.