AMANDA BROWNING - An Old Enchantment

Pushing herself to her feet, she smiled wryly at her mother. ‘He’s blunt to the point of rudeness, isn’t he? He wants me to go, and he has a point. Was it a mistake to come? Would you rather I left, too?’ Mr Holier-than-thou Devereaux couldn’t chase her off, but she’d go if it was what her mother wanted.

However, Lady Ambro shook her head adamantly. ‘By no means! I know it gave me a shock to see you, Maxine, but that was because I’d more or less convinced myself I wouldn’t see you again.’ With a watery laugh, she hugged her daughter to her. ‘I’m glad I was wrong. I missed you when you cut yourself off so completely.’

Swallowing back tears, Maxi found her voice. ‘After what happened, I thought it was for the best.’

Holding her at arm’s length, her mother sighed. ‘I understood that, but when you went to the trouble of writing to tell me of your divorce I thought you’d surely visit.’

Maxi shrugged helplessly. It was hard to explain when there was so much she couldn’t say. ‘At first I wouldn’t, and then, later, I couldn’t. I’m afraid I was a coward. I knew I’d hurt you all, but although I wanted to come home, I couldn’t face the thought of being turned away,’ she admitted honestly.

Her mother clucked her tongue sadly, not denying the truth of the statement. ‘What made you change your mind?’

Automatically Maxi rubbed her thigh. ‘The accident. It made me realise how precarious life is. Had it been worse, I might never have had the chance to come back and say how sorry I was. It was time to stop being so cowardly. So I made the decision, and here I am.’

Linking her arm through her daughter’s, Lady Ambro shook her head chidingly. ‘You, a coward, Maxine? But you were never one to back away from a fight! Nor have I ever known you to fail to do what you knew to be right, whatever the cost,’ she declared in surprise. ‘That’s why you came today, and that’s why I won’t let you go again so easily. Yes, you hurt us, but you’re still my daughter, and I love you.’

‘Oh, Mother, you make it sound so easy, but you know it isn’t going to be,’ Maxi exclaimed with a shaky laugh.

‘Of course it isn’t, but you were already prepared for that, weren’t you? Both Felicity and your father will come round in time,’ she pronounced positively, leading them slowly into the house to where the graciously curved staircase swept upwards to the second floor.

About to mount it, footsteps behind them made them halt and turn around. It was Kerr with her luggage.

‘I’ll look after Maxi, Bernice. There’s no need for you to struggle upstairs just to show her her room.’

Maxi’s heart gave a severe jolt at that, but there wasn’t time to refuse, because her mother was already releasing her.

Lady Ambro sent him a warm smile. ‘That’s kind of you, Kerr. As a matter of fact, I would like to go and find John. We’ll have a talk later, darling,’ she promised, smiling at her daughter.

There was nothing Maxi could do but put a brave face on it, and allow Kerr to take her arm in an altogether different sort of hold. She had the uncanny feeling he was debating the possible repercussions if he tossed her down the stairs! It wasn’t a comfortable sensation, and she tried to defuse it. ‘Why didn’t you want Mother to go upstairs?’ she charged curtly, and received a scornful glance.

‘Had you bothered to keep in some sort of contact, you might know your mother suffers from arthritis. It’s playing her up today, although she’d be the last to admit it.’

He had the damnable knack of hitting her where it hurt most, reminding her just how little she knew about her family now. She was left grinding her teeth in impotent rage as they reached the landing and turned down the corridor. If she was silent, Kerr was disposed to be chatty.

‘You realise your father was very hurt by what you did, don’t you, Maxi? Your whole family were. He couldn’t get over the disgrace of knowing a daughter of his could cause such a scandal. The consequence, as you saw for yourself, was that he swore he would never speak to you again.’

Maxi halted abruptly, sending him a killing look. ‘I realise you don’t like me, but there’s no reason to sound so pleased about it!’ she muttered, using anger to mask her hurt. God, he was enjoying himself!

His mouth twisted mockingly. ‘I’m surprised it bothers you. You are, after all, a totally selfish, amoral little bitch. However, this isn’t meant as a condemnation, merely filling you in on a few things. You see, I’m afraid his anger didn’t stop there.’

Maxi lurched from one breathtaking insult to another like a piece of disintegrating flotsam. Finally she rallied with a determination never to let him see just what damage he was causing. ‘If you mean he had my name expunged from the family bible, I’d pretty much worked that out for myself!’ she retorted with an edged smile, which told him to do his worst but not to expect blood because she was impervious to his cuts.

Eyes gleaming, he took up the challenge. ‘Did he? I wasn’t aware of it, but it doesn’t surprise me.’ Going to a door along the corridor, he pushed it open. ‘The rose bedroom,’ he introduced, standing back to allow her to enter, his whole attitude one of anticipation.

Maxi stepped forward before comprehension struck her. She was only grateful he couldn’t see her face when she realised the rose bedroom had once been her own. She halted in the doorway, aware that more than the name had been altered. It was a beautiful room, but nothing remained of the former occupant. Not only had the décor changed, but so had every stick of furniture.

‘He had it done straight away. There was no stopping him.’

Her heart squeezed painfully at the realisation of just how hard her father had tried to wipe away the memory of her. It made no difference that she had known how much she would be hurting those she left behind; she had never expected to see the result of it. But she had, courtesy of Kerr Devereaux. She could never hate her father for what he had done, but she could and did experience a great welling of hatred towards the man who waited silently behind her.

Walking inside, she carefully composed her features before facing him. ‘You know, you missed your calling,’ she declared conversationally, as if she found him amusing. ‘I imagine you would have been a whiz as a torturer. You get such pleasure from your work!’

‘Marriage to Ellis wasn’t all you expected it to be, was it?’ he said by way of an answer, following her inside and closing the door.

Maxi gasped, then simply had to laugh at his sheer effrontery. She could never remember anyone speaking to her like this in her whole life! She stared at him in awful fascination. ‘Doubtless it won’t astound you to hear it was no bed of roses?’ she queried wryly. She had, after all, gone into her marriage with her eyes fully open, and it had lived down to her expectations of it. ‘A piece of news which will cheer Fliss up no end!’

‘Not nearly as much as to know that you’ve gone,’ he rejoined instantly, and once again she was forced to laugh.

‘She certainly has a champion in you, doesn’t she? Are you sure you’re not the teeniest bit in love with her yourself?’ she taunted, and had the satisfaction of seeing him breathe in sharply for a change.

Kerr’s wrath spanned the space between them in a flash. ‘That’s about the level of remark I’d expect from a woman who’d steal her sister’s fiancé.’

Maxi went to the window, brushing aside the net, feigning an interest in the view. ‘As you’ve assumed you can say what you like to me, I’ve taken the same option myself. If you begin to find it irritating, you can always stop,’ she advised, letting the curtain drop and turning to lean casually against the frame.