LITMIR.BIZ

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was all that bitch Melissa’s fault. Announcing she had fallen in love with someone else! Probably because Matthew had been in no hurry to take her to the altar.

      ‘I should have thought you’d have had plenty of time to arrange your schedule so you wouldn’t be late,’ she remarked now, the attractive accent she still retained taking a little of the sharpness out of her tone. ‘I know you haven’t been into the office. I called earlier, and Robert told me you were not there.’

      ‘No.’ Matthew’s response was hardly satisfactory. ‘So—when did you arrive?’

      ‘Here—or in England?’ Caroline enquired in a clipped voice, jewelled fingers toying with the triple string of cultured pearls that encircled her slender throat, and Matthew’s mouth took on a lazy slant.

      ‘In England,’ he replied, humouring her. ‘I imagine you’re occupying your usual suite upstairs.’

      ‘Yes, and you might have taken the trouble to arrive in time to escort me down,’ retorted his mother, the dark eyes she had passed on to her son flashing angrily. ‘Honestly, Matt, I think you go out of your way to humiliate me! Leaving me sitting here alone! What if some undesirable lout had approached me?’

      ‘The Ritz doesn’t admit undesirable louts,’ remarked Matthew mildly, nodding his thanks as his Scotch and soda was delivered to the table. ‘You could sit here all day and no one would trouble you. But—I admit I should have phoned. As I said before, I’m sorry.’

      Caroline sniffed, but her expression had softened somewhat, and although she observed the enthusiasm with which her son swallowed half his drink her reaction was more resigned than censorious.

      ‘Oh, well,’ she said, taking a sip of the iced spa water in her glass, ‘you’re here now, and that’s what really matters. For myself, I arrived last evening, and went straight off to that charity gala at the Albert Hall. Your Uncle Henry escorted me. Aunt Celia is still indisposed.’

      Matthew nodded. His uncle’s wife had never enjoyed the best of health, although he privately believed that her many illnesses were self-induced. It was commonly known that Henry Putnam was inclined to enjoy the company of the opposite sex rather too well, and poor Aunt Celia had paid the price of being too trusting. Nevertheless, from his mother’s point of view, the situation could not have been more convenient. She had a ready escort, whenever she needed one, without the complications that an unfettered relationship might have created for someone in her position.

      ‘You, I imagine, were combing the less salubrious nightspots of the city,’ she added, as Matthew’s summoning of the waiter for a second drink reactivated her impatience. ‘Matt, don’t you think you’re behaving rather foolishly? For heaven’s sake, if you were so besotted with the girl, why didn’t you marry her, instead of just—sleeping with her?’

      Matthew’s mouth flattened. ‘You know what I think about marriage,’ he answered, after issuing further instructions to the waiter. ‘Just leave it, will you, Mama? I’ll go to hell my own way, if you don’t mind. Now—tell me why you wanted to see me. Or was it just to voice your disapproval—yet again?’

      ‘Of course not.’

      Caroline uncrossed her silk-clad legs and then re-crossed them again in the other direction. Watching her, Matthew had no difficulty in understanding why his father’s brother was so willing to squire her around. At forty-eight, Caroline looked ten years younger, and Matthew was quite prepared to believe that anyone here today who didn’t know them would automatically assume he was her lover, not her son.

      ‘You know it’s your grandfather’s birthday at the end of the month, don’t you?’ she went on now, and Matthew’s dark brow ascended in disbelief.

      ‘So it is,’ he agreed, after a moment’s thought. ‘I’d forgotten. How old is the old devil? Seventy-one?’

      ‘He’s seventy-two, actually,’ declared Caroline flatly. ‘If you remember, you couldn’t come to his seventy-first birthday because it clashed with—with Melissa’s parents’ anniversary ball or something. In any event,’ she hurried on, not wanting to linger over unwelcome memories, ‘we’d like you to join the family for the celebrations. Apollo’s inviting everyone, and it will look rather odd if you’re not there.’

      Matthew regarded his mother tolerantly over the rim of his glass. ‘As it did last year, you mean?’

      ‘No.’ Caroline sighed. ‘Last year wasn’t so important to him!’ she exclaimed irritably. And then, as if regretting her candour, she added, ‘Never mind about last year. Will you come?’

      Matthew frowned. ‘What’s so special about this year?’

      ‘Well—he’s a year older, for one thing …’

      ‘And?’

      ‘And—and—he’s not been well,’ admitted his mother reluctantly. ‘You know how he’s always had trouble with his chest. I think it’s been a little more troublesome than usual, and it’s made him aware of his own mortality.’

      Matthew’s mouth turned down. ‘If he stopped smoking those damned cigars, he might give his respiration system a chance. How many does he get through in a day? Fifteen? Twenty?’

      ‘Oh, not as many as that, surely!’ Caroline looked appalled. ‘In any case, Apollo would say that if he couldn’t live his life the way he wanted to live it, there wouldn’t be much point in going on.’

      ‘Hmm.’ Matthew could see the subject upset her, and decided to desist. ‘Well, I don’t know about this birthday bash. You know family parties aren’t my style.’

      Caroline snorted. ‘The way I hear it, social gatherings of any kind aren’t your style! You’ve become a hermit, Matt. A recluse. You don’t go anywhere—except into the office occasionally—you don’t see anyone—–’

      ‘And where’ve you got all this information from?’ enquired Matthew wearily. ‘No, don’t tell me. I can guess. The admirable Victor!’

      ‘I—may have had the few odd words with your major-domo when I called—–’

      ‘I’ll bet!’

      ‘—but you know Victor cares about you, too. He wouldn’t tell me anything if he didn’t think it was in your best interests.’

      ‘Really?’

      ‘Yes, really.’ His mother gave a resigned sigh. ‘Matt, I don’t want to interfere—–’

      ‘Then don’t.’

      ‘—but I care about you as well. And—and I do wish you’d get this—this infatuation for Melissa Mainwaring out of your system.’

      ‘Right.’ Matthew lifted a hand to summon the waiter again. ‘Shall we look at the menu?’

      Caroline opened her mouth to make a protest, and then closed it again. What was the use? she asked herself impotently, feeling all the pangs of frustrated mother-love as her son turned to speak to the restaurant manager. Matthew was such an attractive man; he had everything to live for. Yet he was allowing a spoilt little bitch, who hadn’t got an intelligent thought in her empty little head, to tear his life to pieces.

      An hour later, as she was enjoying her second cup of coffee, Caroline risked broaching the subject again. As they ate—and she had noticed Matthew had only picked at his food—the conversation had ranged from the previous night’s gala to the preparations for the forthcoming birthday celebrations. It had been the kind of conversation she could have had with anyone. Certainly not the intimate těte-à-těte she had hoped to achieve. Which was why she decided to bring Melissa’s name back into the proceedings. Like a wound that was festering, her son’s infatuation with the woman wouldn’t heal until it had been thoroughly aired.

      ‘And—when are Melissa and her prince planning to get married?’ she enquired tensely. ‘They are going to get married, aren’t they? I’m sure I read

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