LITMIR.BIZ

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bringing some girl back with him. His nurse, no less. According to Barbara, they’re planning to get married.’

      ‘No!’ André was shocked. ‘But Mr Petrie—he must be—he must be——’

      ‘Fifty-six, I know.’ Raoul regarded his assistant dourly. ‘And this girl, whoever she is, is apparently twenty-four.’

      André gasped. ‘But——’ He broke off awkwardly, but Raoul could guess what he had been about to say.

      ‘I know. Why would a girl of twenty-four want to marry a man of fifty-six?’ he drawled. ‘Barbara’s theory is that she doesn’t. That she’s only interested in his money. And if so, will she be happy to live here on Sans Souci without any of the accoutrements of the high life?’

      ‘You mean—they might live elsewhere?’ ventured André slowly. ‘But surely, Raoul, that is all to the good. We do not need Petrie to run the island. You have done it well enough while he has been ill, and you know as well as I do that Petrie’s contribution in recent years has been negligible!’

      ‘Hey!’ Raoul’s lips twitched. ‘That’s anarchy you’re talking, old friend.’

      André’s dark cheeks deepened with colour. ‘I don’t care. It’s true!’ he exclaimed. ‘And Petrie knows this as well as I do.’

      Raoul half smiled. ‘Well—maybe. But whether or not either of us runs the island is not the point here. Barbara’s anxiety runs in an entirely different direction. She’s afraid Willard might be persuaded to sell.’

      ‘To sell?’ André looked appalled. ‘But—last year——’

      ‘Last year he wasn’t thinking of getting married. Who’s to say what his fiancée might persuade him to do?’

      André returned to his desk to flop dispiritedly against it. ‘You don’t think he might, do you?’

      ‘I don’t know.’ Raoul swallowed another mouthful of his coffee. ‘I just don’t know.’

      ‘But—getting married! At his age!’ André returned to the initial issue. ‘Who is she? What’s her name?’

      ‘You know as much as I do. She nursed him in the hospital in London. That’s all I can tell you.’

      André sighed. ‘What is it you say about old fools? There are none like them?’

      ‘Something like that,’ agreed Raoul dryly, emptying the mug. ‘Well …’ He pulled a ledger towards him. ‘Did you check those supplies from Kamal Chemicals?’

      ‘Yes.’ André bit his lip. ‘I—I suppose it’s up to us to show Petrie that he would be a fool to sell this place.’

      Raoul’s lips twisted. ‘Now let’s not get fanciful, André. You know as well as I do that growing sugar cane is a precarious business right now. The world sugar markets are changing. Prices fluctuate, and no one can pretend that Sans Souci is making a fine profit. Labour’s too expensive. And already the younger people are looking towards Trinidad and Martinique for employment. The fact that there’s unemployment there the same as throughout the rest of the western world makes little difference. It’s the glamour they’re seeking, and sooner or later we won’t have the men to harvest the crop.’

      ‘You talk like a reactionary,’ protested André in dismay. ‘Do you want Petrie to sell?’

      Raoul didn’t even acknowledge his question, merely looking at him in a way that made André squirm uncomfortably. ‘I suggest we deal with something a little less nebulous,’ he remarked curtly, and André subsided behind his desk once more.

      But while his brain ticked off the hundredweight sacks of lime stored in the warehouse, Raoul’s subconscious mind explored every avenue of what Willard’s actions might mean to all of them. Damn Barbara, he thought savagely. Damn her for putting the doubt into his mind, damn her for putting her finger on his own insecurity. And what in hell did she expect he could do? Threaten to withdraw his labour? Willard would find someone else. André, perhaps. Or Samuel, the massive black foreman who could do the work of half a dozen men. Or did she expect him to seduce the girl, to return her to her fiancé soiled by his hands, and in so doing destroy her and himself as well?

      He wrenched open his drawer and pulled out a pack of cheroots. Putting one of the long narrow cylinders between his lips, he struck a match and inhaled deeply. The aromatic tobacco was fortifying, reaching down into his lungs, relieving the corded muscles of his solar plexis and relaxing the tautness of his thighs. Perhaps they were all being unnecessarily pessimistic. It might never come to a confrontation. He was letting Barbara’s jealousy influence his thinking. She would be jealous of anyone who threatened her position. She had been mistress of the big house for so long. She would not welcome any usurpation of her authority.

       CHAPTER TWO

      THE pilot had said it was raining in Castries, and the plane made its descent through banks of low-hanging clouds to emerge above a beach so white Beth could hardly believe it was real. For the latter half of the afternoon they had been flying over a turquoise ocean inset with a curling chain of islands that seemed so small from the air it was hardly possible to believe that anyone actually lived on them. But suddenly they were poised above St Lucia, and in spite of the clouds its colour and beauty were undeniable. The beach was lapped by foam-flecked surf, and away to the left was the tarmacked runway of the international airport, Vigie.

      ‘That’s Vigie Beach,’ said Willard, leaning past her to point out the luxurious hotels which faced the ocean. ‘And over there—those are the twin peaks of Gros Piton and Petit Piton, the islands’ landmarks.’

      ‘Piton,’ repeated Beth, frowning. ‘That means peak, doesn’t it? I’m afraid my French is not what it was.’

      Willard’s arm lingered about her shoulders. ‘Big peak and little peak,’ he conceded, smiling into her eyes, and she drew her gaze away from him to look out of the window again.

      It had been a long flight, but she was not tired. She thought Willard was beginning to look a little drained, but that was not surprising in the circumstances. This was the most energetic day he had had since leaving the hospital, and the excitement of returning home was beginning to take its toll of him.

      Fortunately, her concern for Willard had successfully banished her own anxieties about accompanying him, but she was glad they were spending the night at an hotel in Castries before going on to Sans Souci. Sans Souci; the name intrigued her, and in spite of her inhibitions she could not deny the surge of anticipation that filled her at the thought of spending the rest of her life in that part of the world which had fascinated her for so long. She looked down at Willard’s hand resting possessively on her shoulder and drew her breath in on a sigh. She would make him happy, she told herself determinedly, and ignored the speculative gaze of the first class steward who had been staring at her so admiringly throughout the flight. If he thought there was something odd about the relationship between a man obviously well into middle age and a girl of her obvious youth, it was just too bad.

      The airport formalities were soon over with and a chauffeur-driven limousine took them the few short miles to the island’s capital. They drove past the surf-kissed beach and the sun came out long enough to make Beth catch her breath at the beauty of a sea that paled from deepest green to translucent opal. It was all so alien and exotic, and she stared wide-eyed at the green hills behind the town, thick with alemada vine and coconut palms.

      Willard, as usual, seemed quite content to lie back and enjoy her excitement in it all. It was enough to know that she was with him, and the admiring glances she attracted satisfied his belief that he was escorting the most beautiful woman around. At first, Beth had not liked this aspect of their relationship, but as she got to know him better, she had realised it stemmed from an innate sense of insecurity. For herself, she found his undemanding company reassuring, and it was

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