LITMIR.BIZ

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that a new shade of lipstick you’re wearing?’

      ‘I am, and it is, but you’re not going to get out of your father’s questions that way,’ responded Alice, with a smile.

      ‘And I have to say you do look rather peaky. Something is wrong, isn’t it? Your father’s seldom mistaken.’

      Olivia sighed. ‘Nothing’s wrong exactly,’ she said, shaking her head at her stepmother’s offer of the sherry she was pouring herself. ‘I’ll wait for the wine,’ she added as Alice came to sit opposite her. And then, ‘I don’t look peaky, do I? I’m just feeling a bit—nervy, that’s all.’

      Alice shrugged and took a sip of her sherry, and, looking at the other woman, Olivia had to admit that she didn’t look her age. As long as she could remember, Alice’s hair had always been that particular shade of ash blonde, and although she knew it must be artificial now it still looked as soft and feminine as it had ever done.

      ‘I’d say your father had some justification for his concern,’ she declared now, crossing one silk-clad leg over the other.

      Alice had good legs, too, and she’d never been afraid to display them to advantage. At fifty-five, she was ten years younger than her husband and looked at least twenty, and Olivia had always envied her plump, curvaceous figure.

      ‘I’ve—I’ve been offered a new commission,’ she said, deciding it might be easier to discuss it with her stepmother first. ‘I’m just not sure whether I want to take it. It will mean living in the United States for a couple of months.’

      ‘The United States!’

      Alice sounded impressed, but before she could say anything more Matthew Pyatt strode into the room. ‘The United States,’ he echoed, bending to kiss his daughter. ‘What about the United States? You’re not going to live in New York, are you?’

      ‘Of course not.’ Olivia tried to breathe evenly, waiting until her father had lodged himself on the arm of his wife’s chair before going on. ‘It’s just a—a commission I’ve been offered. In Los Angeles. I haven’t decided whether I’m going to take it yet.’

      ‘And that’s what’s on your mind, is it?’ Matthew Pyatt stretched out his long legs towards the fire. His eyes narrowed. ‘I must say, I’m not enthusiastic about you living out there either. A young woman, alone, in a volatile place like that.’

      ‘I’m not a child, Dad.’ Olivia wished she’d accepted a glass of sherry now. It would have given her something to do with her hands. As it was she clasped them between her legging-clad knees and pressed her legs together. ‘It’s not living in Los Angeles that’s the problem.’

      ‘Ah.’ Her father nodded. ‘You’re concerned about us, is that it? Well—’ he put an arm about his wife’s shoulders ‘—that’s what we wanted to talk to you about, actually. You know Alice has a sister living in New Zealand? As it happens, she’s invited us to go out there for a couple of months, too. We were worried about leaving you alone, but if you’re going to be away...’

      Olivia swallowed. ‘I see.’

      ‘You don’t mind, do you, Liv?’ Alice leaned towards her anxiously, and Olivia knew she had to reassure them that that wasn’t the case. But the truth was, she was a little apprehensive. It was as if all the circumstances were conspiring against her.

      ‘I—Of course not,’ she protested now, seeing the relief in her stepmother’s face as she leaned back in her chair.

      ‘That’s good.’ Alice smiled. ‘It’s nearly ten years since I saw Barbara.’ She glanced up at her husband. ‘That’s one advantage of being retired. Matt won’t be worrying about the business while we’re gone.’

      ‘So whose biography are you going to write now?’ asked her father as his wife left the room to check on the supper, and Olivia knew she couldn’t prevaricate any longer.

      ‘Diane Haran’s.’ Her voice was flat. ‘But I haven’t decided yet whether I’m going to do it,’ she added hastily as her father’s face grew red. ‘Don’t look like that, Dad. It’s a wonderful opportunity. And—and she and Richard are splitting up.’

      ‘You’re not serious!’

      Matthew was on his feet now, and Olivia knew she had been right to be apprehensive of seeking his advice. As far as her father was concerned, Richard Haig deserved a beating for the way he’d treated his daughter, and it was only because Olivia had pleaded with him not to get involved that they hadn’t come to blows.

      ‘Why not?’ she asked, playing devil’s advocate. ‘According to Kay, I’ll never be offered such a lucrative deal again.’

      ‘You know why not,’ grated her father. ‘And that’s why you’re looking so worried, isn’t it? I wondered why we hadn’t seen you. I never suspected it was because of anything like this.’

      ‘And it wasn’t.’ Olivia was indignant. ‘Honestly, Dad, I just found out today. I’ve been doing the revisions on the other book. The one about Suzanne Howard. That’s why I haven’t seen you. Nothing else.’

      Matthew Pyatt drew a steadying breath. ‘But even so...’

      ‘As I say, I haven’t decided what I’m going to do yet,’ said Olivia evenly, looping a strand of toffee-coloured hair behind her ear. Her hair was long, and she invariably wore it in a chignon when she was working, but this evening she’d created a rather precarious knot on top of her head.

      Her father returned to the chair her stepmother had been occupying. ‘But you are thinking of accepting it,’ he pointed out. ‘That’s why you’ve mentioned it to me.’

      ‘I’ve told you. I’m thinking about it.’ Olivia half resented his interference. ‘I’ll let you know what I decide. It’ll be before you leave for New Zealand, I expect.’

      Her father scowled. ‘I’m not sure I want to go to New Zealand now, knowing you’re going to be seeing that swine again.’ He sighed. ‘Liv, there must be something else you can do. Can’t you see, this woman’s just using you to provide a convenient shoulder when she throws him out?’

      That thought had occurred to Olivia, too, but she had no intention of admitting that to him. ‘Let’s leave it for now,’ she begged. ‘I’ll let you know what I’m going to do.’

      ‘And what about Henry?’ Alice asked mischievously, after her husband had related Olivia’s news to her, and Olivia thought how typical it was of her stepmother to try and lighten her husband’s mood.

      ‘Oh, my next-door neighbour will look after him,’ said Olivia cheerfully. ‘If I go, of course,’ she added, with a nervous smile. ‘But you’re right, I can’t forget the second most important man in my life.’

      ‘And who’s the first?’ demanded her father grumpily.

      ‘Why—you are, Daddy,’ she assured him, meeting her stepmother’s conspiratorial gaze.

       CHAPTER TWO

      DESPITE her decision, Olivia went through all the arguments why she shouldn’t have accepted the commission on the flight from London to Los Angeles. At the very least, she knew her actions were open to all kinds of interpretation, and she preferred not to examine her motives too closely for fear of what she might find.

      Her father wasn’t pleased with her. And if he hadn’t been going away himself she knew he’d have done everything in his power to persuade her not to do it. But, happily, Alice had been there to mediate for her, and they’d departed for Auckland on schedule just two weeks before her own flight was arranged.

      And, on a purely objective level, she was quite excited at the prospect of spending several weeks in California. Although she’d been to New York before, she’d never travelled to the West Coast, and it was still

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