‘So Paul’s been filling you in, has he?’ There was a note of mockery in Tate’s voice now that didn’t escape Helena’s attention. Before she could say anything, however, Tate went on more seriously, ‘Has he told you that Lawrence hasn’t been well?’
Helena’s heart skipped a beat anxiously. ‘No…no, he hasn’t.’ She shot a worried look at him. ‘What’s wrong with him?’
‘It’s nothing to worry about,’ Tate said soothingly. ‘He’s just tired and a bit stressed out.’
‘About what, exactly?’ Helena demanded, a hard edge to her tone. By the sounds of things she hadn’t returned a moment too soon. Why hadn’t Paul mentioned anything about her father’s health?
‘Just overwork,’ Tate said lightly. ‘Vivian asked me to warn you. She’s anxious that nobody upsets him in any way.’
Helena frowned. ‘I certainly have no intention of upsetting my father.’ Her voice rose sharply. Who did this man think he was anyway?
‘No, of course not.’ Tate’s voice was calm. ‘It’s just that he’s very touchy at the moment. You know Lawrence—can’t stand for anyone to tell him he’s over-doing things, He flew off the handle when the doctor suggested that he should take a vacation. And I believe he had words with Paul last week over something and nothing.’
‘Oh, yes, I’ve heard about that.’ Helena was quick to intercede. She wanted Tate to know that she was well aware of why Paul and her father had had words.
Something and nothing, indeed! Her brother had told her exactly what had happened, and the argument had all been due to Tate. Apparently Paul had told his father straight that Tate was leading him financially astray, and to Paul’s astonishment Lawrence had taken extreme exception to the remarks.
‘I don’t think it was over something trivial, though.’ Helena turned accusing eyes towards Tate. ‘I rather thought that it was over the fact that Pop has been taking some bad advice.’
Tate slanted a glance towards her, but instead of looking worried he merely shrugged. ‘I haven’t a clue what they argued about. But, as I said, your father is suffering from the effects of stress and overwork. I’ve been trying to take some of the strain off him by sending over one of my secretaries to give him a hand.’ He shook his head. ‘But Lawrence is a stubborn fellow who doesn’t easily accept help.’
Helena was startled by this statement. Tate sounded as if he was genuinely concerned about her father. His words certainly didn’t sound like those of a man who would deliberately give misleading advice to wreck her father’s finances. But then Tate was probably a very cunning man, she reminded herself sharply.
She ran contemplative green eyes over the man beside her. She knew that Tate was ambitious and determined, and that he had a reputation for being a hard-headed businessman. According to Paul, Tate had been phenomenally successful in the five years since she had been away, but due to over-extending himself with over-ambitious plans he was suffering severe financial losses…losses he was making up by duping her father.
‘Well, it’s just as well I’ve come home,’ she answered him coolly. ‘I’m very experienced with financial problems. I’ll be able to help out—go through Pop’s accounts with a fine-tooth comb.’
‘I’m sure Lawrence will be very relieved.’
She glanced across and met his blue eyes head-on; there was a laughing gleam in them that made her temper rise sharply. ‘I can assure you that if there are any problems…any discrepancies in my father’s accounts, I will be able to find them,’ she told him in no uncertain tone.
‘Oh, I’m sure you will.’ He shook his head, the amusement on his handsome features not dying for a moment. ‘It’s just that knowing Lawrence as I do, I’m sure you’ll have your work cut out getting him to even open his accounts for you.’
Her hands curled into tight fists in her lap. So now she knew why Tate was so unconcerned by her comments. He was aware of her father’s outlook on women in the workplace and was obviously banking on the fact that she would get nowhere near her father’s books.
‘Oh, he’ll open them for me.’ Somehow she managed to inject far more confidence into her tone than she was feeling.
‘Lawrence will be disappointed when you start trying to talk business with him,’ Tate reflected as he turned the car down quiet country lanes, through rolling green countryside. ‘He’s under the impression that you’re coming home to tell him that you’re getting married.’
Her eyes widened in complete astonishment at that statement. She hadn’t told her father the real reason for this visit for the simple reason that she knew it would have annoyed him. Lawrence was a proud man, and he would have been severely embarrassed if he’d thought that Helena was coming home because Paul had told her that he was in a financial mess. But why he should think that she was getting married completely baffled her.
‘What on earth has given him that idea?’ she murmured, with a perplexed shake of her head.
‘Might have something to do with the fact that you haven’t visited in five years and now you are suddenly descending out of the blue with very little warning.’
Helena frowned. Was it her imagination, or was there a note of censure in his tone? ‘I haven’t been home because I haven’t been able to get sufficient time off work,’ she said stiffly. This wasn’t true, but she was damned if she was going to start delving into her personal life to answer his nosy questions.
‘So your reasons for not coming home before now are nothing to do with Cass?’
The outrageously personal question took her breath away. ‘Certainly not!’ It was appalling how the mere mention of Cass’s name could send a sharp frisson of electricity through her body. That man had hurt her so much that it was painful just to think of him. ‘I—I don’t even know what you mean by that statement,’ she muttered nervously.
He laughed at that. ‘Come on, Helena, I saw you crying your eyes out over him…remember?’
Helena’s heart thudded wildly at the reminder of such a distressing moment. With difficulty she closed her mind on the memory and summoned an air of indifference. ‘That’s all a very long time ago. I’d forgotten about it until you mentioned it.’
‘Oh, I see.’ The amusement in his tone very nearly threatened to snap her composure. At that moment she would dearly have loved to tell him to go to hell.
‘So is there someone else?’ he continued on casually.
With great difficulty she refrained from telling him to mind his own business. ‘I’m not coming home to tell Pop that I’m getting married,’ she said stiffly. ‘Does that answer your question?’
‘Not really.’ He grinned. ‘But it will do for now.’
He turned the car through the gateway to her home, distracting her thoughts. Her eyes moved eagerly over the fields of sugar cane shimmering in the heat of the sun. She had dreamt of this moment for five long years. This was the place dearest to her heart, the place where she had grown up. She had missed it terribly.
When the large plantation house came into sight through the tall palm trees, she felt like crying for a moment. Memories of childhood stirred deep inside— memories of her mother, of happy days.
‘Glad to be back?’
Tate’s voice made her try to pull her emotions tightly m check. She nodded. ‘And relieved that it looks just the same as I remembered it.’
Tate pursed his lips. ‘Nothing stays the same forever.’
She frowned, wondering what he meant by that. ‘This house has remained relatively unchanged for generations.’
‘That’s not strictly true. Beaumont House used to receive all its income from sugar—jut