She couldn’t believe this. She had expected their wedding to be almost a clandestine affair, with as few people as possible knowing it was taking place, and now Nick had announced he was inviting half of London and all of his close family, as well as her own parents.
‘I was keeping it as a surprise, honey,’ he murmured indulgently, and as he moved to kiss her lightly on the lips, his arm moving about the slenderness of her waist.
For her parents’ sake, of course.
As these elaborate wedding plans probably were too.
‘We’ll be having a reception at one of the leading hotels,’ he told her parents, his arm like a steel band around Hebe as he held her tightly—shackled!—to his side. ‘I think it might be better if I were to book you a suite there for a couple of nights too. I’m sure Hebe will want her mother to help her get ready on the day—won’t you, honey?’ Blue eyes glittered down at her with mocking amusement.
Where was all this coming from? Hebe wondered, feeling dazed.
Of course Nick had been married before, so he was probably more cognizant with wedding arrangements than she was, but even so…!
‘We do just have one tiny concern.’ Nick turned back to her parents. ‘Obviously Hebe has told me that she’s adopted. I’m sure she was irresistible as a baby,’he added favourably, as Hebe’s father frowned slightly. ‘We were just wondering if you had any information on Hebe’s real parents?’ He looked at them enquiringly. ‘Obviously with Hebe expecting a baby the medical history of her birth parents would be real helpful,’ he added, with country-boy charm.
Which Hebe, knowing him only too well, didn’t fall for at all.
She wasn’t sure her parents did either. Glancing at her father, she saw he was still frowning and her mother was looking up at him a little anxiously.
‘What sort of thing do you want to know?’ her father prompted guardedly.
Nick shrugged. ‘As I said, just medical history—stuff like that,’ he dismissed easily.
He could feel the sudden tension in the room, and wondered if Hebe had noticed it too.
It was a perfectly legitimate question in the circumstances, surely…?
‘Perhaps you know the name of Hebe’s birth mother?’ he continued lightly. ‘Or her father, perhaps.’
‘No,’ Henry answered slowly. ‘I don’t believe that was ever mentioned to us.’
Was it just his imagination, Nick wondered, or was the other man’s reply just a little ambiguous?
‘I told you that Mum and Dad wouldn’t know, Nick,’ Hebe cut in tensely, at the same time smiling reassuringly at her parents. ‘Nick is such a fusspot where this baby is concerned.’ She attempted to dismiss him. ‘I’ve assured him that I’m perfectly healthy, and that everything with the baby is going to be just fine, too.’
She hadn’t assured him of any such thing. And even if she did, he would want a second opinion. A medical opinion. He had yet to tell her, wanting to avoid having another argument and so cause tension before they met her parents, that he had made that particular appointment for Monday afternoon…
Right now, though, he was far from satisfied with the answers he had received from the Johnsons about Hebe’s real parents.
‘Sometimes when people adopt children, things like medical histories are discussed, aren’t they?’ he persisted lightly.
‘Sometimes I’m sure that they are.’ Henry’s reply seemed a little guarded.
‘But not in this case?’
‘No.’There was definite challenge in the other man’s expression now.
The atmosphere had changed from warmly congenial to tensely suspicious.
Why?
What did this couple have to hide?
Because they were hiding something. Nick was sure of it.
‘Oh, well—I just thought it worth asking. But I’m sure that the doctor will be able to check everything out,’ he dismissed, with a lightness he was far from feeling.
‘I must tell you about the interesting painting Nick came across a week or so ago.’ Hebe cut smoothly into the conversation, obviously changing the subject. ‘An Andrew Southern portrait. Have you heard of him?’ she prompted her parents lightly.
Nick tensed, having no idea where Hebe was going with this conversation. Surely she didn’t want her parents to know about that portrait of her? It wasn’t exactly the sort of thing you could bring home to show your family—the raw sensuality of the subject—Hebe—was all too obvious!
‘Of course we’ve heard of him, darling,’ Henry confirmed mildly. ‘One of his paintings is worth a small fortune, surely?’ He addressed this remark to Nick.
‘Oh, Nick has a very large fortune—don’t you, darling?’ Hebe prompted challengingly.
Nick had used her parents shamefully to manipulate her, and now she intended doing the same where he was concerned.
She couldn’t be sure that Andrew Southern would respond to her letter and the photograph, and if he didn’t she needed more information than Nick had given her to be able to continue her own search for the origins of that portrait. To do that she needed a piece of information Nick hadn’t yet revealed.
‘Not as large as it once was,’ Nick muttered tersely, the warning glitter in his eyes more than meeting her challenge.
Hebe turned unconcernedly back to her parents, knowing Nick was furious with her for bringing up the subject of the portrait. Well she couldn’t help that. He had asked the questions he wanted answering, without consulting her or warning her, and now she was going to do the same. Whether he liked it or not.
Because she knew that portrait wasn’t of her, even if he wouldn’t accept that it wasn’t.
‘It’s an unseen portrait the artist painted over twenty years ago,’ she confided to her parents. ‘Nick is so pleased with it—aren’t you, darling?’ she prompted, with an insincere sweetness she knew he would recognise as such even if her parents didn’t.
‘Oh, very,’ he confirmed tightly.
‘How on earth did you find it?’ Hebe’s mother smiled with interest.
‘Hidden away in a house in the north of England,’ Nick answered abruptly, obviously not wanting to pursue this subject at all.
Too bad—because Hebe did!
‘Yes. What did you say was the name of the original owner, Nick?’ Hebe prompted readily, completely putting him on the spot. The increased glitter in his eyes told her how incensed he was.
Well, so what? she thought. At the moment she was more interested in knowing who had been the original owner of her mother’s portrait than she was concerned with Nick obvious displeasure.
‘I didn’t,’ Nick came back stiffly, wondering why Hebe was asking this now. ‘And I’m sure Henry and Jean aren’t interested in this—’
‘On the contrary,’Hebe’s father interrupted. ‘It all sounds fascinating,’ the historian in him prompted inquisitively.
Hebe gave Nick another one of those over-sweet smiles, her smile turning to genuine amusement as she saw how annoyed he was.
But, no matter what he might otherwise wish, he couldn’t have things all his own way.
As he seemed used to having!