‘Wow,’ Ryan said when he saw her, ‘you look stunning.’
‘You don’t think the dress is over the top?’ She gave another doubtful glance in the mirror at the gold sequined evening gown that hugged her body like a second skin and left one shoulder bare.
‘The Duke of Beaufort’s charity dinner is one of the most prestigious events in London’s social calendar, and everything about tonight is going to be over the top. You look perfect for the occasion,’ Ryan assured her.
‘I can’t believe the Stone Ladies have been asked to perform tonight.’ She threw Ryan a wry smile. ‘Did you ever imagine when we were playing gigs in pubs that we would one day be top billing at a grand party held in a five-star hotel?’
He laughed. ‘It’s crazy how fast things have happened. Sometimes I’m scared I’ll wake up and find I’m back in Derbyshire working behind the bar of the ex-miners’ social club.’ Ryan hesitated. ‘I reckon your dad would be proud of you, Izzy,’ he said softly.
Her smile faded. ‘I doubt it.’
Isobel recalled the conversation she’d had with her mother when they had stood at her father’s graveside on the day of his funeral three months ago. Ann Blake had sobbed quietly, but Isobel had found it impossible to cry for her father, whose dour moods and abrasive temper had cast a shadow on her childhood so that she had tried to avoid him as much as possible when she had lived at home.
‘Your father was a good man,’ her mother had said suddenly. Catching Isobel’s look of surprise, she had continued, ‘I know he wasn’t always easy to live with, especially when he was in one of his black moods, but he wasn’t always like that. When I married him he was fun to be with and he had such hopes for us and for the future. But he changed after he had his accident, and he was no longer the strong, fit man he had been. When the coal mine closed and he couldn’t find work it destroyed his pride, and losing his dream of making a better life for his family crushed his spirit.’
‘It seemed as though he was determined to crush my spirit and my dreams of a different life,’ Isobel had said fiercely. ‘I know Dad often made you unhappy. I used to hear you crying in the kitchen when you thought I was in bed. I never understood why you stayed with him.’
‘Part of him died with your brother. He never got over losing Simon—and he needed me. I took my marriage vows seriously—for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health.’ Her mother had looked at Isobel curiously. ‘You made the same vows when you married Constantin. You’ve never explained why your marriage ended. It’s not my place to pry into your private life, but I can’t help wondering if you gave up too soon. A year isn’t a long time, and marriage isn’t all hearts and flowers. You have to work at a relationship and make compromises to hopefully gain a better understanding of each other.’
She had tried to understand Constantin, Isobel thought grimly. But she need not have bothered, because she’d now had her darkest suspicions confirmed: that he had only married her because she had conceived his child. She had never told her mother about Arianna. It would have been cruel to tell Ann that she had lost a granddaughter as well as a son and husband.
Isobel dragged her thoughts back to the present when she realised that Ryan was speaking. ‘I would never have met Emily if I’d stayed in Eckerton village, that’s for sure.’ He ran a hand through his fair hair, and said awkwardly, ‘Izzy, I’ve done it. I’ve asked Emily to marry me—and she said yes.’
‘Thank heavens for that,’ Isobel said in a heartfelt voice as she flung her arms around Ryan’s neck. ‘You two were made for each other and I know you’re going to be very happy together.’
Ryan’s expression clouded. ‘Emily makes me the happiest man in the world, but I don’t deserve to feel like this. I keep thinking about Simon, and how he never had the chance to grow up and fall in love. If only I’d stopped him going into the reservoir that day.’
‘Don’t.’ Isobel pictured her brother’s mischievous grin. She could not imagine him as an adult. For her, Simon would always be fourteen, always laughing and fooling around. ‘You know what a daredevil Simon was. He wouldn’t have listened to you. I know you did everything you could to try and save him, and you have to stop blaming yourself.’ She squeezed Ryan’s arm. ‘You and my brother were best friends. He would be glad that you’re going to marry the woman you love.’
Ryan nodded slowly. ‘I guess you’re right. Thanks, Izzy.’ He glanced at the clock. ‘Hey, we’d better get moving. We’re due on stage in ten minutes. How do you feel?’
‘Nervous,’ Isobel admitted. ‘I always am before a performance, but I’ll be fine once I start singing.’ She was about to follow Ryan out of the room when her phone rang, and she walked back over to the dressing table where she had left it. Because she was in a hurry, she unthinkingly answered it without checking the identity of the caller, and she tensed when a familiar voice spoke.
‘I’ll be watching you tonight, Izzy. It is written in the stars that we are destined to be together for ever.’
She cut the call and the phone slid out of her trembling fingers. Was David here at the hotel? Could he be a guest at the charity fund-raising event?
‘Come on,’ Ryan called from the doorway. He frowned when he saw how pale Isobel had gone. ‘Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’ He glanced at her phone as she dropped it into her bag. ‘You haven’t had any more nuisance calls, have you?’
It wouldn’t be fair to share her worries about the stalker with Ryan tonight, when he was clearly ecstatic that his girlfriend had agreed to marry him. There was probably nothing to worry about anyway. She was being silly to let the mysterious David bother her.
She shrugged. ‘I told you, I’ve just got a bit of stage fright, that’s all,’ she said as they took the lift down to the ground floor of the hotel. ‘In a strange way I find it more daunting to perform in front of an audience of five hundred guests who paid a fortune for tickets, than at an arena in front of thousands of fans.’
Keen to take her mind away from the unsettling phone call, she changed the subject. ‘Are you and Emily going to announce your engagement tonight?’
‘No, I only proposed yesterday, and she’s gone to her parents’ country estate in Suffolk to break the news to them first.’ As they walked backstage to wait until it was time for the band’s performance Ryan caught hold of Isobel’s hand. ‘Thanks for helping me and Emily to keep our relationship out of the media. The speculation that you and I are romantically involved has allowed Emily to stay out of the limelight.’
They were interrupted by one of the sound technicians. ‘You’re on in two minutes, guys and girls. Do you want to check your mic, Izzy?’
As the host for the evening walked onto the stage to introduce the Stone Ladies, Isobel peeped through a gap in the curtains and felt a sickening sensation in the pit of her stomach. The glare of the footlights meant that it was impossible for her to see the audience clearly, but even if she could make out people’s faces she would not recognise David. He had told her in one of his phone calls that they had met after a Stone Ladies concert and she had given him her autograph, but since the band had become famous Isobel had met hundreds of fans and signed her autograph countless times. She assumed David must have asked her to write ‘to my darling’—fans often made strange requests—but she had no recollection of him.
Was he out there in the audience? She shivered as she remembered his most recent phone call. What had he meant when he’d said that they were destined to be together for ever? Was it her overactive imagination, or had there been something vaguely threatening in his words?’
The curtains were opening and there were cheers from the audience, but Isobel’s feet felt as though they were rooted to the spot. The urge to run from the stage was so strong