Tia stared as a rambling Tudor mansion surrounded by lush trees appeared in front of them. The patterned red-brick walls were matched by tall arched and mullioned windows that reflected the sunlight. ‘My goodness,’ she whispered. ‘It’s huge.’
‘I believe there are twelve bedrooms,’ Max remarked.
‘There are a lot of cars here,’ Tia noted, because at least ten luxury vehicles were parked on the gravelled frontage. ‘Are there people staying?’
‘I doubt it. It looks more as though Andrew has given way to his need to show you off.’ Max bit back a frustrated exclamation because he had advised the older man to allow Tia a little time to adapt to her new surroundings before plunging her into a social whirl.
‘Who on earth would he want to show me off to?’
‘Friends and family.’
‘Family?’ she queried with greater interest.
‘Although you’re Andrew’s only blood relative, his late wife, your grandmother, had several siblings, so you do have a bunch of cousins on that side of the family,’ Max told her, his lean, darkly handsome features stiffening because most of her cousins resented his very existence, not to mention his business connections with and his closeness to Andrew.
‘Cousins. That should be interesting,’ Tia commented, stepping out with care in her high heels, already missing Teddy’s reassuring presence.
Her grandfather awaited her in a big crowded drawing room. Andrew Grayson beamed and opened both his arms. ‘Come here, my dear, and let me have a closer look at you,’ he urged.
While she sat beside the old man, the guests drifted over to meet her. ‘I’m Ronnie...’ A pretty brunette with adorable twin girl toddlers clinging to her legs gave Tia a harassed but very friendly smile.
There were too many names and faces for Tia to absorb all at once. She got mixed up about which were siblings and which were couples, but she was overwhelmed to finally have relatives eager to make her acquaintance. Throughout the session, Max stayed anchored nearby and Andrew frequently consulted him. Tia noticed that most of the visitors were daunted by Max and that in company he seemed much more aloof and remote than he was with her in private. But she was grateful for Max’s support when she was faced with more searching questions about her years in Brazil, her mother and her father’s activities, for he parried the more challenging queries with an unblemished cool that she could never have matched.
‘So, you only married Max yesterday?’ Ronnie shook her head in wonder as she poured tea for Tia, her warm brown eyes brimming with curiosity. ‘A whirlwind romance, I gather, and I must admit that that was a shock. Max always strikes one as a very controlled, cold-blooded businessman, not the type to do anything madly impulsive, but then the rule book goes out the window when a beautiful woman is involved. And you are, if you don’t mind me saying so, remarkably beautiful and probably very photogenic. The press will go mad for pictures of you when they find out you exist.’
Unable to relate to the concept of Max being in any way cold-blooded, Tia had gone pink. ‘Why would the press be interested in me?’
‘Are you serious?’ Ronnie rolled amused eyes in emphasis. ‘Andrew’s long-lost granddaughter from Brazil gets married to the CEO of Grayson Industries? Andrew is a very rich and important man and Max is renowned in the business world and on the social scene.’
‘I haven’t grown up with that background the way you have,’ Tia said uncomfortably.
‘Oh, neither did I. I grew up on a farm. Your grandmother may have married a tycoon but the rest of the family is reasonably ordinary in terms of wealth and status,’ Ronnie explained.
Tia was relaxed by Ronnie’s warm, open manner. ‘I believe Max is very successful.’
‘You know that legendary king who could turn anything to gold with a touch?’ Ronnie interposed and nodded solemnly. ‘When Max was in banking, he was a total whiz-kid. Doug was always very jealous of him.’
‘Who’s Doug?’
‘A cousin who doesn’t visit. He and Max went to the same school but they don’t get on,’ Ronnie muttered, her face rather flushed as she looked apologetically at Tia. ‘Please don’t mention to Max that I brought up Doug. I would hate him to think that I was pot-stirring.’
‘But why would he think that?’ Tia asked in surprise, glancing across the room only to encounter Max’s dark observant gaze and experience a snaking shivery little frisson somewhere in the region of her pelvis. She remembered the heat of his mouth and his wickedly skilled hands and was honestly afraid that she could spontaneously combust.
Ronnie winced at the question. ‘I’m not getting into old scandals. The truth is we’ve always been rather intimidated by Max. When he was younger some of the cousins were quite rude to him because he was related to Andrew’s housekeeper. It must’ve been tough for him. I’ve never had much time for that kind of snobbery.’
Some of the other guests joined them. Unused to a crowd of strangers, Tia was relieved when Max rescued her to bring her back to her grandfather’s side. Seated quietly with the older man, she began to relax again.
Dinner was served in a big dining room at a table almost groaning beneath its weight of crystal, elaborate porcelain and burnished silver.
‘It’s like another world,’ she muttered to Max.
‘This lifestyle does belong to a bygone age,’ Max agreed. ‘Andrew lives as his father lived.’
‘In incredible comfort,’ Tia whispered back. ‘But I’d really like to see the housekeeper’s flat where you grew up.’
A rueful and surprised smile at that declaration tilted Max’s expressive mouth but he had tensed. ‘I’m afraid it doesn’t exist any more. Andrew renovated the servants’ accommodation after my aunt died and upgraded it all.’
‘When she did pass away?’ Tia asked.
‘What was that that you were saying?’ her grandfather demanded from her other side.
‘I was asking Max how long it is since his aunt died,’ Tia explained, looking up.
‘Eight years,’ Andrew supplied, his thin face tightening. ‘It was a complete shock. Carina caught the flu and it turned into pneumonia. She was gone by the time Max managed to get to the hospital.’
‘I was a student on a work placement in New York at the time,’ Max explained.
‘She was a good woman, Max,’ the older man pronounced, his voice quavering slightly, his sorrow visible.
And Tia noticed that the table had fallen silent and that the rest of the diners seemed disproportionately interested in the subject being discussed. She wished she had kept quiet and refrained from mentioning Max’s aunt, but she could not imagine why the passing of the old man’s former housekeeper should rouse such curiosity.
‘Tomorrow, I’ll show you round the house,’ Max murmured lazily, apparently impervious to the tension in the atmosphere. ‘Then you’ll feel more at home here.’
Tia did not think she could ever feel at home with servants and fancy clothes and even fancier furniture, but then she glanced at Max and a kind of peace entered her soul. He made her feel safe and, while he was present, he made her feel as if she belonged. Yet ironically, if she was to believe Ronnie, as a boy Max had been looked down on at Redbridge for being related to the housekeeper. Was that why he still seemed unapproachable in the company of Andrew’s relations and friends? Did he think that old snobbish outlook still existed? Or was it simply that Max was a loner?
After the coffee was served, guests began to leave and a welter of invitations came Tia’s way. Her phone was soon crammed with new numbers and names.
‘Who’s Doug?’ Tia pressed Max, recalling Ronnie’s nervous backtracking