No More Lonely Nights

The office door opened and Leo looked out, perhaps having heard her voice. He gave her an urgent beckoning of the head, his hand winding her forward at the same moment. Aloud, he said, 'Ah, there you are, Sian!' with a horrible enthusiasm meant for the consumption of whoever was in his office, rather than for Sian herself. 'Come along in!' he added, grimacing at her out of sight of his visitor.

' "Will you walk into my parlour? said the spider to the fly," ' Sian murmured, and his secretary giggled.

'What did you say?' scowled Leo, and she walked past him, smiling sweetly at him without answering.

Her eyes fled across the room to find the other occupant, and stopped dead as she saw the woman sitting by the desk. One thing was obvious. This wasn't Cass's ex-wife. She was far too old, her hair white, even though it was still copious and very long. She wore it piled high upon her head, pinned there with an ornate Spanish comb, giving her a dignified air which matched the black dress she wore: elegant and discreet, with a touch of white lace at collar and cuffs. She wore diamonds, too, though; in her ears and on her hands. They flashed blue fire as she held out one hand to Sian.

'You must be Sian. I'm so pleased to meet you.'

'Sian, this is Mrs Cassidy,' Leo said, bustling over.

The older woman turned blindingly blue eyes on him and smiled. 'Would you mind if we had a few moments alone? Would it inconvenience you if we borrowed your office for a few moments?'

'No, of course not,' Leo said fulsomely, backing

like someone in the presence of royalty, bowing his way to the door. 'Be my guest… excuse me…'

Sian watched him go, then looked curiously at the white-haired woman still clasping her hand. She was either someone very important and powerful, or she had the personality to knock Leo off his feet. Sian had never seen him so humble and awed. The door closed behind him and Mrs Cassidy smiled at her.

'Now we can talk,' she said, and Sian warily smiled back.

'What are we going to talk about?' she politely enquired, her green eyes reserved.

'Cass.' The older woman's voice was half amused.

Sian knew that, of course; there could be no other reason for her to be there, but Sian knew his parents were dead.

'I'm not quite clear who…'

'I am? I'm sorry, my dear—I suppose I thought you would guess. I'm Lorna Cassidy, William's aunt.'

'Aunt?' Sian was surprised by that; Cass hadn't said he had an aunt.

'By marriage, of course. My husband was his father's brother. They are all dead now, unhappily; I'm the last of my generation in the family. I didn't have any children of my own, and I think of William almost as a son, especially since his mother died.'

'Oh, I see,' Sian said, still wary because she suspected the other woman's motives in being here. Was she about to be asked to stop seeing Cass? Or threatened? Or even blackmailed? After all she had learnt about the Cassidy family, nothing would surprise her. No doubt Magdalena had asked her aunt to visit the newspaper and put the fear of God into Sian! Well, she needn't bother. None of them need worry, the mighty Cassidy clan! Sian was no danger to them; it was still Annette Cass loved, and Sian had too much self-respect to let him go on using her either for amusement or as a smokescreen.

'Like everyone else, I've been reading the papers,' Mrs Cassidy said.

Sian nodded without comment. Of course she had! Why else would she be here?

'I'm grateful to you, Sian. May I call you Sian, by the way? Such a lovely name, simple but delightful. I was horrified when my sister-in-law chose to call her little girl Magdalena, but then Enid was always one for going over the top. Magda takes after her in that. My brother-in-law chose the boys' names; good solid English names, so much more sensible.'

Sian was a little confused, but smiled. There seemed to be no need to comment; Mrs Cassidy didn't pause for more than an instant. 'Do sit down, Sian. We can't talk while you loom over me.'

Sian backed to a chair and sat, her hands in her lap.

Mrs Cassidy considered her shrewdly. 'Being jilted at the last minute like that was a terrible blow to William's pride, of course, but I think he was lucky. If he had married Annette, it would have been far worse for him in the long run, that's my opinion—not that he asked for it, but then William never takes any notice of what anyone else thinks.'

'I see you know him well!'

'And I see that you do,' his aunt nodded, smiling. 'I'm very curious. I have been ever since I first heard about you. I couldn't quite make up my mind whether William wanted to kill you or see more of you.'

Sian turned crimson and looked away, her heart racing.

'Whatever it was, your effect on him was interesting,' said Mrs Cassidy. 'And the media are obviously intrigued, too.'

'That was his idea,' Sian confessed hurriedly. 'He wanted them to think that we… that…'