CHAPTER ONE
SHE’D forgotten how much she hated coming home.
Katy’s breathing quickened as she looked round the elegantly landscaped garden filled with groups of people sipping champagne and laughing together. The air smelt of summer, the heady fragrance of blooms mingling with the scent of grass mown to uniform perfection.
Suddenly she felt completely stifled and longed for the familiarity of the riverside apartment in London.
If it weren’t for her mother she wouldn’t be here.
‘Happy birthday, Dr Westerling.’
Hearing the familiar voice behind her, Katy turned with a smile of relief, her mouth dropping open as she caught sight of her sister.
‘What happened to your hair?’
Libby tossed her long, shaggy mane and grinned wickedly. ‘I did it especially for Dad. It’s called strawberry blonde. Don’t you love it?’
‘It’s pink,’ Katy said faintly, and Libby’s smile widened.
‘I know. It’s perfect, isn’t it?’ Her eyes moved defiantly over the throng of conservatively dressed people and Katy bit her lip, looking at Libby’s normally gorgeous blonde hair in dismay.
‘Will it wash out?’
‘Yep.’ Libby reached out and scooped a glass of champagne from a waiter who was passing. ‘But hopefully not before I’ve caused a spectacular firework display from our esteemed parent.’
Katy tensed, anticipating her father’s anger. ‘You always try and provoke him. Couldn’t you have worn a slightly longer dress?’
‘Definitely not.’ Libby wiggled her bottom provocatively. ‘Think he’s going to like it?’
Katy slid her eyes over the skin-tight dress that exposed almost all of Libby’s perfect legs. For a nightclub it would have been barely decent and for a summer garden party it was—
‘He’s going to have a heart attack.’ Katy’s eyes darted warily over to where their father stood, broad-shouldered and unsmiling, deep in conversation with several cabinet ministers. There was going to be trouble. She bit her lip and shook her head. ‘Why do you always do this, Lib? Can’t you conform just once?’
‘Why would I want to?’ Libby reached out a hand and touched the pearls that lay around Katy’s neck. ‘I’ve never been a pearls sort of person. And neither are you underneath.’
Katy looked away.
She didn’t know who she was any more.
As usual, Libby’s directness had unsettled her. ‘Just because I dress appropriately for our parent’s summer party, there’s no need to—’
‘Our birthday party,’ Libby reminded her pointedly. ‘This is supposed to be our birthday party, remember? You, me and Alex.’ She glanced round the manicured garden at the hordes of elegant guests and rolled her eyes. ‘We’re the only triplets in the world whose parents throw them a garden party and then invite all their own guests and offset it against tax as business entertaining. Well, I, for one, refuse to play the game. And you only do it because you’re so sweet and gentle and hate confrontation.’
There was a light in her eye that made Katy feel extraordinarily jumpy. ‘We can all go home in a few hours,’ she reminded her sister wearily. ‘Just play along, Libby. For Mum’s sake. Please.’
‘Like you do, you mean?’ Libby’s eyes slid over her. ‘Don’t you ever want to shock them all, Katy? Rip your clothes off, get drunk, take drugs, swear?’
‘All at once?’ Katy gave a wan smile and glanced towards a group of men who were downing champagne at a remarkable rate.
‘Ah—yes. I forgot. You can’t do things like that. Lord Frederick Hamilton wouldn’t approve.’ Libby was silent for a moment and then she gave a sigh, her pretty face suddenly serious. ‘I can’t believe you’re going to marry that man, Katy.’
Katy swallowed.
Sometimes she couldn’t believe it either.
But it was the right thing to do.
‘I mean, look at him now! Why isn’t he trying to drag you into the bushes for a grope?’ Libby studied him curiously, her head on one side. ‘He’s too busy networking to even notice that you’re here. You could be naked and covered in whipped cream and he’d still be mingling with the movers and shakers.’
Everything her sister said was true and Katy wondered why she didn’t mind more. She chewed her lip. The truth was that she didn’t mind because she didn’t want Freddie to take her into the bushes for a grope. She was quite happy for him to be talking to his business colleagues, leaving her alone to make her own amusement.
Freddie was safe.