‘You can’t possibly blame yourself.’ Dare frowned.
‘No, I don’t, but...’ She looked up at him. ‘You know, it’s the strangest thing but right before he emailed me I started having dreams that I was back in the house. It’s almost like a premonition, don’t you think?’
Dare believed in premonitions about as much as he believed in fairytales.
‘What I think is that you probably need closure. And I’ll support you any way I can. Even going with you if that’s what you want.’
She beamed him a smile. ‘I was hoping you’d say that because after I mentioned you, he said he’d like to meet you.’
Great, Dare thought, just what he needed: a family reunion . ‘When is this lunch?’ he asked.
‘Tomorrow.’
‘Tomorrow!’
‘Sorry, darling, I should have given you more warning, but I wasn’t sure I was even going to accept until today.’
Dare still wished she hadn’t, but his mind was already turning to the logistics. ‘Who else will be there?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Has he remarried? Do you have a stepmother, by chance?’ His lips twisted cynically.
‘No, but he did say he had a guest staying with him.’
‘A woman?’
His mother shrugged. ‘He didn’t say. Our communication has been a little formal up to this point.’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ Dare dismissed. ‘I’ll have Nina rearrange my diary.’ He frowned. ‘We’ll leave at—’
His mother shook her head. ‘I promised Tammy I’d see her in Southampton later today and I can’t cancel on her. Why don’t I meet you at Rothmeyer House tomorrow just before twelve?’
‘If that’s what you want.’ He sat down at his desk. ‘I’ve organised Mark to drive you today. I’ll ask him to stay overnight to make things easier.’
‘Thank you, Dare. You know I couldn’t have asked for a better son, don’t you?’
He stood up as she approached his desk and he enfolded her in his arms. ‘And you know I’d do anything for you.’
‘Yes, I know. And I appreciate it.’
Sensing a lingering sadness in her voice, Dare wondered if she was thinking about his father. Thinking about what a roller-coaster ride it had been with him right up until his death when Dare had just turned fifteen.
At best his father could be called a drifter chasing one dream after another in search of the big time, at worst he had been a conman with feet of clay. The only valuable lesson Dare had ever learnt from him was how to spot a con at fifty paces.
But it had been a good lesson that had helped Dare make more money than he could ever have imagined. And he had imagined a lot growing up in the poorest suburb in a small American town.
It had also stood him well when it came to relationships. For a while Dare had run with a rough crowd, but he’d soon learned that brothers were only brothers as long as you toed the line.
Since Dare didn’t like toeing anyone else’s line but his own, he kept to himself and trusted very few people.
Finding out when he was eighteen that his mother had an aristocratic lineage had only been interesting in that it had made Dare even more resentful of the family who had turned her away, thus forcing her to take three jobs just to make do. He’d never wanted to meet any of them and he still didn’t.
But meet them he would and it wouldn’t be tomorrow when his mother turned up for lunch. It would be today. This afternoon.
If Benson Granger thought he could insinuate himself into Dare’s mother’s life for any reason other than an altruistic one, he had another think coming.
And while it wasn’t at all convenient to take a trip to Cornwall that afternoon, it would give him a chance to take his new toy out on the open roads.
Dare smiled, but it wasn’t the charming, devil-may-care smile that made women swoon and men envious. It was a hunter-with-his-prey-in-his-sights smile, and for the first time since his mother had given him the disturbing news Dare thought he might actually enjoy setting his grandfather straight on a few things.
* * *
The locals at Rothmeyer village said that the summer they were having was the best in the last thirty years. Warm, balmy days, and light, breezy nights straight out of a Beatrix Potter fable.