Richard… She put down her hairbrush. She was not going to cry…she was not…she must not…she would not, she told herself fiercely.
* * *
‘Oh, Livvy, good, at last. I was just beginning to wonder where you’d got to,’ Gale told her cousin as Livvy handed her the small gift she had bought them and turned to receive George’s hug. ‘Come on in. You?
?ll know most of the others…’
‘Except for Mr Wonderful, of course,’ Livvy muttered sotto voce, explaining wryly as Gale turned to look at her, ‘I was referring to George’s boss.’
Gale suddenly looked very flushed and uncomfortable, Livvy recognised.
She frowned. Was there more to Gale’s admiration of the other man than mere gratitude? Surely not…
‘You know, if I were George I think I might feel a little bit resentful of Mr Robert Forrest. He’s obviously flavour of the month with you at the moment, Gale.’
‘What? Don’t be ridiculous,’ Gale told her. ‘I am grateful to Robert, and I do feel guilty about the way I initially misjudged him. You know how I pride myself on being a good judge of character. I feel I owe it to him to…’
‘To drag his name into every conversation so that we can all marvel at his metamorphosis from frog to prince?’ Livvy questioned her.
‘Livvy, I don’t know what’s got into you. You never used to be like this…’ Gale was frowning, looking so worried and concerned that Livvy immediately felt guilty.
‘I’m sorry,’ she apologised. ‘It’s just that…’ That I’m helplessly in love with a man who doesn’t want me… How could she say that? She couldn’t, could she?
‘It’s just what?’ Gale pressed her anxiously.
‘It’s just that I’ve got a lot on my mind. I still haven’t decided what to do about this job.’
‘Oh, I see. There’s nothing else, then?’ Gale asked her.
‘What else could there be?’ Livvy asked her quietly.
There was an odd look on Gale’s face, something almost furtive about her manner.
‘Nothing, nothing at all,’ Gale assured her hastily. ‘There’s the doorbell. I’d better go…’
Livvy watched her cousin hurry away with a jaundiced eye.
* * *
‘Gale, I really ought to go. It’s been lovely, but…’
‘No. You can’t go yet…’
Livvy frowned as her cousin took hold of her arm, almost as though she intended forcibly to prevent her from leaving. ‘Gale, I did say I could only stay for an hour or so, and—’ She broke off as she heard the doorbell ring.
‘Look, just hang on for a few minutes while I go and see who that is,’ Gale urged her.
It was easier to give in than to argue. Livvy wandered back into the living-room and sat down in an empty chair.
Livvy could hear the front door opening and Gale speaking to someone, her voice slightly higher pitched than usual, either with excitement or tension, or both.
‘Robert… We were just beginning to worry that you might not make it. Was your flight delayed?’
No need to wonder who the new arrival was, Livvy acknowledged grimly. Mr Wonderful himself.
Gale was hurrying into the sitting-room, a tall, dark-haired, dark-suited man at her side.
Richard! Livvy was halfway to her feet without even realising she had moved, her face white with shock and disbelief. Her body felt as though it belonged to a wooden-jointed doll, her movements jerky and uncoordinated, and as for her heart…her heart was ricocheting around inside her ribcage, bouncing off the walls of her chest with such high-speed velocity that she actually thought she was going to faint.