‘Of course I loved you.’
‘But having the money helped,’ Marina scorned him.
Paul shot her a furious glare. ‘What would you know about it—the daughter of a man who lost the family fortune in the first place?’
Marina’s face paled to a ghostly white. ‘I’m well aware of what my father did …’
‘I’ve never heard such nonsense in all my life,’ their grandmother cut in angrily. ‘Your father was a wonderful businessman,’ she assured Marina indignantly, ‘and would have withdrawn from that particular deal if he had had the time. Unfortunately, I lost all my children before that could happen,’ she added with emotion.
‘You lost your money, too,’ Paul derided contemptuously.
Blue eyes glittered furiously at him. ‘I never, ever blamed my son for that.’
‘Didn’t you?’ Marina looked at their grandmother hopefully. ‘Didn’t you really?’
‘Of course not.’ Evelyn sounded
shocked at the idea. ‘Your father made the family fortune in the first place by his astute investments. Surely you didn’t think I in any way blamed him for what happened?’ She frowned.
Marina shrugged. ‘I heard two women gossiping about what had happened——’
‘Gossip!’ Their grandmother’s tone told what she thought about that.
‘It was at a garden fete you held here when I was fifteen,’ Marina explained. ‘These two women were saying what a shame it was your son had lost all the family money, what a pity it was the house had become so run-down.’
Those temper tantrums from Marina’s teens were starting to be explained now, Eve realised: the constant need her cousin had to prove herself, to be the centre of attention always. And she could see their grandmother was beginning to see the same thing, too.
‘None of that is true, darling,’ she told Marina gently. ‘We’ll talk together later, and then I’ll tell you what a wonderful man your father was.’
Marina’s head went back in proud challenge as she turned once more to Paul. ‘Whatever my father did he did by mistake, and not with deliberate intent as you did. I knew from the moment you tried to get me to go out with you a couple of years ago, because you thought I had come into money on my twenty-first birthday too, that you were no good,’ she scorned. ‘Oh, yes, you didn’t always so heartily disapprove of me, did you?’ she mocked with distaste as a ruddy hue coloured Paul’s cheeks. ‘A couple of years ago, before you took over from your father and were privy to our personal affairs, you would have been quite happy to settle for me and my legacy, if I had been interested—which I certainly wasn’t. Good lord, even after you found out I hadn’t received any money, you weren’t averse to suggesting an affair between us might be fun!’
‘Shut up,’ Paul rasped, his jaw clenched. ‘Just shut up.’
She shook her head. ‘Eve’s entitled to know the truth, all of it, now that I’m sure she no longer loves you. I’ve only kept quiet until now because she seemed to love you so much, and I thought perhaps ignorance was bliss,’ Marina scorned.
‘Eve still loves me,’ Paul claimed angrily. ‘She always has, she always will.’
What a fool she had been! So gullible, so ripe for the picking, so obviously in love with him. If it hadn’t been for Adam and Marina—she hated to think what her life would have been like without the two of them!
‘I wouldn’t willingly breathe the same air you breathe now,’ Eve told him coldly.
His mouth turned back. ‘You always were a romantic little fool.’
Not any more, never any more.
‘And you’re a selfish swine,’ Marina defended her like a lioness over one of her cubs. ‘What a blow it must have been to your plans when you realised Eve had spent the majority of her money on restoring this house. Although even then I don’t suppose all was completely lost; after all, the house might belong to my grandmother, but—forgive me, Grandmother,’ she hugged her affectionately, ‘Eve and I were sure to inherit it one day. And with the added knowledge now of Eve’s earnings from her paintings, she must have seemed worth pursuing, after all.’
‘I didn’t need much pursuing,’ Eve said self-disgustedly. ‘I’d been in love with Paul, or thought I had, since I was a teenager!’
‘In love with love, darling,’ her grandmother put in gently. ‘And that sort of love is usually the hardest to overcome. But as soon as you met Adam, your heart knew what it really wanted.’
‘Another couple of months and it would have been too late,’ Paul muttered angrily.
Another couple of months and she would have been married to this man, Eve realised with a shudder.
How blind she had been to what he was really like, while everyone around her could see him for exactly what he was!
Adam was watching her closely. ‘Leave, Lester, while you’re still able to do so,’ he advised harshly.