‘No, you always were a proud little thing. But you’re back now, and I can’t tell you how much it means to me.’
‘Does it mean enough for you to have your operation?’ Rorke asked quietly from the door. Neither of them had heard him enter and they both spun round like guilty children.
‘Rorke, I’m too tired and too old,’ Leigh protested. ‘What can a few more years of life mean to me now?’
‘A great deal, I should think. In five years Robbie will change from a little boy to a growing adult. In ten he’ll be fifteen. And perhaps there’ll be other children.’ He crossed the room and took Lisa in his arms, a teasing glint lightening the darkness of his eyes.
‘If I’m so successful at parenthood without even trying, think what I might be able to achieve if I do try! Aren’t there twins somewhere along the line in the family?’ he mused as Lisa bit back a protest. Her knees had gone strangely weak, her senses bemused by Rorke’s proximity. He had changed into formal dinner clothes and just for a moment she was tempted to ruffle the tidiness of his hair, to slide her fingers inside the crisp whiteness of his dress shirt. He was dangerous in this teasing mood. Against her will she could feel herself responding to him; wanting him, only this time without a teenager’s natural fear and apprehension.
‘I don’t know,’ Leigh was saying, but there was enough doubt in his voice for Rorke to glance triumphantly at Lisa, and say lightly, ‘Well let’s put it to Doctor James, shall we?’
Dinner was a surprisingly pleasant meal. David Neale she knew from the past, and he had always been someone she liked, despite the fact that he was Helen’s uncle, and neither of their guests made any reference to the past, or Lisa’s unexpected reappearance, which made it easy for her to behave naturally.
Doctor James, of course, she didn’t know, but he was a pleasant, sturdy Scot with a dry sense of humour and an obvious concern for his patient.
‘
Rorke’s been on at me again to have that operation,’ Leigh commented abruptly during the course of the meal. Lisa looked queryingly at the doctor, wondering what his response would be.
‘Well, you know my views,’ Doctor James responded. ‘Life is always precious enough to risk hanging on to it. You have a fifty-fifty chance of coming through the operation—more if you continue to make the same progress you’ve been doing lately. You’ve been a real tonic to him,’ he told Lisa. ‘Far better than any of my pills and potions.’
‘Well, Lisa, what do you think?’ asked Leigh.
‘Perhaps I’m being selfish, in saying this, but I’m all for anything that keeps you with us Leigh, you know that.’
‘It looks very much as though I’m overruled,’ Leigh commented wryly, but Lisa could tell that he wasn’t entirely displeased. She even had a suspicion that he had already decided in favour of the operation anyway. Leigh had always been astute, and clever. Could he possibly have persuaded Doctor James to tell Rorke his health was worse than it was, in a bid to force Rorke to take her back? Leigh loved her, Lisa knew that. He also held marriage to be sacrosanct. He had fully accepted Robbie as his grandson, and for the first time Lisa faced the fact that if Leigh did have the operation, if he did recover, she and Rorke would be sentenced to a lifetime of misery together. But Rorke was his father all over again. He would never allow himself to be forced into any situation he didn’t want, at least not for long, and no doubt he already knew exactly what he was going to do to extricate himself from their marriage.
One of the servants had just brought in the cheeseboard and a decanter of port, when Leigh signalled to him, murmuring something Lisa could not quite catch. The man beamed and hurried to the door, flinging it open to reveal Mama Case and the rest of the household.
‘Rorke, if you would do the honours.’ Leigh indicated several magnums of champagne on the trolley. ‘I bought this the year you were born, and I kept some of it to celebrate the birth of your first son. Unfortunately that was an event we missed.’ He sighed, and Lisa coloured guiltily, telling herself that really she had nothing to feel guilty for.
‘I want you all to drink with me now—not just Robbie, my grandson, but to Lisa and Rorke, his parents. May they always find their happiness in one another.’
Everyone drank but Lisa found it hard to look suitably happy.
‘There’s something else.’
Lisa could see the hectic colour staining Leigh’s pale face and she could tell that Rorke shared her concern. Too much excitement wasn’t good for him, he had told her.
‘As you all know, up until now Rorke has always been my heir. Events such as those I’ve lived through recently make a man all too aware of his mortality, and one of the reasons I’ve asked you to come here tonight is that I want you all to know that I’ve rewritten my will. The bulk of my estate—the management of the hotels still goes to Rorke, but ownership of the hotels he now shares with his son—Robbie is still far too young for such a responsibility, and so his mother will act for him until he comes of age.’
An excited buzz of chatter broke out all around her, but Lisa barely heard it. What had Leigh done? Did he suspect that they were simply acting? Was this his way of ensuring that they were forced to stay together, or was it simply that he wanted to do something for Robbie, sensing perhaps that Rorke did not fully accept the little boy.
She darted a glance at Rorke. He could not have known what his father had planned. His face was white with tension, his eyes hard as they met hers. He hadn’t known. Her heart started to beat erratically. Did he blame her? Did he think she had persuaded Leigh to alter his will?
‘Rorke, I can’t let your father do this,’ she said shakily. ‘I…’
‘Don’t say a word,’ Rorke warned her. ‘He thinks he’s pleasing you, Lisa, don’t spoil his pleasure. Do you want him to have another relapse? Look at him,’ he demanded harshly. ‘He isn’t well, Lisa. All that’s keeping him going is sheer guts and strength of will. He knows you too well. He’s frightened that you might run off again, so this time he’s keeping you tied here. You think too much of Robbie to deny the boy his inheritance.’
‘And you don’t mind?’
He shrugged. ‘Why should I? There’s plenty to go round.’
Half an hour later Doctor James suggested in a quiet aside to Lisa that it might be as well to bring the evening to a close.
‘He’s doing marvellously well, but he’s still very frail. Having you and the boy here has given him a new lease of life. By the way,’ he added thoughtfully, ‘you might as well bring the laddie down to the hospital one of these days. I take it he’s had all his inoculations?’
‘Most of them,’ Lisa agreed, ‘but there wasn’t time to have them all done before we left.’