Lynne Graham's Brides of L'Amour Bundle

‘Dad and his other women?’ Pippa strove to look unconcerned.

Tabby grimaced. ‘My stepmother let the cat out of the bag during that awful final holiday. Her flirting with your father to annoy mine didn’t exactly add to the friendly atmosphere. I felt so sorry for your mother.’

‘She was a gentle soul and miserable with Dad.’ Pippa discovered that she could feel almost grateful for the opportunity to finally express her pain on her late mother’s behalf. She would never forget overhearing her father telling her mother that he was entitled to stray when he had such an unattractive wife. ‘He could say very cruel things.’

‘It was his way of controlling you and your mum,’ Tabby opined. ‘But a man can be strong without needing to hurt and humiliate women.’

‘I know that.’ But Pippa was only agreeing in the hope that that would conclude a subject that went too close to the bone for comfort. There had been nothing weak about Andreo, but that had not prevented him from hurting and humiliating her, she reflected painfully.

‘Do you?’ Tabby gave her a troubled look. ‘Or has your dad’s big, scary shadow fallen over your relationship with the Italian bloke you won’t tell me about?’

‘I just had a fight with…Andreo…no big deal,’ Pippa quipped with forced lightness of tone, because her fierce pride would not allow her to confess the truth to Tabby, who was secure in her husband’s obvious love for her and their children.

Starved of even such minor facts by her friend’s reserved nature, Tabby could not hide the strength of her desire to know more. ‘Did you even give Andreo the chance to say sorry?’

Pippa went pink with discomfiture and then decided to tell a little white lie for the sake of peace. ‘Actually…we’re talking again. He phoned me last night—’

‘Oh, that’s marvellous!’ Tabby gave her much taller friend a delighted hug of approbation. ‘I wish Christien and I could get the chance to meet him…’

At that opportune moment, Jolie tugged at Pippa’s cotton trousers and provided a welcome distraction by holding up her arms to be lifted. Pippa looked down into the little girl’s trusting gaze and sunny smile and obliged. Jolie had all the confidence of a child who was growing up in an atmosphere of love and contentment. Pippa reckoned that granted the same background to her childhood she herself would have developed a healthier self-esteem.

‘Come and play cars,’ Jake urged in turn. ‘Jolie can watch.’

Tabby rested most afternoons but it was her nanny’s day off and she looked tired. Ignoring her half-hearted protests, Pippa took the children back indoors to give her friend a break.

After dinner that evening, Pippa thanked Christien and Tabby for their wonderful hospitality. In the morning she planned to board a train to the Dordogne to visit her mother’s burial place for the first time. Following that she would head to Paris and seek accommodation and a new job. Christien had already offered her the use of his Paris apartment and lucrative employment, but Pippa preferred not to mix friendship with the acceptance of favours she could not return.

‘Do you think I could persuade Hilary to come for a visit?’ Tabby asked wistfully outside Pippa’s bedroom door.

‘She’d love to come, but between her little sister and the hair salon, she’s very tied down,’ Pippa explained ruefully. ‘I wish one of us had heard from Jen but she seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth.’

‘She was always very shy but I’m sure she’ll get in touch eventually. In the meantime, you and me and Hilary should plan a proper get-together for the new year,’ Tabby suggested before she said goodnight to Pippa.

Pippa was emerging from the shower when she heard a helicopter coming in to land. There was nothing unusual in that. The owner of an international airline, Christien flew himself most places and so did many of his social circle.

Clad in a cool white cotton nightdress, Pippa was setting out clothes for the morning when a hasty knock sounded on the door and Tabby appeared wreathed in a big grin. ‘I’ve got a fantastic surprise for you!’ her friend carolled like an excited schoolgirl. ‘Close your eyes!’

Suppressing a sigh, Pippa did as she was asked. ‘Can I open them yet?’

‘Not until you hear the door close again…and don’t feel you have to hurry down for breakfast in the morning!’ Tabby giggled.

As the door snapped shut Pippa was picturing a beaker of hot chocolate topped with melted marshmallows or some such sentimental reminder of their childhood. But when her lashes swept up she got a severe shock. Instead of a soothing night drink, Tabby had delivered a six-foot-five-inch male to her guest’s bedroom.

‘Tabby’s very sweet,’ Andreo murmured smooth as black ice.

Just one look at him and Pippa felt as if she had been knifed. He was the male she had craved against her will for two endless weeks. The male she had simultaneously craved and hated, whom she had last seen being pawed by the beautiful Lili. Her tummy flipped in rejection of the cruel images flooding her memory. Angry pain was no true barrier against his hard male beauty and that raw physicality of his that made her senses sing. His charcoal grey business suit was tailored to a designer fit over his broad shoulders, lean hips and long, powerful thighs. He looked totally spectacular and her mouth ran dry.

‘How the heck did you find out where I was?’ she demanded fiercely. ‘I didn’t tell anyone!’

‘When you were last on the phone to Marco, he heard someone address you in French—’

‘I’ll never forgive him for telling you—’

‘Be fair, bella mia. You only asked him not to divulge your new phone number and he did respect that. I had to lean on him a little before he mentioned hearing French being spoken—’

Pippa dealt him an aghast look of reproach. ‘You bully…he’s only fourteen!’

‘And even at that tender age, Marco has a healthy regard for family honour and loyalty,’ Andreo delivered dryly.