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CHAPTER ONE

OF COURSE, Leo had knohat hiswhen she had said, without any hint of inflection in her voice, that they had hoped he ht have arrived a little earlier—several hours earlier, she could have said, were she to have been absolutely precise Instead, she had held back her obvious disappointment and had listened to his excuses without comment

Meetings had overrun An urgent call had co the office Inevitable Friday traffic Leo had kept the excuses brief, knowing that his mother would never actually tell hi, would never express disapproval or condemnation In fact, he doubted whether there had been any need at all to ise just as politeness had driven his mother to respond as she had, without any hint of censure

‘Daniel,’ she had said eventually, ‘has popped out to see Heather Just next door The quickest way is to walk across the fields to her house, but I expect you would rather drive Or, of course, you could wait here I told Heather that he was to be back no later than seven’

‘I’ll walk’ He would not take the car because, as a city gent, a billionaire who had no time for country walks, he would never choose to wait

So now here he was, sae that surrounded the exquisite country house which he had bought for hishis father’s death

Leo had never stepped foot beyond the neatlythe house Naturally, he had known that the grounds stretched as far as the eye could see, enco fields and a thickly wooded area which beca the warm summer-months Hadn’t he, after all, carefully read the reports sent to him by the people he had commissioned to find the property in the first place? Hadn’t he duly noted the practicality of hisin a house which would not, in due course, find itself surrounded by housing estates due to greedy building contractors having no respect for open space?

But only now, as he tramped across the endless fields, inappropriately clad in handrey suit which had cost the earth, did he appreciate the true size of his invest towards her seventies, didn’t ever explore the furthest reaches of the estate?

It occurred to hi as to what his mother did from one day to the next He dutifully telephoned three times a week—or considerably more now that Daniel had landed on the scene—and was told that she was fine, Daniel was fine, the house was fine, life was fine Then he would attempt to have a conversation with Daniel, which elicited much the same response but in a rather more hostile tone of voice The details of this fine life were never painted in, so he was at a loss to knohether histhis hike to ‘the house next door’ entailed

He cursed hi that he would enjoy the fresh air and exercise Fresh air, he acknowledged—swatting past some brambles, while the su out in the countryside wearing a jacket—was best confined to those brief mini-breaks called holidays which he took a couple of ti them ork, woot ayh-powered job on a punching bag and then cooled doith fifty-odd laps in the Oly unfit This, however, seemed to require a different sort of staht to bring his mobile phone with him, because he could have usefully used the time to make a couple of calls, which he would now have to do when he returned to the house

Heather’s house, his mother had assured hie and the garden was spilling over with flowers of every description Her face had softened when she had said this, and he had wondered whether Heather was one of her pals froossip once a week over pots of tea

Or so those lines, at any rate

It was a heartening thought So that his mother had someone virtually on her doorstep houilty absentee-father, knowing that this kindly neighbour had also bonded with his son

The cottage in question leapt out at hier of hi it ‘Strike out west and head for the house that looks as though it belongs in the pages of a fairy tale’ Leo hadn’t realised that so many types of flora existed, and he surprised hi for a couple of seconds to admire the profusion of colour

Then he circled the cottage, noting the white picket-fence, the clans of someone as seriously into clichés He al out from between the riot of flowers that bordered the little stone path to the front door, but fortunately he was spared that particular horror

Leo himself was minie to the axiolass On the white walls, outrageously expensive, abstract paintings were splashes of colour that slowly appreciated in value even as they adorned his walls; it hy he had bought them in the first place

The door knocker appeared to be soed on it twice, just in case he was dealing with so

He heard the sound of quickly approaching footsteps, and sohter Then the door was opened and he found hi down into the bluest eyes he had ever seen A tangle of pure gold, curly hair framed a heart-shaped face, and as his eyes involuntarily travelled further doards they took in the sure that, in a society that prized the stick-thin figure, would be labelled ‘overweight’