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‘Why you?’ Lionel Masters regarded his son over steepled fingers ‘You’re already a corporate legend,’ he coinal iron fist in a velvet glove The responsibility of a tricky teenage girl wouldn’t cause you to lose a second’s worth of sleep, so I can see the way Alice’sBut there is no blood relationship, no faht to call on’

Javier’s handso from when Zoe’s father sold his share in the business to you and then died with her mother, Grace, in that house fire six weeks later,’ he re with a school friend and was spared, but that night she lost both her parents, her hoirl had ever known I felt deeply sorry for both Alice and Zoe and I thought someone from our family should take an interest,’ he emphasised bluntly

‘Alice Rothwell’s not the easiest woman to like’ He spread his hands dismissively ‘That aside, her husband had died the year before, she’d lost her son and was landed with a granddaughter she found i the warmth and sensitivity required for the care of a needy child I knew that and

in touch over the years So I guess you could say that Alice sees me as the likeliest person to take over’

Moral issues aside, ignoring the implication that she and Lionel should have offered practical help for an ex-business partner’s orphaned child, Isabella Maria’san entirely different path ‘Zoe Rothas such a pretty child, as I re She and her parents spent that Christe You remember, Lionel—you and her father spenthim out of the business Weeks later both her parents were dead, so there ht have turned into a handful but she ht, Javier?’

‘So?’ Javier bit back his impatience ‘Zoe will inherit a considerable amount when she reaches twenty-one In the meantih it had no relevance to the present situation, only to receive another from the same off-beat direction

‘Is she still pretty? I recall she had the loveliest long pale blonde hair—and such huge golden eyes!’

As he expelled an I-don’t-believe-this hiss Javier’s dark brows ot to do with the problem he was faced with? Tips on how to persuade a reluctant teenager to finish her education would have been rouched ‘I visit a couple of ti over as well as can be expected, only to be regaled with tales of teht’

In those days Zoe had been clingy around him on his visits, he recalled Still at university hiiven her a few hours of the type of childish fun not perrandmother or her ancient housekeeper, both of whom repeatedly spouted the principle that children should be seen but not heard

Later, when Zoe had been packed off to boarding-school, she’d become sulky, her ht braid that fell down her back to her waist

It must have been almost a year since he’d seen her Pressure of work had kept hiland His frown deepened to a scowl She’d spent the whole of his two-hour visit staring at hi how oddly uncomfortable she’d made him feel

‘You shouldyours—which is a huge consideration when one never knows if a woman thinks more of the size of a man’s wallet than the extent of his happiness,’ Isabella Maria pronounced lightly ‘In two years, when she’s eighteen Provided she has child-bearing hips, of course What could be more convenient? And if anyone could cure her of her apparent habit of bad behaviour then it would be -minded son!’

‘Dreahter was a release for his irritation He could never stay annoyed with his outrageous, adored parent for more than two minutes at a time And as for the state of Zoe’s hips, he had no idea whether they were as wide as a barn door or as narrow as a snake’s

Zoe’s heart was beating so rapidly she felt sick The carriage clock on the; her whole body felt out of control

She shifted restlessly on the upright chair in theenclosure, staring out over the dull Novearden, over the top of the low neatly clipped privet hedge where she would see his car as it turned off the villagewith the effort of not allowing herself the smallest blink in case she missed his arrival

For the first time in her sixteen and a half years she actually believed in her own guardian angel, soe her in the right direction What else could explain her sudden decision to walk out of school, hitch a lift back here and state she was never going back?