Page 70 of A Sense of Turmoil
‘This is an unexpected pleasure.’ She indicated a chair beside the fire, scared that if her fingers made contact with his outstretched hand, she would never find the strength to release it again.
‘How have you been?’ he asked, withdrawing his hand, waiting for her to seat herself and then taking the chair across from her.
She waved a hand around the room. ‘As you can see, I am very comfortable here.’ But that was not what he’d asked her and they both knew it.
‘This is a delightful cottage,’ he said, playing along. ‘I can quite understand its allure.’
‘Can I offer you tea?’
He shook his head. ‘I didn’t come for tea.’
Flora waved Polly away, and she left the room, closing the door softly behind her. ‘Then why did you come?’ Flora asked, moistening her lips with the tip of her tongue, unable to understand why they suddenly felt so dry.
‘To apologise.’ He ran a hand abstractedly through his hair, a familiar gesture that she had seen him employ often when agitated or conflicted. It made her heart lurch and increased the almost overwhelming desire she felt to wrap him in her arms and take his pain away.
‘What for?’ she asked softly.
He closed his eyes briefly, looking tortured. ‘You were right about the Flemings. And about so much more besides. I wanted you to know that.’
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, lacing her fingers together to prevent herself from reaching out to him. ‘If it’s any consolation, I wish that I had not been. Right, that is.’
‘I shall not be marrying Ottilie.’
‘I heard.’
He glanced up at her. ‘You saw the retraction announced in the newspapers?’
‘No, Mary wrote and told me. She’s worried about you. She said you have not been yourself.’
‘It’s little wonder. Sam discovered the discrepancies in the accounts that you warned me would be there.’
‘I’m surprised you asked him to look, given your lack of belief in me,’ she couldn’t prevent herself from remarking.
‘Ouch!’ He offered her a wry, lopsided smile. ‘I suppose I deserved that.’
‘Yes Luke, you did, but my comment was nonetheless unworthy. I had no right to expect you to accept my word for what I knew to be true.’
She widened her eyes when Luke told her precisely how much the Flemings had embezzled over a ten-year period. ‘And no one noticed?’
‘They were very clever and skilfully disguised the discrepancies—a load of tobacco unaccounted for here, a shortfall in the harvest of cranberries there. Without being close enough at hand to keep a weather eye on production, it was easily achieved. The estate continued to turn a decent profit, so neither I nor my father before me had reason to think anything was amiss.’
‘They were fixing the figures and then selling the surplus elsewhere, pocketing the profits for themselves?’
Luke lifted a shoulder. ‘So it would appear.’
‘You trusted them, as did your father. But George, I would imagine, got greedy. I sense that he is a gamester, which accounts for his determination to marry his sister off to a man of your stature. You could not allow him to fall into dun territory without tarnishing your own name.’ She sat a little straighter and offered Luke a sympathetic smile. ‘I am sorry if your feelings were engaged, but it seems to me that you have had a lucky escape. You would never have been free of George’s debts if you had married Ottilie.’
‘I cannot disagree with you, and you will understand why when I tell you the rest of it.’
Flora’s mouth fell open when Luke told her about his father’s supposed affair with Fleming’s wife.
‘Can it be true?’ she asked, clutching her cheek with one hand.
‘Yes, I rather think that it can. I have been a blind fool.’ He stood and paced the length of the room, watched by Zeus who sat on the windowsill on the outside of the glass, gazing impassively in at the drama unfolding in the drawing room. ‘I have spent all my adult years attempting to live up to the expectations of a man who did not exist, and who certainly didn’t live by the standards that he preached to his eldest son.’ He slapped the flat of his hand against his thigh. ‘I’ve spoken long into the night with Paul about the matter, and with Alvin too. They both knew that the pater had a weakness for women, particularly other men’s wives, but they knew that I would have knocked either of them down if they’d attempted to enlighten me.’
‘It’s only natural that you should have looked up to and respected your own father.’
‘Thank you for not saying what you are actually thinking about my stupidity. However, my eyes have been well and truly opened now,’ he said bitterly. ‘I have told George that he owes me nothing. He wouldn’t be able to repay me anyway. He’s had his revenge, I shall absorb a loss I didn’t realise I’d incurred, and that as far as I am concerned is the end of the matter.’ He turned and looked at her, his expression a sad reflection of his thoughts. ‘I should have listened to you and had more faith in your sixth sense.’
