"Which way now, darling?' he asked, in the exaggeratedly polite tone Deborah knew was meant to show his impatience.

"Straight across,' she told him. "The village is half a mile or so further on.'

He engaged first gear and let in the clutch with unnecessary violence. His way of making it plain that he resented being forced to come.

But neither Deborah's mother, who had fallen and fractured her hip, nor her brother Paul, with business commitments and a heavily pregnant wife, would be able to get over to New York for their spring wedding.

They had always been a very close-knit and loving fam-ily—until she had broken that bond and exiled herself. But now, after being away so long, she wanted to see them, wanted them to meet her fiance´ before the marriage took place.

"We can always get together some time in the future,' Gerald had said, when she'd first broached the subject. "With only a couple of weeks to the wedding, and a weekend in LA with my parents scheduled, I won't have a spare minute...'

Gerald Justin Delcy, blonde and good-looking, head of the New York branch of the Los Angeles-based Delcy Fashion House and son of the founder, was used to having his own way both in business matters and with adoring females.

When she had been transferred from the Paris branch to New York, just under a year ago, Deborah had become one of them. Almost.

Attracted by his handsome face and his smooth sophistication, she had taken her long ash-blonde hair up into a chignon, learnt to make the most of her green eyes—eyes that changed colour with the light—and dieted until she was as slender and ethereal as he liked his women.

In fact she had done everything possible to be the kind of woman he went for.

Everything except sleep with him.

When he had finally asked her to marry him she had been delighted. It was what she had been hoping for for months.

So what had made her hesitate?

Why try to fool herself? It had been the mention of David in World Beat that had unsettled her.

That brief article—seen by chance.

David Westlake, a self-made multimillionaire at under thirty, has stepped in to save one of London's well-known landmarks.

When, following years of neglect, St Mary's House was declared structurally unsound and threatened with demolition, the philanthropic businessman bought the handsome Edwardian property for an undisclosed sum.

After the major rebuilding work is completed, he intends to refurbish St Mary's and give it to MHYA, a charity which has plans to turn the house into an education centre for mentally handicapped youngsters and adults.

At the beginning of last year Mr Westlake, a noted workaholic and a man of international stature in the business world, financed the building and equipping of a new special care wing at St Jude's Hospital.

It had been enough to open the floodgates to memories she'd been endeavouring to keep out.

Though David was a businessman, with no special interest in art and design, they had met at an art agent's summer party three years ago.

She had noticed him immediately. So had Claire, her friend and flatmate.

Well-dressed, his haircut smart but conventional, he hadn't fitted in with the rather arty crowd. Quite a lot of the younger people there, including herself, had been college graduates. But he was older, more mature, with a quiet air of authority and a mixture of asceticism and sensuality that had fascinated her from the start.

Judging by the way most of the woman there had done a double-take, they had felt much the same.

Claire, red-haired and blue-eyed, pretty as a picture, had made a dead set at him. But, though he had smiled and talked, he hadn't responded to her determined attempts to flirt with him.

It had been Deborah he had singled out.

Appearing by her side, he had said, "I was starting to wonder why I'd come to this party, but now I know.' Looking into her green eyes he'd added, "You have the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen. They're like opals.'

She had heard it said that the factors of love were hope and chance. She hadn't been hoping—her career was absorbing her thoughts at that time—but she had seen herself reflected in his dark pupils, and whatever made the world move had moved the world for her then.

Though not handsome in the film-star sense, he was one of the most attractive men she had ever seen, with the lithe, casual grace of an athlete and the charisma of a guru.

After twenty-one years of steady family affection, her life had caught fire. At that instant she had fallen in love with a depth and passion she'd thought would last her whole life through.

Not very long afterwards she had learnt that Delcy Fashion House liked her portfolio and were offering her a job in Paris that most aspiring fashion designers would have died for.

Unwilling to leave David, she had turned it down without a qualm.

After only a matter of weeks, having described himself as a one-woman man, he had asked her to marry him. Knowing herself to be a one-man woman, she had joyfully accepted.

When he'd slid a beautiful engagement ring onto her finger she had wanted Claire and the whole world to share in her happiness.

The world had appeared largely indifferent, and Claire— though flaunting a new and handsome boyfriend—had seemed strangely quiet.

David's two sisters, and her own family, had been delighted by the news.

Having had enough of living in a London flat, David had suggested they bought a house in the country, so they had started to look for their ideal home.

At first they had met with little or no success. Then, in late October, a seven-bedroomed Elizabethan manor house, with gardens, stabling, and a sixteenth-century walled garden, had come onto the market.

Rothlands, the house agent had informed them, was a two-storey place built of mellow stone, with twisted chimneys and mullioned windows. It was unusual in that the hall wasn't central, but lay about two thirds along the structure.

Both the house and the stables, he'd warned, were in need of substantial repairs.

Situated in pleasant, rolling country, about a mile from the picturesque village of Pityme, the property was within reasonable commuting distance of London.

Interested, despite the house agent's warning and the high price, they'd gone down to see it.

They had found the whole place was semi-derelict. The front door hung loose on its hinges, glass had gone from the window frames, part of the roof had fallen in, and ivy encroached everywhere. Nevertheless, Deborah had fallen in love with it at first sight.

"Like it?' David had asked, as they'd walked hand in hand through the ruined rooms.

Knowing the owner was asking far too high a price, and well aware it would need tens of thousands spending on it, she had hesitated.

"You don't need to say anything,' he'd told her with a smile. "I only have to look at your face to know you do, and it will be a great place to bring up our children.'

Deborah had been filled with such joy and gladness she had felt incandescent.

That blazing happiness had lasted for only a few short weeks. Then David's betrayal had left her gutted and empty—a burnt-out shell at twenty-one.

Matters had been complicated by the fact that her brother Paul and Kathy, David's younger sister, had fallen in love and planned to marry in the following spring.

Her pride at stake, and unwilling, for the sake of family harmony, to let the others know what David had done, Deborah had announced that she had made a mistake and was ending the engagement.

Pressed for a reason, she had told them that her career was more important to her than marriage.

They had all been staggered, and in their various ways had tried to get her to change her mind.

Paul had been one of the most persistent.

It had been like a giant hand squeezing her heart, and finally, after swearing him to secrecy, she had told him part of the truth that David had been having an affair with Claire. That wasn't even the whole story, although it was bad enough. But she just couldn't bear to reveal to Paul the worst of David's sins.

"I'm quite sure you're wrong, sis.' He had sounded deeply upset.

"I only wish I was.'

"What does David say about it?'

"He doesn't know I know.'

"You haven't talked to him?'

"No. I couldn't bring myself to... And it wasn't necessary. Claire admitted it. She almost taunted me about it.'

"Perhaps she was just trying to cause trouble—to come between you and David?' Paul had suggested.

"Why would she try to come between David and me when she has a boyfriend of her own?'

"She might have a boyfriend of her own, but if she's always fancied David—'

"That's the whole point. She has always fancied him, and she's beautiful and alluring—'

"And used to men falling for her. So if David ignored her... Well, you know what they say about a woman scorned. She could have been lying,' Paul had pointed out.

"I'm convinced she wasn't. Anyway, I saw them to-gether—saw them kissing.'

For a moment Paul had looked startled, then he'd said, "Just a kiss doesn't prove anything.'

Unwilling to go into the painful details she'd witnessed, she'd said, "It was more than just a kiss, believe me.'

He'd thought it over for a while, before asking seriously, "Just how much does David mean to you?'

"Less than nothing,' she had lied, full of bitterness and anger.

"Are you sure?' Paul had persisted.

"Absolutely sure. I never want to see or hear of him again. I'll stick with my career.'

Plainly unhappy, but respecting her confidence, Paul had said nothing further.

Needing desperately to get away, she had contacted Delcy Fashion House and asked if they were still interes...