A Convenient Husband by Kim Lawrence

Author:Kim Lawrence [Lawrence, Kim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2001-01-08T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

RAFE sat at the opposite end of the long table from his grandfather. The arrangement wasn’t exactly intimate. You could have comfortably seated at least twenty people between them along the gleaming mahogany surface. In the past he’d frequently seen it accommodate at least that many people. The atmosphere had been convivial on those occasions; tonight it was not.

He toyed with the empty crystal goblet beside his plate. ‘Do you eat in here when you’re alone?’

‘Some of us like to maintain standards.’ Edgar Farrar looked with thinly veiled disapproval at his grandson’s casual attire. His grandfather’s disapproval had stopped bothering Rafe a long time before. ‘What would you have me do—eat on a tray in front of the television?’

Rafe’s lips twitched. What a scandalous thought! He had noticed the old man’s colour had got progressively darker through the meal as he’d accepted the wine his grandson had refused…drinking for two? Rafe wondered how the old man’s blood pressure was behaving these days. He didn’t ask—he didn’t think his concern would be well received. He supposed the ironic thing was that he did actually feel concerned.

‘Yeah, the dreaded telly, it’s really killed the art of conversation, hasn’t it?’ Rafe drawled, his sarcasm pronounced. They’d sat through four courses and not exchanged more than half a dozen words before the coffee stage.

I’d have been better off staying at the cottage with Tess, he thought, not for the first time. Actually he would have stayed if she hadn’t forcibly expelled him, insisting she wanted to cope with Chloe without any distractions.

‘Heard from Dad lately?’

His father had been living in luxurious exile with his wife in the South of France since he’d been caught with his fingers in the till. Actually, the embezzlement had been a little more sophisticated than that—Guy Farrar might be greedy and impatient, but he was also clever. Not as clever as his father, though, it turned out.

When he’d discovered the crime Edgar had used his own money to cover the theft and set about limiting the damage. He’d succeeded. Inevitably there had been rumours but the family honour had survived the incident intact, which Rafe pondered cynically, was all that mattered! This done, Edgar had told his son he was no longer welcome in the country. Guy had known that Edgar had the power to make life very uncomfortable if he hadn’t obeyed the edict.

Rafe didn’t regret his parent’s departure, but he did feel a twinge of remorse as the older man’s ruddy colour intensified.

Despite all the odds, he felt an affection for the bigoted, intolerant old despot which he had never felt for his own father or, for that matter, his brother. His mother had been tearfully delighted to see him when he’d sought her out just after his eighteenth birthday, but you couldn’t turn back the clock. Rafe didn’t resent this. He knew she had a new family to consider, and he was genuinely happy she’d found someone to make her happy. No, he and Edgar were stuck with each other.

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