Valentine Present and Other Diabolical Liberties by Lynda Renham

Author:Lynda Renham [Renham, Lynda]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Tags: Humor & Entertainment, Humor, Love; Sex & Marriage, Literature & Fiction, Humor & Satire, General Humor
ISBN: 9780957137264
Google: zijfngEACAAJ
Amazon: B00EUIFF6W
Publisher: Raucous Publishing
Published: 2013-09-26T23:00:00+00:00

Lower Glen, ten miles from Glenwood. Get a map. Disused warehouse at the back of Glengarry estate. Don’t be late Harriet.

Get a map? From where exactly? Margarita orders Lionel to bring us another brandy and gestures for me to sit in the leather armchair opposite her and I slyly look around to see if there are maps lying about. Her cheeks are pink and her eyes animated. She’s pretty robust for someone who is dying. There is something very odd going on with Margarita Lancaster and I can’t quite put my finger on it. My heart is beating normally but I’m perspiring even more now we are in the stifling hot library, and it’s not helping knowing Fiona has a gun in her hand. I expect stray bullets to shatter the library window any second. With a bit of luck one will hit me and it will all be over. I stretch my neck to see the time on the small mantelpiece clock. It is almost five. It will take us forty minutes to drive to this Lower Glen place and I’ve still got to organise transport, then we’ve got to find the warehouse. We’ll have to leave by six-thirty which also means I’ve got to get us out of dinner as well as hire a car and somehow get a map.

‘Bring the ring,’ she orders Lionel.

Oh no, and now I have to try The Ring. My life resembles a horror film by the minute. Lionel doesn’t flinch but produces a box and hands it to her.

‘You’re very pretty,’ she says looking at me intently. ‘You have a natural beauty, not like Melanie,’ she grimaces. ‘It’s all smoke and mirrors with her. Nothing’s real.’

Best not to comment I think sensibly and sip from the brandy. She points a finger in my direction.

‘You remind me of myself when I was your age. You’re strong and independent which is why …’ she stops to sip her brandy.

I bite my lip and try not to give myself away.

‘I can’t get my head around the fact you want to be with that useless lump of a grandson of mine.’

‘He gives me everything I need,’ I say simply.

Well, that’s not lying is it? Thirty thousand pounds is exactly what I need.

‘That surprises me,’ she says with heavy cynicism as she opens the box.

I gasp at the sight of the ring. It is a huge sapphire surrounded by single diamonds. I can’t accept this. I can’t deceive this woman. This is getting out of hand. The sound of a gunshot makes me jump and I gulp the brandy.

‘Margarita …’ I begin.

‘Try it on and if it needs adjusting Jeremy can do it on Monday.’

I remove the ring from the box and stare at it.

‘Brice tells me you’ve declined to come on the stag shoot tomorrow. He seems to think you have distaste for it as he does. He’s taking you across the loch instead.’

I nod uncomfortably.

‘I hope you don’t mind. I’m slightly uncomfortable with any kind of hunting,’ I say truthfully.

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