Her Own Rules/Dangerous to Know (43 page)

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY-FOUR

“G
erald, listen to me. Please don't go to sleep.
Please”
I said. “I want to talk to you about something and it's very important.”

Stifling a yawn and rousing himself, my husband responded in an apologetic voice, “Sorry to be so sleepy, darling, I'm afraid I'm still suffering from the time change. But talk to me, please do, I'm all ears, I promise.”

Pushing myself up on one elbow, I looked down at him and said, “I've stopped using birth control pills, so you may well have made me pregnant tonight. Isn't that an exciting thought?”

Gerald sat upright in bed and gaped at me. “Good Lord, darling, when on earth did this extraordinary change of heart occur?”

“I've been thinking about having a baby since December, Gerald. The time
is
right, don't you think?”

“I certainly do! I'm all for it, you know that. Good Lord!” he exclaimed. “A
baby.
What a wonderful idea.” He gave me a boyish grin. “Perhaps we
did
make one, we were certainly passionate enough, if that counts for ought.”

He leaned back on the pillows, gave me a long penetrating look and added, “Well, well, well, so you want to be a mother, Luciana. What was it that actually wrought this unexpected change in you?”

“The fact that the Locke dynasty is on the wane has been bothering me for a long time,” I said. “And the only way to rectify that is for us to have children.
Heirs,
Gerald. Heirs to follow in our footsteps. Mine and yours. I know you want children, and that your father wants grandchildren to go into Kamper Brothers. After all, your family business is one of the oldest merchant banks in England, just as the Locke family is one of the oldest dynasties in America. We can't let the Lockes and the Kampers become extinct, now can we?”

“Perish the thought,” he said with a dry laugh. “And how many children are you planning for us to have, my sweet?”

“At least four,” I answered. “Two for me, I mean two to go into Locke Industries, when they're old enough, and two for you for the bank.”

“Sounds a bit cold-blooded when you put it that way, don't you think?” he murmured, giving me an odd look.

“It may sound it,” I said. “But it isn't, not really, Gerald. I'm just being practical, that's all, and maybe we'll only have two or three. Perhaps we might have six, though. Who knows. There's some luck attached to it, I'm sure, but as far as I'm concerned, the more the merrier.”

“Forgive me if I seem a trifle startled, but this is indeed something of a switch on your part. Quite a switch actually. You were always so much against having children.”

“You've always led me to believe you wanted them. Don't tell me you've changed your mind. You haven't, have you?”

“No, no, not at all, Luce. I'm delighted about your decision, couldn't be more pleased if I tried. I suppose you'll want to continue working, and have a nanny for the baby?”

“The answer to both questions is a decided
yes
, and surely that doesn't matter to
you
, Gerald. You've always understood about my work.”

“No, it doesn't bother me at all.”

“And you
were
brought up by a nanny.”

“Yes, thank heavens. My Nan was wonderful and I loved her very much when I was a child. I still love her. Pity she's retired, she would have been perfect for Bertie.”

“Bertie?”

“Yes, Bertie the baby. Our baby. Sounds sweet, doesn't it?”

I laughed. “Not Bertie, darling. We're not going to call him that. He'll be named Sebastian after my father, Horatio after yours. So, in fact, his full name will be Sebastian Horatio Lyon Locke Kamper.”

“Good Lord, that's a hell of a mouthful for a little baby.”

“But he's going to grow up and be a tycoon and run Locke Industries. And anyway, he'll be known as Sebastian Locke Kamper. That doesn't sound too bad, does it?”

“It seems you've got it all worked out,” Gerald answered. “Well, there's one thing I do know for certain, poppet.”

“What's that?” I asked gazing into his vivid blue eyes. I loved him a lot.

“We're going to have rather exciting times these next few years, trying to make all the babies you want.”

I laughed, reached up, and kissed him on the cheek. “I'm sure that won't worry you.”

“Of course it doesn't, I'm mad for you, Luce.”

“You're the sexiest thing, Gerald.”

“Thanks for the compliment, and let me return it. So are you.”

“Thank you. Gerald?”

“Yes, darling?”

“There's something else I want to talk to you about.”

“I'm wide awake now, so go ahead, I'm listening.”

“It's about Locke Industries,” I began and then hesitated. “Are you sure you're not too tired?”

“I'm all right, tell me what's troubling you?”

“I'm not really troubled,” I answered quickly. “Just concerned about Locke Industries.”

“In what sense?”

“Jack's not really interested in running the business. He does what he does because he has to, and he was brought up to understand that he had to do his
duty.
God knows, that was drilled into him all his life. But he doesn't
love
Locke Industries the way I do. And I feel I should be running the company in his place. He could still have the title of chairman.”

“Are you trying to tell me that you want to be CEO and president?” Gerald asked, his voice rising slightly.

“Well,” I began and paused when I saw the concerned expression settle on his face. “Don't you think I could do the job?”

“Don't be silly, Luce, of course you could do it. But it's awfully demanding and all-consuming. Quite frankly, I think Jonas Winston is a wonderful businessman and a great CEO and he's done a fine job for ten years, performed extremely well. Don't forget, he was handpicked by Sebastian. And Peter Sampson is a darned good second in command. I—”

“Do you think I can't run Locke because I'm a woman?”

“That has nothing to do with it!”

“Then why are you looking so worried?”

“You're my wife. I want to spend time with you, Luciana. Obviously I don't mind if you have a career, in fact I'm proud of you, your achievements. You know that. But I'm not sure I'd want you spending eighteen hours a day at Locke headquarters in New York.”

“I wouldn't be doing that.”

“Of course you would. You're a hands-on person, that's your style of management. I doubt you'll change.”

“Maybe Jack would be happy if I became chairman in his place,” I said, thinking aloud. “That's a much less demanding job. And it would be much better for the company than having him making decisions from France. You wouldn't mind if I were chairman, would you, Gerald dear?”

“No. But Jack might.” He threw me a knowing look.

I shrugged.

Gerald said softly, “And how many decisions do you think Jack really makes? Mostly he approves of what Jonas Winston thinks should be done, the decisions that Jonas has already made. They discuss them, of course, but Jack listens to Jonas, I'm positive of that. He'd be a fool not to listen when Jonas is sitting there in full command of the company. I absolutely believe this is exactly the way it is. Trust me on this, Luce, please.”

“I'm not sure you're right,” I began and paused. I knew he was correct in everything he'd said.

“Look here,” Gerald exclaimed, “I'm going to give you a bit of advice. It's the same advice I give to friends and colleagues who come and discuss a problem with me, a problem they have with someone else. I always tell them they're talking to the wrong person. I point out that they should be talking to the person they're at odds with, not me, because that's the only way they'll get any satisfaction, resolve the problem.”

“So you're telling me I should go and talk to Jack?”

“Yes, I am, darling, if you want to pursue this matter further.”

“And what if Jack is relieved and happy that I want to take over from him? How would you feel about that? And also, Gerald, would you really move to New York?”

“In a shot! Of course I would. Move to New York, I mean. I'd be happy living there, I could run our Wall Street office, we could live in that magnificent town-house of your father's that's now yours and is standing empty. And we could spend weekends at Laurel Creek Farm. I'm sure your brother would be happy if we made use of it in his absence. As for you taking over the chairmanship from Jack, that would be perfectly all right with me as long as you were not killing yourself at Locke Industries.”

“I wouldn't be doing that!” I exclaimed. “Not as chairman.”

“No, I don't think you would. You have more sense than that.” He grinned at me in that boyish way of his and added, “It's absolutely necessary that we have some free time together, in order to make all those babies you say you want.”

“I do want them, don't doubt that, Gerald.”

“I don't. Now if Jack's not amenable to giving up the chairmanship, which he may not be, then you could suggest something else to him. You could offer to become joint chairman, share the responsibility with him.”

“Yes . . . I guess I could . . .”

“Let's just suppose that Jack agrees to your proposal. How do you think Jonas would feel about it?”

“I don't think he'd mind. He's always liked me, admired me even, and we got on well when I worked with him at Locke in New York. I don't think I'm wrong in saying that both he and Peter Sampson respect me.”

“And certainly you don't have any shareholders to answer to, since Locke is a privately held company with all of the shares in the hands of the Locke family.”

“Except for Vivienne Trent. She has some shares. Sebastian gave them to her years ago when they were married,” I reminded him.

“Good Lord, Luce, that's not a problem! Vivienne would never fight you in any way.”

“Want to bet?”

“No, I certainly do not. And in any case, it's not even a fair bet, since she doesn't own enough shares to make a bit of difference one way or the other.”

“That's true.”

Gerald yawned and stretched. “I'm frightfully sorry, poppet, but I think I do have to go to sleep now. I feel as if I've been awake for four or five days, I'm so tired. It's the Hong Kong time difference getting the better of me at last.” He leaned over, kissed me lightly on the lips. “But at least I had strength enough earlier to make love.”

“And perhaps make a baby,” I murmured.

He smiled at me. “I hope so, I really do. Good night, sweet.”

“Good night, darling,” I said and turned out the light.

Within seconds Gerald was fast asleep, breathing deeply. Poor thing, he really was exhausted after the long flight from Hong Kong, plus the time difference. He had arrived last night, looked fatigued, and yet he had insisted on going to the bank this morning.

Not unnaturally, his jet lag had caught up with him later in the day. He had succumbed to it this afternoon, had fallen asleep in the car as I had driven us down here to our small country house in Aldington in Kent.

I lay next to Gerald in the darkness, trying to fall asleep, but my mind was racing, working overtime. Mostly it was focused on Jack. I cared about him and I knew he cared about me; he had looked after me when we were little, had always been my champion. And despite his ridiculous infatuation with Vivienne I knew he was always on my side when it came to the crunch. We may have had different mothers, but our father had made sure we were close and caring.

We had been through a lot, seen a lot when we were children. I had shared Jack's hurts, as he had shared mine, and I suffered with him when Sebastian and Cyrus were forever brainwashing him about doing his duty at all times.

In the last few years I had felt sorry for him. My brother had had such rotten luck with women. No wonder he had turned to drink at one point. His first wife had become obsessed with our father; his second wife had turned out to be a nymphomaniac panting to get into any man's trousers. And now he had quarrelled with his girlfriend Catherine Smythe. I had met her with Jack twice, and I was not particularly enamored of her.

When Jack told me two weeks ago that he had broken up with her and sent her back to London I was not in the least surprised. Those two were totally unsuited to each other and I had predicted to Gerald that they were bound to split up in the end. She was far too intellectual and highbrow for my down-to-earth Jack.

At least my brother had the vineyards to consume him. They gave him immense pleasure, and he relished the success his label had become in recent years. Earlier this week he had told me on the phone that he would never get married again, and I believed him. Furthermore, even if he changed his mind, and did tie the knot again one day, he would never have children. He disliked them far too much, found them irritating.

Therefore it really was up to me to provide a new generation of Lockes, my own Lockes who would take the family into the twenty-first century. I fell asleep thinking about this.

 

The following morning after breakfast, I went into the den and telephoned Jack at the Château d'Cose. He seemed glad to hear my voice, and pleasantly surprised when I told him I wanted to visit him.

“Is Gerald coming with you, Luce?” he asked.

“No, I'm afraid he can't. As you know he's been away for three weeks, and he's got a lot of work to catch up on.”

“How long can you stay?”

“Two days, that's all. I need to talk to you about a few business matters, quite aside from wanting to see you, Jack. I really was disappointed that you cancelled your trip to London this weekend.”