The Vow (4 page)

She took a deep breath and launched into it.
‘Ok, just how do you see this working out, Marcus? To be honest I don’t think I’ve got the face to just announce to my friends and family that I’m about to marry an older man who I’ve only just met. My friends would be outraged, one already is, and my parents deeply unhappy. I know they would all think less of me. Perhaps that shouldn’t matter, but it does to me.’

‘
Of course it does,’ he replied. ‘I’m not suggesting we get married next week, Lucy. We need time to get to know each other, to be sure we can make it work. I was thinking of a period of perhaps three or four months, during which we would conduct a very public courtship to let the world at large get used to the idea and spend some time together, privately, here and at my country house. I have a charity ball to attend Friday evening, it seems like a good place to start and then perhaps you would like to spend the following weekend with me at Graylings?’

She was relieved that he understood her concerns and had what seemed like a sensible plan.
‘That all sounds fine. My father is marrying, yet again, next month and I was thinking it would be a good opportunity for you to meet everyone.’

‘
I look forward to it. Next?’

‘
About children, how many were you thinking of?’ she asked, feeling the colour flood into her cheeks.

‘
Worried I’ll want to turn you into a baby making machine?’ he said with a laugh.

She laughed too, but came back with,
‘No, the opposite actually. Should the first one be a boy, would you want to stop there? I’ve always wanted lots of children, I had thought by the age I am now I would already have two or three. Of course it takes two to tango.’

‘
Was this part of your troubles with Laurent?’ he asked.

‘
We never got around to discussing it, although it’s hard to imagine Laurent surrounded by children. No, our problems were much more complicated than that. Still, that’s by the by, I just don’t feel I could commit to having only one child.’

Marcus looked at her, reassessing what he saw.
‘And I wouldn’t ask you to. You can have as many babies as you want, Lucy. I should like a son but if you have a gaggle of girls that’s fine. I think I could dote on daughters and there’s sure to be a business brain among them.’

How very strange to be planning a family with a man I scarcely know, she thought.

‘Just two more questions.’ She had a mischievous grin on her face. ‘You are a millionaire, aren’t you?

‘
Multi actually.’ He was amused at the question.

‘
Excellent. Amy thinks I will be prostituting myself and if that’s the case then I do feel I owe it to myself to go for top dollar. Don’t you agree?’

‘
Absolutely. And the second question, God help me?’

‘
Are your eyes really that green?’

Later
, as Saule drove her home, Lucy mulled over the evening. It had been a little bizarre of course but she had enjoyed herself. And except for the after-shave moment she hadn’t thought of Laurent once.

It was then that something odd occurred to her. She was quite certain that the only time she had ever mentioned Laurent, when they first met at the airport, she had not told Marcus his name. So how did he know it?

~

At breakfast the next morning Amy was still in a huff. There was a lot of plate banging and flouncing around the kitchen. Lucy chose to ignore it and behave as if nothing had happened.

Pouring milk onto her bowl of muesli, she asked brightly, ‘So, did you have a good evening with Alex?’

Feeling slightly wrong-footed by this approach Amy replied,
‘Yes, it was nice. He was a bit jet-lagged so we just got a takeaway and vegged out in front of the telly.’ With more of an edge to her voice she continued, ‘Mind you, I seemed to spend most of the time taking phone calls for you. Both your parents rang and I told them what you were up to.’

She enjoyed Lucy’s stricken expressi
on for a moment before going on.

‘
Don’t worry, I just said you were seeing Marcus, not that you were negotiating the renting out of your womb.’

This sounded so ridiculous, even to her own ears,
that Amy’s lips twitched. She caught Lucy’s eye and they broke into gales of laughter. Peace was restored, but not for long.

‘
You also had a call from a journalist called Martin Culver. He said he’d try you again today.’

‘
Oh dear. Catherine said he’d find me but I didn’t think it would be this quickly.’

‘
If you are going to consort with people in the public eye you will have to get used to this sort of thing,’ retorted Amy tartly.

Lucy said nothing
, appearing to be engrossed in her muesli.

‘
Well, are you going to be seeing more of him?’ Amy demanded.

Lucy answered serenely,
‘Yes, I think I’m going to be seeing quite a lot more of him actually.’

Amy left the room without further comment.

~

Channelling her anger into physical energy Amy strode along the pavement towards the bus stop in the High Street. Overtaking other pedestrians who were walking at a less frenzied pace
, she was too wrapped up in her own thoughts to acknowledge the greetings of the neighbours and fellow travellers she saw every morning.

Lucy had changed, and not for the better in her opinion. She preferred
the old Lucy who had always sought and taken her advice. Over the years she had steered her friend through the constant crises, big and small, in her life. It was she, by far the more mature of the two, who had made Lucy’s most important decisions. Until now.

That she had left Laurent and returned to
England without their having discussed it had been the first surprise. But far more serious was Lucy’s refusal to heed her warnings about becoming involved with Delacroix. This had never happened before; Lucy always did as she was told. It was so unlike her to be stubborn and refuse to see sense. It would end in tears, and it wasn’t hard to find the culprit.

Lucy had known Marcus Delacroix for only a week and already he was undermining her influence. She wasn’t about to let this happen without a fight. She would find a way to put an end to this relationship; it wasn’t good for Lucy
, she rationalized.

~

Lucy rang her father back first and accepted an invitation for supper with him and Sarah that evening. He did not mention where she had been the previous night, her mother however showed no such restraint.

‘
Well, I suppose you are old enough to know what you are doing,’ she said grudgingly.

Lucy laughed.
‘Now you know you don’t believe that, Mum. I’m not sure I do either, but I am old enough to make my own mistakes.’

‘
Which has been proven on several occasions,’ rejoined Amelia.

‘
Ouch!’

‘
Sorry, darling, but it does seem like you’re jumping out of the frying pan into the fire, and he’s so much older than you.’

‘
I know, but perhaps that’s what I need, a steadying influence.’

They left it at that and Lucy agreed to spend the weekend with Amelia and James in
Essex. She would catch a train Saturday morning, she had explained about the charity ball and Amelia had at least sounded enthusiastic about that.

As she replaced the receiver the phone rang immediately making her jump. Worried that it could be the reporter again she let it ring. She spent the morning calling all the French shops who stocked her jewellery to give them her new contact details. She used her mobile phone; running up Amy’s phone bill didn’t seem like a good idea given her present mood. Recent sales had been good which was a relief as she needed money to pay Amy for her board, and for the rent on her old unit at the co-operative. She had decided that she would have to go back there, at least for the time being.

The house phone rang twice more but she didn’t answer, she didn’t feel ready to talk to Mr Culver, afraid she would say the wrong thing. She would speak to Marcus about it on Friday.

~

Lucy held Sarah’s hand and admired the square cut solitaire diamond with platinum shoulders.

‘
It’s lovely, Sarah, very you.’

‘
He chose well, didn’t he?’ A smiling Sarah held her hand out in front of her, wiggling her fingers, all the better to see it sparkle.

They were sitting on the patio enjoying yet another fine evening, summer seemed to have arrived early. Kit popped the cork on the bottle of
Champagne and it shot across the patio narrowly missing the fat ginger cat basking in the sun.

They all laughed and Lucy said,
‘That’s why you’re supposed to put a cloth over it, Dad. Poor Duke nearly had a heart attack!’

Managing to fill the glasses without further incident Kit proposed a toast.

‘To my two favourite girls.’

They raised their glasses and Lucy added,
‘And to both of you, congratulations!’

Not to be left out Sarah chimed in with,
‘To all of us.’

The evening passed pleasantly as they discussed arrangements for the wedding. Lucy was in turn touched by Sarah’s girlish excitement, and amused by her father’s enthusiasm for yet another wedding.

Whilst considering the guest list, which was to include the three previous Mrs Westons, Sarah asked Lucy, ‘Will you be bringing Marcus?’

It was the first time his name had come up and Lucy felt a little awkward but tried to sound nonchalant.
‘Yes, if that’s okay. I’d like you all to meet him.’

Kit and Sarah exchanged a look which Lucy caught, but couldn’t quite interpret. Sarah replied smoothly,
‘Of course it’s okay.’

Kit said nothing, but later when Sarah was in the kitchen making coffee, he asked,
‘So it’s definitely over with Laurent?’

‘
It certainly seems that way. If it’s alright with you could we not go there right now, Dad? I seem to have spent the last week being asked that question. And being interrogated about Marcus.’ Lucy’s voice was weary.

Kit laughed.
‘I’ll bet your mother has had plenty to say about it all.’

She rolled her eyes.
‘Yes, I think you could say she’s showing an active interest. I’m sure she forgets I’m twenty-eight years old.’

‘
Lucy, I haven’t been married to your mother for over seventeen years, but that doesn’t stop her regularly giving me her opinion on how I live my life, so I don’t see why you think you should be exempt!’

‘
That’s true. Never mind, she means well I suppose.’

‘
Of course she does, it’s because she loves you and wants you to be happy. So do I, you know that, if and when you do want to talk I’m always here. And I won’t judge.’

He reached out his hand for hers but
, as she got up and hugged him, he didn’t miss the tears in her eyes.

~

When Ellen rang her back to arrange their lunch together Lucy had asked if she could spare the time to go shopping with her too. She had explained about the ball, and how Marcus had said she was to use his account at Harvey Nichols to buy a dress and anything else she needed in the way of accessories.

‘
Goody, serious shopping and with someone else’s money. My favourite!’ Ellen had enthused. ‘You don’t find the really top labels there of course, but they do carry some very nice lines. We’ll have no trouble finding you something gorgeous, darling.’

Lucy knew that Ellen shopped at the likes of Versace, Valentino and La Croix; working regularly for the big fashion houses she got a healthy discount. Ellen’s career as a model had started when at the age of sixteen she was spotted, hanging out with her friends on
Convent Garden’s Plaza, by a scout for one of the major agencies. Her rise had been meteoric and nearly seventeen years later she was still there, right at the top. She still occasionally graced a catwalk, but it was for photographic work that she was so in demand.

She had only ever married once, Kit Weston, but her lovers were legendary. She was very practised at loving and leaving, managing to remain on good te
rms with the majority of her exes. Ellen was never seen anywhere anything but beautifully turned out, she had a reputation to protect. Lucy, although she always tried to buy high quality accessories such as her Fendi bag, never had enough money to shop for clothes anywhere but the High Street chain stores. Harvey Nichols was sounding pretty exciting to her.

So
, filled with a happy sense of anticipation they were now in the Knightsbridge store, Lucy checking with an assistant that Marcus’s secretary had indeed rung to clear it, Ellen already sifting through the racks of eveningwear. Everything was in order Lucy was assured and she made her way over to her former stepmother, resplendent that morning in a Chanel suit.