Lthough It Had Been Actually Blair Devereux

8/13/2019 Lthough It Had Been Actually Blair Devereux

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lthough it hadbeen actually

BlairDevereuxs

uncle, not

Blairhimself,


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them of theirhome.

Courtenyhated

Blair just as

much as if he


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had been. Herfather would

neverbeanything

but a helpless

invalid---but


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at least, now,it looked as

if they mightget their

home back

again. At any


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rate, ifCourtenywas

prepared topay Blairs

priceAnd

if she could


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standtheconstant,

spitefulpresence

of Blairs


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secretary,Kate Lydard!


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CHAPTERONE'So

when do the

bulldozersmove

in?'Robin


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Lincolnflushed

angrily. 'Oh,for heaven's

sake,

Courtney!It


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won't be thatbad.''No?' his

sister queriedironically.

'Judging by

these-----'


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sheswept acontemptuous

hand over thepile of plans

and

folderslying


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between themon the living

room table it's about as

badas it could

be. You


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surely can'timagine the

local peoplearegoing to

stand for

anything like


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this? Why,they'll be up

in armsassoon as the

news gets

out''Well, I


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don't happento share your

opinion,'Robin

saiddefensive

ly, 'I admit it


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may takethem a while

toaccustomthe

mselves,

but...''A


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while?'Courtney's

echo wasderisive.

'When they

hear


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thatHuntersCourtthe

house that'sbeen looked

on as the

manorall


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these yearshas been

bought up bya consortium

who wantto

turn it into a


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cheap countryclub?'Her

brother glaredat her. 'There

you go

again


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sittingin judgment.

Just becauseit's poor old

Monty!''Hardl

y an apt


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descriptionor one that he

would appreciate.'Courtney

raised her

eyebrows.


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'Wealthymiddle-aged

Montywouldbe more to

the

point.'Robin's


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mouth turneddown

sullenly. 'Youreally dislike

him,don't

you?''I've


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hardly madeany secret of

it,' Courtneyreturned

crisply.

'Ithink he's a


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repulsivelittle creep,

and thatthisscheme

he'sdreamed

up is typical


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of him. Theonly thing I

can'tunderstandis

how you ever

got involved


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with him inthe first

place.''Oh no,you wouldn't

understand,'

Robin said


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savagely.'Youdon't like

success, doyou,

Courtney?

You're


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frightened ofit.

Everf

since we lost

Hunters


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Court andFather had

thatsecondstroke

you decided it

was safer to


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settle forthisrabbit

hutch,and adull future

just ahead of

the breadline,


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rather thanmakeany

attempt torecoup what

we lost, but

I'm not


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prepared todothat, and

you don't likeit.'Courtney

sat down

wearily on


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one of theelderly chairs

whichflankedthe table.

'Rob, that's

not true!


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Do you thinkI

haven'tdreamed as you

have of

getting


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HuntersCourt back

somehow?But I've always

known it

wasn't


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possible.Even before

thatotherbusiness,

Father was

having a job


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"to keep itgoing.

Youknowthat. Houses

like Hunters

Court eat


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money, andtheirappetite

gets biggerevery

year.''Of

course I know


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it,' Robin saidshortly. 'Why

do you think1agreed to act

for the

consortium?


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Because it's away

probablytheonly way that

we'll ever get

Hunters


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Courtback.''But we

won't begetting it

back,'

Courtney


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argued. 'Itwillbelong to

them. Allyou'll be is

the

managera


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paidemployee.It

won't be thesame. It

can't.'Rob

shrugged.


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"Then it willhave to do,'

he said. 'I'mnotdogsbodyi

ng at

Carteret's for


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the rest of mylife. I'm sick

of beingtreated as a

charity case.

Sick of the


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whisperedremarks."Lin

coln?Lincoln? Any

relation to the

man


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whose partnerembezzled all

that money?"'Courtney

sighed

inwardly.


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Three yearsago Geoffrey

Devereuxhadbeen arrested

at Heathrow,

after a spot


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audit hadrevealeddiscr

epancies inthe handling

of clients'

money. He


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hadbeencharged

withembezzlemen

t, and bail had

been opposed


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whilefurtherenquiries

were made,but he had

died of a

heart


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attackwhileon remand,

leaving JamesLincoln, the

head of the

firm,facing


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ruin, and theknowledge

that his friendand partner

of many

years'


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standing hadbetrayed

him.When thefull amount

of the liability

that Devereux


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hadcreatedbecam

e known,James

Lincoln

himself had


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become ill,sufferingYou're reading a free preview.

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two strokes,the second of

which had
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left him semi-paralyzedand

hardly able tospeak.Within

a matter of

weeks


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Courtney andRobin found

theirworldhad

turned upside

down.


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GeoffreyDevereux had

diedwithoutmakin

g any kind

of confession,


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or even a hintas to what

he'd donewith

thethousands

of pounds he


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had stolen.But it had to

berepaidsomeho

w, and

Hunters


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Court, whichhad been the

Lincolnfamily home for

generations,

was put


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on themarket.Robin'

s dream ofbecoming a

racing driver

died there and


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then,underthe necessity

of earningsome kind of

living, and

hereluctantly


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accepted hisgodfather's

offer ofemployment

in

hismerchant


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bank.Courtney, in the

middle of anA-level

course at her

expensiveboa


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rding school,abandoned

her plans foruniversity,

andthanked

heaven for


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the shorthandand typing

option shehadtaken

instead of the

needlework


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she loathed.She had to

leaveschoolbecause there

was no more

money


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forthcomingfor fees. The

cottage,offered to

them by the

owner of the


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neighbouringestate,

ColonelFitzHugh,

was a

godsend,


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even if it didseemlike the

rabbit hutchof Robin's

description

after


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thespaciousness of Hunters

Court. Andbecause the

Colonel was

anold friend


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of theirfather's, they

only paid aminimum

rental

forit.She said


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gently, 'Rob,mud sticks,

that'sinevitable,

but it

willpass. The


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job atCarteret's

may not bevery exciting,

but

it'ssecurity.


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Don't throw itaway for

some chancyscheme

putforward

by a man you


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hardlyknow.'Robin

lookedmutinous.

'We knew

Geoffrey


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Devereux,orthought we

did, and a lotof good it did

us. All you

have


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againstMontyis sheer

femaleprejudice.' Th

ere was a

certain


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amount ofjustice in that,

Courtneywasforced to

concede. She

knew no


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actual harmof MontagueYou're Reading a Free Preview

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Pallister and

the

companies


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with which hewas

associated,butinstinct

told her that

he was a


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speculator,whose genial

mannerconcealed a

ruthless

determination


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to squeeze thelast pennyout

of any projectwith which he

was

connected,'


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andthethought of

such a mangetting his

hands on

Hunters


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Courtfranklynauseated

her.It hadhurt when the

Hallorans had

bought the


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estate, buttheywere nice

people andhad looked

after it well.

Courtney


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wasdisappointed that they

too werebeing forced

to sell, bill

sheunderstoo


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d that MrsHalloran's

healthdemanded a

warmerwinter

climate than


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Britain had tooffer. She

had hopedthatsome

like- minded

people would


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come alongand buy

HuntersCourt, but the

economic

recession had


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made manypotentialbuye

rs rethink thewisdom of

acquiring a

country


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estate,however modest, and

Courtney hadcome

reluctantly to

realisethat


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when HuntersCourt was put

up forauction, it

wouldprobabl

y be bought


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by somecommercial

concern as asmallprivate

hotel,

perhaps, or a


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nursinghome.She had

not thenassociated

Montague

Pallister's


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arrival onthescene with

the sale ofHunters

Court, and

looking back,


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shesupposedshe had been

naive.At firstshe had

accepted

Robin's airy


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explanationthat he

hadmetMonty

through the

bank, and that


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he had givenhim

someadviceover

investments.

Robin


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certainlyseemed to

havemoremoney

at his disposal

these days,


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and Courtneywished

shecouldhave felt

more

gratefully


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disposedtowards

MontyPallister, but it was

impossible.

He was too


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well-dressed,tooopulent,

and the wayshe had seen

him looking

at herself


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whenhethought he

wasunobserved

made her feel

ill.Because he


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wasostensibly a

friend 'ofRobin's, he

often

visitedthe


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cottage,although it

was too smallfor him to

actually

staythere, to


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Courtney'srelief. Instead

he stayed atthe local

inn,which had

a good


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reputation forits food and

accommodation,and when

he was at the

cottage


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him round theplace, as if he

left atrail likea slug.But

there had

been no


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clues that hewanted Hunt

ersCourt,she th

ought bitterl

y that had


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been a well-kept secret,

eventhoughhe must have

had

architects


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and surveyors workingon

the propertybefore the es

tate had been

put on


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themarket ifthe volume

of materialthey had

produced wa

sanything to


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go by.She had

sat up thegreater part

of thepreviou

s night


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reading it,trying and

failing tocome to

termswith

what was


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planned. Thehouse itself

wouldsurvive, in

spiteof

internal


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alterations toextend the

dining room,and provide

atleast two

bars. Bui the


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stables andoutbuildings

wouldvanish,to be

rebuilt as

mews-style


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cottages to beoffered for

sale on atime-share basis.

The sunken

garden would


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wouldbetransforme

d into a nine-hole golf

course, and

the walled


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rosegardenwould turn

into tenniscourts.On

paper, it did

not sound so


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bad, butCourtney had

seenglossybrochures

advertising

other projects


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in whichMontyPalliste

r had beeninvolved. A

quick

financial retur


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n ratherthanquality

seemed to bethe

underlying

principle, and


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Courtneycould not bear to

think of thehouse which

had been her

homefor


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seventeenyears being

sacrificed tothat. It was a

foolishthough

tas if


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stones andmortar could

bleedbutlast night

asshe'd read

the reports


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angry. Thismorning,

she'd tried toexplain to

Robin how

she felt,


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butshe'dknown from

the start thatit was

useless. He

didn't wantto


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understand.All he knew

was that attomorrow's

auction he

would be


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awhile hecould pretend

that he wasbuying it

back for

himself,his


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birthright.The reality,

Courtneythought,

would be

verydifferent,


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but then asense of

reality wasnot Robin's

strongpoint,


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Lthough It Had Been Actually Blair Devereux

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