Free High Society by Penny Jordan

about you and Silas. I couldn’t believe it at
first when Mrs. Williams showed me the article about the two of you in that
celebrity gossip magazine she buys. Such a lovely photograph of the two of you,
darling, but I must admit I was rather shocked. Not that we aren’t all thrilled.
We are, of course—especially Daddy. I drove straight round to see him, and he
was so pleased that he instructed Bowers to open a bottle of the wine he put
down when you were born, to celebrate. It’s what he’s always longed for. Of
course I had to ring Nancy. So silly of me to get the time difference wrong, but
naturally she is as excited as we are. You’ll be married at Amberley, of
course—every Amberley bride always is, but have you decided on a date yet? I do
so think that winter weddings have a certain élan .’
    With every excited word her mother spoke, Julia’s insides
churned a little bit more tensely.
    ‘Ma...’ She tried to protest when she could eventually
interrupt her excited happiness, but it was no use. Her mother, as high as a
kite on maternal delight, was too busy listing all the many sections of the
family who would want to supply a potential bridesmaid.
    Silas was on his own in the small courtyard. Julia didn’t waste
any time announcing in despair, ‘Ma’s just been on the phone. She thinks we’re
getting married.’
    When Silas refused to react with the shock she had expected,
she added, ‘She’s told your mother, and Gramps was so pleased he instructed
Bowers to open a bottle of the wine he put down when I was born.’
    ‘The Château d’Yquem, eh?’ Silas looked impressed. ‘He’s
obviously pleased, then.’
    ‘What? Of course he’s pleased. According to Ma it’s what he’s
always wanted. But that isn’t the point. We aren’t engaged—we aren’t even in a relationship . Can you
imagine what it’s going to do to him when he finds out the truth?’
    ‘You’re right,’ Silas agreed firmly. ‘We can’t let that
happen.’
    Julia had the unnerving feeling that she was a passenger in a
car that had suddenly taken a dangerous curve at high speed and left the road
completely.
    ‘Silas...’
    ‘For his sake we’re just going to have to go along with the
situation for now.’
    ‘Go along with it? Ma’s already planning the wedding—right down
to the number of bridesmaids!’
    ‘Mothers are like that,’ Silas agreed gravely.
    Julia glared at him.
    ‘You aren’t taking this seriously,’ she accused him.
    ‘Because it isn’t serious,’ Silas told her. ‘Okay, it’s
unfortunate, but it’s hardly the end of the world. People get engaged to one
another every day.’
    ‘Yes, but they have a reason for
being engaged,’ Julia told him through gritted teeth. ‘We don’t.’
    ‘No, but we do have a reason to maintain the fiction that we
are engaged.’
    ‘Gramps?’ she guessed helplessly.
    ‘Exactly,’ Silas agreed. ‘No matter what our personal
feelings—or lack of them—I am sure we are both agreed that not upsetting your
grandfather is of more importance than they are.’
    ‘Yes, of course,’ Julia agreed immediately.
    ‘So, then, we are both agreed that for his sake there is
nothing we can do other than to accept that we are now “engaged”.’
    Julia swallowed—hard. ‘But ultimately...’
    ‘Ultimately a solution will have to be found,’ Silas agreed
calmly. ‘Either by us or perhaps by life itself.’
    Julia looked at him. ‘You mean that Gramps might...that he may
not... I know his heart isn’t very strong, but—’
    Before she could continue, the door to the courtyard opened and
Dorland hurried in.
    ‘I suppose you’ve heard about those wretched diamonds? How on
earth can they be lost? Martina swears she remembers taking them off and putting
them back in their case, and asking someone to give them to the bloody security
guard-who I paid a small fortune to do nothing other than watch over them. He
says he never got them, Martina can’t remember who she