Grinning, Roarke handed Ginny her glass, and she took a much needed drink. 'My goodness, is she always so … so … ?' Words failed her.
Roarke laughed affectionately. 'I thought she was remarkably restrained. As a rule, she can be quite voluble. I expect it's because her soon to be in-laws are present. She's making an extra effort so as not to scare them off.'
Ginny pulled a face. 'I think she's probably easier to get along with in small doses.'
'That's the consensus of opinion of all her children. Otherwise, she'll try to take over our lives-with the best of intentions, of course. My father finds it easier to get along with her now that they aren't actually married,' Roarke explained.
'Roarke, caro.' Marganita's mellifluous tones drew their attention, and they both turned towards her. She was smiling broadly and trailing a rather disgruntled man in her wake.
Ginny took one look at that stern face, and her blood turned to ice. No! It couldn't be, she told herself, and yet she knew that it was. Walking towards her was the man she had thought she would never see again, and had been comforted by that thought. That man was none other than her own father. Shock held her to the spot, and she was sure the colour must have drained from her face.
All she could think was: what was he doing here?
Of all the people it was possible for her to run into, her father had never been on the list. They didn't inhabit the same world any more. Yet he was here, and any second now he was going to see her. She didn't know what he would do, but instinct told her it would not be good. He had made his position very clear. So far as he was concerned, she did not exist. Tensing, her heart starting to beat faster, she waited for the moment when he would notice her and recognition would come. Unknowingly, she tightened her hand about the stem of her glass.
'Mother,' Roarke was saying beside her, but Ginny couldn't take her eyes off the man who had come to a halt beside Marganita and who looked first at Roarke and then at her.
Recognition was as instantaneous for him as it had been for her. His reaction was also typical. Drawing himself up, his expression tightened and his face grew red with anger and distaste. If Ginny had held any hope that he might have softened his stance with the passing years, she would have been left in no doubt. That look said it all. He despised her now as much as he had ever done. Only the dictates of good manners stopped him from turning his back and walking away. After that initial moment he kept his gaze firmly averted from her.
It shouldn't have hurt. After all this time, his displeasure should have left her cold, and yet it didn't. Hate him though she might, for what he had done, he still had the power to wound her with his disdain. Yet she was stronger now. Tougher. She wasn't about to turn and run. He might not want to see her, but he had no option. He would be forced to recognise her, and that brought her chin up.
Marganita was still making the introductions. 'Roarke, this is Brigadier Sir Martin Beavis. Caroline is marrying his son, James. Sir Martin, this is my son, Roarke Adams.'
Ginny's breath caught in a tiny gasp when she heard that. Roarke's sister was marrying James? Her heart leapt into her throat. That meant her family were here. Eagerly, she began to look around her, searching for those familiar figures of her mother, brother and sister.
'Pleased to meet you, Sir Martin.' From a long way away she heard Roarke's response, but she was diligently scanning the crowd.
Try as she might, she couldn't see them, and was so intent on what she was doing that Roarke's hand on her arm made her jump. 'Sorry, did you say something?' she asked, glancing round unwillingly. She wanted to find her family before her father knew what she was doing, for he would prevent it by any means.
A tiny frown appeared between his brows at her abstraction. 'I wanted to introduce you to Caroline's future father-in-law,' he said. 'Sir Martin, this is a good friend of mine, Ginny Harte.'
Ginny had no trouble reading the look in her father's eyes. He interpreted 'friend' as 'lover', and made his judgement. In his eyes, she hadn't changed, and that made her so angry. She knew he didn't want to have anything to do with her, but right here he had no option, and she was determined to make him speak.
Raising her chin, she held out her hand. 'Brigadier,' she said challengingly, and knew he was caught by his own notion of what was good manners. He was forced to shake her hand. 'It's been a long time. You haven't changed.' She had always called him Brigadier, for he treated his family as if they were part of his army, laying down rules that had to be followed to the letter. Something she hadn't done.
Sir Martin's lip curled disgustedly. 'Neither have you, it seems,' he responded in his clipped military fashion, with a brief glance towards Roarke, which Ginny understood perfectly. He dropped her hand after the merest touch as if it were a live coal. Which it probably was to him.
Ginny was aware that Roarke was looking at her thoughtfully, but his mother clapped her hands in delight. 'What's this? You have met before?' she beamed, believing she had brought old friends together.
'Miss Harte was once known to my family,' Sir Martin explained tersely.
Ginny smiled mockingly. 'I shall look forward to meeting your son again,' she told him, and knew he wanted to warn her off there and then, but dare not.
'My son is very busy. I don't think he'll have time to meet everyone,' her father declared, being as blunt as he dared.
'And what of your other children?' Ginny went on turning the screw. 'Are they here with you?' As soon as the question left her lips, she knew it was a mistake. She had given him an opening, and she knew he wouldn't fail to take it. All she could do was brace herself.
Contempt flared in Sir Martin's eyes as he went in for the kill. 'I only have one son and one daughter. Surely you remember that?'
Ginny stared him out, but they both knew she had lost ground in their personal battle. 'I had the impression there were more. Never mind. I must reacquaint myself with your wife and daughter, too.'
'I'll be sure to tell them you are here, Miss Harte,' he responded politely, which she knew meant that he would warn them off from seeking her out. 'Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'd best see what my wife is doing.' With a nod to Marganita and her son, he turned and walked away.
Ginny felt a hard cold knot settle in her stomach as she watched his retreating back. He wouldn't let her see them if he could prevent it, yet he couldn't be watching them all the time. There would be moments when his back was turned, and she would take her chance. Only … what if they didn't want to see her? James had always followed their father's instructions, whilst Lucy had been so young the last time she had seen her. And Mother … Her mother had been worn down years ago. She would take the chance, though, even if it turned out badly.
She sighed and looked away from him to find herself facing Roarke wearing a very serious expression.
'So you've met Sir Martin before?' he said softly, and that gave her nerves a severe jolt. She had been so intent on squaring up to her father, she hadn't considered what Roarke was overhearing. He would have been tantalised, and she knew he was puzzling over the facts, trying to put two and two together.
She shrugged, determined to keep him off the path she knew he wanted to follow. 'It was a long time ago. We didn't get on,' she added and he laughed.
'That was patently obvious, to anyone except my mother. She still believes she's brought two old friends together.'
They had never been friends. 'I preferred his family to him. He isn't an easy man to get along with.'
Roarke glanced off to where Sir Martin had vanished into the crowd. 'He didn't appear to want you to meet his family.'
Ginny let out a hollow laugh. 'There's nothing new in that.'
Roarke's expression went from thoughtful to amused. 'But you're going to do it anyway, aren't you?'
Ginny met his look and started to smile with genuine amusement. 'I never have liked being ordered off,' she confirmed.
'Which makes you a woman after my own heart,' Roarke declared. 'This is turning out to be a far more interesting weekend than I had imagined.'
Interesting wasn't the word she would have chosen, she thought, as she sipped her drink. Dangerous seemed to fit better. Running into her father had been unpleasant, but there was a brighter side. Her family was so close, she could almost touch them. All she had to do was reach out. Life had a way of throwing you a crumb of hope just when you least expected it.
CHAPTER FOUR
DINNER was a sumptuous affair, and Ginny could only wonder what the wedding breakfast would be like. It seemed to her it would be hard to top this. Not that she had a large appetite. Half of the guests had melted away before dinner was announced. They had been invited for cocktails to meet the bride and groom, so it was a smaller number of people sitting around the long table in the formal dining room.