Penny Jordan Collection(72)

                ‘He must feel something for you if...’

                ‘If he took me to bed?’ Sylvie supplied dryly for her. ‘He wanted me, yes, but... Lloyd was up here and he took Ran’s latest lady-friend back to London with him. Oh, I don’t think their relationship was particularly serious, but obviously Ran’s a man, and as such...’

                ‘He took you to bed because he wanted sex; is that what you’re saying?’ Mollie asked her shrewdly.

                ‘Well, I think that was a large part of it,’ Sylvie agreed.

                ‘But he must have felt something for you, Sylvie, to talk to you the way you say he did. If he really didn’t care, didn’t want to get involved, then surely the last thing he would do would be to allow that kind of intimacy to take place between you.’

                ‘Yes... No... Oh, I don’t know. I just know... I just know that I’m afraid if I stay here I’ll... I can’t cope with it, Mollie; it’s safer for me to put as much distance as I can between us...’

                ‘Have you told him you’re leaving?’ Mollie asked her.

                ‘Not in so many words,’ Sylvie admitted. ‘He knows that I’ve asked... Lloyd’s coming up to Derbyshire to see me, but Ran isn’t here at the moment. His housekeeper says he told her that he’s had to go away for a few days, but he hasn’t told her where or when he’ll be back... I suspect that he’s trying to avoid me...’

                ‘Just like he was when he took you to bed,’ Mollie suggested wryly. ‘Have you ever asked him how he feels about you, Sylvie?’

                For a moment Sylvie was too shocked to answer.

                ‘No! No, of course not—I couldn’t. How could I? Would you have asked Alex that?’

                ‘Perhaps not,’ Mollie acknowledged. ‘But Alex’s and my relationship is very different to yours and Ran’s. We hadn’t known one another very long. Whilst you and Ran...’

                ‘The difference is that you and Alex love one another, whilst Ran and I... I have to go, Mollie. I just can’t talk about it any longer,’ Sylvie told her emotionally.

                As she ended the call she prayed that Lloyd would get here soon. God and Lloyd willing, she could leave Derbyshire before Ran came back.

                As though on cue she saw the lights of a car drawing up outside the house, sweeping across her bedroom window. Lloyd at last...

                Taking a deep breath, she went downstairs to meet him.

                * * *

                Half an hour later, after she had told Lloyd everything, he gravely handed her a handkerchief and asked her, ‘You really love him that much?’

                ‘Too much. Stupid, aren’t I?’ Sylvie said shakily, reiterating urgently, ‘Lloyd, I hate letting you down, but I can’t stay here—not now.’

                ‘You aren’t letting me down, honey. Your happiness means an awful lot to me. I guess I kinda think of you as the daughter I’ve never had. If I didn’t have this meeting I’d wait to take you back with me.’

                ‘No. No, you can’t do that. I’ll tie up all the loose ends I can whilst Ran’s away. The least I can do is to leave everything in order for whoever takes over from me here.’

                ‘See you in New York, then, hon,’ Lloyd told her before taking her in his arms and hugging her.