And as of last month, I believe I am no longer named in his will.”
“He said he was striking you from his will?” Perrini whistled softly through his teeth. “That must have been some argument.”
“You might say that.”
His lips quirked at her dry comment but his brows were lowered in serious contemplation as he caught her gaze. “Surely you didn’t believe he’d go ahead with it once he cooled down?”
“Maybe not, but what about his other threat? He still doesn’t accept that I walked away from Blackstone’s—” and you “—because of his actions. He blames Matt for actively recruiting me. The last thing he said to me that day was ‘Hammond will pay for this.’”
The portentous statement hung for a beat in the still evening air while Perrini made the connection. His blue eyes narrowed. “You think he was sleeping with Marise out of vengeance?”
“I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what he wanted Matt to think.”
She watched him consider that, his expression guarded. “Did Hammond have any reason to think his wife would cheat on him?”
“Matt didn’t discuss his marriage with me.”
“But it’s possible?”
Kimberley ached to say no, their marriage was as solid as the Sydney sandstone beneath our feet. Marise valued her husband and her child too dearly to stray. But she couldn’t say it. She looked away, her silence answer enough.
They stood like that for what seemed a long time, side by side at the balustrade, considering the shocking implications. Whether there’d been a clandestine affair going on or not didn’t matter. If the tabloids ran with it, if Matt believed it, then Howard’s job was done. Whether he was here to enjoy the fruits of his malicious game didn’t matter. He’d won.
The thought chilled Kimberley to the bone. This was her father. The man she’d looked up to with adoration throughout her childhood; the person she’d set her sights on emulating when she’d focussed single-mindedly on a career in the precious gems industry.
Unconsciously she rubbed her arms. “How can I mourn such a man?” she asked bitterly. “How can anyone?”
Perrini didn’t answer, but she sensed a change in his posture, a stiffening, and felt the warning touch of his hand on her arm. She swung around and saw Sonya standing just outside the French doors.
Had she heard that last comment?
Kimberley felt sick. She would never set out to hurt her aunt, who for some inexplicable reason had always stood by Howard with the same steadfastness as she’d defended him earlier. Over the years there’d been much speculation about their relationship, but Kimberley believed Sonya when she said there’d never been anything sexual between them.
Of course not. He’s my brother-in-law, she’d said, sounding offended that Kim had asked.
But she still could have loved the bastard. Kimberley suspected she would mourn him more purely than anyone.
“I know neither of you have eaten all day,” Sonya said now, in her customary mothering role, “so I’m going to start dinner early. You will stay, Ric?”
“Thank you,” he said easily. “I will.”
“Good.” Sonya turned as if to leave, then paused. “Your room is made up, as always, so do consider staying over. We’d love the company tonight.”
Your room? As always?
Kimberley blinked in confusion at the allusion to regular sleepovers. Her gaze shifted from her aunt to the ex-husband who seemed to have slipped right into her family during her absence. No wonder he’d known where to locate her bedroom when he’d taken her luggage upstairs.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he assured Sonya with a smile, but when he turned his gaze on Kimberley the warmth of that smile didn’t reach his eyes. They darkened with a message that felt like a vow.
I’m not going anywhere.
Four
True to his word, Perrini stayed that night and through Friday, as well. He left only once, following a call from his office Friday morning, and even then he waited until after Ryan had arrived before leaving.
“Does he think we womenfolk will fall apart without a big, strong man standing guard?” Kimberley asked Danielle across the remains of their breakfast.
“I would hardly call Ryan’s presence standing guard. He hasn’t stopped pacing since he arrived!”
Kimberley watched Ryan’s impatient stride back and forth from shadows to sunlight at the far end of the terrace, the ever-present phone at his ear and a forbidding frown on his face. “He should go in to work,” she said. “At least then he might feel like he’s doing something useful.”
“He is doing something useful.”
Sonya’s soft words came from beside Kimberley’s chair, and she turned back around to find her aunt had brought fresh coffee. She set it down before continuing, her tone as close to a reprimand as she ever managed.
“Ryan is handling all the calls that are coming in, the same as Ric did during the night and early this morning, and which I know I can’t deal with at the moment. He will ensure we hear any news as soon as it comes in. And if the police need to find us—” her eyes met Kimberley’s briefly, her meaning clear in their tear-shrouded anxiety “—then this is where they will come.”
With quiet dignity, she gathered up some of the breakfast dishes and walked away. Last night they’d learned that Sonya had given all the household staff leave. On Perrini’s recommendation, of course.
So, okay, she understood the need for caution with the estate under siege from the media. Especially as Perrini already suspected someone in the know of leaking her flight arrival details to the Auckland press. She understood, but she reserved the right to feel snippy about his air of authority regarding all things Blackstone.
Ten years ago she’d stood toe-to-toe with Perrini and accused him of marrying her to become a Blackstone. She’d asked if he’d considered changing his name, since it was so obvious that Howard was treating him like a surrogate golden son. And she had felt like a meaningless pawn, her only value the Blackstone name and birthright.
To establish herself and to prove her worth she’d had to leave. And in her time away it seemed that Perrini had performed exactly as accused. He’d not only scaled the corporate ladder at Blackstone Diamonds, he’d become a part of the Blackstone family with a room at his disposal and the kind of easy rapport with Sonya and Danielle that only comes from constant contact.
She could only presume his relationship with her father had progressed to the same degree, and in her mind’s eye she saw the self-satisfied look on Howard’s face when they’d returned from that momentous vacation in San Francisco. When they’d decided, on a whim, to fly to Vegas for a weekend and he’d surprised her with the “impromptu” proposal.
She swallowed tightly, her throat constricted with raw, bitter emotion as she recalled Howard’s words when they’d walked hand-in-hand onto this very terrace and told him their news.
“Welcome to the family,” he’d said, jumping to his feet to shake Perrini’s hand and clap him on the back. “You never fail to disappoint me, Ric.”
Kimberley had felt the snub like a body blow then, and now it seemed as though her ostracism was complete. She was the outsider in her own family, and she’d made little effort to bridge that gap. Gathering up the rest of the breakfast plates, she pushed to her feet. “I’m going to help Sonya with the dishes.”
Over her coffee cup, Danielle arched her brows. “You know how to do dishes? You have changed, cuz. Colour me impressed.”
“Danielle