Family Secrets by Jenny Lane Read Free Book Online Page B

shook his head. “I wouldn’t want to go back there, Tish, too many memories. No, I want to start afresh. If it means waiting for the right place to turn up then I’m just going to have to be patient.”
    There was something Rhianna wanted to know.
    “So where are you living at the moment?”
    “Not far from you in Buckinghamshire. I’m staying with my parents.”
    Her heart leapt, as she realised it was possible she might see him again in the near future. All her good resolutions had gone to the wind since she’d discovered Lawrence was not her enemy. Well, a girl was entitled to change her mind, wasn’t she?
    “Tell me some more about your gallery, Rhianna,” Letitia said.
    “Well, it’s in a cottage in the high street. It’s quite small, but there’s an upstairs which we use for storage and, when we’ve got sufficient funds, we’re going to expand. We hold workshops and do a few courses on decoupage - that sort of thing.”
    “So what have you got in mind for expansion?”
    Rhianna enthused about the ideas she and Fiona had had. How, at present, they couldn’t have any one exhibition for more than a month, due to the limited amount of space.
    “We’ve even thought about serving teas and coffee – perhaps cakes and scones.”
    Rhianna suddenly saw the stern expression on Lawrence’s face. Meeting his gaze, she encountered eyes as hard as granite. She turned hot and cold. Whatever had she said to make him react like this? And it suddenly dawned on her what it might be. Surely he couldn’t imagine for one minute that she was angling for some money to pay for the expansion?
    She thought about the comments he had made about being protective towards Letitia. A wave of anger surged through her as she realised she was right. How dare he? She had to bite her tongue to prevent herself from challenging him there and then. Just because Christina Soames had fleeced her grandmother, he couldn’t put her, Rhianna, in the same category.
    Rhianna lowered her gaze so that she wouldn’t have to meet his. Up until then she had been enjoying the meal but now it tasted like sawdust in her mouth. She reached for her drink and took a large sip which made her choke.
    “Are you all right, dear,” Letitia asked in concern.
    “Absolutely,” she assured her, when she’d got her breath back. “It just went down the wrong way.” She reached for a tissue and wiped her streaming eyes.
    Fortunately, the conversation turned to village affairs and the concert the previous evening. As they sat over coffee Letitia said, “I was wondering. I would so much like to see Mavis Blackett. Would it be too much to ask for one of you to run me to the hospital?”
    The hospital was in the opposite direction from the Drunken Duck and Rhianna offered to drive the elderly lady. Lawrence said he needed to do a couple of hours work on Ron’s website that afternoon and sent his regards.
    Rhianna decided she would catch up with him later and put things straight. There was no way she was going to allow him to go on thinking that she wanted to take advantage of Letitia. It sickened her to think that he had such a low opinion of her. A pity she thought, just as she was really beginning to enjoy his company.
    *
    Mavis had been moved to a medical ward. She was sitting in a chair reading the newspaper when they arrived. She greeted Letitia affectionately and looked enquiringly at Rhianna.
    “ This is my granddaughter, Rhianna,” Letitia told her proudly. “I told you her name was Rhianna Soames but it’s really Rhianna Delroy .”
    She explained briefly and Rhianna took Mavis’ hand and told her how sorry she was about what had happened.
    “But Irene tells me if it hadn’t been for you I might have been lying on that floor for hours and poor Lizzie was quite helpless to do anything.”
    “I can’t help blaming myself,” Letitia told her friend. “If only I hadn’t used the name Soames . I’m almost certain those men thought it was