Read Online Folly's Child by Janet Tanner - Free Book Online Page A

wife, was always so beautifully turned out, while this girl was … well, frankly almost scruffy! Women simply never turned up at the showrooms of one of America’s top designers dressed like that, and with practically no make-up. Hugo’s daughter! Well! well!
    â€˜Dad – I had to come,’ Harriet said as the door closed after the secretary. ‘You’ve heard the news, of course.’
    â€˜Yes.’ Even without the simple affirmation his face would have given her the answer; he looked pale and drawn, as if he had slept even less than she had. ‘I tried to call you but there was no reply from your flat.’
    â€˜I was in Paris on a job. I saw a newspaper there. I rushed back to London, packed a few fresh things and came straight here.’
    â€˜Harriet … I’m so sorry.’
    â€˜Why should you be sorry?’
    â€˜It must have been a terrible shock for you …’
    â€˜And for you!’ she said hotly. ‘After all this time – it’s almost unbelievable. Do you suppose there’s any truth in it?’
    He spread his hands helplessly. ‘I wish I knew. But I can’t see why anyone should invent a story like that.’
    â€˜Maybe she’s some kind of nut.’
    â€˜Maybe. But as you said, Harri, it’s such a long time ago. Most people have forgotten all about Greg Martin. I can’t imagine what would prompt this woman to dredge it all up if there wasn’t some truth in it. I can think of a dozen men of much more recent notoriety if she was simply inventing it for some cranky reason of her own. Besides …’ He broke off, staring for a moment at the glinting gold balls, then raising his eyes to meet Harriet’s directly, ‘if you look at the past, it’s quite feasible that she knew Greg. There was a connection.’
    â€˜You knew her?’ Harriet asked, surprised.
    â€˜No, but I know of her family.’
    â€˜Who is she then? The paper said she was Italian, didn’t it?’
    â€˜That’s right. Her family were fabric manufacturers with mills and factories around Lake Como. Greg was working on some kind of deal in Italy not long before he … before the accident. It’s quite conceivable they were involved in it and he met Maria as a result. He swept her off her feet, I shouldn’t wonder.’ His lip curled in a bitter smile. ‘ He was very attractive to women, was Greg.’
    Harriet ignored the implication.
    â€˜But Dad – twenty years! If it’s true and he is alive where has he been all this time? And why the hell should he have pretended to be dead if he wasn’t?’
    â€˜Because I guess it suited him.’ Hugo ran a finger under the roll collar of his shirt. It felt tight and hot in spite of being made of the softest combed cotton. ‘ He left one hell of a mess behind him, Harriet.’
    â€˜Financial difficulties, you mean?’
    â€˜And some! Oh yes, he’d overstretched himself, all right. And there was the suggestion of fraud, too. It took months – and the best financial brains in New York – to unravel his dealings and what they found was a web of debt – and worse. What a time that was!’ His eyes darkened at the memory. ‘For a while I thought we’d go down because of it. If it hadn’t been for Kurt I would have done. He rescued me, not a doubt of it, and thank God he did. But as for Greg … I suppose you could say I was all kinds of a fool to trust him, but I’m a designer, not an accountant. And I wasn’t the only one taken in by him – far from it. There were plenty of others with more experience in these matters than I who were deceived. Oh yes, if Greg had been around when the storm broke he’d have faced ruin – and probably gone to gaol into the bargain. No doubt about it, he made a very timely exit one way or the other.’
    Harriet was silent for a moment, chewing on her