‘What the hell are you talking about?’

‘Freya. She’s already my stepdaughter, and I want her properly in the family as my daughter-in-law.’

Darius stared. His ears were buzzing, and somewhere there was the memory of Freya, on the drive from the airport, saying, ‘Your father’s got some really mad ideas. Someone needs to tell him to forget them.’

She’d refused to elaborate, but now he understood.

‘Why not?’ Amos asked genially. ‘You like the girl, you were laughing together at dinner-’

‘Yes, I like her-far too much to do her such an injury, even if she’d agree, which she wouldn’t, thank goodness. Do you really think you could make me crawl to do your bidding? If I have one thing left it’s my independence, and I won’t part with that.’

‘Then you’ll buy it at a high price. Don’t blame me when you go bankrupt.’

Darius gave a cold smile. ‘I’ll remember.’

He turned and walked away, resisting the temptation to slam the door. Within an hour he’d left the house.

CHAPTER TWO

THE storm that swept over Herringdean had been violent, and nobody was surprised when the lifeboat was called out to an emergency. A small crowd had watched the boat plunge down the slipway into the sea, and a larger one gathered to see it return later that night.

Soon the rescued victims had been taken ashore into the waiting ambulance and the crew were free to exhale with relief and remove their life jackets.

Harriet took out her cellphone, dialled and spoke quickly. ‘Is he all right? Good. I’ll be home soon.’

When they had all finished making their report she slipped away and was followed by Walter and Simon, fellow crew members and friends.

‘Hey, Harry,’ Walter called. ‘You sounded worried on the phone. Is someone ill?’

‘No, I was just checking on Phantom. I left my neighbour looking after him. She promised to keep him safe.’