Chapter 2

• Fiona was her best friend, after all, and Astoria badly needed to talk to someone about her grandfather’s will!
• She heaved another heavy sigh. ‘Do you remember my grandfather Ken?’
• ‘How could I forget him?’ Fiona snorted. ‘I met him at your wedding, of course, and once before that, when I came to stay for a weekend at your parents’ home years ago. But that was certainly enough! He’s even more formidably conservative than Leo with his “young ladies should be seen and not heard”,’ she quoted in a fair imitation of Astoriael Ken’s harsh tones. ‘How your poor mother has put up with him living with them all these years I’ll never know! I—Oops.’ She gave an apologetic grimace. ‘I’m sorry, Astoria, that was extremely rude of me.’
• Astoria shook her head. ‘The fact that he’s my grandfather doesn’t make me blind to his faults. He’s always been a tyrant and a control freak,’ she confirmed disgustedly. ‘But the thing is, Fiona, it’s actually my parents who have lived with my grandfather all these years. Not the other way around. He owns Wiverley Hall.’
• ‘So that’s why your mother has had to put up with him,’ her friend realised.
• ‘Yes,’ Astoria said. ‘And my grandfather has never made any secret of the fact that he’s disappointed he only had the one grandchild—’
• ‘How could he possibly be disappointed with you? You’re gorgeous!’ Fiona looked indignant. ‘I’ve always wanted to be a tiny redhead. Do you remember how I dyed my hair red like yours five years ago?’ Her giggle was almost girlish. ‘I thought Leo was going to shave my head and then send me back home on the next plane!’
• Astoria remembered only too well Leo’s visit to England five years ago. And the fury in the accusing look he’d shot in her direction when he’d arrived and seen what Fiona had done to her normally rich brown hair…
• ‘And I’ve always been envious of your amazing green eyes,’ Fiona continued longingly. ‘Plus, you’ve become one of the most successful interior designers in NewYork.’
• ‘Mainly due to you and other mutual friends employing me,’ Astoria pointed out dryly.
• ‘That’s irrelevant,’ Fiona said firmly. ‘Your grandfather should be proud of you and your achievements!’
• Astoria couldn’t help smiling at her friend’s chagrin on her behalf. ‘The thing is, my mother couldn’t have any more children after me, so that pretty well took care of there ever being a male heir.’
• ‘Your grandfather is only a land-owner, for goodness’ sake, not nobility!’ Fiona scoffed.
• And, being descended from nobility herself, Fiona was in a position to know the difference!
• Astoria smiled wistfully. ‘Same thing as far as Grandfather Ken is concerned. “Land is wealth”,’ she quoted in almost as good an imitation of her grandfather as Fiona’s a few minutes ago. ‘Anyway, whatever the reason, he’s never made any secret of his disappointment that he only has one grandchild—me. When my marriage to Edward ended in divorce, and childless to boot, I thought he was going to have a heart attack!’
• ‘Doesn’t he know why it ended in divorce?’
• ‘Can you imagine any of the family even attempting to explain Philip’s problem to Grandfather Ken?’
• Her grandfather was approaching ninety years of age; trying to explain Philip’s pathological jealousy, his violent behaviour after he and Astoria were married, would probably only result in her grandfather stating that the demand for equality from woman nowadays—that he so disapproved of!—was obviously to blame.
• ‘But the failure of your marriage wasn’t your fault, Astoria.’ Fiona reached out a hand to grasp one of Astoria’s. ‘You do know that, don’t you?’ She frowned. ‘I only ask because I know there hasn’t been a single man in your life since that awful marriage.’
• ‘Nor a married one, either!’ Astoria retorted cheekily.
• Although, in all honesty, it wasn’t a subject she found in the least amusing. Not when her sex life, or lack of it, was the basis of her current problem!
• ‘Very funny,’ her friend drawled sarcastically as she straightened. ‘But I still don’t see how any of this affects you, Astoria.’
• In the normal course of events it shouldn’t have; when her grandfather died, Astoria’s father should quite naturally inherit Wiverley Hall and the stables. Except her grandfather had decided otherwise…
• ‘My father will only inherit Wiverley Hall and the Wiverley Stables if I have produced—or at least shown signs of producing—an heir before my grandfather dies.’ Astoria winced at just putting into words the terms of the clause that her grandfather had recently told her he had added to his will, let alone actually acting on it! ‘Otherwise the whole thing is to be sold and the money given to charity.’
• Fiona gasped as she sat back in obvious shock. ‘But that’s—that’s positively Machiavellian!’
• ‘Tell me about it,’ Astoria agreed, relieved to have talked to someone other than her parents about this at last.
• Her parents had obviously been distressed a week ago, when Astoriael Ken had called them all together to inform them of the changes he had made to his will, but not as shocked as Astoria herself.
• As Fiona had already pointed out, Astoria had stayed well away from becoming involved in any sort of relationship since her ill-fated marriage to Philip, so how she was supposed to produce this heir any time in the near future she had no idea. Solicit some poor unsuspecting man off the street? Pay someone to get her pregnant? The whole thing was ludicrous!
• As she might have known they would, her parents had totally dismissed the clause, advising Astoria to ignore it too. They’d stated that when the time came they would move the stables elsewhere.
• But Astoria knew that was easier said than done when her grandfather controlled the purse strings, too.
• Fiona gave a dazed shake of her head. ‘So is his idea that you get married again?’
• ‘I have no intention of marrying again. You know that,’ Astoria said.
• ‘But Astoria—’
• ‘I will never put myself in such a vulnerable position ever again, Fiona,’ she stated emphatically. ‘Even seeing your own happiness with Axel as an example of how good a relationship can be,’ she added tactfully. ‘Besides, Grandfather hasn’t said I have to actually get married again, only produce the Ken heir.’
• ‘Incredible.’ Fiona still looked dazed. ‘I thought Leo was being unreasonable a year ago when he was so against my wanting to marry an Englishman, but your grandfather’s behaviour is positively archaic!’
• Astoria had been present on the day that Fiona told her brother she intended marrying Axel and living in England with him—moral support, Fiona had called it!—and could clearly remember Leo D’Alessandro’s icy disapproval that his sister should be contemplating marrying anyone who was not a Venetian.