‘What do you mean, strangers?’ Em challenged. ‘They’re my friends.’
‘Friends who think it’s okay to wander into someone’s bedroom and snoop.’
‘Rosalind asked to go to the bathroom. What was I supposed to do?’
‘Keep an eye on her. You know what a nosy old baggage she is. And she had no right to bombard Dad with her spiteful opinions.’
‘She had a point though. Ruan should never have married Cassie Blakely. Big mistake.’ She waved a finger at Cat. ‘She wasn’t one of us. She was an outcomer. If Ruan hadn’t got swept away by her pretty face and her fancy interior designer job, history might have been different. But Gerren was too soft; he threw tradition out of the window. Let Ruan do exactly as hepleased. And look where it got him … a widower after only six years of marriage. Not exactly decent breeding stock, was she?’
‘Aunt Em that is an awful way to talk about my mother.’ Cat glared at the small woman standing in front of her, smartly dressed, immaculately groomed and looking totally unrepentant. How could she possibly defend whatever Rosalind had said?
‘I dare because it’s a fact,’ Em declared with a casual shrug, which said as far as she was concerned there wasn’t a problem.
‘I can see there is no point trying to talk to you,’ Cat retorted outraged at Em’s attitude. ‘It’s clear to me you’re someone who puts strangers before their own family.’
‘So what if I do?’ Her great-aunt bristled. ‘None of you have any time for me. You’re all so busy with your jobs and now Jenna has gone …’
‘Yes I know,’ Cat’s tone softened, ‘you miss her very much. But why oh why get involved with someone like Rosalind Myers and her friends, Aunt Em? You do know you’re being used, don’t you?’
‘I am not!’ Em gave an indignant pout.
‘Of course you are. I’ve seen the meal tabs from the dining room and the lounge. Lunch, drinks, afternoon teas all charged against the hotel’s hospitality account.’
‘Well why shouldn’t I entertain my friends?’ She gave a dismissive shrug. ‘It’s as much my place as the rest of the family’s.’
‘Wrong. Caer Gwynbelongs to you. The hotel is Dad’s and I don’t think it’s fair he finances your little gaggle of freeloaders.’
‘I can do without your opinions, thank you!’ Em spluttered. ‘You’re merely a child. What do you know of anything? Gerren still owns the hotel so, as his sister, I have every right to do as I please.’
Cat folded her arms and smiled. ‘Well, that’s where you’re wrong. Granddad signed everything over to Dad just before he left for France. So I think my father has been incredibly tolerant picking up the tab for you and your friends all this time, don’t you?’
‘Signed it over? No, that can’t be right.’ Em shook her head. ‘I’d have known. Gerren would have told me.’
‘Why would he? It wasn’t any of your business. And I’ll tell you something, I think Dad has been amazing. He realised you were lonely here once Jenna had gone and he invited you to come and stay with us. So you could be part of the family. But what did you do? You abused his kindness by inviting those three ghastly women in to nose about.’
‘I didn’t invite them,’ Em blurted out, ‘Rosalind wanted to see—’
‘Ah, so now we’re getting to the bottom of it all. I might have known. That bloody awful woman—’
‘Catriona Trevelyan, will you please not swear in front of me!’
‘I’m sorry,’ Cat said, feeling duly reprimanded, ‘but arriving home to this has made me angry. You need to ditch them and sooner rather than later, Aunt Em. Because all they will cause you in the end is trouble.’
‘I certainly will not. I don’t tell you who you can and can’t be friends with. Look at your so-called friend, Jodie Penwarne, with her peculiar clothes and blue streaks in her hair. What sort of person is she?’
‘A clever one, who runs a business and employs local people. Not someone who spends their life harvesting gossip,’ Cat threw back at her. Jodie might not be the most conventional of people but they had been friends ever since childhood and she had great admiration for the knitwear business she had built from nothing.
‘You’re wasting your time here.’ Em waved a dismissive hand, rousing Cat from her thoughts. ‘I don’t want to listen to anything you have to say. I may be banished to this place but your father will not stop me using the hotel. The public rooms are for use by any paying guest,’ she added defiantly.
‘Paying guest? So you’ll be covering the bills in future, will you?’ Cat looked at her curiously. ‘Because I don’t think those so-called friends are planning on opening their purses any time soon, do you?’
‘I’d like you to leave.’ Pursing her lips, Emelia marched over to the door and pulled it open. ‘I think I’ve heard enough.’
‘Fine. If that’s how you feel.’
‘I do.’ Em’s childish pout surfaced again, accompanied by a reprimanding wave of her finger. ‘I will not be dictated to by a juvenile. I choose my own friends. I like them. They make me happy.’
Cat blew out an angry breath. This was a serious waste of time. Her initial assessment had been right; any friends were better than none at all. She only hoped Em didn’t live to regret her words. Frustrated at not being able to make any headway, she left the room, closing the door behind her. Striding back across the causeway she cursed under her breath. Had there ever been anyone as difficult as Emelia Trevelyan, she wondered? A woman whose heart had turned to stone after her fiancé abandoned her for someone else. And yet there were times during their conversation she had sensed discomfort, as if some of her arguments had penetrated Em’s hard, uncompromising shell. She hoped so because she hated the thought of Em living here with Hamish, her West Highland terrier and Marion, her housekeeper as her only companions. Ruan was soft-hearted and if circumstances changed she knew he would lift the ban. But it would only happen if and when she cut her ties withRosalind and her little gang. And currently it looked as if they were in for a long wait.
