Classic Bestsellers from Josephine Cox: Bumper Collection. Josephine Cox

      ‘Don’t play the innocent with me. Come on, out with it. You always come running to me when you’ve done something wrong. What is it now?’

      ‘I haven’t done anything wrong! Why do you always assume everything is my fault?’

      ‘Because it usually is!’ Scowling, she stared hard at this young woman who had turned out to be such a disappointment. ‘They sacked you, didn’t they?’ She laughed, a hard, cynical laugh that showed her delight.

      Samantha was defiant. ‘It wasn’t my fault!’ she claimed. ‘The idiots sacked me for arguing with the head receptionist – a silly, spiteful old bitch who took a dislike to me straight away. She goaded me until I thought she should have a piece of my mind. It got a bit out of hand, and she went behind my back to the manager. I was finished on the spot. They wouldn’t even listen to my side of the story!’

      Irene shook her head. ‘You never learn, do you?’ she commented drily. ‘But I can’t say I’m sorry they finished with you. I never wanted you working there in the first place.’

      ‘Please, Mother, I haven’t come here to be lectured.’

      ‘All right. I can see you’re worried.’ Squashing the second cigarette into the ashtray, she came to where Samantha had sulkily flung herself into the red leather settee. ‘I’ll help you over this one, but you’re going to have to curb your spending. I can’t keep up with you. I won’t!’ She gave her daughter a prod. ‘You sold all my jewellery, damn you! But you should still have money left from what I gave you before … haven’t you?’

      ‘No.’ Now as Samantha glanced up, her face seemed haunted. ‘It’s all gone.’

      Irene knew her daughter too well. ‘There’s something else, isn’t there?’ she prompted. ‘Something you’re afraid to tell me.’

      There was a moment when Samantha looked away, before she answered in a sorry little voice, ‘It’s the house.’

      ‘What about the house?’

      ‘I took out a loan against it, and now they want all the back payments or they’ll take the house.’

      Taking a step backwards, Irene was visibly shocked. Her icy composure vanished. ‘You what?’ Taking a step forward, she slapped Samantha hard across the face. ‘You stupid little bitch! I told you never to do that. I warned you, it was the one thing you should never risk. And now you tell me they’re about to repossess it. Well, let them! If they throw you out on the street, don’t come running to me, because I’ve had enough! Get out of here. Go on … I don’t want to see you any more.’

      ‘Please, Mother!’ Samantha revealed her crafty plan. ‘Father should never have left that house to Kathy. By rights it’s half mine. I can take her to court and make her sell it.’

      Irene shook her head. She was adamant. ‘No court in the land would make her sell it to give you half. She was given her father’s house, and you were given mine. Out of the two of you, I’d say you got the best deal, wouldn’t you?’

      ‘Oh, please, Mother, you’ve got to help me.’ She always knew how to turn on the tears, but now, seeing that she had gone too far, Samantha was genuinely frightened. ‘Don’t turn me away.’

      For what seemed an age, her mother stared at her. She suddenly saw how, in comparison to Kathy, this daughter was weak and useless, and in some measure she knew she must take the blame. She’d always thought Samantha was like her. She had cultivated and trained her, dreaming of only the best for her eldest child. But she had spoiled her. And Samantha had none of her own backbone.

      ‘All right! I’ll help you, but only this once. I’ll clear the loan on the house, but I insist you come with me to a solicitor and ask if there can be some sort of agreement drawn up, to safeguard the house.’

      Though she didn’t like the idea, Samantha had no option. ‘All right, Mother, anything you say.’

      Heaving a deep sigh, Irene opened her arms. ‘Come here, child.’

      Greatly relieved, Samantha went to her, and they hugged for a time until, stepping back, Samantha asked greedily, ‘When he’s gone, it won’t matter, will it? Because we’ll be rich, won’t we?’

      Irene smiled. ‘I’ll be rich!’ she reminded her. ‘When Richard breathes his last I’ll be worth a fortune.’ She rubbed her hands together in anticipation. ‘After I’ve sold the business, I intend to spend like never before.’ She giggled like a schoolgirl. ‘Who knows? I might even meet a proper man – one with youth and looks, who knows how to look after a lady …’ She smiled slyly. ‘If you know what I mean?’

      ‘So! I’m not a proper man, is that what you think?’ While the two of them laughed at the prospect of Richard’s demise and their good fortune, he had watched from the doorway. Having overheard everything, he was white with rage; bitter with himself for having been taken in so easily.

      Shocked to the core, Irene and Samantha stared at him. ‘No, Richard, you’ve got it all wrong!’ Starting towards him, a look of innocence on her face, Irene cajoled, ‘I didn’t mean it like that.… I … just …’ Now, as he put up his two hands, she stopped in her tracks. ‘You must know how much I love you.’

      He laughed. ‘I thought I did, but I was wrong. I see you now for what you really are. I’ve known for some time how you’ve been bailing her out … squandering my hard-earned money. Well, not any more. I might be old, but I’m not completely senile. I’ve worked too long and hard to give it all away to two scheming parasites like you.’

      Clenching a fist, he shook it at them, his harsh words addressed to Irene. ‘From now on, I intend keeping a tight rein on every penny. If you want so much as a new pair of stockings, you’ll have to ask me. Do you understand what I’m saying?’

      He pointed to Samantha who was cowering back. ‘As for your bone-idle offspring … she can work for what she wants, the same as I’ve had to do all these years.’

      He gave Irene a withering stare. ‘For the sake of appearance, I won’t see you on the street. You are my wife, after all.’ His voice shook with anger. ‘Though, God knows, any other man would have you out the door with only the shirt on your back!’

      Ignoring her continuing pleas, he warned, ‘When I leave this house now, I intend going straight round to my solicitor.’

      Horrified, Irene grasped the implications. ‘No, Richard. Please! Don’t do anything reckless. We need to talk. I want to explain …’

      ‘The time for talking is over.’ Smiling, he nodded. ‘But don’t worry, my dear. I’m not about to do anything “reckless”. In fact, I’ve already done that in marrying you.’ His once-handsome features hardened. ‘But I’ll tell you this much: by the time I’ve finished, I’ll have my will so watertight that neither you nor your wasteful daughter will ever get your hands on a single penny. Not while I’m here on this earth, and not when I’m gone.’ His smile was withering. ‘That much you can count on.’

      As he walked out, Irene ran after him. ‘No, Richard … give me time to explain. You misunderstood … Richard!’

      But he was already gone, and Irene was devastated.

      Behind her, Samantha’s thoughts were already turning to her sister, Kathy.

       Chapter 9

      KATHY LOVED HER new job. Even the boss was pleasant to work with, and though he saw himself as a bit of a Romeo, she managed to keep him at bay.

      ‘He fancies you, so he does!’ The other woman who worked the desk with her was a red-haired, freckle-faced forty-year-old, an Irish lassie with an appetite