Read No Time For Love (Bantam Series No. 40) for Free Online Page A

get their hands on a rich man. Elvin was a child in many ways. Against a woman who had deliberately set out to get him he would not have stood a chance.”
    “Perhaps you are right,” Wynstan said reluctantly. “What do you want me to do?”
    “I want you to go over to England just as quickly as you can and shut this woman’s mouth!” Ha rvey said. “Strangle her, suffocate her, kidnap her and keep her silent until the election is over. Do anything as long as she does not go near a newspaper reporter or realise how much she can damage me.”
    Wynstan looked amused as he turned round to put his hand out towards the bell-pull.
    “What are you doing? Who are you ringing for?” Harvey enquired.
    “I have to find out something about Larina or whatever her name is,” he said. “She has signed only her Christian name, and there is no address.”
    “No-one must know about this,” Harvey said quickly. “If the newshawks get even a smell of it, I am finished!”
    “I am going to speak to Prudence,” Wynstan said soothingly as if speaking to a child . “Prudence has been with Elvin ever since he came back from Europe, she has also been with us since before I was born. I imagine we can trust her after all these years.”
    “Yes, of course,” Harvey agreed in a somewhat shamefaced manner.
    The Butler opened the door.
    “Ask Prudence to come downstairs for a moment, Hudson,” Wynstan said to him. “I imagine she is back by now from the funeral.”
    “Yes, Mr. Wynstan, she is upstairs.”
    “We would like to speak to her.”
    “Of course, Mr. Wynstan.”
    The door closed and Wynstan stood in front of the fireplace.
    “Stop being so agitated, Harvey!” he said after a moment. “You are sweating, and anyone who knew you would know that you are frightened!”
    “I am frightened!” Harvey said. “I do not mind telling you, Wynstan, this is a stab in the back which I had not anticipated, and certainly not from one of my own brothers!”
    “I think you are being unnecessarily apprehensive,” Wynstan said, “but because I am fond of you, Harvey, and Elvin meant a great deal to me, I will certainly try and see if I can solve this problem.”
    “Pay anything—anything.” Harvey said, “but keep her quiet, that is all I ask. Keep her quiet!”
    When Prudence came into the room she looked surprised to see all three brothers together in the Study while, as she knew, the big Drawing-Room was filled with their relatives and friends.
    She was an elderly woman with a kind, open face which made adults and children alike trust her instinctively. Her eyes were red and a little swollen from weeping.
    She was dressed, as she always had been ever since the brothers could remember, in a dress of grey cotton with stiff white collar and cuffs that were always spotlessly clean.
    She had grown stouter and heavier over the years, Wynstan thought as she walked towards them, but otherwise she had changed very little from when as a child he had said his first prayers at her knee and she had taught him his alphabet.
    “Come in, Prudence,” he said. “We want your help, which is nothing unusual!”
    “What happened?” Prudence asked looking from Wynstan to Harvey and then at Gary.
    “We want you to tell us what you know about a woman called Larina,” Wynstan replied.
    Prudence did not hesitate.
    “She was a friend of Mr. Elvin’s.”
    “What sort of friend?” Harvey questioned quickly.
    “I think it was someone he met while he was in Switzerland,” Prudence answered. “He had several letters from her after he returned and I know that he wrote to her.”
    “Where are they? Where are the letters?” Harvey asked. “Fetch them at once.”
    “I can’t do that, Mr. Harvey,” Prudence said.
    “Why not?”
    “Because Mr. Elvin burnt them.”
    “Burnt them?” Harvey exclaimed.
    “Yes, a few days before he died he said to me: ‘Prudence, I think I had better tidy up my possessions. Bring me my special box.’