He smiled. His dark eyes were sad and his thick dark unruly hair stood up as if he’d been out in a gale, though this was the result of his constantly running his hands through it.

‘Sit down so we can talk.’

Briony sat beside the bed in a large leather chair. Andrew McLawson was surprised to see how tiny she was. Her feet were so small in her little white shoes they looked like a child’s. And all that hair, that beautiful red hair, with those startling green eyes. She was a lovely girl all right.

‘As you know, your sister’s not well.’ He looked at Eileen as he said this and smiled. ‘I think we could accommodate her at Sea View, but I really have to know all the details of your sister’s illness first. Everything. If I’m to help her at all.’

He noted the whitening of Briony’s face and looked at Eileen pointedly. He smiled at her gently. Briony was surprised to see Eileen smile back. She liked him.

‘If you would like to follow me down to the drawing room, I’ll tell you what I think you need to know.’ Her voice was hard and for a fleeting second the man felt that this little woman could be dangerous. The feeling passed as quickly as it had come and he stood up to follow her.

‘Anything you tell me will be in the strictest confidence, Miss Cavanagh.’

She looked into his face and said, ‘The name’s Briony, and some of the things I do aren’t strictly legal. In fact, they’re highly illegal. What do you say to that?

Andrew McLawson picked up his bag.

‘I am in the business of keeping secrets, Miss Cavanagh. Many of my patients are from the cream of this country’s aristocracy. I want to help people, not hinder them.’

‘Then you sound like just the man for me.’

The fact that he had first called her ‘Miss Cavanagh’ pleased her, and he wanted to keep everything businesslike, which could only augur for the good.

‘That is a very tragic story you told me there, Briony. I think your sister has had a very very sad life.’

She nodded. ‘My father brought her here to this house. He brought me a year later. Only I was stronger, I survived it all. I’m now a very influential woman in my own right, Dr McLawson, and what I want, I generally get. If something upsets me, I leave no stone unturned to sort out the problem.’

The doctor laughed out loud.

‘You’re threatening me!’

Briony smiled now, but it didn’t reach her eyes.