She broke off and he waited, his eyes on her face. ‘After that, what?’

‘She just seemed to go off the rails,’ Jenny mumbled. ‘I never knew where she was or who she was with. Sometimes she’d stay out all night without phoning. I’d wait up, worried sick. There were some nights when I didn’t go to bed at all.’

‘But you weren’t her mother.’

Jenny gave a sad smile. ‘That’s exactly what Chloe said. After our parents died I did my best to keep everything together but I was pretty useless.’ Her voice cracked slightly and she cleared her throat. ‘Anyway, you don’t want to hear all this.’

‘I do want to hear it,’ he said softly. ‘It involves me, too, remember?’

It was the nearest he’d come to admitting that he’d had a relationship with her sister.

Jenny put her fork down. ‘Eventually Chloe got fed up with me.’ She gave him a brave smile. ‘She said I was always breathing down her neck and I suppose I was. So she moved out of the house and lived with a group of friends. I hardly ever saw her after that. Every time I went round there she always seemed to be out and she never rang. It was purely by chance that I found out that she was pregnant.’

He gave a wry smile. ‘And knowing you, I’m sure you were horrified.’

‘Of course!’ Jenny shot him an appalled look. ‘She was only nineteen and really young for her age. And I know she was frightened, although she’d never admit it.’

‘Did she tell you anything about the father?’

Jenny hesitated. ‘All she’d say at first was that it was someone famous. She boasted that she was going to—’ She broke off and closed her eyes briefly. She felt uncomfortable repeating her sister’s words. ‘Well, she said that she was going to—’

‘Fleece him for money,’ Alex finished, reaching for his glass. ‘Don’t be embarrassed to say it. When you have money there’s always someone chasing after it. It’s a fact of life.’

Jenny looked him in the eye. ‘But that isn’t why I’m here. Whatever Chloe had in mind, I’m not interested in your money.’

Suddenly it seemed really important that she convince him.

He looked at her thoughtfully. ‘Strangely enough, I believe you. Anyway, carry on with the story.’

‘Well, that’s it really.’ Jenny let out a breath. ‘I tried to stay in touch but she avoided me as much as possible. I didn’t even know she’d had the baby until the hospital rang to say she was very ill. Obviously she’d given me as next of kin. I dashed there as fast as I could. It was a nightmare.’

‘And that’s when she named me.’ Alex leaned back in his chair, his face expressionless.

‘Yes.’

‘So why didn’t you come and find me straight away?’

Jenny licked her lips. ‘I was totally shattered by her death. I blamed myself for months. You know what it’s like when someone dies—there’s always guilt. And for me the guilt was that I’d allowed her to go through her pregnancy without me.’