Lightning In The Rain

Helen Williams is staying in Sceaux, a suburb of Paris, and when she decides to help her neighbour Constance Gravier escape the clutches of Enrique de la Salle, she meets not the married Enrique, but his intimidating brother-in-law, Henri Finnegan. It is to Henri, Helen learns, that Constance is engaged. Henri is furious that his sister Ghislaine de la Salle is being deceived by her husband, but the next day, aware that gossip might damage the family company, he turns up in Sceaux, makes an apology for his previous ill-temper and persuades Helen to consent to be seen with him in public. This, he claims, will mitigate the effects of any suggestion that he and Enrique are at odds. But Helen, who finds Henri very attractive, is less than frank about her background. Her marriage has ended in disillusion and she is in France only to settle her late husband's estate. Her life, now totally changed, was once much nearer to that of Henri and his work colleagues than she is prepared to admit. They part in a flurry of misunderstandings and Helen has returned to her home in the north of England when a telephone call takes her back to Paris. Henri has been injured in a laboratory explosion . .