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‘Because I promised him. You heard me.’
‘Yes, but—’
‘It won’t rain. I promised.’ She yawned. ‘I think I’ll go to bed too. Sea air makes me sleepy. ‘G’night.’
‘Goodnight.’
In her room she undressed and went to bed, listening for the sound of him coming upstairs. She was still listening when she fell asleep.
She didn’t know what roused her, but she awoke suddenly in the darkness. The clock by her bed showed two o’clock. She listened and thought she could hear a voice talking in the distance.
Pulling a dressing gown on over her pyjamas, she crept out into the corridor and went to the top of the stairs, from where she could see down into the main room.
Just as Mark had predicted, Justin had set up a laptop computer and was staring at the screen at the same time as talking into his cellphone. He spoke softly, but Evie could pick up the tense note in his voice.
‘I’m sorry but I just couldn’t take the call this afternoon—I know what I said but I had important business—’
She went quietly downstairs and into the kitchen. By the time she returned with two large mugs of tea he was off the phone.
‘Thanks,’ he said, taking one. ‘Sorry if I disturbed you, but I had to catch up with my work somehow.’
‘Yes, you’ve obviously come prepared. I’m surprised you could put work aside long enough to drive down here. All those hours not at the computer, not on the phone, not making contacts.’
‘I don’t bother to make contacts any more. I don’t need to. People contact me.’
‘You arrogant so-and-so,’ she said, amused. ‘Anyway, it isn’t true. There’s always someone bigger you can be doing business with.’
‘That’s true,’ he reflected. ‘Why don’t you say outright that you’re just surprised that I put Mark first?’
‘Well—’
‘Don’t worry, you’ve already made your poor opinion of me pretty plain, and I’m not arguing with it.’
‘Hey, I didn’t exactly—’
‘Are you saying you don’t have a poor opinion of me?’
‘Well, it improved when you took the trouble to drive down here for Mark’s sake. Although it takes a dive at your way of moving people around like pieces on your own private chessboard.’
‘Do I do that? Well, maybe sometimes.’
‘You know quite well that you do.’
‘Miss Wharton—’ he began in a patient voice, but she stopped him.
‘What did you say?’
‘Nothing.’
‘You did, you called me something.’
‘I called you Miss Wharton.’
‘But why?’
‘I thought it was your name.’
‘But why aren’t you calling me Evie?’
‘Because you haven’t given me your permission.’
She tore her hair. ‘I gave it to Mark.’
‘Yes, to Mark. Not to me.’
He was serious, she realised. Was it possible for a modern man to be so old-fashioned? Against her will she realised that there was something charming about it.
‘Why are you smiling?’ he asked suspiciously.
‘It’s nothing.’ It wouldn’t do to tell him she found him charming. He would hate it. ‘Call me Evie. And look, you can stay for a short time, but I’ll have to ask you to leave without warning. I’m expecting someone.’
‘Andrew?’
‘Yes, not that it’s any of your business.’
‘When’s he coming?’
‘I’m not sure, but when I know he’s on his way you really do have to go. He and I have a lot of ground to make up.’
‘You mean because of the other evening?’
‘Among other things.’
‘But surely you made it up when he called you?’
She made a face. ‘That wasn’t him. It was someone trying to sell me insurance.’
A tremor passed over his face as he tried to suppress his grin and didn’t quite manage it.
‘Oh, go on, laugh,’ she said. ‘The poor man who called me didn’t think it was so funny when I’d finished giving him a piece of my mind.’
‘Having been on the receiving end of a piece of your mind, he has my sympathy.’
‘Well, I apologised to him in the end.’
‘Did Andrew ever call you?’
‘I called him. Same thing.’
He didn’t comment on this, but asked thoughtfully, ‘Are you in love with him?’
She drew a sharp breath. ‘That is none of your business.’
‘I suppose not, but I’ve asked it now, so why not tell me? Either you love him or you’re not sure, and the reason you dump him so easily is because you’re actually trying to tell him to get lost.’
Since Andrew himself had said something of the kind she was briefly at a loss for words. She decided that she preferred Justin Dane when she could regard him with outright hostility, simple and uncomplicated.
‘Yes, I am in love with Andrew,’ she said firmly.
He was silent for a moment. ‘I see,’ he said at last. ‘So you want us to leave tomorrow?’
‘I didn’t say that.’
‘But if he finds me here he might think you’re playing around. Yes, I know, you’ll tell him the truth, but will he believe you?’
‘Of course. We trust each other completely. And he won’t turn up without warning, he’ll call me first.’
‘He might do it differently this time.’
‘Not Andrew.’
‘Solid and reliable?’
‘Yes.’
‘Doesn’t that make life a bit repetitive?’
She regarded him with smouldering eyes. It was simply unforgivable that he should echo her own thoughts. Her own previous thoughts, she corrected hastily, dating from before she’d realised how foolish she would be to lose him.
‘I will not discuss Andrew with you,’ she said.
‘You know, I think that’s probably a very wise decision.’
They eyed each other and she realised that her previous impression had been correct. He really could be charming.
‘I was very impressed by your domestic skills,’ she said. ‘All that cooking and bed-making. Your mother did a really good job on you.’
He didn’t answer, and when she looked at him she found him staring into the distance.
‘Hey, I was just paying a compliment to your mother.’
‘No need. I never knew her.’
‘You mean she died early?’
‘Something like that. I’m going to pack up for the night now.’ He began switching off his computer.
‘Did I say something wrong?’ she asked, puzzled at the way he had suddenly closed a door on her in a manner that was uncannily similar to his son’s.
‘Not at all.’
‘Did I offend you, mentioning your mother?’
‘Of course not. There, everything’s switched off. By the way, I think it’s stopped raining.’
‘Of course. What did I tell you?’
He regarded her for a moment, taking in the impish gleam in her eyes, and unable to stop smiling at her.
‘Any minute now you’ll almost have me believing that you cast a magic spell,’ he said.
‘Maybe I did. I think I’ll just leave you to wonder about that. By the way, what about swimming trunks? I mean, if you weren’t expecting to stay—’
‘We do have them. I thought I might, just possibly, prevail on you.’
‘Hogwash!’ she said sternly. ‘Has anyone ever managed to turn you away at the door?’
‘The last man who tried was fending off my takeover bid.’
‘No guesses who won.’
‘Well,’ he said, considering, ‘I took him over, but he made me pay more than I’d meant to.’
She threw up her hands in mock horror. ‘Disaster!’
‘No, just something you have to be prepared for in business. You have to start out knowing what a thing is worth to you and how high you’re prepared to go. Winning at a cost is still winning.’
‘At any cost?’
‘That depends what you’re aiming to win. Only a few things are worth any cost.’
‘What are you aiming to win now?’
‘My son’s confidence—his trust—his love—at any cost.’
That surprised and silenced her. She had suspected it, but hearing him say it warned her that she had partly misread him. There was more to him than she had believed. It was becoming possible to like him.
Then he said, ‘But I need your help; that’s why I’m here. You’re vital if I’m to have any chance.’
And suddenly she was a pawn on his chessboard again, irritated into saying, ‘So you worked out the cost of working at half-speed for a few days and decided it was affordable. But where do I figure in your equation?’
‘I told you—vital.’
‘But supposing I come with a heavy cost?’ she fenced. She was beginning to find fencing with this man strangely exhilarating.
He raised an eyebrow.
‘If you do,’ he said with soft irony, ‘perhaps you should tell me now, so that I can make the necessary arrangements.’
