Кэрол Мортимер – His Defiant Mistress: The Millionaire's Rebellious Mistress / The Venetian's Midnight Mistress / The Billionaire's Virgin Mistress (страница 14)

Sarah shook her head vigorously, and laid a finger on her lips. ‘Don’t rat on me. Please!’

Chatting to Alex had been so unexpectedly easy for once that she hadn’t noticed where they were heading, until the car turned into the forecourt of the inn Dan Mason had taken her to the night before.

‘This looks very inviting,’ said Oliver in approval as Alex helped Sarah out. ‘I wonder if they do a good steak here.’

‘They certainly do,’ Alex assured him, then smiled as the chef himself appeared to welcome them. ‘Hi, Stephen.’

‘Back again, Alex? I must be getting something right.’

‘We want something special today, my friend. It’s a celebration.’

Stephen Hicks shot an appreciative look at Sarah. ‘What kind?’

‘Business deal. Let me introduce you…’

They were settled at their table before Sarah finally managed to say her piece. ‘Oddly enough,’ she said to Oliver, ‘I had a meal here last night.’

‘Did you, darling?’ He looked at Alex, who shook his head regretfully.

‘Not with me, alas.’

‘Dan Mason from the Green Man brought me,’ said Sarah, irritated to feel her colour rise.

Alex’s mouth turned down. ‘Son of the landlord and our local Wunderkind. He’s quite a lad, our Daniel.’

‘With women?’ said Oliver sharply.

‘Probably,’ Alex agreed. ‘But actually I meant that he’s a prodigy in the brain department. We went to the same school, but my interests were cricket and rugby while Dan sailed through every exam and took a first in Maths at Oxford.’

‘But you went to Cambridge. Your father was very proud of that,’ observed Oliver.

Alex smiled. ‘My academic results weren’t that spectacular.’

‘But of course they didn’t matter,’ said Sarah. ‘You had a tailor-made career waiting for you.’

His smile faded. ‘Yes,’ he agreed shortly.

‘Now, then,’ said Oliver quickly, perusing the menu. ‘Let’s get down to the serious business of food. What did you have last night, Sarah?’

‘Sea bass,’ she said, smiling at him. ‘It was wonderful.’

‘Stephen does an excellent rib-eye steak with oyster sauce, sir,’ said Alex, and looked at Sarah. ‘I had that last night.’

‘You were here?’ she said, startled.

‘Yes. But, having interrupted your lunch once before at the Green Man, it seemed best not to incur your wrath by intruding on your dinner with Dan.’

‘I’m sure Sarah wouldn’t have minded in the slightest,’ said Oliver, breaking the awkward little silence, and smiled as a waitress appeared to take their order. ‘Have you two decided?’

The lunch party was a success, rather to Sarah’s surprise, though looking back on it she thought that might have owed something to the champagne Alex ordered. Whether it was the champagne or the sheer relief of having the sale signed and settled, Sarah found herself enjoying the meal far more than the one she’d shared with Dan Mason the night before. After only a few minutes of Dan’s achievements and possessions she’d been bored. Whereas every time she was in Alex Merrick’s vicinity she might feel tense, as though she were balancing on a tightrope, but never for an instant bored. After toasts had been drunk to the successful business of the morning, she settled down to savour her triumph along with the award-winning food.

‘So, Sarah, what do you have in mind for your next venture?’ asked Alex as he refilled her glass.

‘Barn conversion.’

‘In this locality?’

‘Yes.’

‘I haven’t heard of anything,’ he said, surprised.

‘You wouldn’t have done. I heard of it through a friend.’

‘Sarah seems to have established herself very successfully in the community,’ remarked Oliver with satisfaction, and raised his glass again. ‘To my clever goddaughter.’

‘To Sarah,’ said Alex, following suit.

Sarah smiled wryly. ‘Not so long ago, Oliver, you were trying to persuade me to work in your chambers.’

‘I concede my mistake,’ he said nobly. ‘I was worried about you, I freely admit, but I’m more than happy to be proved wrong.’

Alex eyed her challengingly. ‘I’d still like to know how you stole a march on me over the cottages, Sarah. Our original offer was supposed to include them when we bought the Medlar Farm site, but they slipped through some red tape keyhole and went up for separate auction. And a sealed bid at that. So how did you do it?’

‘I received very good advice,’ she said demurely.

‘That was your doing, sir?’ asked Alex.

Oliver shook his head. ‘Nothing to do with me, dear boy. I merely enlisted some professional advice to make sure the houses were worth buying, and then advised Sarah to bid slightly over the odds. It obviously worked.’

‘Are you using the same strategy this time, Sarah?’ asked Alex.

‘Unnecessary. There’s no auction involved.’

‘More than one barn, darling?’ asked Oliver

‘Three, in fact.’ She smiled at Alex. ‘But I’d rather not give details in present company.’

Alex looked at her levelly. ‘Relax, Sarah. The Medlar Farm cottages were a one-off deal because they adjoin the hotel development. Normally we don’t deal in property on such a small scale.’

‘Which certainly puts me in my place,’ she said lightly. ‘I wonder if they have more of the hazelnut parfait I had last night?’

When they arrived back at the Merrick building Alex told his chauffeur to drive Oliver back in the Daimler.

‘I took it for granted you wouldn’t care to drive yourself, sir,’ he said, smiling.

‘No, indeed. Wouldn’t do for a man in my line to risk it after that extra brandy. Thank you, my boy,’ said Oliver, shaking his hand. ‘Very civil of you. We can drop Sarah off at her place on the way.’

Alex shook hands very formally with Sarah, before helping her into Oliver’s car. ‘Good luck with the new project.’

‘Thank you.’ She racked her brains to find something appropriate to say to mark the occasion, but in the end, feeling unexpectedly forlorn, merely smiled back at Alex as the car drew away.

CHAPTER SIX

OLIVER ASKED the driver to wait for a few minutes when they arrived at Medlar House, and followed Sarah into her flat. ‘So, then, Sarah. How do you feel after your first success in the property world?’

‘A bit flat,’ she confessed. ‘And a bit headachy, too, after two glasses of champagne at this time of day. Not,’ she added with a grin, ‘that it normally features in my life at any time of day.’

‘You can well afford the odd bottle now, darling, if you fancy it,’ he reminded her, then smiled lovingly. ‘Sit down, darling. There’s something I want to say.’

Sarah eyed him in trepidation as she went to her windowseat. ‘Is something wrong, Oliver?’

‘Not wrong, exactly.’ He stood looking out at the view. ‘I need to put something right. Your father asked me to keep it from you, but I think it’s time you knew that he was asked to stay on as manager of SC Construction when the Merrick Group bought it from him.’

Sarah stared at him for a moment, then shook her head vehemently. ‘That’s not true. He would have told me—’

‘Sam didn’t tell you because he just didn’t want the job. As long as you had security from the sale of the company, plus the value of the house, he was satisfied. He asked me to take care of you. Not that he needed to ask.’ Oliver bent to take her hand. ‘Sam’s heart was giving out on him. Unknown to me, or obviously to you, he’d been taking medication for years, but when he told me he had very little time left, my darling—’

‘But why didn’t he tell me?’ Sarah jumped to her feet. ‘He shouldn’t have kept it from me. If I’d known I would have taken more care of him.’

‘You couldn’t have taken better care of him than you did, Sarah.’ Oliver took her in his arms and held her gently for a moment or two, then let her go and turned her face up to his. ‘Sam made me promise not to tell you, but I have no compunction in breaking that promise because I believe you deserve the truth. Don’t be sad. Enjoy your triumph, darling.’

Sarah nodded dumbly as she blinked tears away.

‘Good girl.’ Oliver bent to kiss her cheek. ‘Now, I’d better not keep Alex’s driver waiting any longer. Keep me in the picture with the barn conversion scheme.’

‘Of course.’ She hugged him hard. ‘Thank you so much for coming today.’

‘Least I could do, dear child.’ He patted her back. ‘And now I shall repair to my hotel room and sleep off the effects of lunch, before attacking the brief I brought with me.’