Summer At Villa Rosa Collection. Kate Hardy
on hundreds of small companies.’
‘But...’
‘Without the Hornet Cleve wouldn’t be able to fulfil the contract. Staring ruin in the face, he came to see me. His parents were prepared to lend him some money to cover his working overdraft but he needed me to accept staged payments for the aircraft.’
‘What did you do?’
‘I offered him a deal on the understanding that he would stay away from you.’
‘Me or the Hornet?’
‘You were at university, Andie, doing well. I wanted you in the company, designing for me. I didn’t want him tempting you away, not just to his bed, but giving you a chance to fly.’
‘He took the deal.’
Of course he did. He might have had a tendresse for her but Goldfinch was his life.
‘I gave him an hour to decide and to give him his due he took every second of that hour but we both knew that he had no choice. He’d signed the contract on the bank’s word. If he was unable to deliver he would have gone under.’
‘Did you make him sign an agreement?’ she asked. ‘Or did you shake hands like gentlemen?’
‘Andie...’
‘Didn’t you call him on it when he broke his word and gave me a job?’
‘He was married by then. Settled.’ Her father walked to the open French doors and looked out over the bay. ‘I watched you sending off application after application, Andie. I saw a light go out of you when no one would even give you an interview.’
It took a moment for what he was saying to sink in.
‘Are you saying that you asked Cleve to give me a job?’ No, it was worse than that. There hadn’t been a job. There had been precious little for her to do for the first couple of months... ‘You didn’t just ask him to take me on, you paid him...’
She didn’t wait for his answer. She tore the circlet of daisies from her head and walked out through the open French doors.
She needed to be alone to process what she’d just heard but the garden was full of people who all turned to look at her and, kicking off the ridiculously high heels, she picked up her skirt and ran for the beach.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Immi make a move to follow her, saw Portia catch her arm and hold her back.
Andie didn’t stop until she was at the edge of the water and it was only Sofia’s precious dress that stopped her from wading in so that the sea could wash her clean.
It felt as if her entire life had been a lie. The one thing that she’d clung to, that was hers alone, had been a conspiracy between the two men she loved.
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