‘Hardly surprising,’ said Guy, his blue eyes narrowing with amused derision. ‘Tell her from me, the next time she writes out her own references not to use violet ink. At least, not if she’s planning to trot off to the interview with a smudge of it on the inside of her wrist.’
Chapter 5
Janey was leaning into the back of the van, stretching for the box of flowers which had slid up to the front and wedged itself behind the passenger seat, when Bruno gave her sticking-out bottom a friendly pat.
‘You’ll do that gorgeous body of yours an injury,’ he said, nudging her out of the way and taking over. ‘Come on, leave it to me.’
She flushed and smiled, and glanced quickly over her shoulder in case anyone was watching. Bruno, a notorious flirt, didn’t mean anything by the playful gesture, but she still wouldn’t like Nina to get the wrong idea.
Intercepting her glance as he carried the box into the empty restaurant, he winked. ‘It’s OK, she’s still asleep.’
‘She might be,’ Janey protested. ‘But you know what people are like for gossip around here.’
‘Exactly. And they know what I’m like,’ Bruno countered with an unrepentant grin.
‘They’d be far more suspicious if I didn’t lay a finger on you. Then they’d really know they had something to gossip about.’
He was pouring them both an espresso, as he invariably did when she arrived with the twice-weekly delivery of flowers for the restaurant.
It was ridiculous, thought Janey; since nothing had ever happened between them, there was no reason at all why she should feel guilty. But she felt it just the same, because no matter how many times she told herself that circumstances made him the most wildly unsuitable choice, her muddled emotions had taken charge and made the decision for her.
At the age of twenty-eight, she had developed a humiliating crush on Bruno Parry-Brent.
And all she could do now was hope and pray that it would burn itself out before anything did happen.
In the meantime, however, it was so nice to feel human again, after all the endless months of aching deep- frozen nothingness. And Bruno was undeniably good company. A ladies’ man in every sense of the word, he possessed that happy knack of being able to talk about anything under the sun. Even more miraculously he was a great listener as well, always genuinely interested in hearing other people’s views. He paid attention, asked questions, never appeared bored.
It was, of course the great secret of his success with the opposite sex. Janey had watched him at work in the restaurant before now, weaving his magic in the simplest and most effective way possible. Real conversation with a real man was a powerful aphrodisiac and the women succumbed to it in droves, as Janey herself had done. But it was better this way, she felt, at least there was safety in numbers.
‘New earrings,’ he observed, bringing the tiny white cups of espresso to the table where she was sitting and leaning forward to examine them more closely. ‘Very chic, Janey. Are those real pearls?’
‘They’re Maxine’s.’ Self-consciously, she fingered the slightly over-the-top earrings and prayed he wouldn’t guess that he was the reason she was wearing them. Even Maxine had raised her eyebrows when she’d caught Janey digging around in her jewellery box. ‘Earrings, lip gloss and mascara?’ she’d remarked in arch tones. ‘Darling, are you sure there isn’t something you’d like to tell me?’
But diplomacy was another of Bruno’s assets and, if he’d noticed such additional details himself, he was too nice to comment on them. Instead, stretching out in his seat and pushing his fingers through his long, sun-streaked hair, he said, ‘I was going to ask you about Maxine. So you haven’t managed to get rid of her yet?’
Janey pulled a face. ‘She won’t go, she won’t look for work and she’s so untidy: it’s like living with a huge, unmanageable wolfhound.’
‘But house-trained, presumably.’ Bruno grinned. ‘You haven’t told me yet, what does she look like?’
‘Maxine?’ As she sipped her coffee, Guy Cassidy’s words came back to her. ‘Skinnier, blonder and noisier than me.’ Then, because it sounded catty when she said it, she added shamefacedly, ‘And much prettier.’
‘Hmm. Well, we’re pretty busy here at the moment. Maybe I could offer her a couple of evenings a week behind the bar.’
‘She wouldn’t do it,’ said Janey hurriedly. ‘Her feet, they’d ache .
Bruno shrugged, dismissing the suggestion. ‘Just a thought. But you’ll have to bring her down here one evening, I’d like to meet her.’
Of course he would. And she could only too easily imagine Maxine’s reaction when she, in turn, met Bruno Parry-Brent. They were two of a very particular kind.
‘I will.’ Janey tried not to sound unhappy, evasive. She had no intention of introducing them but Maxine had a talent for seeking out ... well, talent, and Trezale wasn’t a large town. It would surely be only a matter of time before she discovered Bruno for herself.
‘Oh come on, cheer up.’ He took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. ‘We all have our crosses to bear. Look at me, I have Nina!’
Janey tried not to laugh. He really was disgraceful.
‘And where would you be without her?’ she countered. Bruno and Nina made an odd couple, certainly, but after ten years together they still seemed happy enough in their own way. It wasn’t something Bruno had ever discussed in detail but, as far as Janey could figure out, Nina didn’t ask any questions and in return he was discreet. Indeed, although he was such a notorious flirt, she didn’t even know whether he actually had affairs.
‘Where would I be without Nina?’ he repeated, teasing her. ‘Probably in big trouble, because she’d have a contract out on me.’
Janey burst out laughing. Nina was the most placid woman she’d ever met. She doubted whether Nina could even summon the energy to read a contract, let alone organise taking one out.
‘You’d be lost without her,’ she told him in mock-severe tones. Rising to her feet, she smoothed her pink skirt over her hips. ‘I’d better be getting back to the shop. Thanks for the coffee.’
