‘I wouldn’t bank on it.’
‘Oh come on, Maya. It’s inevitable.’
And you know it, a voice niggles at the back of my head. Totally inevitable. Within the next half an hour, you’ll be writhing around on some luxury Art Deco bed with Mr Foster seeing to your every want and need. I sip at the wine, watching as he leans back and crosses his legs. I catch a wince, just a slight one.
‘Are you in pain?’ I ask. In the midst of the confusion and anger and lust, I’ve pushed all thoughts of the accident right out of my mind.
‘No,’ he answers crisply.
‘But you winced.’
‘My pants are too tight.’
‘There isn’t a millionaire on the planet whose pants are too tight.’
‘I’m an exception to the rule.’
From the steely glint in his eyes, I can tell I’m not about to get the truth. He’s working to his own agenda, and I’ll just have to add ‘obvious signs of discomfort’ to the list of things he can explain later. Warily, I take a seat on the opposite sofa and set down my glass on the coffee table.
‘Well?’ I open.
‘Where shall I start?’
‘The beginning’s a good place.’
His eyes flicker.
‘So it is. Okay, let’s go back in time. I had music played for you in that wine bar. Remember?’
I nod.
‘I wanted you to know I was there, that I was thinking about you. I had somebody drop by to Slaters to reel you in.’
I flick back through the memories. The brogue-wearing jazz fan. Massive cushions. Expensive wine. Music.
‘He bribed the barman to play a few songs, our songs, with a little addition. ‘I’ll Wait for You’.’
‘Nice touch,’ I mutter reluctantly.
‘And what harm could it do? That’s what I thought. Turns out I’d made the first mistake.’ He pauses. ‘Boyd smelt a rat.’
And now I’m thinking of broken veins and sunken eyes, an idiotic smile aimed in the wrong direction.
‘There was a man in there. He was watching me. I didn’t know whether he was one of yours or one of theirs.’
‘One of theirs,’ Dan confirms. ‘That night, Boyd contacted Clive. He wanted to know what we were playing at.’
‘It was my fault. I made it too obvious.’
‘It was my fault. I shouldn’t have put you in that situation. You couldn’t help reacting the way you did.’ His lips twitch. He’s half-teasing me. And why wouldn’t he? After all, I may be a little prickly at the minute but despite everything that’s happened, I’m utterly and completely in love with this man … and he knows it. ‘Clive did his best to smooth things over but Boyd wasn’t convinced. So, I didn’t contact you again. I didn’t dare.’ His eyes search mine for understanding. ‘Are you with me so far?’
I nod again, already convinced I’ve grabbed the wrong end of the stick. In fact, if I’m not much mistaken, I’ve grabbed the wrong stick altogether.
‘I know it was hard for you.’ He watches me closely. ‘Trust me, I conjured up endless ways of getting messages to you and every single time, I thought better of it. I couldn’t take any chances. I can’t tell you how many letters I wrote with broken wrists. It takes forever, you know.’ He pauses, raising both arms. ‘They’re okay now, by the way. Thanks for asking.’
Suddenly, I’m washed through with shame. I should have asked before.
‘You’re better then?’
‘Physically fine. Bones heal, but this thing.’ He touches his chest, just where his heart is. ‘This isn’t feeling too good right now.’
‘But you winced. I saw it.’
‘Underpants,’ he says sternly, dismissing my concern. ‘Now, let’s address a few facts here.’ He draws in a breath, and goes on briskly. ‘We tried to track Boyd, but it’s been impossible. He’s used a different mobile every time, and then dumped it. I got a new phone, a new number, and so did Clive, but somehow Boyd always managed to get in touch again. I had no idea what he was capable of or how he was getting his information. I pulled out of Slaters because there was no way I could keep it a secret. If I’d gone ahead with the deal, Boyd would have found out.’ He uncrosses his legs, winces again and leans forward. ‘I’ve known Gordon since university. We haven’t been in touch that often, so he was an ideal wing-man. Seeing as I couldn’t buy Slaters, I asked him to step in and keep it safe for me.’
‘You’re still buying?’ I ask. In spite of a good infusion of endorphins, confusion and jet-lag are still doing their best to scramble my brain. I’m not being too quick tonight.
‘Of course.’ He cocks his head to one side. ‘I’m going to need something to keep me occupied when Fosters is gone.’
‘You are selling it? But I thought you were expanding.’
He laughs.
‘Rumours of expansion. Nothing concrete. Fosters needs to be in a good position when the time comes. In reality, I’ve been working on the sale behind the scenes. It’s a long process. The Board are in on the deal, but it’s top secret for the time being. We can’t have anyone smelling weakness.’
‘I thought you’d changed your mind.’
‘Why would I do that?’ He gets up, heads straight for the window and looks out over Central Park. ‘I’ve made the right decision,’ he says quietly, ‘and I’m sticking by it.’
I sit in silence, stunned by it all.
‘And just in case you’re thinking I’m a rich, up-his-own-arse twat …’ He turns back to me. ‘I’m doing my best to sell Fosters as a going concern, trying to protect as many of those jobs as possible, but beyond that I can’t be responsible for everyone who works there
