Errors of Judgment(9)

‘I wasn’t thinking that at all. A boat sounds like fun.’

‘Depends how much time I manage to spend down there. But I have plans in that direction. Ah, coffee!’

Liam had returned with a large tray and several mugs. He set it down, checked his list, and began to hand them round.

‘Thank you, Liam,’ said Felicity. She opened a paper bag which had been sitting on her desk, and took out a large muffin, intercepting Anthony’s glance as she did so.

‘Get your eyes off my muffin, Mr Cross. You’re not having any.’

‘I was just wondering how you eat stuff like that and still keep your gorgeous figure.’

‘I believe that remark may constitute sexual harassment,’ observed Leo. ‘I’ll be happy to represent you, Felicity, if you decide to sue.’

Robert guffawed as he stirred his coffee with a pencil.

‘It’s blueberry,’ said Felicity through a mouthful of muffin, ‘so it counts as part of my five-a-day.’

Leo picked up his coffee, saying to Anthony, ‘I’ve got a copy of the judgment in that inducement of breach of contract case, if you care to have a look at it.’

They left the clerks’ room and went upstairs.

‘Guess who I met today,’ said Anthony.

‘Someone amusing, I hope,’ said Leo. He unlocked his door and they went in.

‘That depends on your point of view. Sarah Colman.’

‘Well, well. There’s a name I haven’t heard for a long time.’ Leo set down his coffee and letters on the desk and hung up his coat. ‘What’s she up to these days?’

‘She’s working as a broker for Portman’s, and – get this – she’s engaged. To an investment banker. Toby something. Didn’t recognise the name. She seemed pretty pleased with herself generally.’

‘Dear Sarah.’ Leo sat down at his desk. ‘God, she was trouble.’

‘I pity the poor bloke she’s going to marry.’

‘I rather envy him.’

‘You can’t possibly mean that.’

‘Possibly not the marrying part. But she’s a most …’ Leo searched for the word. ‘A most stimulating girl. Extraordinarily sexy. And very inventive.’

‘You seem to be forgetting she’s also a prize bitch.’

‘So many of the most interesting women are, Anthony.’ He gave the younger man a searching glance. ‘I take it from the look on your face that she managed to ruffle your feathers in some way. You and she had a bit of a thing once, didn’t you?’

‘I’d rather forget about that.’

‘She’s not that easy to forget. Mind you, I haven’t seen her in – what? Four years.’ Leo sighed, then opened a desk drawer and began to thumb through some documents. He produced a slim bundle and handed it to Anthony. ‘See what you make of that. Mr Justice Dawson’s idea of tortious inducement of a breach of contract doesn’t exactly accord with mine. I seriously question the intelligence of some of the judges in the commercial division. One can only hope it’ll be overturned on appeal.’

‘I’ll have a read of it. Thanks.’

As Anthony reached the door, Leo asked, ‘Did Sarah say when she’s getting married?’

‘No. Why?’

‘No reason. I was just curious. See you.’

When Anthony had gone, Leo leant back in his chair, swung his feet onto the desk, and thought back to the summer when Sarah had first come into his life, a delectable twenty-year-old with a precocious sexual appetite and a penchant for risk-taking. He’d employed her in his country house near Oxford, together with some attractive young man whose name Leo could no longer remember, to cook, look after the house, and generally service his domestic and sexual requirements. Quite a summer. It all seemed long ago and far away now. Sarah had been fun, the kind of girl whose very smile encouraged complete dereliction of all responsibility, but the attributes which had made her such a perfect playmate had in the long run turned into liabilities. Her predilection for mischief-making, combined with a tendency to serve strictly her own interests, had put him in more than a few tricky spots. Still, nice to hear she was still around. She had been one of the few people to get under his skin, to get close to understanding him. Perhaps they were two of a kind – not an especially flattering thought. Dear, devious Sarah. Perhaps love and marriage would wreak some kind of miraculous change in her. Somehow he doubted it.





CHAPTER THREE




The following Sunday Sarah was sitting in the drawing room in Toby’s parents’ house in Surrey after a late lunch, listening to her prospective mother-in-law’s interminable chatter, and wondering if the dreary day would ever end.