She looked up into his eyes, a slight frown clouding her expression. She wished that she could reach right into the mind of the man, really interpret what was going on behind those expressive eyes, she thought. What did he really want from her that he couldn’t find elsewhere? she asked herself honestly. Because there was nothing special about her, and never had been. She’d been aware of that for most of her life. As for his seduction attempt the other day in his flat—she knew that that counted for absolutely nothing. That sort of passionate incident was obviously normal routine for his type—relevant only to the passing moment, easily discounted and forgotten.
‘Cryssie! Cryssie!’ Suddenly Milo’s voice broke the brief silence between them, and Jed cleared his throat.
‘Anyway—thanks for your advice,’ he said. ‘I’ll let you know what I intend to do, but we may have to go over there again at some point.’
Standing up quickly, they went outside, where Alice, Henry and Milo were strolling towards them. The little boy ran up to Cryssie.
‘Jed’s got an ace train set,’ he said. ‘I was allowed to work it by myself!’
‘That’s lovely, darling,’ Cryssie said, smiling down at her little nephew.
Together they all wandered down to the river, where Milo’s attention was soon taken up by finding small stones to throw into the water.
‘He’s having such a lovely day, Mrs Hunter,’ Cryssie said, glad to have someone else to talk to for a minute, and to disengage herself from her employer and his tactics. She was aware of feeling unsettled—again! ‘Thank you so much for inviting us,’ she murmured.
‘Oh, I hope you’ll come often, my dear—and do call me Alice,’ the woman added.
They sat down together on a grassy boulder a little way away, while the men watched Milo, and Alice said, ‘The house is much too big now for Henry and me, of course. It was different when Jeremy was a child, and all his friends came to stay and to play. But the place—and the grounds—needs children. It’s a family home, not a residence for the elderly!’ She turned to smile at Cryssie. ‘But that’s our problem!’ She paused. ‘Jeremy has spoken so well of you—he says you’re the first intelligent woman he’s employed to date!’
‘Oh, that’s nice,’ Cryssie said, feeling embarrassed at the older woman’s words. ‘I hope I shall live up to that!’ She looked away for a second. ‘You must be very proud of him, Alice.’
‘Oh, of course we are—but he took rather a long time to grow up, you know! And that was our fault, of course. An only child, and we gave him the best of everything.’ She was silent for a moment, lost in her own thoughts. ‘It’s not good to be an only child, you know,’ she went on. ‘To develop properly, to learn about life, there should be siblings to spar with, to share with, to match up to. And that’s what we didn’t give him. We always meant to, but we were so caught up with our various business interests it never seemed the right time. And before we knew it it was too late!’
She shook her head briefly. ‘We spoilt Jeremy, and never expected too much of him, so he did spend a long time having too good a time! But since my husband was diagnosed with a heart complaint he’s changed overnight—it’s quite incredible. He takes virtually all the responsibility now for our businesses—which is a great relief. There does come a time when one must take a back seat. The work is hard, tiring, and relentless.’ She patted Cryssie’s knee. ‘I know he’s been on the look-out for a good assistant for a very long time, so we’re grateful that he seems to have found one at last!’
The two women chatted amiably for a while, and Cryssie explained something of her background, and of her fears, to Alice, who was a thoughtful listener. But soon the sun went in, and Cryssie smiled, glancing at her watch. ‘We must be going home soon,’ she said gently. ‘I know Milo won’t want to leave, but my sister Polly will be expecting us at teatime.’
‘Oh, must you go so soon? It’s been so nice having a young woman to chat to, and hearing a child’s voice in the place!’ Alice said.
But presently they took their leave of Alice and Henry, and Jed walked slowly back with them to the car.
‘We’ve had a fantastic day, Jed. Thanks,’ Cryssie said simply, looking up at him.
He didn’t reply for a moment, but watched as she strapped Milo into the back seat. ‘I really must have a meeting with you soon, one to one, Cryssie,’ he said. ‘Perhaps it would be best for us to go to the London flat, where we can discuss things uninterrupted?’ He looked away for a second. ‘Find an excuse to have Thursday afternoon off. I’m free that day,’ he added abruptly.