Pawn of the Billionaire(18)

“Hello, Toni. Thanks for coming over.”

Her eyes wandered over the house and grounds. “That’s okay. I’ve got questions too.”

I smiled. “Then let’s have some tea.” And I led the way up the stairs to the great front door. I liked my house, but I had to admit it’s not everyone’s taste. Toni didn’t make any comment as I led her through the hall and along to my office, but she gave a low cry of delight as we went into it. Without commenting, she moved over to the great wall of windows, looking out over the edge of the city and the hills beyond.

I went and stood beside her, enjoying her first experience of my home. I watched her out of the corner of my eye. Her eyes were shining, and a touch of color had come to her face. We stood in silence for some minutes before she sighed and dragged her gaze back into the room.

“It’s a lovely office. It must be so easy to work here.” She smiled. “I think I’d have had a desk nearer the window though. It’s such a fantastic view.”

I smiled too. “Yes. But it can be distracting.” I pointed out my desk. “I sit there, so I can see the view, but it doesn’t distract me too much.” I saw her glance over to Lawrence’s desk.

“That’s where my private secretary works from.” I sensed her tense. “But he’s over at the business this afternoon.”

She turned away. “Oh, yes. Your business card said you were an app developer. It sounds interesting.”

There was an edge to her voice that I couldn’t quite place, and I wished David would bring the tea things soon to break the tension.

“Yes. I got lucky. I got into apps when it was still possible to begin small and I’ve got a fantastic team now. I suppose it’s all down to being in the right place at the right time and being prepared to work incredibly hard.” I took her elbow and indicated the sofa and that we should sit down.

“David will be bringing in afternoon tea in a moment,” I said quietly. “But we don’t have to wait for that. What questions have you got still about your heritage and becoming titled?”

She was sitting up, her chin in her hand, staring out of the windows. God, she was gorgeous. But dreadful. Dreadful clothes, dreadful accent, really, dreadfully ungainly. I smiled tightly to myself. It was going to take a lot of work to train her, teach her the right way to be, to do things. It was a shame she’d be going to Lausanne. It would be a lot of fun to break her in.

She looked around. “How much of all this is money you’ve earned from apps? How much from being an Earl’s son?”

I blinked. I supposed it was a relevant question, but it wasn’t really the done thing. Still, she was new to all this. I had to be honest, as honest as possible. “All of this is from the apps. Toni, one thing you’ll find out is that the English aristocracy is generally pretty hard-up. I know that sounds odd, when you know what real poverty is, but Earls and other peers have large commitments that just eat money.” I sat forward so that I could see her face. “Just as an example, my own father has just been ordered by the Listed buildings people - they’re the ones that are in charge of making sure that historic buildings are properly looked after - anyway, my father’s been ordered that the whole roof of the country house has to be replaced. We can’t just repair it. That’s going to be about three million pounds. That’s four and a half million dollars.” I saw her eyes widen in shock, and she gave a little gasp.

I continued relentlessly. “And we can’t just sell it. Nobody really wants that sort of place. You’re not allowed to rebuild it into somewhere nicer to live. They cost a fortune in upkeep, and there are all sorts of other expenses too.” I smiled. “Thankfully, the Sandiford estate is secure. I’ve made enough money that the investment income can pay all the costs of running it into the future. And the business earns more than enough for everything else.” I made myself stop there. Boasting about money wasn’t a good idea. And it certainly wasn’t done. “I’m not saying that to boast, Toni. And we don’t talk about money. But you need to know this when you make your decision. You’ll never have to worry again.”

There was a discreet knock on the door, and David wheeled in the tea trolley.

“Thanks, David.” I watched Toni as I spoke. She was watching the butler with fascinated eyes as he drew the trolley to a convenient point beside her and lifted the cover off the cake tiers. He nodded, and left the room, closing the door silently behind him.

There was a long silence. “Would you like to pour the tea?” I thought we might as well start the right way. She looked at me.