Tavy moved uncomfortably. 'But as they're getting divorced, anyway...'
'It's not that simple.' Jago shook his head. 'Apparently the Latimer family had their lawyers draw up a form of pre-nuptial agreement. Under it, Fiona gets a more than generous divorce settlement if the marriage breaks down, unless infidelity can be proved, when she only gets a fraction more than zilch.'
He shrugged. 'I believe that's why she got Patrick to leave London, in case they were being watched.'
Tavy said numbly, 'And why he needed a local girlfriend-as a smokescreen.'
'Try and look on that as a blessing,' Jago said smoothly. 'It could have been worse.'
She bit her lip. 'Is that why you're here? To tell me all this?'
'Not at all.'
'Then what do you want?' she demanded.
'I came to offer you a job.'
There was a silence, then Tavy said unevenly, 'If this is some kind of unpleasant joke, I don't find it funny.'
'On the contrary, it's a bona fide offer of employment with proper hours and real wages. Work starts on the house next week, and I cannot always be around to oversee it, so I need a project manager onsite to sort out any problems as soon as they happen and make sure it all goes smoothly and on time.' He paused. 'Obviously, I thought of you.'
'I see nothing obvious about it. You must be mad.'
'I'm being practical,' he returned. 'You live locally, so there's no travelling involved. You're currently unemployed. You're totally trustworthy, computer literate, and you've worked capably in administration, according to your former boss's grudging reference.'
'How did you know that?' she demanded furiously.
'Your father told me. And, like me, he thinks you could do the job easily. For one thing, the firms I've hired are all local, and you'll probably know them. That's a big plus.'
He added softly, 'I'm naturally aware that you're just waiting to tell me that you'd rather be boiled in oil than accept any help from a totally unreconstructed lowlife like me, but, in fact, I'm the one who needs your help. And all I'm asking is that you think about it.'
'I have thought,' she said. 'And the answer's "no".'
'May I ask why?'
She bit her lip. 'Because while you may have persuaded my father to trust you, I don't. So, I prefer to keep my distance.'
'And so you can,' Jago said evenly. 'Didn't you hear me say that I have to be away a great deal over the coming weeks? Which is exactly why I need a project manager at the house.'
He paused. 'Besides, you'll be company for Barbie.'
She said tautly, 'Who exactly is Barbie?'
'She's going to keep house for me.' He smiled reflectively. 'I hadn't banked on her wanting to move in so soon, but it seems she can't wait for it all to be finished.'
'How sweet,' Tavy said icily, aware that her heart had given a strange lurch. 'In which case, why not let her be project manager? She sounds ideal.'
'Oh, she is,' he said gently. 'In so many ways. Except she doesn't know one end of a computer from another. Nor does she have your all-important rapport with the locals.'
He got lithely to his feet, and smiled down at her.
'But with her around, you'd certainly be safe from any unwanted molestation, wouldn't you. If that's what you're afraid of.'
'I'm not even remotely scared,' she fired back.
'Excellent,' he said smoothly. 'That's one weight off my mind.' He paused. 'Now, I hope you'll give some reasonable thought to my proposition, and not allow yourself to be ruled by your very natural prejudice against me. You can contact me at Barkland Grange when you've made your final decision.
'As I've said-it's a job, nothing more and purely temporary.' He added softly, 'Besides, half the time you won't even know I'm there.'
Tavy watched him wander across the lawn and round the side of the house. A minute later, she heard the sound of the departing Jeep.
She leaned limply against the back of the bench, trying to calm her flurried breathing.
If it was anyone else in the world, she thought passionately, she'd seize the opportunity and be grateful. But not Jago Marsh. Not in a million years.
Manipulative swine-talking to her father first, and getting him on side before approaching her.
And how could she now explain to Dad that the situation was impossible without involving the additional explanations she was so anxious to avoid?
Sighing, she glanced at her watch, realising the wedding chat would be drawing to its close and it was probably time she took a tray of tea and biscuits to the study.
And by the time Julie and Graham left, she would probably have amassed a list of perfectly acceptable reasons, excluding all personal stuff, why working at Ladysmere would be a bad idea. Or enough to convince her father that she was making a considered, rational decision.
And now all I have to do to convince myself, she thought as she returned to the house.
As it turned out, she'd forgotten that this was the Sunday that her father went to take Communion to the local Care Home, so she had no chance to speak to him until after Evensong, over their supper of cheese salad.
She said abruptly, 'Dad, I can't accept this job offer at Ladysmere.'
Her father helped himself to mayonnaise. 'I'm sorry to hear that, darling. Any particular reason?'
All the carefully formulated excuses vanished like morning mist. Astonished, she heard herself say, 'Jago Marsh made a pass at me.'
'This afternoon?'
'Well-no. The other day.' She ate a piece of tomato. 'You don't seem too surprised.'
'Why should I be?' His smile was gentle. 'You're a very lovely girl, Octavia.'
She flushed. 'Then surely you must see why I want to avoid him.'
He said quietly, 'I think, my dear, that if you plan to steer clear of every man who finds you attractive, you're doomed to spend the next years of your life in permanent hiding.'
She stared at him. 'Hardly, Dad. You seem to forget I've been-seeing someone.'
'Believe me, I've forgotten nothing,' her father said with a touch of grimness. 'But we've seen so little of Patrick Wilding lately that I'd begun to wonder.'
Tavy bent her head. 'Well, you don't have to. I won't be seeing him any more.'
'I see,' her father said and sighed. 'It's a great pity I let you leave university. I love this village but I've always known it was something of an ivory tower, and you needed to expand your horizons. You'd have soon developed a strategy for dealing with any unwanted admirers.' He paused. 'And, more importantly, to differentiate between them and the real thing.'
She bit her lip. 'Well, Jago Marsh will always be the wrong thing.' She hesitated. 'Did he tell you that he has some woman moving into the Manor?'
'He mentioned it.' Mr Denison pushed away his empty plate and reached for the cafetière. 'I'd have thought that would dispel your anxieties.'
She swallowed. 'Then-in spite of everything-you really think I should take this job?'
He shrugged. 'At least it would be a well-paid stopgap for you until we find out what the future holds.'
He paused, reflectively. 'And he's certainly a multitalented young man. Did you know that he's been doing some sketches of Holy Trinity's interior?'
'He mentioned it, yes.'
'He showed them to me. And he gave me this, too.' He reached into the folder holding his sermon notes and extracted a sheet torn from a drawing block.
Tavy, expecting to see the extravagantly carved pulpit or the font, felt her jaw drop. Because the sketch was of a girl, sitting in the shadow of a pillar, her expression wistful, almost lost.
It's me, she thought. Me to the life.
She said shakily, 'He is good. It's like looking in a mirror.'
Her father said gently, 'But I could wish there was a happier face looking back at you.'
She bit her lip. 'There will be, I promise.'
When she'd cleared the supper things, Tavy telephoned Barkland Grange, and asked to be connected to Jago Marsh's suite.
'Your name, please?'
'Octavia Denison,' she returned reluctantly.
'Oh, yes, Miss Denison, Mr Marsh is expecting your call.'
Tavy, horrified, was strongly tempted to slam the phone down, but Jago was already answering.
'It's good to hear from you,' he said. 'Is it a hopeful sign?'
She said stiffly, 'I've decided to take the job after all if that's what you mean.'
'Excellent,' he said calmly. 'I'd be glad if you could be at the house tomorrow morning at eight-thirty.'
She gasped. 'So soon?'
'Of course. Ted Jackson will already be there, and he'll give you a key for your own use. I've been using the former library as an office, and the computer has a broadband connection. You'll find a preliminary list of the items that need your attention and the names of the firms I've hired so far.
'The heating engineers will be arriving tomorrow to install a new boiler, and I'm expecting someone from the plumbing company to prepare an estimate for turning part of the master suite into a bathroom. Can you handle that?'