Francesca cleared her throat and tried to find a way out of the thick fog of guilt engulfing her.
'What … what can I do for you?'
'What can you do for me?'
'Look, I think I know why you've come here … '
'I'm sure you do,' Georgina said scathingly. 'I bet that bastard came running here just as soon as he could.'
Silence, Francesca thought, was the best form of self-defence. What she had done had been wrong. She deserved every bit of the attack about to be launched at her.
'I should never have considered you for the job. Never! I told Angelo that you were nothing but a two-bit company and I should have stuck to my guns. But oh, no! I thought I would be obliging and go along with giving you a fair try. Didn't know then what I know now, though, did I? And you, you … you nobody … didn't see fit to fill me in, did you?'
Francesca remained in mute silence, mortified and prepared to weather the onslaught. If she could have turned back the hands of time, oh, she would never have agreed to cook dinner for him, would never have agreed to let him into her house in the first place. If, if, if …
'Well, if you and Angelo think that he can break off the engagement so that the pair of you can walk into the sunset holding hands, while I'm left looking a complete idiot in front of my friends, then you're both in for a shock!' Georgina's porcelain skin was mottled with fury.
'He's broken off the engagement?' Francesca asked weakly. Oh, dear Lord. Why? She felt her legs on the verge of giving way and decided that sitting down might be a good idea. Crumpling to the floor in a heap would add to her mortification and, aside from that, those very pointed yellow shoes looked as though they could inflict severe damage when wielded by a tiny furious blonde.
'Perhaps we ought to sit down,' she said and left Georgina no option by heading straight into the sitting room.
'When … when did this happen?' she asked.
Georgina wasn't sitting down. She was pulsating by the window.
'Please don't pretend that you don't know. Five days ago.'
'Five days ago?' Francesca did the maths. So Angelo hadn't been playing around. He had come to her as a single man. Why hadn't he said anything? Maybe, she thought slowly, because he had come intending to seduce her and he figured his chances of success would have been lower had she seen herself as no more than a romp in the hay with a man who, even if he was the one to break off the engagement, would still be smarting from the sting of it.
Or maybe, she thought, digging into her knowledge of him, the way his mind worked, just maybe it had given him a kick to think that he could have her against all the odds, have her blinded to his situation by her own desires. And, if that was the case, had he really even wanted her? The way she had wanted him?
'How did you find out that Angelo and I … ?'
'Had once been lovers? Well, certainly not from you! Nor from Angelo. Your partner, Jack, told me.' Her voice was laced with venom but Francesca still felt sorry for her, sorry for the marriage which wasn't going to take place, even if for Angelo it had only been a marriage of convenience. Even if it had only been a marriage of convenience for both of them.
'Jack … ?'
'Although I would have twigged sooner or later. You might have tried to keep it under wraps but I would have found out. I would have made it my business to find out. Tell me, when did you decide that Angelo was a good bet? Did you see him and think that here was your chance to try and get him, having failed the first time? Or do you sleep with all your male clients in the hope that you might net one of them, and you had the advantage with Angelo because you had already been lovers?'
'I'm sorry about your engagement, Georgina, and I won't be walking off into any sunset holding hands with Angelo.' She stood up but didn't venture too close. Instead, she folded her arms and did her best to remember that, however guilty she felt, this was still her house and she could determine how much of the conversation she wanted to hear. Right now, no more of it. 'Now, I think it's time you left.'
'My pleasure. I just came to warn you that you'll never have him. I won't have him and neither will you. I'll see to it.'
'How?' Francesca asked coldly. Wrong question. Georgina obviously hadn't worked that one out yet. She delivered one last venomous look and turned on her heel. Not a backward glance. Francesca heard the front door slam and sagged in relief.
Then she hit the phone.
She'd expected to be furious with Jack, running to the viper blonde and blabbing things that were none of her business or anyone else's for that matter, but she wasn't. As he stammered out an explanation she could only sigh with resignation. He had been concerned about her, hadn't been able to bear her disappointment at losing the job, had just gone to see Georgina on the off chance that he could persuade her not to jettison the job because Francesca and Angelo had once had a fling years back. How was he to know that the engagement had already been called off? He had known halfway through the conversation that it had been a bad idea but by then it had been too difficult to back down and leave.
Francesca listened, letting him talk, until there was nothing left to say. She didn't see how she could tell him what had happened between her and Angelo. It just seemed too complicated and not very relevant anyway.
The reality was that they no longer had the job, for whatever reasons. It would have been nice, a juicy little add-on to their portfolio, but that, as they said, was life.
She wasn't angry with Jack.
She was, however, angry with Angelo. She had a few hours of restless sleep, during which her anger had time to grow, and by nine the following morning she was in no fit state to placidly start preparing desserts for the Hamiltons' supper party the following evening.
Along with the now redundant menus for the wedding that would never take place was his business card.
Francesca stuck on her most formal suit, a grey skirt with a snappy grey jacket, white shirt underneath, high heels that would elevate her almost to his height, and headed for the City.
She had left behind an uncomplaining Jack to cover her temporary absence. He was still smarting from his misjudged act of charity on her behalf and was only too happy to do what she wanted. He hadn't asked where she was going or why it was so important, nor did he quiz her on her flushed cheeks and over-bright eyes.
There never seemed to be a quiet time in the City, at least not during working hours, and today was no different. She took a taxi to his office.
What she had expected was precisely what she found. A tall smoked glass building housing branches of various financial institutions. Inside, the foyer was brightly lit. The broad marbled expanse would have been daunting had it not been for the clever interspersing of giant plants that looked as though they belonged in a jungle rather than in the bowels of a building in the centre of London.
Getting past reception was no problem. She gave Georgina's name, just in case Angelo had decided to ditch her after his ego-boosting coup at her expense. He might no longer be engaged to the blonde but he would never risk having her create a scene on his turf.
What a surprise, she fulminated on the way up in the lift, when he was confronted by a six-foot brunette instead of his ex-fiancée.
His business covered three floors of the impressive building and the directors' offices were on the top floor. The lift disgorged her into the hushed atmosphere of a library. People were busy with purpose-the purpose of making vast sums of money.
His secretary met her at the doors of the lift and said, with sweeping understatement, 'You're not Miss Thompson.'
'I need to see Angelo and I'm afraid I borrowed Miss Thompson's name to get up here.' His secretary had the sort of face that looked as though it responded well to honesty. 'I'm Francesca Hayley and I am … was … ' Was the broken engagement public knowledge?
'The caterer. May I ask what your business here is, Miss Hayley?'
'Of a personal nature.'
There was a few seconds of silence, then the woman nodded. 'He has half an hour before his next meeting … I suppose I could let you see him … '
His office was at the very end of the elegant, expensive suite of offices. They passed thick wooden doors discreetly shut, behind which Francesca glimpsed the mechanisms of big business in operation.
Then they were at Angelo's door, which was open, although the connecting door that led directly to his office was shut.
'I would prefer to surprise him,' she murmured to the secretary, but that was taking good luck too far. She was shown in, although, when the door was quietly shut behind her, it was as good as a surprise because he was standing with his back to her, looking out of the window down to the matchstick people walking around outside.