Рецепт свадебного пудинга. Галина Осень
Читать онлайн книгу.
for himself before he even realised he was doing it.
‘You’ve eaten already?’ Faith asked, after swallowing an enormous forkful of eggs and toast.
‘I don’t usually eat breakfast,’ he replied, folding his paper neatly across the middle and placing it on the empty table beside them. ‘Especially when I’ve an important day ahead.’
‘That’s just when you need it,’ Faith said, sounding eerily like a nanny he’d had when he was eight.
‘I’ve made it this far. I think I’ll survive. Now. To business.’ Casting his gaze over her outfit, he was relieved to find it less revealing than the day before, and certainly less fantasy-inducing than the silk concoction she’d had on first thing. The skirt, he realised, was the same as yesterday, but paired with a plain white T-shirt. Still, while the higher neckline hid the very tempting cleavage the blouse had displayed, it emphasised her curves even more.
I’m not thinking about this. I am not thinking about this.
Of any man alive, surely he knew better than most the perils of giving in to temptation and forgetting obligations. Faith was here to work, and that was all. He had to remember that.
‘Yes. Work,’ Faith said, bringing his attention back to the topic at hand. ‘I wanted to run through a few things with you, actually.’ To his surprise, she whipped a small notebook from her bag, uncapped a pen and sat poised to write down his answers. ‘First, can your office send me an itinerary for the week so I know exactly what you’ve got planned for your guests, and I can work around it? Also, it means I can make myself available if anyone has any questions between meetings.’
‘I’ll ask Kevin to fax one over,’ he said, trying to remember if Kevin even knew how to work the fax machine.
‘Great. Once I have that, I’ll put together a tentative itinerary and email it to you for your approval.’
‘You’ll need a laptop,’ Dominic realised, belatedly.
‘No need.’ Pulling a tablet computer from her bag, she waved it at him. ‘I use this.’
He blinked at her. ‘Well, great. Okay then.’
‘Next, do you have any background details on the clients themselves? Their lives, their families, their businesses, anything that I can use to get to know them?’
‘You do realise you’re a tour guide, not a dating service, right? You don’t need to find them their perfect match.’
Her face turned stony, and he regretted the joke. She was trying to do a good job, after all. He should be encouraging her, not ridiculing her.
‘These people are a long way from home for almost two whole weeks. It’s my job to make sure they enjoy themselves and feel comfortable here. Knowing a little about them makes that easier. I’ll talk to them myself when they arrive, of course, but a little forward knowledge would mean I can get going sooner.’
‘Of course,’ Dominic said contritely. ‘Well, their businesses I can tell you about. But, as for the rest of it...’ He spread his hands out. ‘Katarina used to handle that sort of thing, I’m afraid.’
* * *
Faith paused with her mini cinnamon swirl halfway to her mouth. Katarina. That was a new name. ‘Is Katarina your secretary?’ If so, she could call and ask her for all the gossip.
‘No. Not my secretary.’ Dominic shifted in his chair, looking sorry he’d ever mentioned the woman. Not a secretary. Then...
‘Your wife?’
He sighed, and reached for the coffee. ‘My ex-fiancée, actually. But, more pertinently, she runs the company we usually use for this sort of thing.’
‘But not this time,’ Faith said.
‘No. Not this time.’
‘Because you split up.’
Dominic gave her an exasperated look. ‘Can’t you ever take a hint to stop asking questions?’
Faith shrugged unapologetically. ‘I like to know exactly where I stand with things. Makes life a lot less complicated.’
‘Well, she doesn’t matter any more. She’s gone. You’re here now to take her place,’ Dominic said, entirely matter-of-fact.
Faith felt a peculiar squirming feeling in her stomach. ‘As a tour guide. Not as your fiancée.’
Dominic looked up, appalled. ‘That goes without saying!’
Faith flushed. ‘You don’t have to be quite so horrified at the prospect,’ she muttered.
‘Right. No. I just meant...’ He sighed. ‘This is a business arrangement, for both of us. Katarina...she’s out of the picture now, and I’m afraid you can’t really call her for insights on our guests.’
Now, that was interesting. Surely the woman would have an assistant or something that Faith could call for some notes. For Dominic to be so certain she wouldn’t help, something pretty dramatic had to have happened between them.
‘Bad break up?’ she asked.
‘The worst,’ Dominic groaned, and for the first time since she’d met him in that airport bar he seemed human. Normal. As if he had actual emotions and feelings, rather than a sensor that told him when to be disapproving of something.
‘Want to talk about it?’ she asked.
‘Not even a little bit.’ He didn’t leave any room for discussion.
Oh well. Human moment over.
‘Okay, well, if you can’t tell me about them as people, you must be able to tell me why they’re here. What’s the very important business you have with them?’
Dominic leaned back in his chair. ‘I’m looking to expand the activities and operations we have running on the Beresford estate. We’re considering buying up some neighbouring land to build on, as well as utilising the Beresford family’s London properties.’
In which case, Faith thought, they’d be one of the only aristocratic families to actually increase their family estates in generations. ‘So these guys are your investors?’
Dominic nodded. ‘Potential investors. But also potential clients. They want to see what we have on offer, and possibly use Beresford Hall in the future for international corporate retreats.’
‘Okay, that helps. Now, they’ve visited London before, right? I don’t suppose you’ve got a record of what they’ve seen and done...?’ Dominic winced. ‘No. Of course not.’
Faith sighed. Looked as if she was doing this the hard way. In which case, she really needed a kick-ass outfit to give her confidence.
‘Okay, since you can’t actually give me any practical help to do my job—’
‘I gave you the job itself, didn’t I?’ Dominic’s words came out almost as a growl, and Faith decided to change tack.
‘And in order that I can do it to the best of my ability and present the right impression of your company to your clients...I was wondering if there might be some sort of clothing allowance involved...’
His eyes did that quick flash over her body again, and Faith gave thanks she hadn’t put the other, scoop neck, T-shirt on that morning. Not that he’d have noticed, of course. All he seemed to care about was that she wasn’t wearing some boring suit.
‘You’re right,’ Dominic said. ‘I do need you to make the right impression.’
Faith perked up a bit. ‘So you’ll give me money to go shopping?’
Dominic shook his head, and the smile that spread across his face was positively devilish. ‘No. I’ll take you shopping to find something suitable.’
Something