your father you'd better come down here.'
‘Very well.'
Farrah hesitated about going up to the flat just yet; her father wouldn't be expecting her home for at least another hour and he would obviously wonder why she was home so early. She could hardly tell him that Joel Falcone had brought her. No, that wouldn't do at all.
She walked back in the direction of the town. She had her cheque book with her, and although she had told Joel Falcone that she had a suitable dress, she didn't really. It had been a show of bravado on her part and even though the sort of gown he would expect his companion to wear would make a great hole in her savings she had no intention of letting him see her in anything but the best.
The gowns she looked at were very beautiful, and very expensive, and she tried on several before making her final choice. It had to be something sophisticated, but not too old for her, and the black gown seemed to fit both those requirements. It was what she would call slinky, clinging in all the right places and yet retaining an air of mystery. The thin satin shoulder straps did not allow for a bra, but as she had never had any qualms about the suppleness of her body this didn't concern her too much. The low neckline made the dark curve of her breasts just visible, but the bareness of her throat alleviated the darkness of the dress.
It had just gone five when she entered the flat and her father was just in the middle of making a cup of tea. He smiled at her as she sat down tiredly in an armchair. ‘Been shopping?’ he indicated the bag in the chair beside her.
‘A new dress,’ she explained.
‘You're going out tonight, then?’ he asked interestedly.
‘Yes. You're going over to see Uncle Ben, aren't you?'
‘Mmm, we'll probably sink a few jars at the local and talk ourselves silly like we usually do.'
‘You know you enjoy yourself,’ she smiled.
‘Farrah, I don't want to seem too inquisitive, but did you talk to Joel Falcone today?'
‘He spoke to me,’ she corrected. ‘I'm sorry, I should have told you earlier.’ So much had happened since she left home this morning that she had completely forgotten her father's anguish. ‘Joel Falcone has agreed to drop the charges.'
‘Oh, that's wonderful!’ exclaimed her father. ‘At what price?’ he asked shrewdly.
Farrah evaded her father's questing look. ‘No price, Daddy.'
‘No price! But I—– He must have a reason for this, Farrah! Unless you told him about your mother—–'
‘No!’ she denied sharply. ‘I didn't tell him anything.'
‘Then I don't understand,’ he shook his head.
Farrah shrugged, standing up impatiently. ‘Perhaps I just caught him in a good mood, Daddy. Everything should be sorted out within the next few days.'
‘Did he say anything about my job?'
‘No, he didn't! But I should think you'll be sacked, don't you?’ she said shrilly. ‘It was a silly thing to do and it'll probably ruin the rest of your life.’ And mine, she groaned inwardly. ‘Mummy wouldn't have wanted you to do it and you know it. I know it was for her, Daddy, but she would hate to know what trouble you've brought upon yourself.'
‘Your mother always had second best, Farrah, she didn't deserve to die that way too.'
This was an old argument and one Farrah always lost. She had loved her mother too, and if she had died believing the money for her private nursing came from an insurance policy then perhaps it was all to the good. ‘I could have left work and nursed her, Daddy. You know I wanted to.'
‘She didn't want that. You're young, Farrah, nursing your mother would have cut you off from your friends, denied you a proper social life. Your mother wanted you to enjoy your youth.'
‘And I have, Daddy, but this threat over our heads is worse than any hardship I might have had nursing Mummy. I loved her too, you know!'
Her father put a comforting arm about her shoulders. ‘It was better this way, poppet. Your mother died having had all the medical and nursing care there was available. The trip to Switzerland was the most expensive, but I had to make sure the English doctors were right when they said there was no hope.'
‘But company money, Daddy!'
‘I know,’ he said wearily. ‘I know it was wrong. I still have a couple of thousand of it, Farrah, I can give that back,’ he added almost eagerly.
‘A couple of thousand! That won't even dent the twenty-five thousand. He's a powerful man, Daddy, you should have known better than to try and trick him.'
‘I wasn't tricking him personally, only the company.'
‘He is the company.'
‘You're a good child, Farrah, but if I had the same odds against me again I would have to act the same way. I'd have to, do you understand?'
Farrah hugged her father tightly, blinking away her tears as she looked at him. ‘I understand, Daddy, but it doesn't make things any easier. I still have to work there and people ask me how you are every day. I never know what to say. They all want to know when you'll be well enough to go back to work.'
‘I know it's hard for you, Farrah, but you could always leave. You have the experience behind you now, you could easily get a job with another company.'
She shook her head. ‘I don't think so, Daddy.’ Joel Falcone wouldn't allow it, for one thing. This way he had easy access to her, and also to cause a stir among his own numerous staff. No, the time to change her job would be when all this was over, that would be when she needed her privacy the most. During the next few months she was going to be known as Joel Falcone's new woman, and the reason for the abrupt end of his friendship with Laura Bennett. God, what a mess!
‘HAVING second thoughts?'
Farrah didn't pretend not to know what he meant, grimacing her uncertainty. ‘And third and fourth ones too,’ she acknowledged. ‘But every time the answer comes out the same.'
Her apprehension had started the minute she stepped into his car this evening. His pure sophistication in white suit and black shirt had unsettled her and once again reminded her of his importance. Joel Falcone was a man who had worked himself up from a back-street child to a smooth polished man with an intelligence that baffled many a rival. But this nightclub had made her withdraw even more into her shell of shyness. There were so many celebrities here that she felt completely overwhelmed. And Joel Falcone seemed completely at home among them!
They were seated in a secluded corner, the reddish glow of the room surrounding them in a warm intimacy that was utterly deceiving. Couples were dancing in uninhibited abandon on the floor space provided, and Farrah felt less self-conscious about her revealed curves in the clinging dress after looking at some of the more exotic gowns being worn here.
The service was excellent and unobtrusive—and must surely be costing a small fortune in itself.
