hands felt clammy and her heart was racing.
‘I’m going to have to rush anyone else wanting the Mozambique rainforest …’ said Tom, waving his gavel in the air.
Karin looked over at Molly, a thin, triumphant smile on her lips. Molly felt her heart race, her mouth suddenly dry.
‘Judith, please, you have the rainforest,’ said Molly desperately.
‘Going … going … GONE!’
The gavel came crashing down. Molly smiled but her eyes weren’t laughing as her stomach felt as if it had plummeted to the floor.
‘I do hope you’ve enjoyed yourself,’ said Karin, turning to face Adam. Sticking to her game plan, Karin had managed to practically ignore Adam Gold all the way through dinner, allowing all the other female guests on their table to flirt outrageously with him. But now she had seen Molly Sinclair making her move – she didn’t remember seeing her name on the guest list – Karin decided that it was time to up the ante. While she had no intention of sleeping with him that evening, she wasn’t going to let him go home with anyone else either. Especially not Molly.
‘It’s been a triumph,’ said Adam, raising his glass of champagne towards her in salute. ‘Thanks for inviting me. Looks like the auction made around two million bucks as well.’
‘You’ve been counting?’ said Karin.
Adam smiled and his eyes twinkled. ‘I’m always counting,’ he said.
Karin looked away as the jazz band launched into a tune on the stage.
‘So did you find this place?’ asked Adam, his eyes drifting around the room and up to the gilded ceilings. Karin watched him discreetly. He had the casual confidence of someone completely assured of his position in life. ‘Buildings like this remind me why I’ve moved to London,’ he said. ‘Back in New York we throw a party at the Frick and think, “Man, this place is awesome!” But this place, it’s the real thing. Well, Gothic Revival, first time around, anyway.’
‘Mmm, you know your stuff,’ she said, nodding. ‘It belonged to the son of our first prime minister who went crazy adding turrets and extra wings, turning it into Sleeping Beauty’s castle.’
‘And you clearly know your stuff,’ he smiled back. ‘How about you give me the guided tour?’
Smiling inwardly, Karin allowed Adam to lead her out of the room, his warm hand pressing against her bare back until they had walked out of the rear of the house. Outside the sky was black and cold and there was an intimate stillness that made Karin feel slightly exposed.
‘So, why did you move to London?’ asked Karin, standing with her back to the house, knowing that with such a backdrop she must look like some splendid romantic heroine. ‘To turn all our listed buildings into apartment blocks?’
‘You are quite a minx,’ he said, smiling suggestively. Karin looked away.
‘Well, property developing only makes up about forty-five per cent of the business of the Midas Corporation. We have interests in investments, manufacturing, export/import …’
‘So why are you here?’
‘Don’t you want me here?’
‘I’m merely curious,’ she replied, her teeth chattering as she did.
Adam took off his jacket and placed it around her bare shoulders. Karin could smell expensive cologne and warm cigar smoke. ‘London is the new financial capital of the world,’ he said seriously, gently rubbing her cold arms through the jacket. ‘There doesn’t seem to be a more exciting place to do business right now. Plus, my company has interests in London, Moscow and Dubai. The East is the big emerging market and I want to build in India, China and Macao. London is at the heart of all of it.’
‘Yeah, right,’ she smiled, her eyes meeting his. ‘Admit it’s the tax breaks and not the time zones and I’ll buy you a beer. I read the business papers, Mr Gold. I know why London is flooded with men like you.’
‘And what’s a man like me?’
‘Successful, ruthless, arrogant,’ she said.
‘Don’t be mean to me, Karin Cavendish,’ he said softly. ‘After this evening, you’re probably the woman I know best in the whole city.’
‘I find that hard to believe,’ she replied, trying to sound more aloof than she felt. She could see the look in his eyes; the look of someone who wanted her. Well, you’re not going to have me, Adam Gold, she thought. Not tonight anyway. She had to make him wait. Make him long. A gust of wind whistled through the gardens and whipped her hair up around her face.
‘We’d better go back inside. The guests will be wondering where on earth I’ve gone.’
‘Okay,’ said Adam, ‘but can I make a request?’
‘What’s that?’
‘I sort of like it when you’re mean to me.’
Erin felt physically shattered. She’d been on her aching feet for fifteen hours, but the excitement and adrenaline were still coursing through her body like an electric current. Everything had seemed to go smoothly, the show was spectacular, even Irina had been happy; so happy, in fact, that she had ended up making a £400,000 bid for the diamond bikini.
‘It will be perfect for Nikki Beach next summer,’ she had purred to Erin on her way out, kissing her on both cheeks and saying goodnight in Russian.
She wondered anxiously what Karin had made of it all. The last three weeks she had been barked at, abused, pushed to the very limits of her ability. It had been twenty-one days of fetching, carrying, sorting, running – she had been little more than Karin’s slave. And for what? So 800 fabulously wealthy people could get pissed, flirt with their friends’ husbands and show off how rich they were by buying holidays that they would never go on or jewellery they would never wear. She wanted to hate this world but, realizing her time in it would soon be over, she felt a pang of regret. Karin’s universe was like a Scott Fitzgerald novel and she did not want to let it go, certainly not to return to Cornwall and unemployment. She allowed herself an illegal swig of Evian and went to find Karin; she had a message from Adam Gold’s helicopter pilot that the winds were getting up and that they needed to leave soon.
‘Erin, right? Karin’s PA?’ said a tall, dark-haired man collecting an overcoat from the cloakroom.
‘That’s right,’ she said distractedly. She was still scanning the room looking for Karin.
‘Adam Gold. I was on Karin’s table. I was just looking for her to say thank you and goodnight.’
Adam Gold! She looked up. Christ, he was handsome, she thought, unable to tear her eyes away from him. Businessmen weren’t her usual type and this guy must be at least forty, but still … his eyes had the sexiest glint she had ever seen.
‘Ah, um, Mr Gold. Actually I was looking for you,’ said Erin awkwardly, ‘I have
