me for doubting your potential. God, you thought I was Jeff! Wasn’t that hopelessly naïve?’
Sara was tempted to refuse the overture. Her pride argued that this man didn’t deserve an answer, and it would have given her the utmost pleasure to tell him to stuff his opinion; but something wouldn’t let her. No matter how objectionable Lincoln Korda might be, she had not come here to make friends with the family. Jeff still needed help—possibly her help—and could she really abandon Tony’s faith in her without even meeting the boy?
Putting down her empty glass, she linked her hands together. ‘Probably it was,’ she answered, meeting his assessing gaze with enforced composure. ‘But I thought you expected that. Isn’t it true that all the sophisticated means at your disposal have failed?’
Lincoln Korda’s mouth twisted. ‘Antony told you that too, I suppose.’
‘He told me a little, yes.’ A lot more than she wanted to remember, she thought uneasily. Tony had said that the boy’s parents didn’t care about him. But Lincoln Korda was here because she was. So what did that mean? Did he care more for his son than the boy’s mother did?
He shook his head now, and she came to attention. ‘Do you have any real idea of what you’re taking on?’ His face showed the strain he was feeling. ‘Jeff won’t let you help him. He won’t let anyone help him. No one can get through to him.’
‘Is that why he took an overdose?’ enquired Sara pointedly, then flinched at the look of fury he cast in her direction.
Sliding off the desk, he straightened, his superior height an added disadvantage. ‘We’ll talk again, Miss Fielding,’ he declared, terminating the interview. ‘I hope you sleep well. You’ll need your strength in the morning, believe me.’
Now, slipping from beneath the crisp cotton sheet which was all that covered her, Sara trod across the shaggy pile of the carpet to the windows. It was early, but as she’d been awake for most of the night, it didn’t seem so. Nevertheless, it was reassuring to see the sun fingering its way between her curtains, and somehow nothing seemed as desperate then as in those early pre-dawn hours.
Just looking out on a view, which might have been taken from a travel brochure, simply wasn’t enough, and discarding the disturbing remembrance of what she had last observed from her balcony, she stepped outside.
It was deliciously cool, the air not yet overlaid with the sticky heat of the day. The sun’s rays still lacked the strength to burn her shoulders, and its golden benediction spread fingers over the ocean. Closer at hand, a handful of seagulls pecked among the flotsam thrown up on the shore by the tide. Sara could see seaweed strewn along the narrow bar of sand, and dwarf palms edging the beach where a low stone wall marked the garden’s boundary.
Almost beneath her windows, but a few yards to her left, the sickle-shaped pool was another unwelcome reminder of the night before. Perhaps it would have been better if she had stumbled into the pool, she reflected cynically. Lincoln Korda might have had some sympathy for her then.
She didn’t want to think about Lincoln Korda, not when she had so many other, more important, things to think about, but she couldn’t help it. She disliked him; she considered he was rude and autocratic, but she couldn’t forget him. He was the most infuriating man she had ever met, and she pitied Jeff Korda for being his son. All the same, he was a disturbingly attractive man, and she wondered again why he and his wife had parted. Perhaps his attraction for the opposite sex was part of the reason. No doubt with his money and his connections, he could have any woman he wanted. Except me, thought Sara drily, ignoring the obvious fact that he wouldn’t want her.
Discovering it was barely seven o’clock, she had a refreshing shower in the fluted-gold luxury of the cubicle beside the jacuzzi, and she finished with an all-over pummelling that acted much the same as a massage. She emerged from the shower feeling infinitely sharper, and physically prepared at least to face the other pressures of the day.
After drying her hair with the hand-drier, also provided, she brushed it out and regarded its tawny length with some misgivings. Perhaps, now that any hope of her becoming a dancer had been squashed, she should have it cut, she mused doubtfully. After all, the present fashion was for short, spiky hairstyles, or smooth Twenties-style bobs. Long hair might be attractive, but it also took a lot of looking after, and what was the point? Who cared—except herself? All the same, as she plaited it into the single braid which she thought might be most suitable for the job that was facing her, she had come to no definite conclusion, and for the present it would have to stay as it was.
She dressed in cream cotton pants and a lime green vest, putting on a pair of comfortable trainers instead of the sandals she had worn the night before. She found trousers most easily disguised the lameness Lincoln Korda had so ruthlessly exposed, and besides, she was here to do a job of work, not to laze about in the sunshine.
Her rooms were off a wide corridor which led from the galleried landing, and although it had not been dark when she arrived the previous afternoon, she had been too overwhelmed to really absorb the beauty of her surroundings. She had an entirely different perspective, too, from the way she had felt the night before, and in broad daylight, she was half inclined to believe she had exaggerated the night’s events.
A maid was using a buffing machine on the hall tiles, but she switched it off at Sara’s approach had wished her good morning. ‘You want something to eat, Miss Fielding?’ she enquired, in the same Southern drawl that Cora used. ‘There’s a table set out by the pool, if you’d like to help yourself.’
‘So early?’ Sara was surprised.
‘Mr Lincoln left for New York about a quarter of seven,’ replied the maid smoothly. ‘I’ll bring you some fresh coffee. You go take it easy.’
‘Thank you.’
Sara managed to be polite, even though her thoughts were racing. So Lincoln Korda had left as unexpectedly as he had come. She was not going to have to face his remorseless appraisal as she took her first steps towards getting to know his son. Whatever his misgivings, he was prepared to give her a chance. So why did she feel so depressed all at once, as if all the excitement had gone out of the day?
Outside, under a striped umbrella, a round, glass-topped table was laid for breakfast. Fresh orange juice, with ice still floating in the jug, croissants keeping warm over a small flame, butter, preserves, and a jug of thick cream. Hearing her tummy rumble in anticipation, Sara poured herself a tall glass of juice, and after savouring its texture, she buttered a crisp golden roll.
It was a heavenly spot, she thought, looking about her. The flagged patio was set with tubs of geraniums, fuchsias, and lilies, smilax spilling its trailing fronds over tub and paving alike. A scarlet hibiscus rioted over a trellis separating the patio from the lawned area beyond, and beside the pool, wooden cabanas were disguised beneath a patchwork of bougainvillaea. The bare bones of the pool furniture she had glimpsed the night before were now comfortably covered with cushions, which matched the awning over her head. There were chairs and loungers, and even a swinging sun-bed, its pillowed couch swaying in the breeze.
The light from the pool was dazzling, and she didn’t realise the maid had returned until the jug of coffee she had brought was set down on the table ‘Now then,’ she said, ‘how would you like scrambled eggs, or French toast, or waffles? Or maybe you’d prefer some pancakes, with a nice jug of maple syrup——’
‘Oh, no!’ Sara shook her head. ‘No, thank you. This is fine, honestly.’ She indicated the croissant she was eating. ‘These are delicious!’
‘Made
