that off your chest, I think I’ll leave with my son.’
‘Why was it unavoidable?’ Heather persisted. ‘Don’t tell me that there was something more important than seeing your son come first in the hundred-metre sprint?’
‘Actually, I don’t have to tell you anything,’ Leo informed her coolly. ‘I don’t make a habit of explaining myself to anyone, least of all someone I’ve known for—what?—roughly fifteen minutes. I don’t recall my mother even mentioning your name in any of the conversations I’ve had with her.’
That came as no surprise to Heather. Daniel went to the local private school. He stayed in the house with Katherine, and occasionally, over the past eight months his father had deigned to visit, usually on a Sunday; a full weekend presumably was just too much for him. More often than not, he imported both Katherine and Daniel to London, sending his driver to collect them on the Saturday morning, and delivering them back to the country promptly on the Sunday afternoon.
Anyone would think that a man who had lost his son for years, when his ex-wife had disappeared off to Australia, would have wanted to spend as much time as possible making up for the wasted time!
Clearly not the man standing in front of her.
Katherine would not have mentioned Heather because her son would have had zero interest in finding out about the people who figured in his mother’s life. From what Heather had gleaned, Leo West was an utterly selfish money-making machine.
‘I realise I don’t have any right to tell you how to lead your life,’ Heather said, doing her best to be fair, ‘but Daniel needs you. He would never say so because he’s probably scared of you.’
‘Has he told you that he’s scared of me?’ This conversation was now becoming bizarre. He had expected to be greeted by a motherly lady, maybe to be offered a cup of tea, which he would, naturally, have refused; to leave with his son in tow, any sullenness over his absence at the wretched Sports Day to be forgotten when he presented him with the present he had bought. It was the very latest mobile phone, capable of doing pretty much anything bar washing the dishes and cooking the meals.
Instead, he was being held to account by a twenty-something girl with a challenged sense of dress who had probably never set foot out of the village.
‘He doesn’t have to. I can tell. He doesn’t see enough of you. I know it’s none of my business, but relationships have to be worked on. Daniel’s a very vulnerable little boy, and he needs his father. Especially now. He’s suffered the loss of his mother. He needs the security of his dad to see him through.’
‘You’re right—it’s none of your business.’
‘You’re not much into listening to what other people have to say, are you?’ Heather flared angrily.
‘On the contrary, I spend a good deal of my time listening to what other people have to say. I just have no interest in an interfering neighbour regaling me with amateur psychobabble—unless, of course, you have some kind of degree in child psychology. Do you?’
‘No, I don’t, but—’
‘Well, maybe you’re his teacher, hmm…?’
‘No, I’m not. But that’s not the—’
‘And you’re not exactly a lifelong friend of my mother’s, are you? I’m sure, if you were, I might just have a passing idea of who you are.’
‘No, but—’
‘In fact, when and how did you exactly come into contact with my mother?’
‘We met a while back, at a gardening convention at the village hall. A television celebrity was giving a talk about orchids, and we both just—’
‘Fascinating, but here’s what I’m wondering—what’s a young girl like you doing at gardening conventions? Isn’t that the luxury of retired people who have endless time on their hands to potter around in their gardens? Don’t you have more exciting things to do? You know, if you did, maybe you wouldn’t find yourself drawn to nosing into other people’s lives.’
Leo was in equal measure outraged that she’d dared to voice opinions that breached his personal boundaries, and borderline distracted by the rising tide of colour that was colouring her cheeks. The woman blushed like a virgin, and it struck him that he wasn’t very often in the company of a woman whose face was so transparent. He favoured the career woman, and it had to be said that career women weren’t given to blushing.
‘How dare you?’
‘Pretty easily, as a matter of fact,’ Leo commented smoothly. ‘Don’t go on the attack unless you’re ready for a fight—first law of success.’
Heather looked at the impossibly handsome man staring coolly at her, and wanted to fly across the room and punch him in his arrogant face. That reaction was so out of character for her that she closed her eyes briefly and blinked it away. She was placid by nature, not given to screeching hysterics. So who was this wild creature that had taken over her body?
‘Okay,’ she said tightly. ‘You’re right. Your relationship with your son is no business of mine. I’ll go and get him right now.’ She walked towards the door and only looked at him to say quietly, ‘And, for your information, I have a job and I don’t nose into other people’s private lives because I have nothing better to do with my life. I wanted to be helpful. I’m very sorry you misread my intentions.’
Instead of feeling like the victor in what had always promised to be a pointless exchange from where he was standing, Leo now felt like the villain. How had that happened? He had said what needed to be said, had told her to keep out of his business, she had agreed—so why did he now feel as though he had won the battle but lost the war?
Always the winner in any verbal showdown, Leo was unaccustomed to being caught on the back foot, and for the first time he was rendered temporarily speechless. He found that he was staring into space and hurried out, almost bumping into Daniel, who greeted him with a sulky glower.
‘I…I apologise for missing your Sports Day, Daniel,’ Leo began, very much aware of Heather standing in the background—probably committing this awkward little scene to memory so that she could bring it out at a later date and use it against him should the opportunity ever again arise.
‘Whatever.’
‘I hear you came first in the hundred-metre sprint,’ Leo said, trying to bring the tension down a notch or two. ‘Well done!’
He looked at Heather, and as their eyes tangled she felt a wave of sympathy for the man. Of course, he didn’t deserve her sympathy. From all accounts, he threw money at his son but rarely gave him the time that was so essential. But, her naturally warm nature reluctantly seeing the situation from both points of view, how hard it must be, she thought, for him to incorporate a young child into his life? Up until eight months ago, he had been completely unaware of his son’s existence, and had been accustomed to doing everything his own way, with no need to consider the welfare of another human being.
‘He’s a star,’ she interjected into the silence, moving forward and pulling Daniel towards her in a natural embrace. She wondered how his father couldn’t be charmed by his gorgeous, dark-haired seven-year-old son with those big brown eyes and skinny, vulnerable legs sticking out from his school shorts, which he had
